Chapter 729: Enemy Objectives (1/2)

Chapter 729: Enemy Objectives

Lan Jue was overjoyed. “That’s excellent! Figuring out their motive has been the biggest headache.”

“Mh.” The Pharmacist nodded. “He was dispatched with earlier scout teams, lured in by the fact that they looked like normal planets. They approached with their guard down, and made curious by the strange energy readings. None of them expected it would be their last journey.”

“When they got close they found the lesser aliens. His squad was elite, and after a bitter fight they put the enemy down. That’s when they found the vital crystals. But, just as they were preparing to leave with the information another beast appeared. It was the one we now call Monarch. The leader of these evil creatures.”

“My husband didn’t tell me what he looked like. Only that he was strong… so strong. They had no way to fight back. He and his compatriots were captured. They weren’t killed, but rather imprisoned. My husband is a smart man, so he didn’t use Ultus in the fight against the Monarch. He couldn’t fully control the blade, and he wanted to give himself a chance to escape.”

“Once they were captures the aliens used some alien method to drain their life force. Then they used psychic force to probe their minds. My husband realized that hiding Ultus held no more purpose. Once his life force was entirely drained they would kill him, so he chose to risk his life for his fellows. But, even with the Banishing Blade Monarch was too strong, and they were recaptured.”

Here the Pharmacist paused. Her face was pained, as though she were drawing on her own memories. She deeply understood the helplessness he’d felt, the pointlessness of his fight. No one would come to save them. He was facing death.

“After their failed escape the aliens began to dissect them to learn what they could from their bodies.” She growled the words, a flash of anger in her eyes. “My husband had to watch as they were killed one by one. He knew eventually his turn would come. But before it came to him the Monarch called its Queen. She devoured his team leader, absorbed her DNA, and took on her likeness. She wanted to use my husband to…”

Her face reddened and she paused.

Lan Jue nodded. “I understand. Go on.”

“That was the situation he faced,” she continued. “He loved me, and how could he even consider being defiled by such a loathsome creature? He summoned all of his energy from his Core. When he and I joined with our weapons we were inexorably tied to them. However, as my husband’s mind and body burned from the effort, a portion of his will was seared into Ultus. It became something like a sword spirit. He tried to call all of that power to take him and Ultus away from Monarch, but somehow the alien master was able to seal him away. So in a way he is did, but he is also alive. If we can get Ultus then I can see him again, the same way we see Jun Yongye.”

The pain in her features gave way to burning hope. The chance of seeing her long-lost husband again was the only thing keeping her going.

Lan Jue sighed and took the Pharmacist’s hand into his own. “We will do everything we can to get that sword back.”