Chapter 1037 Nidhogg's Remains

Hao Ren led the exploration team through the scorched earth of Nibelungen, discovering many bottomless abysses along the way. The smallest of these horrifying fissures in the earth was hundreds of meters wide, and the deepest cut directly through the continent. Vivian threw a small bat into one of the fissures, and after ten minutes, she was spitting and sputtering. The little bat flew across the Nibelungen landscape, suspended in an alternate dimension, and plunged headfirst into a "dark side" environment filled with gravity distortions and horrifying scenery. Sharing the bat's senses, Vivian almost threw up her New Year's dinner right then and there.

In other wreckage of alternate dimensions, Hao Ren had also seen twisted fissures all over the earth, but to be honest, the fissures in Nibelungen were different.

The team stopped beside a rather large fissure and began to survey it. The fissure was several kilometers wide at its widest point and thirty kilometers long overall, winding like an ugly scar across the land. Deep within the fissure, one could vaguely see huge, beam-like cylindrical objects crisscrossing between the cliffs. These entangled objects were shrouded in a poisonous fog, appearing only as a hazy mass from above. Although he couldn't see the details, Hao Ren knew they were the vines of the First Born, Yggdrasil.

Galia threw two probes into the fissure. After a moment, the probes transmitted data, and the Dragon Queen pointed at her data terminal, "The geological data here is clearer, just as we predicted."

Anton glanced at it and nodded slightly, "The earth wasn't torn apart by explosions, but by these vines. The vines below show signs of severe decay, and there are many friction marks and gaps between them and the surrounding rock walls, evidence of the vines twisting violently and tearing the rock layers. I suspect it must be due to extreme pain."

Hao Ren frowned, "Clear evidence of corruption, but to be honest, there's a suspicious point here."

His two fellow inspectors immediately cast questioning glances.

"The vines discovered in other kingdoms are very calm, or rather, no signs of violent struggle were found around those vines," Hao Ren spread his hands. "But all these vines belong to the same creature, they're a whole. If such a severe lesion occurs in one place, why are the vines in other areas motionless, as if they have no sensation?"

Lily stroked her chin and thought carefully, "Sounds like paralysis… Does the First Born have a stroke?"

Before Hao Ren could say anything, the data terminal popped out from who knows where, "If this unit can have a stroke, why can't the First Born?"

Hao Ren hurriedly and clumsily pulled down this annoying PDA. Galia glanced at him with particular concern, "Honestly—aren't you going to send it back for repairs? It's still under warranty anyway."

"Sending it back to the factory would require going through procedures with our home's God. Although it's a chatterbox now, at least it still works. What if it comes back even crazier after being returned to the factory? Who would I cry to?" Hao Ren said with a bitter face. "Forget it, let's not talk about this. Let's keep going. If I'm not mistaken, the circular mountain ahead is where Nidhogg fell. Organize the data, let's go see what's there."

Elizabeth skipped along behind Vivian, the little girl very curious, "What does Nidhogg look like?"

Vivian turned her head and glanced at Galia, "You saw what Dragon Auntie looks like when she transforms, right?"

The little girl nodded vigorously. She and her dad had made a big scene on the upper platform before. The spectacular sight of Galia soaring across the sky after transforming was still fresh in the little girl's memory, and of course, she also remembered the scene of Galia hugging her head and hanging on the cooling tower.

Vivian spread her hands, "Galia after transforming and falling into a sauce jar is like Nidhogg…"

Galia: "…"

No matter how nonsensical the topic was along the way, the group did not delay important work. They collected energy readings from all the earth fissures along the way and took biological samples from more than a dozen vines that spread from the fissures. Coupled with the intelligence transmitted by the small bats and probes flying everywhere, Hao Ren was finally able to roughly sketch a map of the Yggdrasil's corrupted area. According to this area map, he could roughly estimate the boundary line between the diseased vines and the normal vines and their distribution pattern. The data terminal uploaded these data to the analysis mainframe of the Petrified Tortoise and used the spaceship antenna as a springboard to transmit a copy of the data to the Crystal Nucleus Research Station in the Dream Plane.

Containers One and Two of the Research Station immediately launched a temporary thread to check the two First Born samples in the containers to find the possible internal causes of this corruption.

At the same time, the group arrived in front of the towering circular mountain.

Hao Ren stood at the top of the circular mountain, looking down at a rather frightening scene.

The entire circular mountain was like a festering, perforated gangrene. The rocks and soil within the circular mountain had been almost completely corroded by toxic substances and the First Born's bodily fluids, forming a bottomless, festering pit. Countless huge, black-red, semi-plant, semi-biological vine structures entangled and grew in this abyss, forming a complex situation. At the center of the bottom of the circular mountain, a cluster of thinner vines coiled up to form a small hill, and within that cluster of vines was a狰狞 and twisted huge skeleton.

The black dragon Nidhogg—it withdrew from the battlefield of Ragnarok, fell in smoke at the end of the earth, and finally died in its lair in Nibelungen. The First Born's vines sucked the life out of this once-powerful dragon species, turning its skeleton into a terrible collectible wrapped in vines.

"The biological tissue activity here is higher than in other areas, abnormally high…" Anton took a data terminal and shone it on the bottom of the circular mountain, his brow slightly furrowed, "Strange… Didn't that Mimir guy say that Yggdrasil had been appeased? How come the vine tissue here looks completely active?"

"And these signs of infection and corruption as well," Hao Ren half-squatted down and observed the strange vines below. The vines found in other kingdoms had a healthy luster and runes shimmering on their surface, but the vines within the circular mountain were completely different in shape. Rather than being rotten and diseased, they seemed to have turned into another kind of biological tissue altogether. "The Nibelungen vines seem completely isolated from the vines elsewhere. It's like a world of its own here."

"Is there a risk of 'awakening'?" Vivian looked at Anton.

"There's definitely a risk, but as long as we're careful, it should be fine," Anton nodded. "The activity level is still below the warning threshold."

"Everyone, be vigilant," Hao Ren straightened his clothes and was the first to walk down. "Report any active vines immediately, and don't rashly stimulate them."

The terrain within the circular mountain was rugged and difficult to navigate. It was almost impossible to find a flat, open foothold. The corroded earth was pitted and uneven, and gas was spewing out from many places from time to time. Even veteran inspectors like Galia and Anton felt that the "First Born" was an extremely terrifying and dangerous creature. They walked vigilantly beside Hao Ren. Anton was surrounded by protective and early warning magic runes, while Galia's eyes turned into vertical pupils, ready to transform at any time.

At the back of the team, Nangong Wuyue opened a mist barrier to protect everyone. Although everyone had shields and various defensive spells for protection, the siren's mist barrier was still the best second insurance in this situation.

They arrived in front of Nidhogg's skeleton.

"There are very serious signs of corrosion," Izhaks put his hand into the vines and easily broke off a piece of jet-black bone. "Such a big dragon… In my hometown, it could basically dominate the entire vesicle space."

Hao Ren clicked his tongue. "It's all for naught when encountering a creature like the 'First Born.' One of their tentacles can pierce through the Nine Kingdoms."

Lily looked up at the huge dragon skeleton that almost blotted out the sky, drool almost flowing down, "What a waste… If this stuff wasn't poisonous, I could gnaw on it until next century."

Everyone: "…"

Hao Ren carefully observed the surroundings and found a very wide fissure below the skull of Nidhogg's corpse. Faint red light emanated from below the fissure, so he took out a probe and threw it down.

After a moment, the probe transmitted an image. Just as Hao Ren had expected, it wasn't an ordinary fissure below, but a biological chamber.

Judging from the biological tissue around the chamber, it seemed like the First Born's brain core cavity.

The corruption started in the brain tissue.