Chapter 45 Instant Kill and the Embrace

Chapter 45 Instant Kill and the Embrace

Squad One, stationed at the North Star garrison, was the closest military force to the Second Squad on Frostfall Star.

Xiao Sa boarded the rescue starship along with the rescue team and headed to Frostfall Star at the first opportunity.

As the starship passed through the atmosphere, Xiao Sa observed through the porthole a series of eerie black fog floating in the air, remnants of the contamination left by the mutated wolves.

The ship's intercom blared an urgent Level One combat readiness alert across all frequencies.

"All units, stand by! Prepare your mechs for immediate deployment!" Lo Kai's serious tone prompted him to order all team members to check their mechs and inhibitors, ensuring everything was in order. Before departure, the team received an additional supply of inhibitors.

Atai, a cadet who hadn't yet graduated, didn't join them. Pero, standing nearby, reminded Xiao Sa, "The Exploration Corps is not one of the four elite legions, so the grade and concentration of inhibitors allocated are not high. This time, Colonel Horan provided a month's supply in advance."

"Inhibitors have side effects. You cannot inject too much in a short period, or there will be unknown risks. If you find yourself contaminated, return to the starship immediately. Don't push yourself."

Xiao Sa looked back at him, "Is it Colonel Landis who asked you to tell me this?"

Pero paused for a moment, "How did you know it was me?"

Xiao Sa replied calmly, "Because I already asked Atai this question, and he knew nothing. It couldn't be Lo Kai either; that guy wears his thoughts on his face."

Pero: "..."

Xiao Sa continued, "Among us in the dorm, you are the most meticulous, your strength is no less than Lo Kai's, and you're not curious about me at all."

Pero explained, "Before joining the Exploration Corps, I was an officer in the Third Legion. I was punished for violating military discipline. General Landis had me join the Exploration Corps to earn merit and perhaps return to the Third Legion in the future."

Xiao Sa nodded, "I understand."

Pero couldn't help but add, "Actually, General Landis is just concerned about you. He only had me come to protect you. There's no need for you to take this risk. If you just stay on the starship and help the contaminated soldiers organize their mental seas, everyone would be very grateful."

Xiao Sa didn't explain, only responding calmly, "I know. I'm not blaming you. I just have something I need to do."

Seeing this, Pero didn't say anything more.

New orders had been issued in the team's channel, and everyone immediately entered their cockpits to prepare for the landing operation.

Xiao Sa piloted his mech out of the starship's landing port. Whether due to the contamination or not, the team's comms were filled with static.

The closer they got to the black fog in the air, the louder and more chaotic the static in the channel became.

Xiao Sa furrowed his brows; he sensed a familiar mental energy field.

Just as Xiao Sa was about to approach the black fog for a closer look, Pero stepped in front of him, "Careful! Don't get close to the black fog. It's the mutated wolves' contamination field. Once you're contaminated, it will silently invade your mental sea."

Pero's tone was serious, "This has nothing to do with your level. Whether you're high-level or low-level, you can be infected. Even General Landis is no exception."

Xiao Sa replied, "I understand."

However, the doubt in his heart only grew larger.

He touched the earring on his left ear, "Haino, help me analyze the black fog."

Haino quickly replied, "This is a unique contamination field. The higher the level of the mutated wolf, the larger the range of contamination field it emits, and the stronger the contamination ability. It typically manifests as black fog, blocking vision, disrupting signals, and interfering with nearby frequencies and magnetic fields."

"If humans enter this contamination field, their mental energy will rapidly drain, and their mental sea—and possibly their sanity—will be compromised."

The more Xiao Sa listened, the more his brows furrowed. The description of the contamination field reminded him of a high-level Alpha's mental field, though it wasn't exactly the same.

Just as he skimmed the edge of the black fog, a non-human, non-beast monster suddenly emerged from the nearest patch of black fog.

It vaguely resembled a human, but it was much larger, skinless, and covered in grayish-blue flesh. Its body was a mass of pulsating veins, and it had a long, thick tail. Its limbs were equipped with sharp, beast-like claws.

When it opened its mouth, foul-smelling saliva dripped from its jagged, razor-sharp fangs. Its enormous mouth could swallow a mech whole.

Xiao Sa's heart skipped a beat. This was what they called a mutated creature.

This was his first real encounter with a mutated creature, and it was far more terrifying than the abstract forms he had seen in Landis's mental sea. A sticky, dark, and violent aura surged outward with its appearance.

"Careful!" The moment the mutated creature appeared, all the nearby team members noticed it.

Lo Kai's muscles tensed as he pushed the energy lever to the max and shouted in the team channel, "Engage this mutated creature with everything you've got! Eliminate it immediately!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a barrage of particle and beam cannons rained down on the creature from all directions, tearing through its flesh and sending gouts of blood into the air.

The mutated creature howled twice. Its flesh began to twist and contort, slowly healing the damage, but it wasn't a high-level mutated creature, and the attack was already fatal.

The creature lunged at the nearest mech, clawing at the cockpit in a desperate attempt to break in and extract the spiritually rich food inside to replenish its drained energy.

Unfortunately for it, the target it chose happened to be Xiao Sa.

Xiao Sa raised his hand, and two precise particle cannon shots hit the creature's eye sockets. As the mutated creature opened its mouth to roar, Xiao Sa pulled the energy lever to the max and delivered a charged beam cannon shot wrapped in his spiritual energy directly into its mouth.

Xiao Sa's mech hovered motionless in the air, causing Lo Kai and Pero to rush over to cover him. "Xiao Sa, what are you waiting for? Get out of there!"

Inside the mech's cockpit, Xiao Sa counted down silently, "Three, two, one."

With a loud explosion, the mutated creature burst open in front of everyone. Its red and black flesh, seemingly alive, sprayed into the air, which Xiao Sa's mech nimbly dodged, before it helplessly fell from the sky.

The patch of black fog, no longer supplied with spiritual energy by the mutated creature, finally began to dissipate.

A relieved Lo Kai let out a breath and couldn't help but complain in the team channel, "Next time, keep your distance. If that thing grabs you, you won't survive."

Xiao Sa responded slowly in the team channel.

He rested his cheek and raised an eyebrow. His usual preferred method of attack was close combat. Against the mutated creatures, his style was at a disadvantage. No wonder people here mostly relied on long-range attacks and spiritual entity abilities to control their mechs.

The flesh and mental contamination field of the mutated creatures were like a virus, ignoring levels. A touch could lead to infection.

No wonder almost everyone in the star sea region had to inject inhibitors. Even top-tier powerhouses like Landis were on the verge of a mental sea collapse.

The rescue team flew towards several distress coordinates shown on the mech radar and indeed found soldiers from the second detachment of the Exploration Corps fighting against dense swarms of mutated creatures.

Mutated creatures filled the sky in groups, and the black fog seemed to want to devour the entire area.

The rescuers gasped. Lo Kai's expression turned grave as he coldly spoke, "There must be a new mutated creature nest here. Everyone, be careful. Wherever there's a nest, there's a lord-level or higher mutated creature. Make sure to stay out of its contamination range, especially for team members below A-rank!"

Unlike the front-line legions, the Exploration Corps primarily focused on resource extraction, so their combat experience and skills were limited. With this group of reinforcements, the pressure on the second detachment soldiers, who were surrounded by mutated creatures, was quickly relieved.

Xiao Sa observed the situation from mid-air.

The sound of cannons and the roars of mutated creatures echoed in the sky as Colonel Horan's dispatch orders came one after another in the command channel.

"Xiao Sa, head to the medical ship with the medics and stabilize the critically injured soldiers immediately."

Xiao Sa responded calmly, choosing not to engage in prolonged combat. He immediately returned to the medical ship in the air. The contamination cleaning personnel, fully equipped, sprayed a specialized disinfectant from water guns onto every soldier and mech.

Xiao Sa was thoroughly washed and, still wearing his combat suit, entered the emergency treatment room. Most of the soldiers had already been injected with inhibitors, and their conditions were temporarily stable.

However, a small group of heavily contaminated soldiers could not control themselves, falling into a frenzy. Their spiritual entities became violent, unable to calm down.

The cleaning personnel had no choice but to tightly bind these soldiers to the walls using metal restraint rings, creating an eerie scene that resembled a twisted form of punishment.

The agonizing cries of the soldiers echoed through the treatment room.

Witnessing the plight of these lower-ranking soldiers, Xiao Sa furrowed his brow and quickly approached the first soldier. His spiritual entity was also restrained nearby, its eyes bloodshot and struggling to self-harm, with numerous bite-sized wounds on his body.

Xiao Sa reached out to the spiritual entity, and a gentle, wine-scented pheromone, like a breeze under the bright moon, slowly wrapped around its nose.

The frenzied spiritual entity whimpered softly, its tension easing as the rich wine-scented pheromones calmed it. Exhausted, it lay still, no longer harming itself.

Xiao Sa glanced at the soldier's scaled hands and gently grasped his chin, which he had nearly bitten through in his frenzy. "Look at me," Xiao Sa said calmly. "I am a spiritual healer. Open your spiritual sea and don't reject me."

The soldier had lost his rationality and could not comprehend Xiao Sa's words.

Xiao Sa lightly clicked his tongue, and invisible spiritual threads extended from his palm, forcibly connecting to the soldier's spiritual sea.

This method was not ideal and carried great risk, but there was no time to heal him slowly.

When the soldier's rapid breathing finally calmed and he stopped roaring and struggling, when his flushed face gradually lost its heat and his dazed eyes lit up with a bit of conscious light, Xiao Sa withdrew his hand. "Are you feeling better?"

The soldier widened his eyes—a spiritual healer? That a healer would save him, he thought he was already doomed, or was this a hallucination before death?

Xiao Sa shook his head, called the medic over to inject a potent healing agent, and handed over a high-concentration inhibitor he had made himself. "Use this; it will help him recover faster."

The medics and cleaning personnel around him looked at Xiao Sa with awe and respect.

It wasn't that no one had seen a spiritual healer treat someone before, but it was unheard of for someone of high status to heal an ordinary third-level soldier with such skill and bring him back to consciousness so quickly.

Xiao Sa calmed several frenzied spiritual entities in a row, and just as he was about to move on to the next, the medical ship suddenly trembled in the air. The lights on the ceiling flickered, and the alarms blared warnings of magnetic interference.

Xiao Sa's expression darkened. "Haino, what's happening outside?"

"The number of mutated creatures outside has suddenly doubled, and more are constantly emerging," Haino replied. "The Exploration Corps' defense line is falling back."

Xiao Sa frowned. "Is there a Lord-level mutated creature leading them?"

"We've detected abnormal pollution magnetic field energy fluctuations nearby, disrupting communication across all channels," Haino said.

"I understand. I'll go take a look," Xiao Sa said, leaving the high-concentration inhibitors he had prepared with the medics before quickly boarding his mech and flying to the frontline battlefield.

As expected, the situation was as Haino had described. The sky was filled with an overwhelming number of mutated creatures, with black fog drifting everywhere.

The mechs of the Exploration Corps had to carefully navigate through the black fog while battling the mutated creatures.

"The Hive must be nearby," Lo Kai's voice crackled through the interference, sounding somewhat exasperated. "At this rate, it's endless. If we don't stop this soon, we'll run out of energy before the Independent Legion arrives."

Xiao Sa's mech hovered on the battlefield, and he immediately extended his spiritual aura.

A vast network of spiritual energy expanded outward like a tidal wave, spreading in all directions. Such a large-scale consumption meant that even with his S-rank level, he couldn't sustain it for long. It would be best to end the battle within an hour.

The black fog reacted violently as it came into contact with Xiao Sa's spiritual aura. Some lower-level black fog began to thin at the edges.

Xiao Sa's eyes flickered, but there was no time to dwell on the hidden connections behind this.

A cloud of aggressive pheromones enveloped him.

As he flew past some low-level mutated creatures, his domineering pheromones launched an indiscriminate attack. The low-level mutated creatures, driven by their instinct to devour mental energy, froze in place, too terrified to approach, allowing Xiao Sa to freely shuttle through the battlefield.

When Xiao Sa's mental field spread to the other end of the battlefield, he narrowed his eyes and felt a stir in his heart: "It's over there!"

He could feel his mental field colliding with another powerful, abyss-like mental energy field.

Xiao Sa's mech darted through the sky, rapidly closing in on the opposing aura.

Pero, who had been keeping a close eye on him, noticed Xiao Sa's erratic flight path. His voice over the channel, unusually anxious, said, "Xiao Sa, come back! The number of mutated creatures over there is increasing."

Xiao Sa calmly replied, "I've located the position of the mutated leader. It must be taken down."

Both Pero and Lo Kai gasped, "Wait, don't go alone. Report your position to Colonel Horan and wait for reinforcements!"

Xiao Sa shook his head. The battlefield situation was intense, growing worse by the moment, and Colonel Horan likely couldn't spare any more troops.

"There's no time. We must act immediately."

Pero and Lo Kai couldn't stop him, so they gritted their teeth and followed closely behind him.

A series of angry roars echoed from afar, sending a chill down the trio's spines. It was indeed a leader-level mutated creature.

As Xiao Sa's mech flew over a hilltop and was about to enter the leader mutated creature's polluted magnetic field, a familiar battleship came into view.

Its design was nearly identical to the footage Broken Peak had sent him. His clan members were on board!

The unexpected good news made Xiao Sa's heart swell with joy and relief.

He immediately called out to Haino, "Quickly help me contact that battleship!"

Haino's helpless voice came through, "Xiao Sa, there's a powerful magnetic field interfering with the signal. That battleship has a shielding device I can't decode yet. The signal can't get through."

Before Xiao Sa could respond, he spotted an enormous, half-human, half-beast mutated creature, its massive limbs clamped around the battleship. Its terrifying claws struck the hull, creating an ear-piercing scraping sound as a thick plume of smoke rose.

This isn't good!

Xiao Sa's heart jolted in alarm. Without time to think, he pulled out the mech's most powerful long-range particle beam cannon, unleashing continuous blasts onto the back of the leader mutated creature.

The leader mutated creature's defenses were exceptionally strong. These three shots were little more than a scratch to it, but being provoked by such a tiny insect still enraged it.

A thick, impenetrable black fog spread from its feet, surging towards Xiao Sa and the others, forcing them to retreat.

Lo Kai's expression darkened as he said grimly, "This guy's level is probably above double-A. It might even be 3A. We're no match for it. We need to call for reinforcements."

As Xiao Sa watched his clan's battleship about to be swallowed by the black fog, his face darkened, and he suddenly asked the captain, "What is your spiritual entity ability?"

Lo Kai replied, "Wolf's Howl, a sonic attack."

Pero volunteered, "My spiritual entity is a bat. Its ability is vision obstruction."

Xiao Sa said, "Good. I have a way to deal with it. We need to lure it back to the battlefield."

The two were stunned. "What's your plan?"

Xiao Sa raised his long eyebrows. "Summon your spiritual entities and activate your abilities!"

In Xiao Sa's mental domain, invisible mental threads tightly wrapped around Caesar and Pero's bat, while simultaneously initiating a shared mental entity connection.

The spiritual entity sharing technique he had learned from Landis was being used on the battlefield for the first time.

Lo Kai and Pero instantly felt their vision and perception extend severalfold, as if they could see everything in each other's field of view. They could even sense the fluctuation of their comrades' mental energy, pulsing in resonance like a heartbeat.

Caesar's wolf howl, amplified by Xiao Sa's surging mental energy, echoed through the valley. The piercing sound waves drilled into the mutated creature’s brain like a drill.

Next, the mutated creature’s vision was blocked, plunging it into temporary blindness. It had to rely on instinct to find the direction of the attack, forcing it to let go of the battleship and angrily pursue Xiao Sa's trio.

As the battleship broke free from the mutated creature’s black fog magnetic field, Xiao Sa immediately asked Haino, "How's the signal?"

Haino quickly replied, "I've intercepted the enemy's signal frequency for database analysis. If it enters radar range again, we'll be able to identify it immediately."

Despite the looming threat of the 3A-level mutated creature, Xiao Sa let out a breath of relief, a small smile crossing his face. As long as his clan members were confirmed alive, finding them could wait for another day.

In no time, the mutated creature’s black fog drew closer. The trio pushed their mechs to maximum speed and dashed into the battlefield between the Exploration Corps and the mutated creatures.

Lo Kai panted. "What do we do now?"

Xiao Sa lowered his brow, his sharply defined profile showing an unprecedented seriousness.

He had to admit, he had underestimated the strange and dangerous effects of the polluted magnetic fields around high-level mutated creatures. Although confident in his abilities, once involved, it was difficult to manage both the overall battlefield and his comrades' safety.

No wonder Landis was so cautious and wary of high-level mutated creatures.

The human struggle against mutated creatures in the star sea region had been a long and arduous journey. Developing spiritual entity abilities to counter the mutated creatures proved to be the most effective evolutionary strategy.

Yet, Xiao Sa himself had no spiritual entity and couldn't learn the advanced techniques Landis used specifically to combat mutated creatures.

But Xiao Sa had his own way of winning—if he lacked a spiritual entity, he could borrow his teammates'.

Xiao Sa's calm and steady voice came through the channel. "I have a plan. If everything goes according to plan, we can take down this mutated creature in one strike, but I need all of you to work together."

Seeing the increasingly dire situation on the battlefield and recalling the unprecedented combat experience, Lo Kai gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, let's go all out!" He immediately contacted Colonel Horan, and one by one, commands were issued through the command channel.

Xiao Sa took a deep breath, gripped the control stick, and his mech soared upward, hovering above the battlefield in a commanding position.

Centered on him, his raging mental energy and attacking pheromones spread in all directions like a flood unleashed from a dam.

Releasing his mental energy to the limit, Xiao Sa pushed through the strain, his focus razor-sharp.

An invisible, silent buzz echoed across the battlefield. Countless mental threads connected to every comrade's spiritual entity at that moment, radiating to hundreds of spiritual entity abilities.

In an instant, the Exploration Corps' soldiers found their five senses dramatically enhanced. Their vision became crystal clear, and their hearing and sense of smell were heightened exponentially.

Each person's spiritual sea, like a droplet merging into the ocean, made them feel intimately connected to their comrades despite being inside their individual mech cabins.

What was happening?

The unprecedented experience left everyone confused and startled.

Thump, thump, thump—the sound of a heartbeat. The soldiers couldn’t tell if it was their own, their comrades’, or a rhythmic battle pulse resonating in their spiritual seas.

Haino’s data stream quickly categorized the spiritual abilities, displaying them on his visor and allowing him to access all the attack-type ability frequencies.

Xiao Sa's mech dove from mid-air, with unstoppable momentum, like a javelin piercing fiercely toward the leader mutated creature. The energy was maxed out, and the most powerful beam particle cannon focused its full power on the creature's heart.

A terrifying roar echoed across the battlefield as the leader mutated creature's fleshly arm, stronger than alloy armor, tightly clamped onto Xiao Sa's mech.

The immense force of the collision sent a bone-chilling, metallic screech echoing through the air.

A surging black fog immediately engulfed him.

At that moment, in his vast mental energy domain, almost all of his teammates' spiritual entity abilities finally achieved perfect resonance.

A deafening explosion shook the battlefield, with earth-shaking force. With perfectly synchronized frequencies, all the ability attacks were condensed into one beam, completely piercing through the chest of the leader mutated creature that Xiao Sa had breached.

In mid-air, a horrifying storm of blood and flesh rained down, the writhing remains of the leader mutated creature torn into countless fragments by that devastating strike!

On the battlefield, everyone stared dumbfounded at the earth-shattering strike, nearly losing their voices, almost forgetting they were still fighting mutated creatures.

The hair-raising polluted magnetic field gradually dissipated with the creature's unwilling demise, leaving behind a swarm of low-level mutated creatures. Without their leader's support, they became sluggish and began to retreat in Xiao Sa's mental domain.

Even though Xiao Sa's spiritual sea was vast, it was nearly drained after that all-out attack.

He slowly withdrew his mental domain, with only pheromones left to isolate other mutated creatures and black fog from approaching.

There were still many mutated creatures left on the battlefield, but the morale-boosted Exploration Corps could barely continue to handle them.

Colonel Horan's excited voice came through the channel: "Well done! That strike was magnificent! Hold on a little longer, the third legion's battleship has arrived. The subsequent clearing of mutated creatures and their nests will be handled by the third legion."

Above, the massive battle cluster slowly entered the atmosphere. The long-exhausted Exploration Corps finally breathed a sigh of relief as the medics quickly whisked away the wounded soldiers to the medical ship for treatment.

Xiao Sa felt a slight needle-prick pain faintly coming from his spiritual sea, a side effect of overusing his mental energy.

He took a deep breath as fatigue surged over him like a tide, following Pero and Lo Kai back to the starship.

In the medical pod, Xiao Sa jumped out of his mech, and the cleaning personnel sprayed off the contamination sticking to him.

Lo Kai stared at Xiao Sa with wide eyes, full of excitement and admiration. "I didn't think you had it in you! Even more impressive than last time. How did you pull that off? Is it some special ability of a spiritual healer?"

Even the usually stern Pero looked at Xiao Sa with awe in his eyes.

Xiao Sa touched his nose. "You could say that."

If borrowing others' spiritual entities counted as an ability.

Pero asked in a low voice, "Are you alright? I just received news that the third legion has arrived. It's likely that General Landis is also on his way."

Xiao Sa nodded. "I understand..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the door to the medical pod opened again.

The general of the third legion, Landis, dressed in a deep black military uniform, stormed in with two officers in tow. His gold-threaded double-breasted coat flared behind him as he strode forward, exuding an air of authority and urgency.

Landis's stern face was usually meticulously groomed, but a few strands of his golden hair had fallen loose at his temples, showing signs of disarray and fatigue, as if he hadn't attended to himself in a while.

Landis's eyes locked onto Xiao Sa, his brow furrowed deeply. Only when he saw his long-lost lover within reach did he finally exhale a long-held breath. Xiao Sa, pale and exhausted from the battle, still wore his combat suit, but the smell of mutated creature contamination clung to him, despite the cleaning crew's efforts.

Landis's breath hitched, his fast-approaching steps suddenly halted, before he slowly moved towards the youth again.

Seeing the extremely dark expression on Landis's face, Xiao Sa let out a quiet sigh. Landis really seemed to be very angry...

Was he here to confront him, or to quarrel with him?

"Landis..." Xiao Sa calmly met his gaze, momentarily unsure if he should match his intensity to curb his possessiveness, or soften him with comfort over his concern.

In the next moment, Xiao Sa found himself in a warm, strong embrace, their chests pressed together through the layers of their uniforms, his heart pounding like a drum against Xiao Sa’s chest.

Landis tightened his arms, gripping Xiao Sa’s waist tightly, so tight that Xiao Sa could barely breathe.

Xiao Sa froze for a moment, his eyes flickering with a brief flash of emotion. After a beat, he slowly raised his hand, returning the embrace and gently stroking his back.