Chapter 1885 - 1884: Ambush

Anke turned his head helplessly, looking at the flickering flames in the darkness, and the gigantic weapon emerging from the shadows.

The entire Floating Warplane began to tremble violently, accelerating before Anke could react.

Everyone on the sofa immediately fastened their seat belts.

Geslo, who stood up, lost his balance and was flung aside by the rocking ship, nearly falling to the floor.

He quickly grabbed the edge of a handrail to steady himself.

Anke gazed out at the sky, not just ahead, but on the left and even behind them, dozens of ships surfaced.

Brilliant radiance illuminated the end of the sky, and countless lit ships stretched from one end of the night to the other, almost occupying the entire evening.

Apart from two towering peaks in the dim night curtain, ships were flying in nearly all directions.

These troops clearly weren’t assembled in a short time.

By this point, Anke realized the Rockville Mercenary Corps had long discovered their presence.

These troops had been secretly hiding nearby, forming a massive encirclement, awaiting their deeper infiltration like lambs to the slaughter.

The reason the silent gliding drones moved forward without detecting any enemies...

...was that those enemies deliberately avoided or disrupted these drones.

The Floating Warplane’s speed increased, with powerful acceleration almost slamming everyone into their seats, practically embedding them into the sofa.

Clearly, the pilot pushed this warplane’s performance to the limit.

Though admittedly, this Floating Warplane’s capabilities surpassed what they previously acquired.

Looks like the Cult’s middle management simply can’t match the wealth and treatment of a City Defense Army General.

Boom—

A massive roar came from behind the warplane, the sound of missiles fired by those warplanes erupting in mid-air.

The surging heat wave fluttered the warplane like a leaf in a storm.

This roar pulled Anke’s scattered thoughts back.

Once again, death seemed to be pursuing him.

The surrounding special forces all had severe expressions, their bodies tense.

They were clearly unaccustomed to such scenarios, human conflicts clashing fiercely.

Hostility from their kind tracked with Grim Reaper’s footsteps in the dark.

This was unlike the City Defense Army’s previous role in repelling exotic beasts.

Yet Anke was accustomed to it.

As a mere grunt in the Mercenary Corps, his primary mission was being cannon fodder at the front lines.

Most fellow recruits with him had already died over time.

Now amidst such terrifying scenes, he could even spare thoughts on completely unrelated matters.

Under the battleship and missile fire, life was merely an instant, something he couldn’t change.

If they caught up to him, he’d die; if not, he’d live.

He couldn’t stress over a fate he couldn’t alter.

Boom—

Intense artillery fire reverberated across the sky.

Like urgent war drums, beating behind everyone.

"How did the Mercenary Corps find us so quickly?" Geslo frowned at the flames behind them, "Didn’t we choose a gap in their defenses? Could there be a problem with the defense maps they gave us?"

"Don’t bother about those now," an angry voice barked through the intercom, "Decoy missiles, decoy missiles. Geslo, where the hell are your decoy missiles? Fire a decoy beam for heaven’s sake! Keep babbling there, and we’re all dead!"

After hearing the curse, Geslo didn’t respond. Instead, he took advantage of the warplane’s acceleration and opened an operation console.

Below the operation console, he quickly searched, found a safety belt, strapped it around himself, and secured it to the console.

"Get two people here!" He activated the console, displaying a wall projection of various ships and missiles; all enemies were marked with red dots within the projection.

Two combat team members in the front row rushed forward, found matching safety belts, strapped themselves to the console, and began assisting.

Boom boom boom—

With each flash on the projection screen, loud booms echoed between heaven and earth.

The entire spaceship shook violently alongside flames.

Bzzz—

Just then, Anke vaguely heard a sharp buzzing.

It seemed like the sound of bee wings flapping.

Flames and roaring had awakened certain dormant lives.

Bzzz—

Soon, the piercing wails quickly joined in like a wind, rising rapidly.

During a short time, it overshadowed the explosion roar.

Boom—

The projectile behind thundered louder, temporarily beating the wail.

Bzzz—

The next moment, however, the wailing overpowered the roar, compressing together like dense thunder, tapping everyone’s mind.

The night outside tugged backwards like jelly.

Yet ahead, where the peaks once stood, there was pure darkness.

Like an opaque wall, pressed deep into darkness, blocking their path.

Operating decoy missiles, Geslo glimpsed the darkness ahead, briefly pausing his actions.

Other combat members saw the thick darkness, heard the thundering wail echo like thunder.

"Can we really pass through?" A team member leaning by the edge raised his head, looking at the darkness, unable to help but slightly open his mouth.

Other forces members also lifted their heads, eyes wide open, bodies taut.

Silent silence spread beneath the dark sky, enveloping this narrow space.

Sometimes, facing human weapons is better than the exotic beasts in the dark.

If hit by a shell, death is instant, with little pain.

Facing exotic beasts, death might not be so easy.

But at this moment, they had no choice either.

Rushing forward meant either a painful death or a slim chance of survival.

At this moment, even Anke felt a bit nervous.

This was his body’s natural warning; the footsteps of death were indeed approaching.

By this time, it was too late to change their decision.

The entire floating warplane had been pushed to its limits, even its structure began to tremble.

The huge and ominous ’cloud layer,’ with its eerie roar, also began to ’press’ down.

Boom—

Accompanied by a barely audible crackle, as if a tiny water droplet fell into the water.

The spaceship plunged into the pitch-black cloud layer.

Everything around was plunged into darkness, and even the fiercely exploding flames had quieted down.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz—

A piercing screech like terrifying thunder, with a vibration that tore at eardrums, sounded outside the floating warplane.

The entire warplane trembled more violently, like a small boat in a storm, shaking fiercely, as if it would be torn apart by the fierce wind and rain at any moment.

Drip drip tap tap—

Outside, there seemed to be some crisp sounds, as if something was falling onto the floating warplane.

Everyone held onto the sofa arms nervously.

In this intense darkness, everyone held their breath.

But the imagined horror did not happen. Through the narrow portholes, Anke could vaguely see that the pitch-black clouds seemed to have parted a path from behind, opening up an unobstructed canyon.

It was as if a pair of invisible giant hands held apart the clouds, held apart the terrifying exotic beasts, creating a ’heavenly path.’

The entire floating warplane flew unobstructedly through this cloud ’canyon,’ only the creatures flapping their wings in the clouds stirred a bit of turbulent airflow, causing the entire warplane to shake and tremble intensely.

But the warplane itself was no longer attacked.

It was not until this moment that Anke finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The old man was indeed right.

Even though he firmly believed in the old man, at the moment of facing death, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of doubt and fear, which were finally slightly restrained at this point.

"Is this really a D-level exotic beast?" he said fearfully, looking at the darkness outside the porthole.

He seemed able to see the stirring wind in the darkness, and pairs of unlit but perceptible eyes, watching them.

This D-level exotic beast did not match the horror level of what he had encountered on the wilderness before.

"This D-level was a ’judgment’ from long ago," Geslo also breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the intense darkness outside and raising his voice so Anke could hear him,

"’Deceitful Bees’ that used to gather near Ilotan were usually just a small group, at most twenty or thirty bees, and back then, they could be dealt with by the standard for handling D-level exotic beasts, which is why they were classified as D-level."

He glanced at Anke, "But then suddenly, one day last year, countless deceitful bees appeared between these two peaks, becoming the most terrifying exotic beast group near Ilotan. Twenty or thirty deceitful bees are not comparable to the horde covering the two peaks."

"So their level wasn’t changed?" Anke asked curiously.

"Normally, we’ve already filed for reclassification," Geslo sighed, "but exotic beast levels are managed uniformly by the Federation, requiring their examination, identification, and approval before changes can be made. In simple terms,"

He looked at Anke, "it’s going through the bureaucratic process, but before it was completed, the war broke out, thus the process got indefinitely shelved."

"Sounds like it’s not easy for you guys either—"

Boom—

Before Anke could finish his sentence, a violent roar exploded behind the floating warplane.

Soon after, faint flames ignited in the darkness behind them, only to be quickly swallowed by the darkness.

"It’s the Rockville Energy Group Mercenary Corps," Geslo looked at the flames flaring in the rear, "they caught up too."

At this moment, the surrounding pitch-black ’clouds’ also trembled rapidly, starting to surge towards the rear.

Boom—

The fierce roar trembled, with surging flames igniting in the rear, only to disappear in an instant, swallowed by the darkness.

Then, the roaring sound gradually faded, with the flames no longer lighting up.

The speeding floating warplane passed through the pitch-black canyon, reaching the empty mountains.

"They didn’t follow," Geslo breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Anke, "Thanks to you, otherwise we’d be dead for sure this time."

The two-way radio was silent for a moment, then a voice marvelled, "Kid, I admit you really have some tricks up your sleeve, you saved our lives, we’ll remember that."

"From here, just follow this route straight," at this point, He Ao’s voice, silent until now, echoed in Anke’s ear, "through this canyon, you’ll reach Kovotra."

Hearing this, Anke froze, understanding He Ao’s implication.

He looked up at Geslo, "From here, can we just go straight along this canyon?"

Hearing this request, Geslo hesitated, raising his hand to open the map, briefly confirming their current position, then turned to Anke, "You sure you want to go this way? Although it directly leads to Vissen, this route is full of terrifying exotic beast nests."

"I’m sure," Anke took a deep breath, pausing, "this is an old route."

"I’ve lived in Ilotan for decades and never heard of this old route, neither my father nor grandfather spoke of it," Geslo glanced at Anke, "but if you believe there’s no problem,"

He turned his gaze to the radio, "let’s proceed along this route."

"Okay." A brief response came from the other end of the radio, followed by a disconnection of communication.

"Following this route," Geslo looked at Anke, roughly estimating, "we might reach near Vissen by tomorrow morning, it saves a lot of time, though it’s a bit risky."

"We’ll be fine." Anke nodded.

He calmed his mind, trying to listen for He Ao’s words, but heard nothing more.

Meanwhile, He Ao also collected his thoughts, exerting just a slight pressure outside, driving away the surrounding exotic beasts.

To deal with Ai Luoti, he forcibly interrupted his fusion state to slightly open the Coffin of Time, significantly disrupting his fusion progress; he needed rest and to resume the fusion process.

Another attempt of this kind might completely ruin his fusion.

Right now, he needed to recuperate.

However, his fusion was already well underway, and it was soon to be completed.

Then, this body should fully become an Angel, despite its severe tendencies toward madness, it would indeed boast a complete position and power as an Angel.

Judging by the power exhibited by the Coffin of Time, the Angel corresponding to it wouldn’t be weak either.

Moreover, it would mesh well with the Super Memory He Ao possessed.

By that time, with the power of Super Memory and the Secret Wizard, He Ao should be able to suppress the madness borne by the Talent Sequences.