The contingent began a slow advance along the rugged rock shelf, pushing deeper into the interior of the mountains.
The two Ironclad mechs marched with heavy strides through the center of the formation, their metallic feet making dull thuds as they impacted the stone, providing reliable fire support for the entire team. Although the intense magnetic interference caused their precision sensors to trigger frequent error alerts, the baseline optical observation and acoustic detection systems remained operational.
The soldiers of the Hellfire squad scattered across the flanks and rear of the contingent with practiced tactical movements. Clad in heavy combat armor, they kept their plasma rifles continuously raised in a state of high readiness. Sergeant Reynolds periodically directed his team with hand signals to adjust their formation, ensuring every vector was effectively covered.
Asuka followed closely at Osiris's side, her gaze systematically scanning the surrounding environment. The suspended landmasses appeared and vanished dynamically within the swirling clouds and mist, while waterfalls cascaded down from high above, refracting a surreal halo of light through the water vapor.
She carefully avoided the loose stones beneath her feet, keeping her voice exceptionally low. "Danger could be lurking in every single corner here."
Osiris's line of sight rapidly swept across the rocky walls above and the mist ahead as he responded, "Maintain your vigilance and keep watch for any anomalies. For instance, shadows that shouldn't exist, or unnatural flow patterns in the water vapor."
As the contingent pushed deeper, visibility degraded further. Thick water vapor enveloped the entire valley, and the roar of the waterfalls reverberated continuously between the rock walls, nearly drowning out all other sound. The team members were forced to rely on hand signals and short-range communications to maintain contact.
Every single step required extreme caution. At its narrowest points, the rock shelf only permitted a single person to pass at a time. Below lay a bottomless chasm; occasionally, loose gravel would be knocked loose, plunging down without an echo returning even after a long while. From the rock faces above, minute stones occasionally rolled down, serving as a reminder of the hazards overhead. Within this mist-shrouded floating mountain sector, the difficulty of locating a deliberately concealed extraterrestrial starship was self-evident.
The deeper they entered the core zone of the Hallelujah Mountains, the more hostile the environment became. The dense water vapor not only blurred their vision but also coated the rock surfaces in a layer of slick moss, making every step fraught with risk. The massive, bizarrely shaped floating landmasses acted like walls in a labyrinth, obscuring any sense of direction. The intense magnetic interference rendered compasses and most electronic navigation equipment completely useless, leaving them to rely entirely on the memory fragments being continuously compared and corrected in Osiris's mind to guide their path.
"Damn this hellhole!" a Hellfire squad member cursed, his foot slipping as he nearly plunged off the cliffside. Fortunately, his companion beside him was quick-witted and agile enough to grab a hold of him. He cursed under his breath as he steadied his footing, his heart hammering in reverse.
"Stay focused!" Sergeant Reynolds's stern voice echoed through the squad channel. "Watch your step, watch your perimeter! Falling off isn't the only way to die out here!"
His warning was not unfounded. Pandora's jungle was omnipresent; even in this sector seemingly composed of nothing but rock and rushing water, lethal hazards lay in ambush. Just as the contingent was navigating a narrow, natural stone bridge, attempting to cross the abyss between two floating mountains, a sudden anomaly erupted.
From the dense fog swirling beneath the stone bridge, several tentacles—as rapid as whips, their tips armed with razor-sharp bone spurs—shot violently upward! The targets were locked directly onto the technical support personnel at the center of the formation: Rebecca and Falco!
"Ambush!" Dorio's warning and the sound of the tentacles tearing through the air erupted almost simultaneously.
Standing nearby, Asuka's reflexes were incredibly sharp. Operating almost entirely on instinct, she lunged forward, forcefully shoving Rebecca out of the way just as she was looking down to calibrate her equipment! The bone-spurred tentacle cut through the vicious wind, grazing past her back and slicing a tear into her exploration suit.
"Valerie!" Maine roared, simultaneously raising his weapon to fire a burst toward the vector where the tentacles had emerged. His plasma beams vanished into the thick fog, drawing a sharp, piercing shriek.
"On it!"
The massive frame of Valerie's Ironclad mech unleashed a level of agility that defied its sheer size. The shoulder weapons platform unlocked instantly, the rotary cannon spinning up with a dull hum as a scorching barrage of rounds poured down into the mist-shrouded area beneath the bridge like a metallic storm!
"Establish a defensive line!" Jake's voice echoed from the other Ironclad mech. His grey machine took a heavy step forward, its thick armor shield slamming onto the ground with a loud whoosh to provide cover for the personnel behind him, while the light rapid-fire cannon on its arm opened fire simultaneously, intertwining with Valerie's mech to form a deadly crossfire.
The Hellfire squad reacted with high efficiency as well, utilizing the natural cover of the stone bridge to lay down suppressing fire toward potential target coordinates below. For a time, the discharge of firearms, cannon fire, the shrieks of the organism, and the roaring of the waterfalls wove together into a deafening din.
The moment the ambush transpired, Osiris had already been instinctively shielded behind Maine and Dorio. He did not panic, his calm gaze sweeping across the battlefield as he rapidly evaluated the parameters of the engagement.
"It is not a large predator; it is an ambush-type flora! Strike its primary mass—it sits in the recess of the left rock face beneath the bridge!" His voice entered everyone's ears clearly and precisely via the communicators. Thanks to Celtic's memory fragments, he possessed a direct understanding of the behavioral traits of Pandora's various hazardous organisms.
"You heard the Doctor! Concentrate firepower on the left rock face!" Sergeant Reynolds immediately repeated the command.
The combined firepower of the two Ironclad mechs and the Hellfire squad shifted instantly, heavily bombarding the sector indicated by Osiris. Under the saturated fire coverage, a distorted mass of flesh resembling a massive sea anemone—previously hidden amidst the moss and shadows—was blasted into flying fluids. Letting out a final, agonizing wail, it loosened its prehensile appendages from the rock face and plummeted into the endless chens below. The attacking tentacles immediately went limp, drooping down and dissolving along with it.
The skirmish was brief yet intense. Only after confirming the threat was fully neutralized did the squad members breathe a sigh of relief.
"Rebecca, Falco, you alright?" Maine asked.
"Y-Yeah, we're good," Rebecca climbed up from the ground, her nerves still slightly rattled, before looking at Asuka. "Thanks, kid."
Asuka brushed the dust off her suit, letting out a self-satisfied hmph to project an easy demeanor. "Hmph, piece of cake. But watch your gear next time, tech nerd."
Osiris walked over to Asuka's side, glancing at the tear on the back of her exploration suit. "Are you injured?"
"Just a scratch, it's nothing," Asuka shrugged dismissively, though a minute flicker of warmth crossed her eyes at being asked, before she immediately shifted the topic. "Doc, how did you know that thing's weakness was right there?"
"Careful observation and rigorous analysis," Osiris explained simply, offering no deeper elaboration. He turned toward the rest of the contingent. "Verify your gear and confirm our casualty status. We've burned some time; we must maintain the advance."
Following a quick assessment, aside from a few soldiers sustaining minor scrapes while evading and the scratch across Asuka's back, there were no severe casualties. The contingent organized themselves briefly before stepping back onto the path of the expedition.
Following this abrupt ambush, everyone's nerves were wound significantly tighter. This beautiful yet lethal floating mountain sector had used its most direct method to proclaim its inviolable laws. And the objective they sought remained hidden somewhere behind this veil of mist and treacherous peaks.