211: stuck in mud

The mecha took large strides.

After only three steps, Frank had fully entered the territory of the Misty Forest.

As expected, apart from the extremely dense fog with very low visibility, Frank could see nothing else.

Even the eyes installed on his mecha were not ordinary; they were the Legendary True Eyes capable of perceiving everything, yet he still couldn't see clearly.

Not only that, after looking at the mist for less than half a minute, Frank began to feel dizzy.

If Frank was in such a state, his teammates were even worse, unable to last even twenty seconds.

It should be noted that to pilot these massive mechas, all mecha pilots were powerful Mental Power Espers.

Yet, under these circumstances, they performed so poorly.

The second-ranked human forbidden zone was indeed terrifying to the extreme.

Such terrifying Mental Power attacks also meant that treasures related to Mental Power might be produced here.

The so-called treasures that could grant immunity to Mental Power attacks had a high probability of truly existing.

But the immediate priority was to uncover the secrets here and get out alive.

Thinking of this, Frank decisively closed one eye, attempting to reduce the invisible attacks he was receiving through this method.

He found it to be completely futile.

If closing one's eyes could conquer the Misty Forest, then how could this place be called a human forbidden zone?

The pervasive Mental Power attacks gradually made Frank's brain throb.

It was extremely uncomfortable.

He even felt an urge to roll on the ground to relieve the discomfort.

Being a well-trained soldier after all, Frank ultimately endured the mental pain and began to act.

Machines had this advantage: as long as they didn't suffer physical damage, they wouldn't lose basic functions.

Although perception was blocked by the mist, the detection equipment on the mecha could still be used normally.

At least it could determine which direction led back and which led deeper.

Thinking of this, Frank began to retreat, guided by the detection equipment.

Every mecha was incredibly valuable.

Under unclear circumstances, there was no need to take such immense risks to forcibly explore the Misty Forest.

However, while detection equipment might not err, it was still a human operating the mecha.

Frank had originally intended to walk in the correct direction, but while operating the mecha, he suffered from mental contamination.

He unconsciously walked in a direction deviating from the correct path.

As the captain of this mecha unit, Frank's strength was naturally unparalleled.

Since even he experienced this abnormality, the others naturally couldn't escape it.

For a time, this seemingly massive mecha unit became completely trapped in the Misty Forest.

As time passed, they gradually walked towards the core of the Misty Forest.

There was no sign of escaping this place.

One minute.

Three minutes.

Five minutes!

Under the interference of mental contamination, Frank's consciousness became very sluggish.

It took him a full five minutes to realize that the current situation seemed a bit off.

According to the mecha's pace, it would only take at most five seconds to leave this place.

But now, according to the instrument's display, a full five minutes had passed.

It was impossible for him to still not have left the Misty Forest.

The only possibility was that he had taken the wrong direction from the very beginning.

Proceeding on the wrong path would only take him further and further from his goal.

He cautiously opened his eyes.

Frank only saw a field of mist, identical to the scene he had witnessed at the very beginning.

Yet, it was this extremely simple scene that filled one's heart with despair.

It was like a white cage from which one could never escape.

Imprisoning anything that tried to enter.

Frank's expression instantly changed drastically.

After a moment of hesitation, he decided to control the mecha and begin exploring the surroundings.

Under these circumstances, relying on America's rescue was quite unrealistic.

He could only steel himself and begin exploring the Misty Forest on his own.

He tried to find a glimmer of hope within this white mist.

And a method to break through this white mist.

Unfortunately, in the abnormal state of mental contamination, Frank's exploration efficiency was very slow.

After a full ten minutes, he had only managed to roughly explore a small area around his current position.

Nothing existed.

This was the result of his exploration.

Although the Misty Forest had the name of a forest, there were no trees within it.

The reason it was called this was simply because a forest once existed here.

Some terrifying entity had taken over this forest.

It had devoured this forest.

And it was about to devour these seemingly powerful mechas.

After reaching this conclusion, Frank's emotions began to become even more unstable.

His entire body began to tremble.

This twenty-meter-tall mecha Carapace couldn't provide him with any sense of security?

Am I going to die?

Frank muttered to himself.

Ultimately, the will to survive overcame all negative emotions, making him determined to find a way out of this mist.

Thinking of this, Frank raised the mecha's right arm and activated the mechanism within it.

Instantly.

Huge flames, aided by the combustibles hidden within the arm, wildly sprayed out from the right side.

In just a moment, they shot up to a height of over a dozen meters.

Like a fiercely burning demon.

In this situation, physical weapons were useless.

Fire might be the hope that could carve out a path to survival.

However, as the flames ascended, something even more despair-inducing occurred.

The mist remained unmoving under the scorching flames, showing no change whatsoever.

It was as if it wasn't composed of water vapor, but of another special substance immune to fire.

Even after the combustibles in the right arm were completely burned out, Frank saw no sign of breaking through the mist.

This situation filled him with despair.

He directly drew the two Wind Gold Daggers from behind him and began to wildly slash at the air.

He was attempting to find the invisible demon hidden within the air.

However, how could the Misty Forest be so easily destroyed by brute force?

Frank's attacks not only had no effect but also increased his physical exertion.

Under the dual effects of mental contamination, he quickly became breathless.

As his consciousness gradually stiffened, Frank felt a sense of despair.

He might just perish in this place that had devoured countless lives.

However, at this moment, Frank had a flash of inspiration.

Since there were no enemies in the air or on the ground.

Could the enemy actually be hidden beneath the ground?

This logic was actually very simple, but under the Infection of mental contamination, the consciousness of creatures entering this place would become incredibly sluggish.

The speed of thought would also drop to its limit, which is why many people couldn't grasp this truth.

They couldn't grasp this truth until their dying breath.

Understanding this, Frank no longer hesitated, picked up the dagger made of Wind Gold, and slashed down fiercely at the ground.

However, it was this Wind Gold Dagger, capable of cutting iron like mud, combined with the mecha's immense strength.

Yet it only barely managed to carve a large gash in the ground.

Completely unlike the world-destroying attack Frank had expected.

This situation further confirmed Frank's conjecture, and he began to frantically attack the ground.

Before long, under the mecha's violent operation, a deep pit was dug into the ground.

Three meters.

Ten meters... eighteen meters!

After digging a full eighteen meters, almost submerging the entire mecha in the soil.

Frank finally discovered something different.

A slimy texture.

Completely different from the thick soil before.

Perhaps this was the enemy hidden beneath the ground.

Frank was overjoyed.

But he hadn't expected that, without preparation, directly facing the terrifying enemy beneath the ground.

It was simply seeking his own death.

A terrifying Mental Power shock instantly struck Frank's brain.

He felt a sharp pain in his head and then completely lost consciousness.

Not only that, the object the massive mecha's foot had stepped on also began to exert its power.

It began to gradually devour the mecha's foot.

Fortunately, the mecha's outer Carapace was made of Hellfire Ants' Carapace combined with special alloy.

Its resistance to being devoured was very strong.

But even so, looking at how unit 001 mecha was being devoured, it absolutely couldn't last more than half an hour.

If nothing else happened.

Frank and the mecha he piloted were perhaps destined for annihilation.

Certain death!

And Frank's subordinates?

They were slightly inferior to Frank.

Most of them had completely lost their mobility before discovering the enemy underground.

A few, like Frank, discovered that the enemy came from underground.

But they also did the same self-destructive thing as Frank.

Such a simple method was completely useless to break through the Misty Forest.

This was the terror of the Misty Forest.

Without overwhelmingly powerful strength, one could only let it instantly devour the lives of countless creatures.

—

Ten minutes.

Etna watched the gradually ticking numbers, calculating the time the mecha unit had entered the Misty Forest.

He found that a full ten minutes had passed, and none of these seemingly terrifying mechas had been able to leave this terrifying Misty Forest.

This situation made Etna frown directly.

The first few minutes after danger occurs are the optimal rescue time.

Once missed, rescuing these mechas would become incredibly difficult.

However, if even such terrifying mechas could be devoured by the Misty Forest, who would dare to go in and rescue them?

And who would have the strength to rescue them?

This highly anticipated act of sweeping the second forbidden zone had instead become the best proof of America's humiliation.

Some countries had even begun to clamor that America was no longer the powerful nation it once was, strong enough to rule the world.

In this new world full of Awakened creatures.

America was just a pathetic wretch, like everyone else, hovering on the brink of life and death.

This kind of thinking greatly affected America's prestige.

But Etna had no recourse.

Because he couldn't find any evidence to refute this idea.

He suddenly realized this might be a trap.

A trap set by Tofur.

Using America's urgent need for a way to resist Mental Power attacks, he lured them into the Misty Forest.

Leveraging the terror of the Misty Forest, he achieved the dual goals of weakening America's strength and prestige without shedding blood.

Thinking of this, Etna slammed his right fist heavily on the table.

Damn it.

He had been too eager, mistakenly believing that he could directly sweep through the Misty Forest with the power of these powerful mechas.

But he hadn't expected that these mechas, before they could even display their full strength, seemed to have completely fallen into a quagmire, utterly losing all movement.

Logically, possessing such powerful mechas.

And equipped with countless powerful weapons, these mechas should not have been devoured so easily.

This was an open conspiracy.

An open conspiracy against America.

Perhaps Tofur's words were true.

But if they couldn't break through the Misty Forest, even if treasures capable of instantly killing Tiger King were hidden inside, they would be useless.

Because they simply couldn't acquire them.

As for not exploring the Misty Forest?

Tofur knew that given America's assertive nature.

And their eagerness to quickly take down Tiger King Farm, they simply couldn't refuse such a temptation.

Even Etna regretted not exploring the Misty Forest, but rather choosing to explore it when their strength was not yet powerful enough.

MacArthur was equally annoyed as Etna.

Even if America was incredibly wealthy, it couldn't tolerate the loss of hundreds of mechas.

Just transporting these mechas to the periphery of the Misty Forest consumed a large amount of resources.

If so many mechas were lost, even for a wealthy America, this would be an unbearable burden.

Perhaps he should deploy tianqing no.?

To solo the Misty Forest with tianqing no.'s overwhelming power?

But at the thought of the tragic fate of those mechas, MacArthur hesitated.

Losing over three hundred mechas was already incredibly terrifying.

If tianqing no., their ultimate weapon, were also lost.

Perhaps the entire America would truly decline.

tianqing no.'s immense size was not conjured out of thin air.

Every single part of it embodied countless resources.

Thinking of this, MacArthur let out a heavy sigh.

Better a short pain than a long one.

Perhaps abandoning these mechas was the most correct choice.

Frank probably never imagined that their efforts in the Misty Forest would lead to being abandoned.

Just then, MacArthur's phone rang.

Very few people knew his private number.

Even fewer could call him directly.

Without hesitation, he answered the call, and Ismail's cold voice came from the other end, saying:

"General MacArthur, my old friend, you seem to be in trouble."

"If I say I can save these mechas, how about you hand over that treasure chest hidden in America's national treasury to me?"

It was a critical moment of life and death, so Ismail naturally kept it brief.

She directly stated her purpose without beating around the bush.

Any later, perhaps even she would be beyond help.

Unable to save these mechas trapped in dangerous quicksand.

To be honest, Ismail's words somewhat surprised MacArthur.