Chapter 570 Heading in the Wrong Direction (1/2)

The Third Fleet Commander inhaled sharply in shock, uttering the stunning number.

In truth, Midgardians did not breathe through their mouths, but it was precisely in the shock that the commander acted in disorder. The military man—a Midgardian who was barely middle-aged but had yellowed leaves all over his head—unwittingly clenched his fists and seethed quietly. ”What is going on?! Why is their number six times more than last time?!”

”According to our observation, there had been a large-scale distortion signature around the Garden of Roots system,” someone quickly answered. ”Commander, it's a shapeshifting space-insect swarm!”

There were not just intelligent being within the universe, but also many extraordinary spacefaring beings such as Void Clouds, crystal beings, deep-space jellyfish and many others. The shapeshifting space-insect was one of them—these giant lifeforms that could warp moved in swarms, possessing colossal bodies and a mild demeanor. They often voyaged to the vicinity of planetary systems where intelligent beings resided and naturally, the Garden of Roots system was no exception. This time, however they ran into Chaos daemons, thus either falling as rations or allowing the numbers of Void monsters to multiply wildly.

At present, as the first wave of Void monsters warping ended at once, the second dense, world-blanketing—or more specifically, endless galaxy-blanketing warp ripples began to appear behind the first wave of scouts. According to the psionic processing core in the warship, they numbered up to two million five hundred and seventeen thousand three hundred and twenty-nine.

The extremely repetitive warp ripples were even affecting each other and fusing together, forming a tremendous psionic vortex that even Midgardians could no comprehend. Through the dark-green vortex that could devour half a planet, a supremely gargantuan lifeform which was over nine hundred thousand meters and still unceasingly expanding was brandishing its tentacles on the other end of space, intending to cover the distance of trillions of kilometers to their position. It was hence fortunate that the gargantuan lifeform had yet charged enough energy for warp and would only arrive sometime later.

It was not unfortunate, however, that the second wave of assault—two million army of Void monsters had begun to warp!

”Madness—”

Recovering from his shock, the commander of the Third Fleet focused again, sweeping his eyes over a densely pack collection of monitors and studied the data listed within. ”Recall the starfighters and scatter psionic warp traps,” he said, biting down with a low voice as he stroked his yellowed scalp. ”We shall retreat to the vicinity of the 'Sea God Star' defensive live and conduct our defense in coordination with the fortifications—the enemy is too many, we can't engage them!”

Despite the prompt change in battle tactics, it was the best judgment even with slight contradictions. Against millions of Void monsters, even if two thousand Midgardian mainstay warships that were already armed could not triumph definitively, they carried a significant advantage. Their fearsome psionic lances were planetary armaments that could instantly destroy surface cities and crumble mountains—hence, to kill Void monsters was as simple as chopping vegetables, but having two million Void monsters warping together simply exceeded the limit, and could not be blocked whatever the case may be.

The simultaneous warp of two million monsters had caused a chaos ripple that devoured tens of thousands of monsters, causing them to be lost in the dimension between psionic vacuum and the real world. That, however, was frivolous to the enormous numbers of monsters, and with the incessant creation of more Void monsters from the Void Mother had dimmed the entire edge of the Beam System at once. The starlight of those parts was blocked out by the infinite swarm, and inversely, the Midgardian fleet was retreating without stopping. As little starfighters returned to the warships like birds returning to nests, several unique spherical warships suddenly appeared amidst the fleet.

The warships were completely silver-white, and an orderly perfect sphere. As the Midgardian fleet gradually moved to the rear prepared for short-distance warp to the back, those spherical warships advanced rapidly. Completely ignoring the cries of their engines, they held aloft the most modern needlepoint shield without regard of the luminous psionic orbs—a corruption projectile—shot out by every Void monster along the way. They simply darted into the location where the Void monsters warped, and violently self-destructed.

As dazzling fireworks flashed, silver-blue ripples churned the dimensions. Through the unique stabilizing of a single-dimensional psionic ray, they destroyed the warping of the Void monsters and obstructed the massive psionic vortex from taking forming, interfering with the arrival of the Void Mother. At that moment, every Midgardian could seemingly hear the angered bellows from the Void Mother from the other end of space, and yet none of them felt pleased—it was a mere delay of the enemy's advance, and the two million Void monsters had finished warping. They sensed the psionic energy like sharks smelling blood, and wildly accelerated to pursue the retreating Midgardian fleet.

In the first wave, thirty thousand were completely wiped out by luminous lances.

In the second wave, a hundred thousand were blown up by deep space torpedoes and psionic beams.

In the third wave, two hundred and fifty thousand were routed by the second wave of psionic lances.

In the fourth wave, five hundred and sixty thousand as well as a dozen colossal spindle-shaped monsters started to move slowly. Giant green energy emissions appeared behind the monsters and started to charge at their fastest speed towards the three fleets that amounted up to just two thousand ships. It was by immeasurable toil and dispatching starfighter pilots that the enemy was pushed back.

”Wheeze, wheeze…”

In a half-conscious state and powerful instincts, Azra forced his starfighter to the effective area of the warship's tractor beam and returned to its hangar. He had just destroyed a thousand-meter class Void monster in the interceptive battle just now, the price being a significant decrease in his bodily functions—in fact, the aged Midgardian was at the edge of a coma. Three combat medics swiftly leaped up to his fighter and dragged Azra from the pilot's seat. ”He can't keep fighting…” One of them said urgently. ”His age is over eight hundred, and his psionic core is beginning to wither. If he keeps fighting under such an overburdened state, even an Omega-tier psionic would die!”

”No! I still can—”

At the medic's words, the about-to-faint Azra seemed to come to immediately. He seethed, his eyes widening and sitting up to grab the medic's collar. Physical psionic light even illuminated the medic's face, before Azra lay down again, his breathing weak even as his mouth kept spewing words along the lines of 'let me rest for a bit' and 'I can still fight'.

”Just relax. We would soon return to the perimeter of the Sea God Star.” The medic calmed the old man, taking out a vigor injector from his first-aid case and supplying Azra some liquefied nutrients. ”We can destroy those Void monsters with the satellite fortifications, that way, even that superior being would be alone even if it warped, and we might stand a chance.”

”Fifth wave! Seven hundred thousand!”

”The enemy is advancing in full force! Abandon the plan of shredding their ranks, retreat at full speed!”

The alert rang throughout the fleet, which naturally included the hangar. In that instant, the expressions on both medic and Azra changed at once—only now did they understand that the enemy was different from intelligent beings.

Armies of intelligent life forms would retreat. Even elite ones that numbered up to millions would fall back at once after taking thirty percent of damage—real battles where they fought to the very last man were special circumstances… and now, how much losses had the army of Void monsters suffered? More than half? Or at least forty percent? The destructive power of the luminous lances could spread, and the ashes the Void monsters left behind in death had become a cluster of black specks and clouds. They would have been routed if they were a fleet of normal beings—that was something everyone knew.

Nevertheless, the Void monsters would not run—they had neither fear nor intelligence, only knowing attack and not defense. They would assimilate instead of creating, for they were a virus of worlds, a super plague that spreads through worlds, universes, and planes. Their very existence was an incarnation of horror.

That was why the Void monster army that has overrun the countermeasure capabilities of the Midgardian began to charge. The first to retreat was the elite First Fleet that was holding at the rear of the three Midgardian fleets. They carried the most excellent weapons and shield that must be kept at the best conditions before the Void Mother warped here. Amidst circles of psionic ripples, they successfully entered short-distance warping under the covering fire of the Second and Third Fleets, reaching the planetary fortress of the sixth Beam System planet, a gaseous planet that had no atmosphere.

Behind the Sea God Fortress, as well as the Sky God and Blazing God fortresses behind it, the colony planet of the Garden of Flowers was the third planet from the sun, with the defensive perimeter on that planet and its moon being the point where the resources of the entire region had been assembled.

”Listen. It's very likely that we would become the platoon holding up the rear.”

The Third Fleet was a remnant armada that was repaired and refurbished and mostly crewed by survivors of the Garden of Roots colony. Therefore, most of the personnel were similar to Azra—kin who wish for vengeance over their departed loved ones and actually having nothing apart from their boiling blood. They were considered the weakest whether in terms of equipment and training, a fact they knew very well. Thus, nobody was especially surprised when the order was given from the bridge of their flagship. There were certainly emotions, but most of it were out of reluctance to resign themselves.

”If we had warships in perfect conditions… We wouldn't lose out to the First Fleet!”

Hence, many began to hate the Midgardian policy over their thousand-year history. Due to their long strife and unrest, these psionic plants hence hated war even when they became a spacefaring race. If not for protection against all sorts of space creatures and other civilizations, they would not even have formed standardized fleet and colony, instead staying in a drunken stupor within their Mother Planet. But now, the sinister outcome was clear that their spacefaring civilization would not have established a fleet of two-thousand ships if they had not been invaded by the Void monsters.

Perhaps, if they had a fleet of ten thousand or two thousand, along with more than ten colony planets, even the Void Mother would not have been a worthy opponent.

But now, it was all too late.

With the Second Fleet beginning to warp and extend their one-dimensional ray, the Third Fleet was abruptly left behind alone to fend off the Void monsters that were coming at them wildly. The Chaos beings that bore the appearance of virus but was far sturdier than alloy generally had no special attacks. Even so, only the thousand-meter class behemoths having any long-ranged offensive moves such as ejecting the psionic spheres akin to Midgardian's luminous lances—most of the time, they were their own weapons.

Any matter would gain fearsome destructive force after being accelerated in incredible speeds. The Void monsters were precisely doing so—dark green trails of acceleration that kicked up endless magnetic sparks appeared behind each Void monster, and they sped up to the inconceivable velocity of three thousandth light speed! Though it appeared insignificant, it in truth was a terror that leaves people trembling, for it was something the beasts could never do if they did not completely disregard their own lives.