kingnovel Chapter 431 423 - Currency
Chapter 431 423 - Currency
"BOOM!!"
The thrusters on the back of the Ironclad—official designation: Fully-enclosed Large Standard Exoskeleton Device—ignited. The main engine nozzles and attitude control thrusters simultaneously unleashed a brilliant stream of light in a single direction.
The battered and broken machine, in the instant it crashed into a writhing, purple-black tumor, bloomed into a fleeting firework display that filled the sky.
"BANG!"
A solar axe swung down viciously.
The tentacles constantly surging along the silver-gray corridor were instantly vaporized into a pungent, steamy mist by the super-high temperature.
"SCREEECH—"
The axe melted through the adhesive substance the monster had used to attach itself to the starship's interior. A warhammer, crackling with bluish-white lightning, followed close behind and smashed down upon the monster's main body!
"SPLAT!!"
Foul liquid splattered across the alloy corridor as the tumor-like mass was forcibly torn from the ship.
A rotund Tin Can—official designation: Storm Assault Trooper, an elite unit of the Orbital Assault Corps, a pure melee unit dual-wielding a long-handled axe and hammer—strode over.
"General!"
From the spot where the tumor had been attached, a four-armed mechanical being, its metal body almost entirely corroded away, revealed what little was left of itself—less than a third of its original form.
It was Vic Duke, a former Helljumper instructor who had fought in the campaign against the Celestial Ones.
"Sergeant."
A mechanical arm extending from his spine stopped the Storm Trooper's attempt to pull him up.
"My contamination value has already exceeded 85%."
Within his massive metal chest, a writhing purple-black shadow was clearly visible. The detection device on the Storm Trooper's wrist clearly displayed his commander's quantum energy erosion ratio: 89%.
To have held on this long without being assimilated into an Abyssal creature was a testament to the tenacity of General Vic's will. The "standard execution contamination value" for an Imperial recruit was only 75%. Above that, every single percentage point increase was a monumental struggle.
"Whirr."
The protective plating in the center of his chest opened layer by layer, revealing a core that was bubbling like boiling water.
"Do it."
Vic's mechanical arm pointed to the Type-77 plasma pistol at the Storm Trooper's waist—a weapon whose power and overheating rate were equally exaggerated.
"..."
"Yes, General!"
With a contamination level this high, it would be extremely difficult to save him even if he were brought back to the Empire. The only two choices for the Orbital Assault Corps were to either carry a sufficient amount of explosives for a suicide attack or to have a comrade-in-arms help end their life.
There were no exceptions, not even for a commander.
"BANG!!"
---o---
"VMMMM—"
"SQUELCH!!"
Inside a Lost Starship.
A non-standard Type-295 anti-field katana easily sliced through the alien creature that lunged forward. Unlike the various tentacled tumors attacking the fleet, the quantum monsters inside the Lost Starships were more agile, tactical, and their numbers were nearly infinite.
Every second, a large number of alien creatures could be seen detaching from the tentacle-covered walls as embryos and then hatching.
"Haven't you found the reactor's location yet!?" the squad leader yelled, waving two meltacutting swords and turning the corridor entrance into a viscous, reddish-brown waterfall.
"Almost! You have to understand, these ships have no standard layout!"
The two fleets were extremely close. To avoid friendly fire, the main cannons of the Titan-class ships could only target the rear ranks of the Lost Fleet. For targets that had closed to within five astronomical units, the battle naturally transitioned to boarding actions.
"Dammit! You were saying 'almost' thirty seconds ago!"
"BOOM!!"
A point-blank heavy cannon blast punched through the ceiling, blowing the monster that had just poked its head out of a pipe to smithereens before it could launch its ambush.
"This starship is like a giant swarm's hatching chamber!"
"VMMMM—"
A blazing beam of light seared past the loudmouth's ear. The glowing trail left in the air was connected to a large alien with a perfectly round hole blown through its chest.
"CRASH!!"
The bulkhead, no longer able to bear the strain, was blown clean off by the impact.
The squad had to quickly grab onto their only member in a Collapsed State (the one who had just used the 'mouth-beam') to steady themselves. At the same time, they dug their hands into the "purple mud" on the ground and hurled it at the breach where seawater was pouring in!
"Splat."
"THUD!"
The Collapsed State significantly increased a soldier's offense and defense. But the increase in size, dozens or hundreds of times larger than their original form, also made them an easier target. Furthermore, it was difficult to dodge and maneuver inside a starship. Boarding squads on special missions would not casually use their Collapsed State unless it was absolutely necessary.
"This stuff is pretty sticky," the first member to get back on his feet said, casually flicking the purple mud off his arm.
"It would probably make for a better wall paste than a Swarm's bio-carpet... If I make it back to the Empire alive, I might even bring some back."
After shaking off over ninety percent of the purple mud, the speaker leaned in and took a deep sniff.
"Ew~ Captain, what kind of weird hobby is that?"
"No, shouldn't you be complaining about the death flag the Captain just raised?" another soldier asked, picking up the heavy cannon that had been washed away by the seawater. He gave it a couple of solid thumps, and the sparking weapon sputtered back to life.
"You rookies have seen nothing. My daughter loves that 'bio-carpet picture frame' of mine."
Although he called him a rookie, the fourteen golden studs of varying shades on the right side of the Captain's helmet were proof of the Empire's concept of "new" and "old," which was vastly different from that of other star-sea civilizations.
"A bio-carpet picture frame?"
"VMMMM!"
The meltacutting swords ignited once more, their orange-red glow casting an eerie light upon the room.
Chatting didn't interfere with their work. Or rather, a necessary amount of idle talk was an important way to relax an overly tense mind.
"That's right," another squad member explained. "Before he joined the fleet, the Captain participated in the 'Anti-Swarm Special Operations Plan' aimed at destroying all hive mothers—yes, the one you're thinking of. Using a hive mother we captured as bait... during the entire operation, the Captain collected eight different types of 'active bio-carpets,' one more than the number of specimens in the lab."
"Oh," the "rookie" shrugged.
"After the battle, I'll definitely have to find a chance to visit the Captain's house... I should be able to brag about that for a long time."
"...No, I get you guys are raising death flags, but aren't you afraid of actually dying with this kind of frequency?" a more cautious member asked.
"Our unit's loss ratio has always hovered around 65%... and you have to remember, that's the number during peacetime—"
"Found it!"
"BOOM!!!"
The scout, who hadn't participated in the conversation, had barely finished speaking when an explosion, a shockwave, and an intense flash of light completely engulfed the entire squad in an instant.
"Clatter."
"Ptooey!"
As a large amount of purple mud and metal fell to the ground, the Captain spat.
"A Type-VII DEP directional energy cannon! That's our own fire! Which bastard dares to fire that thing at a range of 300 units!"
"Clang."
"Captain, that was the support I called for!" the scout said, pushing a metal plate off himself.
Looking in the direction he was pointing, a new, straight corridor was finally revealed... The mucus-covered walls around it were rapidly "healing." The reactor couldn't be hit with direct cannon fire; a sympathetic detonation at such close range would cause irreversible damage to the firing starship as well.
"You trust those 'upper-class' guys that much?" the Captain grumbled. "If that shot had been off by another 0.11 degrees, our whole squad would've been wiped out right here!"
The explosion had been right on top of them. If the starship's secondary cannon had been a slightly more powerful model, they would all have been buried here.
"Captain!" the scout retorted. "That 'four-class system' in the fleet went out of fashion three thousand years ago!"
...And besides, I was the one who gave the wrong coordinates, the scout thought, keeping the rest of the sentence to himself.
"Hah? You think I don't—"
"Looks like you found the right place, kid."
The Captain cut himself off mid-sentence. As a massive number of alien creatures poured out from the breach created by the cannon fire, he, as the leader, voluntarily entered his Collapsed State.
The location of the reactor on each Lost Starship was impossible to determine, but their appearance—a thing wrapped in purple tentacles and a pale pink membrane, looking like either a heart or an embryo—was always the same.
Now, the Captain, the strongest member of the squad, had sensed the reactor's presence.
All that was left was to plant the "charge" they carried inside the reactor before the squad was completely overwhelmed by the tide of quantum monsters.
"For the Monarch!"
"Sanctus!!!"
Incidentally, this was a one-way path... a guaranteed death sentence.
---o---
"Prepare the Book of Enoch."
The energy supplied by the super-titans to the joint shield was dwindling. Instead, their heavy ship-to-ship secondary cannons, second only to the main guns, were entering an overheated state one by one.
"Are we really doing this?"
On the bridge of Sovereignty-class Ship No. 5, the gunner and the engine room were carrying out the captain's orders.
"It's a rare opportunity," the first officer's command left the captain with no room for hesitation.
Not all eleven Sovereignty-class ships were piloted by Saints. Imperial Apostles ranked above '9' could also unleash the destructive power of the Book of Enoch.
"An exchange ratio of 1:1. While it's normal for the Empire, the followers of these other Astral Gods may not be able to accept it."
"Whether they understand or not is unimportant. They only need to accept it."
"In the last thirty seconds, seven Imperial Titans have already set an example. Surrounded by deep-Abyss creatures, they have no chance of survival."
They could be saved, but it wasn't worth it.
The Imperial fleet only comprised 30% of the total number of starships in the joint expeditionary force. No matter how superior the tactical proficiency of the Imperial fleet or the combat quality of its legions, it was impossible to fill such a massive gap.
However, the reason "bait" existed was precisely because it had a corresponding value.
The short-range jump ambush launched by the Lost Fleet against the joint fleet's flank and rear had indeed been effective. But in this position, the super-titans' main cannons could also, under the premise of "mutual destruction," eliminate these assault forces with an enemy-to-friendly loss ratio of 1:1.
All seven of the dispersed Sovereign Might-class Titan ships had decisively chosen to self-destruct after being surrounded and boarded by Abyssal creatures.
Forget Titans; even if a super-titan were in the same situation, the Imperial fleet would unhesitatingly choose the same option. With two universe-class combatants, including the Monarch, tied down, and eight Sovereignty-class ships suppressing the Outer Gods' [Calamity Beast] followers, only the last three Sovereignty-class super-titans were left to assist the joint fleet.
As for the status of the other Astral Gods' Emissaries and Grand Monarchs... their bodies contained too much Imaginary energy, and most were unwilling to undergo the Empire's less-than-effective surgery (adapting a being of that level to quantum energy was extremely cost-inefficient). So, even after half a year of special training, the level these high-ranking combatants could perform at in the Quantum Sea was only about one-tenth of what they were capable of on the Tree.
That's right. Galaxy-class was used as Super-Stellar-class, and Stellar-class was used as Super-Star-busting-class. As the backbone of the Astral God factions, these high-level combatants were better than nothing, but they were absolutely necessary.
"Fire!"
Seeing that these allied Titans lacked the courage to voluntarily sacrifice themselves, the Imperial captain could only choose to help them make that sacrifice.
"VMMMM!!"
The energy beam released by the Book of Enoch shot through the center of the path cleared by the evading allied ships. A platinum-white radiance struck the mixed group of starships from both fleets far in the distance—
"BOOM!!!"
---o---
"Commander!"
"This is as it should be. In their place, I would have chosen the same path... Continue our mission," Kas Savathûn said.
He was the captain of the [Memory of Nesin] and the commander of the [Garden of Recollection]'s forces in this operation.
The [Spear of Adun] and the [Memory of Nesin] were currently unleashing a furious barrage of fire at the Lost Fleet opposite them. The Sacred Empire's Sovereignty-class ships all had their own missions, so the task of intercepting the Lost Fleet's super-titans naturally fell to the equivalent-class starships of the other factions.
Among the Titan ships just annihilated were members of the [Garden of Recollection].
The moment they were surrounded, they sent a distress signal to their super-titan. The Protoss-like members linked their minds through a virtual device called the [Khala Crystal] (composed of aetheric matter). This power, jokingly referred to as "F2," allowed them to upload their memories to the [Khala Crystal] before death, preserving them with a packet loss rate of no more than 0.02%, to be injected into a new body once it was manufactured.
However, the super-titans of the [Garden of Recollection] did not respond to the distress signals. Neither the [Memory of Nesin] nor the [Spear of Adun].
The reason was simple: the [Garden of Recollection] could not guarantee that the Abyss's corruption would not spread through their psychic link. The "Khala" that currently hung in the minds of its members was actually offline. This was not cruelty, but a necessary sacrifice.
Sacrifice is necessary.
All followers should understand that the price of growing to their current strength by relying on the power of an Astral God is that, when the time comes, they become the bargaining chips in their god's "transaction"... no matter how revered they once were.
Just like—
Kas's gaze shifted upward, toward the middle layers of the Abyss.
Floating slowly upwards, now as wreckage, was the Protoss-like Arkship that had, at the cost of self-destruction, destroyed one and damaged two of the Lost Fleet's super-titans:
The Pride of Otaris.