Phosphorus, Airship and Silver Dragon Chronicles

7 Multiwinged Queen Insect, Blue Dream Purple Nightmare Mushroom, and Gear of Fate [2-in-1]

Cloud vortex kelp is a giant algae that sends its roots deep into the earth's rock layers and extends countless thick, python-like tentacles, swollen with air, into the clouds to capture any creature that passes through its airspace.

These tentacles do not contain deadly toxins or overwhelming strength, but their sheer number and ghostly appearance in the fog give them a certain psychological attack effect.

Although the flesh of Yunwo kelp is delicious, its phytoestrogen content is pitifully low, its slightly corrosive juice is difficult to clean, and the kelp skin is extremely prone to spoilage.

For hunters, its hunting value is negligible; only professional food companies would send large-scale harvester fleets deep into the ground to capture cloud vortex kelp.

Luo Ya withdrew his smile, his gaze turning indifferent.

In his view, of everyone on deck, only his reaction was normal.

Although cloud vortex kelp is not ubiquitous, it is a registered spirit in the "Cloud Sea Spirit Compendium".

The strongest individual among these cloud vortex seaweeds is only a first-tier Burning Spirit, which can be easily dealt with by the firepower of the airship's armored armor.

Giles and Eamon should have practiced their response strategies at the nautical academy, so even if they were seeing the cloud vortex seaweed for the first time, they wouldn't be so frightened that they would lose their ability to react.

Unless they are truly idiots.

Or perhaps... they have ulterior motives.

As for Wendell, her reaction did not seem like fear.

It was more like being mentally attacked by the Cloud Vortex Kelp, using the armor on his body and limbs to forcibly suppress a wild, almost bursting-out throbbing feeling within him...

Luo Ya had reason to suspect that if Blue Dragonfly hadn't killed Cloud Vortex Kelp, Wendell might have gone berserk.

"Damn it... This is my first time hunting, and not only did I not get any guidance, but I'm also the only normal person on the whole ship!"

Roya felt like he was carrying the weight of everything.

He even suspected that none of these people were venturing deep into the sea of ​​clouds and approaching the ground for the first time.

He's the only one who's truly experiencing it for the first time!

Roya bent down to pick up the fallen ram's horn teapot, wiped off the dust, and hung it back on the leather buckle at Wendell's waist.

The shadows in Wendell's eyes faded, and a hint of color gradually returned to his pale face.

Looking at Luo Ya's serene Eastern face, it's as if he has returned from hell to the human world.

"Thanks."

"Phew, it was just seaweed... Look how scared Miss Wendell was!"

Pale-faced Eamon let out a long sigh, punching the railing and kicking the seaweed skin.

Beside him, Giles stared intently at the Blue Dragonfly armor, his gaze burning with admiration, admitting his inferiority.

This was the first time he had ever witnessed a humanoid armored vehicle, in voice-controlled mode, exhibiting maneuverability comparable to that of a manned vehicle.

This mission was assigned by higher-ups to contact Roya and bring back the difference engine.

He hadn't expected that Roya would have a high-level superhuman teammate, nor had he expected that this person's mechanical genius was no less than that of a superhuman...

"I'm sorry, I lost my composure."

Giles's voice carried a hint of annoyance.

"At the Naval Academy, we learned how to deal with the Cloud Vortex Kelp, but when we saw those huge, wriggling tentacles for the first time, we were still shocked... Since the Hills Mountains are a kelp-covered area, for safety reasons, the airship can only hover here. We will fly armored vehicles and ornithopters down to salvage the shipwreck."

"This is the only way."

Although somewhat annoyed, Roja couldn't find any logical flaws in Giles's argument.

In the end, Allison was left alone on the airship.

The shuttle airship slowly rose to the surface, leaving the kelp area.

The other four people left the airship in their respective vehicles.

Each person was given a palm-sized military mechanical pigeon for emergency ground communication and a mother-and-child insect compass for locating each other.

Giles pilots his agile yet alluring red humanoid armor: Red Widow.

Eamon was piloting an unnamed black ornithopter.

Roya and Wendell piloted the Blue Dragonfly and the Steam Armorer, respectively.

The four quickly descended, penetrating deep into the airspace of the Hiris Mountains, where seaweed grew abundantly.

To avoid the mental attacks from the Cloud Vortex Seaweed, Roya thoughtfully put a blindfold on Wendell, allowing her to sense the airflow by hearing and feeling the wind, and lead the way at the front of the group.

He himself was responsible for bringing up the rear, protecting everyone in front of him.

Giles and Eamon were protected in the middle.

There's nothing we can do; they're the client who's paying the bills!

During their descent, the tentacles of the cloud vortex seaweed continued to attack the four from various unpredictable directions.

But soon, they were destroyed and burned by the four men's precise artillery fire, sharp slashes, or raging flames.

Only now did Roya realize that Giles' armored vehicle piloting skills and Eamon's flying skills were exceptionally proficient.

Clearly, this is an elite team!

Giles's Red Widow armor, in particular, while not as agile and unpredictable as the Blue Dragonfly, is extremely fast and brutal in its catapult acceleration and turning maneuvers.

It is evident that Giles' body endured extremely high acceleration, befitting a first-tier superhuman, whose physique far surpasses that of an ordinary person like Roya.

If Roja had such a body, the Blue Dragonfly's mobility could be designed to be even more aggressive.

The millions of tentacles of the Cloud Vortex Seaweed seemed to sense the trouble this group posed, and they all cowered and retreated.

The four quickly made their way through the terrain without hindrance, accelerating their descent towards the ground.

Only a few greedy swordfin fish chased after the exhaust fumes from the four steam engines.

As the four continued to descend, getting closer and closer to the ground, the humid, heavy air enveloped them like a soaked blanket, making it hard to breathe.

Until a certain invisible critical point is broken—

The feeling of suffocation suddenly disappeared!

A sudden gust of wind howled, the airflow became violent and turbulent, and the magnetic field became chaotic.

Visibility improved, and everyone's view became clearer.

After three years, Luo Ya finally witnessed the vast land.

The mountains are like folds, shrouded in a gray haze.

Wendell then folded his metal wings, rode the wind down, and landed steadily on a relatively flat ridge.

Amon's black ornithopter was violently jolted by the raging air currents, staggering like a kite with a broken string, circling for a long time before finally making an emergency landing in the valley below.

Giles, on the other hand, took a simple and brutal approach, accelerating his Red Widow at an exaggerated angle into the wind, crashing into a cluster of giant, house-sized glowing mushrooms, sending up clouds of glowing spore dust.

at the same time--

Blue Dragonfly underwent a magnificent and smooth transformation amidst the gale, its joints snapping together with a crisp metallic clang.

Finally, with a graceful and decisive movement, it landed steadily beside Wendell, its armored feet deeply embedded in the rock.

Through the reinforced glass of the cockpit, Roya gazed at the vast and wondrous land.

For a fleeting moment, Roya felt as if he had arrived on another planet.

As far as the eye can see, there is no trace of human civilization.

Visibility in the mountains was slightly better than in the thick clouds, but it was still only enough to make out the blurry outlines of the opposite mountains.

Thick, towering kelp vines take root on the mountain ridge, like ladders to the heavens, swaying incessantly in the fierce winds on the ground.

The spores, soaring on the wind, shimmered with a faint light.

A white network of mycelium covered the ground.

Blue moss covered the rocks like a velvet blanket.

Clusters of colorful mushrooms are taller than a person.

The strangely shaped ferns have outstretched and curled leaf veins.

Countless strangely shaped insects scurried and crawled through the crevices.

Even though the footprints were covered by fungal hyphae, the enormous animal footprints were still clearly visible...

"So this is the surface of the steam age..."

The advent of the steam age brought about changes in surface life.

Affected by the deep-sea fissures, the Earth's surface topography, climate, magnetic field, and ecosystem have become unpredictable and erratic.

The surface-burning spirits are like deep-sea creatures, breaking free from the constraints of human aesthetics and growing wildly in a bizarre, grotesque, and twisted direction.

Sitting in the cockpit, after adjusting to the heavy atmospheric pressure and the dense mycelium-filled air, Luo Ya did not feel too uncomfortable.

However, the micro-differential generator on the blue dragonfly seems to be affected by spores in the air, causing the pigment lattice to become abnormally active.

"strangeness……"

This is the first time such a strange thing has happened since Luo Ya purchased and repaired this miniature difference engine.

"Perhaps there is some kind of supernatural force on the Earth's surface..."

The Blue Dragonfly armored vehicle stood on the rocky ridge and looked around.

Roya could not see Giles and Eamon with the naked eye.

I only caught a fleeting glimpse of Giles's red armor as he charged diagonally into the giant mushroom cluster.

This landing method is strikingly similar to the way he used to crash into walls and make rough turns in his previous life's racing games.

Brutal and efficient, but the physical abilities are truly superhuman!

Luo Ya activated the mother-and-child insect compass and quickly determined the two's landing locations, both within a kilometer of each other on the other side of the ridge.

So, he tapped the megaphone and shouted in all directions:

"Gilth, Emmon, are you alright?"

After all, he didn't want anything to happen to the client.

On the other side of the ridge, Eamon, who had crash-landed in the valley, pursed his lips in the cockpit and whispered:

"What a load of rubbish! So what if a flapping-wing aircraft can transform?!"

Upon closer reflection... it is indeed remarkable.

He also recalled that the mechanical professor at the Maritime Academy, even with higher-strength body materials, could not create a transforming mech that could leave the laboratory.

Legend has it that only the Imperial Army has ever seen transforming mechs.

Moreover, in the same armored vehicle emergency landing in the gale, Roya's Blue Dragonfly was even more composed than Giles' Red Widow, the top armored combat champion of the Naval Academy!

Even Giles's close friend had to admit—

Perhaps, there are differences even among geniuses.

On the other side of the ridge, Roya continued shouting through a megaphone:

"Gilth, Eamon... the mountains nearby are dangerous, come to the summit immediately!"

However, the response to Roya was not a human voice, but a cacophony of insects filling the air like a tidal wave.

Countless multi-legged flying insects, attracted by the smell of phlogiston vapor, emerged one after another from the underground fungal carpet.

A gust of wind blew, and the swarm of insects flew up the mountainside with a whooshing sound.

In the blink of an eye, it turned into a swarm of insects that blotted out the sky!

Luo Ya looked up and determined that it was not yet at the next level.

Multiwinged flying insects.

The multi-winged flying insect resembles a flying centipede, but with longer and finer legs. It feeds on Blue Dream Purple Nightmare Mushrooms and is slightly poisonous and mildly corrosive. It is also recorded in the "Cloud Sea Burning Spirit Illustrated Manual".

"Blue Dream Purple Nightmare Mushroom..."

Luo Ya subconsciously focused his thoughts on the miniature differential engine mounted on the Blue Dragonfly, staring thoughtfully at the constantly flashing blue and purple dual-color dot array inside.

Is it a coincidence...?

Roya simply couldn't stand the sound of billions of wings flapping.

Perhaps this is a form of auditory trypophobia...

He immediately turned on the flamethrower.

The scorching flames roared out, and the multi-legged flying insects sizzled in the flames, quickly curling up and smoking, emitting a nauseating yet strangely burnt aroma.

Giles and Eamon also activated the flamethrowers on their armor and ornithopters, waving them at the sky and indiscriminately burning the multi-legged insects, creating a spectacular scene.

Roya guessed that the flamethrowers mounted on the armor were designed to deal with such situations.

At this moment, Wendell stood on the mountaintop, and the swarms of multi-legged flying insects dared not approach him.

She suddenly removed her black blindfold and looked up at the vast expanse of clouds in the east.

Just then—

A giant, multi-winged mother insect, over a hundred meters long, slowly flew in from the eastern horizon, breaking through the thick fog like a ghostly dragon boat.

Its slender, winding body undulated in the wind, and its densely packed legs and wings emitted a rustling, deafening, and mind-altering shriek.

Luo Ya looked up and felt numb.

Megalophobia and trypophobia occur simultaneously!

Emmon exclaimed:

"It's a multi-winged queen... a third-order multi-winged queen!"

Before the words were finished, the segments of the mother worm's abdomen swelled up one after another, spewing out streams of dark green corrosive acid from its navels, rushing straight at the crowd.

Luo Ya reacted extremely quickly.

The blue dragonfly instantly sped up, accelerating and flying sideways, easily avoiding the torrential acid flow.

Giles's red armor was trapped in the bacterial clusters. The steam vents on his back roared instantly, bursting with powerful thrust, and he was launched into the air, avoiding the acid.

Only the black ornithopter that made an emergency landing in the valley was unable to avoid the acid and its wings were splashed with acid!

The wings were rapidly corroded.

Acid dripped into the cockpit.

With a bang—

The vest's airbags instantly deployed, tightly wrapping the still-shaken Eamon in a bloated cocoon.

Enraged, Eamon clenched his fist and slammed it against the inner wall of the airbag.

"Damn it...who said Baiyun District isn't dangerous?"

at the same time.

Wendell stands atop the mountain.

An invisible barrier of strong wind suddenly rose around him, causing the corrosive liquid to fly away upon contact, turning into green acid mist that drifted away with the wind.

Staring at the long, snake-like shape in the sky, Wendell felt a wave of nausea.

His golden eyes sharpened.

The sword at his waist was drawn, and a sharp wind blade, visible to the naked eye, tore through the air and shot into the sky!

The resulting shockwave sent countless multi-legged flying insects flying for miles before they disappeared from sight.

The winding mother worm that stretched across the sky was instantly severed in two!

The foul-smelling blue insect blood, mixed with corrosive entrails and juices, turned into a torrential downpour of acid rain.

The scorch of the mycelium and moss on the ground produced wisps of blue smoke and corroded countless holes.

Wendell stood firm amidst the destructive rain, surrounded by auras that kept him completely dry.

Handsome as he may be, from the aerial view, Roya could tell from the proud curve of Wendell's chest—his rapid breathing and slightly flushed skin—

She cannot easily use her supernatural powers.

Acid rain has stopped.

The Blue Dragonfly Armor floated down beside Wendell and patted her on the shoulder.

"Although it is a Tier 3 multi-winged queen beetle, it moves slowly and all its abilities are focused on the corrosive liquid. With the Blue Dragonfly and Red Widow working together, there is a way to take it down."

You are our team's strategic nuclear weapon; there's no need to get involved in such trivial matters.

Only intervene when you encounter an enemy I cannot handle or when I am in danger; only then can you demonstrate your core value.

Wendell sheathed his sword, calming his turbulent emotions.

"I don't like insects that look like snakes."

Startled, Luo Ya felt a chill run down his spine and quickly let go of her.

He thought to himself that it seemed no matter how powerful a woman was, her fear of snakes and long worms was ingrained in her very being.

"If you hate insects, why did you take off your blindfold?"

Wendell's silver hair fluttered, his eyes were indifferent.

"I thought you liked me wearing an eye patch. I can still see bugs even with an eye patch on. I took it off to avoid having illusions."

What kind of illusion was this? Roya couldn't imagine it.

"Okay... next time I see a similar snake or insect, I'll shoot it down for you, out of sight, out of mind."

Meanwhile, Giles, piloting the Red Widow, rescued Amon, who was trapped inside a spherical airbag.

He struggled to squeeze Eamon's bulky body into the Red Widow's pitifully narrow passenger seat.

Amon let out a long sigh, staring blankly at Wendell through the cockpit glass, his eyes filled with envy for Roya.

"I had guessed Miss Wendell was a superhuman... but I never imagined she was a high-level superhuman!"

Luo Ya looked up.

To their surprise, the two sections of the multi-winged mother insect did not fall down, but were carried away by the dense swarm of insects.

"Could it be... that these insects can also sew up their mothers like I sew up a whale carcass?"

Roya muttered to himself.

He had no desire to continue fighting. Looking around, he didn't see the supposedly forced-landing airship, so he shouted to Giles and Eamon:

"The mother-and-child compass cannot pinpoint locations over long distances and requires regular maintenance. How do you determine the exact location of the shipwreck?"

From the Red Widow's external brass megaphone, Giles' calm yet undeniable voice rang out:

"Because the captain is still alive."

"Um?"

Luo Ya was taken aback.

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. If the captain dies, the airship wouldn't be called a forced landing, but rather a crash.

However, from the fact that the multi-winged mother beetle spewed out liquid that could corrode steel, Roya knew that the captain was no ordinary person, and might even be a superhuman, to have survived in such a dangerous ground environment and still be able to call for help.

The problem is that if the large differential engine on board the forced-landing airship is as important as Giles claims, the military should have dispatched a more specialized rescue team.

Why send a young, inexperienced team?

Still shaken, Amon checked the mother-and-child insect compass and reassured everyone, as well as himself, saying:

"We're not far from our target. It's about five kilometers to the north. We'll see it once we cross the opposite hillside."

……

Braving the strong winds, the group took off again.

Amidst the roaring steam, we traversed valleys covered in mycelium and moss, finally arriving at the mountains where our destination was located.

However, the airship did not appear before them...

As far as the eye can see, there are only tiny purple mushrooms covering the entire hillside, like a wriggling carpet of fungi.

Roya stared at the spots on the surface of the small purple mushroom.

He immediately recognized it as the Blue Dream Purple Nightmare Mushroom, which was mentioned many times in the "Cloud Sea Burning Spirit Illustrated Manual" but had no separate entry or illustration.

It is blue and purple in color, and can change color when excited by phlogiston vapor of different purities.

High purity phlogiston is blue.

Low purity phlogiston results in a purple color.

It operates on the same principle as the dot-matrix micro-differential engine carried by the Blue Dragonfly.

"It seems that the pigment dot matrix inside the micro differential machine comes from the Blue Dream Purple Nightmare Mushroom!"

No wonder the pigment dot matrix inside the difference engine became unusually active as soon as it stepped onto the ground...

However, this mountain's geology and ecology were no different from the surrounding area, yet the Blue Dream Purple Nightmare Mushrooms were thriving, showing no signs of being eaten by the multi-winged flying insects.

Luo Ya pondered, a sense of foreboding creeping over him.

Amon stared at the compass in his hand, looking puzzled.

"Strange... The signal from the mother and offspring is very clear, indicating that the target is right beneath our feet."

In fact, the instant Luo Ya stepped onto the ground, his consciousness permeated the entire mountain from beneath his feet, and he had already discovered—

Inside the mountain, there was a huge cavity!

"If it's a very important difference engine, hiding the spacecraft inside a mountain is understandable."

This is how Roya explained it.

"How do you understand this? The airship comes equipped with its own excavator?"

Eamon muttered something.

Luo Ya casually offered a possible guess:

"It's also possible that the airship made an emergency landing in the valley and, in order to avoid being discovered by wild beasts or hunters, buried itself on the spot and disguised it as a hillside."

The Red Widow suddenly turned her head and stared intently at the blue dragonfly.

Inside the cockpit, only Amon could see the shock on Giles's face.

At the same time, Wendell, standing atop the mountain, slightly twitched his nostrils, reminding Roya:

"These purple mushrooms release hallucinogenic gas."

Fortunately, Roya had already sealed the cockpit in advance and was breathing through the internally circulated steam.

Upon hearing this, Giles immediately activated the armor's closed life support system.

Eamon covered his mouth.

Only Wendell turned around leisurely, seemingly unaffected by the pervasive colorless poisonous gas.

She frowned again and looked at the cliff in front of her.

Just then!

A hoarse, metallic sound suddenly came from in front of Wendell and behind the two armored vehicles—

"I never expected to encounter a fifth-tier transcendent being in a place like this! They're inside their armor and won't be affected. Someone like you with a damaged soul should be worried about yourself first."

A hunched-over man, almost inhuman in appearance, who was a fusion of machinery and mushrooms, stepped onto the edge of the cliff!

Wendell remained indifferent and silent.

The Red Widow slowly turned around.

Giles frowned.

He thought he had accidentally inhaled hallucinogenic mushroom fumes, which caused him to hallucinate.

At the same time, the miniature differential engine located in the central processing compartment of the Blue Dragonfly emitted a slight hum.

Luo Ya felt something was very strange.

He turned around, his gaze gradually freezing.

Within those contracting pupils, it seemed as if countless interlocking gears of fate were reflected.

He had seen this man before!

I've seen more than just...