Due to the circumstances, Bai Zemin did not have time to explain too much about what was happening. After the Sky Destroyer battleship was at a relatively low altitude, he looked at Kong Jun with stern eyes and remarked, “Kong Jun, you stay here. I need you to help me protect this fort for a couple of hours…. One day at most.”
Bai Zemin did not know what might happen until the large amounts of mana that abounded in Earth’s atmosphere were properly absorbed, therefore, he could not afford to get on the Sky Destroyer and leave while leaving behind his base and trusted subordinates, abandoning them to their fate. Only with a powerful existence like Kong Jun serving as protection would he feel more comfortable and at ease to leave in order to take care of other pressing matters.
However, Kong Jun immediately took a step forward when he heard Bai Zemin’s words.
“The queen… Must protect….”
Bai Zemin’s eyes widened for a moment, he had partially forgotten the matter of the egg that was in the command room where the new queen of the weaver ants was silently growing.
The previous queen of the weaver ants, Shi Lin, had ordered Kong Jun to follow and obey Bai Zemin as long as those orders did not put the future queen in danger in any way.
“Kong Jun, I can assure you that I will protect the queen myself.” Bai Zemin assured, his voice calmer than before as he slowly said, “With my true power coupled with the firepower and defense of the Sky Destroyer, the future queen will not experience any kind of misfortune. Besides, remember that she is my daughter now, my concern for her does not lose with your. That’s not to mention the fact that inside the Sky Destroyer even you wouldn’t be able to get close to the ship before probably being killed by the laser cannons.”
Kong Jun’s head lowered for a few moments and after a few seconds, he raised it again.
The weaver ant, still covered by the large dark cloak, nodded and said in a monotone voice, “Ok.”
Bai Zemin sighed a sigh of relief in his heart when he heard the positive from Kong Jun. Kong Jun was an existence that was not completely under his control so while it was safe to say that Bai Zemin did not have to worry about things like betrayal or being tricked thanks to the effect of his Lord subclass, it was not as if he could casually give orders to him since Kong Jun was his Loyal Follower with freedom of will, not a slave.
The few around Bai Zemin were so shocked that they simply did not know how to react to what was going on. The strange, practically one-sided conversation they had just heard had even made them partially forget about the large warship hovering 400 meters above their heads.
Future queen? Sky Destroyer? Laser cannons? Daughter? It didn’t matter if it was the adults or the little girls; even the little pink dolphin was so confused that she had tilted her head while looking at Bai Zemin with curious eyes!
Unfortunately for them, Bai Zemin had no time for explanations since the situation was pressing.
“Kang Lan, as you must well feel, Kong Jun is also my Loyal Follower.” Bai Zemin pointed at the six-foot giant as he said in a deep voice, “He will help you keep the fort under control, you take care of giving him some basic instructions when necessary.”
Kang Lan looked at Kong Jun silently before nodding with a serious expression on her face. Although she preferred to follow Bai Zemin to the battlefield he was probably heading to and help him, she understood that being here was the best way to serve him at this moment.
Just as Bai Zemin was about to take a leap and walk away, three pairs of little hands grabbed tightly onto him and forced him to stop.
He looked at the three little girls with confusion and said hurriedly, “Do you need anything? Why don’t you wait until I come back? We can talk later then.”
“Big brother, let us go with you…”
“Big brother Bai, we also want to go with little Xiao Xiao…”
“Big brother Bai, can we get on your big flying machine? I’ve never been on one that could fly…”
The voices of the three girls turned into a small chaos as the three began to talk hurriedly and at the same time as if fearing they would be left behind.
Bai Zemin had no time to explain himself, and from the eyes of the three little girls it was clear that they were not going to give up so easily. Although he could simply push them away or scold them and they would surely obey, Bai Zemin was not willing to see or be the cause of these little angels’ tears; least of all considering how much these three girls had suffered in the past, especially true for the Wen twins.
“Good!” He quickly nodded and commanded in a serious voice, “Hold on tight to me and don’t let go.”
The three girls immediately obeyed. Even Luo Ning held on tightly even though she could jump into the sky herself using the strength of her legs.
Bang!
Bai Zemin didn’t stick around to chat and with a mighty stomp, his body shot skyward. Even though he could feel the strong grip of Wen Yan and Wen Yun, he still made sure that the girls could not fall after surrounding them with a part of the protective mana cover that covered his body; something that all soul evolvers had regardless of race but had to learn how to use, and Bai Zemin was just learning.
He heard the screams of the girls intermingled with their laughter as the wind carried all sounds away. Bai Zemin watched on his ascent as the white and purple lightning crackled mightily in the clouds of mana, but when his feet touched the top level of the Sky Destroyer, he immediately moved toward the teleportation circle.
Upon entering the ship, Bai Zemin’s body moved like lightning through the corridors and the vision of the three girls and the little pink dolphin in his embrace became blurred as he flashed at speeds they could not comprehend.
At the same time as he ran into the command room and silently controlled the Sky Destroyer in order for it to start moving in a southerly direction as it ascended into the sky, Bai Zemin said loudly and in a deep voice:
“Bing Xue, how is the current situation?”
Bai Zemin’s voice confused the three little girls and little Xiao Xiao, however, after a few seconds of silence, Shangguan Bing Xue’s unmistakably beautiful voice could be heard from the walls of the battleship.
“It’s somehow controllable, at least for now.”
Shangguan Bing Xue’s voice was cold and indifferent. Yells of soldiers giving orders, as well as explosions caused by all kinds of attacks, could be heard. Everyone was used to the sound of gunfire now, therefore, that characteristic sound that in the past was a sign of terror was now a relief to the humans; the louder the gunfire sounded meant that the defense was also strong and the battle was not yet lost!
Bai Zemin sharpened his hearing and heard the peculiar sound of something rumbling in the distance so he hurriedly asked, “Did you move the combat helicopters?”
A few seconds later, Shangguan Bing Xue’s reply came:
“I had no choice, even the battle tanks were mobilized. When the mana began to congregate on one side, that strange green egg-shaped cave appeared and the goblins began to come out one after another. Even though we have killed countless so far the number of goblins only continues to increase.”
“Have you tried to destroy that thing that appeared on the battlefield?”
“Of course, I have tried. More than a hundred missiles were fired by the military assault helicopters, Uncle Wu even mobilized several red arrows apart from the war tanks but nothing did any good.”
“What about you? Haven’t you tried?”
“No, I did try.” Shangguan Bing Xue’s voice sounded again inside the warship. She was silent for a moment before saying in a somber voice, “But, my destructive power is not high. That’s why I had no choice but to contact you even though I knew you were taking care of business in the north.”
Bai Zemin stayed silent, and after he arrived in the command room and sat in the seat of the ship’s captain, no one interrupted him. Everyone inside the Sky Destroyer was somehow aware of what was going on now thanks to his conversation with Shangguan Bing Xue.
One of the functions of the Sky Destroyer was the amplification and improvement of radio waves so that any such equipment that was connected and recorded in the ship’s supercomputer data could communicate perfectly with the ship’s captain. Precisely thanks to this wonderful function, Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin could communicate despite the great distance between them.
In fact, the communication would be much better if not for the fierce mana waves interrupting at every moment due to the Earth’s evolution process.
Bai Zemin was thinking carefully as the Sky Destroyer moved at speeds that surpassed the sound barrier of the current Earth. All sounds in his surroundings seemed to have disappeared as he analyzed the situation.
Shangguan Bing Xue was stronger than Bai Zemin in any of the basic stats, after all her Soul Power was not only far higher but even though it was more impure than his it didn’t mean that it wasn’t tremendously pure. However, even though she had higher stats, the combat style of Shangguan Bing Xue was more reserved.
The skills Shangguan Bing Xue had, despite being powerful, were intended for long fights and crowd control.
However, the skills Bai Zemin had were intended to finish all fights in the shortest amount of time possible; his skills were as damaging to his enemies as they were to himself and his allies.
When it came to real power, destruction, large-scale massacre capability…. Bai Zemin was the unrivaled king. No matter how powerful Shangguan Bing Xue was, she probably wouldn’t be able to match the destructive power of Bai Zemin at 100% even after she became a Third Order or even a Fourth Order!
After a long time of silence, Bai Zemin finally opened his mouth and said in a calm voice:
“Bing Xue, even though we need to study what that thing is better first, just in case prepare the same thing you prepared back then when we entered the Fifth Ruin.”
“… Even though I really want to say don’t use that thing here, there might not be any other choice depending on whether we can finish off these goblins. However, unless we have an army of soul evolvers it will be hard…. Bai Zemin, we might have to use the golems of the Sky Destroyer.”
“… See you in half an hour.”
“Ok.”
The communication was cut off after Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue said what they had to say.
Bai Zemin ignored the eyes he felt on him and closed his eyes as he leaned back in the leather chair.
If the worst came to the worst, then he would simply use Crimson Blood Judgment and destroy everything. The problem with this simple but effective tactic was that Bai Zemin could not fully control the destructive power of his skill let alone keep his allies from getting involved.
Fortunately, this was where Shangguan Bing Xue came in. With her, Bai Zemin only had to worry about not dying himself as she would prevent his Crimson Blood Judgment from being a cause of annihilation even for the allied faction.
Bai Zemin also did not want to mobilize the army of golems he had obtained when he gained control over Sky Destroyer. Those golems were a secret card that he preferred to keep hidden until times of need since the loss of just one golem would be painful for him; Bai Zemin wanted to send some to be studied and see if in the near future more could be built.
Again, lucky for him and Bai Zemin had a backup plan to not have to use the golems.
* * *
Chinese Renaissance faction base.
“These things really don’t stop coming out!” A soldier shouted as he switched magazines before continuing to fire into the distance.
“Look on the bright side!” another fellow soldier shouted as he gritted his teeth and clutched his heavy machine gun tightly, fighting against the powerful vibration transmitted to his body from his arms.
“Bright side?! How is there a bright side in all this?!” Another soldier laughed out loud as he fired with bloodshot eyes, his shoulder was aching from the powerful recoil of his sniper rifle after firing it relentlessly for the past two hours.
“At least we don’t have to aim!” The soldier from earlier shouted in reply. He seemed to be laughing as he spoke but the trembling in his voice was a result of the vibrations from the heavy machine gun stationed on the walls, “Shoot where we shoot we will definitely hit one!”
Not only in front of them but all around the entire base, no matter where they looked, a sea of green enemies were running towards them with fierce expressions or laughing. Their long noses, small green bodies, sharp fangs, bulging eyes, and pointed ears; were characteristics that revealed they were goblins.
These goblins were small and most were completely naked with a weird transparent liquid running down their bodies. Some had some cover but these were the medium-sized ones and their numbers were fewer in comparison. However, the most terrifying were the adult goblins who wore leather skins as armor and used bones of mutated beasts as their weapons.
In the distance, who knew how many kilometers from the base, an object of a size that could only be categorized as a giant loomed into the clouds. It was green in color with small purple spots and lines around it, as well as a strange liquid staining the surroundings.
Ten combat helicopters were flying in the skies and one of them occasionally fired missiles at the giant object only to be met with an insignificant and easily ignored explosion.
It was precisely from that place where the goblins were coming out endlessly.
