Chapter 173 – Giant Bird Duel
When he said this, his tone was not one of contempt, but rather one of concern.
“Our elite team was just wiped out, and I worry that you may have misjudged Mira Wells’ strength.”
“Thank you,” Tu Ran did not directly refuse. “We’ll go in and scout the situation first. If we need support, we’ll send a message.”
“Alright.” The head guard nodded.
Tu Ran stood at the edge of the bridge, gazing at the distant, grand yet understated ancient castle, and called Zero through her combat helmet.
“Zero, where is Mira Wells now?”
After analyzing the castle’s surveillance footage, Zero responded, “She’s on the second floor of the eastern tower, resting. This is the best time for infiltration.”
Tu Ran immediately tightened her grip on her submachine gun and looked back at her team.
“Are you ready?”
“Ready!”
Everyone adjusted their status to the best, gripped their weapons, and focused their attention.
“Let’s go.” Tu Ran signaled forward and dashed to the front, bending low as she sped across the bridge connecting the castle to the outer area.
Behind her, Min Tao followed closely, then the third pioneer, and then a guard team prepared to rescue the hostages.
Upon reaching the lawn, the guard team first rescued Mira Wells’ second son, Das, from the tree.
He was already unconscious, his face severely swollen.
The three members of Tu Ran’s team then infiltrated the castle, heading swiftly towards the eastern tower where Mira Wells was located.
In the combat helmet, Zero mapped out the best route for them. The three passed through a gray brick corridor lined with small gardens on either side, where a pile of bodies lay on the grass.
They emitted a nauseating stench.
Both men and women, dressed in matching uniforms, appeared to be servants of the castle.
They all had a black hole in their chest, apparently punctured through by claws.
Their blood had stained the lawn of the small garden red, flowing along the stone path into a narrow stream that cut through the garden. The water in the stream had turned red and wound its way into the distance.
The three members of Tu Ran’s team finally reached the base of the tower where Mira Wells was located after crossing the corridor.
Tu Ran raised a hand to stop Min Tao and the other from moving forward.
Following Tu Ran’s gaze, they saw shards of broken glass scattered everywhere.
Stepping on them would make a significant noise.
The three of them looked up towards the floor above. Through the glass of their combat helmets, they could see the scene on the second floor.
A huge floor-to-ceiling window had been shattered, and half of a pitch-black wing was protruding from inside.
It had no feathers, resembling a rough, rugged tree trunk. Between the rock-like texture’s fissures, small bubbles could be seen forming.
When the bubbles burst, they released wisps of smoke.
Tu Ran swallowed.
The floor-to-ceiling window was at least three meters long and three meters wide, yet only half of the monster’s wing could fit through. The entire wing of the creature must be enormous!
With such wings growing from a human-sized body, Tu Ran couldn’t help but admire the ingenuity of the resistance organization.
Min Tao contacted Tu Ran through the headset in his combat helmet.
“What should we do? There’s so much broken glass on the floor, and the door is blocked. We can’t get up there.”
“Wait here. We’ll engage it once it notices something is wrong. This will also give the guard team more time to rescue the survivors.”
“Understood.”
The three of them silently moved to the sides and stood against the walls.
Tu Ran stood on one side, while Min Tao and the other stood on the opposite side.
They all gripped their weapons tightly, nerves on edge as they sensed any movement above them.
Mira Wells was asleep, breathing heavily. As she breathed, her wings flapped up and down, occasionally scraping off small shards of glass.
The tiny glass shards fell on the helmets of the three, making a crisp sound.
Fortunately, the sound blended with the noise of shards falling to the ground, and Mira Wells did not notice anything unusual.
Everything remained calm until a sudden scream from the distance shattered the silence.
“What’s going on?” Tu Ran whispered.
“The guard team was rescuing a maid suspended in the air. The maid suddenly woke up and, in extreme fear, began to scream before she could see the guard’s signals.”
Tu Ran felt the wall behind her start to vibrate violently.
Mira Wells had woken up!
Tu Ran looked up to see the massive wing desperately squeezing out, the remaining glass shards falling like snow from the edges.
The shards “pitter-pattered” against her helmet.
When both wings finally emerged completely, the enormous shadow instantly enveloped the three of them.
Mira Wells hovered in the air, flapping her wings.
She tilted her head, trying to locate the source of the sound.
This was the first time Tu Ran saw the full appearance of the genetically modified human.
The sight was beyond words—wasn’t this just another type of alien from the Threshold?
The only major difference was that it was wearing clothes.
But at this moment, the white silk garment had been torn apart by the swelling body, revealing the black, rock-like skin underneath.
Mira Wells, wedged between two massive wings, had completely lost her human appearance.
It chose a direction and flew towards the source of the sound.
At the same time, Tu Ran raised her submachine gun and began shooting at its body.
Min Tao and the other also sprang into action, spreading out to attack Mira Wells from different angles.
Mira Wells immediately changed direction and turned to face the three audacious humans hiding near its resting place.
“Roar!”
It opened its mouth, and a fire dragon erupted from it, aiming directly at Tu Ran’s position.
Tu Ran’s pupils contracted. She rolled to the side to avoid the intense heat of over a hundred degrees.
“How can it breathe fire?! The data didn’t say it could breathe fire!”
“It’s a new ability it evolved,” Zero replied quickly.
The attack missed, and Mira Wells roared in frustration, continuing to open its mouth wide and spewing a continuous stream of fire towards Tu Ran.
Tu Ran rolled and crawled to evade, shouting, “Isn’t it only dragons that breathe fire? Isn’t it a bird? How can it breathe fire too?!”
“Sorry, this issue requires further research by the institute. Zero cannot explain it.”
Tu Ran narrowly avoided wave after wave of fire dragons, bewildered as to why this bird seemed to single her out, despite the presence of two others behind her. Was it not noticing them?
Mira Wells pursued Tu Ran in the air, while Min Tao and the other tried to shoot at Mira Wells.
They too were puzzled as to why Mira Wells was fixated on Tu Ran, but they had no choice but to desperately try to draw Mira Wells’ attention away.
As Tu Ran ran, she spotted a sturdy stone pillar and quickly ducked behind it. The intense heat from the pursuing fire dragon instantly scorched the pillar, sending a scorching wave of flames and embers flying out from both sides. Even with her combat suit’s automatic temperature regulation system, Tu Ran could feel the intense heat, dreading the outcome if she were hit by the flames.
