Chapter 454: The Battle Is Imminent
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The fleet of Aerymian elves stormed through the bubble zone. These elves from another world did not feel a thing about the defenses of this world. Although they were nervous and highly alert at departure as it was their first ever real 'interstellar combat' mission, soon they found the enemy's 'air force' was not worthy their attention. Only a few griffin forces and strange flying soldiers tried to intercept them from afar, but were quickly smoked by their fleet, and simply not a threat.
If it were not for Aerymian spacecrafts did not possess the warp jump capability and had to follow a fixed route by going through the gateways between the bubble zones, things could be a lot easier.
Of course, one important reason why they were able to fly through the bubble without much resistence was because the bubble zone natives were caught by surprise and did not know how to react. When the fleet entered the atmosphere, it was something totally unheard of in this world. The natives did not even know what it was. Only until the Aerymian spacecrafts forced the teleport door open under the guidance of the Petrachelys, the natives started to realize that it was a group of 'enemies'. By that time, the alien fleet had already disappeared before them. With a large group of aliens suddenly flew by, beside being flabbergasted, what else could one do?
Near the fourth gateway of Cadeceus, soldiers neatly lifted their heads gazing into heaven, all were at loss. An elderly commander was heard muttering to his lieutenant, "What the hell are those things?"
"I have no idea. Just receive message from Senjin Plane, those steel monsters have just zoomed past their sky... just passing by?"
Similar conversations can be heard at many gateways in many planes. Wherever the Aerymian elven fleet went, it left behind a trail of awe and wonder.
Meanwhile, at the wreckage site, the makever operation was almost completed. A large number of gravity regulators had been installed various key points both inside and outside the spacecraft wreckage, creating an anti-gravity field that enveloped the entire wreckage. At least three gravity regulators were installed in each effective range, so that even if one was damaged the wreckage would not fall from the sky. After all the engineers left the wreckage, Hao Ren tested activating the anti-gravity system. It worked perfectly—a space fortress patched in rivets, super glue, cast iron bolts, wire ropes, and iron hoops.
Hao Ren and the others stood on the tower of the outer city wall of Helcrown, looking at the huge wreckage from a distance. The wreckage was several times bigger than even Helcrown. But as spectacular as it was, the state of dilapidation was hard to ignore. Vivian held a small bat and tossed it in her hand as she whispered. "Why I have the feeling that his thing looks even more broken than before the repair?"
Hao Ren facepalmed, thinking of his unsightly 'engineering masterpiece'. He was almost reluctant to admit that it was a project under his auspice, but he put a brave face on it and said, "It's just an illusion... most of the gravity regulators are inside. What can you on the outside?"
Y'zaks scratched his head awkwardly. "In fact, we do have a more advanced installation technique, but due to time constraint, we couldn't produce the necessary brackets for the the gravity regulators... we could only improvise."
Truly patriotic, the demon king didn't not let the opportunity pass without promoting his local industries despite the difficult times.
"Well, as long as the things not fall apart before the the wreckage arrives its destination, that would be okay," Hao Ren put up a dry smile, "We couldn't afford to let the gravity regulators to fall off, misalignment of a few gravity regulators could have triggered a chain reaction which would wipe out half of the power."
"Is that what your bat for?" Lily's mind always worked weirdly and differently. She had been eyeballing the bat in Vivian's hands for a while but managing to resist her biting urge. "Honestly, I'm confused..."
Vivian looked down at the little bat and said, "I'm just bored, but it's for the same reason you chase and bite your own tail. Is that what your tail for?"
Lily suddenly said in a serious tone of voice, "If tail isn't for biting, then why should I keep it?"
Everyone around: "....."
Lanina turned her head and pulled her tail a few times, as if the World Gate had been opened. But considering the succubus had a weird behaviour all this while, let's just let her be.
After the gravity test was completed, they also had to solve the propulsion problem. However, the installation of the engine system was not a task the Helcrown engineers could handle. And to be honest, re-equipping a space fortress of several hundred kilometers long with a new engine was inherently impossible. As engine system was not the same as a gravity regulator. While the latter could be dismantled and mounted anywhere, engine was a completely complex system; it consumed a great deal of energy, and needed a lot of things such as power lines, reactors, control centers, nozzles and things like that. The engineering work involved was enormous and even the entire rear-half of the wreckage had to be dismantled. So it was not being considered from the very beginning.
Hao Ren was waiting for the fleet of Aerymian elves to arrive. The fleet had more than a dozen engineering tugs, used by the Aerymian elves to tow the floating islands which had lost power in the 'dead zone'. These tugs were powerful, suitable for working on things like the huge monster of hundreds of kilometers long, and had skilled technicians onboard.
When the tugs could fly around while towing a massive floating island, a mere spaceship wreckage would seem like a child's play.
Shortly after that, the voice of the MDT was heard in Hao Ren's mind. "Yo! Boss, we are just around the corner! Come out quickly!"
Hao Ren turned to Y'zaks and said, "Get your people ready. We're leaving now."
The message calling for depature quickly spread throughout Helcrown. Soldiers immediately stayed in their positions guarding the city, a huge magic barrier was switched into battle-ready mode as Helcrown was shrouded in a layer of pale green, devilish shield. The civilians were ready as well. When the siren sounded, the streets quickly became deserted as all the elderly and children who could not fight was staying indoor with their doors and windows shut and ready to set off on an unknown journey.
Y'zaks stood on the city wall, slowly transformed into a monster lava demon. He clenched his Black Sword, his primary weapon of battle for years which had finally returned to his hands, as he looked down at his feet.
His daughter are carrying a pair of pickaxes climbing up his feet.
"Y'lisbet, go back to the palace," Y'zaks plucked her daughter down from his feet with two fingers and shoved her to Lanina. Amid the kicking and waving of protests from the little girl, Y'zaks solemnly issued his command. "Let's roll!"
The whole city shook as the surrounding space warped with light and shadow. When everything subsided, the dark-red world of the Second Demonic Plane appeared in front of their eyes. As expected, the Demon Legion and the Allied Army were there.
The Allied Army and The Demon Legion swarmed the desolute, red Broken Plain with each occupied one side of the plain. Apparently they had not retreated much since the unexpected encounter several days ago. These people were not fools. They must have already figured out a thing or two after Helcrown appeared twice in The Second Plane. Even if they did not spot the pattern, they would surely remain in here for a year and two. After all, the Demon King Legion was the shadow of this world. Such a horrific opponent, a split second of its appearance could cause the world to fall into terror. It was only natural for the the two forces to remain in the area lest Helcrown appeared again.
And they nailed it this time: Helcrown had indeed appeared again!
Demons and races of the human world had been dead set against each other for a long time despite the effort of Y'zaks. Ironically however, the two opposing forces had reluctantly reached an agreement for a truce in Broken Plain. Though it was not known what content of the agreement was, it would not be far from something like preserving their strength to fight their common enemy and stuff like that. That was why they had stayed put in the Broken Plain—waiting for the reemergence of Helcrown.
The battle is imminent.