Chapter 429: Pulling the Chestnut out of the Fire
The two insectoid wars.h.i.+ps pa.s.sing through this area would have never imagined that they would be taking fire from a human wars.h.i.+p so close to Venoscorpion Swamp Base.
Vampire exited stealth and activated both its pulse lasers and energy drainers! The pulse lasers spat out white flames, while the energy drainers began crazily draining energy from the enemy s.h.i.+p.
Both sides of this battle had just finished using most of their energy for a jump, and neither side had much energy, but as there were two cruisers on the insectoid side, they had the slight advantage in terms of energy reserve.
Alas, Vampire reduced this advantage to nothing. As could be seen in its name, it could suck dry the blood of the enemy! Drink dry the marrow of the enemy!
“Activate the back-up energy drainers! I want the energy of that second wars.h.i.+p completely sapped!” Xia Fei coldly ordered.
*Whoosh~*
The second energy drainer immediately got to work, and Vampire quickly began to take the energy of the two insectoid cruisers for itself, restoring power to the warp engine and ensuring that the energy s.h.i.+elds could activate and that the pulse lasers could operate smoothly.
As for the enemy, after firing a few shots, they did not have the energy to keep attacking Xia Fei. Even their energy s.h.i.+elds failed. Vampire crazily fired its lasers and soon began to destroy their armor!
The insectoid wars.h.i.+ps tried their best to gather energy, but the more they did this, the more their energy was drained by Vampire. Not only could they not counterattack, they only restored more and more energy to Vampire.
One side weakened while the other side grew stronger, and these two cruisers, which were much larger than Vampire, were soon in a completely pa.s.sive state! The powerful energy drainers of Vampire even made it impossible for them to escape! The lack of energy even caused the lights of the command deck to go out!
Through the window, one could clearly see the insectoid soldiers running around the wars.h.i.+p in a panic!
While energy draining could not directly kill the enemy, it could disarm them, forcing them to either surrender or be beaten! It was undoubtedly the most sinister of ways for a wars.h.i.+p to attack!
Halleh’s jaw dropped. He found it impossible to believe that this s.h.i.+p he was on was so violently oppressing the two cruisers which far surpa.s.sed it when it came to both firepower and armor! It had to be understood that frigates and cruisers were separated by two whole s.h.i.+p cla.s.ses! They simply were not on the same level!
*Rumble!*
This battle ended without any suspense at all, the first insectoid cruiser exploded! Fire erupted outward!
The two energy-drainers targeted the second wars.h.i.+p, draining it all of its energy, pus.h.i.+ng it down so that it could be given a savage beating!
This simply was not a fair fight!
This insectoid wars.h.i.+p had never been able to muster even the tiniest bit of energy. Meanwhile, Vampire gained more and more energy!
A wars.h.i.+p without energy was like a human body without blood. It could not attack, could not escape, and could not even send a help signal back to base.
Vampire was a heaven-defying existence!
Xia Fei was not focused on the two insectoid wars.h.i.+ps. He was well aware of how powerful his Vampire was. These two cruisers could not threaten him. The energy s.h.i.+eld boosters and the energy draining devices made Vampire far surpa.s.s all other wars.h.i.+ps of the same cla.s.s, becoming an existence that had transcended the frigate cla.s.s.
The radar system was still a.n.a.lyzing the debris floating in s.p.a.ce. With each suspicious area it found, it would conduct a more meticulous search. As debris littered the surrounding several million kilometers, this a.n.a.lysis did not happen very quickly.
The more time dragged on, the more dangerous it was. The surrounding debris would affect the Estamel cloaking system and was highly likely to render it ineffective.
The radar clearly showed that more and more insectoid wars.h.i.+ps were converging on this area as quickly as they went. In a fight against numerous wars.h.i.+ps, even Vampire would have no chance at victory!
*Bang!*
In a ma.s.sive explosion, the second insectoid cruiser turned into a ball of flame that illuminated the blackness of s.p.a.ce.
Halleh almost broke out in an applause. To start outnumbered and annihilate two cruisers, Vampire had put on a splendid performance!
Besides excitement, he also could not help but feel some confusion about Xia Fei. A bomb that could destroy half a star system, an unimaginably powerful wars.h.i.+p, and speed that exceeded thirty thousand meters per second—such an elite warrior could not be a minor figure in the Panhuman Alliance. It seemed that working with Xia Fei was not a completely unreasonable idea for the Guild of the Wise.
“A battles.h.i.+p is going to be here soon. One minute and fifteen seconds,” Xia Fei sternly said. “Battles.h.i.+ps have more firepower. Prepare for some turbulence.”
Phantom and Halleh said nothing. At this point, what could they say? It was clear that anything they said would be unable to change Xia Fei’s mind. All they could do was wait at his side and see how he dealt with the situation.
“Warm up the overclocking system. Have the energy-s.h.i.+eld booster array start storing up energy.”
*Whoosh~*
As expected, about one minute later, a savage-looking insectoid battles.h.i.+p jumped out of a wormhole, appearing less than five hundred kilometers away, its pitch-black cannon barrels frightening to behold!
“Get close!”
Vampire rapidly accelerated, its thrusters ejecting hot flames as it rushed at the battles.h.i.+p that had to be more than one hundred times its size!
“Circle around it at a distance of one hundred kilometers! Open fire! Energy draining devices, go! Work the energy s.h.i.+eld booster array at 120%! Use the stasis webifier and hold it down!”
Right after the insectoid battles.h.i.+p appeared, Vampire began circling around it and giving it a savage beating!
This sudden a.s.sault made the insectoid wars.h.i.+p freeze for a few seconds, and then it began locking onto Vampire, its ma.s.sive cannons trying to track it.
*Bang!*
The insectoid wars.h.i.+p finally began to fire!
While Vampire’s speed minimized the damage done, the insides of the s.h.i.+p still fiercely swayed! The sleeping Furball on the sofa was hurled onto the ceiling!
“Energy-s.h.i.+eld booster array at 100%! Radar, keep searching!”
Xia Fei held a b.u.mpy object on the command deck, not even looking at the enemy s.h.i.+p. His eyes were fixed on the search results from the radar.
More and more enemies were appearing, and a prolonged battle was not wise. What was most important was to find that object and then immediately flee the battlefield!
*Bang!*
Another volley! Vampire shuddered once more, but the energy-s.h.i.+eld booster array continued to play a huge role. The four energy-s.h.i.+eld boosters created a powerful defense for the wars.h.i.+p, and the energy drainers were constantly extracting energy from the enemy s.h.i.+p, ensuring that the energy reserves remained full.
“Warning! Insectoid fleet discovered! Estimated arrival on the battlefield at thirty minutes!” the AI called out in a cold female voice.
Halleh was nervous to the extreme. This one battles.h.i.+p was hard enough to deal with, let alone a fleet!
“Retreat! A large number of s.h.i.+ps will be here soon,” Phantom sternly said.
Xia Fei shook his head, his expression focused. “Vampire has a Black Mamba 130 engine. It only needs a few minutes to leave the battlefield.”
With the two energy drainers working away, the insectoid battles.h.i.+p was finally drained of power, its s.h.i.+eld instantly disappearing. The pulse lasers began directly working against the armor!
Xia Fei glanced at the energy readouts. This battles.h.i.+p clearly had much more energy than the two cruisers. His energy reserves were at 85%, and he could soon start a jump.
However, the numbers were already beginning to slow down, as there was not much energy that could be absorbed from the battles.h.i.+p left.
“Reactor overclocking at 40%! I need to be able to start a jump within five minutes! Prepare for an impromptu jump!” Xia Fei sternly ordered.
Xia Fei had to leave the battlefield before the insectoid fleet arrived no matter what, even if he failed to find that object.
The best result would be for his reactor to replenish the energy reserves before the enemy fleet arrived. Otherwise, he would have to use an emergency jump, using his current energy reserves to make a random jump. An emergency jump was extremely dangerous, for he had no control over the wormhole. The last time he had used an emergency jump, the cannon barrage from an insectoid fleet had caused the coordinates of the wormhole to s.h.i.+ft, resulting in Xia Fei wandering around the insectoid territory. Unless it was absolutely necessary, it was best not to use an emergency jump.
Suddenly, the radar indicated that it had found a strange object in the debris. The object was rectangular, about three meters long, its outer casing made of some metal alloy. Even though it had been through the explosion of a Star of Ruin, the outer sh.e.l.l was perfectly preserved, without even a dent.
“Hurry! Get close! Get the tractor beam ready! Accelerate the energy replenishment of the warp engine!” Xia Fei ordered.
A metal casing which could survive such an intense explosion unharmed could not be simple!
Xia Fei’s intuition was telling him that this black box was what he had been searching for!
*Whoosh~*
Vampire accelerated at full speed! Flying into the distance!
That insectoid battles.h.i.+p had been beaten down to its last structural layer, fire gus.h.i.+ng out of its enormous body.
*Bang!*
As Vampire was just about to leave, it launched a furious barrage from its lasers, piercing through the last structural layer of the battles.h.i.+p and destroying it!
Halleh waved his fist in the air, his expression excited. He had completely forgotten that he was also an insectoid.
The black alloy box was not that far away. Vampire needed only a few minutes to approach it rapidly, but there was still some distance until the tractor beam could pull it in.
One, two, three…
Innumerable warp tunnels opened at the same time! The insectoid fleet was coming!
Ma.s.sive wars.h.i.+ps began emerging from the wormholes. The battles.h.i.+p had just sent information about an enemy s.h.i.+p on this battlefield to the main fleet, so the moment these s.h.i.+ps appeared, they began locking onto Vampire!
The radar flashed red! The situation was perilous!
If these wars.h.i.+ps all opened fire at once, Xia Fei had no hope of survival!
“Open the warp tunnel! Overclock the engine, the tractor beam, and the energy-s.h.i.+eld boosters as well!”
At the final moment, that ancient overclocking chip played a crucial role. While overclocked, the tractor beam’s range doubled! A white beam shot out and grabbed onto that black alloy box in the middle of a pile of debris; after which, the wars.h.i.+p swiftly charged into a wormhole!
*Rumble!*
Just when Vampire was about to be shot down, it disappeared!