Chapter 127: Storage Room and Hatchery

The Black-haired Girl turned around, revealing a somewhat subtle expression to the group that had followed closely behind.

“As you can see, this is likely the true birthplace of the Abyss Beasts.”

The number of sealed Abyss Beasts in this grand hall was far too many, like a hive stacked with bees; if they all got released, the number raging outside would likely triple.

Even Vilyric felt a chill run down her spine at such a scene. She wasn’t afraid herself, but if the allied forces’ defensive line were breached, and such a quantity of Abyss Beasts poured into the nations, it would be a true disaster.

She had initially thought that Abyss Beasts were some kind of life form inhabiting the Abyss, or at least special beings created by the Earth Mother Goddess, but the sight before her overturned most of Miss Priestess’s assumptions.

The Abyss Beasts were artificially mass-produced using methods akin to biotechnology.

Well… of course, how could these endless killing and devouring entities come from natural evolution, and how could they coexist with other life forms?

Of course, there must be a connection with Xi Fu, but what exactly is the Abyss?

“Unbelievable… these strange pods… Miss Vilyric, could it be that you’ve seen something similar before?”

The speaker was a female priest from the temple named Leona. Experience told her that Vilyric’s behavior and expressions were unusual.

Vilyric didn’t intend to reveal her secret as a transmigrator. She had a quite reasonable explanation for this inquiry.

“I once saw similar devices in someone’s… memory fragments. They should be something not belonging to this world, and I still don’t quite understand their origin. I never expected to see them here.”

“Memory fragments, huh…”

As a priestess serving the gods, the flow of souls was no secret to Leona. Although Vilyric’s words amounted to little, they were indeed plausible.

Now was not the time for intrigue. Leona, after testing the waters slightly and seeing that the Black-haired Girl had no intention of elaborating, prudently fell silent and instead let Sigrid step forward.

“Vilyric, we absolutely cannot let these Abyss Beasts leave the Magic Island. There are too many; once they hit the battlefield, all defenses will collapse in no time. Since you’ve seen something like this before, do you know how to exterminate them?”

“Well, even if you ask me that…”

Direct attacks would definitely not work. These Abyss Beasts were not juvenile forms still in development; they simply hadn’t awakened and begun their activities yet. Without understanding the situation, smashing those incubation pods might backfire.

Of course, Miss Priestess had means to wipe out all the Abyss Beasts in this hall, or even the entire Magic Island, in one go. However, unless absolutely necessary, Vilyric didn’t want to forcibly resolve the issue with brute force.

After all, the secrets here were not completely unraveled yet, and she also had to consider the potential consequences of high-level magic.

“I think we shouldn’t rush to deal with those Abyss Beasts right now; they’re not taking action for the time being. Let’s proceed further and see what else might be deeper inside.”

The Black-haired Girl pointed to the entrance on the other side of the hall, which resembled a typical palace main door, only a few meters high, directly made from that lifeless gray vine material.

Clearly, this hall was not the terminus in the true sense.

“Is that so…? Alright, then let’s go with your suggestion.”

As decision-makers of the small groups, Vilyric and Sigrid came to an agreement, and naturally, others had no objections. Everyone stepped onto the damp floor soaked in incubation fluid, continuing onward with soft thuds.

Upon arriving at the door, just as Vilyric was about to figure out how to open this “biological door,” the vines naturally parted to both sides, much like an automatic glass door in a high-end hotel on the Blue Star.

“Huh?”

Miss Priestess furrowed her brow.

Was this the designed principle, or had something inside already discovered these uninvited guests and was doing it intentionally?

Moreover, clearly before they came, Abyss Beasts would occasionally emerge from the caves on the island. Yet after their infiltration, they hadn’t encountered a single living enemy.

Could it be that the grand hall truly was the only production or storage point for the Abyss Beasts, and someone behind the scenes intentionally paused the awakening process, awaiting their arrival?

Interesting, this does resemble an emergency defense system set up after an invasion by an external enemy.

“Be careful, everyone; a battle might occur soon. The enemies likely won’t consist solely of ordinary Abyss Beasts.”

“Yes, Master.”

In response to the declaration of battle, the Little Dragon Daughter immediately replied, and the others quickly drew their weapons, preparing for the conflict.

Then, they all stepped through the door.

Compared to the dim grand hall, this place suddenly flooded with light.

The abrupt brightness might cause most creatures temporary blindness, but for Vilyric, it had no effect whatsoever.

She squinted, looking at her surroundings.

“What is this? The previous area was a storage room; is this place a production line? Quite an assembly line… or perhaps some sort of special mechanism?”

Barely audible whispers slipped from the Black-haired Girl’s lips, while the others regained their sight after a short period of blindness.

“Glug… glug…”

An ominous sound echoed in the air.

If the outside caves on the Magic Island were like half-blooming flower buds, then here, each of those meat pods, also made from vine material, were completely closed flower buds.

Or we could call them “cocoons.”

Though there were significant differences in color, texture, and size, these meat cocoons undoubtedly resembled the “Desecration Pods” from the Forgotten Land they encountered before.

It was as if… they were different works by the same designer.

Those lifeless gray meat cocoons were fixed upright in the ground, seeming to wrap something inside, writhing and contracting at a certain frequency, with those glug-glug sounds emitted in the process.

“What the… are they here too?!”

Sigrid’s entire body trembled, her white feathers standing on end like an alert cat, and without thinking, she fired a shot aimed straight at the nearest gray meat cocoon!

Vilyric didn’t stop her. The number of “cocoons” here was far fewer than outside, only a few dozen, and the vine door re-closed behind them, isolating the hall from this space.

In other words, even if a fight broke out here, it shouldn’t affect the outside.

“Thunk.”

That peculiar-looking meat cocoon didn’t exhibit much defensive power or toughness. In one move, the anger-fueled captain sliced it in half, and what was inside tumbled out.

   

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