For Nymph, this wasn’t friendly weather.
"Nymph, why don’t we go over there to avoid the wind?"
Watching the Little Angel tighten her jaws and move forward, Ryoko Asakura couldn’t help but suggest. Although Fang Zheng had always told Ryoko Asakura that Nymph’s combat power was weak, it was only now that Ryoko Asakura had a preliminary impression of this—Nymph had just flown into the sky to start the search, but within minutes, she was directly blown down.
The fact that she was this weak also left Ryoko Asakura speechless.
"No need!"
Nymph pulled her head out of the snowdrift and glared fiercely at the howling blizzard ahead.
"It’s just this kind of weather. If only I could use Information Modification..."
While speaking, Nymph raised her hand, but before she could stand firm, with a scream of "Wow!" she was directly blown away, buried in the snowdrift.
"Nymph!!"
Seeing this scene, Ryoko Asakura was scared and quickly approached, pulling Nymph out of the snow. A bit slower, and the Little Angel might have been completely buried.
"Let me take you, as long as you focus on the search, Nymph."
At this, Ryoko Asakura paused.
"Besides, Master isn’t here, he won’t know."
"Alright... alright..."
Faced with Ryoko Asakura’s response, Nymph was momentarily frustrated but had to nod. Then Ryoko Asakura picked up Nymph, flashed across the snow, and quickly shot forward.
The snow intensified, cold winds blowing like knife cuts. Yet Ryoko Asakura was completely indifferent, moving like a Ghost appearing and disappearing in the blizzard. If a third party were to watch, they might think they were seeing things. From a third party’s perspective, Ryoko Asakura’s actions seemed like she had just taken a step, and the next moment she seemed to skew like a distorted hologram, appearing hundreds of meters away.
Thus, it didn’t take long for them to arrive at the abandoned, ice-bound city. Unlike Professor Mike and the others’ shock and panic, Nymph and Ryoko Asakura clearly weren’t concerned about what era this city belonged to or who built it.
"Forward."
"Turn right."
"Continue downward."
"Turn left!"
Under Nymph’s guidance, Ryoko Asakura carried her swiftly into the depths of the city. Soon, the scene began to change; tracks appeared on the previously empty ground. From afar, several moving black dots could be seen.
"There it is!"
Nymph widened her eyes, instantly locking onto the target. In the dark, dim underground tunnels, eight creatures resembling a mix between sea cucumbers and starfishes were writhing forward. They were dragging sleds taken from the camp, loaded with plenty of items...
"Leave it to me, Nymph."
Ryoko Asakura placed Nymph on the ground, then with a pinpoint toe touch, she appeared behind the last of The Ancient Ones, the military knife in her hand piercing straight into its body.
"Squelch!"
The thick skin, even able to ignore bullets, couldn’t withstand Ryoko Asakura’s military knife. The sharp blade easily pierced through, spurting dark green blood. The Ancient One’s tentacles immediately stood up in response to the attack, but before it could retaliate, Ryoko Asakura sliced out with a backhanded stroke, cutting off the head that looked like a starfish.
After the head was severed, even The Ancient One couldn’t survive; the headless corpse sprayed with blood and fell limply. Ryoko Asakura lightly laughed, as she held her military knife, elegantly and brightly rushing toward her victim like a homicidal maniac.
Although The Ancient Ones rapidly counterattacked, they faced not the frail Earthlings, but rather extraterrestrial beings like themselves. While nobody knows how powerful the Unified Spirit Body is, it’s certain to exceed the present Ancient Ones.
Ryoko Asakura, created by them, was naturally no exception.
The girl seemed to dance through the hall, elegantly avoiding the tentacle assaults, striking again to pierce another prey’s body. Like a bloodthirsty fiend, she twisted forcefully, the prey’s piercing shrieks abruptly ceased; another Ancient One was added to this charming executioner’s list of victims.
"Is this the death of organic life? To me, it really means nothing."
While shaking the knife, Ryoko Asakura grinned at the other Ancient Ones. Those Ancient Ones turned, panic-stricken (despite their unchanging expressions), screaming as they rushed deeper into the tunnel. With a laugh, Ryoko Asakura pursued them again.
But as she reached the corner, suddenly Nymph’s shriek came from behind.
"Watch out!"
Upon hearing Nymph’s warning, Ryoko Asakura hesitated not a bit to retreat, and just in time, a mass resembling jelly dropped almost simultaneously from the ceiling, brushing past her hair and crashing heavily onto the ground.
"What is this?"
Quickly dodging the attack, Ryoko Asakura glanced towards the enemy ahead and was slightly taken aback. In front of them was no longer the fusion of sea urchins and starfish, but rather a massive blob of gray sludge, shifting continuously, its form seemingly unfixed, occasionally squeezing and deforming like overcooked dough. On this sludge, countless eyes opened and closed, numerous tentacles unfolded and retracted from every corner of its body, and mouths emerged, screaming with soul-piercing sounds.
"Tekeli—Li!"
"This is a different kind of information-distorted life form."
Nymph hurriedly retreated as well, while Ryoko Asakura returned to her side.
"It seems the opponent is hostile, so..."
At that moment, Ryoko Asakura’s mouth moved at what seemed to be a hundred times acceleration, her original speech swept past at nearly indiscernible speed. Accompanied by her chant resembling ’high-speed divine words’, countless sharp stone pillars shot out from all directions, instantly piercing the giant slime monster into a hedgehog.
However......
"Tekeli—Li!"
The creature did not die as a result, seemingly unaffected despite its perforated state, and screamed again, lunging at its prey.
"This thing is really tough to deal with, isn’t it."
Ryoko Asakura quickly picked up Nymph and leapt backward, while stealing a glance at the distant corner. There, several other Ancient Ones had already been caught by companions of the slime monster, having their heads forcibly removed.
"Master Nymph, the enemy is rather troublesome, we should retreat for now."
"Eh? But Master..."
"The intended prey has all been consumed by these monsters, staying here will only bring more trouble. Master’s task is completed, as for these monsters, we should consult Master first before deciding..."
"No need, I’m already here."
Before Ryoko Asakura finished speaking, Fang Zheng’s voice came from behind. The two turned around to find Fang Zheng smiling as he approached them, waving, and in his right hand...
"Master, what’s with this... dog?"
Looking at the husky Fang Zheng was dragging by the tail, Nymph blinked in confusion.
"I can feel its residual information seems not to match its exterior..."
"Well, that’s because I just dealt with it, I’ll leave it to you for a proper repair when we get back."
Fang Zheng replied while looking at the slime monster ahead.
"Never expected to encounter Shiges after the Ancient Ones, I’m truly lucky..."
Indeed, the slime monster was none other than Shiges, a rebellious creation made by the Ancient Ones to serve them, only to eventually rebel.
The story of Shiges’s rebellion is much like many tales of robotic AI. Initially created by the Ancient Ones for servitude and labor, Shiges merely imitated, but gradually gained intelligence and sought independence. The Ancient Ones, unsurprisingly, tried to suppress them, though the suppression unsurprisingly failed.
In this perspective, the Ancient Ones truly were miserable, first losing to Cthulhu, forced to retreat to Antarctica for seclusion, then betrayed by Shiges they created themselves, enduring a sad internal war for hundreds, if not thousands of years without winning. Adding salt to injury, the Ice Age arrived afterwards, and those Ancient Ones attempting to escape Earth found they had evolved too poorly for space travel........
Oh my, truly, when Heaven wants you dead, there’s no escaping it.
Hence, it’s not my fault to burn these guys.
With that thought, Fang Zheng raised his right hand, gripping the Pitch Black Greatsword drawn from the void, and with a turn of his hand, he stabbed the Pitch Black Greatsword fiercely onto the ground.
Unparalleled flames burst forth, engulfing everything before him.
The plane roared skyward.
Professor Mike clutched the controls in terror, while his assistant curled up shaking in the chair, face pale. Everything they just witnessed was close to shattering their sanity, those horrifying entities that shouldn’t exist in this world, even recalling them made them feel their minds about to break.
But just then, a low rumble suddenly reverberated.
Professor Mike instinctively looked out the window, and in his view, he saw the city, frozen for thousands of years, beginning to collapse, mountains trembling, the basin where the city lay shaking unceasingly. Then, unmatched smoke erupted, shooting straight into the sky.
Fiery, crimson flames mixed with magma erupted swiftly, instantly engulfing everything.

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