117: Chapter 117 Leia suggests trying to fight the Thunder Beast.

Elia lay on Li Yuan's chest, her silver hair spread over his shoulders, and a cool, refreshing scent lingered at the tip of his nose. Her body stiffened for half a second, but then—unexpectedly, she didn't pull away immediately. Instead, as if shedding some sort of disguise, she sighed softly and relaxed her tensed shoulders.

Li Yuan could feel the change in the young girl in his arms as she went from stiff to soft. He lowered his head and saw Elia's flushed earlobes and slightly trembling eyelashes, while his hands habitually began to massage her.

"Mmm." Aria let out a soft sound, but she didn't object, letting Li Yuan continue his movements.

Laya covered her mouth and giggled on the side, her ice-blue eyes full of the cunning of someone who had succeeded. She sat back down on Li Yuan's other side, reached out to wrap her arms around his waist, pressed her face against his shoulder, and looked at Elia: "See? Isn't this great? Sister Elia clearly wanted to be massaged too..."

Elia did not refute her. She simply buried her face deeper into Li Yuan's chest, and a muffled voice came out: "...Laya, you really are..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but there was no anger in her tone, only a resigned helplessness and a hint of... deeply hidden indulgence.

Feeling the body heat of the two young girls in his arms, Li Yuan didn't know what to say for a moment. He could only gently pat Elia's back, while his other hand rubbed Laya's hair: "You two..."

The command vehicle drove smoothly. Through the window, one could see the monotonous scenery outside—grey-green creep covered the rolling hills, and occasionally a few clusters of mutated purple ferns stubbornly poked out from the gaps in the creep. On the distant horizon, one could faintly see the temporary sentry towers built by the Angel Defense Zone, with soft light orbs floating at the top of the towers; those were the Holy Light beacons.

The cleanup work was indeed going very smoothly.

Or rather, it was going too smoothly.

When the Light Guardian legion entered the Angel Defense Zone, their speed of advance was pushed to the max.

The Xing Tian mechs' "Steel Rain" heavy ion cannon array fired in unison, their crossfire covering all ground units ahead. The Black Tortoise tanks' complex phase particle cannons formed a crossfire network, capable of even dragging out Stalkers hiding in rock crevices and blasting them into slag.

The efficiency of the Light Guardians was astonishing—the precise coordination they displayed while operating their equipment made Ling Xi, who was monitoring the battlefield remotely, stare in disbelief.

"My god..." This soft and cute angel squad leader stood in front of the display screen inside the command center, which was playing footage of the creep nodes on the periphery of the defense zone being rapidly cleared, and muttered, "Is this how you usually... fight wars?"

"Pretty much." Li Yuan stood beside her and replied casually, "Efficiency is the priority."

"But this efficiency is just too..." Ling Xi swallowed hard, "Our squad worked hard for three days and only advanced 35%, but you guys have pushed 10% in just two hours..."

"This is the meaning of 'truth lies within the range of artillery fire'." Li Yuan smiled.

If you can't blow it up, increase the firepower and blow it up again. Guided by the entire race's 'insufficient firepower phobia', the weapons of the Blazing Dragon Federation loved this kind of large-scale firepower coverage.

The entire cleanup process was without incident—the Zerg simply could not organize effective resistance.

By the time they took a break at noon, Li Yuan's team had already punched through the direct channel between the two bases. They met up with the angel girls of Ling Xi's squad at the angel base.

When both sides sat together eating lunch, the gazes the angel ladies cast toward Li Yuan and his group were already filled with admiration.

Laya was pulled by a few angel ladies who asked her all sorts of questions—after all, she was also a Light-element talent user, and that kind of warm, healing power of the Song of Light made the angels feel especially close to her.

"Little Sister Laya, how do you cultivate your Song of Light? It feels quite different from our angels' Holy Light Arts..."

"Classmate Li Yuan's Light Guardians are really amazing! How do they achieve such precise coordination?"

"Does your Blazing Dragon Federation academy still recruit exchange students? I want to go and study..."

Laya was dizzy from being questioned and finally ran back to the command vehicle as if fleeing.

"Master, help me!" She buried her face in Li Yuan's chest, "They have too many questions!"

Li Yuan smiled and hugged her, looking out the command vehicle window.

In the distance, the outlines of continuous mountain ranges loomed in the thin atmosphere. But he knew, those were not mountains.

That was the sleeping figure of an Ultralisk.

After losing the command of the Cerebrates, most of these giant beasts chose to hibernate deep within the creep, relying on absorbing geothermal heat and bio-energy to maintain basic activities. Unless subjected to strong stimulation, they could sleep like this for years.

Laya followed his gaze and suddenly blinked.

"Brother Li Yuan," she said softly, "those Ultralisks... look so big."

"Mmm, an adult Ultralisk has an average height of 1,200 meters and weighs over 5 million tons," Li Yuan recited the data casually, "It is the largest conventional unit that human ground forces can encounter."

"Then..." Laya raised her head, a flash of excitement in her ice-blue eyes, "Can we fight one?"

Li Yuan was stunned.

Elia also looked up from the map and looked at Laya.

The command vehicle was quiet for a few seconds.

Elia spoke first, her voice full of seriousness: "Theoretically, it is feasible. An Ultralisk's defense mainly relies on its thick biological armor and powerful vitality, but its attack pattern is relatively singular, lacking long-range capabilities. If we can maintain mobility and utilize terrain and range advantages..."

She didn't finish, but the meaning was clear—it was worth a try.

Li Yuan fell into thought.

Indeed, looking at their paper combat power, they were nominally a Tier 4 healer, a Tier 4 summoner, and a Tier 3 mage—but in reality, Laya was an all-around angel, and although Li Yuan and Elia were Tier 3, both possessed attack or defense power exceeding Tier 3.

Theoretically, their squad already possessed the qualifications to challenge an Ultralisk. The Light Guardians and Li Yuan's Intent of the Northern Darkness could provide powerful protection; the Light-Bathing Battle Spirits's attack, healing, and support abilities were all very strong; Elia's Moonlight Power could both control and possessed damage capabilities exceeding the limit; and he himself still had the String-Controlling Weaver profession. Now, since Laya and Elia were both his own people, there was no need to hide their strength.

More importantly—according to the trial plan, they would soon have to face the incoming true Zerg legion, which should contain more than one Ultralisk. If they didn't challenge an Ultralisk now to test their strength, were they supposed to wait until the critical moment of life and death to sharpen their spears? Theoretically, according to the fleet's calculations, it shouldn't be too difficult for them to fight an Ultralisk.

Elia spoke up again at this moment, her voice calm but serious: "From a tactical perspective, it is feasible. According to historical data, the Ultralisk does not possess the ability to obstruct Tier 4 high-level talent users. It's mainly because its size is too intimidating—"

She paused, her ice-blue eyes looking at Li Yuan: "—If we can succeed, it will be a huge improvement in everyone's practical combat experience. After all, in a few days, we may be facing not just one Ultralisk, but an organized Zerg legion."

Li Yuan looked at the light flickering in his two teammates' eyes and finally nodded.

"Alright." Li Yuan made his decision.

He ordered the Light Guardian legion to maintain their current pace of advance and assist Ling Xi's squad in completing the cleanup mission of the Angel Defense Zone according to the plan.

He took the battle fortress, 10 Light Guardian guards, and the Light-Bathing Battle Spirits to challenge the Ultralisk.

Then, he switched to the base channel: "Senior Brother Chu, Luo Lan, Laya, Elia, and I are going to take care of some business, we might be back a bit late today."

"What business?" Chu Xinghe's voice came through, with the sound of robots operating in the background.

"...Going to try fighting an Ultralisk."

There was silence on the other end of the communication for three seconds.

Then came Chu Xinghe's explosive laughter: "Hahahaha, nice! As expected of you guys! Alright, go ahead, be safe. If you can't beat it, run; it's not embarrassing!"

"Understood, but theoretically, there is no possibility of not being able to beat it."

Ending the communication, Li Yuan looked at his two teammates.

"How much combat power are we taking with us?" Elia asked.

Li Yuan thought for a moment: "Travel light. We must bring the Light-Bathing Battle Spirits. We don't know the strength of the Ultralisk yet, but I assume it definitely can't one-shot the Light-Bathing Battle Spirits. If it can't one-shot it, that means the Light-Bathing Battle Spirits can heal it back up; this is our safety net. We'll also bring ten Light Guardians, and we'll drive this battle fortress over."

"What about the mechs and tanks?"

"We're not taking them." Li Yuan shook his head, "The core mission is still clearing the defense zone; we're just going to test the Ultralisk's strength."

He pulled up the map and pointed to the nearest Ultralisk—about eighty kilometers away, sleeping in the center of a vast creep basin.

"That's the one. Height is about 1,300 meters, body length is 2,700 meters, and according to the scan data, the carapace thickness is between 20 and 40 meters... a standard adult."

Laya leaned over to look and stuck out her tongue: "So big."

"We haven't fought an Ultralisk before, so this time is to test its strength," Li Yuan began to organize, "After arriving at the target area, Elia will first use Moonlight Power for environmental control to create a low-temperature field to reduce the Ultralisk's movement speed. Laya, activate your Angel Stance and be ready to use your ultimate at any time, striking with the Heaven-Descending Holy Sword. I will command the Light Guardians and the Light-Bathing Battle Spirits to lead the main attack."

"Shall we set off then?"

"Let's go!"