Let's discuss Cadelon. After exiting the Dark Void Battlefield, she immediately plunged into the Symbolic Domain, streaking toward the Driphor Sector at a velocity of 100,000 times the speed of light.
However, due to the peculiar spatial curvature inherent to the Symbolic Domain, her macro-level trajectory was constantly 'zigzagging and backtracking,' severely impeding her progress.
When measured against actual cosmic distances, Cadelon's effective speed was reduced to only about 1 billion to 2.5 billion kilometers per second.
Roughly estimating, that translates to approximately half a light-year per hour.
Fortunately, when Seraphine assigned the mission, she had already transmitted all specific intelligence and the exact coordinates of the Mercury Empire's 197 planets directly into Cadelon's mind (data acquired from Marie).
Consequently, Cadelon selected a Mercury Race planet from this material that was the closest to her current location—roughly three light-years away—and which also connected to a mid-level transit corridor, designating it as the initial staging point for this extermination operation.
Otherwise, if she had continued flying blindly, she truly wouldn't know how long the journey would take.
This chosen target planet was Karanos, an important military stronghold of the Mercury Empire, specifically utilized for interfacing with, managing, and defending against the constantly evolving situations arising from the Dark Void Battlefield.
Name: Karanos.
Size: Diameter 18,700 km.
Terrain: Dominated by numerous hills and deep canyons, the surface boasts abundant rock resources but possesses minimal water reserves; there are no natural lakes or oceans.
Permanent Population: Approximately 258 million.
Various Facilities: One strategic-level orbital combat platform, 3,672 space outposts, fifteen military spaceports, thirty-two major arsenals, one hundred eighty-seven resource depots, five interstellar mining bays, eight space shipyards, two military intelligence manufacturing centers, three automated ship component factories, ten Ether-energy conversion centers, six fighter/mech manufacturing complexes, five anti-matter primary cell production facilities, three bio-plug-in manufacturing centers, six mechanical plug-in manufacturing centers, twelve large-scale composite fundamental particle (Silicon element) fusion projects, eight major ship thermal emission regulation control and processing centers, one supreme military command center, two strategic research and analysis hubs, five tactical command posts, six extensive soldier training grounds, three celestial-level military supercomputing centers, fifteen large-scale military nano-material preparation centers, eight military Battleform assembly centers, one hundred seventy-eight three-dimensional mercury-based agricultural and pastoral facilities, twelve large medical centers, three hundred seven rapid soldier treatment stations, fifteen extremely large mercury vapor production and emission facilities, one medium-sized interstellar mercenary consultation and operation center, five medium-sized mercenary barracks, three small mercenary spaceports, etc.
General Ship Disposition: One space warfare stronghold, two defensive-type colossal space construction projects, seven military space carrier platforms, 132 large-scale kinetic/laser electromagnetic cannon batteries, 125,000 small-scale continuous space cannon turrets (various models), 950 construction vessels, 700 medium transport ships, 880 engineering vessels, 1,500 scout ships, 5,600 light cruisers, 4,800 light destroyers, 1,200 heavy cruisers, 950 heavy destroyers, 120 pre-Dreadnought battleships, 95 Dreadnought battleships, 40 Titan-class battleships, 5 Annihilator-class Star Destroyers, etc.
In the endless void.
"Their strategic deployment is quite meticulous. Had there been sufficient advance preparation before the conflict, perhaps creatures below the Overlord level would never have returned alive."
Cadelon, having barely reached her destination after several hours of travel, suddenly surged from the depths of the Sentience Realm into the physical universe. She raised her single crimson eye and gazed tens of billions of kilometers away at the hazy, indistinct star, then let out a sudden chuckle:
"But for me, all these flashy war outpost 'toys'... are completely insignificant."
With that statement, she turned her attention toward a space outpost situated over 100,000 kilometers away to her right. Her figure blurred as she rapidly gave chase.
...
Millions of kilometers outside Karanos, at Space Outpost 225.
"This is utterly tedious."
In the outpost's observation hall, which spanned hundreds of meters, a tall and slender Mercury soldier, displaying an almost languid demeanor, was slowly sipping a pitch-black, high-temperature beverage composed of liquid mercury. He complained to a scrawny Mercury Race office worker, Chrismon, who was hunched over nearby, meticulously operating the quantum network:
"Chrismon, how much longer do you think this 【Strict Assessment Operation】 will drag on? It's nonsensical. Karanos still has a hundred Glacurns that haven't undergone 【strict inspection】. But ever since the Sentience Realm's information network inexplicably fractured with the Dark Void Battlefield, the higher-ups have gone completely frantic, pushing for training every single day. I don't even dare to leave my quarters, terrified of being forcibly hauled away and drilled until I'm nearly dead. If this continues, I simply cannot remain in the military. I might as well take early retirement and go home."
"Hmm, actually ~ I heard a whisper that something serious seems to have occurred on the Dark Void Battlefield. That’s why the superiors are so incredibly tense right now, issuing layered orders demanding that everyone maintain peak combat readiness."
The office worker Chrismon let out a weary plume of mercury vapor, momentarily pausing his network manipulations. "Honestly, you're the lucky one. At least you are career military personnel. No matter how exhausted you get, you have the capacity to endure it. Furthermore, that is literally your designated post; what right do you have to complain? If anyone should truly voice grievances, it should be me!"
Speaking of which, Chrismon, brimming with indignation, slammed his hand against the network screen and exclaimed: "What about squad drills, vehicle performance reviews, Battleform adjustment evaluations, weapon operation certifications, tactical proficiency tests, and then the damned physical conditioning assessments!
Which single one of these tasks can my small frame realistically handle? I am a civil administrator, you understand? I still have a mountain of my own paperwork to process daily! If I fail to complete it, they dock my pay! Did the higher-ups issue any directive for me to reduce my actual duties? Absolutely not! They are all willfully deaf and mute about it! They are all running themselves into the ground!"
The more he spoke, the angrier he became. He spun around and fixed a glare upon the Mercury soldier slumped in the rounded chair, angrily retorting: "Callender! You're still whining? Complaining about what?! Your salary is five times mine!"
"Sigh, you can't put it like that, my dear colleague. My salary is purely compensation for risking my life; a life that can be risked is inherently inexpensive."
The Mercury soldier Callender lazily waved his hand. "If a genuine battle erupts one day, then I will be the one deployed to perish—I will be the one gambling my cheap life. At that time, you will, at most, be safely situated in the rear echelons, composing posthumous reports for me. A laser cannon won't accidentally strike your head. See how joyful you'll be then."
"Joyful my foot! I don't even know you?!"
Chrismon scoffed. "You're a fraud who came here to pad your service record. I bet if a real conflict hits, the oversight teams will have weapons pointed at me, forcing me to go. You, on the other hand, will probably get early notice of retirement and head home to inherit and enjoy life."
"Heh heh heh heh." Callender scratched his head, completely unashamed, declaring, "That's right, I'm definitely not built for the battlefield. And they aren't short one of me. We Driegel (Mercury Race homeworld) folk just eat and drink all day, nothing else. Why should we blindly fight to the death? For whom are we supposed to fight to the death?"
Chrismon immediately stiffened upon hearing this, then shook his head with resignation and resolutely returned to his work, choosing to ignore his dubious friend, Callender.
But at this critical juncture, the alarm suddenly blared throughout the facility.
[Level 3 Alert! Space Outpost 3083 has fallen, suspected enemy force invasion]
"Uh, Outpost 3083... That seems to be the furthest one, about 10 billion kilometers from here, correct?"
Callender's facial tentacles trembled slightly. "I recall... Karanos's one hundred Glacurns haven't been breached, have they?"
"What one hundred Glacurns!"
Chrismon retorted, his voice rising sharply, "Karanos has never been breached! This is the Empire's interior territory, directly connected to the Dark Void Battlefield. Who could possibly be invading?! The Agate Clan? Do they possess that level of capability?"
Upon hearing these words, Callender suddenly paused, then, as if divinely inspired, murmured:
"Could it be... that some super life form or... a powerful Sentience Realm species has managed to escape from the Dark Void Battlefield?"
"Hmph!"
Chrismon cut him off dismissively, "What nonsense are you spewing? There's nothing in there except a pillar-shaped nebula. Only the Imperial fleet is authorized to emerge from that sector."
"But the various campaigns haven't stretched this long before, have they?" Callender muttered, lowering his head slightly. "Something feels terribly wrong. I have a sudden, intense premonition... that something catastrophic might be unfolding!"
Hearing this, Chrismon couldn't help but scrutinize him, then snorted derisively:
"Seriously... I mean, it's just a Level 3 alert. Your reaction is frankly excessive. My assessment is that it's likely the outpost encountered a Sentience Realm species incursion or perhaps a rogue meteorite collision. While the probability is low, it remains a possibility."
"No, no, no, I don't know how to make you understand," Callender shook his head, "Anyway, if you refuse to believe it, so be it. I need to depart immediately."
With that, he stood up to gather his personal effects, preparing to leave the 【Outpost Observation Room】.
But at that exact moment, the alarm blared again, this time accompanied by others.
[Level 3 Alert! Space Outpost 2905 has fallen, suspected enemy force invasion]
[Level 3 Alert! Space Outpost 2726 has fallen, suspected enemy force invasion]
[Level 3 Alert! Space Outpost 2305 has fallen, suspected enemy force invasion]
...
[Level 2 Alert! Space Outpost 1244 has fallen, suspected enemy force invasion]
The siren, as if going into a frenzy, wailed continuously, suddenly freezing both Callender and Chrismon in their tracks.
Especially Chrismon.
A chilling realization struck him... something truly immense might indeed be about to happen.
"Dozens of space outposts have fallen in just a few tens of seconds, and the alert level is even escalating!" Chrismon stammered:
"Could it be, as you posited, that some... dangerous 'entity' has broken free from the Dark Void Battlefield?!"
At this point, Callender was no longer showing fear.
He calmly adjusted the military-grade thin spacesuit covering his Battleform's exterior, then turned to the dumbfounded Chrismon, who was still slumped in the round chair, and stated in a deep, measured voice:
"What I am calculating now is this... given how rapidly the outposts are falling. If we compute this based on linear distance, then the unknown attacker's speed... must be infinitesimally close to the speed of light!"
"No time for an escape pod launch," Callender suddenly ripped open the spacesuit fabric on his arm, revealing a crystal bracelet underneath.
"A spatial folding bracelet!"
Chrismon recognized the artifact instantly. "You truly are an important figure, Young Master Callender."
Callender ignored the comment, activating the bracelet's deployment sequence.
Buzz—
Space trembled.
A crystal-like, torpedo-shaped vessel, spanning a hundred meters in length and thirty meters in width, materialized in the hall.
"What is this thing...?"
Chrismon hurried over, circling the object, "What precisely is this craft?"
Callender sighed grimly: "Do you know... Yuro?"
Upon hearing that name, Chrismon paused momentarily, then nodded in recognition.
Callender continued: "Haven't you always been deeply curious about which noble lineage mine actually belongs to?"
"Yes." Chrismon affirmed again. "Indeed, I remain very curious. When we first arrived at Karanos together, your initial standing wasn't much better than mine, and you were brimming with zeal and a sense of honor. I wonder when..."
Callender interjected: "I wonder when I began to grow disillusioned, and perhaps, overly generous, yes?"
Chrismon silently inclined his head.
"Haha."
Callender chuckled with self-mockery. "Actually, my family has always been minor nobility. Apart from an extensive ancestry, there hasn't been much fluctuation for generations. Not wealthy, but one could certainly say our life was comfortable.
It's just that my father harbored a certain delusion, an unrealistic fixation—a fantasy of achieving prominence, of obtaining something unique that no one else possessed.
But he lacked any exceptional inherent abilities, so he could only spend his days exploring and frequenting those hazardous Broken Sectors surrounding the Empire, always hoping that one day he might unearth some forgotten ruins deep within interstellar space... a genuine path to sudden elevation."
Beside him, Chrismon asked with genuine curiosity, "So your father... did he ever make a discovery?"
Callender looked at him, then stated in a profound tone, "Yes, he discovered something."
"Ten Glacurns ago, he ventured a little further, leaving the Fidd Popenif Civilization Zone and entering a dark, utterly lightless cosmic dust cloud.
There, he found an abandoned, ancient spacetime gateway, resembling a Wormhole.
Driven by curiosity, my father activated that artificial Wormhole, completely unaware of its destination."
"Wait! Ten Glacurns ago... I understand!"
Chrismon's pupils contracted sharply. He couldn't help blurting out, "The villain Yuro! The villain responsible for obliterating three civilized planets and killing over ten billion people... was brought here by your father?!"
"...Yes."
Callender nodded, his demeanor heavy with dejection. "After that... Yuro descended upon the Mercury Empire... and then countless events unfolded. In short, the Royal Family and all the great nobles swiftly pledged allegiance to Yuro.
But what remains unknown to everyone is that my father, in truth... was the very first to submit to Yuro! And for that act, he gained the most substantial rewards."
Callender sneered, "He jumped from a minor baron to a Grand Duke overnight! My entire family was deliberately positioned by the now-knowing Royal Family to serve as Yuro's direct vassals! Heh heh, enjoying all the grandeur, eh!"
Having concluded his explanation, he pointed toward the torpedo-shaped shuttle and stated in a hoarse voice: "This is one of the artifacts Yuro bestowed upon my father—the Dark Shuttle."
"It functions like a tracking device, a dog leash, really. No matter where you are, as long as you activate it while remaining still, it will naturally plot the most direct route back to Yuro's side."
"This..." Chrismon stared blankly at his long-time companion. "From the way you speak, you genuinely... detest this new status your family holds."
Hearing this, Callender merely gazed at him, then let out a deep sigh: "Let's cease discussing such matters. So, do you wish to make a break for it with me...?"
"Intriguing."
Suddenly, a cold voice, tinged with deep contemplation, resonated within the hall.
The moment Callender and Chrismon heard this voice, they felt as if they had been injected with hundreds of tons of liquid nitrogen... their very bodies and souls were instantly 'frozen.'
Bang! Clang clang clang creak!
In the horrified view of the two men, the entire superalloy dome above the space outpost's observation room was instantly and violently ripped apart by an unseen force. It was then flung out into the nearly absolute zero, dark, boundless void, vanishing without a trace in a single instant.
This was followed by a violent atmospheric convection.
Rumble rumble rumble!
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!!"
"Help me ah ah ah ah!!"
The two barely managed to emit a desolate scream before they were swept up by the violent gale, rocketing out through the gaping tear above, heading toward the abyss-like deep space, accelerating with utter desperation.
They flew further and further away, until they were completely consumed by the universe, becoming entirely invisible.
"That was unexpectedly effortless."
Outside Space Outpost 225, Cadelon, floating gently in the dark expanse of the starry sky, calmly observed the shuttle inside the outpost. She let out a soft chuckle, then casually made a slight hand gesture.
Whoosh!
The shuttle suddenly zipped over to Cadelon's side, and she manipulated spatial folding to shrink it before casually placing it inside her mouth.
Thereafter, she turned to regard the dark, rocky planet, circled by slender mechanical orbital tracks, situated several million kilometers away, and smirked: "First, I shall annihilate this planet, and then I will seek out Yuro."
With that declaration, Cadelon's figure subtly shifted, suddenly accelerating to 99.99% the speed of light, and she hurtled straight toward the planet Karanos.
Having shed all restraint, she sped onward, radiating millions of dazzling light beams, each one easily capable of piercing a planet's crust. She meticulously struck the numerous enormous starships anchored in orbit.
Slamming them down one by one, blasting them, utterly destroying them.
In an instant, all of Karanos erupted into widespread panic and chaos.
...
Some time earlier.
As Cadelon 'leisurely' and casually decimated numerous space outposts, Karanos's tactical command center had already used a large quantum computer in its supercomputing center to accurately map out her unmasked travel trajectory.
Along with the path, they also generated an analysis of Cadelon's threat profile.
【Target: Unknown】
【Volume: 0.01km3 ~ 1km3】
【Velocity: 99% of Light Speed】
【Primary Attack Vector: Beam-form penetrating energy discharge】
【Life Level: Milky Way Overlord Stage One ~ Stage Three】
Upon receiving this result, all high-ranking Mercury Race military personnel were instantly plunged into panic.
Inside Karanos's supreme military headquarters.
Gathered around a massive conference table, numerous high-ranking military officials frowned deeply.
"We do not possess any Overlord-level entities here!" A stout high-ranking officer slammed the table and stated urgently, "How are we possibly supposed to engage this threat?!"
"Alas—" A brawny high-ranking officer next to him sighed, falling silent.
"Where is Marshal Bahka? Is there still no word on him?" A single-eyed high-ranking officer further away massaged his forehead and grimaced, "And what insights have those great masters of divination offered?"
"Hmm—"
A short, skinny high-ranking officer opposite him hesitated, "Nine of the quantum fortune-tellers from the supercomputing center... they detonated on the spot during their predictions. Only one master, who barely clung to half his life, managed to relay a message... the Dark Void Battlefield has now become a den of dragons and tigers; entry means certain demise!"
"Entering means death? Is the danger truly that severe?!" A three-eyed high-ranking officer diagonally opposite interjected, "Then did you dispatch other quantum prophets from the supercomputing center to assist? Can they calculate what lies within?"
The short, skinny high-ranking officer pouted, helplessly replying: "I already sent reinforcements. The quantum fortune-tellers calculated the situation as well, and then... even more perished. The last surviving master, after uttering the three words, 'Danger, danger, danger,'... exploded and died."
"Divination leading to self-destruction? This is excessive."
The single-eyed high-ranking officer remarked cautiously, "Could there be... a Milky Way Tyrant among them?!"
The moment this term was uttered, all five Mercury Race high-ranking officers fell into a profound silence, fear and heightened vigilance flickering in their eyes.
A cosmic monstrosity born at Overlord Stage Ten—who could not fear such an entity?
The five instantly lost all appetite for further discussion and dispersed. Driven by concern for their immediate safety, following the meeting's conclusion, they swiftly boarded their spacecraft and evacuated the planet, preparing to execute remote command from the sector's sole operational space fortress.
That, at the present moment, was deemed the safest location.
Thereafter, under the extreme vigilance and palpable panic felt by these high-ranking Mercury Race military officials, an order for a full-scale interception was immediately issued to every operational department.
Following the announcement of this order:
In a very short amount of time, the tens of thousands of small-scale, continuously firing space cannon turrets, alongside over 100 massive electromagnetic cannons, all positioned on the outer orbits surrounding Karanos, rapidly shifted their muzzles and barrels. They simultaneously locked onto the probable enemy attack vector pinpointed by the ground supercomputing center.
That specific target position was a seemingly empty, dark expanse of space.
But the high-ranking Mercury Race officials knew with chilling certainty.
Before long, that dangerous, unknown entity would descend, moving at an astonishing 99% of the speed of light.
Given their inability to fully ascertain the target's precise location, they were forced to implement a saturation strike across that entire projected area.
Because, truly, it was their only viable option.
Karanos, Ground Command Center.
"Three, two, one.
Saturation strike, commence!"
Every single space cannon turret and electromagnetic cannon aimed at that sector simultaneously and fiercely unleashed hundreds of billions of high-energy beams—red, blue, purple, orange, green, and various others—along with hundreds of thousands of tangible missiles, each possessing its own unique power and effect.
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In an instant, millions of missiles soared wildly across hundreds of thousands of miles, and hundreds of billions of heavy laser beams swept through the void with absolute, frenzied abandon.
Clatter clatter clatter tat!!!
Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!!!
Boom boom boom boom!!!
The ultra-high-frequency attack rhythm and the dense, almost overwhelming density of the firepower virtually transformed that vast stretch of interstellar space into an ocean filled with endless, brilliant light and deafening explosions.
If this devastating ocean of light were to envelop Earth:
Then, in mere seconds, Earth, along with its companion moon 380,000 kilometers away, would tragically be reduced to hundreds of millions of molten meteorites scattering in all directions.
However, this assault, which had fully achieved the destructive level of a star-destroyer, proved utterly meaningless to Cadelon, who was streaking through space at nearly the speed of light.
Let alone whether these attacks could even register a hit given her reaction capabilities.
Even if they could connect, it would, at most, serve only to replenish a minuscule fraction of her energy reserves.
Therefore, Cadelon, blazing through the vast universe, made not the slightest move to defend or evade.
She, under the horrified and fearful gazes of numerous high-ranking Mercury Race military personnel monitoring the Sentience Realm's radar network from a distant space fortress, completely maintained her original trajectory and speed. Like an arrow of pure destruction, she instantly pierced through space, violently tearing open the intensely blazing flames and the infinitely exploding million-kilometer-wide Sea of Light. With terrifying kinetic energy, she ferociously struck the planet Karanos.
Throughout this charge, the colossal defensive space structures, mountain-like in scale, and the enormous Titan-class starships, resembling towering peaks, that lay directly across Cadelon's path, were violently pierced through by her, one after another.
Boom boom boom boom!!
Colossal hulls were penetrated one by one; gigantic frameworks collapsed and crumbled instantly.
Tens of thousands of superalloy components, flashing with violent fire, twisted and shattered, scattering and flying in all directions.
The massive space structures and numerous Titan-class giant ships, after fiercely emitting waves of silent detonations, rapidly disintegrated, tragically turning into immense piles of stellar debris drifting into the surrounding starry void.
Whoosh—
No longer facing any obstruction.
Under the utterly panicked gazes of many high-ranking Mercury Race officials stationed in the space fortress.
Cadelon violently plunged into Karanos's atmosphere.
Question: What is the outcome when an entity approaching the speed of light impacts a planetary atmosphere?
The answer, quite predictably, is nuclear fusion.
Endless, ferocious nuclear fusion.
Boom boom boom boom rumble rumble rumble!!!
In less than one percent of a second, Cadelon forcibly carved a super-long, blazing vacuum channel—thousands of kilometers in diameter and tens of kilometers deep—from the delicate void straight down to the solid ground, carving through Karanos's boundless, dense atmosphere rich with mercury elements.
Accompanied by countless high-temperature vortex tornadoes roaring like doomsday trumpets that engulfed the entire planet, her entire body, trailing boundless fusion flames reaching tens to hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius and endless terrifying shockwaves, ferociously struck the planetary crust below.
BOOM!!!!
The world fractured; the globe convulsed.
It was like a million meteorites impacting simultaneously, or perhaps a trillion bolts of fierce lightning striking at once.
Within a thousand-mile radius, trillions of tons of air, rock, soil, metal... all were instantly transmuted into pure light and heat.
Perspective rapidly pulls back.
Gazing down from outer space.
A terrifying energy, capable of instantly erasing all physical matter, violently erupted across the surface of Karanos.
Endless, scorching light and terrifying explosions instantaneously ripped through both earth and sky.
This display caused many distant, high-ranking Mercury Race officials to tremble incessantly in shock.
At the very epicenter of the impact, a brilliant white chasm, several kilometers in diameter and hundreds of thousands of times brighter than the sun's surface, continuously spewed terrifying heat and light radiation.
Surrounding this 'abyss,' hundreds of millions of tons of superheated plasma—formed from the countless tons of vaporized rock and soil matter undergoing extreme pressure and collision—were caught by boundless kinetic energy and violently ejected through layers of chaotic, roaring atmosphere, escaping the planet's gravitational pull and storming outward into the vast interstellar space.
At the explosion's periphery, concentric rings of blazing, molten rock and soil formed, resembling colossal doomsday tsunamis, raising towering waves of magma and earth, thousands of meters, even thousands of feet high, roaring and pressing down on everything within a radius of several thousands to tens of thousands of miles.
The boundless, heavy atmosphere was forcibly displaced by this world-ending blast, mixing with countless millions of tons of superheated rock dust to form a sky-obscuring, colossal storm that swept across all directions and wildernesses. In a very short span, it completely engulfed tens of thousands of miles of Karanos's surface, leaving nothing intact.
Consequently, across the entire planetary surface, thousands upon thousands of the Mercury Race military's critical architectural structures—such as various large armories, extensive resource depots, military production complexes, automated component factories, mechanized manufacturing centers, anti-matter core preparation facilities, large fundamental particle fusion stacks, three-dimensional mercury-based agricultural and pastoral facilities, major medical centers, large and small military garrisons... and so forth—along with the tens and hundreds of millions of Mercury Race personnel housed within these structures, were all utterly annihilated and killed, leaving absolutely no trace of life. Not even a single intact corpse remained; only dust and fragments spread deep within the ubiquitous ruins.
Inside the distant space fortress.
"It's finished! Everything is over!"
"Karanos is completely destroyed!"
"What kind of monstrous entity is this?! It actually penetrated a planet with its bare form! Is its body composed of degenerate matter?"
"This being is terrifying! We must leave immediately!"
"Yes, yes, yes, quickly!"
The numerous high-ranking Mercury Race officials were utterly terrified, and in their haste, they commanded the space fortress to accelerate towards the distant interstellar void.
Let it be known that Karanos, a celestial body boasting a diameter exceeding 18,000 km, lost all cohesion after being suddenly pierced through its surface by Cadelon. The entire world began to tremble uncontrollably.
Accompanied by continuous, super-intense tremors that fractured and cracked the continental crust, Cadelon burst forth from the far side of the planet, having traversed its subterranean layers and hard core, sending hundreds of miles of planetary strata flying. She ascended rapidly into the vacuum of space, letting out a roar of unbridled laughter.
"Hahahaha, it's been ages since I've had such a thrilling time!"
Cadelon, moving at incredible speed, instantly halted, turning her head back to observe the dark brown planet, tens of thousands of miles away, which had descended into an apocalyptic ruin.
She surveyed the continuously vibrating world, offered a grim smile, and then immediately charged back toward it.
As Cadelon entered Karanos's outer atmosphere, she perceived the strategic-level orbital fortress orbiting above: roughly seventy to eighty thousand kilometers in length and tens of kilometers in width. A sudden, devious idea bloomed in her mind.
"Hahahaha!"
She chuckled darkly, and her four arms suddenly shot out a hundred meters, powerfully clamping onto a corner section of the orbital fortress.
Bang!
Clang clang clang creak!!
The instant Cadelon gripped it, countless alloy fragments exploded and scattered in all directions, and that entire section of the orbital fortress vaporized instantly.
Buzz—
Simultaneously, Cadelon's body vibrated minutely, and an immense and terrifying wave of telekinetic force suddenly surged from within her core.
Once the telekinetic energy manifested, it followed the jagged, shattered debris of that broken fortress section. In a mere second, it expanded in a circle spanning seventy to eighty thousand kilometers, entirely enveloping the entire colossal orbital fortress.
Then, she opened her single eye and softly commanded:
"Rise!!!"
Boom!!!
In that very instant!
This entire orbital fortress—whose mass was incalculable, yet certainly measured in the trillions of tons—was forcibly and completely lifted by her raw power. She brandished it like the World Serpent from Norse mythology, fiercely whipping the structure toward the dozens of millions of large and small starships that were drifting aimlessly within the surrounding hundreds of thousands of miles of space.
Facing such an absurdly shocking and mind-bending scene, all the Mercury Race generals riding in their various Annihilator-class Star Destroyers, alongside the numerous high-ranking Mercury Race officials attempting to control the space fortress and flee into the deep cosmos, were frozen in stunned immobility.
"What in the void is this?!"
"A Milky Way Overlord could not achieve this through sheer physical might alone!"
"What kind of absolute monster is he?!"
"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
"Ah ah ah ah ah!!"
Amidst the cries of shock and pure terror, the orbital fortress—acting like a cosmic tether—instantly swung with ferocious, unrestrained power.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!!!!!
Like countless brilliantly exploding fireworks, thousands upon tens of thousands of large and small starships, navigating in space, were violently impacted and utterly annihilated by the rapidly swirling orbital fortress. In a fleeting instant, they transformed into hundreds of millions of blazing fragments, scattering outwards into the starry cosmos with explosive sparks.
And the single largest, most colossal of the space warfare strongholds suffered the most tragic fate.
Cadelon did not simply obliterate it with a single 'whip'; instead, she leveraged her boundless telekinetic force, using the fortress as a pivot, to bind it into an even more powerful 'flail' with a heavy end. Cackling wildly, she swiftly swept this gigantic mass at sub-light speeds toward other distant regions of the surrounding universe.
Bang bang bang bang!!!
Boom boom boom boom!!!
For a moment, vast expanses across the trillions of miles surrounding Karanos erupted with searing sparks and violent concussions.
At this juncture, within this Sector, the Mercury Empire's immense fleets—built over significant time and vast expenditure—were, in a shockingly short period, utterly annihilated by Cadelon's almost casual display of power.
And after roughly cleansing this Sector of Mercury Race military power, Cadelon casually flung the seventy to eighty thousand-kilometer-long orbital fortress and the battered space stronghold, which now held untold Mercury Race deaths, directly towards Karanos—a world now resembling a ruined sphere covered in fresh wounds.
Boom!!!
The space stronghold, over a hundred kilometers in diameter, carrying immense kinetic energy, plummeted from the heavens. With a mighty, ground-shaking crash, it inflicted further devastating ruin upon Karanos's surface, already ravaged and crisscrossed with magma rivers.
Endless tremors, detonations, firestorms, and dust instantly engulfed more than half of Karanos's surface.
Those thousands of towering mountain ranges that had stubbornly resisted the previous cataclysm and still stood upright were now violently crushed and shattered by the orbital fortress, which snaked across the sky and earth like a gargantuan serpent, carrying the raw kinetic energy of interstellar travel. They were transformed into vast, surging expanses of undulating molten ruin and deep depressions.
And at this moment, Cadelon, standing alone in the boundless expanse of the universe, having indulged her whims to her heart's content, suddenly manifested a cruel smile and casually lifted a slender finger.
"Planet-annihilation is an art form that truly demands finesse."
Buzz—
The very instant she finished speaking, a minuscule orb of light erupted at her fingertip.
Looking down upon Karanos, Cadelon leisurely allowed the brilliant sphere of energy to drift from her fingertip.
Whoosh—
The light orb's initial rate of descent was not particularly rapid, perhaps moving only marginally faster than a common meteorite.
But the terrifying aspect was that with every subsequent instant of its fall, the orb ceaselessly devoured the surrounding Ether.
As it continuously absorbed this ambient energy, the light orb swelled with incredible speed, akin to a balloon being violently over-inflated.
Consequently, in a mere few seconds, the orb had expanded to a diameter of ten kilometers.
After only a few more seconds passed.
By the time the light orb reached the upper atmosphere of Karanos, it had ballooned to a terrifying several hundred kilometers across.
It resembled a miniature, true sun; after vaporizing successive layers of chaotic atmosphere, it slowly 'sank' into the planet's interior, carrying with it an incomprehensible amount of destructive energy.
A few seconds later.
In the deep void, Karanos, a celestial body that had been slowly revolving for hundreds of millions of years, suddenly began to glow with a crimson, translucent hue.
Next, the planet violently underwent a massive expansion, fiercely ejecting hundreds of thousands of incandescent lava rivers into outer space.
Following this, the entire planetary crust rapidly 'vaporized' and vanished, exposing its blazing, molten-hot interior.
Finally, Karanos, brutally stripped bare of its entire 'skin,' witnessed an immense and terrifying surge of energy suddenly detonate within its core, buried deep beneath the remaining subterranean strata.
Boom—
The entire planet violently shattered into fragments.
At this precise moment, the Karanos of the Mercury Empire was utterly annihilated.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh crack—
Concentric waves of colossal, ocean-like energy surged outward from the point of Karanos's explosion, resembling raging tsunamis that swept towards the endless universe in every direction.
This tide of destructive energy, potent enough to obliterate an entire interstellar fleet, failed to budge Cadelon in the slightest.
She remained standing there fearlessly, admiring her devastating masterpiece, refusing to move an inch no matter how violently the residual energy surged against her.
After a short while.
Observing the planet reduced to utter ruin, Cadelon calmly retrieved the 【Dark Shuttle】.
After deploying the Dark Shuttle, Cadelon opted not to enter it immediately.
Instead, she activated her formidable mental perception to completely envelop the craft, meticulously examining its operational parameters and structural schematics.
One minute later.
"So that's the principle. Aside from some dispensable ancillary equipment and minor design choices, this thing essentially locks onto positions via stable FTL information packets transmitted through the Sentience Realm. It's just that..."
Cadelon carefully sensed the most vital component of the shuttle—that crystal which existed simultaneously as both tangible and intangible, constantly creating minute disturbances in the spacetime structure—and mused with doubt, "I feel like I've... encountered this device before, and not just once."
"Could it be... that data concerning this crystal is somehow preserved within those lost memories?"
She focused her thoughts, attempting to dredge up the recall, but ultimately shook her head with disappointment: "Still can't place it. Never mind, then."
Looking up at the shuttle hovering beside her, Cadelon smiled contemplatively: "Let me see where your true position lies, Yuro."
With that declaration, she raised a single finger and, from a considerable distance, activated the Dark Shuttle.
Buzz—
As the shuttle powered up, a holographic screen suddenly sprang to life within its cockpit.
Data flashed and scrolled rapidly across the display.
After a prolonged moment, a specific piece of information slowly materialized on the screen:
[Warning: My eternally loyal, humble servant Callender, at this precise moment, your supremely noble and exalted Master—the magnificent Yuro—is currently resting on Argon, absorbing the scenery and indulging in exquisite delicacies.
If you desire to come and 'attend' to your Master, you must first thoroughly cleanse your repulsive mercury stench, for your Master cherishes absolute cleanliness above all else...]
Ignoring the lengthy sections of Yuro's self-aggrandizement, Cadelon mused:
"Argon... I recall that is a Mercury Race diplomatic planet, generally regarded as an interstellar peace zone where multiple races converge.
According to the intelligence Master provided me, this planet lies approximately 330 light-years from my current location. If I utilize the secondary Sentience Realm Gateway, the journey will likely take around 10 hours.
Hmm, calculating it that way, even if I maintain maximum speed, the timeline is still tight. If I can be slightly more efficient with the remaining two-plus days, it should be sufficient to thoroughly dismantle every Mercury Race planet."
Next, she turned her attention to the fluent, verbose information system clearly customized by Yuro. Starlight flickered in her single eye, and she offered a cold smile:
"Supremely noble? Exalted? Great Yuro?! Very well, you have clearly chosen your path to ruin. Let Lord Cadelon arrive and properly 'attend' to you until you are utterly annihilated, leaving not a single fragment of your body behind."
With those words, she ascended into the air and leaped into the shuttle.
Click click click.
The Dark Shuttle's hatch slowly sealed shut.
Buzz—
Space twisted violently; the shuttle vanished from this utterly shattered Sector as it plunged into the Sentience Realm, swiftly accelerating toward the secondary pathway deep within the Symbolic Domain.
...
Beyond the Namora Sector, situated at the boundary of the Orion Spiral Arm, far removed from the prosperous Agate Clan Civilization Zone, there exists a planet named Obast.
Strictly speaking, this location is even distant from the Golden Bough Civilization Zone, penetrating deep into the vast Broken Sector, an area known in this galaxy as the Milky Way's blind spot.
However, due to the presence of a precious mineral resource—an Ether-Crystalline substance vital for manufacturing potent weaponry—the planet Obast was inadvertently discovered by the Agate Clan several centuries ago, naturally becoming their colonial territory beyond their core borders.
For the Agate Clan, this represented a minor logistical matter.
But for the indigenous life forms of Obast—the Lead-based Simian Race—the arrival of the Agate Clan... proved to be an absolute catastrophe.
Name: Obast.
Size: Diameter 18,500 km.
Terrain: Predominantly deserts and rocky plains, yet possessing abundant underground water sources and subterranean lakes.
Simultaneously, interspersed between the desert and plain terrains, there are dozens, even hundreds, of continuous, massive mountain ranges.
Furthermore, beneath Obast's surface still exists a colossal and intricate system of magma-filled cave clusters, almost entirely spanning the planet's crust.
Climate: Extremely arid with vast diurnal temperature variations. Daytime temperatures often exceed 120°C, while nighttime temperatures sharply plummet below -80°C.
Permanent Population: Approximately 1.2 million.
Various Military Facilities: Obast functions as the Agate Clan Civilization Zone's remote frontier base, and it also houses the crucial mineral resource, Ether-Crystalline Uranium element—【Uranium Star】.
Therefore, while the military contingent deployed by the Agate Clan on this planet cannot rival the forces stationed at the Mercury Race's military stronghold—Karanos—they still maintain a relatively complete air and space defense network, along with several small military bases equipped with comprehensive operational facilities.
The Agate Clan has not only deployed dozens of ground-based anti-matter missile launch silos across the planet's surface but has also positioned over a thousand intelligent, semi-automatic laser cannon turrets on several orbital paths outside the planet.
These launch silos and turrets can, at any moment, unleash dozens to hundreds of anti-matter missiles and massive quantities of high-energy laser beams into distant interstellar space, enabling regional saturation assaults and precise, pinpoint strikes.
Conversely, both defense systems can pivot their attack vector to target the numerous indigenous lifeforms of the Lead Simian Race, who occasionally emerge from hidden subterranean caverns to cause unrest, subjecting them to military suppression.
Finally, Obast's surface hosts multiple composite hangars.
Under extreme operational readiness, these hangars can rapidly deploy thousands upon thousands of medium-sized interstellar fighters, alongside an even greater number of small interstellar mechs for coordinated engagement.
To the high-ranking officials of the Agate Empire, although Obast is officially designated a frontier outpost, it essentially functions as a distant colonial territory dedicated solely to the extraction of precious minerals.
Therefore, the 1.2 million members of the Agate Clan stationed on this planet are predominantly not soldiers.
True full-time military personnel constitute less than 10% of the force.
The remaining approximately one million individuals are full-time miners employed by the Agate Empire's Interstellar Mining Company.
However, these individuals, nominally miners yet effectively overseers of the colony, do not perform the actual mining work themselves.
These Agate miners, naturally possessing potent mind control capabilities and various spiritual secret arts, have naturally enslaved the indigenous Lead Simian Race, compelling them to risk their lives for the excavation.
Indeed, mining this specific mineral, named 【Uranium Star】, necessitates taking severe, life-threatening risks.
Uranium Star is the inherent nemesis of all electronic automation equipment, and a plague upon all sentient beings possessing complete souls.
Within the range of its emitted energy field, regardless of whether they are metallic or non-metallic electronic automated devices, they will, over time, randomly develop numerous gaps and structural damages within their macro and micro circuit networks, thus causing severe equipment malfunctions that render them useless.
More critically, the radiation energy from Uranium Star also exerts a clear and continuous destructive effect on all souls.
After close and prolonged exposure, the souls of intelligent life forms below the Transcendent tier are highly likely to collapse and disintegrate, thereby transforming into a 'Soulless Corpse' devoid of emotions and independent thought, capable only of mechanical labor.
...
In an underground cavern, tens of thousands of meters beneath Obast's surface.
"Nuclear Fission Fist!"
A foreign youth, whose features and stature closely resembled an Earth human but whose entire body was traced with intricate green light patterns, shouted angrily. He punched towards a massive black stone stele positioned before him.
Bang!!
It was akin to detonating a powerful explosive.
Amidst the violent oscillation of the air, potent shockwaves, carrying vast amounts of dust and stone fragments, instantly scoured the area tens of meters around.
"Nuclear Fusion Power, Stage Three!"
The Lead Race youth looked up at the stone stele, which suddenly illuminated with three stripes after absorbing the impact, and sighed in disappointment: "Alas, I truly am useless."
At this moment, an elderly Lead Race man, leaning on a staff, slowly approached the youth. He gently placed a hand on his shoulder and said with a kind smile: "No need to rush, Tiyan, you are still young."
"Not at all!" the youth named Tiyan countered defiantly, "I'm already forty years old; how am I young?"
"Hahaha, forty years old, you say."
The old man shook his head and chuckled, "Do you realize, this old man is five hundred years old this year."
"That's different," Tiyan pouted, "Grandpa, you are an elder, a true elder of the clan."
"Tiyan, my boy ~" the old man said gently to the youth, "Under normal circumstances, only adults reaching one hundred years of age can achieve Nuclear Fusion Power Stage Three. You've managed it at only forty; you've already worked incredibly hard, perhaps even too diligently."
"What good is Stage Three!"
Tiyan said resentfully, "I want to cultivate Nuclear Fusion Power to its absolute zenith; I want to fight those wicked Agate Clan members!"
The elder man looked at him and slowly spoke, "Are you contemplating your father again?"
"...Yes."
Tiyan remained silent for a moment, then looked up and inquired, "Grandpa, is our Lead Simian race truly incapable of defeating the Agate Clan?"
"Difficult—as challenging as ascending to the heavens themselves."
Elder Yan slightly lowered his gaze, his voice deep as he responded, "The Agate Clan possesses incredibly robust physical might, and their forms are towering. Especially that mental power for spiritual control... we cannot resist it."
Tiyan persisted, unwilling to concede, "Is there absolutely no hope whatsoever?"
"There is a path. Once you cultivate your Nuclear Fusion Power to the tenth stage and successfully condense the Uranium Lightwave," Elder Yan explained. "Upon reaching that realm, your body, inside and out, will become incredibly clear and crystalline. Whether it's kinetic energy, thermal energy, electrical energy, or even vague spiritual power, none of it can linger within. They can only pass straight through, like sunlight through flawless crystal, leaving not the slightest residue."
"Sunlight?" Tiyan's eyes widened with curiosity. "Is that the radiant light emitted by the legendary sun?"
"Indeed, it is the light of a star. Bathing in natural sunlight during the day is said to be a very comfortable experience."
Elder Yan narrowed his eyes momentarily, lost in recollection. He lowered his head, looking at Tiyan, who was gazing at him with eager expectation, and chuckled. "I keep forgetting that your generation has never witnessed the sun firsthand."
Tiyan asked again: "Then, Grandpa, have you seen it?"
Elder Yan slightly raised his head, reminiscing, "Of course, I have. Back then, I was about your age. But that was before the Agate Clan descended..."
He shook his head, patted Tiyan’s back, and said with a warm smile, "Alright, alright, it's getting late. We need to head back now, or your mother will come searching for you again."
With that, he leaned on his staff and slowly began walking toward the deeper recesses of the cave.
"Yes, yes, yes."
Tiyan nodded quickly, following the old man as they left the current area.
As the two departed, the stone stele radiating a faint green luminescence slowly reverted to its original, hazy appearance.
Deep within the cave.
As Tiyan and Elder Yan walked several hundred meters further, the continuously extending underground cavern began to open up—it grew wider and brighter, its true scale gradually revealing itself.
Looking around, from the hundred-meter-high ceiling to the two-hundred-meter-wide dry cliff walls on either side, thousands upon thousands of Uranium ore rocks, constantly emitting a greenish-yellow fluorescence, were densely embedded.
Streaks of eerie green light shone down, and dust constantly swirled and billowed throughout the cavern.
In this misty, glowing atmosphere, endless nuclear radiation permeated the air at all times.
If a Geiger counter were present here, it would certainly be overwhelmed by the super high radiation levels.
Therefore, ordinary carbon-based, flesh-and-blood life forms would definitely not survive for even a minute here.
But for the Lead Simian race, this intense nuclear radiation was the very source of their vitality; it was the 'oxygen' they required for existence.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh roar—"
The sound of rushing water intensified significantly.
The two proceeded several thousand meters further, eventually arriving at a slope formed by volcanic rock.
Beneath the gray rock face flowed a subterranean river—this was not merely normal groundwater.
Utilizing the faint green luminescence cast by the Uranium ore scattered across the cave ceiling, one could vaguely trace the flow of the dark river in the distance.
Several hundred meters away, one could suddenly make out a section of a significant waterfall, spanning about fifty meters wide.
"Good, hold my hand tightly."
Elder Yan extended his large hand, instructing Tiyan to grip it firmly.
Then, his aged body suddenly began to glow intensely.
Buzz—
Accompanied by a brilliant light and a surge of radiation, Elder Yan, clad in rough linen, instantly became visibly clear and transparent across his exposed arms, neck, face, and ankles.
Simultaneously, a powerful force emanated from his body, enveloping both of them.
Whoosh—
Gravity suddenly ceased to have any effect at that precise moment.
Elder Yan, glowing as if carved from crystal, clutched Tiyan and ascended, swiftly flying towards the underground waterfall several hundred meters ahead.
In a matter of mere seconds, the two traversed this section of the subterranean river, soaring directly above the cascade.
Upon reaching this point, the cliff walls on either side abruptly widened.
From an initial separation of less than a hundred meters, the cavern instantly expanded to thousands of meters wide, with no discernible end in sight.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh roar!!!"
The sound of the splashing water here was also infinitely louder and more tumultuous than before.
The two looked down.
The waterfall descended for only about two hundred meters before suddenly atomizing into vast clouds of steam, merging into an even larger subterranean river that continued to rush and roar ceaselessly.
Without delaying, Elder Yan, still securely holding Tiyan's small hand, flew onward.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
This colossal underground chamber contained a substantial amount of air, so as the old man rapidly navigated the space, he generated concentric rings of white sound barrier clouds.
More than ten seconds later, the duo finally reached the termination point of the ever-widening river.
The end of the flow was clearly a massive underground waterfall, approximately 8000 meters across.
A truly super-large waterfall existing within a gigantic cavern in the Earth's crust tens of thousands of meters below sea level.
Although he had caught a glimpse of it during their ascent, seeing this waterfall again, Tiyan couldn't help but exclaim in genuine awe:
"What an enormous waterfall!"
After his gasp of wonder, he glanced past the wide cataract and looked as far down as possible, revealing a colossal, funnel-shaped channel with an incline approaching ninety degrees.
Looking further down this massive chute, one could not discern the bottom.
Pitch black and utterly dim, he couldn't tell if the depth was thousands or tens of thousands of meters.
"Ready?"
Elder Yan smiled faintly, looking at Tiyan, who appeared somewhat tense, hovering just above the ground. "Once you are prepared, we jump."
Tuy?t v?i! ?ay là phiên b?n ?? ???c "tay hóa" và s?a ??i, thay th? tr?c ti?p vào v?n b?n b?n cung c?p, v?i s? linh ho?t h?n v? c?u trúc cau.
"Hoo ~ Hoo ~"
Tiyan took two deep breaths, as if steeling his nerves, and shouted loudly, "Ready!"
"Good."
The old man laughed heartily, immediately grabbing the youth and flipping them upside down, rapidly plunging toward the endless abyss below.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"
Accompanied by the youth's hoarse scream of terror, the two plummeted at an extremely fast pace, almost skimming the surface of the waterfall, driving straight down.
Boom rumble rumble rumble!!!
Within the dim, pitch-black colossal underground cavern, an 8000-meter-wide great waterfall, carrying an all-destructive momentum, roared straight down toward the bottomless chasm.
Tiyan, now completely suspended in weightlessness, felt his unmoving heart boiling, nearly leaping out of his chest.
But aside from screaming with all his might, he had no way to alleviate the sheer terror gripping him.
Three minutes.
They plummeted for a full three minutes at supersonic velocity.
Finally, Tiyan could discern the floor of this deep, wide channel.
There, vaguely visible, hundreds of thousands of 'stars' that constantly shifted their positions were twinkling, almost mimicking a night sky.
Such a bizarre spectacle, at first glance, made it seem as if the heavens lay beneath them.
Simultaneously, from that depth came roars even grander and more resonant than the 8000m waterfall, inspiring surprise and outright terror as to what might lie below.
"Bang!"
Elder Yan reduced their speed just in time, and simultaneously, gripping Tiyan, instantly broke free from the water's surface, leaping into the 'sky' faintly dotted with light. He then began gliding downward along a vast, curving trajectory.
Waves of thunder echoed in their ears.
The old man, still carrying the youth, passed through thick dark clouds, effortlessly evading streaks of lightning. After a few occasional nearby thunderous flashes, he smoothly glided downward toward the vast, boiling ocean below.
Upon reaching this lower level, the specific environment at the base of the deep waterfall gradually became apparent.
It was clearly an expansive and boundless space, tightly bordered by a blazing, slow-moving underground ocean.
Rumble!
Rumble!
Rumble!!
Dense dark clouds piled up over the churning sea, and bolts of angry thunder continuously echoed.
It turned out that the 'stars' Elder Yan and Tiyan had previously seen twinkling far below while rapidly 'flying' down the waterfall were, in fact, caused by the continuous lightning discharges in the 'sky' of the colossal cavern's boundless ocean, deep within this subterranean realm.
And as the two pierced through layers of thunderclouds like arrows, gliding downward, they encountered an even more magnificent natural spectacle.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!
Boom boom boom boom!!!
The 8000m-wide torrent of the waterfall, dropping from an altitude of nearly one hundred thousand meters, violently slammed into the boundless boiling sea, carving out a colossal vortex of water, ten kilometers in diameter.
Within this terrifying, massive whirlpool, resembling the gaping maw of a demon dragon, countless furiously roaring waves and eddies chased each other, swirling rapidly around this 'hole' in the sea.
Dense, opaque steam billowed upward from the 'hole,' enveloping the sky and blanketing the sea surface.
Gurgle gurgle gurgle—
Gurgle gurgle—
And outside the gigantic vortex, this sea, situated in the deep recesses of the earth's crust, remained in a perpetual state of boiling.
The reason for this was that for countless eons, countless tons of blazing magma had continuously climbed upward from the outer depths of the seabed, erupting onto the sea surface. Like venting its accumulated fury, it continuously spewed forth the raw power that had built up on planet Obast for hundreds of millions of years, thereby causing the entire sea to incessantly boil and roar.
Gurgle gurgle gurgle—
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
Incessantly, thick clouds of steam, heavily laden with large quantities of uranium ore dust and residue, rose from the sea surface, stretching boundlessly to the heavens and obscuring the ocean.
And just as Elder Yan flew rapidly with Tiyan across the sea surface, the dark, thick overhead clouds—whose depth was immeasurable—violently collided and rubbed against each other, eventually forming a vast lightning grid that covered half of the 'sky.'
Crackling crackling crackling crackling crackling crackling!!
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
There was no sun here, yet the constantly erupting lightning flashes were sufficient to illuminate all things.
Beneath the dazzling lightning, along their trajectory, a thousand meters ahead, on the sheer face of a colossal cliff tens of thousands of meters high—connecting sky and sea—thousands upon thousands of irregularly sized, honeycomb-shaped stone structures were embedded and built at an angle.
These structures were interconnected by hundreds of thousands of narrow, bridge-like stone pathways, piled one upon another, layering endlessly, almost resembling the 'dense branches and leaves' of an ancient, massive tree.
On one of these precarious bridges, a Lead Race woman, her head concealed by a coarse linen hood, was slowly waving toward Tiyan and the old man as they swiftly approached the distant boiling sea.
And just a dozen meters behind her, situated on a large stone platform, stood a gray-white divine statue, easily over ten meters tall.
This god statue, whose material resembled both metal and rock, appearing extremely ancient and remote, was carved in the exact likeness of... Godshell.
