Chapter 425: Chapter 411 This is a Trap (1st Update)

The distant realm of the Void Swarm.

“How many people have survived?”

Hunter Rosh crouched in the corner, fiddling with a shell casing in her hand. She was the leader of the cleaning squad of the Transcendent Sanctuary and also a mixed-blood of the Eternals and the gods.

The law of the strongest mixed-blood did not apply here on the star map.

Her mother had been a goddess born under the blazing law, which resulted in Rosh’s Eternal traits being flawed. She would suffer damage related to anything involving flame.

Outsiders might find it amusing, which made Rosh detest the Demigod blood in her veins. This heritage hadn’t brought her any benefits, just endless trouble.

“Seven people… Captain, do we have a new mission?” The seven remaining members of the hunting squad sat down in front of Rosh.

They were the hunting squads of the Transcendent Sanctuary, tasked with nipping the four great calamities in the bud on the star map: Obliteration, Chaos, Abyss, and Void.

The other three major calamities, due to their scarce numbers, made it difficult to track down the whereabouts of that group of robots, and their relationship with the plane pirates was more one of the police and robbers rather than hunters.

Sometimes hunters would even trade with the plane pirates, for they could communicate, unlike things like the Void Swarm, but in most cases, after the pirates had plundered a plane, they would chase them down and lock them up in prison.

Thus, the hunters of the Transcendent Sanctuary could also be called the Law Enforcers of the star map.

“We have our next task.”

Rosh had no mood to mourn the comrades she had lost in this mission; the Sanctuary had lost over a hundred thousand mechanized units, while Rosh had lost more than seventy comrades who had fought beside her.

Among these comrades, some were gods, others were Transcendent beings, all from various planes of the star map, having become members of the Sanctuary after passing the ‘Ascension Trial’.

Initially, they believed the Transcendent Sanctuary was a sacred, majestic place, just like many devout believers thought of it as a heavenly space.

Yet, the organization of the sanctuary was very pragmatic, so much so that compared to a sacred site, it was more akin to an arms trade corporation that spanned the entire star map.

Indeed… an arms trade corporation. The internal structure of the Sanctuary could also be divided into six major arms dealers and countless smaller trading organizations.

These six major arms dealers used the power extracted from the six great calamities to craft various items, with the Sustainable Sanctuary, which Rosh served, using everything from the Void Swarm as material for research.

Therefore, her mission’s purpose, rather than annihilating the star map’s calamities, was more about collecting materials needed for research for the sanctuary.

She had thought she would rest after completing this mission, yet she had received another new mission.

“The target is Thorne, the Eternal Thorne… isn’t this the highest-reward target on the bounty? Unarmed too… Is this the sanctuary’s way of rewarding us?”

The young team members were unaware of Thorne’s past deeds; all they knew of Thorne was his swordsmanship, unrivaled across the star map, but that was all.

However skilled in swordsmanship one might be, it’s just swordsmanship. In the face of the formidable armors and weapons manufactured by the Sanctuary, the difference in personal skill was nearly negligible.

If a wooden sword couldn’t cut through their armor, what significance did superior swordsmanship hold?

This view was echoed by the other team members.

“Don’t relax, look at the detailed mission description.”

Upon seeing the name Thorne, Rosh crushed the shell casing she was twirling in her hand, but there was another detail in the mission brief that preoccupied her even more.

“The calamity we may encounter on this mission… the Devouring God… wasn’t the Devouring God already exterminated? Why does it still appear in the calamity guide?”

“Damn it! Just say the Sanctuary wants me dead outright!”

The team members felt a surge of pressure upon seeing the words “Devouring God” written under the column for catastrophe, as they were experts in dealing with disasters like the Void Swarm and the Abyss, which are common on the star charts.

Because they had been endowed with some traits of the Eternals, although they were not immortal like the true Eternals, their self-recovery abilities were far superior to many Transcendent beings on the star charts.

The only exception was the Devouring God–the Devouring God could even kill the true Eternals, making it exceptionally easy for them, the counterfeits who had inherited only part of those traits, to solve this.

“Get ready, the mission must be carried out,” Rosh threw away the bullet casing that had turned to dust in his hand.

“Is it still time to write a will now?”

“A will? I’ve never seen you this scared when we were exterminating insects.”

“Those void bugs can’t hurt me… But when the Devouring God’s descendants gather, is this really a mission our squad can handle?”

Fear began to spread within the squad, stemming both from the various horrific legends of the Devouring God circulating through the star charts and the pain they had to endure to carry out this mission.

“The teleportation beacon is connected!”

The engineer responsible for trans-dimensional teleportation said with a trembling voice.

“What is the outcome deciphered from the beacon? If the messages are things like ‘kill the outsiders’ and ‘sacrifice,’ don’t read them out,” Rosh said as he loaded bullets into his handgun’s magazine, “I’m tired of hearing them.”

This was the first time their squad was targeting the Devouring God’s catastrophe for cleansing. In previous teleportations to the realms of the Void Swarm and the Abyss, the beacons had transmitted a slew of negative messages, with ‘kill’ and ‘sacrifice’ being the most frequently heard.

“There’s quite a lot.”

“A lot?” Rosh paused while loading his gun; it was rare for catastrophes to communicate with outsiders, and it should be the same for the descendants of the Devouring God…

“Read it out,” Rosh said.

“Welcome to the Hunter Thorne competition. If you wish to challenge Thorne, you must first pass our trials…”

“Very common, somewhat like the declarations from the Annihilation Legion’s beacons. Anything else?” Rosh asked.

Beacons of the Annihilation Legion were mostly trial-based, but unfortunately, these guys took joy in annihilating weaker realms, a presence even worse than space pirates.

“Biland Island’s card duel competition is also being held simultaneously. Participants can win a wealth of treasures from the Devouring God, striving to become the number one mahjong master or landlord game master of the entire star chart!”

“What did you say?” Rosh’s hands froze while he was loading bullets when he heard this.

“And Captain, preparations for the Biland Island Ultimate Speed Contest are underway. Enter if you are confident in your driving skills and mounts. Additionally, during the beacon’s open period, lodging costs are only half price, but no meals are provided; visitors must bring their own food.”

The bullet Rosh was holding fell to the ground with a clear sound as he fought the urge to grab the engineer by the collar and demand if this was a joke.

Another team member asked directly…

“Did you redirect the beacon to some tourist dimension by mistake?”

“No, it’s definitely a dimension occupied by the Devouring God’s catastrophe. They’re also hosting a fishing competition… mentioning something about not enough event slots to put everything.”

“Captain.” The other team members also gathered around after seeing the information provided by the beacon, their questioning gazes turned to Rosh.

“Don’t let your guard down; it might be a trap by the enemy.”

Rosh finished loading his weapon and directly requested teleportation to the location issued by the beacon.