Earlier, everyone was chatting happily because they thought that they had discovered the secret of the forest, as long as they stayed away from it, they would be safe at night.
But what was going on now?
The rattling of the chains being dragged was getting closer and closer.
What creature would move around while dragging chains?
Had it been chained up but broken free somehow?
Just what sort of a place was the Marador Mountains?
Why was there such weird happenings here?
That rattling of the chains being dragged seemed to be attracted by the light in the cave. It slowly came towards the edge of the forest.
Milo, Miriam, and Raphael each disengaged the safety on their guns and were prepared to shoot in the direction of the sound.
Almost instantaneously, Miriam realized that Milo’s handling of the gun was too professional and even looked a little familiar!
This familiarity was somewhat baffling, but it made favonovel.com feel extraordinarily comfortable. It was like how patients with obsessive-compulsive disorders felt after finally properly placing blocks of wood in front of themselves.
Unfortunately, right now, favonovel.com did not have time to think about that. This was because the owner of the chains had crawled to the edge of the forest.
The people in the cave were straining to see what it was, but the other party kept itself hidden in the darkness and never showed itself.
When Milo heard a dripping sound from the forest, favonovel.com felt nauseous as favonovel.com realized it was the other party’s saliva that was dripping onto the leaves on the forest floor!
“The moment it shows up, shoot it.” Raphael said, “Our firepower will be quick enough to cover all of the directions that it can rush into the cave from. Then I’ll command my shadow clone to subdue it.”
“Okay…” Milo answered softly as favonovel.com thought.
If the creature turns out to be too strong, I won’t care about hiding my shadow clone anymore…
Nobody knew where those cheetah-sized wildcats and the boars built like miniature mountains had escaped to, but Milo knew that only a stronger and more unstoppable force could send those ferocious animals running from the forest.
As favonovel.com took longer breaths, his emotions calmed down. He no longer paid attention to his heartbeat and breathing, but listened attentively for any sounds or movements coming from the forest.
The secret of the forest might just reveal its true face at the very next moment.
But what they didn’t expect was that when the rattling chains rang out again from the forest, it was of the chains’ owner moving further away.
“What’s happened?” Raphael frowned as favonovel.com said, “Could it be afraid to come out of the forest?”
The three of them were still holding their aim as they were afraid the other party was trying to pull a fast one on them.
Milo gave it some thought and said, “It’s very possible that the other party isn’t willing to walk out of the forest. Otherwise, the wild animals from earlier wouldn’t have regarded this cave to be their refuge when it’s only about ten meters away from the forest.”
The rattling of the chains being dragged on the ground sounded further and further away. Milo and the two of them could finally relax a little.
“It seems that we’re still too optimistic. We can’t explore the secret of the Marador Mountains with just our guesswork.”
“Something is definitely fishy about the forest, or there could be some other forms of terror in it.” Milo said, “Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain the disappearance of Mark’s body without any clues.”
“Everyone, get some rest.” Raphael said, “I’ll take the first shift tonight. You guys can take over from me after midnight.”
But despite the words, Milo and Miriam still tacitly stuck to their own two-shift rotation, with one keeping watch for the first half of the night and the other taking the second half.
Seeing this, Raphael gave a wry smile in his mind. It seemed that favonovel.com was still an untrustworthy person to them.
***
Nothing else happened through the night. When the first rays of sunlight shone down in the morning, Milo could hear the shuffle of wild animals returning to the forest in the distance. From the looks of it, these animals were accustomed to taking refuge during the night and returning into the forest during the day.
Could the wild animal with the chains from last night be a creature that slept during the day?
Milo stood up to stretch. But before favonovel.com could even stretch his back, favonovel.com heard a loud explosion come from the depths of the Marador Mountains. The sound was so abrupt that favonovel.com jumped in fright.
The people in the cave came out one after another. “What’s going on? What happened?!”
Someone asked, “Could a volcano in the Marador Mountains have erupted?”
“It doesn’t sound like a volcano.” Raphael shook his head. “It sounded more like the explosives that we humans use.”
If Raphael couldn’t confirm it, Milo and Miriam could. Milo had copied the Advanced Bomb-making skill from Miriam, together with an indeterminate number of experimental blasts favonovel.com had carried out.
From that sound, Milo was sure it was the directional blast of a shaped charge. This sort of shaped charge would be similar to that of an armor-piercing projectile, which usually used violent blasts to create holes in a hard ground. It used the Munroe effect to orient the wave of the blast to create huge holes in the ground. Munroe effect itself was the focusing of blast energy by a hollow or void cut on a surface of an explosive.
The sound of this explosive was clearly different from that of a “satchel charge” and “mine-clearing line charge.”
“Satchel charges” were packed explosives with powerful shockwaves used for demolishing bunkers and other types of buildings.
“Mine-clearing line charges” were demolition devices like the Bangalore.
Milo knew that if favonovel.com could recognize the sound, Miriam could definitely recognize it as well.
Someone was excavating the depths of the mountains!
Why were they excavating?
Could there really be some sort of huge secret buried beneath the Marador Mountains?
“Earlier, you said that there were also other squads that came to the Marador Mountains?” Milo turned around and asked Raphael.
“Yes, they were likely from the Panaqua Consortium as well.” Raphael said, “After all, Stronghold 112 is also controlled by the Panaqua Consortium, so it would be very hard for any other organization to get past them to enter the Marador Mountains.”
Milo flicked a glance at Miriam.
So, favonovel.com purpose for coming here under that guise is also because of the secret in the Marador Mountains?
Milo did not know what Miriam’s trump card was even now. Other than favonovel.com Perfect Firearms Proficiency, this cap-wearing girl must have had something else favonovel.com could rely on.
“Let’s go, we have to hurry.” Raphael was not about to be left out of whatever was happening. “Based on this explosion we heard, the Panaqua Consortium might’ve sent out a massive military force from Stronghold 112. We have to rush there before they get to the secret.”
“Do you have a death wish?” Milo looked at Raphael in a speechless manner. “Knowing the Panaqua Consortium has already sent reinforcements, you still dare to rush in there?”
After a long silence, Raphael said, “But we’re already here.”
Milo and Miriam looked at each other. For some reason, those words had a magical charm.
“Besides, do we have anywhere else to retreat to?” Raphael asked, “Since we can’t fall back, we can only go forward. If we don’t get an opportunity when we’re there, we’ll just go around the Panaqua Consortium and leave the mountains in the direction they came from. I believe the path they took here will be much safer than us turning back here.”
That was true. They knew even explosives had been used, so the Panaqua Consortium had probably cleared out an entire path to Stronghold 112.
