NOVGO.NET Chapter 158: The Exploration Team Is Wiped Out
Chapter 158: Chapter 158: The Exploration Team Is Wiped Out
At that moment, Captain Griffith slowly rose to the surface.
Blocks of ice formed beneath his feet, sparkling like clear diamonds. They supported his body and lifted him step by step.
Soon, he stood completely above the water, his feet resting on the diamond-like ice.
Only then did he shake the seawater off his body and stare at the deck of the "Daddy" Cannon in the distance.
"It looks like the Kevin we’ve been searching for is on that ship."
The members of the exploration team followed Griffith’s gaze.
At the bow of the "Daddy" Cannon, Nova stood with her arms spread wide like a beautiful elf.
A soft, haunting song began to echo over the sea.
Suddenly, thick fog rose from the surface of the water.
Even the violent storm could not blow the fog away.
Mario’s eyes widened at once.
"Damn it! We’re under attack by Eldritch Entities!"
The moment he spoke, terrifying Eldritch Entities began to appear all around them.
Every member of the Grion family’s exploration team had fallen into the sea. They had nowhere to stand.
Against Eldritch Entities that lived in the ocean year-round, they had no advantage at all.
"Damn it! They’ve got me!" Elite member Bruto screamed.
A huge force dragged his body beneath the waves.
A moment later, painful screams and roars came from under the sea.
Pieces of flesh slowly floated to the surface, all belonging to dead Eldritch Entities.
Then Bruto burst out of the water again, holding two long blades.
He stared coldly at Nova on the bow of the "Daddy" Cannon and shouted, "Can any of you stop her? Mario, why don’t you just shoot her?"
Mario rolled his eyes at Bruto.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about? That’s Lady Nova—the vessel of Lord Pelosi. If you hurt her, the evil god himself will take your life."
Bruto pulled his neck back nervously, looking troubled.
"So what? Are we just supposed to let these Eldritch Entities keep attacking us?"
Captain Griffith coughed twice.
"Get your asses up here! We deal with these Eldritch Entities first."
As soon as he spoke, the blocks of ice beneath his feet quickly spread outward, forming a square sheet of ice about a hundred meters across.
Mario, Bruto, and the other exploration team members climbed onto the ice, finally able to stand properly again.
"Damn Eldritch Entities. Let’s see how you handle this," Elite member Freddy snorted.
He raised the staff in his hand and began chanting.
Soon, strange and difficult words echoed across the sea.
The sky, already covered in dark clouds, grew even darker.
Kevin stood beside Nova and looked up.
Black clouds gathered overhead, thick as ink. Large amounts of water vapor and lightning built up inside them.
It was the first time Kevin had seen a Survivor use magic on such a large scale.
Without thinking, he ordered Jarvis to activate the electromagnetic shield.
Before the shield could fully form, lightning began to fall from the clouds.
White bolts tore through the night sky and struck the sea.
The Eldritch Entities summoned by Nova were hit by the lightning. Some died instantly, while others were freed from Nova’s mental control by the lightning’s cleansing power.
The Eldritch Entities that broke free from Nova’s control began struggling wildly. They attacked everything around them, including their own kind.
For a moment, the sea fell into chaos.
Using the floating ice as platforms, the seven trapped members of the exploration team slowly moved toward the "Daddy" Cannon.
Bruto shouted arrogantly, "Damn it, Kevin! Just wait until we get over there. The first thing we’ll do is cut off your head and use it as a ball!"
Kevin grinned.
"You really want me to start talking trash, huh?"
Bruto heard Kevin’s voice and became even more arrogant.
"I’m afraid you don’t have the guts!"
Kevin laughed loudly.
"Talking trash? Of course I do. Listen up, asshole—every piece of trash around here, get over here and kill him!"
Kevin’s voice was so loud that it spread across the sea for several kilometers.
It even continued to travel farther through the vibration of the waves.
Soon, the sea around them began to churn violently.
Bruto’s eyes went wide. "What the hell is going on?"
Griffith and Mario immediately sensed that something was wrong.
They both looked up and watched the waters around them.
Far out on the horizon, heads of Eldritch Entities began rising from the sea.
They slowly moved closer. Only when they came within one kilometer of the floating ice did the Grion family’s exploration team finally notice them all.
Elite member Freddy gave a cold laugh.
"They’ve just brought me more targets. My lightning can kill a thousand Eldritch Entities."
Kevin laughed when he heard the number.
"Really? Then take your time."
More and more Eldritch Entities started gathering around them.
They blocked the floating ice from moving and attacked the exploration team without stopping.
No matter how hard the team fought back, the Eldritch Entities never stopped coming. There were simply too many of them.
About ten minutes later, Elite member Freddy began to feel weak.
His legs shook, and he could barely hold onto his staff.
Seeing how exhausted he was, Captain Griffith pulled him behind the others.
Griffith waved his arms, and the floating ice beneath them quickly expanded, forming a small island about three hundred meters wide.
With this new ground beneath them, the seven explorers finally had room to fight.
As Eldritch Entities climbed onto the ice, the team drew their weapons and fought them at close range.
Only then did Freddy, pale-faced and exhausted, look at Kevin across the water and realize how dangerous he truly was.
Suddenly, Bruto made one careless mistake and was dragged beneath the sea again by the Eldritch Entities.
He tried to use the same move as before, swinging his blades to cut through the arms pulling him down.
But this time, when his blade struck one of the arms, a powerful shock ran up through his hands.
Bruto’s hands went numb.
The sound of metal striking metal echoed underwater.
He opened his eyes in surprise and finally saw what was dragging him down.
It was an underwater robot.
When Bruto saw the robot make such a human-like expression, his eyes widened in shock.
"By order of the Sovereign, I’m sending you to meet God."
The underwater robot gave a quiet laugh, then pulled out a harpoon and stabbed it into Bruto’s stomach. Blood poured out into the sea.
The smell of blood immediately drove the nearby Eldritch Entities into a frenzy.
The other exploration team members standing on the ice realized that Bruto was dead. Their expressions turned serious at once.
Mario raised his sniper rifle and aimed at Kevin from far away.
Bang!
The bullet cut through the air and flew straight toward Kevin’s forehead.
But an electromagnetic shield suddenly appeared in midair and blocked the bullet.
Mario cursed under his breath. "Damn it!"
He was about to lower his rifle and deal with the Eldritch Entities around him when a red light suddenly landed on his body.
His quick movements immediately slowed down until he could not move at all.
He stood there like a frozen statue while the nearby Eldritch Entities tore into him and devoured his flesh.
He struggled to move his eyes. Just before he died, he saw the human who had frozen him in place.
It was Luna.
If Bruto’s death had damaged the exploration team’s morale, then Mario’s death completely destroyed their ability to fight.
Without Bruto’s long-range support, and with Freddy’s mental strength nearly gone, the remaining team members were forced to fight on their own.
Griffith gritted his teeth in anger. He looked up at Kevin and shouted, "All you know how to do is attack from far away? If you’ve got the guts, come out and fight us one-on-one!"
Kevin laughed as if he had just heard a joke.
"I’m standing right here. If you want to fight me, come over here."
Griffith cursed Kevin for being shameless, but Kevin did not care at all.
Based on the strength the exploration team had shown so far, any one of them alone was no weaker than the Black Knight Aaron or the Lone Wolf Draven.
But Kevin was no longer the same man he had been more than two weeks ago.
Griffith was no longer strong enough to fight Kevin one-on-one.
Ten minutes later, the huge sheet of ice, three hundred meters across, shattered completely.
The entire Third Exploration Team, led by Griffith, was wiped out.
Kevin glanced at the bodies floating on the sea, then turned and walked back to the cockpit. He restarted the engines.
"Let’s head to the next location."
Not long after Kevin left, several ships passed through the area one after another.
The lead flagship stopped beside the floating ice where the exploration team had died.
The Black Knight Aaron and the Lone Wolf Draven looked at the mangled bodies and frowned.
Bruto, who had sent both of them flying only a few days earlier, now had a hole through his stomach.
The sight sent a chill through them.
"What kind of enemy could wipe out all seven of them?" the Black Knight Aaron asked in confusion.
The Lone Wolf Draven rubbed his chin. His face looked grim.
"There are at least several thousand dead Eldritch Entities here. They must have been attacked by a huge swarm of them."
The Black Knight Aaron froze for a moment.
"That’s impossible. With their strength, they should have been able to escape by ship, even if more than ten thousand Eldritch Entities surrounded them."
As soon as he said this, he suddenly realized something. His face filled with surprise.
"Wait. Where’s their ship?"
The Black Knight Aaron and the Lone Wolf Draven looked around, but they could not find a single piece of wreckage.
In fact, after the "Daddy" Cannon smashed through the exploration team’s ship, Kevin had taken advantage of the chaos and stored the ship, which had been broken in half, inside his "Mechanical Kingdom."
Because of this, the most important piece of evidence was missing from the scene. The Black Knight Aaron and the Lone Wolf Draven began to suspect all kinds of possibilities.
In the end, they contacted Darius and Sindra and reported everything that had happened.
When Messi Grion learned that his family’s elite team had been completely wiped out, his expression became extremely grim.
He immediately turned to Darius and said coldly, "Where is Justin’s vassal army? Why haven’t they arrived yet? I want you to catch up with Kevin immediately and kill him."