Chapter 443: Abyssal Scar [2]
Within the past hour of observation with the C-5 drones and with the deep scanners of the Zerphyr-7 Stealth Reconnaissance UAV, Leon more or less confirmed all the information that he already got from Ren Nora.
By now, he also confirmed that it was impossible to fly past the Abyssal Scar and make it directly to the North, to the territory of the Synth Order.
To make it North, you would either have to go there through the ocean or you’ll have to fly around the Abyssal Scar which essentially equates to flying around the continent itself.
To test the waters, a few minutes ago, he already tried by sending the stealth aircraft above the deep fog-filled crater.
Well, the result of the experiment was that Leon almost lost one of his most priced constructs as barely 5 kilometers in, a leviathan stirred and rose from the deep fog-filled crater.
The aircraft’s sensors didn’t even sense the Neon Beast completely before Leon ordered it to retreat as a vast, all-encompassing shadow that seemed to spread across hundreds of meters rose from the depths of the crater.
Leon judged that it was an avian predator, and he was right when a Neon Beast with the wings and scales of a Dragon, the head of a Vulture, with 4 legs like a Wolf dove out of the crater.
By then, the Zerphyr-7 already swiftly retreated.
Even while hiding in stealth, this Neon Beast was still able to detect the passage of the stealth aircraft and that terrified Leon.
He simply couldn’t wrap his head around how that was possible since the aircraft’s sensors never detected anything locking on it till the shadow emerged.
Besides, when that Neon Beast emerged and Leon felt the density of its ADE wash over him...
He doubled down and patted himself on the back for taking this conservative approach because without a doubt, that was a C Rank Neon Beast!
Encountering a C Rank Neon Beast just 5 kilometers across the crater was already crazy enough when this crater spanned thousands of kilometers from the border separating the Central Belt to the North.
Apart from that important empirical result to tell him that recklessly exploring the Abyssal Scar was dangerous, Leon waited for another data result and this one would only come at night, which was now.
It happened immediately it was 7:20pm.
It was already night as the sky became even dimmer than during the day, and that was when the thick bioluminescent fog in the crater suddenly surged.
BZZZ!
Drone Control Matrix!
As his grayish white ADE flared, through the eyes of his C-5 drones, for a moment Leon thought he saw the fog losing some of its living characteristics, becoming less purposeful and becoming more random and natural.
And then, it flowed from the depths of the crater past the borders of the Scar, spilling over the edge and into the world beyond, climbing up the hill where Leon erected his camp.
Seeing the fog climb up, he tensed.
If he hadn’t been experiencing this same fog every day for the past 9 months since awakening in this world, he would have thought he was in danger.
But he was not.
The fog swept harmlessly past his base and far into the distance, becoming less dense and diluting the more it spread.
After a few minutes, Leon felt that the fog had spread so far that it now engulfed the entire landmass that was now Neo-Tokara.
He sighed. ’I guess that solves 1 mystery’.
’But,’ he looked into the depths of the crater that with the fog diluted now looked more transparent and thought darkly. ’Where exactly is all this fog coming from? It can’t be natural right?’
Leon had a lot of questions, but if the encounter with the dangerous avian Neon Beast taught him anything, it was to be patient.
And so he kept observing from his base instead of making a reckless move.
A few minutes after the fog spilled out, the C-5 drones picked out dozens of Neon Beasts gradually emerging from the crater, going out across the land to hunt for food with rabid hunger burning in their mad bestial eyes.
’That solves another mystery I guess’.
This confirmed that the Omnicore Federation were right; the Abyssal Scar was indeed one of the great factories for Neon Beasts in Neo-Tokara.
None of them approached his base though because of his stealth measures that he amplified when night approached.
Leon observed till around 10pm, recording more and more Neon Beasts coming out of the crater to hunt, then he finally went to bed to rest, leaving surveillance to his A.I.
Early the next morning around 6, Leon woke up and got confirmation from Davis that nothing significant happened.
The only major event that happened was a D Rank Neon Beast emerging from the crater close to the base.
Unlike the weaker Neon Beasts, the Bull sensed the hidden base.
To distract it, Davis sent a Doom Rover v0.1 to the distance which distracted and lured the Neon Beast away from the base.
Another fact was that around 2pm, most of the Neon Beasts that went out in the night started returning to the crater.
After waking up, for hours Leon watched more of them return to the crater, some of them bleeding heavily from battles that they fought that night.
He even saw bullets riddling the hides of some of them.
There was no Town this close to the Abyssal Scar, but a few kilometers away there is a Major City, Crown Gate, one of the major cities of the Omnicore Federation.
Crown Gate is the Federation City that’s closest to the Abyssal Scar, and like expected it was heavily fortified and equipped to take on the Neon Beasts that crawl out of the gigantic crater every day.
Leon sent a few invisible C-5 drones out there to go spy on the Major Federation City to see how they handled the Neon Beasts.
The Federation Army stationed there were nothing short of efficient, but the Neon Beasts were deadly too as most of them were led by D Rank champions.
But the Federation Army repelled them in the end.
When it was finally past 6 in the morning, Leon noticed another change as slowly, the bioluminescent fog encompassing the world started receding, returning into the crater as slowly they regained their subtle living properties.
Leon felt bothered. ’What is the true source of the fog?’
Just like yesterday, he had no answers but this time, Leon knew that he couldn’t stay idle anymore.
He didn’t have all the time in the world to build a base and observe.
It was time to take action.
Leon lingered slightly, looking into the depths of the gigantic crater with a grim look on his face, then he sighed and said.
"Deploy".
...
[Special Appreciation to ImperialJadeDragon for the Golden Tickets, thanks for the support man!]
