Simulation: Starting from Under One Person

Texas reacted just as quickly. Finding Croissant blocking the way, she went around to the left and, with a direct swing of her sword, looked at a completely empty spot.

Immediately afterward, the instant Croissant was knocked away, a dragonman appeared in Texas's field of vision, and her sword was already at the dragonman's waist.

呲——

The unusual sound and the distinct cutting sensation made Texas realize that this dragon-man was not a normal creature, but a monster from inside the iceberg.

'...Is it a newly added monster?'

Texas frowned and leaped to the left, dodging the dragonman's punch. The sound, like an explosion, echoed through the passage, and shattered ice fragments scattered in all directions.

Texas glanced at the crater in the ice wall and breathed a sigh of relief; this dragonman's strength was rather ordinary...

Recalling the "giant beast fragments" she had seen some time ago, which could cause damage with a single blow that was hundreds of meters in diameter, the difference between them and the fragments that could only cause damage with a single blow that was only a few meters in diameter was truly exaggerated.

Considering the ice in the iceberg region, even the outer layer of ice is several times harder than ordinary ice.

To put it another way, this dragonman is a formidable enemy.

As she was thinking this, Exusiai had already raised her gun and opened fire at full power...

The torrent of metal caught the dragonman off guard, leaving him momentarily unable to react.

In that fleeting moment, Texas seized the opportunity, slashing at the dragonman's leg to slow him down and increase the number of bullet hits.

Even with its leg injured, the dragon-man moved incredibly fast, dodging bullets as it charged toward Exusiai.

Texas, who was keeping a close eye on the dragon, would not allow it to attack Exusiai. She immediately swung her sword at the dragon to stop it.

Sora stood guard next to Exusiai. Compared to the other three, Sora's combat strength was slightly lower. Instead of charging forward, Sora cooperated with Exusiai to provide suppressive fire.

"A-Neng, back off!"

Upon hearing Croissant's voice, Exusiai did not hesitate. She immediately stopped firing and retreated with her gun, with Sora following closely behind.

Croissant charged in, carrying a shield with a fist imprint, and joined the melee team.

The narrow passage isn't really suitable for Exusiai to perform well, since she's likely to hit her teammates.

Texas brandished her twin swords, creating a dazzling display of blade light.

Dragonmen know nothing of fear or pain; each time they are struck, their madness intensifies.

Texas, with her agile body, dodged the dragonman's attacks time and time again, leaving a scar on the dragonman.

Croissant acted as a competent heavy armor user, doing her best to withstand the dragonman's attacks and trying to taunt him to maintain his aggro.

However, the dragon people seemed to have lost their minds, with more than half of their attention focused on Texas.

After some time, the dragonman was defeated by the two, and his body turned into black mist and dissipated, leaving only a strangely shaped skeleton on the ground...

"What is this?" Nengtian poked the strange bone a few times with his gun and asked his companion.

"I'm not sure." Texas frowned. Turning into black mist and dissipating was strange from any angle.

"Ask the boss," Kong suggested.

"I'm already asking..." After all, it's spoils of war, and whether it can be exchanged for money is what Croissant cares about.

After listening to Croissant's account of the events leading up to this, the Emperor pondered for a while and found it somewhat strange.

If it's gone, it's gone. How come there's still some left?!

If it were clothes or something, I could understand, but why bones?

"Wait until I get back and take a look." The penguin, who hadn't quite figured out the reason, told Croissant and the others that they had kept the 'strange bones'.

Texas and the others relayed the boss's orders to the others without objection. They put the 'strange bone' into their backpacks and continued on their way.

"We didn't see any dragon people when we came here before. Could it be that this anomaly caused this?"

Exusiai, gun in hand, kept a watchful eye on her surroundings while trying to start a conversation.

"Probably." Texas nodded slightly. To be fair, she could handle the dragonmen on her own; they weren't particularly strong.

Compared to the "Beast Fragment" inside the iceberg, its strength is far inferior. When it encountered the "Beast Fragment," it had no chance to fight back and was easily defeated.

This dragon-man, however, was able to fight back and forth.

The key issue is quantity, and quantity is a very complicated matter...

If there were a slightly larger number of dragonmen of similar strength, it would be quite a troublesome matter.

After all, this dragonman was riddled with bullets and slashed so many times by her, yet he was still alive and kicking, incredibly resilient...

"Maybe we should explore by electric scooter," Croissant joked. "At least it'll make us escape faster."

"Great idea!" Exusiai agreed.

Kong seemed to want to say something but didn't.

Meanwhile, in the core area of ​​the iceberg.

"Yes, almost all teams have defeated the boss of the first level."

"The boss in the middle area roams the maze, and if you're unlucky, you might encounter it repeatedly..."

Fang Rui, talking to himself, looked at several screens. The Guard Bureau's troops were led by Inspector Chen, Hoshiguma, and Swire, and numbered more than ten, all of whom were skilled fighters capable of taking on ten opponents at once. Penguin Logistics had a four-person team, which was relatively small.

The Rhine Lab's exploration team consisted of twenty people: five heavy warriors, five sorcerers, and ten melee fighters, some of whom were equipped with firearms and bombs.

There were also people involved in Ursus, and in Fang Rui's view, the leader was a bit suspicious, with a black snake coiled above his head.

"People controlled by the black snake?" Fang Rui pondered. Speaking of the black snake's parasitic ability, is there a limit to the number of people it can inhabit?

Thinking this, Fang Rui suddenly saw someone and immediately looked surprised. "The symbol of Rhodes Island? This person is from Rhodes Island?"

"Wearing a helmet! I wonder who it could be..."

Fang Rui's tone was slightly excited. He was quite excited to meet Rhodes Island staff, after all...

His previous plan required Rhodes Island's assistance, and he was already thinking about how to contact them. Now that Rhodes Island's staff had been delivered to him, how could he let it pass...?

"Let me see how strong this person is."

Watching the video feed of this person and observing his behavior, it became clear that after encountering the BOSS, this person did not attack but instead moved at high speed, attempting to escape.

"Speed-related Originium Arts?" Fang Rui pondered. There was no need to test the liaison officer's strength; he would just let him in.

"In what capacity should I speak to him?"

"I must avoid using my true identity, of course. These days, very few factions in Terra know my true identity..."

"...It's more comfortable to be around people who don't know my identity."

As he said this, Fang Rui already had an idea. He planned to meet this person under a false identity and then ask him to contact the person in charge at Rhodes Island.

Rhodes Island is generally managed by three people, but to be precise, it's two: the Doctor and Amiya.

Before the Doctor was discovered, Amiya always consulted Kal'tsit on important matters.

Unfortunately, while Kal'tsit was very knowledgeable, she was rather lacking in strategic thinking.

When negotiating with her, be careful that she doesn't hang up the call immediately upon hearing certain words.

“Then…” Fang Rui’s gaze shifted to another scene, “What kind of identity would make Kal’tsit hesitate to act rashly?”

The scene shown is the one where Nian defeated the BOSS. To be fair, Nian's movement speed is the fastest among all the exploration teams.

The person traveling with Nian is Xi, meaning that Xi's athletic ability is somewhat poor; otherwise, the two of them would move even faster.

"If I were to speak to Kal'tsit as a behemoth, she would definitely be hesitant to act rashly."

As he spoke, Fang Rui's figure changed. Dragon wings unfolded on his back, his tail swayed gently, and winding dragon horns appeared on his forehead.

As for the slumbering "Benares" not being collected by Fang Rui, who says there's only one dragon in the iceberg?

Thanks to his leniency, the person encountered not a single monster along the way, not even a single "giant beast fragment"...

He suddenly stopped just before reaching the core of the iceberg, frowning as he said, "Based on my previous experience exploring icebergs, this should be the time to encounter 'fragments of a behemoth,' but..."

Looking around, he saw no fragments of the giant beast. The ice cave was very quiet, with only the cold air flowing silently. The extremely low temperature made him feel a little cold.

"It gets colder the closer you get to the center. If you want to get into the core area, you have to seize the opportunity. Otherwise, if you delay for even a little while, it will be very dangerous for me."

"But the disappearance of the giant beast fragment that had been guarding the 'entrance' gave me a sense of crisis, as if continuing forward would lead to danger."

Rhodes Island's operators are divided into two types: those with combat capabilities, who have a chance to perform combat-related missions, and those without combat capabilities, who are responsible for logistics and clerical work and do not participate in combat.

Since this person was left by Rhodes Island in Lungmen to handle matters related to the iceberg, he cannot be someone without power.

Therefore, it is normal to trust one's intuition.

Seeing someone preparing to turn and leave, Fang Rui manipulated the fragments of the giant beast to block their path.

After turning around, the person saw fragments of a giant beast, seemingly forged from lava, staring at them.

Someone: "………… So… the fragment of the giant beast was there!"

But... why are you behind me?!

Under the stimulation of tension and fear, the person's heart rate increased rapidly, leaving no room for anything else; all attention was focused on the fragments of the behemoth.

Under Fang Rui's control, the fragments of the behemoth did not use their powers, but instead approached someone with steady steps, each step filled with a sense of oppression. Lava flowed down its body and dripped onto the ice surface...

The lava and ice reacted, creating a white mist.

With no other option, and lacking confidence that he could break through the defenses of the giant beast fragments and escape, he turned and fled deeper into the iceberg, attempting to find another way back to the outer region.

Unfortunately, the iceberg's structure can be divided into three layers: outer, middle, and inner. The outermost layer is the entrance, the middle area is a maze, and the inner layer is connected to the core area. All passages are independent, connecting the maze area and the core area, and are not connected to other passages...

Therefore, someone directly entered the area where the giant beast slumbered.

Sitting atop the dragon's head, watching the live stream, Fang Rui slowly lowered his head and gazed at someone.

Meanwhile, someone had fallen into a daze.

The treasures in the cave failed to capture his attention; the oppressive presence of the giant beast made it difficult for him to breathe.

Not to mention, there was someone sitting on the head of a giant beast who looked like a dragon, yet was clearly different.

The live stream showing various parts of the iceberg made him realize that his actions were being watched by someone.

It must have been someone's deliberate act to get us here.

"Nice to meet you. I am a dragon, an ordinary dragon! A giant beast, and also what some people call a 'god'."

“He is my mount.” Fang Rui gently patted “Benares”.