Chapter 1333: The Mine Beneath the Meadow

On the other side, Ethan and the others were still moving forward through the spatial passage.

It was way longer than he’d expected.

Since when did a space wormhole require this much walking?

Ethan was about to check the structure around them when a sliver of light finally appeared ahead.

The "Foreign Minister" War Machine in his hand abruptly slipped free and hit the ground.

Its metal shell was already wrapped in thick, white lightning.

They stepped through the light and left the passage.

Several fully armed Tier One Cyclopes immediately came up in silence and retrieved the fallen small War Machine as if it was standard procedure.

But once everyone truly cleared the circle of light, they all stopped.

What lay in front of them looked like an enormous mining site.

They were standing on a platform halfway up a mountainside.

Below, roads spiraled and crisscrossed like a giant maze. Huge trucks moved back and forth, hauling loads up from deep inside the pit and driving toward the distance.

Each truck was covered by heavy cloth.

Even so, bright light kept leaking through the seams.

Ethan stood on the mid-slope platform and closed his eyes, spreading his senses outward inch by inch.

The first thing that filled his awareness was the vast, funnel-shaped mine beneath his feet—spiraling roads winding in rings toward the deepest point, transport trucks running along different elevations, and the cloth over their beds constantly bleeding out that intense glow.

But when his perception crossed the edge of the mine, he realized this wasn’t the only one.

A circular shield wrapped the entire mining zone.

Outside that shield was still the same wide green prairie... and farther out, there were more identical mines scattered across it, one after another. Each was hidden behind its own barrier. From the outside, you couldn’t see any buildings, roads, or vehicles—just unbroken grassland.

They’d inspected the plain carefully from above earlier.

Back then, aside from nine cows, there had been nothing.

No structures.

Definitely not mining pits on this scale.

"What is this place, exactly?" Ethan turned, re-checking the shield and the surrounding cliff walls.

A sudden burst of light flared below.

At the very bottom of the funnel mine, a blinding flash erupted—pale platinum radiance blooming upward from the pit floor, lighting the spiral roads and rock walls. Immediately after, chaotic shouting rose from below, and sharp alarms started wailing across the mining zone.

Dense footsteps thundered closer from above the platform.

A voice dropped down from overhead.

"They’re here!"

"Move!"

Aircraft of varying sizes dove down from high above.

They scattered fast, forming a half-circle formation over the platform. Cannons under their bodies lit in sequence, and dense lasers raked down at the platform from multiple angles.

Ethan lifted a hand.

A white energy shield unfolded around the group. Lasers struck the barrier and sent ripples racing across it. In his other hand, a sphere of power began to form—white lightning compressing tighter and tighter, the ball going from hazy to solid.

But before the energy finished gathering, a strange, unfamiliar image slammed into his mind.

A beautiful palace filled his vision.

It was tall and brilliant, its walls and columns made of glowing material. Ethan sat on the highest throne, looking down at neatly lined-up Tier Four Cyclopes.

Their heads were bowed, their expressions humble.

In that scene, Ethan was their king.

Even stranger—each Tier Four had a glittering stone set before them. Light flowed inside those stones, familiar light, almost identical to the energy radiating from the bottom of the mine.

Ethan didn’t even have time to study it before the image faded out of his head like smoke.

In reality, the lasers were still pouring down.

Andona stepped to the front.

Golden wings spread wide, Divine Power surging between her feathers. Outside Ethan’s white shield, another layer rose—a holy barrier of pure gold.

The aerial attacks hammered the golden surface, leaving only brief streaks of brightness before they were erased.

At the center of the aircraft formation, the Cyclops leading them stared down at the group.

Its single eye abruptly expanded.

The ordinary eyeball turned blood-red, and its body rose higher on a swell of energy until it hovered directly above them.

"You actually crossed the barrier array and entered this place."

That blood-red eye turned slowly, sweeping over everyone inside the shields.

"The King has given the order."

"Arrest all of you!"

Ethan and the others froze for a beat.

Barrier array?

Since when did Catheryn’s Umbral Servitor punch into someone else’s array?

Everyone’s eyes shifted to Catheryn at once.

Catheryn only blinked calmly.

It wasn’t completely her fault.

Sometimes having too much power was its own kind of problem. She’d only told the Umbral Servitor to sprint at full speed—who would’ve guessed it would tear across the prairie and plow straight through the enemy’s hidden barrier array on the way?

Ethan finally surfaced from that palace vision.

He didn’t even look at the blood-eyed giant still declaring orders overhead. Instead, he walked to the edge of the platform and stared down at the glowing point at the bottom of the mine.

The Tier Three big-eye above noticed the disrespect. Its blood-red eye tightened further in anger.

A blood-colored laser shot out.

The beam cut through the air, racing straight for Ethan—who’d stepped beyond Andona’s golden shield.

But the laser only made it halfway before a shadow stood up behind the Tier Three Cyclops.

Catheryn’s Umbral Servitor raised an arm.

Darkness condensed into a blade and carved down from the giant’s nape in one clean, brutal stroke.

Flesh separated.

The huge body split into chunks and fell between the aircraft.

With its energy source gone, the blood laser aimed at Ethan rapidly faded—vanishing completely while it still had some distance to go.

Ethan didn’t even turn around.

He kept staring at the glow in the pit, confirming his perception hadn’t been wrong. Only then did he turn back and share his conclusion.

"That’s probably their power source down there."

He pointed at the lowest part of the mine.

"That blood laser just now had almost the same energy as what’s leaking out from below."

The others followed his gesture.

But they quickly realized that, at some point, more Cyclopes had appeared around the platform.

They poured in from roads, tunnels, and aircraft, closing in with weapons of all shapes.

Some carried long spears.

Some had cannons mounted on their shoulders.

Others held devices that didn’t even have recognizable silhouettes—only the kind of energy pulse that made the air itself shiver.

All those Cyclopes had one thing in common.

Their single eyes were much smaller than that Tier Three’s, and the color was plain.

Groups of Tier One Cyclopes halted at different positions, raised their fingers, and pressed them to their own eyes.

Blue-white light spread outward from their eyeballs.

A massive shield rose at once, protecting the entire army.

Their weapons began to charge.

Red light crawled along barrels and cannon housings, building, building—then firing in unison toward Ethan’s group.

Ethan and the others watched the incoming barrage with cold eyes.

Andona released more holy light. A golden shield surged up from under their feet, wrapping everyone inside it.

Catheryn reached out as well.

A pitch-black whip dropped from her palm, slithering along the ground as it extended outward.

But the moment that dark whip touched Andona’s Divine Power, its surface turned unstable. Parts of the black fog were even shaved away by the holy energy.

Catheryn shot Andona a helpless look.

Andona got it and immediately withdrew the sacred shield.

The instant the suppression vanished, Catheryn clenched the whip and snapped it with full force at the Cyclops army in the air.

Crack!

The black lash swept across the platform like a slicing shadow.

Tier One Cyclopes felt the deathly aura riding that whip, and their hands began to tremble. Several weapons slipped from their grips and clattered onto the aircraft hulls.

But a few lasers that had already fired still surged straight toward the group.

A crisp splitting sound rang out from the front.