Book 10: Chapter 30: Death Match (1)

Trembling and cautious, standing near a deep abyss, walking on thin ice!

This was the true experience of the Apostles in the Quest World! No matter how clever Qin Lun was, no matter how much experience Wolf, the High-Rank Apostle of the Holy Light Team, had gained from dozens of adventures in Quest Worlds, a single moment of carelessness could make them fail in an unexpected way and perish in some unknown dimension.

Whether it was the Shattered Starry Sky or the Superstring Space, they were just collections of laws. They held the secrets and histories of countless alien dimensions, but still could not accurately judge the Butterfly Effect caused by intelligent beings. After X-352, an unknown cosmic entity, woke up, this four-team war began to slide in an unpredictable direction.

In the ancient cosmos, glittering with mysterious starlight, the fifth planet in the X-352 star system began to break apart at a visible speed.

Huge rocky layers on the planet’s surface occasionally exploded, shooting into space with bright fiery trails. Smaller fragments soon burned up completely, while larger pieces, if they escaped the star’s gravity, would become small drifting asteroids in space.

As the crust on the planet’s surface completely shattered, the planet codenamed X-352 revealed its true form. It was a cosmic creature that looked very much like an octopus. Its huge head was smooth and round, carved with glowing silver patterns, and two pairs of deep blue transparent eyes were lined up below. But the eyes had no pupils; each looked like a clear blue ocean.

Compared to its beautiful eyes, the eight waving tentacles around its body seemed much less gentle. These tentacles didn’t have the large suction cups of an octopus, but their surfaces were covered with countless silver-gray spikes, like sharp stalagmites.

Qin Lun and the others, including the Advancing, were still trapped on its surface, unable to see its full shape. But that didn’t matter, because even if they could see it clearly, the Gith’s information records had no mention of this kind of cosmic creature.

In fact, “Planet X-352” was an extremely rare cosmic creature. Among the intelligent beings present, probably only that mature Jannamer—Silver Lightning—had any relevant memories of it. When translated, it was called “Cosmic Octopus.”

Of course, “octopus” was only describing its appearance; it wasn’t directly related to the sea creature. The only similarity might be that both were carnivorous.

Actually, the Jannamer’s reaction had been quite fast. As soon as the Cosmic Octopus woke up, it began drifting backward, trying to get away, even planning to leave the star system entirely.

This Cosmic Octopus was still in its infant stage and needed to adapt to the vacuum of space. By putting distance between them, it wouldn’t be able to catch up with the Jannamer. However, this Jannamer, Silver Lightning, hadn’t truly encountered a Cosmic Octopus before. In fact, after Silver Lightning entered what used to be the atmosphere, it was essentially face to face with the Cosmic Octopus.

By the time the Cosmic Octopus stretched its body fully, its eight enormously huge tentacles had already taken control of this area of space. Although Silver Lightning was over ten times larger than the Faith, next to the Cosmic Octopus, it was like a small cookie beside a person’s mouth.

When the Cosmic Octopus first woke up, it moved rather sluggishly. The Jannamer’s transparent floating body flitted nimbly between the tentacles. No matter how clumsily the Cosmic Octopus grabbed at it, it couldn’t catch this piece of floating fluff, and the Jannamer slowly moved toward the edge of the tentacles’ reach.

But at the very edge of the tentacles, the Cosmic Octopus’s hunting instinct got stirred up, making its movements much more agile than before. Finally, it used its eight tentacles to weave a net, trapping the Jannamer inside.

Realizing the danger it was in, the Jannamer erupted with its most brilliant glow. Its semi-transparent floating body lit up like a giant lightbulb, shrinking tightly into a ball. It traced a lightning path through space, trying to break free from the net of tentacles.

At the same time, the Cosmic Octopus in front of it still seemed unhurried. The silver-gray spikes on its eight tentacles sprouted twisting, ink-black vortexes at their tips, slowly merging into a massive black hole. This actually pulled the Jannamer’s lightning backward, sticking it to one of the tentacles.

“Is it… done for?” Looking at the Jannamer struggling uselessly at the tip of the tentacle, slowly turning into liquid and being absorbed, Qin Lun and everyone on the Advancing were stunned.

They were lucky. As the Cosmic Octopus stretched, the Advancing was stuck near one of its eyes. If it had been on a tentacle, they would either still be stuck there or flung off to some unknown corner of space.

“Didn’t Jannamer have mental corruption and the ability to devour living things? How could it be eaten so easily?!”

Compared to the Descendant Apostles, the Gith on the Advancing felt their entire worldview crashing apart. Whether it was Fuyutsuki on the battleship or Alex and the others sitting in the Bingren Mechs, they all widened their eyes, their faces showing utter disbelief.

“Robin, quick, leave now!” Just as everyone was in shock, Qin Lun was the first to snap out of it. He opened the communication device, almost yelling to alert their team.

“Boom!” The Advancing’s engines shot out a brilliant trail of flames again, lifting it from the huge pit where it was stuck. Around it, dozens of Bingren rose unsteadily, each shining with light to protect the Advancing as it broke away from the Cosmic Octopus’s body.

Watching the ground grow farther away, a vast, pure blue crystal surface, endless like the ocean, appeared on the Advancing’s screen. Everyone held their breath nervously—it was one of the Cosmic Octopus’s eyes!

“The third squad lost two Bingren, the seventh squad lost one…” Fuyutsuki’s voice was somewhat low, and the bridge fell into silence.

The number of Bingren surrounding the Advancing was nearly one-third less than before. Over ten semi-biological mechs piloted by Gith Flight Officers had not been able to follow. They weren’t necessarily dead; their mechs might have just been damaged. But everyone knew they couldn’t wait for them now.

“Qin Lun, how are you all doing?” Robin asked softly through Telepathy.

“We’re fine. All seven who went out are okay!” Qin Lun replied somberly. The advantage of the fully biological Bingren was clear now—none of the Apostles were trapped on the Cosmic Octopus’s surface due to mech damage.

“You… be careful. To the left, someone is heading toward the Advancing. They seem to be Apostles from the Jannamer side!” Robin’s relief was short-lived. She tensed up and looked toward the left side of the battleship.

Although there was no projection screen there—just a plain metal wall—Robin’s beautiful eyes shimmered like glass, her gaze becoming unusually profound. Clearly, even in such circumstances, her psychic abilities were still operating the biological radar.

“Don’t worry, leave it to us!” A faint smile crossed Qin Lun’s face. Robin might have weaknesses in willpower, but the beautiful Leader of the Lost Novices also had unparalleled strengths. Her careful nature and meticulous thinking never let her comrades down.

“Alex, take everyone and leave first. Leave the upcoming fight to us!” Qin Lun connected to the star map Robin sent directly through Telepathy and spoke seriously.

“Sir, don’t you need us to stay and help?” Vera asked with concern.

“No, we’re still too close to that giant thing. Let the Advancing get out of this area first!” Qin Lun refused decisively. He wasn’t concerned about the Gith Flight Officers’ safety; he just knew that having too many people around would only cause trouble.

Right now, the Cosmic Octopus was focused on eating and hadn’t noticed them. But no one wants flies buzzing happily around while they’re eating. The less movement, the safer they were.

“Vice Leader, we don’t know which side these people are from. If they claim they’re from another alliance team in Devil’s Horn, maybe we could talk first!” Balin’s voice came through Telepathy, tinged with hesitation.

“Balin, pity is the last thing needed on the battlefield!” Qin Lun’s cold voice echoed in all the Apostles’ minds. “Besides, do you really think they’ve lost? What they want now isn’t negotiation—it’s our Advancing.”

Qin Lun’s words sent a chill through everyone. The Jannamer being eaten by the Cosmic Octopus did make them feel like they’d won without a fight. If the other side was from one of the other two chasing teams in Devil’s Horn, letting them off could be an option.

But Qin Lun was clearly more alert. The Faith was nowhere to be seen, and right now, an independent battleship was the last lifeline for both sides. Giving someone leeway wasn’t wrong, but they could never bet their lifeline on it.

“Sorry, my mistake!” Balin quickly realized his error. After apologizing, he took Frank and Bowei and flew to the left, while Huobiao and Loben went to the other side. Only Qin Lun remained in the center.

This was a combat formation they had discussed before, specifically for a team of only seven Apostles. Each side had one tank, along with one close-range and one long-range fighter. Qin Lun, with the most versatile combat abilities, took on both mobile support and main assault roles.

Glancing at the star map, which was starting to get blurry, Qin Lun knew they were nearing the limits of Robin’s detection ability. But that was enough; he could now use the built-in detector on his Bingren Mech to spot about a dozen bright dots ahead.

“Huh…” As he transformed into the Shadow Gale Panther and the black panther mech turned invisible, Qin Lun suddenly raised an eyebrow in surprise. “It’s them?! I remember Lili said they went to another city called Tyrant City!”

“Heh, this is getting more and more interesting!” A cold gleam flashed in the black panther mech’s eyes. “Let me see how much my former ‘companions’ have improved!”