Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was a brief and peculiar exchange, but it had stirred up Salaman’s mind.
After completing its mission, the weird-looking drone slowly turned transparent before the eyes of the giants. Its energy reaction left the defense platform and flew straight into the battlefield. A few minutes later, a burst of light appeared on the battlefield—it had self-destructed.
A small metal box of only ten centimeters square was left on the platform. Salaman carefully picked up the gadget, which looked as tiny as gravel in his hand, with his two fingers. Text projected out of the device. It is our communicator. It may be a little too small for you, but don’t worry about that, just use it.
Salaman put away the little thing with a blank expression. His adjutant could not help but ask, “General, do you believe this stranger?”
“The Guardian Legion will cooperate with the coming operation of the drone army,” Salaman said in a deep voice. “We will face the festered head-on.”
“But those drones come from a force that we know nothing about.” The young adjutant frowned. “The Observer? I have never heard of such a civilization or organization in the universe. The images that we have seen are indeed the battle between them and the festered, but it could be fake. They could have made up the Naqdal fragment.”
Another guardian giant muttered, “But the sprites are with them. I recognize the long-haired sprite.”
“It is evidence, but it is not good enough.” The young adjutant stressed.
Salaman raised his hand to interrupt them from discussing the issue. “You all might have overlooked two points.”
“Firstly, I have never said that I trust this strange third force that popped up of nowhere. Fighting the festered is what we are supposed to do even without the appearance of the Observer. We have been doing so all the time. Are we going to back out in the face of the freaks just to guard against those drones?
“Secondly, whether we trust it or not, we could not deny the fact that a powerful army is already active in the galaxy. We must find a way to verify it to understand the intention of this Observer and its army. The next battle was going to be the best way to figure out that. If they are friends, then we will be most thankful. If they are an enemy, it is better for them to be out in the open than hiding in the dark.”
Seeing the adjutant’s thoughtful look, Salaman exhaled and looked at the battlefield where war was coming to an end. Another wave of attacks by the festered had ended. The ultra-long-range fire support from Agodal and the mighty fortifications of the Heart had withstood this round of assault. The monsters were slowly retreating after leaving behind tons of carcasses and their evil energy in space. But at the same time, the bodies of the guardian giants and destroyed defensive facilities were floating on the battlefield too. No one found joy in this victory, but only endless exhaustion and depression.
“Creatures infected by the evil forces do not have sober eyes,” the old giant whispered.
After the communication ended, Hao Ren exhaled and flung himself into the chair like a dead dog.
Vivian came up to massage his shoulders. “Do you think they will trust and cooperate with us?”
With his eyes half-closed, Hao Ren said, “They do not necessarily trust us, but they will cooperate.”
“Are you sure?”
“It was apparent that the festered monsters are attacking them, and the guardian giants are fighting back. All we ask of them is to send more of their forces and use Agodal to divert the enemy’s attention in the next battle, which they have been doing all this while. This communication is not so much about getting the assistance of the general but more about identifying friend or foe and coordinating our attacks to avoid friendly fire.”
“Sometimes I really do not know if you are pretending or what; have you not planned it all out already? Yet you appear like you are scared.” Vivian rolled her eyes at him and then smacked him on the back. “Get up, it is your turn to give me a back massage.”
“Where are the three sprites?”
“I just saw them with Lil Pea. They are now probably exploring the place somewhere. No worries, surveillance cameras are everywhere here. What’s more, the MDT is with them.”
A massive military mobilization was quietly underway.
The security perimeter of Naqdal base had expanded three times of its initial size. Within the border, gravitational traps and space fissure monitoring devices were everywhere. No way there could be warp-jump intrusion inside the perimeter. What was more, any warp-jump attempt around the perimeter would also trigger the alarm immediately. Under the protection of these security measures, the Naqdal area had become a real forbidden place.
Hidden deep in the center surrounded by layers of drone turrets and sentry posts were unknown number and scale of nests and factories. A countless number of armed drones mobilized and gathered there, but it was unobservable from the outside.
Except for the master of this base, no one knew what the drones were doing.
For three days, the minions of the Mad Lord had conduct reconnaissance several times with six groups of scouts of different sizes trying to enter the blockade to spy on the base. The gravitational traps had captured two of the scout teams when they attempted to warp jump into the security perimeter. But before they could emerge from the hyperspace, space turbulence had torn them into pieces. The remaining recon teams had learned the lesson and could only roam around outside the perimeter. They tried to break in several times, but the drone cluster shattered them. The last recon force was so large that it almost successfully broke through the security line, but the heavily armed drones had managed to stop their advances nevertheless.
Apparently, the commanders of the festered monsters were furious and had become more careful. The increasing recon effort showed that their wariness and hostility towards the drones had peaked. It was especially so when they had no way to know the situation of the enemy.
But only if these monsters had emotion.
They should indeed feel uneasy because the core area of the Naqdal base had been clear out.
Six large nests had long disappeared, and a large number of armed drone factories had also moved out by warp jump these two days. Command stations and production facilities had left the area. There were only tens of thousands of building skeletons, long-abandoned space anchors, and the second echelon of ready-to-fight armed drones in the tune of millions left.
The armed drones lined up in a formation as if in a parade. They assembled in the empty space of the former base with lights and engines turned off. They were as silent as the dead with only some Patrol drones flying in the area. Occasionally, the lights of the patrol drones would trigger a response from the standby drones. It was the only time that people could know these drones that floated quietly in space were only dormant as they waited to be called out to battle.
A silver-white battleship slowly flew past with a floating continent following behind. Right now, the continent was in darkness as the artificial lights that had been shining for thousands of years had gone out. Two temples in the core area were the only things that still shimmered slightly.
The holographic image of Nolan appeared on the bridge. “The Naqdal fortress has entered into light control, and the system has just passed the self-diagnostic while warming up the engines. The sprites are staying underground. With the companion of Lil Pea and autonomous robots, the sprites have caused any trouble so far.”
Hao Ren nodded and turned to look at Vivian. “I think they would behave even more in your presence. You are their queen, after all.”
“I need more time to get used to it.” Vivian buried her face in her hand. “I have never thought that I would become a queen. All the more so when it is the queen of a bunch of weird creatures. I am not interested. I don’t even know what a queen is all about. Perhaps it would be better if the goddess of creation left me a manual.”
“Well, it is useless to complain here. It is that you figure it out yourself when you see General Salaman. Those guardian giants have been guarding the crystal planet in Star Cluster X for 10,000 years, perhaps they know something. After all, the goddess of creation left the crystal planet to you.”
Vivian nodded and changed the subject. “The monsters are conduction reconnaissance more frequently now.”
“Those monsters would not have the patience. Their ability to wait until today is a surprise. I am afraid the next round of attack is imminent,” Hao Ren said as he looked at the drones that lined up in space. “They have no idea about the real form and way of multiplication of the drones. The drone cluster does not have such things as a main base and base camp. Their gathering here is just a temporary phenomenon.”
“But you have created an illusion of a large base camp.” Vivian laughed. “Those monsters think that this is the base camp of the drone cluster, and they will attack this place only to find that you have left a ‘big surprise’ for them.”
“It is called the art of war. Of course, you can also call it technical support.”
Vivian pinched Hao Ren. “You are so bad.”
“Were you not just as excited as I was when we came up with the plan?”
Vivian rolled her eyes but said nothing. Nolan suddenly said, “The Naqdal fortress has completed warming up its engines. Ready to roll.”
Hao Ren got his act together and said, “In that case… let’s roll.”
