Chapter 1408 Fis.h.i.+ng and Response
While Han Xiao was thinking, the individual forces of both sides had already retreated from the battlefield, but the fleets were still exchanging fire. The densely packed particle beams crisscrossed, shattering the s.h.i.+elds and armor of countless battles.h.i.+ps. All kinds of large war weapons took turns and the border defense circle blocked the World Tree vanguard team outside the territory with extreme firepower.
After beating the World Tree experts away, the Beyond Grade As temporarily retreated to the Siebert Fortress to rest. They returned to the resting room in high spirits and greeted Han Xiao who was watching the battle.
“Well done, everyone. This is a great victory!”
Han Xiao nodded with approval.
“Haha, I used to think that the World Tree experts were difficult to deal with, but now I feel they’re just so-so.” Sun Hunter jumped onto the table and laughed like a hero.
“Of course, you guys did not waste your time for nothing the past ten years. I’ve seen all your progress.” Han Xiao smiled.
Hearing this, everyone could not help but smile. They were in a good mood.
When facing the enemy again, everyone realized that they had relaxed quite a bit. The enemy’s improvement was limited, but their own improvement was huge. This was undoubtedly the result of His Excellency Black Star’s ten years of special training.
The Beyond Grade As deeply experienced the growth brought by the special training and their grat.i.tude toward Han Xiao grew deeper. They looked at Han Xiao with admiration and respect.
More than ten years ago, the World Tree had given them a lot of psychological pressure, and they felt that the World Tree was extremely difficult to deal with after a few exchanges. However, with Black Star as their confidence, they no longer had any psychological trauma.
After more than ten years of fermenting, Han Xiao had gained more respect. Because there was an intrinsic difference between a Transcendent and the Beyond Grade As, he had subtly improved the att.i.tudes of many Beyond Grade As toward him. The way the Beyond Grade As viewed him now was similar to how Calamity Grades respected and supported the Beyond Grade As. The concept of superiors and subordinates was more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and most Beyond Grade As had already accepted the changes in their relations.h.i.+p.
“It’s all thanks to Aurora that we were able to achieve such a great victory,” Beyoni said with admiration.
Hearing this, everyone started bootlicking.
There were no casualties in this victory and it was naturally Aurora’s contribution that forced the World Tree experts back. Her healing power was stronger and more accurate than ten years ago and many Beyond Grade As were eager to suck up to her.
“It’s alright. I just did my job.”
Aurora was used to being humble, expressing her fear of being the MVP. At the same time, she secretly glanced at Han Xiao, antic.i.p.ating his praise.
Han Xiao did not see the look in her eyes. He smiled and said, “Speaking of contributions, EsG.o.d’s killing this time… cough, forcing the Subduing Tree King to die is also a great contribution.”
Everyone was stunned and turned to look at the calm EsG.o.d.
Although EsG.o.d had performed a meritorious deed, he had a grudge with many of the people present. Now that they were fighting side by side, everyone had a complicated impression of him.
EsG.o.d glanced at Han Xiao. “If the Subduing Tree King was not afraid of your ambush, he would not have self-destructed so easily. Tree Kings indeed live up to their name. He’s not that easy to deal with.”
Hmm… although you’re humble, when I think about how you played with the Subduing Tree King, I feel like you’re posturing…
Han Xiao thought to himself and waved his hand. “You still contributed.”
EsG.o.d smiled and did not continue.
What was the use of contributions? He would not be allowed to revive. He did not care if he made any contributions. It was just a mission from the Underworld.
At this moment, Kasuyi rubbed his chin and said, “It’s a pity that the Subduing Tree King self-destructed too decisively, causing the enemy to retreat in time. We did not cause more casualties to the enemy, and we only managed to kill about ten enemy Beyond Grade As. Among them, only the Subduing Tree King was a powerful individual.”
“This isn’t a big problem. It might be a good thing if we look at it from another perspective.” Han Xiao waved his hand and smiled. “Think about it, since the Subduing Tree King died in battle, the ones in charge of the overall situation will have to be changed. If we had heavily injured their Beyond Grade As in this wave, then even if the next Tree King wants to fight, he probably won’t have enough force. Now that we have left the World Tree with a relatively intact high-level strength, the new Tree King will have the chips to fight again in a short period.” “There’s such an explanation?” Kasuyi was surprised. “What’s so strange about that? My goal is to seal a sufficiently powerful Tree King. If they shrink back, how am I going to attack? I hoped you guys wouldn’t seriously injure the enemy this time. This is called baiting the big fish. Killing the Subduing Tree King is enough for now.”
Han Xiao nodded.
Hearing this, one of the revivors laughed and said, “Haha, it’s a good thing we didn’t join the battle this time, or we would have ruined your plan.”
“Of course, we can’t just reveal all our trump cards in just a probing battle. We will catch them off guard next time.” Han Xiao smiled.
The Revivors and some of the new Beyond Grade As originally felt that it was a pity that they did not make a move this time, but they were relieved now and focused on the big picture.
They gathered together and a.n.a.lyzed the results of the battle for a while before dispersing to do their own things. From time to time, they would look up at the live broadcast of the battle. At this moment, they had the upper hand, so there was no need for them to attack again. Han Xiao chatted with Ames and browsed through the deployment of the Galactic Alliance Army. Suddenly, he felt a squeeze beside him. Jotina walked over and sat beside him.
Han Xiao turned around and saw Jotina staring at him with a burning gaze, as though she wanted to swallow him alive. “What are you doing now?” Han Xiao raised his brows.
“I want to stay by your side.” Jotina licked her lips.
“Then sit properly. Don’t come close.”
Han Xiao was helpless.
He knew that Jotina had always been craving for his body and had rejected her many times. However, she had never given up and kept pestering him.
In the past, Jotina would restrain herself because of the huge gap between them, but ever since she became a Beyond Grade A, she became more and more unrestrained. Especially when everyone was on standby at the frontlines, this woman kept hara.s.sing him.
“No, I want to lean on you.” Jotina did not hide anything and hugged his arm boldly.
Han Xiao had no choice but to pull his arm out. However, Jotina leaned her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Don’t you think this is the wrong time? Can’t you be mindful of your image?”
Han Xiao’s mouth twitched. After all, Jotina was a Beyond Grade A who was willing to stay in the army, so it was not convenient for him to beat her up.
“It’s alright, you guys continue.” The Beyond Grade As glanced over, not surprised at all. They were already used to it.
“…Do you think I’m air?”
Ames looked at the two of them and could not take it anymore.
It would have been fine if Jotina had sat on Han Xiao’s other side, but this woman had s.n.a.t.c.hed her seat and pushed her to the side. Wasn’t this a provocation?
“This is your exclusive seat? Can’t I sit here?” Jotina looked back at her with hostility.
Ames could not be bothered with her. This was not the first time Jotina had targeted her, and she was speechless.
She crossed her arms and looked at Han Xiao. “You look very comfortable.”
“Of course not.”
Han Xiao shook his head and pushed Jotina away. He then sat down on the other side of Ames and dragged Lagi to his side.
Seeing this, Jotina snorted and did not move closer. She turned around and sat at the side, glaring at him.
Ames patted Han Xiao’s chest and said with a smile that was not a smile, “You’re very popular now. Many people want to s.n.a.t.c.h you away from me. Are you going to have a new lover one day?” Han Xiao stroked his chin and pretended to tease. “I think that the reason why people are coveting me is because there are gaps in our relations.h.i.+p. If we form a family and have offspring, others will know better and give
up.”
“…We’ll see.”
Ames leaned her head on Han Xiao’s shoulder and replied softly.
Their relations.h.i.+p had long been made public, and this was not the first time Black Star had brought up the topic of having offspring. However, if she simply did not want to have children, how troublesome would that be? It was just that after more than ten years, Ames’ tone had also changed from firm rejection to hesitation. The ‘threat’ from Jotina made her waver more and more.
Han Xiao did not insist.
In the past few years, he had tried to cultivate his descendants with his life energy and bioengineering. However, he realized that there were many flaws in the life-form created by such gene cultivation. They could not inherit the three inherited talents and could not achieve the expected effect. Thus, his plan to quickly expand the race could only be put on hold.
Since he could not use the Mechanic method, he could only rely on fertilization.
Beep beep!
At this moment, his communicator rang.
Han Xiao took it out and took a look. It was a message from the person in charge of the secondary dimension expedition outpost.
The content was simple, but it made Han Xiao’s pupils contract.
“Your Excellency Black Star, the Abnormal Creature Egg that you told me to pay attention to has shown changes. Please come quickly.”
More than ten years ago, Han Xiao had reached a consensus with the Realmless King. He had borrowed part of the territory and transformed it into the outpost of the secondary dimension expeditionary army of the three Universal Civilizations. They had worked together for a long time.
The so-called Abnormal Creature Egg was the Pivotal Snake Egg. Han Xiao had specially instructed the person in charge of the expedition outpost to monitor it. It had not changed much in the past ten years and this was the first time something had happened.
“I have something to do, so I’ll be leaving for a while. Kasuyi will temporarily give the orders on my behalf.”
Han Xiao stood up without hesitation and left after changing into the King.
On the other side, World Tree Base, Tree King Palace. Fort.i.tude Tree King was seated on the throne, two rays of light appeared on the other two empty seats, quickly turning into the figures of the Ancestral Tree King and Secret Tree King.
As soon as he regained his physical body, the Secret Tree King said impatiently,
“How are you guys fighting? Why is the Subduing Tree King dead again?”
“Just a small accident.” The Fort.i.tude Tree King had always been at odds with him.
The Secret Tree King snorted. “Accident? Heh, don’t make excuses for your incompetence. Look at your results. You partic.i.p.ated in the battle twice and lost the Heart Tree King and the Subduing Tree King respectively. You’re simply embarra.s.sing us.” “It’s different this time. The enemy has revealed a new trump card. The reason the Subduing Tree King self-destructed so decisively is because of the Heart Tree King’s case,” the Fort.i.tude Tree King retorted.
“As a Tree King, he died so easily. I don’t think he deserves the Tree King Crown. It would be better if we change to someone else,” the Secret Tree King mocked.
“Alright, stop arguing. There’s no problem with the Subduing Tree King’s choice. At least he was not sealed by the enemy…”
At this time, the Ancestral Tree King raised his hand and stopped the two of them from arguing Although his tone was calm, he was actually feeling depressed. The Subduing Tree King had died too quickly. He had practically self-destructed the moment he left the base. If not for the fact that replacing a Tree King was more troublesome, he really wanted to dismiss the Subduing Tree King.
Hearing this, the Fort.i.tude Tree King did not argue and continued, “The Subduing Tree King’s sacrifice is worth it. He has probed out a new strong enemy for us…”
He shared the battle details with the two of them, emphasizing EsG.o.d’s strength.
The Ancestral Tree King narrowed his eyes and said,
“To think that the enemy still has such a strong opponent… Including Herberlon, there are already three people who have the strength of a Tree King. There’s no lack of people among the other Supers who can fight against a Tree King. Their individual strengths are too developed, and we might not have the advantage.” “It’s mainly because the experts from the other races are unable to take action. Otherwise, it would be much easier.” The Fort.i.tude Tree King was helpless.
Black Star’s existence had directly crippled a large group of their foreign experts, and they did not have all the high-level combatants that could enter the battlefield. Otherwise, they would not have been so pa.s.sive.
The Ancestral Tree King nodded. “Yes, that’s true. Our only advantage right now is the endless revivals. However, the opponent’s recovery-type Esper is not simple. Although the Exchange tactic is effective, it’s not easy to use it… Comparatively, recovering on the spot is considered immediate combat power for them, but we’re only using it after the battle. It won’t help much in a head-on battle, so we’re at a disadvantage.” “Then what should we do?”
“Hmm, our advantage is that the cost of trial and error is close to zero. We can try a few more times like today, so we don’t have to care too much about the casualties. As long as we can obtain more information about the enemy, it will be worth it.” The Ancestral Tree King said.
The Fort.i.tude Tree King coughed and said, “However, ordinary probing won’t make the enemy feel pressured. I think it’s better for us to attack together.”
The Ancestral Tree King did not doubt him. He thought for a while and said, “You’re right. Today, two Tree Kings were at a disadvantage. It seems like only the three of us together can force out the enemy’s strength. It would be best if we can kill that Esper.” “I think the descent of the Tree G.o.d is more reliable…” the Fort.i.tude Tree King suggested. The Ancestral Tree King frowned slightly and shook his head. “The Heart Tree King’s Tree King Crown is gone. Even if we use the Tree G.o.d’s Descent, it won’t be complete. Furthermore… I don’t like that feeling.” If it was not necessary, he would not be willing to use the Tree G.o.d’s Descent. This was not a comfortable thing.
The Fort.i.tude Tree King agreed and changed the topic.
“By the way, the enemy has built a defensive circle at the border, and it seems like they destroyed quite a few Star Cl.u.s.ters. What do you plan to do?”
The Ancestral Tree King did not mind and casually said,
“That’s normal. Since they know our advantage, they will naturally make such a choice… Think of a way to steal their intel and confirm the enemy’s territory. It’s best to obtain the coordinates of the other Star Fields and have our troops jump over to open up a new battlefront, avoiding their border defense circle.
Also, they seem to be looking for the main body of the mother tree. I don’t know where they got this information from, but we need to search for their traces in the secondary dimension. Also, find a way to confirm the entrance of the enemy civilization into the secondary dimension and open up the secondary dimension battlefront.”
Now was not the time to stop the war. Since they were near the enemy’s territory, there were more options to attack. Compared to attacking the Flickering World’s defense circle, the Ancestral Tree King was more inclined to gathering intelligence and opening up more battlefronts to amplify the World Tree’s advantage.
“Understood.”
The Fort.i.tude Tree King nodded vigorously.
He had deliberately emphasized how difficult it was to deal with the enemy so that he could pull the other two Kings into the team. This way, he would not have to worry alone. Perfect!