Chapter 509 Illuminating the Path Forward
"Hey, isn't it a waste to use asteroid near-Earth defense weapons like that? There are no engineers to maintain them. If they malfunction, you'll lose a major weapon. And... what if you accidentally damage a train convoy in that direction?"
On the moving train, KIKI heard Lin Xian's arrangements and spoke up immediately.
Lin Xian remained calm upon hearing this and replied indifferently, "We were all wrong before. We thought this was a weapon to be used as a strategic threat. But now the Tower People's operation has begun in full swing, and the world is in danger. It would be a huge loss to leave this weapon unused. We should take advantage of the fact that humanity is not yet extinct and use it every time we can to make a profit. Especially for S-class, killing one is not a loss, and killing two will break even."
KIKI nodded, somewhat agreeing, and said, "Uh... what you said does make some sense."
"And that's not all I'm after." Lin Xian's eyes were thoughtful. "In the Tower People's civilized game, those [Angels] acquire information and abilities by devouring each other until they evolve into perfect life forms. Now that I think about it, the black mist that dissipated from the strange entities we killed and merged into the ground might have been devoured by those high-level S-rank beings, and then the S-rank beings were devoured by the Abyss Demons in the Star Abyss, and finally the World-class beings..."
"Step by step, doesn't this look like playing Snake?"
Upon hearing this, KIKI raised an eyebrow: "Oh~ I see, that giant ocean god on Sea Rock Island... So your goal is to try to disrupt the current world-class phenomena that are merging and devouring each other?"
Lin Xian nodded. Number 04, 'Giant Ocean God', appeared; Number 02, 'Floating Giant Corpse', moved; Number 05, 'Chaos', appeared in the Colorado Canyon; Number 03, 'Sky Serpent', devoured the Asia-Pacific region; and there was also the giant crustal parasite, Number '01', which lay dormant in Siberia!
Each of these monsters possesses world-destroying power, and the mere sight of one of them before humanity is enough to plunge the world into despair. Lin Xian finds it hard to imagine just how terrifying it would be if these creatures were to merge into the so-called "angels."
"Of course, whether it can disrupt the so-called merger is just speculation," Lin Xian said in a deep voice. "But at the very least, it can cause a lot of damage to these monsters. They have taken over 90% of Blue Star. If we don't fight back, we won't have any chance left."
"In addition, the power released from Nantianmen may cause collateral damage, but if there are still troops holding their positions there, this is also a signal."
"Are you trying to tell the survivors in that area that the Phoenix Society hasn't given up on them, to give them hope?" KIKI's eyes lit up after she finished speaking, and she looked at Lin Xian with great surprise, saying, "Wow, you've thought of everything."
Lin Xian turned to KIKI: "The Phoenix Society is making a breakthrough in using dark energy to convert nuclei into degenerate thermonuclear effects. If they succeed, I wonder if the Tower People can withstand a 'Republic's Wrath' with a yield of 90 million tons."
KIKI nodded and said, "I knew the discovery of the dark energy frequency could be a key factor in turning our fortunes around. The Phoenix Society must have inherited a significant portion of the Federation's nuclear arsenal, right?"
"How would I know?" Lin Xian shook his head. "There's no point in worrying about that now..."
At that moment, Grace's voice came.
[Track calibration complete, second firing confirmation.]
Lin Xian immediately opened the global Crimson Map, located the coordinates reported by Grace on it, and his expression immediately hardened when he saw the intensely crimson area!
...
Red Rock Rift Valley, North America
The aerial battle reached a fever pitch. The firepower of the Thunderbolt Air Fleet's floating armored vehicles almost ignited the crimson sky. Thousands of meters above, countless tentacles descended from the massive crimson clouds, ravaging the ground. Multiple air combat squadrons, each composed of dozens of Lightning fighters, were rapidly maneuvering beneath those tentacled canopies.
"Viper Squadron, infiltrate and attack! Alternate cover!"
Squadron Leader Chen Feng's voice boomed across the channel. At the very top of the clouds, twelve fighter jets, like silver shuttles, tore through the scarlet sky. The missile racks on their bellies popped open, and swarms of missiles left white trails as they bit into the flesh-colored tentacles hanging from the clouds.
Boom boom boom!
The missile accurately hit several of the vertical legs, severing two of them directly. The broken legs plummeted down like a giant broken chain reaching into the clouds.
"Crossfire!"
Chen Feng's fighter jet tumbled and cut into the gap between the tentacles. The fire control radar locked on again, and two more missiles were launched in quick succession. With a loud bang, the fragments of the explosion fell like rain, revealing the scarlet muscle fibers in the cracks of the clouds.
"Captain! A swarm of bat-type demons is heading towards us from the 7 o'clock direction!!"
"Split up on both sides and create distance!"
Buzz!
With a deafening sonic boom, the fighter jets maneuvered rapidly as they weaved through the clouds. Suddenly, the clouds collapsed, and tens of thousands of manta ray-like flying monsters cascaded down like an asphalt waterfall, a dark mass pressing down directly downwards. The monsters in the clouds seemed to be enraged, and countless mad dogs with drooping legs swirled around them. In an instant, three fighter jets were destroyed!
Beep beep beep!
"Units 2, 5, and 6 have been disconnected!"
"Unit 7 has lost its maneuverability!"
"Withdraw from the vertical airspace!" Chen Feng shouted through gritted teeth as he watched the squadron signals on his fighter jet's computer go out one by one. He pulled hard on the control stick, and the fighter jet dodged the incoming stinger by flying sideways. He then said, "We can't get into the clouds. Fire all the missiles, prioritizing the nearest vertical airspace!"
As they sped by, another fighter jet was struck by the swarm of flying monsters at high speed. The dark mass disintegrated in mid-air before it could even explode.
"Charge out!"
"Watch out, there's another one ahead!"
The wingman's screams erupted in the channel: "Captain! Your tail is on fire!"
Chen Feng looked at the dashboard, where countless warning lights were on. His expression hardened, and he suddenly shut down the automatic fire suppression system, directly releasing the safety mechanisms of the last two missiles and locking onto a drop above: "Unit 3, take over command. You slow down, and I'll clear the way for you."
"Wait... Captain!"
boom!
Suddenly, the No. 1 fighter jet accelerated and climbed, firing two missiles directly at the huge pendulum swinging down from above. At the same time, the burning fuselage smashed through the three tentacles, tearing a path for the formation.
"No!"
Unit 3, which was breaking out from the rear, watched Unit 1 turn into a fiery meteor and fall into the sky. With a loud shout, it immediately and decisively led the remaining team to break through the encirclement.
Rumble.
A terrifying surge of dark energy rippled through the clouds, and a crimson hurricane began to sweep across the ground and sky. The howling, intense red storm blotted out the sun. At this moment, alarms blared incessantly from the bridge of the Zhenhai warship.
"What's going on?!"
"That monster activated some kind of ability and started creating a hurricane," one of the subordinates reported.
"Report! Something is falling!"
"No, they were thrown down!"
Wu Xiangqun's expression hardened slightly as he looked up at the radar screen projected by the information officer. He saw a dark mass of lights in the sky that seemed to completely cover the entire sky.
"That S-class monster is launching monsters down from the clouds?!"
On the ground, Shu Qin and the others looked up and seemed to see a torrential downpour, with strange tides like a flood falling from the sky, heading towards the fleet and the ground rail defense line below.
"Does this thing reproduce? So many?" Lu Chang was stunned. A suffocating atmosphere approached as the strange tide descended from the sky.
Just then, a sudden gust of wind arose from the ground, and the sand and dust on the ground, along with the crimson wind, directly whipped up a huge rolling cloud that blew into the sky.
"What's this?!"
Just as Shuqin and the Infinite team were preparing to retreat, they turned around and saw a figure fluttering wildly in the wind above the Redstone Rift.
"withstand"
Behind the massive, churning cloud, Jiang Yun's figure was like an insignificant speck of dust, but he controlled the cloud, sending it hurtling towards the sky with a roaring surge of air.
Knock knock knock!
Meanwhile, on the plains cleared by the storm, the Allied convoys, amidst the roar of gunfire, fought their way through the monstrous tide to make their way back.
"Finally arrived." Lei Zhen sat in the car, leaned forward through the window to look at the sky, and cursed, "Damn it, just in time."
"Huh? This isn't right, boss! What's the right time?" the henchman shouted in a panic.
"This is the time to die!" Lei Zhen shouted, "Don't hold back your bullets, hold the line!"
High in the sky, the deck of the Sky Train was covered by flying monsters. 1130 had already run out of bullets and was continuously firing into the air with electromagnetic railguns and pulse arrays. On the deck, Ning Jing, Qian Dele, Monica, and Ryunosuke were firing at full power. The monsters surrounded Ning Jing. In the next instant, purple light burst out and a sonic boom punch, like a heavy cannon, directly blasted the monsters that surrounded her into bloody foam. Her body was growing and expanding rapidly, and a huge amount of dark energy was fluctuating. The nano armor on her body was also quickly adapting to her size.
"There are too many, we can't kill them all. We must find a way to deal with the S-class enemies in the cloud."
Buzz!
A golden beam pierced through, and Qian Dele flashed between the ship's towers, shouting, "That monster is like the mother nest we encountered on Sea Rock Island. It can actually launch so many small monsters. This is not easy to deal with."
"Stop talking nonsense."
Monica walked in the middle of the cloud bridge, constantly firing her sonic sword in all directions. She had been fighting for more than 5 hours and her face was starting to turn pale. If it weren't for Shiori's support, all of them would have collapsed by now.
"Shiori, we can't hold on much longer here. You need to prepare to retreat to the inner cabin," Monica said to Shiori behind her.
Shiori nodded, but the green light emanating from her hands did not diminish at all. Inside her power armor, her face was covered in sweat, and the frail woman was still gritting her teeth and persevering.
Empty!
Just then, outside the ship's bow, several black torrents of metal surged back. Ryunosuke, hovering at the bow, faced the oncoming horde of monsters and directly condensed the metal torrents in mid-air, creating eight giant metal millstones, each over a hundred meters in diameter, that spun in the air like giant aerial cutting machines. The millstones' serrated edges sliced through the flying monsters, and black blood cascaded down like a waterfall, forcefully blocking the largest cluster of monsters.
"We can't hold on much longer; many of the fleet's aircraft have crashed."
Inside the main bridge, Sasha's hands moved rapidly, her face deathly pale: "Damn it, the Orbital Seismic Cannon is overloaded, it needs to be cooled down!"
"Wait a little longer..."
Chen Sixuan clenched her fists. At this moment, the swirling clouds below had risen into the sky, and the violent storm completely blocked out the view of the horizon. It was a dark, oppressive expanse, and Monica and the others on the deck could only see the monstrous torrent rushing towards them, with no chance to catch their breath.
Just as the monstrous tide was about to engulf the fleet, a pillar of white-incandescent fire pierced through the heavens and earth!
"God, Burn the Heavenly Fire!"
The black sky was suddenly ignited by this incandescent pillar of fire, setting off a massive fire that stretched tens of thousands of meters into the clouds. The flames engulfed the entire airspace, and the heatwave collided with the tornadoes of the clouds. A hurricane carrying a fire tornado soared into the sky, sweeping away the black tide-like horde of monsters. Countless bizarre entities fell burning like a meteor shower.
"Beep beep... Sorry, I'm late!"
Lu Xingchen arrived on flames, his voice ringing out through the communicator. Chen Sixuan's expression immediately brightened. At that moment, Sasha suddenly shouted...
"Sister Chen, look!"
The two stood up simultaneously, and at that moment, all four people, including Monica on the deck, looked in the direction of the S-class monster.
As the fire raged, the hot air and the tornadoes from the river clouds caused a large amount of the crimson clouds in the sky to be blown away. At this moment, the monster hiding in the clouds with its ten thousand legs slowly revealed its terrifying form to everyone.
Within the clouds, a huge, flat, pitch-black 'island' slowly appeared in the sight of countless people. On the bridge of the Zhenhai warship, the combat commanders stood up one after another while looking at the large screen. On the screen was a black object that covered the sky, with only a small part of it showing from the clouds. It looked like a super-large disc covering the sky, with a diameter of at least several thousand meters just by looking at it, like a floating UFO island.
This 'island' is completely black, and beneath it grows countless twisted, drooping stumps, each a thousand meters long, hanging down to the sky like a beaded curtain.
On the ground, everyone in the Common Alliance and the Infinite Alliance gasped in shock at the sight. The monster in the atmosphere was so eerie that it sent chills down their spines; it was hard to describe the bizarre feeling that made their sanity plummet.
Mo Xiaotian stared at the sky with his mouth agape, and blurted out, "It's... just like a giant brush."
"This thing doesn't seem to simulate monsters from Earth anymore; it's more like an aggregate," Shu Qin said in a cold voice.
On the Zhenhai ship's side, Wu Xiangqun also stared at the terrifying figure on the screen and said in a deep voice, "All main guns aim, X3 Dongfeng calibration parameters, prepare to fire."
Beep beep beep!
The missile launch silos of the Zhenhai warship slowly opened, revealing a dark green heavy missile!
Sky Train, Bridge.
"Sister Chen, where...where should we aim?" Sasha was stunned for a moment.
Chen Sixuan also frowned. Their original plan was to reveal the true form of this atmospheric creature, and then use space-based weapons combined with the orbital shock cannons of the Sky Train to precisely strike the monster's head, while the Thunder Fleet unleashed a barrage of cannons. But now, looking at it, where did this island-like monster get its head?
High in the sky, Jiang Yun's eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke over the communication channel: "The wind is picking up again. It must have sensed the danger. This is a perfect opportunity. Let's move out, Captain Chen!"
"Fire!"
Fearing she would miss a golden opportunity, Chen Sixuan had no choice but to make a decisive decision.
In an instant, Jiang Yun waved his hands, causing the clouds to swirl and surge upwards. Seizing this moment, the orbital shockwave cannon on the Sky Train and the anode particle cannon light spear on the Zhenhai Ship merged into a torrent, piercing through the scarlet clouds and directly hitting the strange black disc. As expected, the moment the two main cannons struck, a huge red semi-transparent force field instantly appeared outside the body of the 'black disc'.
At that moment, a white missile on the Sky Armory ship roared into the air, flying over the high-altitude airspace in front of the Black Disc. Suddenly, it burst out with a vector pulse and turned vertically. In an instant, six petal-like energy focusers unfolded at the bottom of the missile, and the central core began to rotate, bursting out with dazzling white light. A pure energy torrent concentrated on the place where the main cannon beam was burning, and pierced through the bio-force field like a sharp sword through the very center of the 'Black Disc'!
"We've found a breakthrough! Open fire!"
On the Zhenhai ship's side, Wu Xiangqun decisively gave the order, and in an instant, the entire fleet fired all its cannons at once. All the vertical launch unit gates opened with a roar, and the tail flames of hundreds of cruise missiles ignited at the same time, while the giant missile roared into the sky!
In an instant, missiles, beams of light, plasma cannons, and other projectiles illuminated the sky as they bombarded the eerie 'black disc'.
Rumble!
A violent explosion erupted on the flat island of the black disk. In that instant, everyone saw countless dangling feet below churning wildly, and the red bio-force field flickering continuously. At that moment, the X3 Dongfeng missile was launched in an instant.
"Everyone, prepare for impact!!" The last voice before the battle frequency was lost was Wu Xiangqun's shout!
In the next instant, a perfectly spherical, scorching white light lit up the sky, and the sound of gunfire seemed to disappear instantly. First, a blinding light illuminated the world as if it were daytime, and then a roar like a dragon's cry exploded!
Thump!
The shockwave radiated outwards, dispersing the clouds a thousand meters high and scattering the aura ten thousand meters high!
The black torrents and strange tides that were thrown out were like firecrackers, their bio-force fields popping and disappearing in an instant before they vaporized on the spot.
Everyone shielded their eyes from the glaring light, and it took half a minute for the world to recover from the ringing in their ears.
On the Sky Deck, the scorching hot impact shield slowly descended. Qian Dele, who was behind him, lowered his hand, looked at the huge fireball in the distance, and clicked his tongue, saying, "Although it's a medium-sized nuclear weapon, it's still a close-up experience."
"Is it resolved?" Ning Jing immediately looked at Shiori.
Shiori was protected behind Monica, but the little girl still maintained the action of casting her superpower to isolate everyone from the dark energy.
"No...no," Shiori said in a trembling voice, "Its aura covered the entire sky, but I could feel...it was angry!"
"What did you say?!" Monica's eyes turned cold, and she looked at him with a serious expression.
At the massive fireball, a red bio-field flickered in and out of existence. She immediately focused her gaze: "Impossible! How could it recover so quickly?"
Qian Dele was also very puzzled, muttering, "That's right, such a powerful thing, how could it not break its force field?"
"No, look!"
Ning Jing raised her hand and pointed. At this moment, the light in that area of the sky weakened, and the outline of the 'black disc' gradually appeared. It was seen that nearly half of the huge body, which was like an island, was emitting colorful sparks of burnt red, like the surface of a volcano. The closest area was even more annihilated with a huge void, as if a corner of a millstone had been missing.
"It's effective, but the damage range has been suppressed!"
...
"Report: The target has not been eliminated."
On the Zhenhai warship, Wu Xiangqun listened to the information officer's report and looked at the screen with a serious expression.
"Nuclear energy absorption, rapid enhancement of the force field?"
"Commander..."
“It’s only exerting less than half its destructive power. This thing must have absorbed nuclear energy. The force field is still expanding.” Wu Xiangqun immediately pondered, “Quick, prepare for the second salvo!”
On the Sky Train, Chen Sixuan's face turned deathly pale as she watched this scene. Although they had considered the issue of nuclear energy absorption at the beginning of the plan, since it was a consensus within the Phoenix Society, the monster in the clouds had been harassing them for a long time and was good at hiding, causing great trouble for the main force. Therefore, the group decided to fight fire with fire and eliminate it quickly with swift and decisive measures. Even if other strange entities absorbed nuclear energy, as long as it did not attract a second S-class, it would be considered a success.
What they didn't expect was that this monster actually withstood the nuclear explosion head-on, and was able to seamlessly absorb nuclear energy to expand its force field, blocking most of the nuclear explosion's power and surviving.
"She's still alive? What do we do?" Sasha turned around, her face grim.
Even with their strongest weapons, they still couldn't defeat it, which undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to the fleet's morale, and a sense of oppression swept over them.
However, just as everyone was in a state of panic, a voice gradually became clear amidst the chaotic electromagnetic waves.
"Gentlemen, let's press on with this momentum! This monster will surely make one last desperate struggle!"
Boom!
High in the sky, the area blasted away by the nuclear bomb still radiated terrifying heat. At this moment, a fiery meteor fell from the crimson clouds. Lu Xingchen transformed into a crimson meteor and swooped down. He unleashed a sky full of flames, absorbing the fireball from the nuclear explosion. The terrifying dark energy and direct radiation made his eyes bloodshot, but he paid no heed to that. His eyes were filled with fierce fighting spirit. He raised his hands, and the flame wheels behind him spun rapidly with a howling sound. The towering flames transformed into a fiery sword that surged a thousand meters in size.
"Godly Blazing Star Sword!"
He charged in like a fiery meteor, and the giant Heavenly Fire Sword descended from the sky, directly striking the bio-force field and piercing the monster with a huge hole over a hundred meters in diameter. Then the Heavenly Fire Sword continued to advance, piercing towards the center of the black disk.
At this moment, sensing the danger, the black disc rippled out hundreds of tentacles from the clouds and attacked Lu Xingchen. All everyone saw was Lu Xingchen descending from the sky alone, wielding a giant flaming sword, like a speck of dust meeting the countless tentacles!
"Brother Huo, don't be impulsive!" Chen Sixuan was shocked to see this scene and immediately tried to stop him with the communicator. Although Lu Xingchen had super strong superpowers, at this moment, in front of everyone, a monster that could withstand space-based weapons and medium-sized nuclear bombs was definitely not something that human beings could withstand. This behavior was tantamount to courting death.
But Lu Xingchen didn't care at all. He knew that the opportunity was fleeting. If he didn't try and didn't dare to draw his sword, the morale of the entire fleet would collapse, and endless despair would await them!
"Death is certain, you fiend! I am fearless!" Lu Xingchen roared, his eyes filled with boundless fighting spirit as he watched the countless terrifying black pillars rushing towards him like pillars supporting the sky.
However, in the next instant, as Lu Xingchen faced the sky full of falling objects, a bright light illuminated the earth. A torrent of plasma with a diameter of over 500 meters gathered in space into a divine punishment spear that pierced through the heavens and the earth. Guided by Lu Xingchen's Burning Star Sword, the particle torrent annihilated the clouds and pierced down!
When that torrent of energy collided, time seemed to stand still for a moment.
The bio-force field of the 'Black Disc' instantly dissipated, and its enormous, island-like disc-shaped body was pierced through from the center. The sky above the Red Rock Rift Valley seemed to be illuminated by the sun, and the Sky Train, the Thunder Fleet, and everyone below were all swallowed by the blazing white light. The crimson shroud was instantly torn apart, and the shadows were stretched infinitely.
What followed was a silent annihilation; the central area of the 'black disc' was burned through, and the island vaporized layer by layer, like a 'donut' pierced through the air by a giant beam of light...
Lu Xingchen was directly swept away by this massive energy torrent. The Infinity Ring in his right hand trembled wildly, blocking the high temperature that was enough to vaporize his power armor. A deep blue flame rippled continuously burned in front of him.
However, Lu Xingchen didn't notice this detail. Seeing the massive impact of the heavenly tribulation, his expression was one of overwhelming joy, and he shouted with trembling lips...
"Divine Flame Heavenly Punishment?? Haha, I—have succeeded!!!"
On the Sky Train, Qian Dele and the others were shocked to see the enormous monster wreckage falling from the clouds like a mountain range.
"What is that???" Qian Dele frowned, muttering as he watched the scene.
Even the usually stern-faced Monica couldn't help but be moved, exclaiming in astonishment, "South Heavenly Gate!"
Inside the main bridge, Chen Sixuan strode to Yaoguang, her eyes gleaming with disbelief.
"What is that? Our superhuman?"
From the communicator, which had recovered its signal from the shockwave, came the shocked inquiry from Wu Xiangqun, the commander of the Thunderbolt Fleet. At this moment, the Zhenhai ship was in complete chaos, and the communication frequencies of all the ships were constantly filled with cold air...
"No, that's not a superpower, it's someone lighting the way for us!" Chen Sixuan replied.
"Who? Who is it? Reinforcements?!"
A light shone in Chen Sixuan's eyes. She reached out and touched the porthole, looking at the hollow light piercing through the clouds in the sky, and a slight smile appeared on her lips.
"If one person is worth an army..."
"That should be it."
(End of this chapter)
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