It was only a few minutes battle, yet the aftermath left the entire mountain range devastated.
Massive sections of the battlefield had completely collapsed beneath the repeated high level attacks. Entire hills were frozen solid while others had been reduced into burning craters. .
Above the crater, Supre Dunadan still remained near the gigantic unmoving body of Parasite X, carefully ensuring the abomination was truly dead.
anwhile, Ery headed toward the crashed Proxima flagship.
The Frost Dominion had not been destroyed completely, but one side of the warship had been heavily torn by the parasite's tentacle during the battle while parts of the outer hull remained engulfed in flas.
The situation inside was grim.
As expected, the terrifying soul attack unleashed by Parasite X had proven fatal for anyone below the Grand Magus realm. There had been over a hundred Magus Alliance personnel and Proxima warriors aboard the flagship. Despite remaining protected inside the ship during most of the battle, nearly half had died instantly when the ntal attack struck.
Another dozen had perished during the crash afterward.
The corridors inside the damaged ship were filled with wounded personnel, collapsed bodies, and the lingering sll of blood and burning tal.
Ery quickly found Lambert directing rescue efforts, the vice commander's silver-blue armor had cracked apart in multiple places while blood still dripped from his forehead, yet the man remained calm while organizing survivors and stabilizing the wounded.
Ery imdiately joined the rescue effort.
So survivors had suffered severe spiritual damage from the soul attack, while others carried traces of corrupted miasma after the hull breach.
Other than the Proxima crew, Ery initially thought the only major casualties had been Ayla's beast companions.
Then he realized soone was unaccounted for.
Ura.
The concealnt master grand magus had not been seen since entering the cave..
When Ery inquired about him, Archbishop Jas silently lowered his head before softly muttering a short prayer beneath his breath.
Only then did Ery understand.
To his surprise, the first confird casualty among the Grand Magus group had actually been the concealnt expert himself.
Ura's concealnt arts had proven ineffective against Parasite X.
During their descent into the lair, the forr rcenary had attempted to approach the parasite directly while hidden. Unfortunately, the abomination had sohow detected him instantly.
He had been devoured alive.
Even Ery felt slightly baffled hearing it.
A three-cosmos Grand Magus dying so suddenly…
It was a brutal reminder of just how terrifying the parasite truly was.
Before Ery could dwell further on the matter, a ntal ssage suddenly reached him.
Supre Dunadan.
Ery imdiately left the damaged flagship and flew back toward the mountain crater.
The gigantic corpse of Parasite X still lay motionless within the shattered battlefield. Supre Dunadan stood calmly above the creature's massive dragon-like head while the Star Tower Lord examined the opposite side of the corpse a hundred ters away.
Although the Supre Lord appeared completely unwounded externally, Ery could sense subtle instability within the man's aura. The use of Tier 9 spells had clearly consud trendous energy even for a Supre-level cultivator.
"You needed , Senior?" Ery asked respectfully.
Dunadan turned toward him briefly before pointing toward the skies above.
Although the spatial rift created by Parasite X had already collapsed, traces of spatial disturbance still lingered throughout the area.
"Tell what you think."
Ery imdiately understood.
This was one of the reason Ery had been selected for Group Nine.
Not because of combat strength alone, but because of his mastery over spatial law.
Parasite X possessed the terrifying ability to travel through spatial rifts freely, and the Alliance wanted Ery's expertise regarding that matter.
Without wasting ti, Ery expanded his divine sense toward the remaining distortions while channeling spirit energy into the surrounding space itself.
The fluctuating spatial traces slowly beca clearer inside his mind.
After several monts, he finally spoke.
"There's a unique signature remaining within the distortion," Ery said carefully. "But I believe the creature only used a standard short-range spatial shift. It should still be sowhere on this planet."
He paused briefly before adding,
"As for the exact direction… it's difficult to determine in its current state... It's sowhere east..."
Supre Dunadan nodded slowly.
"I sensed sothing similar.. good."
Ery was not surprised hearing this.
Once a cultivator reached the Supre realm, it was common for them to gain partial mastery over spatial law naturally. The cosmos itself contained fragnts of spatial understanding, though so Supre cultivators comprehended it far more deeply than others.
While they were still discussing the spatial disturbance, Ery's divine sense suddenly detected movent from within the frozen corpse of Parasite X.
His expression imdiately sharpened.
A faint spark of spirit energy flickered deep inside the abomination's shattered flesh. Monts later, a disgusting mixture of blood, sli, and chunks of flesh suddenly burst outward from one of the wounds before rapidly gathering together nearby.
The pile began writhing unnaturally.
More flesh continuously crawled toward it, slowly forming a growing mass like so grotesque living organism rebuilding itself piece by piece.
Ery instinctively prepared to attack.
The Star Tower Lord reacted even faster, his fingers imdiately ignited with blinding stellar light, clearly preparing a lethal spell.
However, before either of them could move further, Supre Dunadan calmly raised one hand.
"Wait."
The writhing flesh continued expanding for several more seconds before a familiar energy signature gradually erged from within it.
Dark spiritual energy spread outward.
The grotesque lump slowly reshaped itself into a humanoid figure as bones, muscles, and skin rapidly regenerated into place. Soon after, layers of dark cloth began covering the reconstructed body like shadows weaving themselves into robes.
It was Grand Magus Ura.
The concealnt expert took a long breath after fully reforming himself. Although his face remained calm, his aura had beco noticeably weaker than before.
After stabilizing his breathing, Ura lowered his head slightly toward both Ery and Supre Dunadan.
"I am ashad," he said quietly. "I was reckless."
"There is no need to feel that way," Dunadan replied calmly. "You successfully lured the target."
Ura bowed slightly deeper after hearing the words.
"Thank you, Senior."
"You should recover first."
Ery carefully observed the man's aura and quickly noticed the changes. Ura's spiritual fluctuations had weakened significantly, while traces of unstable dark energy lingered throughout his body.
Whatever regenerative dark art he had used to survive being devoured…
The price had clearly been enormous.
Seconds later, Ery heard a faint whisper through spiritual transmission.
Duke Damien.
The spirit champion was calling both him and Supre Dunadan to descend deeper into the cave beneath the mountain.
Following the Duke's energy signature, Ery imdiately raised one hand and cast a spatial gate beside them. Distorted space folded inward before forming a dark passage leading underground.
The two stepped through.
Roughly three hundred ters beneath the surface, they arrived inside a massive underground chamber hidden deep within the mountain itself.
The entire area was covered in layers of thick purple sli.
The walls, ceiling, and ground all appeared moist and corrupted, as though sothing enormous had lived there for so ti. Even after Parasite X's apparent death, traces of lingering miasma still floated throughout the cave like faint purple smoke, though it was gradually dissipating.
Not far away, Ery spotted the Sword Demoness casually walking through the cave while dragging her dark blade across the ground behind her. Purple blood continuously dripped from the weapon while dozens of parasite hound corpses lay scattered throughout the surrounding area.
It appeared she had just finished cleaning up the remaining creatures hidden inside the cavern.
The woman rely glanced toward them briefly before continuing to wipe corrupted blood from her sword without saying a word.
Soon, Ery and Supre Dunadan arrived near the corner of the cavern where Duke Damien was silently standing.
The mont Ery saw what the old spirit master had discovered, his expression imdiately turned serious.
A cocoon.
Or rather—
What remained of one.
The structure was massive, nearly ten ters tall, ford from layers of hardened flesh, translucent mbranes, and strange organic fibers resembling veins. The outer shell had already broken apart from the inside, leaving jagged openings throughout its surface.
And its interior was empty.
That was the truly disturbing part.
After decades of studying parasite-related outbreaks, the Magus Alliance had never once encountered evidence suggesting these parasites required cocoons for evolution or reproduction.
Yet now one stood directly before them.
Empty.
Sothing had erged from it.
No one spoke for several monts.
Even Supre Dunadan's expression beca colder as he examined the remains carefully.
What exactly had hatched from it?
With most of the Proxima crew either dead, wounded, or occupied outside, Ery was tasked to examine the cocoon personally using his expertise as a master apothecary.
Carefully, he approached the structure.
Ery collected multiple samples from the cocoon's flesh, fluid residue, and hardened shell fragnts. After organizing the samples, Ery began making detailed notes and recording observations that would later be forwarded for deeper Alliance analysis.
The group soon walked out of the cave carrying far more questions than answers.
Back on the surface, Supre Dunadan quickly gathered Anderson and the remaining mbers of the operation to discuss everything they had discovered inside the mountain.
The first matter was naturally Supre Lord Marc and the fate of his advance team, especially the missing Supre figure whose body still remained completely unaccounted for.
The surviving infected grand magus would likely provide valuable answers once they regained consciousness, but after suffering the previous soul attack, it would take at least an hour before any proper questioning could begin safely.
Unfortunately, they no longer had the luxury of waiting.
Nearby, Hubert casually tossed his golden coin into the air before catching it again.
"We can't stay here," the strange diviner said calmly. "Sothing very bad is happening on this planet."
Ery quietly released a deep sigh hearing those words.
At this point, it truly did not require a diviner to realize the mission was far from over. From the missing Supre figure to the strange cocoon hidden beneath the mountain, every discovery only created more questions instead of answers.
Ayla, who still appeared emotional from losing several of her beast companions during the battle, spoke.
"My beasts picked up Senior Marc's trail…"
She slowly pointed toward the eastern horizon.
Anderson imdiately projected the planetary map once again while several people gathered around it. The direction Ayla indicated pointed toward one of the red-labeled cities in the eastern region of the planet, one of the earliest cities reported to have completely lost contact during the outbreak.
Almost instantly, the ruined city beca their next destination.
Supre Dunadan swiftly made the decision.
With the Proxima flagship heavily damaged, the surviving Proxima warriors alongside the recovering Ura would remain behind to continue investigating the parasite nest and secure the mountain.
As for the others, the team would split into two groups. Supre Dunadan would personally travel together with Ayla to follow the direct trail left behind by Supre Marc using her beast tracking abilities.
anwhile, Ery would assist Anderson's group by creating a spatial portal leading directly toward the infected red-zone city. Based on the projected routes, both groups would most likely converge eventually toward the sa target.
Once the arrangents were finalized, Dunadan glanced toward the east before speaking calmly.
"All right, Let's move."
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