Chapter 1135: Like Broken Bamboo
The moment the Martyr’s Palace straightened up and swung its ma.s.sive tail, it seemed as though the Earth Dragon had woken up from its ancient slumber. It was once again the void colossus that had rampaged through the skies. The dragon roared silently as it soared through the void and lashed at the duke flags.h.i.+p with its tail!
An earth-shattering rumble, mixed with the ear-piercing sounds of twisted metal, rippled out through the void. Be it humans or dark races, the weaker people would feel their heads throbbing violently. They rolled around on the ground, covering their ears the best they could, yet it was useless. This reverberating sound wave would still enter their bodies and cause great damage.
Many experts deployed their defensive domains to stop the sound waves. Those who were safe gazed into the distance, utterly stunned.
The duke flags.h.i.+p became evidently bent the moment it was whipped by the Earth Dragon’s tail. Linken’s airs.h.i.+p was broken into two halves back then. The damage wasn’t as exaggerated against this ma.s.sive flags.h.i.+p, but its body was clearly bent. Even though the angle wasn’t very big, it was permanent damage to the vessel, let alone the people inside.
Both dark race and human constructs looked rather fragile compared to a void colossus like the Earth Dragon. Only a heavenly monarch or a great dark monarch could stand their own against such a creature.
The dragons.h.i.+p didn’t let its prey off just like that. It made an agile turn in the void and, like an elegant whale, completed the acceleration process with a flip of its tail. It charged over and pa.s.sed underneath the duke-grade vessel, slicing into the hull with its sharp spines.
The duke flags.h.i.+p’s defense and strength were far superior to Linken’s vessel. The Earth Dragon failed to slice through the entire airs.h.i.+p despite its momentum and ended up with its spines stuck in the hull.
As though it knew what would happen, the Earth Dragon moved its body violently and tore through the body of the duke flags.h.i.+p before flying away.
As the Earth Dragon circled about and flew back, a gasp of surprise spread through the Imperial fleet. Experts with good eyesight had finally noticed a familiar yet distant silhouette standing atop the dragon’s head.
“Qianye!” Finally, someone uttered his name. That used to be a taboo in the Minister of the Right’s faction.
More and more people recognized him, but they had no idea what the thing below his feet was. That ma.s.sive, thousand-meter body alone brought about a significant pressure upon them.
The duke flags.h.i.+p had been cut in half and was spouting flames as it rolled into the distance, devoid of all power.
A phantom-like figure drifted out from the flags.h.i.+p and charged toward the Martyr’s Palace at lightning speed. It was the arachne duke in charge of the broken flags.h.i.+p. Apparently, he was planning to force his way into the palace and destroy the enemies inside.
The duke didn’t a.s.sault the palace’s head portion. No one knew what the thing was, but running near the mouth of such a behemoth would be an idiotic move. He picked an opening near the back of the airs.h.i.+p and rushed in.
Everyone from the Empire held their breaths as the enemy entered the Martyr’s Palace. The arachne duke’s combat strength could not be underestimated, and no one believed Qianye was a match for him.
As Qianye vanished from atop the Earth Dragon’s head, the ma.s.sive creature suddenly stopped moving and merely hovered habitually in the void.
Silence filled the entire battlefield. In truth, the flames and explosions were still happening, but everyone’s attention had been drawn by the Martyr’s Palace.
All of a sudden, a stream of flames burst out from the side of the Earth Dragon’s abdomen!
There was a silhouette within the flames. Shockingly, it was the arachne duke who had flown out rapidly, fleeing in the direction of the Evernight reinforcements. He didn’t even care about the comrades nearby who were fighting with the Imperial forces.
Another silhouette emerged from the stream of flames. The luminous wings behind Qianye were dazzling as he pointed a handgun at the fleeing arachne. Qianye’s body jolted as he fired the shot, and the distant duke erupted in a long howl of agony. The latter sped up once again and was soon too far away.
Qianye put away his luminous wings and returned to the Earth Dragon’s head with a flicker. The dragon woke up at that moment and began to circle once more, gazing intently at the arachne duke. It was just that the target was too powerful; even his sprinting speed in the void was far beyond the Earth Dragon’s. There was no way to catch him now that he had joined the enemy reinforcements.
The Earth Dragon slowly turned about to search for a new target.
Everyone, be it those from Evernight or the Empire, drew in a breath of cold air. Although they still couldn’t tell whether the Martyr’s Palace was a living ent.i.ty or a rare mechanical construct, one thing was very clear—this behemoth was under Qianye’s full control, and he could steer the creature as though it were a part of his own limbs.
That scene just now happened so quickly that most people never saw how Qianye had injured the arachne duke. Only a handful of powerful experts could tell that Qianye had fired a black feather of light. The distant arachne roared in pain as the feather flickered in and out of existence, impossible to evade even at such a distance.
Qianye felt regretful at heart. The arachne was indeed powerful, capable of running away even with a followup shot.
Caroline appeared beside Qianye. Gazing at the direction of the arachne’s escape, she said, “Don’t worry, he’s no longer a threat after taking a hit from you.”
“I’ll be relying on you.” Qianye retracted his gaze.
“You’re also quite powerful, much more than I had thought. It’s just that…” It seemed like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t continue.
Qianye turned toward a different direction. “We have one more problem.”
“Then let’s deal with him.” Lightning arced across Caroline’s fingertips.
The Martyr’s Palace made a turn and charged toward the other duke flags.h.i.+p.
The duke wars.h.i.+p wanted to flee, but it was locked down firmly by Imperial forces. Ignoring the potential damage, the Imperial mothers.h.i.+p exchanged repeated cannon fire with the enemy flags.h.i.+p, making it impossible for the other party to turn around.
The Martyr’s Palace swam through the void and appeared above the duke-grade wars.h.i.+p. Prismatic spheres of light smashed down with great ferocity, blasting big holes in the enemy vessel.
Linken had invested all her resources into building the Landsinker in preparation for her future flags.h.i.+p. After being installed on the Martyr’s Palace, the cannon reached new heights by virtue of the Earth Dragon’s power. It was now even comparable to the main cannon of a duke-grade vessel.
The enemy duke flags.h.i.+p burst into flames after taking a series of shots, its counterfire utterly suppressed.
Two Evernight destroyers appeared from either side, charging at the Martyr’s Palace with fearless momentum. Their main cannons were fully-charged and ready to fire once within range.
The two destroyers came at great speed, taking an almost straight flight route into the range of the Martyr’s Place. Only at this point did the mist around the palace disperse, revealing the palace’s true appearance. The two captains immediately noticed an entire row of fully-charged ballistae!
Having fought against the Imperial fleet for many years, these captains could recognize Imperial cannons with their eyes closed. Just on one side, they could see five cruiser-grade and ten destroyer-grade main cannons aimed right at them!
The two captains secretly groaned in despair as dozens of giant ballista bolts tore through the air and blasted them into b.a.l.l.s of flame.
In this manner, everyone on the Evernight side came to realize the Martyr’s Palaces firepower, and no one dared approach its firing range.
An earth-shattering roar erupted through the void as a figure rushed out of the beleaguered duke-grade airs.h.i.+p. The arachne duke stood hesitantly in the air, not knowing whether he should escape in the direction of the Martyr’s Palace or the Imperial forces.
The Minister of the Right, who had just switched to a new airs.h.i.+p, chuckled. “Time for us to take the field. We can’t let the youngsters hog all the glory!”
“Sire, you must not! That’s…” The attendants and ministers didn’t even have time to stop the minister before his figure vanished. They weren’t strong enough to fight in the void, so they could only stomp their feet in indignation.
Two figures flew out from the battles.h.i.+ps, forming a three-p.r.o.ng formation with the minister and surrounding the arachne duke within. These two were the commanders of the second and third Imperial Guard—both were divine champions.
The arachne was strong, but it was difficult to exert force or move through the void. Under the combined a.s.sault of the three Imperial divine champions, the duke quickly fell into a defensive state.
Soon, the desperate wails of an arachne duke filled the void… followed by silence.
Qianye and Caroline didn’t join the fight and only observed quietly.
Caroline said, “The trouble isn’t over.”
“I know.”
In the distance, the Evernight reinforcements had finally arrived and were entering the battlefield one after the other. The Imperial formation, on the other hand, was in chaos because there wasn’t enough time to reorganize, and many wars.h.i.+ps were still cleaning up routed enemies. Most of the wars.h.i.+ps had suffered damage during the battle and things didn’t look very optimistic.
Their losses would be big if they had to face the unfl.u.s.tered Evernight fleet.
The Martyr’s Palace leapt out all of a sudden and appeared thousands of meters away with a swing of its body, blocking the path of the Evernight fleet.
The enemy formation was led by three duke-grade vessels. Facing the sudden appearance of the Martyr’s Palace, the leading flags.h.i.+p made an urgent stop just outside of its firing range. This caused the less agile wars.h.i.+ps at the rear to fall into disarray, but they did manage to stop and none of them collided against one another. It could be said that they were fairly well-trained.
The entire reinforcement squad was thus stopped by the Martyr’s Palace.
At this moment, the foremost duke-grade flags.h.i.+p arrived within the Martyr’s Palace’s firing range and, since both parties were immobile, decided to open fire!
Both main cannons flickered with a faint glow. They had long since completed charging and could fire at the push of a b.u.t.ton.
The vampire duke on the enemy airs.h.i.+p s.h.i.+fted in his magnificent throne, adopting a more comfortable position. With his chin propped up, he stared intently at Qianye standing atop the Earth Dragon’s head. Beams of sanguineous light shot out from his eyes and made straight for the target.
Qianye also sensed the duke’s gaze. He turned slightly and met the radiance head-on, not backing down at all.
Sparks flew as the two gazes collided in the void. Qianye was completely unaffected by the bloodline suppression and even managed to retaliate.
The vampire duke narrowed his eyes. “Is that him? Interesting.”
His fingers tapped constantly on the armrest as he muttered to himself. At this moment, a screen of light appeared, projecting the images of a demonkin and a werewolf. The two asked at the same time, “Why are you hesitating? Attack!”