Chapter 1326: Fleeing
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
No one knew if Lockmarton was capable of logical thinking or if he possessed emotions such as fear and remorse. But Hao Ren was sure that Lockmarton was caught unawares by what unfolded before him.
The eroded and weakened prison did not collapse for the past 10,000 years, as it was indestructible. However, it finally opened. What was more surprising, the opening led directly to an external universe.
When the fissure formed and was torn apart by tremors, Lockmarton had realized that something was wrong. A trap awaited him, but the suction force of the spatial rift was too powerful, and he was taken with no time to correct his mistake. Twenty-two large gravitational field generators placed in space were waiting for him. The gravitational force of these generators could capture small celestial objects that whizzed through space at high speed.
Even if Lockmarton possessed various magical abilities and power, he would find it hard to get away from these machines.
Had Geddon opened a passage early in the beginning, or lifted the prison barrier of the Forgotten Abyss too soon, Lockmarton would never be fooled. With his demigod intuition, he would have known that it was a trap and that dangers awaited him on the outside. With that in mind, Hao Ren decided to use a reverse psychological strategy; letting Lockmarton open the door by himself.
What Geddon and Hao Ren did was only unlock and leave the prison gate ajar.
However, Lockmarton was not a fool. He certainly would not cooperate with them to break the prison gate. He had been held up there for a long time and tried to escape without success. Lockmarton would need an inducement, an impulse of urgency to escape.
The attack on Spiral Hill wore his patience, and the wardens as well as Hao Ren’s attacks consumed his confidence. Most importantly, the use of the power similar to that of the goddess of creation had created a sense of crisis in Lockmarton.
This sense of crisis would not frighten Lockmarton, and Hao Ren knew this very well. In Hao Ren’s prediction, even if the power of the goddess of creation appeared before Lockmarton, he would only be alarmed for a while before quickly finding out that it was a trick. But Hao Ren planned to just frighten Lockmarton a bit. As soon as Lockmarton began to have the impulse to escape, he would open the prison gate. All of this would happen without first alarming Lockmarton, even with his demigod-level alertness.
As Lockmarton fell into the spatial rift, the monsters of Chaos dissipated like elusive reflections in the water. The Sanctum army was rooted to the spot as those surviving warriors could not believe what they saw: was everything over?
Like the other nine wardens, Geddon, the Lord of the Mountains dropped back to the earth. They were so exhausted that they could not even stand on their feet. Every one of them had wounds on the body with sparks and flame spurted out from their hard shells. They had used up all their remaining strength. The use of the “alien” divine item to simulate the power of the goddess of creation had produced a severe side effect. If Lockmarton were a little more alert and launching a counterattack, none the wardens would be able to survive.
“Is it over?” Geddon looked up at the sky that was clearing gradually.
In the air, a swarm of bats shapeshifted into the image of Vivian. The Light of Order around her dissipated following the disappearance of the Chaos. She looked around, and finally, her eyes landed on Hao Ren. “Is it over?”
“Of course not yet.” Hao Ren let out a sigh.
He looked at the Sanctum army and the 10 wardens, who were struggling to stand up.
“Their battle is over, but for Lockmarton, the real battle has just begun. MDT—”
“Understood.”
A bright light flashed across everyone’s eye, and Hao Ren had disappeared from the place.
In the outer universe, a light suddenly appeared out of thin air, piercing through the darkness.
In the rapidly expanding space fissure, glaring energy arc and various mysterious shadows appeared. From the hundred-kilometer long crack, a large lump of dark matter like the graffiti of an insane artist emerged.
Thanks to the goddess of creation, Lockmarton spent tens of millions of years in prison, and then a further 10,000 years in the dungeon guarded by the wardens and prison security system. Had Lockmarton not realized that it was a trap, he would feel that it was his lucky day to be able to see the stars of the outer universe. But at this moment, Lockmarton’s first reaction was to retract all of his tentacles and hide under the massive layer of a protective shield.
The tyrant of nightmares retained a better thinking ability than the mad First Borns.
Lockmarton’s reaction made sense. As soon as he gathered his tentacles, lights began to burst from all directions.
Thousands of turrets and blinding light made up the missile formation, which represented the Order, and the artillery was the glory. Within the firing range of the cannons, each heretic would get to learn first hand what justice from heaven was like, and how powerful the goddess was.
Raven 12345 told Hao Ren about that during a “corporate culture” lecture earlier. The raw version was considerably more violent. Hao Ren had decided to censor the foul language so that it was appropriate for the consumption of teenagers.
When the space artillery network burst into light, a ghostly silver-white spaceship emerged from the darkness. The psionic conducting lattice on the bow of the spaceship glowed in faint blue light as powerful energy was focused on the crystal on the main cannon.
Hao Ren stood in the flight deck of the Petrachelys and quietly stared at Lockmarton, which was in the crosshairs of the artilleries.
“All units are free to shoot.”
Firepower lit up space instantly.
Various physical and non-physical artillery fires and missiles hit Lockmarton’s shield. The huge mass of meat finally felt a threat he had never felt since the goddess of creation last suppressed him. He frantically released his spiritual power, trying to reverse the situation with his power of nightmare. Many of his weaker opponents fell for his tricks previously. But this time, the method did not work, as though his spirit attack had sunk into the water like a stone.
In this region of space, all turrets were unmanned. Hao Ren, the commander of the operation, was the only one present.
When the gunfire hit Lockmarton, he quickly realized that he had made a mistake and pulled back his spiritual power. The spirit power then turned into illusory monsters and materialized in the real world, forming an army of guards around Lockmarton.
But the gunfire hit the guards, and they disintegrated quickly.
“Resistance is stronger than expected,” Nolan’s robotic voice sounded beside Hao Ren. “An unknown structure has been detected. Conventional firepower will not be able to eliminate it.”
Hao Ren’s face was as calm as a pool of water.
Lockmarton’s defense was disintegrating. The legion of nightmares that he summoned may have been an inexhaustible army in Collow, but under the firepower of the space artillery network, they appeared to be a little more robust than a blanket of clouds, and they dissipated rapidly.
The distorted, indescribable body of Chaos, and his tentacles that formed the interior defense finally appeared.
But both the physical and energy shields, which Lockmarton had built over the past 10,000 years, also began to fall apart under continuous bombardment. Black matter and strange haze fell off Lockmarton’s body and were further purified by gunfire.
Different recording devices, which Hao Ren had set up in the vicinity, began to swing into action, recording every subtle change as Lockmarton’s body disintegrated.
Lockmarton was an extremely powerful demigod. He had likely stolen the authority of the true God. For this reason, every minute detail of the demigod’s disintegration had to be recorded.
Finally, Lockmarton’s black outer shell fell apart completely, exposing the shiny runic structure inside. Those runes ran wildly without any particular order.
Beneath the runic shell was a layer of pure fog. And beneath the mist was a light.
Under the intense bombardment of firepower, Lockmarton had undergone various changes. Layers of strange structures had been exposed, but he did not die. He even continued to defend himself and struggled to flee the range of fire. His tenacity was mind-boggling and beyond logic.
At last, his entire physical body dissipated, leaving behind an indestructible core. The core was only a few meters in diameter, shimmering like faint moonlight.
Space firepower began to hit an obstacle in front of the core of Lockmarton.
The gunfire seemed to have suddenly failed. Over 90% of the attacks disappeared around the shimmering core. Few could penetrate its defenses. But those hitting it caused little damage as the core could self-repair quicker than the damage gunfire could cause.
Conventional firepower would not destroy Lockmarton.
Lockmarton recovered from his defensive situation. He began to shift quickly away from the trap of gunfire and fled toward a direction in space, where he felt safe.
Its judgment, cautiousness, and suspiciousness seemed to disappear entirely under the influence of some unknown forces.
In his path of escape, everything crumbled. Lockmarton’s core seemed to have affected the turrets’ aiming accuracy, causing them to fire among themselves. Lockmarton had created a trail of explosions along his escape route.
He lunged straight into a dark vortex and ultimately got away from the network of fire.