Chapter 86 Exotic Invasion (Part III)

Chapter 86 Exotic Invasion (Part III)

Hilmeth transformed into a silver meteor, falling from No.1 watchtower onto the Sunset Star battlefield.

His silver hair fluttered gently, and his presence was as imposing as a snow-capped mountain, cold and stern.

He wielded silver-white dual guns, inscribed with blue Spirit Runes that glinted in the sunlight.

With a focused gaze, Hilmeth instantly moved to the front of the giant turtle, which had an S-level defense rating.

His arm muscles tensed as he swiftly swung his arm.

With a tearing sound, the muzzles of the dual guns pierced the turtle's shell, which had remained unscathed under the bombardment of the city defense system.

Thanks to the Blessing of Nature, Hilmeth's combat power had reached an unimaginable level.

He coldly pulled the trigger, channeling his mental energy into the Spirit Gun.

The Wind Blade runes on the gun lit up, and the Blade of Wind-imbued bullets exploded inside the turtle.

The turtle then let out a painful cry, and cracks appeared on its surface.

With a boom, the turtle was torn apart from the inside, shredded into pieces.

A rain of blood fell from the sky, but Hilmeth had already used energy projection to shield himself from it.

In the blood-soaked world, everything was stained crimson, except the spot where he stood, which remained pristine.

"Roar!"

"Howl!"

Deprived of the turtle's protection, the star beast wolves and dogs rushed out, baring their teeth. They swarmed around Hilmeth in a pack.

The Flame Hellhound could spit fire, and the Swift Wind Wolf moved swiftly. They usually appeared in groups, with the former responsible for attack and the latter for sneak attacks.

Facing 20 star beasts about 3 meters tall, Hilmeth's expression remained unchanged.

He moved like a gust of wind, appearing beside the star beasts. The runes on the Spirit Gun lit up again.

He either tore the star beasts apart with a single shot or shattered their skulls with his elbow.

His attacks were swift and precise, creating a unique beauty in battle.

In no time, a pile of star beast corpses lay around Hilmeth, yet he remained spotless, not a drop of blood on him.

His expression was cold, with no emotional fluctuation in his blue eyes, and a faint killing intent surrounded him.

If it weren't for the fact that Hilmeth was confirmed to be on the side of the Canglan Star Region, his current style would be hard to define as strictly good or evil.

Hilmeth's actions drew the hatred of most of the star beasts towards himself.

The star beasts that were originally preparing to attack the city wall turned their attention to him. They gathered from all directions, encircling Hilmeth as prey.

The human general remained unmoved.

From his spatial ring, he took out an improved exoskeleton armor. The silver-white external armor unfolded behind Hilmeth, with mechanical wings spreading and emitting a cold blue flame.

With silver hair, blue eyes, and a cold, impassive expression, he stood amidst the chaos, his white wings and blue flames adding to his otherworldly presence.

He looked like a judge who purges the world.

He controlled the mechanical wings to lift off, while the star beasts that were staring at him also rose into the air.

Star beasts of Level A and above can float in the air, just like humans!

Hilmeth's presence intensified, and the eight pairs of wings behind him split into two groups. One group turned into four furnaces, each adorned with different attribute Spirit Runes.

The other group transformed into a wing-mounted rapid-fire cannon, with Cang Stones on the gun body rapidly supplying energy.

He halted mid-air, standing still.

Seeing this, the star beasts charged even more fiercely, sprinting to tear apart this hated human.

At that moment, the outer ring of the furnaces behind Hilmeth lit up.

In an instant, red fire, colorless wind, yellow earth, and blue water condensed from the four furnaces, pouring out their energy to strike the star beast horde.

The four-colored energies bloomed like fireworks upon contact with the enemy, painting the sky with beautiful colors.

When a single element came into contact with other elements, it triggered a chain reaction. This caused the explosion to not only fail to weaken but instead become even more magnificent.

Level A Spirit Runes—the technological replica of the Elemental Storm.

This was the offensive rune that Cang Cheng once used to shatter a starship.

Unlike the rune version of the Elemental Storm, which required exceptional mental energy control, the technological replica used a complex energy conversion formula to balance the energies of different elements.

Although the power was diminished, the lowered usage threshold allowed high-level Nature Spirit Runes to reappear on the battlefield in another form.

The ignited star beast horde fell like dominoes, emitting dull thuds.

Occasionally, a few agile beasts that managed to escape the center of the battle were finished off by Hilmeth's wing-mounted rapid-fire cannon.

Hilmeth gazed coldly at the dying star beasts, easily imagining the havoc they would wreak if they breached Luori Star's main city—Cang Cheng would surely be hurt.

A wave of animosity surged within him.

Anyone who dared to threaten Cang Cheng deserved to die.

His blue irises reflected the fire and blood, and for a moment, his pupils even turned red.

But the next moment, through the layers of smoke, he spotted Cang Cheng commanding from the watchtower.

Their eyes locked as if drawn together by some unseen force.

Cang Cheng's dark eyes and mouth slightly curled up, indicating he was in a good mood.

Cang Cheng opened his mouth.

He said—Well done, Princess Xixi.

The surging animosity ebbed like a tidal wave, and Hilmeth spun the silver gun in his hand, a rare tranquility between his brows.

He needed to protect Cang Cheng.

*

The sight of the lone general facing the star beast horde was naturally observed by a few at Watchtower 15.

Edward had been pondering the materials used in Luori Star's city defense system and whether large Spirit Runes could also be applied to starships when he shifted his attention to the general's weapons.

What is that silver-white weapon that took down the giant turtle with a single shot?

Why don’t the Spirit Runes on this weapon break?

What kind of technology is being used here, do they have it in the Canglan Star Region?

How is it that the silver-white exoskeleton armor used by the general can fire elemental cannons?

When did they start developing this? Why didn’t he hear about it?

Come to think of it, the color scheme of this silver-white painted weapon looks a lot like the thermal weapons of Sunset Star…

Could it be that these were made on Sunset Star?

Haha, how is that possible?

There’s no way Sunset Star could manufacture such advanced weapons. Sunset Star doesn’t have armament factories or weapon masters…

Um… wait.

What was it that Mo Yu said he was coming to Sunset Star for a few days ago? Seems like he was looking for… his master?

Suddenly, a thought struck Edward.

To his left, the soldiers at Watchtower 16 were firing freezing particle beams from their silver-white heavy cannons.

To his right, the soldier at Watchtower 14 had pulled out a silver-white sniper rifle. The bullet was wrapped in flames, the bright red impossible to miss.

Even if the shot didn’t hit a vital point, the enemy would be burned to death by the additional fire damage.

Edward then glanced at the two soldiers who had started using the weapons at Watchtower 15.

They activated the Spirit Runes on the weapons very skillfully, and then… a barrage of Blade of Wind and ion cannons was fired.

After use, the Spirit Runes on the weapons still didn’t break.

"This weapon feels better than the one the boss gave us. It’s even smoother."

"Supposedly it’s an upgraded version, and we’ll be able to use it soon."

Huh?

Since when can Spirit Runes be used repeatedly?

Have the soldiers already used this kind of Spirit Rune weapon?

Edward suddenly felt like he had been transported to a parallel world.

These weapons… they just don’t seem possible!

And how are they already so skilled with them?

Moreover, the runes drawn on these weapons are ANKEN’s Spirit Runes, right?

When did the Canglan Star Region switch to using ANKEN’s Spirit Rune weapons? How come he knows nothing about it?

Is this even the same universe?

As Edward was lost in thought, a bat seized the opportunity and lunged at him.

The Spirit Rune Master Zhang Qian, assigned to Watchtower 15, skillfully used the Wind Blade runes with a few swift swipes, crippling one of the bat's wings.

Edward suddenly came to his senses. "Thanks."

Inwardly, he couldn’t help but think: Spirit Rune Masters are ruthless!

Edward then turned his attention to his two companions.

On one side, Xing Qing coated her bullets with poison before shooting them out. Thanks to the wind element enhancement from her weapon, the poison spread farther, and a single shot could incapacitate an entire group of star beasts.

Yi Moshang, on the other hand, used a silver-white freezing tracking gun, concentrating as he joined the battle.

Edward was confused: ??

Wait, how are you guys adjusting to this so quickly?

Don’t you think these weapons, runes, and armed forces are pretty strange?

Edward suddenly felt like he didn’t belong.

After joining the battlefield, Zhang Qian placed her commlink to the side, not noticing that the live broadcast mode was still on.

The commlink’s camera was aimed at the side of the watchtower, and zooming in showed the combat methods of the guards in their uniform white-and-blue patterned clothing.

Either the Spirit Rune Masters would use freezing runes to immobilize a group of enemies, after which the Spirit Warriors would follow up with heat weapons to deal damage.

Or the Spirit Warriors launched large-scale heat weapon attacks, and the Spirit Rune Masters finished off the enemies with Wind Blade runes.

The two sides worked together in perfect coordination, with extremely high efficiency.

When two people work together, the job gets done faster.

“Are our Canglan Star Region's Spirit Rune Masters really this terrifying now? Taking out enemies one after another.”

“I haven't heard of this... It's said that the military just publicly recruited Spirit Rune Master attack squads a few days ago.”

“So, the perfect coordination between Spirit Rune Masters and Spirit Warriors I just saw was not my imagination?”

“If you're imagining things, then so am I.”

“The armed forces of the Sunset Star exceed expectations.”

“Do you think... these Spirit Rune Masters were trained by ANKEN?”

“What you said makes a lot of sense.”

“ANKEN and the Fifth Prince, Cang Cheng, have a thing going, it’s confirmed!”

“It’s hard not to agree.”

*

The situation on the ground was temporarily under control, but the battle in outer space was at a stalemate.

Cang Ye and Ming Bai were controlling over a dozen starships along with the planetary defense system, engaging in battle with the exotic forces continuously being teleported over.

The ultra-long-range space cannon had already been used once and was now replacing its energy ring, entering a cooling period.

The enemy's numbers were too great, and reinforcements kept coming, making it difficult to hold them off.

After a few more flashes of teleportation, a white beam suddenly attacked the fleet, and a barrage hit the starship where Cang Ye was stationed.

Cang Ye just in time used the portable teleporter given by Ming Bai to teleport to another starship.

Cang Ye wore a solemn expression. "There are too many of them. I’ll pilot the starship into a suicide run, then teleport back."

Ming Bai's message appeared on the screen: "Exceeding teleportation range."

Cang Ye was unconcerned. "No problem. My body can transform. At worst, I’ll become a meteor and land on the surface. I’ll survive."

Rescued by Cang Cheng, after over a decade of oblivion, Cang Ye had regained his human consciousness. Cang Cheng and the people of Luoxing Star gave him a second chance at life.

Now that Luoxing Star was in danger, Cang Ye would protect this peaceful sanctuary even at the cost of his life.

Ming Bai calculated and replied, "Expected body damage: 28%. Proceeding with the plan."

Cang Ye: "Thanks, Ming Bai."

As Cang Ye spoke, he maneuvered the fleet of starships toward the enemy.

"Self-destruct sequence initiated...

Countdown 90, 89..."

Meanwhile, in the enemy's main ship, the masked chief commander guessed Cang Ye's intention.

??: "This route... Could he be planning a suicide run with the starship? It’s indeed the best decision given the situation."

He calmly ordered, "All personnel, abandon ship and land on Luoxing Star. Spare no one, and of course, the fifth prince is mine."

In outer space, Luoxing Star's starship charged directly at the alien starship fleet, and a massive explosion lit up the entire dark sky.

Cang Ye used the teleportation device to escape the self-destructing starship and, with the remaining force of the explosion, fell from outer space toward Luoxing Star.

Cang Ye removed the insulating metal, and the appearance of a modified human rapidly spread across his body.

In less than a second, half of his human body transformed into the appearance of a black modified human.

He loathed his genetically modified body, but since he had endured so much, there was no reason to let it go to waste.

The heat from reentry seared Cang Ye, and he could smell the faint scent of burning flesh.

But these pains meant little to Cang Ye.

"Brother, I will protect Luoxing Star for you."

The alien starship fleet, being too close, was all affected by the massive explosion and subsequently exploded one after another.

However, amid the explosion, small escape pods were launched, like sparks from a sparkler, heading straight for Luoxing Star.

Seeing this, Ming Bai input commands, and the defense grid covering the entire planet, along with the thermal weapons, locked onto the small escape pods.

Most of them crashed into the defense layer and were destroyed, but a small number, taking advantage of the moment when the defense layer was being rebuilt after being damaged, forcefully penetrated the planetary defense system and headed straight for the central district of Luoxing Star.

"Look! In the sky."

"What is that? A meteor shower?"

Bright streaks cut across the clear sky, like falling meteors with fiery tails.

Several pods aimed directly at the central district of Luoxing Star, ready to invade and begin their massacre.

However, when the escape pods were just a few hundred meters above the central district, a semi-transparent protective shield blocked them.

With a loud 'boom,' the escape pods exploded upon impact.

At the same time, over the central district of Luoxing Star, the normally invisible anti-air ion cannon locked on and fired.

The trajectory traced an elegant arc through the sky.

The escape pods exploded above the central district, like fireworks that vanished in an instant.

Inside an alien escape pod, the masked commander was puzzled.

??: "Luoxing Star's defenses are that strong? The shield's almost at S-rank. This is one hell of a surprise."

His voice grew heavier, and it was not hard to detect the anger within. "Change course and rendezvous with the star beast army. No more collisions with the protective shield."

The escape pods then landed behind the star beast army.

As the doors opened, dog-headed humanoids equipped with the latest interstellar gear emerged and formed neat ranks.

They stood just over two meters tall, with pure white hair and tails that emitted lightning-like light.

The Light Dog Clan gathered in the center, and the star beast army, which had been preparing to attack the city, stopped and moved toward them.

It was clear that the Light Dog Clan was connected to the star beast uprising.

"These are the Light Dog Clan, a C-level civilization over a hundred light-years from the Canglan Star Region. Why are they attacking Luoxing Star?"

On the watchtower, Mù Xīng explained.

He subtly stepped forward, positioning himself in front of Cang Cheng.

"They're not just attacking Luoxing Star; they can control the star beasts, which means this was planned."

Cang Cheng faced the alien forces without a hint of panic.

Through the layers of star beasts and the star beast army, Cang Cheng's gaze locked onto the figure standing in the center, who held an absolute dominant position.

The masked figure wore a white and gold combat suit.

The golden hair exposed outside seemed dazzlingly bright under the light from the tails of the Light Dog Clan.

Cang Cheng tilted his head. He couldn't detect any traits of the Light Dog Clan on the figure.

"Someone from the Canglan Star Region?"

The masked figure locked onto Cang Cheng and flashed a sinister smile beneath the mask.

His fingers quickly gathered a light blast.

The Light Dog Clan's racial ability—light control!

The projectile shot towards Cang Cheng at the speed of light.

It was so fast that even Hilmeth couldn't react, and no one saw the masked figure move.

Hilmeth: "Cang Cheng!"

Mù Xīng, standing closest to Cang Cheng, instinctively moved to shield him from the blast.

Just as the light projectile was about to pierce through Cang Cheng's body, it hit a transparent barrier and, with a thud, turned into sparkling light dots, dispersing into nothingness.

Amid the shattered light, Cang Cheng flashed a 'friendly' smile.

The attack had no effect!

The masked man was astonished, and the Light Dog Clan around him were equally incredulous.

Their king was already the strongest warrior of the Light Dog Clan, so how could he fail to break through the defenses of this Canglan Star person?

The Light Dog Clan's morale, already low from the earlier space battle, sank even lower because of this.

This Lost Sun Star… it's nothing like what we expected!

The masked man's mouth straightened. "Defense shield? No… it's Spirit Runes."

Level A Spirit Runes—Absolute Defense.

Condensing elemental force to completely withstand an attack.

Compared to high-tech space shields, Absolute Defense had the advantage of ignoring the attack's power level, completely blocking any single instance of damage. The downside was that even a minor attack, like a pebble, would use up one of its defenses.

However, at this moment, the enemy obviously didn’t know the weakness of Absolute Defense. It was perfect for Cang Cheng to use it to intimidate the enemy.

The mental energy around Cang Cheng was exceptionally active. If a mage were present, they would have witnessed a dazzling array of colorful lights swirling around him.

Cang Cheng raised his hand, and several sharp ice Blades of Wind suddenly appeared around the masked man.

The masked man's expression shifted, and he reacted swiftly.

With a few loud thuds, the dazzling light collided with the ice Blades of Wind, shattering ice and light particles everywhere.

A strand of golden hair floated down.

The masked man once again felt that things were slipping out of his control.

The armed forces of Lost Sun Star were stronger than he had imagined, and Cang Cheng was able to use such exquisite Spirit Runes.

Wasn’t Cang Cheng the useless Fifth Prince? The one who couldn’t awaken his powers?

The level of Spirit Runes he displayed was at least Level A.

He had originally planned to catch Cang Cheng off guard before he received the armed forces from Cang Yan.

But now it seemed that… he himself had been caught off guard.

The masked man thought for a moment and then realized the truth.

After Cang Cheng was sent to Lost Sun Star, ANKEN appeared.

Fu Congfei, who admired strength, had become very admiring of Cang Cheng during the mid-peak meeting.

Cang Cheng had been closely associated with Hilmeth during the summit.

Cang Cheng had been present at the scene of using the frost and snow Spirit Runes twice during the Exchange Competition.

…

Now that he thought about it, what was still unclear?

The masked man opened his mouth. "You are ANKEN."

This was one hell of a surprise.