1047 Forced Attack and Acting

The spaceship that was targeted turned into dust in an instant. Under the attacks of countless spaceships, not a single remnant could escape the fate of being completely annihilated. Not a scrap of the wreckage remained.

Not far away, an unstable transportation door opened, and Tolaen staggered out from it with fear.

Fortunately, he had prepared a teleportation spell long ago and dodged the attacks at the last moment. Otherwise, it would have been way too shameful for him to be heavily damaged before the fight even began.

“Shameless! Firing at me without saying anything at all!” Tolaen was both shocked and furious.

Who in the world would not even give any face at all in the event of a visit or request to spar between two Beyond Grade As‽

Even though I did indeed come to challenge you, isn’t it too ill-mannered for you to start firing at me immediately without even saying a word‽

To him, even if the two Beyond Grade As had beef with each other and one went to challenge the other, they would at least be polite to each other on the surface.

We’re all very important people with reputations to uphold. How can you just blast me away like that‽ What happened to the courtesy between Beyond Grade As‽ I’m not the only one that’ll lose face for this, you will too!

At this time, Hila’s voice appeared on the public channel.

“You’ve lost to me. Those I surpass will never have the chance to catch up. I have no interest in fighting you again.”

Tolaen was instantly enraged by what Hila said. He thought he was arrogant enough, but Hila was even more arrogant than him.

After his expression changed a few times, he decided to put up with it for the time being.

“Humph, I have a mission to do, so I won’t argue with you. You’re already a dead woman anyway.”

Tolaen snorted in his mind before activating a magical communication rune to contact his teammates who had set up an ambush somewhere else.

“Guys, our judgment was wrong. Hila did not accept the challenge and fall for the trap. She even shamelessly ordered her fleet to attack me instantly. The plan to lure her away won’t work. Let’s carry out a forced attack. At least we now know for sure that she’s in the stronghold.”

Very soon, Sagman’s reply came through the magical communication rune.

“Okay, change of plan, start the forced attack! Tolaen, share your vision with us. Taylor, open the teleportation gate and attack the stargate. Also, prestart the spacetime stabilization device. Make sure that Hila has nowhere to run after we arrive and that everything goes according to plan.”

…

Hila went all the way to the command room of the stronghold and looked at the image on the surveillance screen, where Tolaen was barely dodging the attacks from her fleet.

“Still not leaving, he must be up to something.”

Hila frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, and took out the communicator to send Han Xiao a message. She wanted to discuss this with Han Xiao.

However, the next moment, she intuitively felt an extremely strong sense of danger, piercing deep into her back and almost freezing her bones.

Hila’s expression changed slightly as she looked up. She sensed a few Fixed Star sized energy sources suddenly appear nearby.

“Alarm! Alarm! High energy source detected!”

“Alarm! Alarm! Stargate is being attacked. Requesting reinforcements!”

The image on the screen changed, showing a magical teleportation gate suddenly appearing beside the stargate station afar and two people walking out of it. It was Taylor and Sagman.

The two of them started attacking immediately before the defense fleet could launch emergency fire. Tons of summoned monsters swarmed out and restrained the defense fleet, while countless arcane beams and shockwaves destroyed one stargate. The surprise attack was effective.

Beside Tolaen, another enormous teleportation gate appeared, and mechanical troops flowed out like a tide, quickly spreading out. The three at the front were Kasuyi’s doppelganger, ‘Desolate Beast’ Mercer, and ‘Mechanical Catastrophe’ Francisco’s Lord’s Avatar, who was controlling this mechanical army.

Kasuyi and Mercer had known each other for a very long time, while Francisco was a direct member of the Arcane Church. His situation was rather unique, as his main body had always been serving a sentence in the Arcane Church’s prison and was not usually allowed to go anywhere. The Arcane Church would only let him join battles using his Lord’s Avatar when they needed his power, and the contributions he made would shorten his sentence.

His crime was related to his nickname, Mechanical Catastrophe. He had once caused a catastrophe that was machinery related. At the same time, this nickname was also a recognition of his strength. He was a Mechanic of the Energy Branch who had special talents. The cost of enhancing his machinery using his Mechanical Force was drastically lower than Mechanics of the same Grade, and the range of it was much larger. This meant that he could enhance a much larger army of machines compared to others.

Mechanical Catastrophe Francisco was there to deal with the fleet of the army stronghold, as well as to restrain Black Star’s mechanical army that was stationed there. Otherwise, the few Beyond Grade As would have to waste a lot of energy dealing with the fleets.

As soon as he arrived, Mechanical Catastrophe immediately started controlling his mechanical army to clash with the fleet of this stronghold.

With the sudden arrival of enemies, the stronghold fleet’s response was late for some time but quickly adjusted. The battle instantly entered the climax.

Mechanical Catastrophe’s army also brought along several spacetime stabilization devices, wormhole restriction devices, and so on. They were all activated, stabilizing the spacetime of this area. Even teleportation spells could no longer be used.

Seeing this, Hila’s expression became grave.

The enemies were well prepared, six Beyond Grade As including powerful ones like Kasuyi…

Do they want to kill me this much?

Despite how proud Hila was, her heart still shivered for a second.

Is this what Black Star faced back then?

No, this might be worse. It’s almost a certain death situation.

However, her mindset was only shaken for an instant before she suppressed the negative emotions and turned them into the fighting will, making her feel as if all the blood in her body was boiling.

Boom!

The next second, Hila tore the ceiling open and flew right into the sky. She clenched her teeth and charged toward the few Beyond Grade As in outer space who were locking on to her.

During the charge, she released death energy continuously, which turned into a bright red cloud.

Seeing this, Red Devil, Desolate Beast, and Mechanical Catastrophe’s Lord’s Avatar dove down at the same time, quickly got past the defense fleet that was restrained, and clashed with Hila.

Boom!

A circle of red shockwaves exploded!

The scarlet cloud formed by death energy dissipated, and the red meteor fell toward the ground at an even greater speed than before.

Boom!

After crashing large areas of bases and leaving a rift-like trail behind, Hila was finally able to stop herself. Her surroundings were filled with dust.

“Ahem…”

Hila helped herself up with a fierce look in her eyes, casually wiped away the blood dripping from her nose, and stared at the three people in the sky.

Clearly, she could not fight the three of them head-on and was blasted away immediately.

At this time, a black tide rose into the sky not far from the stronghold and quickly approached. It was the mechanical army Han Xiao had placed there, and at the front was his Lord’s Avatar.

However, the next instant, an ethereal voice appeared in everyone’s mind.

“Black Star, your opponent is me.”

With a flash of light, Kasuyi’s doppelganger stood in the path of Han Xiao’s mechanical army. He raised one hand and flipped it so that his palm was facing down.

Boom!

All the mechanical troops were instantly pressed onto the ground. Only the Lord’s Avatar was still standing, surrounded by bright Mechanical Force, barely hanging on.

“Although these are machines and mental attacks that I’m best at won’t be effective, I’m quite good at Psychic control too,” Kasuyi’s doppelganger said with a calm tone. He raised his hand and pushed forward.

A psychic wall appeared across thousands of miles and charged forward. All the buildings and machinery in its path were pushed away and pressed against it.

Some of the mechanical troops tried to attack the invisible psychic wall, but it was as if Kasuyi’s energy was infinite. Even though cracks kept showing up on the wall under the attacks, he easily patched them up in no time.

The advance of the psychic wall seemed unstoppable. It wiped away a large area of the planet surface like an eraser. Countless pieces of debris from buildings and machines were pushed away from the planet’s surface and into outer space.

Other than the Lord’s Avatar and some highly mobile mechanical soldiers that backed away, the rest of the mechanical army were all pushed off the planet and away from the battlefield, only able to form a formation again in the cosmic space.

At the same time, Kasuyi’s avatar followed them over and stopped in front of Han Xiao.

“Such powerful psychic powers.” Han Xiao’s Lord’s Avatar’s eyes sparkled.

“I can absorb energy from the Void Dimension, so my Psychic energy is infinite. In terms of energy volume, only the Federation of Light’s Oulou might be able to match up to me,” Kasuyi said coldly. “I heard you have the blood of the Void Race too. When your God’s Trait Transformation reaches a certain point, you might awaken a power like this.”

Han Xiao’s Lord’s Avatar looked around at the entire battlefield.

At this point, the planet stronghold could be divided into three battlefields.

First, there was Hila fighting Red Devil, Desolate Beast, and Mechanical Catastrophe, in which she was completely overpowered. It was too difficult for Hila to fight three of them at the same time, and she looked like she could be defeated and killed at any moment. However, Han Xiao knew what she was capable of. Although Hila would not be able to beat the three of them, she would be able to hold on for a short period. After all, her life-steal ability was quite powerful. Plus, her ability to reduce the enemy’s lifespan would make the three of them fight more carefully and not dare to exchange blows.

Second was the large-scale army battle between the mechanical army controlled by Mechanical Catastrophe and the defense fleet of the stronghold. It was a very intense battle. The defense fleet’s goal was to help Hila, while the Mechanical Catastrophe’s army’s goal was to restrain them.

The third and the last battlefield was Sagman and Taylor attacking the stargate stations to cut off Hila’s path of escape and prevent reinforcements from arriving. When the two of them destroyed all the stargates, they would join the fight against Hila, and Hila would not be able to hold on any longer.

Han Xiao’s Lord’s Avatar wanted to stop the two of them, but the distance between the stargate and the stronghold planet was quite far, so he could not make it.

Furthermore, with the mechanical army he had there, he might not even be able to break away from Kasuyi. His largest mechanical army and the Apostle Weapons were all with his main body and were rushing there, but they would take some time to arrive.

This isn’t looking very good… Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and looked at Kasuyi.

“Are you sure you want to keep me here?”

With an expressionless face, Kasuyi sent Han Xiao a unidirectional psychic message, saying slowly, “This Lord’s Avatar of yours has to stay here with me.”

He emphasized the words ‘Lord’s Avatar’.

Han Xiao observed Kasuyi’s emotions. Suddenly, he had an idea. He controlled his Lord’s Avatar and his mechanical army and charged toward Kasuyi.

Kasuyi was a Psychic, but not only did he not back off, he instead charged toward the Lord’s Avatar and fought with it at melee range. The battle was very ‘intense’. It looked like they had very deeply rooted hatred for each other.

The mechanical army around fired nonstop, which looked very accurate but actually barely hit Kasuyi at all.

Kasuyi did not stop this from happening and let these attacks land on the battlefield between Hila and three enemies behind him, occasionally stopping their attacks, forcing them to dodge and give Hila more chances.

At the same time, the mechanical army spread out, trying to get past Kasuyi. Kasuyi symbolically controlled his psychic wall to stop them, but the strength of it at some places was visibly weakened and was easily torn apart as the mechanical soldiers passed through the wall.

It looked like Kasuyi’s doppelganger was forced to fight Black Star at close range and could not maintain his psychic wall at full power, leading to some of Black Star’s mechanical army breaking away and heading in Hila’s direction.

Han Xiao finally confirmed that this guy was deliberately doing this.

Why is he helping me?

Han Xiao suddenly had a flash of insight and softly whispered the code words in the unidirectional mind link.

“Meeting of the Gods? Acting?”

“Focus, acting.”

Han Xiao immediately felt assured.

Damn, the opponent’s boss is an actor!

He had already requested reinforcements from the dynasty. Although the stargates at the stronghold might be destroyed, the dynasty’s reinforcements could still go to the nearest stargate. They would not be able to arrive right away, but it would not take too much longer.

The church has made its move, so there might be others waiting for an opportunity. I shall wait for the reinforcements and my main body to arrive first, Han Xiao thought.

With Kasuyi’s ‘help’, some of the mechanical army successfully arrived at Hila’s battlefield to support her. Once enhanced with Han Xiao’s Mechanical Force, these mechanical soldiers were very powerful. Despite their low quantity, Tolaen and the others could not ignore them.

With help having arrived, Hila was relieved. The situation became much better, and she did not have to fight solely on her own anymore.

Her death energy, which had the ability to reduce one’s life span, made Tolaen and Mercer very afraid. Usually, they were both tank-type fighters, but Mechanical Catastrophe’s Lord’s Avatar was the one taking on the role of the tank.

The fragile mechanical body had to endure pressure that was not supposed to be bestowed on this class. ‘Mechanical Catastrophe’ Francisco was completely speechless seeing how these two muscular men, Tolaen and Mercer, fought so cowardly.

Come on guys, try harder! I’m not Black Star. My Lord’s Avatar isn’t that tanky, okay‽

“Sh*t, Kasuyi’s letting enemies pass on his side. Is Black Star’s avatar so tough to deal with?” Mercer was surprised.

“After all, it’s Kasuyi’s doppelganger that’s here, and he just used a powerful attack earlier to divide the battlefield, so it’s normal for him not to be at full power.” Francisco’s tone was calm. “What’s surprising is how strong Black Star is. Not only is he fighting Kasuyi head-on, but he’s still able to use Virtual Intrusion on my troops at the same time.”

On the other side, just as ‘Red Devil’ Tolaen was about to speak, his shield was suddenly shattered by cannon fire, and he was hit by one of Hila’s death energy shockwaves.

Tolaen could not help but look at Kasuyi far away, who was in the middle of an ‘intense battle’, then complained in his mind, My life span’s been shortened again…

…

“W-what’s going on‽”

In the fleet outside the stronghold, the army players inside the battleships were stupefied by this sudden event.

Although many players had already formed or joined guilds and were moving in the free competition zone as subsidiary organizations, there were also some players who chose to move along with the main fleet of the army.

Due to the faction war order that the army had recently announced, many players had gathered in this stronghold at the frontlines and chosen this to be their temporary main city to form teams and pursue the players of enemy factions.

Unexpectedly, while they were enjoying their time in the stronghold, this place was suddenly attacked by multiple Beyond Grade As and became a battlefield of eight Beyond Grade As!

What’s going on? Aren’t Beyond Grade A all very difficult to see?

Have we… run into another huge event‽

Many players thought of the Planet Lighthouse event in the previous version and quickly started to record the battle, trying their best to capture the Beyond Grade As.

“This might be a huge event of this version! We’re here to witness it!”

“Quickly, record it. I have a feeling that this will lead to something big!”

Many players had their fill of being rubberneckers and were very excited.

…

Hasty footsteps came closer and closer.

Bang!

The gate of the reception room was rammed open. Ames, Silver Shadow, and Feidin, who were chattering in the room, looked toward the gate. It was Aurora, who quickly ran in with an anxious expression.

“Teacher, bad news!”

“What happened?” Ames asked.

“My… my sister is being attacked by the Arcane Church. They’ve sent many Beyond Grade As to kill her. I saw it through our mental link!”

“What‽”

Ames immediately stood up. Her Force Field erupted and blew away the furniture around her.

After training together for more than a decade, she already had a strong bond with Hila. Once she heard that her student was in a dire situation, Ames was enraged.

At this time, a virtual screen appeared in the room. It was a call from a management officer.

“Your Excellency Ames, Your Excellency Feidin, there’s a situation. A Beyond Grade A has arrived at Black Star Palace. He calls himself the Traveler, and he has challenged the Army Commander by name. How should we deal with this?”

“Tell him that His Excellency Black Star isn’t here,” Feidin replied.

“Er… he said that if Black Star isn’t here, he’ll fight his Lord’s Avatar.”

“Tell him, Black Star is very busy now and has no time to fight him.”

“… Your Excellency Feidin, he said that he won’t waste this trip here. If he can’t fight Black Star, he can challenge Her Excellency Dragon Emperor too… He’s refusing to leave. He’s a Mage, so it’ll be very difficult to chase him away without using special means.”

Feidin frowned and was about to reply.

Ames patted his shoulder, interrupting him, and frowned. “This person did not come with friendly intentions. He probably has some ulterior motives, which might be related to what’s happening to Hila. I’ll test him. Tell him that I’ll accept the challenge.”

Hearing this, Silver Shadow, who had been silent, felt that this was a great opportunity to gain a favor—if he helped Black Star’s family, he would probably benefit a ton from it.

He approached and said, “Your Excellency Ames, how about I take the challenge?”

“How can we let our guest help us in matters like this? Feidin, take Silver Shadow to the watchtower to observe the battle.”

Ames waved and rejected him. She then turned around and walked out of the room with large strides, her skirt swaying like a black flower.

Her tall back disappeared from everyone’s sights, only leaving her voice behind.

“Don’t worry, I’m not that easy to deal with.”