Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1134
The army of ghosts were obviously much stronger, but the 'battle shells' under their control were bodies made of flesh and blood. Those bodies had slept in the medical cabins for decades, which had made their limbs somewhat wither.
Besides, even though the artificial intelligence could simulate the most delicate tactical movement based on the data, there were some things that it could never simulate.
For example, morale.
For example, spirits.
For example, the blood-boiling feeling motivated by the belief of victory, supported by the Horn of Charge, and summoned by the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars flag!
In space, a soundless, deafening chaotic battle broke out.
The soldiers of the federal army, whose eyes were burning with passion, were bold enough to charge at the Fighting Spirits ahead of them, who were theoretically in the Core Formation Stage, even though there were only a couple of them, just to consume the spiritual energy of the Fighting Spirits and the durability of their crystal suits.
It was the tactic that the army of ghosts adopted to deal with Li Yao and Long Yangjun just now. But now, the federal army, which had greater numbers, implemented it on them instead.
Explosions were bursting out everywhere with broken sabers and swords. Translucent flowers of blood were blossoming only to be shattered the next second. The gory, chaotic battle covered the space station with a hazy, red veil!
Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!
As time went by, the messengers that Luo Qisheng sent out delivered the news to more and more districts. More and more local troops and the experts of the local universities, sects, and Exo Societies, who had already vaguely felt something, flew out of the airtight gates to check what was going on.
Paper could not wrap fire forever. No lie could deceive everyone forever.
More and more space torpedoes were remotely detonated. The swirls of spiritual energy they raised actually consumed a lot of warriors on their own side. The 'wound' that was just torn by Li Yao and Long Yangjun had no chance to be healed at all. The defense line of the army of ghosts was showing signs of collapse!
"Monster Li!" Long Yangjun appeared by Li Yao's side. Her hands moved quickly and created an invisible spiritual shield, enshrouding Li Yao and protecting him from the low temperature and the vacuum.
Even Long Yangjun had never seen such a powerful shot before. The elite warrior of the Nuwa civilization could not help but eye Li Yao up and down and remark, "That's rather powerful, isn't it?
"Of course," Li Yao said casually. "I haven't had a shot for a hundred years!"
"…There's no need to brag about yourself now. Hurry and refill yourself!"
During the fierce battle, the two of them had blown up hundreds of Fighting Spirits together and had reached their limits. Had it not been for the cover and reinforcement of the federal army, they might have been drained by the army of ghosts.
Thankfully, the federal army was marching forward unstoppably. They had also carried a lot of pills from the Ancient Sages Sector that could quickly recover their spiritual energy. After the twelve top experts of the Ancient Sages Sector joined hands, they certainly had the rarest treasures in the world. Their pills were all the most fabulous medicines in the world!
Li Yao grimaced. There was no need to keep up an expert's demeanor in front of Long Yangjun. He hurried to retrieve dozens of fluorescent pills whose cores were various colors from his Cosmos Rings and swallow all of them. The pills turned into scorching, cold, sweet, or bitter juices when they were still inside his throat. Then, they circulated inside his body, nurturing his internal organs and limbs. He could not help but moan in great satisfaction!
After dozens of streams of spiritual energy flowed three times around his veins, he was finally vigorous enough to focus the spiritual energy on his eyes and examine the damage that his previous shot had caused.
When he saw the dents on the surface of the space station that looked like craters, he was slightly dazed, too.
That shot does seem a bit too powerful, Li Yao thought to himself.
Chapter 1755: The Situation Looks Good! |
"Are you alright?"
Luo Qisheng jumped at the two of them in excitement, almost clutching Li Yao and Long Yangjun as life buoys. As an expert in the Core Formation Stage, he had known that the two of them must be very strong, but he did not expect them to be so strong. The world-blighting shot from Li Yao just now had almost blown up his heart too when it blew up the pivot of the lightning defense array!
"Medic! Medic!" Luo Qisheng roared through the broadcast magical equipment. "Where are the medics?"
Under the stormy fire support, a team of medics in white crystal suits with silver jars on their backs flew close from not far away. They looked at Li Yao full of admiration and reverence first before establishing a temporary defense array next to Li Yao and Long Yangjun and aimed the vacuum injectors, which were connected to the medicine jars on their back, at the two of them.
Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu!
Tremendous bright green gel spurted out and wreathed them without leaving any gap. The high-energy nutrition drugs and recovery drugs contained inside the gel quickly leaked into their pores, flowing, soothing and nurturing among the veins and nerves.
Li Yao felt as comfortable as if he were soaked in the most advanced medical cabin. Not only did the weird gel that looked like jelly boast the function of repairing the broken veins and nerves, it was also triggering a natural counterforce as he moved his hands and feet, giving the feeling that an expert masseur was at his service. His efficiency of absorbing the pills from the Ancient Sages Sector was significantly increased.
The modern war always highlighted the cooperation between Cultivators and ordinary soldiers.
The Cultivators were strong both as attackers and defenders. As arrowheads and edges, they could be invincible. Their biggest shortcoming was that the duration of their fight was too short, and they were unable to be engaged in high-intensity battles for too long. One moment of carelessness, and they might be besieged by the enemy after their spiritual energy ran dry. In the most extreme cases, even the best expert might be killed by a bunch of ordinary soldiers.
The ordinary soldiers were the very contrary. They were quite weak in terms of both attack and defense. However, as long as there were enough of them to form legions, they could provide stable damage output incessantly. The possible range and direction of the attack of the army would be greatly expanded.
Besides, one combat parameter was basically equal for everyone, which was the load and the storage space.
On a battlefield that was not under the influence of gravity, everybody's load, fuel, and crystals depended on their Cosmos Rings. Even the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators' Cosmos Rings only had limited room, too, however spacious they might be.
It meant that, even if a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator had combat ability a thousand times higher than ordinary soldiers, it was practically impossible for one of them to carry more ammunition and crystals than what a hundred ordinary soldiers could.
More weapons, ammunitions, crystals, and various sorts of war magical equipment could evolve into complicated, unpredictable tactics, achieving an outcome that even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator might not be able to accomplish.
The high-level Cultivators and the ordinary soldiers had their own advantages. The key to victory was to combine their advantages.
Getting to the bottom of it, the final outcome of a modern war, at least in head-on clashes that did not involve the mutual bombardment of starships, was mostly decided by whether or not the common soldiers on one's side could effectively consume the spiritual energy reserve, ammunitions, mental power, and duration of combat of the experts on the enemy's side, and whether or not the experts on one's own side could be given the previous time to refill spiritual energy, recover the mental power, and cool down the magical equipment after they were greatly exhausted by the enemy's common soldiers!
Luo Qisheng did a marvelous job in that regard.
It was because the 414 troop, as an ordinary troop without a special title, was exactly responsible for such a mission in the battlefield—to provide reinforcements and medical and fire support for the experts of the ace troops.
Chiliu! Chiliu! Chiliu! Chiliu!
Every pore on Li Yao's body was like a bottomless hole, crazily devouring the high-energy nutrition contained in the bright green gel.
The shivering, sticky 'jelly' soon turned transparent before it became gray and crispy, falling off from his body and ending up as tiny dust.
"Not bad!" Li Yao grinned, his telepathic thoughts running to the medics like octopi. "What is this weird stuff? It doesn't taste bad. Give me more!"
The medics all looked at each other in bewilderment. They had drills with quite a few ace troops before, but never had they seen an expert who could suck the emergency medication gel so rabidly and cleanly.
The cluster of gel just now contained two units of recovery drugs, which were enough for an expert in the Core Formation Stage to rest for two to three hours inside!
"What are you waiting for. Hurry up!" Luo Qisheng almost could not wait to grab the medical spray gun and shoot at his life saver himself.
Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu!
This time, more than ten vacuum medical spray guns spurted at Li Yao at the same time, enshrouding him in a huge 'jelly' almost five meters in diameter.
"Ahhh!"
After the fierce, soul-stirring fight just now, especially the gratifying shot at the end, Li Yao's strength that had stagnated for a hundred years was completely activated. At this moment, he was not wearing any armor. Even the mustard-seed combat suit was completely burnt up by the violent spiritual energy. His naked body was directly exposed to the universe, but he could not care less about it. While absorbing the high-energy nutrition materials inside the medical gel, he spurted out the dead blood and the waste gas inside his body from his pores, which produced a series of dense bubbles inside the 'jelly'. At first glance, his body seemed to be completely boiling!
Despite the blockage of the medical gel, the cold vacuum, and the thick crystal suit, the soldiers of the federal army still felt an oppression that made it hard for them to breathe.
It was like a super enormous warship dozens of kilometers long was sliding past them slowly. Although they knew that the warship would not crash into them, they still felt that their mouth was dry, and their heart was pounding when they saw the endless body of the warship!
Next to Li Yao, Long Yangjun had absorbed the nutrition materials inside the gel, too.
She was now revealing herself as a female. Naturally, she could not be as free at Li Yao. Although she took off the broken crystal suit, she was still wearing the ivory mustard-seed combat suit. The tensile materials of the suit further highlighted her elegant curves.
After she absorbed tremendous nutrition drugs, undisguisable flames of spiritual energy were popping up from her mustard-seed combat seed, too. The previous damage and fatigue had mostly recovered.
Li Yao glanced at Long Yangjun and then observed the battle in front. Then, he nodded and said, "The situation looks very good. It seems that we don't need to attack again…"
"Shut up!" Long Yangjun's telepathic thoughts crashed into him brutally. "Just enjoy your meal and keep your mouth shut!"
The elite warrior of the Nuwa Clan turned around and spoke to Luo Qisheng solemnly through telepathic thought transmission. "The battle up head is going on very smoothly. By our estimation, Professor Mo Xuan can't have too many available forces under his control. The army of two to three thousand ghosts and the war puppets here are very likely all that he has.
"Just now, we slew more than half of the army of ghosts. They have lost the enhancement of the lightning defense array, too. They are completely suppressed and will be surrounded very quickly!
"The army of ghosts have been fighting for quite a while, too. With their bodies that have soaked for so many years in the medical cabins, they cannot weather through such a protracted battle!
"The enemy's defense line is about to collapse. Everything looks promising!
"Colonel Luo, hurry up and discuss with the commanders of other troops regarding the battle plan after we break into the space station!"
"Huh…" Luo Qisheng narrowed his eyes. The super-large helmet on the specially-made crystal suit for commanders on his head helped him to analyze the situation with the highly-precise crystal cameras. "It's true. If things go on like this, we will break into the space station in half an hour!"
Hardly had he concluded his sentence when abrupt changes took place!
From the airtight gates where the space torpedoes and the army of ghosts flooded out, almost a thousand black iron balls flew out again!
Those iron balls looked like the hammers that the barbarian Cultivators in the age of ancient Cultivators were best at. Dense stings were all over their surface. Among the stings, countless metal whips that could extend and shrink like tentacles were shaking incessantly. They gave the feeling that they were some sort of weird germs that had been enlarged by billions of times!
Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!
Deep blue electric arcs flowed out of all the iron balls. Instead of attacking the enemy, they produced a magnificent force field and attracted all the iron balls into one monolithic ball that was almost a hundred meters in diameter!
The technology to attract each other with the force field was similar to the plugging technology when the Ares Extension was applied. All the parts could be separated and combined freely, making it quite convenient to use them.
However, this time, after the enormous ball almost a hundred meters in diameter wriggled for a moment, it turned into a giant that was crouching and holding its arms. Then, it slowly stretched out its arms and legs and 'sat' up in space, staring at the federal army on the opposite side coldly!
The big iron balls full of stings were the 'muscles' and 'bones' of the giant. The magnetic force that was flowing among the iron balls swiftly was its nerves and veins. When the giant completely stood up, it was more than two hundred meters tall!
"Hooo!"
Deep blue flames of spiritual energy were burning from the gaps of the iron balls that made up the giant's 'face'. It was like a living creature in space that was grimacing and roaring at the federal army.
The giant's voice was inaudible in space, but everybody was able to 'see' its roars, which were sweeping the federal army like blue, circular ripples. Wherever they reached, the soldiers of the federal army staggered as if they were drunk when they were affected by the attack!
It was mental attack of a very high intensity!
Bulging his eyes, Li Yao stared at the huge monster two hundred meters tall for a long time. Then, he turned back slowly and looked at Long Yangjun.
Long Yangjun blushed, which was quite rare for her. The veins on her temples bulged for a long time. Finally, she gnashed her teeth. "I summoned the monster. I will take care of it!"
Chapter 1756: Abyss Jellyfish, Iron Troll! |
Logically, faced with the crystal suits that boasted high speed and agility, such a human-shaped machine two hundred meters tall was of little actual significance despite the astonishing sound and visual effect. It could even prove to be very clumsy.
However, the iron troll made of iron caltrops and magnetic field had a swiftness that was utterly disproportionate to its size. There was not any mechanical structure on its 'arms' and 'legs' at all, which were purely attracted by the magnetic field. Therefore, the limbs could be extended, retracted, or turned as it wished. They could even launch the enormous iron caltrops like cannonballs!
Before the real attacks were performed, the giant would release intense mental attacks first to shock the brain nerves of the Exos of the federal army, casting them into a momentary daze.
When the soldiers of the federal army came back to themselves from dizziness, the iron drops several meters in diameter surrounded by electric arcs were already smashed into their faces.
In terms of body size, it was a battle of an elephant versus mice.
However, the elephant was actually as agile as a mouse, and the 'mice' were as clumsy as regular elephants.
The iron troll swept everything on its way invincibly. Wherever it reached, crystal suits collapsed, and blood and bodies were sent flying. Almost a hundred valiant soldiers shed their blood in the cold space before they had the chance to grunt!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The iron troll could do more than just melee combat. Its body was made of a thousand iron caltrops. Therefore, its body could freely be twisted and changed. Attracted by the force field, the limbs of the giant were growing and shrinking. They even became four enormous cylinders from which countless iron caltrops spurted out toward where the soldiers of the federal army were densest. It was not until the caltrops reached the center of the enemy's battle formation that they exploded abruptly into a fiery ocean of death!
The situation on the battlefield was immediately reversed.
The federal army, which had been pushing forward quickly just now, was blocked by the inhuman force.
The army of ghosts that were more or less disordered previously, on the other hand, regrouped under the cover of the giant and were ready to launch a counterattack at any time!
The soldiers of the federal army, who came from various troops and lacked effective organization and leadership, were charging forward purely with their courage and determination under the summon of the Horn of Charge.
Such an army might be sharp enough, but it was short of tenacity. They could fight a winning battle, not a losing one!
If the situation on the battlefield was promising, they could push forward with a high morale and fight crazier and crazier as they moved forward, offering a performance that was almost close to that of an elite troop. But if there were signs of failure, they would immediately be crushed and blown back to their real appearance that was disorganized loose sand. It was utterly impossible for them to be regrouped.
