The fire of destruction on Dark Tide Island gradually diminished on the emerald-green sea horizon, eventually turning into an ominous wisp of black smoke on the edge of the world, merging into the low-hanging dark clouds. The Living Wood Submariner rode the powerful ocean currents summoned by Yuyuer, deftly navigating through the aftermath of the explosion toward a temporarily safe route. On board, the fifteen rescued survivors huddled together in the cabin, their eyes vacant, mixed with the relief of escaping death and bewilderment about the future. The horrors of Dark Tide Island had utterly shattered their previous world.
Celestia stood at the stern, her four wings folded, black feathers trembling slightly in the sea breeze, reflecting the distant firelight that had not yet fully dissipated. Her fists were clenched tightly, nails digging into her palms. "Elios... Lab 52... 'Emerald Heart'... Posera Island..." Each word burned into her heart like a branding iron. Hope flickered like embers in ruins, faint yet tenacious, but the path ahead was completely shrouded by the massive shadow of the Doomsday Rebirth organization—"Holy North Nest" and that mysterious Virginia.
Fa approached her side, her right eye's star pupil swirling with deep azure, also reflecting the final afterglow of the sinking island. "We will find him, Celestia." Her voice was calm, yet it contained a steel-like will, piercing through the roar of the waves. "Whether in the elves' emerald tree sea or the depths of hell's nest. This fire," she pointed to the remaining dark red glow on the sea horizon behind them, "is just the beginning. The sins of Doomsday Rebirth will be uprooted entirely." A flash of icy determination crossed her star pupil.
The bow cleaved through the emerald-green waves, steadfastly heading toward Teardrop Bay. The shadows of the deep sea had been torn apart, the secrets of the dark nest initially revealing their ferocious face, and the flames of revenge and redemption had only just been ignited.
Doomsday Rebirth's Fury: Assembly of Remote Projections
Almost at the same moment when Dark Tide Island's core reactor overloaded and exploded, turning into underwater ruins.
In an unlocatable vast virtual space filled with cold technological vibes and eerie magical circuits, several holographic projections of varying forms suddenly lit up. At the central main seat, a figure was enveloped in dense darkness, its face covered by a featureless pure black mask with only two eye holes. Beneath the mask, the left eye was like the deepest emerald green, swirling with the gloom of ancient forests and soul-corroding toxic evil; the right eye resembled agate soaked in endless blood pools, burning with madness, destruction, and all-consuming crimson light! Just a glance from those eyes caused ripples of chaos in the virtual space's data streams.
"Convene." The person with heterochromatic pupils emitted a low, emotionless voice that made souls tremble, penetrating the spatial barriers.
The projections quickly solidified:
West (Blood Elf): Silver hair like snow, blood-red pupils demonic. Between his pale fingers, crystalline blood threads coiled and flowed like living things, emanating an eerie magical aura of controlling the essence of life.
Cthulhu (Soul Entity Clan): His illusory figure was wrapped in countless rusted soul chains, with faintly emerging dense, pale, twisted arm phantoms behind him, silently clawing at the boundaries of space as if to drag all living beings into eternal soul abysses. Pure soul pressure froze the surrounding data streams.
Virginia (Human): She elegantly crossed her legs, sitting on a luxurious high-backed chair constructed from data streams. Her hand, gloved in black velvet, supported her perfectly lined chin. A wide hood cast shadows, revealing only dark purple lips and a small section of chin as cold as porcelain. She exuded absolute control, icy calculation, and... an elegant appreciation for destructive chaos.
Shux (Beastman): The projection resembled a moving mountain of filth! Dirty brownish-green skin covered rock-like knotted muscles, a massive curved blade sword flickering with energy serrations' cold light. His body had undergone crude mechanical modifications, metallic prosthetics grotesquely fused with native muscles. The remaining single eye flashed with pure destruction and brutal murky yellow light, his throat emitting low, inhuman gurgles.
Wolf (Dwarf): Clad in streamlined black heavy armor etched with shadow runes, wielding a giant rune war axe nearly as tall as himself. His short stature emanated a mountain-like heavy oppression, with ominous magical glows flowing through the armor's seams, the axe blade pulsing with ghostly light as if it could tear space.
WingSeris (Wing Clan): Her projection was pure almost to sanctity! Plump wings not like Celestia's demonic and black angelic ones, but white, immaculate, flowing with soft halos—"angelic" wings. Her exquisitely beautiful face carried a noble compassion for the world, corners of her mouth in a gentle smile, eyes initially filled with wisdom and boundless mercy, like a savior descending to the mortal realm. However, upon closer inspection, the deepest part of those clear eyes was a void of indifference, as if the life and death of all things were irrelevant to her, merely a drama worth appreciating.
Maris (Mechanical Lifeform): The last projection to light up, emanating an aura entirely different from Rex's. Its main body was composed of flowing "living metal" flickering with ghostly blue and dark gold patterns, its form fluidly switching between humanoid and various combat modes. Countless tiny light points like neurons or magical circuits blinked on its surface. It had no distinct face, only a central core optical sensor on the head constantly changing geometric patterns, exuding absolute rational coldness and efficiency. Its tech tree seemed more inclined toward bio-metal and magical circuit fusion, rather than Rex's pure nano-tech and energy weapons.
"Hmph, those two arrogant bastards absent again?" Shux's mechanical throat emitted a grating friction sound, his single eye scanning the two empty seats, yellow light filled with disdain and brutality. "Joined the organization till now, haven't even seen their shadows! Damn posers!"
WingSeris let out an ethereal, pleasant yet utterly cold light laugh, her pure white wings slightly folding: "Hehehe... Cute newbie, rein in that laughable courage. Even the 'BOSS' tolerates their independence. If you have the skill to summon them, then spout your nonsense."
"Enough." The heterochromatic-pupiled person spoke, voice not loud, yet instantly suppressing all noise, the virtual space condensing for it. Those heterochromatic pupils turned to Virginia: "Virginia, you have an emergency matter."
Virginia elegantly leaned forward slightly, dark purple lips parting lightly, voice like ice beads falling on a plate, clear and cold: "Yes, Lord. Just a few hours ago, our important vulnerability in the northern seas—'Life Workshop No. 9: Dark Tide Island'—issued an alert—and was completely destroyed five minutes ago."
"What?!" "Dark Tide Island?!" "How is that possible!" Except for the BOSS and Virginia herself, the other projections erupted with varying degrees of shock and anger. West's blood threads between fingers surged violently; Cthulhu's pale arm phantoms behind him danced madly; Wolf gripped his war axe tighter, armor humming; Shux let out a low roar; WingSeris's compassionate smile remained unchanged, but her eyes deepened; Maris's core sensor lights flickered rapidly, seemingly analyzing at high speed.
Virginia took a deep breath and continued: "The intruders were a well-trained team. They infiltrated Dark Tide Island, first cutting off the data transmission network, destroying all video data, demolishing the clone factory. My subordinate Dekli is also missing, and they even triggered the self-destruct protocol, blowing the entire island to ruins. They rescued 15 'materials,' possibly obtaining partial data from the database, leaving us unable to track their appearances and numbers."
"Trash!" Shux roared, his mechanical arm smashing the virtual ground, stirring data ripples. "Virginia, your subordinate Dekli is too weak, letting the lab get taken out!"
"Quiet." The BOSS's voice rang again, heterochromatic pupils sweeping over everyone, that emerald and blood-red light as if freezing thoughts. "The loss of Dark Tide Island is the organization's shame and a warning. These damn rats have gone from a minor itch to a tumor that must be eradicated immediately." His gaze fell on Virginia: "Virginia, the strongholds near 'Dark Tide Island.' You are fully in charge, mobilize necessary resources, ensure those rats are thoroughly erased. If necessary... use the strongholds as bait and graveyards."
"As you command, BOSS." Virginia bowed slightly, the shadow under her hood concealing the cold curve at the edge of her dark purple lips.
"All other workshops and strongholds," the BOSS's heterochromatic pupils scanned West, Cthulhu, Wolf, Shux one by one, "immediately elevate to highest alert level. Activate 'Shadow Net,' track all traces of these rats."
"And me? Old man." WingSeris responded lightly with contempt.
"Your stronghold is near Posera Island's periphery. If necessary, provide support to Virginia, ensure nothing goes wrong. I don't want to see a second Dark Tide Island." The BOSS's tone carried an unquestionable command.
"As per your will." WingSeris smiled, her eyes still compassionate yet empty.
"Maris," the BOSS finally looked at the flowing mechanical lifeform, "analyze how the intruders destroyed the data, ruined all footage, find out who the intruders really are. Simultaneously, upgrade all workshops' mechanical defense protocols; I don't want any tech vulnerabilities."
"Command received. Analysis and upgrade procedures initiated." Maris's core sensor flickered steadily.
"Dismissed." The heterochromatic-pupiled BOSS's projection dimmed and vanished first. Following, the other projections dissipated into streams of light one after another, leaving only Virginia's projection lingering for a moment in the virtual space. She gazed toward Posera Island, her dark purple lips moving silently as if saying: "The game... has become more interesting." Then, the projection completely annihilated.
The virtual space returned to darkness and silence, a deadly encirclement targeting Fa and her group already invisibly laid out like a heavenly net.
Swift Winds Southward: Soaring of Shadow Wings
Meanwhile, on Fa's side, the dilapidated docks of Teardrop Bay revealed their outlines in the morning mist. The Living Wood Submariner quietly docked, and Fa's group first escorted the fifteen physically and mentally exhausted survivors onto solid ground. Entrusting them to a small local group secretly organized by old sailors that could barely provide shelter, Fa solemnly warned: "Hide yourselves well, forget everything you've seen, and live on. Doomsday Rebirth's tentacles are everywhere, but we will sever them."
The survivors nodded with tears, watching this team that changed their fates depart. Kayla roughly hoisted the weakened Dekli, her eyes venomous with injury and despair, over her shoulder like a sack of sand.
"What's next?" TISK hefted his Lava Hammer, ice-fire patterns faintly appearing on the hammerhead. "Take a ship to that Posera Island? Rex, estimate the time!"
Rex's electronic eyes scanned the southern sea's data models: "Based on current ocean currents, wind speeds, and Living Wood Submariner's maximum speed simulation, direct to Posera Island's periphery, estimated 70 to 76 hours, over three days."
"Three days? Too long!" Celestia anxiously flapped her wings, stirring a gust of wind. "Dekli's disappearance and Dark Tide Island's destruction must have been reported back to Doomsday Rebirth! They'll surely strengthen Posera Island's defenses, even set traps! Every second Elios waits is another point of danger!" Thinking of Elios possibly in the "Emerald Heart" lab, her heart felt gripped by an invisible hand.
The silent Salsa, her mechanical cat shell's amber electronic eyes flickering a few times, emitted a slightly smug electronic tone: "Ship? Too slow. We fly there."
"Fly?" Arya looked at her doubtfully. "Salsa, your shadow falcons can't carry all of us, and the target would be too big..."
"Who said use falcons?" Salsa's mechanical cat tail swayed lightly, a powerful aura of shadow and icy chill beginning to emanate from her. "The remnants and souls of those 'perfect weapons' from Dark Tide Island... make excellent 'materials.'" She raised a mechanical cat paw, dense shadow energy mixed with frost particles converging and shaping at her claw tip.
"Undead Awakening · Shadow Wing Guards!"
With Salsa's low chant, the shadow energy at her claw tip erupted suddenly! Ten dense black shadows broke free from the shadows behind her like emerging from cocoons, quickly solidifying!
Appearing before everyone were five tall figures enveloped in roiling shadows and icy crystal mist—"knights." They were not skeletons but "mutant wingmen" undead retaining some pre-death features! Their torsos vaguely showed strong humanoid outlines, but skin was deathly gray-blue, covered in a thin layer of frost. Behind them, not feathered wings, but massive membrane wings made of pure shadow energy, edges flickering with ice-blue chill light, wingspan nearly matching Celestia's four wings! Their heads were shrouded in shadow, revealing only two points of burning cold soul fire in eye sockets, hands gripping long spears condensed from shadow and ice. Powerful undead aura mixed with wind and ice magic lowered the surrounding temperature sharply.
These "Shadow Wing Guards" were higher-tier undead creatures created by Salsa using the mutant wingmen corpses from Ice Breath Abyss and fused with the elite wing-type monster remnants and souls killed on Dark Tide Island! They combined strong physical power, shadow traversal ability, frost attacks, and... transformation flight capability!
"Wow!" Yuyuer marveled at these ominous yet immensely powerful undead constructs. "Salsa, your 'waste utilization' is absolutely brilliant!"
"Get on!" Salsa jumped onto one Shadow Wing Guard's broad shoulder made of metal and shadow, her mechanical paw patting its helmet (though it showed no reaction). "Their speed is five times faster than the fastest sailboat! Hold on tight!"
Without hesitation, everyone acted immediately. Fa, Arya, and Celestia each leaped onto a Shadow Wing Guard's back. Kayla, carrying Dekli, jumped with TISK onto another more robust Wing Guard. Lin Ya, Yuyuer, and Zhamisi quickly found mounts. Rex activated his armor's magnetic adhesion, securing steadily to the last Wing Guard's back.
"Target, south, Posera Island! Full speed ahead!" Salsa issued the command.
Woo—!
The five Shadow Wing Guards simultaneously unfurled their massive shadow ice wings, powerful airflows blowing dock dust scattering! They bent their legs slightly, then stomped fiercely!
Boom!
Like five dark arrows released from strings, they instantly lifted off, shooting straight into the sky! So fast, they left ten clear shadow trails and ice crystal wakes in the air. Teardrop Bay below rapidly shrank, turning into a small smudge on an ink-blue canvas in an instant.
Strong gale winds hit their faces, yet weakened by the shadow force fields and frost shields surrounding the Shadow Wing Guards. Everyone crouched low, gripping the cold, hard bodies of their mounts.
Flying above the cloud layer, Arya gazed at the azure sea and scattered islands speeding by below, complex thoughts rippling in her emerald eyes. She approached Fa, her voice clear amid the howling wind: "Fa, Posera Island... is my homeland, where the Elven Royal Court 'Eternal Crown' is located, also known as 'Emerald Tree Sea.'"
She began to recount, her voice carrying nostalgia and a trace of imperceptible worry:
"It is the land where magic and nature harmonize most perfectly. Towering 'Dawnlight Ancient Trees' emit soft glows, branches like carved emerald, the sacred ground and home of the elves. The trees are not static; many ancient 'Forest Whisperer Trees' possess faint consciousness, their branches and roots swaying gently with nature's rhythm, even moving under elven druids' guidance. Between the canopies, bridges and platforms of glowing vines and life-magic-shaped living wood form a three-dimensional 'aerial garden' city. Elves live elegantly within, studying ancient magic, archery, harmoniously coexisting with the forest's wise beings—like unicorns, light-feathered birds, wood spirits, etc."
"The island isn't just elves. At the forest edges and coastal areas, live some human settlements friendly with elves, revering nature; they are excellent gardeners and alchemists. Near the southeastern mountains' mines, dwells a 'Rockheart Clan' of dwarves, skilled in using earth vein energy for forging, creating tools full of natural spirituality rather than killing intent. Even in the eastern swamp regions, there's a neutral, somewhat secluded lizardfolk tribe guarding ancient swamp secrets." Arya's tone carried pride, but then dimmed. "However, Doomsday Rebirth's shadow... the 'Emerald Heart' lab hidden there... is the most vile desecration of this pure land! How did they do it? Did the Elven Royal Court notice nothing?" Her fists clenched.
Fa listened to Arya's description, her right eye's star pupil piercing the clouds, as if already seeing that vibrant yet peril-filled emerald land. She gently held Arya's hand: "Precisely because it's a pure land, it needs protection all the more. We will find the tumor and eradicate it."
Salsa's estimate was incredibly accurate. The Shadow Wing Guards' speed far surpassed any ship, tireless, crossing cloud seas with astonishing efficiency. The sea scenery below shifted from ink-blue to deep blue, gradually tinting with tropical emerald. In just two days, under the soft golden light of dusk, a breathtaking land outline appeared on the distant sea horizon.
Even from afar, one could feel the island emanating boundless life aura and dense magical fluctuations. Lush, layered greens covered the entire view, dotted with twinkling soft glows like gems—that must be the "Dawnlight Ancient Trees" and elven architecture lights Arya mentioned. At the island's center, vaguely visible was a colossal tree shadow taller than surrounding peaks, emanating heaven-piercing emerald radiance—that was the symbol of the Elven Royal Court, "Eternal Crown"!
"Posera Island... Emerald Tree Sea... We're here!" Arya's voice trembled with excitement, her emerald eyes reflecting her homeland's outline.
"Lower altitude, find a concealed spot to land!" Fa ordered immediately, her star pupil sharply scanning the coastline and forest edges. Doomsday Rebirth's traps might be waiting beneath this seemingly peaceful emerald heart. The Shadow Wing Guards restrained their auras, their massive membrane wings tracing graceful arcs, like ghosts merging into twilight, diving toward that vibrant yet kill-intent-hidden forest.
Dekli, tightly restrained by Kayla, her ashen face's venomous eyes depths flashing an imperceptible, almost fanatic anticipation. Lady Virginia's net should already be spread, right? This emerald land will become these damn rats' splendid tomb!
The flying mounts carried everyone, like five falling meteors, silently vanishing into Posera Island's emerald edges, disappearing into the shadows of that ancient and mysterious tree sea.