Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix-Chapter 1339: Junkyard

That scene made Rain feel like he truly had to win no matter what, but could he? Even with so many allies, he couldn’t say that it was possible... The ordeal ahead of them was that massive. Regardless, the group stayed in that place for a while and kept moving between planet and planet... around the fifth location, after they entered the junkyard of the enemies, they soon raised their guard thanks to the things they found there...

As Rain and the others continued their exploration, they came across several large craters emitting smoke, situated amidst vast piles of trash that resembled mountains. These craters bore evidence of recent activity, suggesting that they had been the target of some significant impact or explosion. Given their size, it was likely that the enemies had noticed them, indicating a potential threat or danger lurking nearby. Or maybe the enemy had already vanished, but the machine gods should have realized it...

"Do you think that this was caused by the dragon god?" Elisabetha asked.

"I wouldn’t rule him out, considering that he isn’t exactly the cream of the crop when it comes to brain and normal behavior," Sakaki said. "The craters are pretty large, and we don’t know anyone else who can do this... Still, I can’t imagine what he was targeting by doing this."

The presence of these craters amidst the sprawling landscape of junk and debris heightened their sense of caution, prompting them to tread carefully and stay alert for any signs of imminent danger.

Rain moved around silently, but he didn’t find anything else or signs of people... considering what the king in the shadows said, they should be getting closer, but maybe they weren’t going to find anything, given that someone was trying to annoy the machine gods... or perhaps draw their focus to somewhere else.

"Are you guys still working on the map?" Rain asked.

"Yes, we are," Sakaki said. "Still, it is hard to confirm their locations, considering that Hardt was around seven hundred years ago. Things should have changed a fair bit since then."

"Who?" Rain furrowed his eyebrows.

"You know, the king in the shadows... calling him that is too mouthful," Sakaki said. freewebnσvel.cѳm

"Did you guys exchange contact info as well?" Rain asked. "Are you guys going out to drink something soon? It seems that you forget things quite fast, considering that you have been around for one hundred thousand years. As for me, I tend to hold a grudge against those who tried to kill me once or several times as he did."

"Being overly cautious and getting angry at old enemies is tiring even for me," Sakaki said. "So, I prefer to act like this."

Rain just shrugged... it was better to forget that. Nothing good would come out of it. In any case, after ten hours, the group finally reached their destination. Either the enemy didn’t notice them and the previous attack on the other planet, or they were playing dumb because their destination was completely empty and unguarded.

As the group landed on the planet, they were greeted by an eerie sight. The landscape was peculiar, with a dark sea of liquid stretching as far as the eye could see. Even from a distance, an unpleasant odor emanated from the oily substance. Upon closer inspection, Rain assumed that the liquid was thick and viscous, resembling oil.

Half-submerged within this dark sea lay a myriad of objects, partially buried and decaying amidst the murky depths. Among them were remnants of various vehicles: giant boxes, elongated structures, and peculiar contraptions that defied conventional design. One particularly striking sight was a vehicle equipped with multiple cannons yet devoid of wheels, hinting at its purpose as a weapon of war.

It became obvious to Rain and the group that they had stumbled upon a graveyard of machines and vehicles, abandoned and left to decay by the machine gods. Rain approached the vehicle to use Psychometry since it seemed that it would work since the vehicle wasn’t that damaged... Rain could see something like a melted engine behind it, but that was all.

After Rain used it, he began to obtain the data of the vehicle... but he only saw countless images of the surroundings and of the vehicle with nothing different... each frame seemed like a period of a day for the vehicle, so it had been there for quite a while... eventually, Rain gave up.

"We are in the right place, but this planet is too big," Sakaki said. "Considering the atmosphere here, most likely, the vessel fell apart without mana. There are no signs of mana in here."

"We left a bunch of relics behind... but I guess the machine gods should have picked them up by now," Rain said. "We at least need to confirm that since they are so busy and their notion of time is different from ours. That being said, it is clear that this place is one of the worst parts of their cosmic junkyard."

"How can we find the vessel?" Elisabetha asked.

Rain couldn’t teleport to a place that he didn’t where it was, and he also couldn’t use Remote Viewing on an object. Only a place that he had been or someone that he knew of, so the only option was to look the hard way. With that in mind, Rain began to move around.

Telling each other where they were was kind of hard in that place. The red sky, the dark sea, and the numerous abandoned vehicles made it hard for the group to differentiate those places from each other. Still, it didn’t take long before Rain felt Iori’s core pulsating with energy.

"What is it?" Rain asked.

"The woman called Isa is feeling a source of energy at your two o’clock," Iori said. "She says that it is a bit of energy left by a magic circle."

"It must be the core of the vessel..." Sakaki said. "Someone like her who knew the runes and magic circle for so long would easily feel that.