Chapter 741 Neutron Star Battle Form (2/2)
Much of the Black Fog swarm were still alive inside the small sun, roving about at the outer layers of the sun and trying to break through the cage of supreme light and heat. Still, the gravity point Joshua made proved inescapable, and they were all gradually incinerated and lost all vigor, turning into ordinary metal grains that were burnt to ash in the sun.
Having confirmed that part of the Black Fog could not escape, Joshua looked up toward the other part of the Black Fog swarm he did not catch.
However, he realized in shock that the small cluster of Black Fog had vanished without a trace.
Joshua was not actually surprised by its ability to concealed its movement since he was aware of the reason, he could not find the Black Fog: their presence was concealed by another celestial body, just like how no one would be able to single out a special drop of water within the sea.
In reality, Joshua was shocked by that celestial body.
It was utter, lightless darkness. And yet, the outer parts of that circle of darkness was covered in a rainbow… that was the truth of what appeared to be a wonder for ordinary people, but something he could directly analyze through gravity ripples.
”Black… black hole?!”
***
It was indeed a miniature black hole located at the center of World Zero One system, with the planet itself circling around the black hole. There were distinct gravity points around the black hole as well, which could have been former orbiting planets that used to orbit around it, and now began to approach black hole due to the tremendous gravity it exerted, their mass hence consumed by the black hole. Substantial mass was being dragged into the black hole as light visible on all wavelengths, reflecting and refracting upon the translucent high-energy suction surface of the black hole, forming a dim rainbow in the darkness.
There was little wonder that this world had no sun—it had already collapsed into a black hole, with its suction surface emanating a faint radiance across the planetary system, but one that definitely could not provide for a hospitable environment.
Joshua was at a loss for words over that. Did the Black Fog actually flee to the black hole just to evade him? Though that was not an issue as long as it did not approach the black hole's even horizon, that was definitely a bold move… And truth be told, Joshua certainly would not have an easy time finding it: nobody is able to search for a swarm of fog near the radioactive environment of a black hole, and heaven knows if the fog had already been sucked into the singularity.
He was not crazy enough to fight the black hole and attempt to steal something from it.
At least most of the problem was solved, Joshua thought, clapping his hands.
***
When the warrior was still exploring the ruins Nok Research Center on World Zero Three while keeping alert of the Black Fog's presence, the had suddenly been received an alert from one of the Restoration Beams, with two souls already being stored inside the Soul Pool Sphere.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.
That meant two expedition members were already dead.
While the survivors' ability to use the Soul Pool Sphere meant that the situation was not too severe, such loss was unquestionably beyond what the Empire's first expedition could take. Joshua hence did not hesitate to turn toward World Zero One, realizing in shock and rage that the Black Fog was not at its own manufacturing plant in World Zero Three, where the Unified Archives may be located, and had appeared instead in World Zero One. Thus, without pause, Joshua forced the activation of that Restoration Beam, devouring all substances around himself to assume his combat form.
”Wait. The Archives…”
The question suddenly occurred to Joshua as he returned to World Zero One to take a look at Priest and the others. He looked up toward the rainbow in the dark—since World Zero One was revolving around the Black Hole in extreme speeds, he could see the rainbow appearing and vanishing every few hours. Now, Joshua carefully stared at the few small, inconspicuous points amidst the Black Hole's gravity ripples, lost in thought.
If…
Wroom-wroom.
Just as Joshua was about to come up with something, infinite dense formations of hexagonal specks resembling a beehive in the dark, distant sky out of nowhere. Each speck was spreading dimensional ripples visible to the naked eye, gathering together to create a spatial distortion greater than the gravity ripples Joshua had caused before. At the same time, infinite noise electromagnetic signals that was very much spam messages appeared across all frequencies.
Wroom. Wroom, wroom-wroom, wroom—endless signals piled as if a chaotic band performance, but it was all for a brief moment. When the first normal electromagnetic signal appeared, all signals became uniform, just as an unusually distinct signal was dispatched to the frowning Joshua.
[Mycroftian, Mycroftian!]
The single term was repeated incessantly in the signal, but soon, whether it was after an archive search or because the processing circuits had smoothed out, the being of unknown origins began to communicate with Joshua.
[Per the pact of the ancient maker, Mycroftians should be our allies. You should be aiding our final defensive force, why would you attack us instead.]
It was the Black Fog.
Joshua promptly understood the true identity of the being behind the signal, and could not help being surprised. After all, it was the first time that the Black Fog communicating with him on its own initiative, after having never once interacted with any other existence while silently wreaking destruction and harvesting all it came across.
Still, Joshua did not even respond to the question at all, not even with his signature cold smile. The Black Fog had not been that friendly before the fight—if he had not destroyed part of it, would it have been willing to talk?
As Joshua did not respond, the signal paused for a moment. Then, after a few seconds, the signals strengthened abruptly as if to saturate the world, and endless clusters of Black Fog hence showed themselves as the specks extinguished!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Like a tidal wave spreading without stopping and engulfing all things, the Black Fog's mass that appeared out of thin air was comparable to a whole new planet, its infinite presence shrouded even all observable space, leaving everything in darkness… but most frighteningly, the Black Fog was uniformly linking and communicating with each other under a profound will, silently sealing the planetary region.
There was no doubt now. Though the Black Fog did not keep itself in its former manufacturing part, its lair was clearly nearby! Shelter Alpha, where their main body was, might be nearby!
***
Priest, Alchemist and Mage did not have the ability to hear the electromagnetic signals, which was why the appearance of the Black Fog's appearance was extremely sudden for them. The trio looked up in astonishment at the starry skies overhead at the small sun, and the Black Fog that surrounded that small sun along with World Zero One.
Before, a single cluster of Black Fog had almost wiped out their party, Joshua's very own trump card. But now, although the Black Fog that appeared seemed massive and infinite, its number was beyond hundreds!
Hundreds of Legendary-tier otherworld being hence engulfed planet Zero One, silently standing off against Joshua who was standing on the land.
Be that as it may, Priest, who had just lost a pair of arms and was weakened to the point of dying, never hesitated and rose up. He held his shield and went to stand silently beside Joshua, even if tremendous gravity radiating from beyond the shield was about to make him fall again.
It was not him only either—Alchemist and Mage stood up as well. Though they could not approach Joshua much due to physical problems, they still stood as near as they could.”
”…Not bad. You're good kids, all.”
Joshua could not help being both surprised and glad by that. He smiled, and cast a stronger shield over the trio before looking up and emitting his own signal.
”Listen, Black Fog,” he said. ”We are not 'Glorious Era' Mycroft, but Starfall Era Mycroft. That being said, our forebears of the Glorious Era had made a pact with the former Shelter Federation, the great civilization known as the 'Shelter of the Weak'. We are not our forebears, and you are not them.”
”Black Fog, you're different from all monsters I've met. They may have been children of Evil Gods or wild beasts, or champions willing to sacrifice everything for their tragic intentions.”
”But you're different.”
At that, Joshua began to enunciate every word. He simply waved, pushing the expedition trio who appeared resolved to die behind him, all while smiling curiously.
”And did you think that I fight alone?”
Wroom—a pale blue portal opened beside Joshua.
Wroom-wroom—two more portals of different colors opened near Joshua.
Soon, the hum of the dimensions synchronized into a single high-pitched sound without resting. In a brief few seconds and a single breath, hundreds of different portals appeared all around Joshua. As the profound dimensional passageways opened visibly and audibly, a dozen incomparably powerful presences and their distinct footsteps echoed with the rumble of countless steel
Immeasurably brutal energy rippled. As a dozen faint silhouettes gathered by the passageway, mages with grimoire with hand, sage whose face was veiled, a bald middle-aged man whose head was empty, a sword saint carrying a longsword as well an elven Magister appeared, the latter of whom was riding a mountainous behemoth, with the green seed of a giant tree floating beside her.
An aged man, Bright Scepter in hand and whose body encircled in Holy Light was the first to step out of the portals. He went to stand beside Joshua and looked up at the dense Black Fog in the sky as well, sighing heavily.
Joshua laughed, and cut short the electromagnetic signal to the Black Fog. The warrior slowly rose despite being shrouded in the twisted light, flying halfway above and faced off against the endless Black Fog.
—Black Fog. You are without desire, a pure evil. You are a malevolence that your maker, that kind civilization who once aided all life would never have permitted.
That is why…
Over the warrior's head, a circle began to unfurl over space as if water ripples. That was a dimensional anomaly far larger than the Black Fog and the portal created by other Legendary champions, and a space violently distorted, a silver cocoon—or more precisely, a small silver planet slowly appeared from the other side of the dimensions.
…I will defeat you.