Two hours later, Dove returned with the five Scale Lizards. But instead of heading back to the prison, he landed by a lake where their large submarine was docked. The item he needed was inside the submarine.
Two men in black uniforms were already waiting at the lakeside. They were part of the logistics team, while those who went out were all combat personnel.
"Dove."
After seeing Dove, the two men greeted him.
Dove came up to the two of them, nodded slightly, and asked, "Is everything ready?"
"All set. Should we bring it out now?" One of them asked.
"Yes." Dove said expressionlessly.
"Understood."
One of the men picked up a radio and signaled to those waiting inside the submarine to bring out the item Dove had come for.
Moments later, four people emerged from the submarine, each carrying a heavy silver metal case. They walked up to the shore and set the cases down.
Dove's gaze lingered on the four metal crates, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes. These were biochemical weapons he'd prepared for the Federation of Ochima, with a total of thirty warheads in stock.
Knowing that the situation would become increasingly unfavorable to them if things dragged on, Dove decided to pull out four of them to deal with Law, which was also a good opportunity to try out the effects on a large scale.
"Mount them onto the Scale Lizards." Dove ordered.
Upon hearing this, the four men carrying the silver metal cases each approached one Scale Lizards.
They opened the cases, revealing strange, semi-transparent missiles lying quietly on the black soft cloth pad. The front and back ends were unremarkable, but in the middle were three glass balls filled with ominous green liquid.
Each missile was fitted with a remote detonator, designed to shatter the glass containers and release the toxic fluid, which would then disperse into the air. As for the effect, it is stronger, faster and more widespread than the notorious Poor Man's Rose!
In no time, the biochemical warheads were securely mounted, and the four men retreated carrying the empty metal boxes.
Dove jumped onto the Scale Lizard that was not equipped with the warheads, gave a few instructions to his team's members, and then led the rest of the Scale Lizard back to the forest.
At the same time, he issued orders for all members still in the forest to retreat to the lake, and for the artificial creatures to hunt down anything edible on the way back.
The continuously consumed Aura needs to be replenished by eating, whether it is wild beasts, magical beasts, or even humans.
Five Scale Lizard soared into the blue sky. Dove stood on one of them with a cold look in his eyes.
The operation had already been delayed far too long. After searching most of the area, they still haven't found Sanbica. Even with concentrated efforts, they also can't kill Law.
Dove is unwilling to continue wasting energy and time here. In fact, his hatred for Law had reached an unprecedented level.
By deploying four biochemical warheads across four different points in the forest, it would only take twelve hours and with the help of the wind for the poison to spread across the entire area, wiping out every living thing, including Law and Sanbica.
That forest made up a full fifth of Demon Island, and just these four warheads would be enough to annihilate everything within it, which is a testament to their devastating power.
To Dove, the countless lives in the forest were no different from the humans in the Six Continents. Their original plan had always been to wipe out the Hunter Association and turn the first continent into a dead zone.
All thirty warheads had already been assigned specific drop zones. Like a massive chessboard, each location connected with the next to form a web of destruction. Now that four of them have been deployed early, the impact is still within an acceptable range.
Pure, unrestrained malice...
Law, who was lurking in the forest, was unaware of Dove's actions. The same was true for Sanbica, who was hiding in the cave, not to mention Linne and the others, who were still making their way toward the forest.
Law could no longer find any member of the Seirin Group. He didn't know that the other side had begun to retreat, and four inhumane biochemical warheads were being carried toward the forest by the Scale Lizards.
Several hours later, the four Scale Lizards carrying biochemical warheads arrived at a designated location within the forest, one from each direction. Without hesitation, they deployed their deadly payloads.
With the muffled sound of four distant, unknown explosions, a shadow of death swept silently across the vast forest.
The explosion wasn't powerful enough to kill the Scale Lizard outright, but it was enough to shatter the glass sphere inside the missile, releasing the green liquid, which immediately turned into green smoke upon contact with air. It spread slowly like a mist gas.
The green smoke wasn't particularly dense, and visibility remained high.
The Scale Lizard lying on the ground was the first to be engulfed by the smoke. Already injured, the human-like face on their heads began to bleed from every orifice. With their blank expression, the sight became even more grotesque.
The initial symptoms took effect three minutes later. Then, the Scale Lizard's body began to twitch. After about ten minutes, the bright red blood it had shed turned a sickly green. A moment later, its twitching body gradually fell still.
Fifteen minutes in, the fairly resilient Scale Lizard succumbed to the poisonous gas.
Next, the green smoke spread outward with the wind. Any creature enveloped by it died within fifteen minutes, while the more resilient ones could hold out for over an hour.
These stronger creatures quickly realized the danger posed by the spreading green smoke, but they couldn't outrun the wind. One by one, they were pulled into the smoke, and their lives started a countdown to death.
From above, the four points where the green smoke erupted expanded inward like dumpling folds closing up. All the creatures that sensed the danger of the smoke fled deeper into the forest.
Beast tides, insect swarms, and herds of various creatures began large-scale migrations.
However, the green smoke was like the Grim Reaper's scythe, mercilessly harvesting countless lives. Nothing survived its path.
Creatures bled from every orifice as they collapsed within the green smoke. Their now greenish blood slowly seeped into the soil or water, initiating the next stage of contamination.
And it wasn't just the creatures, as the lush trees also began to wither. The devastating area-wide power of the biochemical warhead revealed itself completely in this moment.
Unlike the Poor Man's Rose, this biochemical weapon didn't produce a nuclear-style explosion. Instead, it spread like a deadly breeze, silently invading every living organism.
Far away, atop the last remaining Scale Lizard, Dove stood expressionless, watching the forest engulfed in green smoke.
As time passed slowly, the poisonous gas spread further and further, and the number of dead was already beyond counting. It was an apocalyptic scene.
Even the area flattened by the earlier explosion was now covered by the poisonous smoke. The poisonous gas seeped into collapsed caverns, quietly infiltrating the entire underground cavern, including the underground chamber where Law had once found tens of thousands of corpses.
The gas quickly filled the underground space. The corpses didn't react at all, and still lay there quietly. No other creatures were forced out by the gas.
There wasn't even a single insect in this underground chamber and an eerie silence reigned.
Thud.
Suddenly, the sound of stone falling to the ground spread throughout the underground space.
Amid the wreckage of old structures and corpses, there were a few buildings which are still somewhat intact. The sound had come from one of them.
The building was also made of stones with extremely crude workmanship. It had three walls, one of which had collapsed, and only half of the roof was left, looking very dilapidated.
Inside the house, the three remaining walls were covered with graffiti.
On the ground, there was a diamond-shaped stone slab with complex grooves carved on it. Most of it was covered with dust, and it was impossible to tell whether it was text or pattern.
In addition to the thick dust, there were many black and yellow cloth strips that looked like bandages scattered on the stone slab.
Suddenly, those numerous bandages began to move like snakes, brushing aside loose stones, then slowly floated into the air.
The bandages twisted and danced in mid-air, and within moments, they wrapped around the air, forming humanoid shapes. However, large gaps remained throughout their forms, and there was nothing solid inside them.
From that shape, one can roughly see the appearance of the head, limbs, and body.
There were seven bandaged humanoids in total, standing in the green smoke, motionless.