Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 1682 - 953: Blood Rose Labyrinth

At that moment, ghostly blue runes lit up inside the walls, a flicker of teleportation glowed, and swarms of engineered mice were transported to the crevices of the power backpacks, extending precise drills that frantically drilled into the joints of the armor! A warrior’s power glove hydraulic joint was pierced by liquid metal solvent, rendering it useless, and he had to swing a chain-saw sword to cut off his trapped left leg at the knee to break free. Another warrior’s communication backpack was covered by dimension-interfering mice, emitting a piercing overload noise. “Move forward! Abandon the vehicles!” Eliyon’s command roared through the helmet’s communication channel. The warriors began to forcefully assault the base of the signal tower; the Heavy Bomb Group, under the cover of their comrades, continued to suppress the mouse swarm, but every step forward was taken over the remains of Ratmen that came forward wave after wave. The base of the signal tower was clearly visible, but the square surrounding the base was completely covered by a thicker, raised mycelium mat, resembling a throbbing giant organ. As the vanguard squad stepped onto the square’s edge, the “heart” suddenly contracted violently! The mycelium mat below the square suddenly collapsed, forming a bottomless pit of flesh and blood, and hundreds of warriors fell unexpectedly into the deep pit! The pit walls immediately secreted a gelatinous digestive liquid, and a swarm of rats rained down from above! The robust bodies and power armor of the Interstellar Warriors were enough to resist tearing, but the corrosive slime at the pit’s bottom was dissolving their foothold at a terrifying speed.

Eliyon’s eyes bulged with rage. The emergency scan data sent at the cost of the fallen revealed the truth: The entire “Skull Chop Cross” area had been transformed into a maze trap, and the signal tower was already a worm-eaten shell, with the giant mycelium organism underneath being the key node supporting the teleportation channel. “All bombs, fire at the base!” Eliyon’s order came with desperate determination. The last few dozen warriors poured their remaining heavy weaponry firepower towards the base. Under the bombardment of high-explosive and thermite beams, the mycelium chunks rolled and charred, but what was exposed beneath was not the imagined energy core, but countless twisting giant mouse fusion embryos, connected with innumerable pipelines and mycelium, like a deformed heart parasitizing this deadly maze! The assault firepower only temporarily interrupted its pulsation. The Shadow Scythe warriors began projecting incendiary rope anchor claws below to their comrades on the pit wall, “Prepare for retrieval!” But suddenly, a glaring red light erupted at the pit’s bottom. The cluster of embryos on the pit walls collectively self-destructed, with a terrifying bioenergy pulse sweeping across the entire area! The unignited fusion embryos absorbed the blood and flesh energy of the Dead Ratmen, rapidly reshaping in the mycelium pit’s depth into larger, new biological nodes covered with dark red energy scales visible to the naked eye. The square’s pit violently shook, the edges began to collapse and expand, causing more Interstellar Warriors to stumble and fall. “Retreat! Abandon the target!” Eliyon’s order came at the final moment of communication breakdown. The surviving warriors detonated preset thermite bombs to create a wall of fire to temporarily block the mouse swarm, dragging each other toward the twisted tunnels behind. As the reinforcing Titan engines crushed the maze’s outer structure and reached the signal tower, the square had collapsed into a massive, filthy lake of flesh, with a giant egg sac suspended in the center, heavily damaged yet still slowly pulsing, and fragments of power armor and vehicle wreckage floating on the lake’s surface, while the Shadow Scythe Legion’s insignia slowly sank into the tainted blood. This company-level raid, at the cost of nearly complete annihilation of heavily armed elites, merely unveiled a corner of the Blood Rose Maze’s veil—its foundation established on energy converted from human warrior flesh, each wound allowing this living fortress to absorb pain and evolve. The Dark Spirit Race-controlled mouse swarm flowed like the putrid blood of this maze, and humans were trapped within its vivacious grasp.

Eliyon’s eyes bulged with rage. The emergency scan data sent at the cost of the fallen revealed the truth: The entire “Skull Chop Cross” area had been transformed into a maze trap, and the signal tower was already a worm-eaten shell, with the giant mycelium organism underneath being the key node supporting the teleportation channel. “All bombs, fire at the base!” Eliyon’s order came with desperate determination. The last few dozen warriors poured their remaining heavy weaponry firepower towards the base. Under the bombardment of high-explosive and thermite beams, the mycelium chunks rolled and charred, but what was exposed beneath was not the imagined energy core, but countless twisting giant mouse fusion embryos, connected with innumerable pipelines and mycelium, like a deformed heart parasitizing this deadly maze! The assault firepower only temporarily interrupted its pulsation.