Chapter 208: Cosmic Calamity
Chapter 208: Cosmic Calamity
Without making a sound, a curvature drive vessel broke through the planet’s atmosphere under the protection of highly advanced stealth technology.
Space twisted around it, and the ship plunged into the depths of the universe.
Only then did Ivy’s shuttle detect the curvature signal.
By that point, however, the vessel was already far away.
Inside the ship, a figure completely enclosed in armor sat at the controls.
He always wore that suit.
Derek had never seen his true face.
He did not even know the person’s gender.
All he knew was that this person called himself One.
Derek released a breath of relief.
"This ship is quite advanced. Even that alien failed to notice us leaving."
"The stealth technology is advanced."
One continued, "When my homeworld was invaded, we fought desperately and managed to bring down several enemy ships. This is one of them. Fortunately, it still works after enough repairs."
"Where are we going now?"
"I should be asking you that."
One answered, "I lost my home long ago. I wander wherever the journey takes me. Is there somewhere you wish to go? I can make it our destination."
Derek thought for a moment.
"There is nowhere in particular I want to visit, but there is someone I want to find. I only know he is somewhere in this universe, and he should have built a decent faction. We could seek refuge with him."
"Then we will find him."
Derek paused at the immediate answer.
"I have not even told you who he is. How could you know where to find him?"
"I do not. But someone else does."
The universe contained civilizations with all kinds of strange abilities.
According to One, there was a civilization capable of locating people by observing information within higher dimensions.
He did not understand the principle.
He only knew that to those people, connections such as logic and causality existed in tangible form.
They had prospered throughout the universe by relying on that technology.
Derek escaped quickly.
The planet where he had begun the game was not so fortunate.
In only five days, Ivy swept across the entire surface and beat every faction into submission.
A planetary civilization was conquered just like that.
The same thing kept happening.
The Supernova Corps swept through the universe.
In a little over two years, it conquered more than half of the civilizations in the Milky Way.
The galaxy was vast, but very few planets supported civilization.
Most of those civilizations were technologically backward.
None could resist the Supernova Corps.
In the real world, War and Conquest gradually caused a sensation among players.
One streamer after another fell as the Supernova Corps invaded and conquered their worlds.
At last, everyone realized that something enormous was unfolding inside the game.
It might even become an event that affected the entire universe.
Players soon learned the situation.
A civilization called Aquora was sweeping across the universe.
The famous streamer Ivy was one of its members.
She belonged to the Supernova Corps.
Her individual combat strength alone was enough to destroy a planet.
The Supernova Corps contained tens of thousands of members besides Ivy.
Every one of them possessed power close to hers.
Their strength was utterly unreasonable.
The streamers inside the game remained unaware of the wider situation.
Players in the real world, however, were already paying close attention.
The popularity of the War and Conquest livestream category surged.
Inside one livestream, a streamer was leading troops into battle.
Halfway through the fighting, a group of meteors trailing fire crossed the sky.
One of them carried a space shuttle.
"Meteors?"
The streamer looked upward in confusion.
Then his livestream was flooded with censored messages.
"Oh no. He is finished!"
"Another unlucky bastard."
"Brother, that is *******"
"Holy crap, you hit the jackpot ********"
"********"
Like Brennor, the streamer stared at the screen full of symbols without understanding anything.
Because of this matter, the AXN and AXF99 guilds even held a special meeting among their core members.
According to their information, Derek and Guy appeared to be inside this game.
"Are you certain it is them?"
"Yes. Prosper has been hunting them everywhere. They had no choice but to hide inside this game. They said players were difficult to locate here, so Prosper would not be able to find them."
"..."
"..."
After a moment of silence, someone coughed twice and attempted to defend them.
"I think this is probably just a coincidence. Those two are not actual weapons of causality."
"One incident is chance. Two are coincidence. What about three? Or four?"
"..."
The person trying to explain fell silent.
It truly was difficult to justify.
How long had this round of War and Conquest been running?
Only around twenty years had passed inside the game.
Players should not have been capable of beginning a cosmic campaign so quickly.
They unanimously believed Aquora’s civilization had not been created by a player.
The only explanation was that the game world itself had gone out of control.
In other words, from their perspective, another game world was about to collapse.
The value of the Calamity Duo’s reputation continued to rise.
At this rate, those two really would become weapons of causality.
Inside War and Conquest, the Supernova Corps swept across the Milky Way before spreading toward more distant galaxies.
It had already become a cosmic calamity.
Without anyone noticing, three years passed.
The quantum probe crossed a distance of fifteen billion light years.
At last, one day, it arrived in the distant Divine Realm Galaxy and transmitted a quantum signal back toward the Milky Way.
On a dark planet, the land lay shattered beneath a sky filled with thunder and lightning.
The world resembled the end of all things.
Broken metal wreckage from countless spacecraft covered the ground.
The quantum signal arrived.
Edrick reported, "Leader, the quantum probe has reached the Divine Realm Galaxy."
"Understood."
Caelum applied a little pressure and crushed the small nuclear weapon in his hand.
Such a device was no different from a child’s toy before him.
It posed no threat at all.
A cold light passed through his eyes.
Static crackled.
His figure flickered and entered a higher dimension.
Following the channel created by the quantum probe, he instantly crossed into the galaxy occupied by the Divine Realm Civilization.
He descended into the three dimensional world.
Caelum and Edrick appeared together in deep space.
The quantum probe continued deeper into the Divine Realm Galaxy.
It traveled beyond light speed toward the core territory of the Divine Realm Civilization.
Its speed was impossible to perceive with the naked eye.
The instant Caelum entered the Divine Realm Galaxy, a terrifying streak of light passed beside the quantum probe.
It also traveled beyond light speed, leaving a distorted path through space.
It headed directly toward Caelum.
Neither Caelum nor Edrick reacted.
They allowed the streak of light carrying immense energy to approach.
Just before it struck them, it suddenly stopped.
It appeared frozen in space.
Only then did its true form become visible.
A silver spear rested within the light.
An indestructible barrier seemed to stand between the weapon and Caelum.
No matter how great its power, it could not advance even a fraction farther.
Violent energy erupted.
A vast tide of photons spread outward and illuminated the darkness of space.
An imposing old man wearing battle armor appeared.
He raised one hand, and the silver spear returned to his grasp.