Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 1683 - 953: The Bloody Maw of the Labyrinth (Part 2)

The Shadow Scythe warriors began to project explosive ropes to secure stakes to their comrades below the pit wall, “Prepare to retrieve!” But suddenly a blinding red light erupted at the bottom of the plaza pit. The embryonic clusters on the pit wall collectively self-destructed, a terrifying bio-energy pulse swept across the entire area! Untriggered fusion embryos absorbed the flesh and energy of the Dead Ratman, rapidly reshaping into larger biological nodes covered in dark red energy scales deep in the fungal pit. The plaza pit violently shook, the edges began to collapse and expand, more Interstellar Warriors stumbled and fell. “Retreat! Abandon target!” Eliyon issued the command in the last moment before communications cut off. The surviving warriors detonated preset Thermite Bombs creating a firewall to temporarily block the rat swarm, dragging each other back towards the twisted channel behind. When the reinforcing Titan engines crushed the outer structure of the maze and reached the signal tower, the plaza had collapsed into a gigantic murky lake of flesh, with a critically damaged yet slowly pulsating giant egg sac suspended in the center, debris of Power Armor and vehicle fragments floating on the surface, while the insignia of the Shadow Scythe Legion sank slowly into the foul blood. This company-level raid ended in almost complete annihilation of heavy-armored elite forces, revealing only a corner of the Blood Rose Maze’s veil—its foundation built upon energy transformed from human warriors’ flesh, each wound allowing this living fortress to draw pain and evolve. The rat swarm manipulated by the Dark Spirit Race flowed like the rotten blood of the maze, and in the meantime, dark blue runes lit up within the walls, transmission micro-lights flickered, swarms of engineer rats transported to the seams of Power Armor backpacks, protruding precision drills frantically chiseled armor joints! A warrior’s hydraulic joint on his Power Glove was penetrated by liquid metal solvent losing functionality, he could only swing his Chain-saw Sword to sever his entangled left leg at the knee to break free from bondage. Another warrior’s communications backpack was covered by dimension-interference rats, emitting a shrill overload noise. “Advance! Abandon vehicles!” Eliyon’s command roared through the helmet’s internal communication channel. Warriors began a forced assault towards the base of the signal tower, the Heavy Bomb Group continuously suppressed the rat tide under comrades’ cover, every step forward trampled the successive carcasses of Ratman. The base of the signal tower was in clear sight, but the plaza surrounding the base was completely covered by thicker, raised fungal carpet, like a pulsating giant organ. When the vanguard squad stepped into the plaza’s edge, the “heart” suddenly contracted violently! The ground beneath the fungal carpet collapsed abruptly, forming a bottomless pit of flesh, hundreds of warriors caught off guard fell into the abyss! The pit walls immediately secreted adhesive digestive juices, and the rats pounded down from above like raindrops! The strong bodies and Power Armor of the Interstellar Warriors were enough to resist the tearing, but the corrosive mucus at the bottom was rapidly dissolving their footholds. Eliyon’s eyes were cracked. The emergency scan data sent at the cost of the sacrificer’s life revealed the truth: the entire “Skull Cracker Cross” area had been transformed into a maze trap, the signal tower long since a worm-eaten shell, the massive fungal blanket below it the key node supporting the transmission channel. “All bombs, concentrate fire on the base!” Eliyon’s command carried a desperate realization. The remaining dozens of warriors unleashed the final heavy weapon firepower towards the base. Under the bombardment of high-explosive bombs and thermite rays, the fungal blanket rolled over blackened, but what was exposed below was not the imagined energy core, but countless twisting giant rat fusion embryos, connected by numerous pipelines to the fungal blanket, like a deformed heart parasitic on this death maze! The heavy firepower only temporarily interrupted its pulsation.