41: Chapter 41 Pseudo-Advanced Level!! The Guardians of Light Reappear

Beneath the night sky, the queen's broad bat-like wings fluttered gently, like a nightmare monarch descending in the darkness.

Her crimson, blood-diamond pupils swept slowly over the four figures standing guard at the window with a cat-and-mouse-like mockery.

"Pitiful insects..." her red lips parted slightly, her voice carrying a strange magnetic resonance that struck directly at their mental plane. "You should be proud to have made me—Olivia, Heart of the Zerg Swarm—expend so much effort. Now, the game should end."

She elegantly raised a hand, her fingers slender, but her nails shimmered with a metallic, ghostly light. A mental pressure far more immense and viscous than before began to coalesce. Invisible energy seemed to gather in the air, ready to utterly crush its prey.

At this life-or-death moment—

An anomaly descended!

From the far distant horizon, a condensed stream of stark white particles tore through the vast distance, piercing the night sky!

It came too fast! As fast as a judgment crossing space. The queen's expression of absolute control instantly shattered, replaced by a primal terror born of survival instinct! It was power enough to erase her completely!

Driven by the instinct to survive, the queen reacted at her limit. Her entire body's psionic energy burned wildly, attempting to warp space for a short-distance jump. But the speed of the particle stream exceeded her current evasion limit!

"No—!!"

Amid a shrill, agonized shriek, she could only twist to the side with all her might.

*Ssss—!!!*

A sound like metal instantly vaporizing in a high-temperature furnace. The stark white stream grazed past her back.

Those bat-like wings, symbols of her identity, upon contact, vanished without a sound like ice and snow thrown into a blazing sun, vaporizing instantly.

The residual edge of the particle stream mercilessly tore through large swathes of the black scales on her back. The scales melted and peeled away, revealing skin as white and smooth as jade beneath, even faintly revealing the pulsing energy channels and bones underneath.

A tremendous sense of weakness washed over her. Like a bird with broken wings, she plummeted uncontrollably from the air.

"It's the high-energy directional particle cannon from the capital defense network!" Chen Jingyi confirmed the attack source from the data stream on her tactical visor, her voice trembling with a hint of post-crisis relief. "Command Center's timing was perfect!"

"She's not dead yet! Strike while she's down!" Elia's eyes flashed with cold light. Her hands moved rapidly before her chest, the moonlight around her erupting with unprecedented brilliance. The cool, clear radiance made her look like a moon goddess descended to earth.

Beams of moonlight, reaching from heaven to earth, swept towards the still-falling queen, pinning the temporarily immobile monarch in mid-air. Accompanying the moonlight was a rain of massive crystalline ice swords.

Attacks rivaling the main cannons of small starships rained down on the queen like rapid-fire artillery, exploding into a sky full of icy dust. The surrounding temperature plummeted, water vapor condensed into ice crystals, and the air filled with mist like a fairyland.

Almost simultaneously, the drone swarm controlled by Chen Jingyi, like an enraged hive of bees, emitted a dense hum and dove down. Scorching particle beams swept like a storm, precisely strafing the area shrouded in icy mist.

Li Yuan's eyes were even colder. His arm swung repeatedly, launching countless specially-made high-explosive grenades in parabolic arcs into the death zone interwoven with ice and light.

*Boom! Boom! Boom! BOOM—!*

A deafening series of explosions, an infinite aerial barrage, rang out one after another. Flames shot skyward, violently clashing with the extreme chill of the moonlight, creating turbulent energy currents.

Ice shards and shrapnel flew together; raging flames and freezing tides danced in unison. At the center of this hellish saturation strike, the queen, having lost her flight capability and sustained heavy injuries, could only rely on her remaining scales and the Zerg's tenacious vitality to endure.

"Ugh! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah—!"

Until... the icy mist enveloped the entire area, the queen's position became indistinguishable, and the continuous attacks left Aria breathing slightly heavily as the moonlight faded. Only then did the laws of physics reassert their dominance over the queen's body.

It must be said that Aria's moonlight locking ability was somewhat overpowered. An absolute lock that even a target one rank higher couldn't break free from gave them the courage to fight beyond their tier.

The queen was violently blasted away by the shockwaves of the explosions. Her delicate form, like a broken doll, smashed through the armored hulls of three heavy hover vehicles in succession. Finally, with a series of teeth-grating sounds, she slammed heavily into the load-bearing wall of a construction site, rubble and twisted metal burying over half her body.

"Chen Jingyi, hold position and await rescue. Elia, let's go! Down to confirm the results! Maintain highest alert!" Li Yuan barked a low command.

The three of them didn't hesitate for a second, immediately leaping from the window. After a few bounds, they landed steadily at the edge of the construction site.

They didn't charge recklessly. With the Light Guardian at the point, they formed a standard tactical alert formation, weapons aimed at the chaotic crash site, advancing slowly. The air was thick with the acrid smell of gunpowder, the ozone of ionized air, and a sweet, cloying, bloody scent—the silver blood the queen shed after being wounded.

About a hundred meters from the human-shaped crater, Li Yuan suddenly raised his right fist, signaling the team to halt. The two battlefield laws—'smoke means no injury' and 'being blasted away means survival'—combined with his combat-honed intuition, made his heart tighten abruptly.

"Careful! The life signature ahead hasn't dissipated!" Laya warned.

Her words had barely faded—

*Whoosh!*

A shadowy energy blade, its edges shimmering with spatial distortion, shot out without warning from the rubble pile burying the queen! This energy blade was only about a foot long, but its speed far exceeded that of sound!

The first casualties were the three high-precision reconnaissance drones Chen Jingyi was remotely piloting at the front. They didn't even have a chance to evade before being silently sliced into their most basic particles, utterly annihilated!

The energy blade continued its trajectory unabated, like the scythe of death, heading straight for the squad's strongest damage dealer, Elia!

At the critical moment, the Light Guardian who had been guarding the front shifted forward. Its heavy shield of light expanded violently, standing like an insurmountable mountain in the path of the energy blade.

*BOOM—!!!*

The brilliant light surrounding the Light Guardian visibly dimmed at a rapid rate. In just one strike, its energy level instantly dropped by about forty percent!

Everyone's hearts sank. Even after suffering such grievous wounds, the queen's hasty counterattack still possessed such terrifying power!

"Song of Light!"

Laya's ethereal voice rang out immediately. Gentle, holy light surged like a warm tide towards the dimmed Light Guardian.

Under the powerful restorative ability of the [Song of Light], the Light Guardian's condition quickly stabilized and began to recover.

"Ahem..." A faint coughing sound came from the rubble pile. The covering debris was pushed aside, and the queen's figure once again staggered to her feet.

Her current state was utterly wretched. Her bat-like wings were gone, her smooth back now bore only two bowl-sized scars with a trickle of silver blood seeping out and flowing down her spine. Some of her silver hair was slightly singed and curled from the battle's aftermath, a few strands stuck to her exquisitely beautiful face, adding a touch of disarray.

Only... the black scales covering her body were mostly melted and stripped away from her back by the high-energy particle beam. Other parts were riddled with cracks large and small, barely concealing her snow-white skin, instead lending a heart-wrenching sense of fragility.

"You... you damned... insects!" she gasped, though her voice didn't sound particularly weak for someone so grievously wounded. "How dare you... how dare you wound me... to this extent!"

She abruptly raised a hand, wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, and roared in fury. "Do you think this is enough to defeat me? My dignity, Olivia's majesty, is not something you can defile!"

Villains die from talking too much! While she spoke, the Light Guardian had already regained its full strength and charged at the Zerg Queen once more.

"Get lost! Annoying monstrosity!" the queen snarled, waving her hand to send another shadowy energy blade shooting out. This time, however, the Light Guardian nimbly dodged, choosing not to block it head-on. The energy blade whistled past, cleaving through a low bungalow before vanishing into the night.

"Watch the trajectory of her energy blades! Elia, provide long-range suppression, disrupt her from gathering high-power attacks! Laya, blanket the entire area with the Song of Light, create a combat environment for the Light Guardian!" Li Yuan rattled off commands at high speed, his brain operating like an overclocked processor, calmly analyzing the battle.

He could sense it. Although the queen was severely wounded, every single one of her attacks remained lethal. And their only Light Guardian couldn't bear the brunt of the tanking role. They needed to fully utilize Laya's saturation healing to create recovery windows.

Fortunately, the Light Guardian's combat experience far exceeded everyone's expectations. Combined with the need to dodge Aria's constantly falling moonlight, most of the queen's attacks slashed through empty air. Only the few energy blades aimed at Li Yuan, Laya, and Elia were forcefully blocked by the Light Guardian with its body.

Under the Light Guardian's desperate protection and Elia's long-range moonlight suppression, the squad temporarily avoided casualties.

But the queen's counterattacks grew increasingly frenzied and, disturbingly, more intelligent. It seemed she was regaining her rationality during the prolonged fight. More and more shadowy energy blades were now aimed at Li Yuan and the other two.

The Light Guardian's light flickered like a candle in the wind, bright one moment, dim the next. Li Yuan clearly felt that this Light Guardian might truly be completely shattered by the subsequent attacks!

He couldn't wait any longer! He had to use his trump card!

Li Yuan took a deep breath and conveyed a clear thought to Laya through their soul link—*Cover me. I'm bringing out the Order of the Light Guardians.*

The next moment, another anomaly manifested!

A pure, thick pillar of golden light, as if channeling the mighty power of the sacred heavens, pierced through the gloom of the night sky without warning, enveloping Li Yuan!

Within the light pillar, countless minute runes of light danced like snowflakes. His aura began to climb sharply! His clothes flapped violently, his black hair whipped about as if in a gale. Within his eyes, the originally pitch-black pupils were dyed a pure gold, as if liquid holy flames flowed within! A pressure far exceeding his previous display erupted from him, spreading outwards with a boom!

"This aura... is it an advancement?! Did he break through during the battle?!" Elia, sensing that vast, majestic presence, was filled with disbelief.

But this was not a true advancement. It was a play long planned by Li Yuan and Laya. A performance to allow the Order of the Light Guardians to make its formal debut, and to avoid the world-shaking spectacle of Li Yuan's genuine promotion to Tier 3.

They had orchestrated this act of a false advancement. After all, ten Light Guardians capable of withstanding Tier 4 attacks without falling was a bit excessive for a Tier 2, B-grade talent.

Now, they had the perfect stage built by the Zerg Queen, Olivia, to perform this act.

Laya, utilizing the high-level authority over light energy possessed by the Angel of Hope, had fabricated this battle advancement blessed by the heavens.

Under everyone's gaze, Li Yuan, enveloped in the golden light pillar, slowly raised both hands.

*Humm—!!!*

On the battlefield before Li Yuan, massive, complex, and profound light magic circles lit up one after another! Then, one, two, three... a full nine brand new Light Guardians took form within the circles, accompanied by soul-shaking holy fluctuations!

The moment they appeared, all the warriors swarmed forward. The ten fighters coordinated with impeccable synergy, covering and dodging for each other. The Zerg Queen, dodging left and right, found she could no longer harm them in the slightest!

And this, was not all!

Behind the nine newly-born Light Guardians, a slightly smaller magic circle lit up. A figure clad in starry, radiant robes solidified.

Its face was shrouded in a soft halo, its specific features indistinct, but the elegant femininecontour was clearly discernible. In its hand, it held a staff constructed from pure light energy, its tip adorned with aillusory gem! As the staff waved, spells of healing, support,imprisonment, and damage flew towards the Zerg Queen.

Cooperate Elia's Moonlight Condensing Ice, while they still couldn't instantly slay the queen on the spot, the offense and defense had clearly reversed.

The queen, who had always appeared composed and in control, maintaining her arrogance and contempt even while injured, now, for the first time, showed a distinct change in expression on her exquisitely beautiful face.

This was not herHome!

A stalemate here meant death!