214: The truth about the misty forest

The twenty-meter-tall unit 001 mecha had now completely sunk into the ground.

At least thirty percent of it had been corroded by an unknown organism.

Skillfully digging a large pit in the ground, Heisha finally saw the unit 001 mecha.

Aside from the parts submerged in the unknown substance, the entire mecha was still in very good condition.

Without hesitation, Heisha directly bit onto the unit 001 mecha.

Its sharp teeth penetrated the mecha's armor plating almost without any obstruction.

It deeply embedded itself into the monster's flesh, which served as the mecha's power source.

With a slight exertion of force, the unit 001 mecha's body was pulled up by Heisha, attempting to break free from the monster that was about to devour it.

However, although Heisha's strength was great, the monster hidden underground also possessed considerable power.

A tug-of-war had formed between the two.

Especially since Heisha was hesitant to act, fearing damage to the unit 001 mecha in its mouth, the battle was shifting in a direction unfavorable to Heisha.

A hint of anger flashed in Heisha's eyes.

If it weren't for the fact that the 'toy' in its mouth was too fragile to allow it to use its full strength, it would never have been outmatched by the monster hidden underground.

However, with its mind completely controlled by humans, it could only engage in this disadvantageous tug-of-war in such a passive state.

Seemingly sensing that something was trying to snatch its food, the monster hidden beneath the ground finally moved.

They launched an attack on Heisha.

Starting from where the unit 001 mecha and the monster made contact, a large amount of white, unidentified substance began to spread, attempting to corrode Heisha through the unit 001 mecha's body.

However, in front of the keen-scented Heisha, its sneak attack was no different from a blatant assault.

Just as the white, unidentified substance was about to corrode Heisha's body, a fierce glint flashed in Heisha's black eyes.

It activated its special ability!

A special oil stored within Heisha's body was directly sprayed out by Heisha.

The moment it encountered air, it reacted violently, releasing a large amount of heat and igniting the already highly flammable oil.

Flames.

Huge flames jetted out from Heisha's mouth.

While scorching the unit 001 mecha, it also attacked the white, unidentified substance.

Unlike the white mist floating in the air, this white substance seemed to be very afraid of fire.

The moment it sensed the flames, it began to flee frantically, releasing its hold on the unit 001 mecha and causing Heisha's body to fall backward due to inertia.

It, on the other hand, took advantage of the moment Heisha's attack was diverted and quickly retreated into the ground.

When Heisha sniffed at the deep pit in the ground again, it found that the white substance had completely vanished.

Only some of its lingering scent remained.

It ran away?

Heisha let out an angry roar.

Without any hesitation, it began to dig into the ground.

The entire Misty Forest's underground was filled with these white monsters.

The monk may run away, but the temple cannot!

As long as it kept digging, it would eventually confront these white monsters.

Still retaining some wolf characteristics, Heisha's digging speed was incredibly fast.

In just three short minutes, it had dug a massive deep pit, revealing the white monsters hidden beneath the soil.

This time, Heisha chose not to alert the enemy by using flames to scare away these white monsters.

Raising its right claw, Heisha directly attacked the white monster with its sharp claws.

The expected scene of splitting it in two did not occur.

Heisha only felt as if its claws had touched something incredibly soft.

Although its strength was immense, the opponent had skillfully dissipated most of its power.

The remaining power was simply insufficient to tear through the white monster's defenses.

Not only that, but the white monster seemed to be an aggregate of countless organisms.

The moment it came into contact with Heisha's wolf claw, it was like a venomous snake climbing a pole, corroding towards Heisha's body.

This time, it didn't have the unit 001 mecha's body as a barrier.

After retracting its claw, it found that a large number of white monsters had already clung to its claw.

Pain.

Stinging pain.

These white monsters, as if having countless sharp little mouths, began to frantically gnaw at Heisha's scales.

They seized every opportunity, quickly penetrating the gaps between Heisha's scales and beginning to attack Heisha's body.

In just one round, Heisha suffered a major loss in its confrontation with the white monsters.

Awoo~~~~~

Letting out another wolf howl, terrifying flames shot out from Heisha's wolf mouth, directly igniting Heisha's right claw.

Even Heisha itself probably never imagined that its incredibly terrifying flames would one day be used on itself.

The effect of the flames was immediate.

Although it couldn't cause fatal damage to the white monsters, they, as if by instinct, feared the flames and began to retreat rapidly, pulling back from Heisha's right claw.

Before Heisha could even be happy for three seconds, it found that the flames, which had been able to deter the white monsters just a moment ago, seemed to have lost their original effect.

With rustling sounds, large numbers of white monsters began to pour out of the previously dug holes onto the ground, quickly forming a siege around Heisha.

Looking at the terrifying white monsters, resembling a tide, a hint of apprehension flashed in Heisha's eyes.

After a moment of hesitation, it picked up the unit 001 mecha and chose to leave.

These white monsters were incredibly terrifying.

Not only were physical attacks not very effective against them, but even their instinctive fear of flames was being rapidly overcome.

Coupled with the countless numbers of white monsters, spread throughout the entire underground of the Misty Forest, under such circumstances, remaining there, Heisha might one day be completely devoured by the white monsters.

Having understood this point, Heisha no longer lingered.

Before the white monsters' encirclement could fully form, it began to withdraw from the encirclement at an extremely fast speed.

This time, Heisha's exploration of the Misty Forest ended with Heisha's defeat! ---

Command Center.

MacArthur smiled and said to Ismail, "Ismail, you truly have excellent methods."

"I never expected you to be hiding such a terrifying ultimate weapon."

"The Misty Forest? Perhaps this time we can completely conquer it."

After witnessing Ismail's trump card, MacArthur also breathed a slight sigh of relief.

A powerful ally was generally a good thing for him.

With Heisha's terrifying size and immense power, perhaps the Misty Forest was no match for it at all.

Facing MacArthur's flattery, Ismail showed no signs of embarrassment.

Because this was inherently proof of her strength, without any pretense.

Why should she be embarrassed?

She immediately accepted, saying, "I've said it before, your mecha toys are no longer keeping up with the times."

"We humans should advance with the times, instead of blindly pursuing the so-called technology tree."

"Heisha will prove with its strength that plan b is a much more scientific and reliable plan than Plan M."

"As for the Misty Forest?"

"Since Heisha can break through it at will, it will no longer be an obstacle standing before humanity."

"Tiger King?"

"No matter how powerful he is, he has only barely broken through the Third Restricted Zone and the Fourth Restricted Zone."

"We, who have broken through the Second Restricted Zone, are the most powerful existence."

It was no wonder Ismail was so arrogant.

Anyone who had witnessed Heisha's strength would not believe that any creature could stop it.

MacArthur nodded and replied, "I have also seen Heisha's strength evaluation data."

"Indeed, there are few opponents who can contend with it."

"But to say that Plan M is unfeasible because of this would be too hasty."

"tianqing no.! The incredibly terrifying tianqing no. has not yet made its move, so the outcome is still unknown."

"But it doesn't matter, they are all forces belonging to America."

"The stronger they are, the stronger America will be."

"Those fools waiting to see us fail?"

"We will tell them that even if the world has mutated and become a new world, America is still the undisputed number one hegemon!"

It was no wonder MacArthur was so happy.

Heisha's appearance was like the clearing sun, dispelling the gloom in his heart.

He had originally thought that the Awakened Beast bodies that could be used for transplantation, or high-strength Awakened Beast biological materials, or those specially cultivated Awakened Beasts with special abilities, were the entirety of plan b.

He never expected Ismail to be hiding such a terrifying ultimate weapon.

How could Heisha's display of such formidable strength not make MacArthur happy?

As for those fools who had just mocked him?

MacArthur couldn't be bothered with them.

In fact, the moment Heisha appeared, all eyes near the Misty Forest had already been cleared by MacArthur.

Heisha, as America's secret weapon, could not be exposed so easily, at least in the short term.

However, just as the two were excitedly discussing and believed that with Heisha's strength, breaking through the Misty Forest would be no problem, they witnessed an incredibly embarrassing scene.

Heisha.

The Heisha they had placed so much hope in.

The Heisha they thought was invincible.

At this moment, like a stray dog, it was frantically rushing out of the Misty Forest, carrying the remnants of the unit 001 mecha.

It was as if some incredibly terrifying creature was chasing it from behind.

MacArthur: ???

Ismail: ???

If even a creature as terrifyingly powerful as Heisha couldn't break through the Misty Forest, then what creature in this world could stop the Misty Forest's expansion?

Their hearts felt as if ten thousand grass-mud horses had just galloped past, an unspeakable feeling of exasperation.

They had just been bragging about Heisha, and then immediately Heisha was driven out of the Misty Forest like a stray dog.

This was simply a slap in their faces.

Perhaps only the word "FUCK" could describe their state of mind at that moment.

Ultimately, MacArthur was thicker-skinned, smiling and saying, "This black giant wolf's strength is truly impressive."

"Not only did it rescue most of the mechas, but it also rescued Frank, the captain of the mecha unit."

"Ismail, you did an excellent job."

"I will send the treasure chest to you as soon as possible."

MacArthur completely avoided mentioning Heisha's defeat, pretending it was just a simple rescue operation.

If this operation was viewed as a simple rescue operation, then it was undoubtedly very successful.

MacArthur's statement was perfectly valid.

However, Ismail clearly wasn't as thick-skinned as him.

Because after MacArthur finished speaking, he found that Ismail had already hung up the phone.

She seemed to have no intention of listening to his nonsense, leaving MacArthur incredibly embarrassed.

---

America's exploration of the Misty Forest this time failed.

Because they had not broken the curse of the Misty Forest at all, still allowing it to be filled with an eternal mist.

However, this exploration was also a success in some sense.

Because they were not empty-handed.

Although over a hundred mechas were sacrificed, they obtained valuable samples.

Samples of the white monsters hidden in the Misty Forest.

These samples were taken from the body of the unit 001 mecha.

This body, which should have been completely devoured by the white monsters, left behind samples of the white monsters because they retreated too slowly, or perhaps because of Heisha's terrifying flames.

It was precisely these samples that gave humanity a way to break through the Misty Forest.

Fungus.

The white monster was actually an Awakened biological fungus.

Through the diligent research of the Bruno Institute, this astonishing conclusion was reached in just two days.

Those mist-like objects were actually the spores of this fungus, named Mist Fungus.

Due to the extremely harsh growth conditions of the Mist Fungus, these airborne spores would not grow into Mist Fungus.

Instead, they gathered in large patches, forming a mist that could block most detection, relying on their inherent characteristics.

It was also fortunate that the growth conditions of the Mist Fungus were harsh.

Otherwise, if such a terrifying number of spores were to grow, it would be very easy for an entire continent to become a dead land.

Those terrifying Mist Fungus could, by merely sealing off an area with their spores, give rise to terrifying existences in the Second Restricted Zone.

Not to mention their main body, the Mist Fungus covering the entire land beneath.

They were dispersed yet independent, formed by countless flexible individual entities.

They could attack or defend.

They were immune to most types of attacks.

Coupled with an absolute numerical advantage, even a behemoth like Heisha couldn't gain any advantage against them.

If it weren't for the fact that it still retained some fungal instincts, with an innate fear of flames, if heavily contaminated, even Heisha might not have been able to escape unscathed.

This was also why Heisha chose to flee so decisively.

It did possess the attribute of immortality, but it wasn't absolute immortality.

Once completely covered by these Mist Fungus, with every cell in its body drained of energy, it would no longer have any hope of resurrection.

However, even the flames, which were initially effective, were quickly overcome by the Mist Fungus.

Judging from their final encirclement of Heisha, flames could not completely stop their actions. (End of Chapter)