144: Chapter 144 New Gadgets

Captain Derek frantically pounded on the communication console inside the incessantly trembling command room, his voice sharp and hoarse with fear: "Tell them we are at the coordinates, we've encountered high-level Human armed forces, and the flagship is about to fall! Requesting immediate support!!!"

"Signal sent! Captain, the Seventh Fleet is just thirty kilometers away, expected to arrive within five minutes!"

"Five minutes? Damn it, that crazy Human woman doesn't even want to give me five seconds!"

Captain Derek whipped his head around; on the optical screen, the eerie blue glow of those five giant cannons had intensified to the extreme.

That level of energy fluctuation—Captain Derek knew very well that against a strike like this, LV5 shields were no different from paper, even if there were three of them.

"Everyone! Abandon ship! Abandon ship immediately!!!"

He didn't even bother to take anything with him, smashing through the reinforced glass of the command room and leaping into the sea of clouds with a few trusted elites.

Inside the mecha, Luo Ning's fingertip gently pressed the final firing key.

"Boom—Boom—Boom—Boom—Boom!!!"

Five eerie blue energy beams, each over three meters in diameter, surged out almost simultaneously, then eerily converged, spiraled, and compressed in mid-air, transforming into a spear of annihilation capable of piercing heaven and earth!

The warship's shield, originally as solid as a fortress, emitted a crisp sound like shattering glass the moment it touched the spear of light, vanishing into thin air in an instant.

The spear of light was unstoppable, piercing from the bow to the stern, instantly tearing this steel behemoth weighing tens of thousands of tons into two pieces!

Along with two other LV5-class warships.

"Rumble—!"

The massive secondary explosion illuminated the night sky as bright as day. Amidst the screams of countless Werewolves, it turned into a huge fireball, with countless fragments falling downwards, leaving burning trails in their wake.

"Quick! Escape that way! Go to that frigate!"

Captain Derek flew toward the last surviving LV4 warship on the edge of the battlefield. That was their last straw.

The surrounding area was densely packed with scattered Werewolf troops fleeing in every direction; like stray dogs, they scrambled in disarray toward the swaying frigate.

"As long as we hold out until reinforcements arrive...!"

Captain Derek shouted while constantly looking back at the burning ruins, terrified that the god-of-slaughter-like mecha might pursue them.

However, just as the surviving frigate adjusted its course, preparing to take in the remnants and escape at full speed, a shadow more majestic than a mountain dove down from the clouds above without warning!

"Whoosh—!!!"

The violent air currents directly ground the few Werewolves flying nearby into pulp.

A behemoth stood firmly between the remnants of the Blood Moon and the direction of the rescue. It was Cloud Top Fortress.

"This is Cloud Top Fortress. By order of the Captain, this path is blocked."

Li Muzi's gentle and soft voice resonated through the airspace via the fortress's loudspeaker array. But to Captain Derek, it sounded like a demonic voice calling for his life.

At this moment, Cloud Top Fortress had completely shed its usual air of tranquility. Under the takeover of the shipboard central AI, EVA, hundreds of weapon silos on the fortress's hull opened in unison.

"Hum—"

A matrix of fifty thousand fully armed drones swarmed out from the side like a dark cloud, densely filling the entire night sky. Hundreds of high-frequency pulse cannons simultaneously locked onto the defeated troops below.

Captain Derek stared blankly at the giant fortress in front of him, his entire body going completely limp in the air.

"Boom—!"

Dozens of blinding tongues of fire cut through the night sky, slamming hard against the energy shield of Cloud Top Fortress.

The warships of the Beast race's Seventh Patrol Fleet finally arrived, their volley illuminating the night sky with a ghastly white light.

"Hahahaha! Reinforcements are here! I don't have to die!"

Seeing this, Captain Derek, who had been in despair, broke into a maniacal grin of ecstasy on his blood-stained face.

"Fire! Blast that Human turtle shell to pieces for me!"

However, inside the fortress command center, Li Muzi's eyes remained calm. Ripples merely appeared on the surface of the defense net, without even a single crack appearing.

"Secondary battery array, fire at will."

Li Muzi issued the order.

Following the order, an overwhelming counterattack of firepower erupted instantly from the massive hull of Cloud Top Fortress! Hundreds of high-frequency pulse cannons and high-explosive missiles wove into an impenetrable net of death, not only easily intercepting the enemy's attacks but also suppressing the five Beast race warships that had come to support, leaving them unable to lift their heads. Amidst the soaring flames, the fortress was actually displaying absolute dominance in a one-versus-many battle!

Meanwhile.

"Beep."

Zhou An's voice sounded in Sheila's communication channel: "Sheila, forget about those fleeing small fry. Go and forcibly salvage the wreckage of those three LV5 flagships. See if you can get any rare materials out of them."

"Received!"

Sheila immediately turned her mecha and dove toward the falling flagship wreckage below.

Zhou An, holding the dripping [star-extinguishing blade], glanced at the fleet exchanging fire in the distance and said through the channel: "Luo Ning, go and say hello to those reinforcements."

In the night sky, Captain Derek was commanding the remaining Werewolf individual soldiers to move toward the reinforcements. Just as he thought he had narrowly escaped death, the space beside him suddenly distorted eerily.

[space warp] was suddenly activated!

Zhou An appeared out of thin air beside Captain Derek like a phantom. Without a word, the dark golden blade in his hand created a grim afterimage as he slashed horizontally!

"What?!"

Captain Derek's pupils constricted sharply; the instinct honed from years of walking on the edge of life and death made him subconsciously raise the remaining exoskeleton armor on his arm to block.

"Puchi—!"

Blood and bone fragments flew! The blade sliced through the armor without any resistance, leaving a terrifying, bone-deep gash across Captain Derek's chest, and a mist of hot blood instantly exploded in mid-air!

"Roar! I'll fight you to the death!"

The excruciating pain drove Captain Derek into a frenzy. His eyes turned scarlet, and his sharp wolf claws, imbued with violent psionic energy, thrust straight at Zhou An's face.

Zhou An's eyes were cold as frost; instead of retreating, he advanced. He slightly sidestepped to avoid the fatal blow, then used the momentum to press the blade down, the tip precisely piercing Captain Derek's abdomen. Immediately after, Zhou An exerted force with his wrist and pulled the blade upward!

"Chila—"

A spine-chilling sound of tearing flesh rang out. A ridiculously huge gash was instantly ripped open in Captain Derek's abdomen, and his internal organs, mixed with blood, spilled out as his shrill scream came to an abrupt end. Zhou An kicked away the warm corpse, his figure once again turning into a dark golden bolt of lightning, charging into the group of terrified Werewolf soldiers nearby.

Blade light flickered, and flesh and blood flew. Within a mere dozen seconds, all the Werewolf elites attempting to flee were slaughtered, leaving only a thick scent of blood in the night sky.

In the extremely high airspace on the other side.

Luo Ning piloted her mecha, standing quietly on the clouds, overlooking the chaotic battle between Cloud Top Fortress and the Beast race reinforcements below.

"This level of bombardment is too boring,"

"Might as well take this opportunity to test that 'big toy' I just assembled."

She raised her hand, and a control panel instantly popped up in front of her.

"EVA, open the bottom gate of the weapon arsenal and release that big guy for me!"

"Command confirmed, heavy rail weapon unlocked."

EVA's monotonous mechanical voice sounded.

The next second, the ventral armor of Cloud Top Fortress opened with a boom, and a metal construct, breathtakingly massive, was deployed from the third-level weapon arsenal. It was a giant railgun!

Countless mechanical gears meshed frantically in mid-air, and the heavy metal barrel, over a hundred meters long, was quickly assembled amidst a teeth-grinding sound of friction.

Eerie blue plasma leaped wildly along the magnetic rails on both sides of the barrel, exuding an aura of total destruction.

"Propulsion module, activate at maximum power."

Luo Ning's fingers tapped rapidly on the panel.

"Boom—!!!"

The tail of the assembled hundred-meter railgun erupted with blinding exhaust flames, shooting straight into the sky like a meteor flying in reverse, and within a few short seconds, it ascended directly to an altitude of 18,000 meters!