Time rewinds back to a couple minutes ago.
At the very moment Dr. Donald was reeling from the shock of the duo's sudden, hyper-accelerated Oripathy, Ch'en had already pulled Jeanne into the secret chamber.
She had to see with her own eyes what Swire meant by "being mentally prepared." Furthermore, she had to see the place where these people stored their bombs. Only by confirming their non-existence with her own eyes could she truly be at peace.
As for Jeanne... she had been relegated to the role of an all-purpose GPS by Ch'en. Because of the power of her Revelations, Ch'en hadn't even brought any prisoners along this time; she simply took Jeanne directly to find the explosives.
There was another reason for not bringing the soldiers: Ch'en didn't trust those Ursus troops at all. They were only reassuring when they were behind bars.
"Slow down, slow down! Deep breaths, keep yourself calm," Jeanne urged repeatedly along the way, hoping to keep this dragon composed. But Ch'en was in no mood to listen; she only wanted to see the scene Swire had described as soon as possible.
They traversed the corridors and entered through a massive portrait of a bear that swung open from its frame. This was the shortest route aside from the deep crater, and it was the same portrait Jeanne had observed earlier. Her Revelation hadn't lied when it told her the door would open in an hour; it had indeed opened right on time.
However, by the time it opened, she no longer needed it. Still, the Revelation hadn't glitched this time. Did the gods hire some maintenance programmers? Jeanne wondered.
Through her Revelation, Jeanne knew that nothing good awaited them inside. She braced herself for a scene potentially as horrific as an Ursus mining camp.
"Why are you here? Didn't you go in with the others?" Before they could see the interior, they ran right into Hoshiguma, who was blocking the main entrance!
With her height and that massive shield in hand, she looked quite like a Higashi yakuza matriarch. The problem was, her position completely blocked the two from seeing anything inside. Hoshiguma's expression was incredibly grim, devoid of her usual gentle demeanor. At this moment, she resembled a King of Oni suppressing a volcanic rage.
"I'm waiting for you here. Calm yourself down first. Otherwise, I'm worried you'll lose control once you go in," Hoshiguma answered in a low voice. She knew her friend's personality perfectly, which was exactly why she had waited here for Ch'en.
The scene inside was so foul that even Hoshiguma had felt a momentary impulse to turn back and start killing. Swire was currently hunting for the mastermind in a fury, intending to make him regret ever being born. Hoshiguma could guess how Ch'en would react. Frankly, if Swire lost her temper, Hoshiguma could still restrain her—but if Ch'en lost control, there would be no stopping her.
Seeing Hoshiguma's expression, Ch'en halted her advance. She realized the situation inside must be grave beyond measure—a limit where she might subconsciously act on impulse or irrationality. Otherwise, Hoshiguma wouldn't be blocking her path.
"I'm ready. Let me in. You can't keep me out forever, can you?" Ch'en took several deep breaths to steady her mind, then looked at Hoshiguma with a determined gaze.
Hoshiguma said nothing further. She stepped aside and followed the two of them inside.
The moment she stepped in, Jeanne felt a swarm of extremely sorrowful, angry, and hateful souls swirling around her ears. They roared frantically in voices only she could hear. That rage was even more terrifying than the souls she had ignited in the Ursus tundra! If their fury were unleashed without limit, it could turn all of Lungmen into a sea of fire.
Truthfully, if any other person were to experience this level of raw hatred, the chance of them going instantly insane would be a thousand percent. They would become a total lunatic. Fortunately, Jeanne had already experienced such emotions through the power of her Avenger class; her resistance to hatred was beyond what any normal human could reach.
Ch'en didn't notice Jeanne's momentary lapse. she stared blankly at the area, which looked like it had endured a small-scale war. The spacious zone was littered with the wreckage of weapons.
Ch'en even saw a dozen melted heavy crossbows and irregular lumps of metal left behind by whatever had liquefied on the floor. This didn't look like a scene from a safe city like Lungmen; it felt more like a battlefield in Kazdel—the desolation of a war zone hit her full force.
"What is this?" Ch'en suddenly felt herself step on something. The sound of something crunching underfoot caught her attention. She stepped back and found what looked like gray stones. These "stones" were covered in dust, and because the lighting was severely damaged, she couldn't see them clearly.
However, she seemed to guess what they were. Her face paled as she stumbled back a few steps, then tried to walk around them. But there were more! She felt herself stepping on hard objects again, making her feel wrong whether she stood still or moved forward.
"Don't bother trying to avoid it; you can't. This stuff is everywhere, and there's just too much of it. We'll just have to use a massive vacuum to get it all out later," Hoshiguma advised. They had searched for a while earlier and couldn't find a single clean spot to step.
Indeed, the things beneath their boots—the substances they couldn't quite distinguish—were the ashes of the soldiers cremated by the Earth Dragon. Because so many people had been gathered here, stepping inside was like walking into a giant crematorium. If you tried to be respectful, there was nowhere to put your feet.
As for Jeanne? She already knew how many heinous crimes these people had committed; why would she show them any respect? Not only was she fine with stepping on their ashes, but if conditions allowed, she would have wanted to resurrect them just to burn them again! She could only conclude that her Earth Dragon's firepower had been too low; it should have purified everyone in this secret room with a single flame to clean out the filth of this land.
"It seems I really should thank that giant beast. Its existence cleared so many obstacles for our LGD mission today!" Standing amidst the wreckage, Ch'en couldn't help but sigh. How many years had it been since she'd seen a scene like this?
Ever since she graduated from the Victorian Royal Guard Academy, she hadn't experienced a battle of this scale. While Lungmen had its share of trouble, a battle involving a thousand combatants... in some small countries, that would be enough to rewrite national history. Nothing like this had happened in Lungmen for years.
Looking at the battlefield that resembled a natural disaster, Ch'en silently calculated how many casualties the LGD would have suffered if they had gone up against an Ursus force of this size directly.
"We definitely need to thank it. Let's go out and buy something for it later. Even if it might not care for our gifts, it's a gesture we ought to make," Hoshiguma added. She didn't know yet that Jeanne had unsummoned the dragon; she assumed Ch'en had come here because the situation outside was stable.
They walked across the battlefield, past various discarded weapons. LGD officers were cautiously clearing the area to ensure no hidden dangers remained. Just moments ago, an explosion had occurred—a bomb designed specifically to create new Infected, packed with Originium shards, had gone off due to environmental changes. Consequently, the cleanup crew all wore protective shields to prevent Originium splashes from turning them into Infected.
"Here we are. Inside is their laboratory. I'll say it one more time: try to stay calm. Make sure you don't lose control once we're inside." Hoshiguma looked at them with a solemn face and pushed open the heavy, closed doors. The horrific scene Swire had described finally appeared before their eyes.