by <unknown>
The AIs of the affected ships had fallen into a slump, unable to continue operating the ships for a short period of time. The pilots scrambled for the controls, attempting to switch over to manual mode during free fall. There was indeed plenty of time to switch to manual mode before the spaceship crashed.
However, the BlackLight Stealth suddenly dived, and their laser cannons locked onto the four assault ships, firing continuously.
Peng peng peng!
The outer armor of the four assault ships was blown open.
At the same time, taking advantage of its speed, the BlackLight Stealth swept past the four assault ships that were free falling, and the hatch opened to release the mercenaries. The grapples on their arms shot out and latched onto the armor of the assault ships before contracting and allowing the mercenaries to invade the enemy.
While the DarkStar ships might have lost their shields, the armor plating on the ships still boasted a certain amount of defense. A beam from the laser cannon would not be able to blow the ship up so easily. Thus, the fastest way to eliminate them was to destroy the ship from the inside!
In addition, as long as they boarded the enemy ship, not only would they be able to blow the enemy out, they would also be able to use force to seize control of the spaceship!
Boom!
The invading mercenaries wantonly destroyed the insides of the spaceship. Flickers of lights constantly appeared within each assault ship, and the guards inside each DarkStar ship were completely unable to stop them. The command centers of each ship were wiped out.
The mercenaries quickly took over each spaceship. Because the AIs of the assault ships had already been turned into idiots by Risda, it was impossible for them to verify the pilot’s authority. The mercenaries quickly switched to manual mode, obtaining control rights over the spaceship.
In an instant, Han Xiao’s side gained four more battleships. The team immediately became stronger, as the four assault ships aimed at the other DarkStar ships and opened fire.
During this time, another six sieging assault ships had their AIs crippled, and the mercenaries rushed in to begin a grand killing.
Pa!
Flying through the gap in armor that was surrounded by flames, Han Xiao landed on the cabin aisle. The mechanical wings behind him automatically folded as his wrists threw out a large number of compressed orbs. As they landed, they transformed into dozens of leopard-type mechanical beasts as well as two Protectors. They opened fire in all directions.
Bang bang bang!
Lasers flew everywhere, blowing up various parts of the spaceship. The insides of the spaceship turned into a charred, smoky mess as the bulkheads were torn apart. Following these gaps, the machines marched toward other areas of the spaceship, cleaning up the DarkStar guards.
Han Xiao bumped his fists together, and two giant fists expanded, wrapping themselves around his arms. He did not need to follow the aisles, instead simply bashing through everything as he proceeded in a straight path. He left behind a wreckage of twisted metal.
He made a beeline directly toward the control room of the spaceship.
Dozens of DarkStar guards rushed to the scene, obstructing Han Xiao’s path. One of the team leaders shouted, “Quickly, block him. Don’t…”
Before he could even finish, Han Xiao waved his hand, his mechanical arm sending a huge slap over. Merely the wind pressure produced by the hand extinguished all the flames around him. Before the team leader could finish his words, his vision was fully occupied by Han Xiao’s giant metal palm.
Bang!
A huge sound was heard as the giant mechanical palm slapped the team leader against the wall of the spaceship. A huge imprint was even left there!
When the palm was removed, only some residual flesh could be seen in the indent created. Blood was splattered all over the contact point. This Grade C DarkStar warrior had been killed in a second, even simpler than swatting a fly.
In such assault ships, the strongest would probably be a Grade C guard. The elites of Grade B and above would not appear in such a place.
The rest of the guards paled, but before they could even make a move, Han Xiao brought his palms in front. The fingers of the two giant hands closed together as the five fingers transformed into a drill, and it spun at high speed toward them.
Whir!
The drill bit created a howling gale as it spun!
The next moment, the two mechanical drills swept past with no one able to stop them. The screams of misery were deafening, but in less than three seconds, the guards that had been blocking his path were all shattered. This was the literal sense of offering one’s life in sacrifice.
Blood drenched the surroundings, turning the place into something akin to a slaughterhouse. However, Han Xiao had long become familiar with such a picture, and his face remained impassive as he strode forward. He would not go easy, and those who blocked him would immediately be killed.
There was nobody that was his match on the ship. Amid the explosions and screams of misery, Han Xiao began a matchless killing spree as he rushed to the control center. Behind him was a series of warped metal holes that created.
The whole journey took less than a minute, as though he had entered an empty ship!
In no time, Han Xiao destroyed anything that could breathe in the control room and came in front of the operations panel, directly taking over the assault ship. Immediately, he pulled the ship to accelerate up like a madman, even as he split his attention in that dizzy scenario to continue his virtual intrusion.
In order to save time, he was prepared not to return to the BlackLight Stealth, instead driving the hacked assault ship to ram the enemy.
The machinery that was clearing the rest of the ship of living beings quickly came to the control panel. They transformed back to compressed orbs, automatically moving to Han Xiao’s hands.
Taking this short respite, Han Xiao eyeballed the mission interface.
The [Godora’s Ally] was a Main Storyline mission, with the objective being to fight against DarkStar. There were several sub-missions, including a requirement of having to destroy the DarkStar spaceships. This included [Fleet Killer] and [Frontal Battle], which were high reward tasks. The easiest among them would be the [Assault Ship Destroyer], which required one to destroy five DarkStar assault ships to complete. The reward was 6,300,000 experience and 300 Godora Favorability.
An idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.
“That’s right. This mission should originally have been the main storyline of the players, but since they did not join the Godoran faction, I guess they cannot trigger this…”
The corners of Han Xiao’s mouth tugged up, but he quickly refocused his attention. Goodness, since he was fighting, he just needed to concentrate on fighting! He should not think about such trivial matters like the players being obstructed. It had almost made him feel guilt!
He increased the engine thrust, rushing toward another ship. As the distance shortened, the other party’s hull constantly enlarged in his own field of vision, allowing him to clearly see the outer armor of the enemy ship.
Boom!
The two assault ships collided into each other, and the bow of the ship pierced into the abdomen of the other assault ship. Shrapnel flew all over the place!
Han Xiao drove the spaceship at close range as he opened fire, blasting several holes in the armor. He then smashed apart the walls of his current ride to fly outside, entering the other enemy ship to once again begin another round of slaughter.
The DarkStar assault ships begin to plummet one by one. Some fell down to the ground, whereas some were taken over by the mercenaries and used against their enemies. There were even some that exploded in midair. The Black Star Mercenary Group quickly gained control of the situation, surrounding the remaining DarkStar ships.
At the same time, the Six Nations and Sanctuaries were observing through Natural Satellite imagery. Upon seeing Black Star show his power, all of them could not help but let out j
ubilant looks on their faces, a wave of joy coursing through their hearts.
This sort of reliable feeling… was akin to Black Star being the guardian of the entire planet!
Chapter 541. Escaping After Provoking Me? Not Going to Happen! |
Far away in the intense battlefield between the Godoran and DarkStar fleet, Nakapu received news that Black Star had managed to block the sudden ambush and was even trying to wipe them out. A strange look could be seen on his face before his brows began to furrow.
“Black Star actually has such strength? This isn’t compatible with the intelligence!”
They had formulated their battle plan based on the intel that they had, and the error of the intel had resulted in them underestimating the strength of their enemies. As such, a huge error had been made in the development of their battle plan, and the state of the battle was not in their favor. Nakapu’s expression was no longer calm, and a grave look could be seen on his face.
“Black Star managed to protect Planet Aquamarine, and the small fleet won’t be of much use. With the strength that he has shown, even if the assault force were to retreat, they would definitely suffer a huge loss. The fleet under my command is tangled together with Godora, and if this situation drags on, it is very likely that Godora will send reinforcements…”
After pondering for a few seconds, Nakapu came to a conclusion. The ambush mission had failed!
“All forces take note. Cease battle and retreat immediately!”
Knowing that he had already failed, Nakapu was not willing to continue the battle and decisively ordered a retreat.
The DarkStar fleet broke away from battle and began their retreat. Because the Godoran fleet used space jamming equipment, the DarkStar fleet was not able to speed up and jump into dark space. Thus, DarkStar was trying to break away from the Godoran fleet and counter the effects of the space jamming equipment with their own equipment. The further the distance between them and the Godoran fleet, the easier it would be for them to get rid of the interference.
This meant that the DarkStar fleet would be able to escape the moment they pulled away a certain distance.
Nakapu’s face was expressionless as he stared at the porthole with the colorful explosions from the battlefield being reflected on his face.
This was the first time that DarkStar had suffered a loss in an ambush mission. Thinking about it, Nakapu’s gaze turned cold.
If he had known of Black Star’s strength, he would not have tried to minimize the loss of his forces and would have sent his entire fleet into a head on battle with Godora’s defense line. However, there was no ‘if’ in this world. Since the outcome was already determined, there was no time for him to regret. He could only accept his defeat. Nakapu let out a sigh and calmed himself down.
He would never allow this to happen again.
…
Above Planet Aquamarine, the battle was in its most intense state. The spaceships that were under the control of the Black Star Mercenary Group had achieved a balance with the enemy’s spaceships with their firepower being equal.
Boom!
An enemy ship had its protective shield destroyed under concentrated fire, and half of the ship was quickly smashed into bits. It then dove down toward the ground like a meteor, disappearing from the eyes of those present.
There were less than ten remaining DarkStar spaceships that received the retreat order from Nakapu and heaved sighs of relief as they hurriedly escaped from the battlefield. As they escaped, the mercenaries chased them while firing rapidly.
The mission for this assault force should have been extremely simple. They only needed to hover in space and continuously fire their cannons. However, they had never expected to receive retaliation from the Black Star Mercenary Group, and they actually were not a match for the other party! While they were superior in terms of numbers, their enemy’s spaceship was too high ranked and could dodge the majority of their attacks. Furthermore, even if their attacks landed on the enemy’s ship, their attacks were not even able to break the protective shield. On top of that, they were on the losing end when it came to the strength of their Supers. As long as the enemy boarded their ships, they were finished.
With their assault force suffering heavy losses, they did not want to stay there any longer but had no choice due to the orders from their higher ups. It could be said that the retreat order had come in an extremely timely manner.
“We finally chased the enemy away!”
Seeing the satellite image, the leaders of the Six Nations were overjoyed. The enemies had come ferociously, and the golden skinned freaks of Godora had abandoned them. Just when they thought that they were finished, Black Star had stood up and defended the planet from the incoming enemies. The various territories had only suffered minimal damage and were still in good condition.
This outcome was much better than what they had expected.
At this moment, Han Xiao returned to the BlackLight Stealth. Ginette turned around, and before she had the chance to be smug, she was grabbed by the shoulders and thrown from the pilot’s seat into Sylvia.
“Aiyoh!” Ginette and Sylvia were both sent rolling on the ground.
“Ow ow ow…” Sylvia rubbed her head and took a deep breath. Her head had been smashed by Ginette’s Battle Suit.
Ginette rubbed her ass, and a trace of anger could be seen on her face. “Oi, why are you throwing me around? I am a girl! Can’t you be gentler!”
Han Xiao could not be bothered to deal with her and took his mechanical suit off before sitting in the pilot’s seat. Rubbing his wrists, he said in a low voice, “The battle isn’t over yet, and the enemy’s flagship is still in battle with Godora’s fleet. We will be able to reach the battlefield quickly with BlackLight Stealth’s speed, and this is the best chance to deal the enemy a heavy blow. Tell the others to remain on Planet Aquamarine. I will be back quickly.”
At this moment, Herlous had just returned to the BlackLight Stealth. After hearing those words when he entered the door, he turned around and jumped out without hesitation!
What a joke! He obviously was not willing to ride a spaceship piloted by Black Star!
“You want to interfere in that battle‽” Ginette was startled. “We’ve already blocked the enemy, so there isn’t a need for us to participate in a head on battle.”
Han Xiao shook his head. “We have only defeated a couple of spaceships attempting to ambush us. This isn’t a big loss to DarkStar. The commander of the enemy forces is the key. Since he dared ambush us, we must give him a good fight!”
His target was the enemy’s flagship, not the escaping spaceships. As the old saying went—Don’t chase a poor thief. It meant that he should not chase an enemy without money! At least this was how the Great Mechanic Han understood it.
Thus, he would go after the leader!
After exposing his strength, DarkStar would definitely refresh their intel on him, and the enemy would definitely come up with measures to deal with him in the future. Unless he could secretly scam another wave of players, it would not be possible for DarkStar to receive another error in their intelligence. Thus, it would be best for him to make use of this opportunity to increase his battle merits. Defeating a DarkStar flagship was also a mission requirement in the mission [Godora’s Ally].
Han Xiao piloted the BlackLight Stealth out of the atmosphere and locked onto the coordinates of the battlefield. It was still a distance away from him.
According to the information from Godora, it seems like the enemy was currently retreating. With the speed and stealth abilities of BlackLight Stealth, he was definitely capable of arriving at the battlefield in time.
The next moment, BlackLight Stealth transformed into a ray of light and disappeared from sight.
…
The ray of light stopped a short distance away from the battlefield. If they went any further, they would be in the region of the space jamming region. The chaotic battlefield was right before their eyes with bright colo
rful balls of exploding cannons all over the place. The powerful homing missiles exploded into a huge ball of flames, and the plasma cannons melted the protective shields of the spaceships.
“What an intense battle…” Han Xiao’s gaze swept past the radar. “DarkStar is indeed retreating. The largest spaceship in the middle should be the flagship.”
Locking onto his target, Han Xiao estimated the distance. He needed to enter the battlefield for the enemy’s flagship to be within the range of his Data Transmitter. Furthermore, the AI of the enemy’s flagship would definitely have a stronger defense.
“Nagakin, I am settled on my side. What about you?”
With the transmission being connected, Nagakin’s appearance could be seen. His spaceship was currently the target of the enemy’s fire and was facing an endless wave of attacks. The spaceship was currently trying its best to avoid all the incoming attacks and could not approach the enemy’s spaceship.
“Black Star? You are on the battlefield‽”
Han Xiao nodded. “Long story short, I can infiltrate the AI of the enemy, so I am preparing to attack the enemy’s flagship. If you can approach the enemy, I will be able to disable the nearest few frigates and create an opportunity for you to charge the enemy ship.”
Hearing that, Nagakin’s eyes lit up. “Alright! Let’s do that!”
At the same time, Barette’s voice sounded in the communicator. “We can try that. My fleet will try to restrain the enemy’s fire and allow Officer Nagakin’s ship to approach the enemy’s flagship.”
Based on his judgement, Barette knew that it would be impossible to sink DarkStar’s fleet. He had just received news of the battle at Planet Aquamarine, so he had confidence in Han Xiao’s strength.
While he was not concerned about Planet Aquamarine, Barette did not dare underestimate and doubt Han Xiao’s strength.
To create a mercenary group with some fame in the Shattered Star Ring in a few years, he naturally was not someone to be underestimated. He definitely had the strength to back up his fame.
