Translator: Sean88888 Editor: Elkassar1
In the ensuing battle, Sheyan took an Antimatter Bolt from Tochego head on, then rushed out amidst the bursting electric sparks. When he got close to Tochego, he grabbed the Dragoon with both hands and forcefully flipped him upside down, exposing his most vulnerable part – the connecting joint on his abdomen – to the air.
Tochego had told Sheyan about this weakness of his himself. He had a high demand for speed, so he had two extra mechanical legs installed, but that also caused a big problem in the initially well-balanced hydraulic chassis. If the connecting joint on his abdomen receive a heavy blow, Tochego would completely lose his mobility.
Aldaris already had his Psionic Shockwave ready, but in the end, he did not cast it.
After all, Sheyan and Aldaris had fought side by side with Tochego not too long ago. They were comrades in arms who had gone through life and death situations together, entrusting their backs to each other. Tochego had obviously held back against them as well. Therefore, they simply could not find it in themselves to finish him.
“Forget it. Just leave, Tochego. Don’t accept any more missions to hunt us down,” Sheyan told the Dragoon hero with a shrug.
But surprisingly, Tochego merely stared at the dark symbol on Ronnie’s cloak quietly. After a while, he said something that nobody expected.
“Are you a powerful warrior who passed the trial of the Holy Land, sir?
Ronnie was surprised at his reaction. Seeing the blue glimmer in all six of Tochego’s electronic eyes, he could only answer, “Yes, I stayed in the trial ground for nearly ten days, just enough to achieve the third best record in history.”
(TL: I think the author made a mistake previously. Ronnie’s record should be 9 days and 21 hours, not 8 days and 21 hours.)
“Then, you must have learned the Dark Templar’s ‘Splitting Slice’?” asked Tochego eagerly.
“I have,” Ronnie replied with a nod.
“Can you show it to me?” asked Tochego.
After Tochego said that, Ronnie had a blank look in his eyes. Veteran contestants like Aldaris and Sheyan could immediately tell that he must have received some notifications from the Realm. Sure enough, Sheyan soon received some information shared with him by his party member:
[ Your party member has received a Servant Mission: “Make the powerful Dragoon hero submit”. ]
Then, Sheyan saw Ronnie swing his blade.
Sheyan had never seen Ronnie use this attack before. Ronnie’s shortblade swung in a slow circular arc. However, as the blade cut through the air, those witnessing it felt their hair stand on end and chills creeping down their backs. The shortblade in Ronnie’s hand was no longer than 40 centimeters, but the sharp, oppressive edge of the slash extended beyond 40 meters!
The blade suddenly accelerated mid-swing!
Everything within forty meters was slashed in two! It even made the pyramid-like building nearby collapse!
Sheyan could not help watching in awe. The attack was not only highly destructive, it also had an abnormally strong property – the ‘Slicing’ property. When the attack struck the enemy’s body, weapon or equipment, it had a 33% chance to forcibly slice it apart, causing effects such as crippling, destruction or severance! Those with high defence and HP like Sheyan really hated this kind of attack that could forcibly cut off their limbs. Of course, they hated the kind of attacks that reduced HP by percentage even more.
Ronnie was immediately dumbstruck after executing the slice, because Tochego, whom he was meeting for the very first time, had knelt down on all six knees and said to him, “Please accept me as your servant, master.”
“Are you f*cking kidding me!” Aldaris finally could not stop himself from blurting out a rude remark. It was understandable that he would lament the unfairness of life. If Tochego had offered to serve Sheyan, he could still accept it, but this was the first time the Dragoon had even seen Ronnie! How lucky could a person get?
Aldaris, of course, did not know that things were never that simple. First of all, Tochego had his own pride. The fact that Sheyan’s group had held back the first time they met had bruised his ego. However, the Protoss were currently short-handed, and Tochego’s high mobility was highly-valued by the higher ups, so he was sent out once more…
Having been defeated twice, Tochego was truly reluctant to go back and be sent here again for the third time, because that would shatter his self-esteem. He had also heard the human story of the hunter and the bear from Sheyan before (The story goes: a hunter went up the mountain to hunt, but was beat up by a bear. He changed his gun and went up the mountain again, only to get beat up by the bear again. The third time he went up the mountain, the bear asked him if he was actually there to hunt or get his butt kicked). Poor Tochego was already feeling like the hunter who was going up the mountain for the second time.
And it just so happened that Ronnie had been unfairly treated by the Lost Temple, for he should have gotten a reward for achieving the third best record in history. Therefore, the Realm compensated him by allowing him to accept a high-level servant.
And that was why Ronnie was able to get Tochego as his servant. Yes, he had struck it big, but not by much, because he had missed out on the rich rewards of placing third in history.
***
Pontin and Annie had almost recovered. Ramtas had died protecting them in the previous battle, so Sheyan once again used his ‘Grow’ ability to resurrect him. With the addition of Aldaris, the strength of the group had actually increased instead.
Sheyan estimated that the Zerg and the Protoss should have gone all-out in attacking each other by now in their attempt to gain possession of the powerful Keystone, so Sheyan’s group should be safe for the moment. They used this chance to advance at full speed, rapidly approaching the core area of the whole city.
The closer they got to the centre of the city, the stronger the oppressive pressure they felt from the sacred towering buildings. The buildings that seemed clustered together from afar were actually separated from each other by a distance of nearly a whole block. The crystal held up by three big hands floated magnificently in the air as if waiting to be worshipped.
Sheyan’s eyes drifted to the buildings around the Judicial Council. These buildings were actually quite big; they only seemed small compared to the three grand and mysterious towers in the middle. Sheyan estimated that these buildings were all more than 100 meters tall, and the area they covered was definitely bigger than a soccer field.
Searching all these buildings one by one was obviously something which would take too much time and effort. Sheyan could not be bothered to think of a way. Instead, he turned to a professional.
“Mr. Pontin, which of these buildings do you think contain what we’re looking for?”
Pontin blushed. “If we were in a human city, Brigadier General, perhaps I’d be able to answer your question straight away, but this is a Protoss city…. a Protoss city that’s thousands of years old, no less.”
Sheyan smiled and nodded in understanding. However, Tochego suddenly interjected in his metallic voice, “In order to ensure that energy can be distributed more quickly and effectively, the research, development, and manufacturing sectors are usually located on lower terrains.”
Sheyan immediately shifted his gaze to the lowest building there. Aldaris said, “I can sense that the positive ion charges there are the strongest around the area.”
Sheyan did not hesitate any longer. He led them straight towards the building. However, when they reached the place, a thick metal door blocked their way. They bombarded the door with all kinds of attacks, and Sheyan then kicked it down. Behind the door was a deep, dark corridor. They followed along the corridor for dozens of meters before they saw a soft glow ahead of them. There were also some thick railings. When they got near the place, they were instantly dumbstruck.
In front of them was a huge pit at least several kilometers long and over 500 meters wide. The top of the pit was almost 50 meters above the ground, and the pit was at least 50 meters deep, so the drop from the top to the bottom was about 100 meters.
Protective plates which carried a distinctive Protoss style were embedded around the pit. The protective plates were smooth, hard, clean and seemed quite resistant to corrosion. In this huge pit were three large war machines that seemed to be in the process of being assembled. Based on the surrounding work frame, there had to be hundreds, if not thousands, of worker Drones working on these war machines once upon a time, packing the pit full like worker ants.
These three large war machines looked like giant insects with four slender, long legs that could easily step through any terrain on the battlefield. Their astonishing height enabled them to easily to cross ravines and cliffs to occupy the best firing spots. They had various obvious advantages such as high mobility, high survivability and low waste of firepower.
That’s right, they were the terrifying Protoss weapons in the legends that were held in the same regard as the Carriers, but on the ground!
The Colossus!
The height of the Colossus made it an easy target – units and buildings that had ground and air attacks could all attack it – but the Colossus was protected by heavy armour!
Pontin was staring at some strange, large weapons that were being hoisted up nearby, appearing to be in a daze.
They were powerful Thermal Lances, and it looked like they would be placed on either side of the Colossi’s body. Their sophisticated energy gathering system and precise aiming system ensured that the thermal beams they fired could maintain a high damage at a high efficiency.
(Thermal Lances are a protoss weapon developed by the Protoss Empire for the Colossus. They fire two superheated streams of plasma that incinerate groups of ground targets. These streams are targeted by an onboard AI, as well as gravity sensitive gyroscopes. https://starcraft.fandom.com/wiki/Thermal_lance )
The moment a target was destroyed, the thermal beams would immediately switch to the next target, so each round of thermal beams fired by the Colossi could destroy large groups of enemies.
