Prism City entrance square.

The mechanical roar here was incessant, and spotlights illuminated the ground as if it were daytime. The rescue work had been going on for nearly sixteen hours. "Guardian" Panshi, with a gloomy face, stayed in the temporary command tent, waiting for the final news to arrive.

Some say that his heart is like iron, and he will not be disturbed by emotions at any time, which is actually a misunderstanding. Lan's sacrifice made him feel deeply saddened, and even secretly blamed himself for not leading the team down in person, but he could better distinguish the priorities of the matter. Before the situation at the bottom of the city spine was clarified, he didn't even have the right to be sad.

After the No. 04 evacuation well was attacked, the No. 01 and No. 05 wells were also attacked by Fallen. Fortunately, these people had learned from Lan's team and only paid a small price to wipe out the attackers. However, the statistics still made Panshi feel a burst of powerlessness—everything was the same as what happened in the No. 04 well. The enemies were all the lowest-level association members. More than three hundred and twenty bodies have been identified, which is almost close to the total number of people on duty that day.

As of now, the complete annihilation of the lower level is a foreseeable result.

He didn't know why these people chose to fuse with the Fallen Core in just a few hours after the disaster—Prism City has a complete emergency system, even if the supply to the upper level is cut off, it is enough to last for a while. They should be clear that the association will never easily give up any trapped person. As long as not all evacuation wells are damaged at the same time, they will be able to see the light of day again soon.

But Panshi was in no mood to guess what happened at that time. He just wanted to find out what the situation in the Core Containment Library was now—even if all the people on duty became Fallen, there were only three hundred, but there were as many as three thousand cores in the containment library. This was several times more important than his life. If it leaked out, the consequences would be disastrous.

"Mr. Panshi," at this moment, a man in a suit walked into the temporary command center and whispered a few words in his ear.

"So unlucky?" Panshi couldn't help but frown. According to the feedback from the search and rescue team, when the Erosion suddenly expanded, there were two visiting teams of martial artists from the Kagarde Peninsula in Prism City. The collapse of the section swallowed up caused structural damage to the city spine, causing the entire floor closest to the erosion to slide into the flat cavity. Unfortunately, the two teams were near the collapse.

Judging from the current rescue situation, the fate of these people may not be optimistic.

"What to do?" The man in the suit said with a troubled face, "One of the teams also has a Kagarde star martial artist. If it is not handled properly, it may cause a diplomatic crisis."

"Try to search as much as possible, save as many as you can, what else can you do? This is not something we can control."

"But according to the short-sighted personality of the guardian there, they may not appreciate it..."

Panshi was silent for a moment, "I see, hide this matter first, I will ask the President of Cloudsoar City to coordinate."

Just as the man in the suit left, a liaison officer suddenly shouted.

"There's new news from the No. 01 well! They have cleared the blocked part of the pipeline and are entering the interior of the city spine!"

"Connect the signal to the main screen," Panshi said in a deep voice.

"Understood!"

After a burst of snow noise flashed, the main screen showed the image transmitted from the front line. The shaking camera should be from the team leader's head-mounted camera. The lighting below the city spine was good, but the lights were a bit flickering. Obviously, the emergency motor was still working. From this, it can be inferred that transportation devices such as elevators should also be able to be used normally, which can save a lot of time for rescue work.

But no one cheered in the command post. Everyone's eyes were attracted by the abrupt "red spot" on the screen—its outline was irregular, but it was perfectly embedded between the reinforced concrete, as if it were an asymmetrical work of art deliberately created like this.

However, Panshi knew that it was by no means a coincidence—everything that came into contact with the Erosion would be devoured, even the power of nature was no exception.

It was it that turned Prism City into two parts split below.

"Don't worry about the damage to the headquarters for now," he ordered, "Immediately go to the bottom level, I want to ensure that the Core Containment Library is safe and sound."

The rescue team that received the instruction traveled all the way down, and didn't encounter any enemies again. However, Panshi didn't see too many traces of fighting either. It was quiet everywhere, and the furnishings still maintained an orderly appearance, as if this was not a disaster site, but deliberately abandoned.

When the team arrived in front of the containment library door, a gasp of cold air sounded in the temporary command post.

Even Panshi couldn't help but clench his teeth.

Another "Guardian," Furyflame's body was broken into two pieces, and half of it was stuck to the steel door, which was tens of centimeters thick, and the clothes were almost burned to ashes. And a huge hole appeared in the center of the steel door. Judging from the irregular edges, it was forcibly melted out by some high-temperature object.

I am afraid that Furyflame used himself as the last barrier in order to resist the invaders, but even so, he could not stop the enemy from entering the containment library.

This is definitely not something a Fallen can do.

After the team spent a lot of effort to open the library door, the area where the Fallen Cores were stored was empty.

The command post fell into a deathly silence. Everyone looked at the big screen, their eyes as if they had lost their brilliance.

Sure enough... Panshi's clenched fist made a creaking sound. He knew that those people on the lower level could not accept the Fallen Cores for no reason! "Adjust the video—I want to see what kind of monsters these invaders are!"

His thunderous voice exploded in the tent, waking everyone up. The timely switching of the emergency power supply made the entire monitoring system not affected too much. Except for a few damaged probes, most of the data was well preserved. The technical personnel who subsequently entered the well soon connected spare storage hardware, and video data was continuously transmitted to the ground through temporary pigtail optical cables, and the high-level officials in the command post also saw an incredible scene.

At the moment when the Erosion expanded, several clumps of viscous "blood" dripped from the red cavity and hit the floor below. After wriggling for a while, those liquid-like things turned into human-like appearances one by one. One of them seemed to have the ability to melt everything, and in a blink of an eye, it burned through the floor and reached the bottom of the city spine. There was also a more terrifying monster, which could control the martial artist who came after hearing the sound in almost one face-to-face, turning it into a mindless puppet, looking like a low-level Fallen attracted by the power of nature.

In less than half an hour, the entire lower level was declared disintegrated. The people who were still alive merged with the Fallen Cores one by one in a daze, becoming puppets of the enemy. And those monsters, after "swallowing" the remaining cores, directly melted a passage from the containment library and disappeared into the lens.

Panshi had never seen such a way of using power, let alone enemies born from the Erosion.

He couldn't help but think of the monsters mentioned in the survivor reports of "artificial erosion" during a joint eradication operation organized by the association.

It seems... the concept that Erosion can devour everything needs to be changed.

At the same time, what needs to be changed may also be the fact that Erosion is not good or evil—according to the current situation, these monsters from inside the Erosion, and obviously not Fallen, are full of undisguised hostility towards humans.

However, Panshi also knew that even if the enemy was difficult to deal with, as long as the martial artists worked together, they would always find a way to fight against it. The most important thing now is to boost morale. If fear arises because the enemy is too strong, everything will be over.

"Everyone, as you can see, this is not a simple accident, but an invasion launched against us by the Erosion!" He stood up and said loudly to everyone, "This may seem contrary to common sense, but the facts are in front of us—let me put it more clearly, this is a war! Their goals are clear, they are prepared, just to take our world! I will immediately contact martial arts associations in various places, gather all the strength to help Prism City eliminate the enemy!"

Speaking of this, he paused, "As my disciple Lan said, everyone, the Battle of Divine Will has begun."