Sarota nodded and said, “They have quite a good pilot. Looks like we need to spend more time. By the way, that Black Star is apparently on the Sky Ring ship as well, isn’t he?”
The last question was directed toward the corner of the hall.
In the corner, Ember was standing against the wall with a cold and indifferent face. When he heard Han Xiao’s name, his eyes swayed slightly. He had a very strong impression of Han Xiao since his last defeat.
Oom!
At this time, the alarm suddenly sounded.
“Captain, space ripple detected. There are fleets jumping toward this direction.”
Sarota was not surprised at all. He brought up the detection image, showing that a large battleship fleet was jumping toward this direction from far away at both sides of the mothership. Both of them were in a guard formation. DarkStar was in the middle.
The two fleets were the Border Guards Army of Holy Stone Civilization and Black Raven Civilization. Their style of the battleships was very different—one side was semi-circle shaped and thick, and the other was streamlined and thin. The metal fortresses were very intimidating.
As soon as the DarkStar mothership showed up, it was noticed by the Border Guards Army. Holy Stone and Black Star immediately sent out a fleet to make a field investigation. They did not act immediately once they saw DarkStar. Instead, they stayed still and watched from afar.
“Is there a need to do anything?” an assistant asked.
“Send out a message. Tell them we are just passing by to settle our business, and we will be leaving very soon. They will not attack us,” Sarota said calmly. He was not concerned at all like everything was under his control.
Chapter 395 - The Battle of Pursuit (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The ownership of this area has always been blurry. If DarkStar showed up in the official territory of these two civilizations, they would definitely be warned and evicted. However, due to the sensitivity of this area, the two fleets did not make a move.
In the Holy Stone Border Guards Army, command ship of the third formation, Stream Light.
The atmosphere was filled with nervousness. DarkStar’s fearsome name was well known, and they had quite the tension with Black Raven. The captain of the Third Formation, Shivate, said with a very serious face, “All units on level one alert, hold the position.”
At this time, Stream Light received a message from the DarkStar mothership. Sarota expressed their motive, emphasizing the fact that they meant no offense to Holy Stone and Black Raven. They were just carrying out a pursuit, of which the targets were some mercenaries. Once the mission was completed, they would leave immediately.
Shivate’s tightened face relaxed a little, and without thinking, he said, “Tell them that it’s possible for Holy Stone to not interfere with DarkStar’s operation, but during this period, no suspicious action will be allowed. We will be monitoring from here, and we hope they leave as soon as possible.”
Shivate did not want a war to break out. There were many reasons. The first would of course be, they did not want to mess with DarkStar. The entire Shattered Star Ring knew the ugly history between DarkStar and Godora, no one wanted to be part of it. The most horrifying characteristic of DarkStar was that they were very stealthy. If they lost the battle, they would still be able to run away, and the revenge afterward would make you suffer a large loss. Secondly, if they fire, it might very likely cause Black Raven to misunderstand, which would then turn into a scrimmage, leading to a territory conflict. If he was determined guilty of deliberately starting a war in the court martial, the punishment for that was very heavy.
Due to the territorial conflicts, there had always been some tension between these two civilizations. The Holy Stone Civilization was an aristocracy civilization, ruled by a royal family. Its political construction was very complicated, and its efficiency in making decisions was mediocre. They did not like wars, and they were good at using diplomatic measures. Be it resources, connections, or power, Holy Stone Civilization was a little higher than Black Raven Civilization. However, as Black Raven Civilization had limited resources in their early days, their developing process was very tough, which made them have very strong minds and become collectivists. Their efficiency in executing matters was very high. Even though their nation was not as strong as Holy Stone, Holy Stone could not find a way to get rid of them. If they started a large-scale war, both sides would definitely suffer a huge loss. Therefore, both sides controlled the scale of their conflicts.
Hence, DarkStar was not the only thing Shivate feared—he was more afraid to cause a misunderstanding.
The most important reason that made Shivate decide to sit on the sidelines was that DarkStar’s target was just a bunch of mercenaries; they were just passersby that did not matter at all. Unless it was the people from their own civilization, these two armies would not make a huge move for it. Seeing that Black Raven’s army also held their position, Shivate knew that the captain of Black Raven had made the same decision—sit on the sidelines and monitor.
After all, to two civilizations, the life and death of these mercenaries were not their concern. Like a droplet of water in the sea, it did not matter.
Therefore, the fleets that rushed there were watching silently. Shivate waved his hands and told his subordinate to check the escaping target on the planet.
“I see, they’re members of the three large mercenary armies. Their background is rather impressive. Sadly, they met DarkStar.”
After reading the report, Shivate was a little bit surprised. He then shook his head and said, “The sooner they’re caught, the better. Then DarkStar can leave earlier…”
From the perspective of his own benefits, he would prefer the mercenaries stop resisting.
The same scene also played out in Black Raven Civilization’s command ship.
On the other side, the DarkStar mothership received the replies. Sarota’s face remained the same as if it was exactly as he expected. He knew both sides would not attack.
…
On another area of the planet, the Blades spaceship was being chased by many hovering ships. They were struggling—its shield already had countless holes, and its recovery speed could not match up to the speed of it being destroyed. The rapid system alarms had the Blades mercenaries on edge.
“Faster, even faster,” Porter mumbled with sweat all over his face. When the situation was not looking good, he pushed away the original pilot to control the spaceship himself. Yet, the situation did not become better.
Suddenly, a laser exploded on the shield.
Bang!
The shield blinked twice and disappeared. It had reached its limit.
Everyone in the ship was stunned. Porter’s face changed drastically.
Without a shield, the spaceship itself would not have any protection anymore. If they were fired on once again, the spaceship would definitely crash.
Boom!
Just as the hovering ship fleet was going to fire the next downpour of ‘laser rain’, a chain of cannons hit the formation and caused a series of explosions.
This hovering ship did not have the time to react to it fully, and they hastily dodged. The accuracy of the attacks all missed the Blades spaceship by centimeters.
Faraway, the Sky Ring spaceship drove there at a high speed. Behind him was the pursuing fleet. It was Han Xiao, who had returned after a detour and saved his teammates hastily. The pursuing fleet did not give him any pressure at all, and they were going around and around chasing after him. Therefore, Han Xiao tried to help his teammates as much as he could.
The existence of teammates could divert the enemy’s firepower. The longer the teammates lasted, the less pressure he would face.
Han Xiao stopped the enemy for one moment before turning around and escaping immediately. The shield of the Blades spaceship took the opportunity to recover. Porter almost collapsed, and his face was filled with happiness. “That was close
.”
This time, Han Xiao sent a message to the other two ships. “Don’t run around randomly; you guys can’t deal with them yourselves. I’ve sent you the route. Even if you split up, don’t stay too far from me. I’ll provide support from time to time.”
“Why did you become the pilot?” Porter asked with surprise.
“We all feel safer with him being the pilot.” Goa’s voice came from the side. Porter looked over, only to see all the mercenaries in the Sky Ring spaceship were encased in hard ice from the waist down and firmly fixed onto the ground like ice sculptures. It was Goa that used her spell to help everyone to balance. Porter was shocked.
You don’t look like you feel safe at all!
Porter’s eyelids twitched.
Anyway, Han Xiao’s suggestion was approved. Blades and Purple Gold’s teams agreed to follow Han Xiao’s plan. They quickly changed their route and maintained communication between them. As soon as they got into a dire situation, Han Xiao would provide backup.
After helping them out in dire situations time after time, the members of the other ships also realized how good Han Xiao’s piloting skills were. They were immediately convinced.
Han Xiao stabilized the situation temporarily. Three ships brought hundreds of hovering ships and ran around the planets. Half an hour passed, and the hovering ship fleet had yet to capture them. They were in a stalemate.
On the DarkStar mothership, Sarota was getting impatient.
“More than three hundred hovering ships against just three ships. Why have we yet to capture them?”
The initial plan was to be done with the battle within ten minutes then retreat quickly after. Sarota was very unsatisfied with the current situation. He stared at the Sky Ring spaceship on his screen with unhappiness in his eyes.
“It’s all because the pilot of this ship is too good, that’s why they’re able to stall this much time… Send out medium fighter ships. Surround this area and cut off their escape route.”
As he gave the order, more fighter ships launched from the DarkStar mothership and flew toward the planet.
Inside the far away Stream Light, Shivate saw this and was a little surprised.
“Facing DarkStar’s pursuit and being trapped on the planet, not only were these three small spaceships stall for half an hour, they even forced DarkStar to send in more support…
“But if this continues, it will drag on even longer…”
…
Through the porthole, the people in the Sky Ring spaceship saw more fighter ships coming toward the surface from the DarkStar mothership.
“Sh*t, DarkStar sent reinforcements!” the ex-pilot shouted.
“We knew they would sooner or later; don’t sound so surprised.”
Han Xiao glanced outside. He had expected this since long ago.
It’s only half an hour, and they have already sent reinforcements. DarkStar changed their tactic quicker than I expected. In gaming terms, this means that the pace of this mission’s difficulty change is very fast. How am I going to stall for two days like this?Han Xiao thought.
Although it looked like they were safe at the moment, they were still dancing on blades. When DarkStar lost their patience completely, they would not care about the resource expenses. They might surround them, and by then, there would be nowhere to escape. After all, piloting skills had a limit. He was only flying a small spaceship, not a galactic level mechanical suit.
After some contemplation, Han Xiao decided to carry out the next part of the plan. At this time, all three ships received the same message.
“This is Holy Stone Border Guards Army Third Formation. We have received your rescue signal and have arrived near the planet. Please gather at the coordinates we gave you; we will be there to receive you and provide protection.”
Together with this message were the coordinates, which were not far from where they were. This message was like cardiotonic, instantly giving everyone energy.
“Holy Stone is willing to help. We’re saved.”
All the mercenaries in the three ships were overjoyed.
Han Xiao frowned and pondered, then said something that immediately cooled everyone down, “I think this is quite strange…”
Chapter 396 - The Battle of Pursuit (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“If the Holy Stone Border Guards Army wants to receive us, they would definitely be in conflict with DarkStar, but take a look up there. The DarkStar mothership is still floating there and not sending out any other ships. Furthermore, this is a very sensitive border area, so it’s impossible for Holy Stone and Black Raven to take very long to come. This means that they’ve made a certain deal with DarkStar. This is the edge of their border, so the official authority here is blurry to begin with. They did not provide any help even when the Silvers were kidnapped. Now they suddenly want to help us? It doesn’t feel trustworthy.”
Han Xiao paused and said, “But of course, there’s a chance that Holy Stone did not compromise with DarkStar and really wants to protect us. However… this is very unlikely.”
He did not mention the most important reason—the mission requirement stated that they had to last two days for just the lowest rating, but only half an hour had passed. The reinforcements could not have arrived so soon. His intuition told him that there was a problem with Holy Stone’s message.
Many people started to rethink, but they still hoped that they had gotten lucky.
This time, there was a disagreement. Cerleni said in a low voice, “I choose to believe this message. Holy Stone has no need to lie to us, and this might be our only chance. I’ve decided to go to the pickup location. What about you?”
“I’m not going.” Han Xiao shook his head without hesitation and then looked over to Goa. Goa hesitated for a while, then nodded and agreed with Han Xiao’s decision. Although there were some mercenaries in the ship that had other thoughts, seeing that Goa and Han Xiao had both decided, they could only hold their thoughts in.
Porter hesitated for a moment, then rejected it as well, choosing to listen to Han Xiao’s advice.
Cerleni frowned and said, “Best of luck to you guys then.”
The Purple Gold spaceship deviated from the route and headed toward the pickup location, disappearing from sight shortly.
Han Xiao exhaled and said with a deep voice, “DarkStar’s reinforcements will arrive very soon, and our activity area will become smaller and smaller. If we continue to stay on the surface, the situation will only become worse. We have to go underground. The scanner has already recorded all the terrain we have passed by, and there’s quite a number of canyons and gaps in the terrain. The space below the ground on this planet is very huge. Plus, it has a complicated environment and many obstacles. Limited moving space will give us some trouble, but it will give those chasing us trouble too. Furthermore, the ground and block the direct detection from their mothership, providing us another layer of protection…”
He had a rough plan of what to do next. The situation was not pleasant. The reinforcement was just DarkStar’s first step, they would soon be limiting their movement areas, surrounding them, bombarding the area, and so on, forcing them to change the route. Han Xiao pondered and pondered, and eventually, he realized that in order for them to last two days, there was only one workable way—spread out.
DarkStar’s target was all the mercenaries, and two spaceships were only two targets. However, if they spread out in an undetectable environment, every mercenary would be a target. Although there would definitely be unlucky ones that might be sacrificed, it would also make DarkStar spend more time searching. After all, wishing to save everyone was not realistic.
“Let’s do as you say.” Goa trusted Han Xiao a lot.
Han Xiao changed the direction of the spaceship and looked forward. Very soon, a very long gap in earth appeared on the horizon, like the gray colored earth opening its mouth, black as an abyss. From far away, it looked like just a small gap, and o
nly when they got closer did they realize that it was tens of meters wide.
Hu!
The Sky Ring spaceship dived straight into the gap, and darkness filled their vision.
The detector sketched out the terrain in the darkness. About two to three hundred meters down, numerous caves appeared on both sides. Han Xiao chose a cave and flew in. Inside was an underground space, leading to somewhere far away.
There was a very large space under the ground of this planet. It had complex tunnels and was filled with storage stones. It had been undisturbed for countless years, and now, its first guest had arrived.
The Blades spaceship did the same, and the hovering ship fleet followed behind. Unavoidably, their speed decreased. Flying in this kind of environment required a very high reaction speed, plus space was limited, so the formation of the hovering ships had to turn into a long snake shape. Due to space restraints, ninety percent of the fighter ships were blocked by their teammates in front and unable to fire. The attack faced by the Blades and Sky Ring spaceships significantly lessened.
The two ships flew underground just in time, escaping from DarkStar’s plan to surround them on the surface.
The Purple Gold spaceship was still on the surface, and it arrived at the pickup location.
Cerleni sent a communication request to the channel that they had received the message from.
“Holy Stone Third Formation please come in. I have arrived at the pickup location. Where are the receiving units?”
He repeated that again and again, but Holy Stone did not reply and kept silent. His expression gradually changed, and he started to sweat all over.
The Purple Gold spaceship did not dare stop. It circled around the pickup location like a headless fly. When the DarkStar reinforcements came from all directions, Cerleni ‘s face turned pale. Only then did he realize that there was no one there to pick them up. Black Star was right. He had lost the gamble.
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