Chapter 214: The Sudden Marauder Fleet

It wasn't until the Blazing Light Starship left that many of the natives of the Half-Fish Planet dared to approach the area. They stared at the ground, now riddled with holes, their eyes completely vacant.

Among this crowd were a few creatures surrounded by the natives. Though equally shocked, they swiftly dialed their Smart Terminals.

...

In the Half-Fish Star System, on the dark side of another uninhabited planet, a massive fleet of warships was anchored.

The fleet of the Stargazer Plunderers consisted of more than twenty warships. Small and medium-sized raiding vessels made up the majority, while the main ship was a modified Vast Ocean-Class Battleship.

This was one of the primary battleship models of the Barot Civilization. A Marauder Group of this scale was already considered a formidable force that could not be underestimated.

They were the very Marauder Group that used the Half-Fish Planet to fish for targets, even going so far as to cultivate many native Marauders on the planet itself.

Inside the main ship cabin, Boss Huo Jina had been waiting for quite some time. The hall was packed with his subordinates.

Huo Jina sat in his seat, staring intently at the energy indices displayed on the Holographic Screen. A subordinate standing beside him reported, "This is the high-energy reaction we monitored on the Half-Fish Planet not long ago."

"Exceeded the B-Tier scope..." Huo Jina stared at the screen, his expression moody and unpredictable. There were many possibilities for an energy reading to surpass that level.

"Could it be an A-Tier Lifeform?"

The subordinate looked troubled. "We don't know either. The peak energy reading appeared for a very short time, so we can't definitively confirm if it's an A-Tier Lifeform."

Energy readings were only a single indicator; many energy reactions could potentially exceed the limits of a B-Tier Lifeform.

"The Half-Fish Star System is so remote. Why would anyone come here?" Huo Jina frowned, unable to wrap his head around it.

Right at that moment, the subordinate seemed to receive some news. He looked up and said, "Boss, the Snitch we planted on the Half-Fish Planet has a message they want to report."

"Connect them immediately!" Huo Jina, who had been completely in the dark, instantly lit up with joy.

The figure of the Snitch appeared on the Holographic Screen. Impatient, Huo Jina asked, "What exactly happened on the Half-Fish Planet?"

"Boss, we caught a big fish!" The Snitch looked ecstatic. The camera lens shifted, focusing on Rhode's spaceship, which had been wrecked by Li Yu.

"That's an advanced spaceship from the Amethyst Civilization!" Huo Jina recognized it instantly, as he himself hailed from the Barot Civilization.

He couldn't be any more familiar with the Amethyst Civilization.

Why would an advanced spaceship from the Amethyst Civilization appear here? As this question flashed through his mind, Huo Jina grew excited. No matter what, there had to be a massive secret hidden within.

"It seems the people from the Amethyst Civilization were trading something with someone here." The Snitch pushed forward a native of the Half-Fish Planet, who looked at the Holographic Screen with a humble expression.

"They were nearby at the time and saw some things. Repeat what you just told me."

"Yes... yes..." The native nodded hastily and recounted, "We were very far away at the time and didn't dare to get close. Through our binoculars, we saw them trading a purple crystal."

"It was incredibly bright and magnificent. I've never seen anything so beautiful."

Huo Jina frowned slightly, but then his eyes widened. He abruptly stood up, pulled an image from the Interstellar Network, and asked the native to identify it. "Did the crystal look like this?"

The native stared at it for a long while before replying with some uncertainty, "It seemed like that kind of crystal, but the one we saw was much larger."

Huo Jina's entire body trembled, his face flushing red. Only one thought echoed in his mind... He was going to be rich!

"An Amethyst Core! It's actually an Amethyst Core! To think we'd stumble upon an Amethyst Core here of all places." The image Huo Jina had found was naturally that of an Amethyst Core.

Hailing from the Barot Civilization, which was the mortal enemy of the Amethyst Civilization, the first thing any Barot citizen familiarized themselves with was their own civilization, followed closely by the Amethyst Civilization.

The moment he heard the mention of a purple star stone, he had formed this suspicion.

"Boss, I can't believe our luck is this good! We managed to survive the crisis of annihilation in No Man's Land, and right upon returning to our hometown, we ran into an Amethyst Core!" the surrounding subordinates cheered in excitement.

"Don't celebrate just yet. Based on the energy readings from earlier, it's hard to say an A-Tier Lifeform didn't show up." One of the subordinates poured cold water on the mood, instantly sobering everyone up.

No one could ignore an A-Tier Lifeform. Huo Jina couldn't help but shudder. He had once witnessed the destructive power of an A-Tier Lifeform; such a being could single-handedly annihilate their entire fleet.

"The most crucial point is that the Amethyst Civilization's spaceship was destroyed, which means the transaction wasn't completed," another Marauder added.

They immediately questioned the Half-Fish natives again, but only learned that the Amethyst Civilization was the first to attack. As for the ensuing battle, the natives hadn't been able to observe the details clearly.

"It's impossible for two A-Tier Lifeforms to have fought. Otherwise, the Half-Fish continent would have been torn apart long ago."

"Since the Amethyst Civilization struck first, it proves that, in their eyes, they believed they could defeat the other party."

"Yet it was the Amethyst group that ultimately failed, which means the other party had a trump card they didn't know about."

"There's a high probability it wasn't an A-Tier Lifeform, but rather some sort of trump card capable of unleashing an A-Class energy attack. Otherwise, the Amethyst Civilization wouldn't have made a move to begin with."

"..."

Everyone began chattering away, and their collective analysis actually managed to piece together a rather plausible sequence of events.

Right then, a subordinate suddenly stood up. "Boss, we've detected that the spaceship which entered the Half-Fish Planet thirteen days ago is now leaving."

The monitor displayed the flight path of the Blazing Light Starship. It had entered the Half-Fish Planet thirteen days ago and hadn't left during all that time, yet it was departing right now. No matter how one looked at it, it was highly suspicious.

"Boss, this is that special spaceship I reported to you about earlier. The Snitch on the Half-Fish Planet mentioned that the people on board killed a lot of the native Marauders," the subordinate added.

Huo Jina frowned. He remembered the report, but they were hiding out here specifically to avoid drawing attention.

If those native Marauders died, then they died. He hadn't planned on intervening.

But now that an Amethyst Core was involved, things were completely different. If he could obtain the Amethyst Core, combined with the wealth he had accumulated over the years, he could even start plotting his own evolutionary path to become an A-Tier Lifeform.

His expression turning moody and resolute, Huo Jina gritted his teeth and declared, "Prepare to strike. Wealth is found in risk!"

Although his subordinates' analysis suggested the target likely wasn't an A-Tier Lifeform, they couldn't be absolutely certain.

However, taking risks was normal. For Marauders like them who made a living licking blood from a knife's edge, as long as it wasn't certain death, it was worth the gamble.

Inside the Blazing Light Starship, Li Yu sat in a mechanical chair, looking down in deep thought. Although he had politely declined Rhode's invitation, the other party's words weren't wrong. He had been pondering the matter himself; constantly wandering the universe did him no good.

The Sand Worm on him and the Alien Queen couldn't develop properly like this. They both held immense potential power, and if nurtured correctly, they would be forces to be reckoned with.

But if he just found a random place to hide without adequate resource support, it wouldn't be much different from continuing his aimless drifting through the universe.

Moreover, now that he was a B-Tier Lifeform, breaking through to become an A-Tier Lifeform would require astronomical resources.

If he arbitrarily joined a faction or civilization, even as a B-Tier Lifeform, he likely wouldn't be valued highly enough to receive substantial backing.

After all, if a civilization couldn't even elevate their own carefully cultivated B-Tier Lifeforms to the A-Tier, why would they waste effort nurturing an outsider?

'This seems a bit troublesome...' Li Yu muttered, stroking his chin in careful consideration.

Right at that moment, Claptrap sounded an alarm. "Master, the spaceship has been locked on. Monitoring unknown warships approaching."

Li Yu's eyes narrowed slightly. Being locked on meant the other party had hostile intentions. Ambushed right after leaving the Half-Fish Planet? Was it the Amethyst Civilization's people?

However, when he saw the warships appear in his field of vision, he realized the truth. Marauders?

Based on their emblems, Li Yu quickly cross-referenced the Black Hole Network and found the corresponding group—the Stargazer Plunderers, one of the Marauder Groups active in No Man's Land.

"Marauders from No Man's Land again..." Li Yu's expression turned peculiar. He really did have a strange affinity with these outlaws.

In truth, most civilizations didn't have many Marauders operating internally, as their internal patrol fleets existed specifically to eliminate such threats.

Almost all the Marauders from the surrounding civilizations were concentrated in No Man's Land.

But due to the current special circumstances in No Man's Land, the Star Glory Empire was practically shouting that every civilization present was trash and daring them to fight. As a result, the Marauders didn't dare stick around and had all evacuated the region.

Hunter guessed, "They should be the Marauders who control the Half-Fish Planet."

"Unknown spaceship, halt immediately and submit to our inspection! Passing through our territory without leaving a little something behind?"

The broadcast echoed through the comms channel, causing Li Yu to frown slightly.

"This isn't right. Even though the Half-Fish Planet has a terrible reputation, plenty of spaceships have left safely without ever running into this Marauder Group," Hunter noted, finding it strange.

Li Yu nodded. It was indeed bizarre. He couldn't possibly be this unlucky. If it wasn't purely terrible luck, then the enemy had come with a specific purpose.

"Given the timing, could it be because of the Core..." Li Yu recalled that during the trade with the Amethyst group, there seemed to have been native Marauders watching nearby.

But then Dark Star suddenly appeared, and by the time the battle with Dark Star ended, those native Marauders had already fled.

"Damn it..." he suddenly cursed under his breath as a realization hit him. Rhode was dead, and he had no idea where Dark Star had taken the Amethyst Core.

But the Amethyst Civilization didn't know about Dark Star's appearance, which meant he was inexplicably taking the blame.

The Amethyst Civilization probably thought he had killed Rhode and stolen the Core for himself.

Although he didn't fear the Amethyst Civilization, being forced to take the fall for someone else still annoyed him to no end.

Huo Jina's face was grim, his palms slick with sweat. He was incredibly tense, terrified that an A-Tier Lifeform would suddenly appear from that blazing red spaceship.

"Final warning. We are about to launch an attack." He broadcasted over the channel. As a Marauder, there was no way he would act like a regular military force and offer multiple warnings before firing.

This was just a probe, which was why he hadn't mentioned the Amethyst Core. If the other party actually harbored an A-Tier Lifeform, this would leave him some room to maneuver and backtrack.

After all, this was outer space. If the spaceship was destroyed and they lost their means of travel, even an A-Tier Lifeform would find themselves in deep trouble, if not dead outright.

Seeing the opposing vessel activate its energy shield, Huo Jina's expression grew increasingly excited. Such an action practically confirmed that there was no A-Tier Lifeform on board.

'We can only find a chance to Warp out of here...' Li Yu frowned slightly. The enemy was a genuine battleship fleet after all; although the ships looked battered, they were fully operational.

Their main ship was a Vast Ocean-Class Battleship, one of the decommissioned main combat vessels of the Barot Civilization, boasting formidable firepower.

His Blazing Light Starship was just a spaceship designed for speed and agility, not a main combat vessel. Getting bogged down in a dogfight would do them no good.

Boom!

Two Assault Cruisers opened fire instantly. Blinding white beams of light grazed the edge of the Blazing Light Starship, interrupting its attempt to enter a Warp state.

This acted as a signal. The rest of the warships fired in unison, unleashing a torrential downpour of light beams. The energy Ion Cannons instantly blanketed the Blazing Light Starship. Its energy shield flickered wildly as the entire vessel shook violently.

"I'll take the wheel!" Hunter's eyes sharpened as he switched to manual piloting mode, assigning Claptrap as the smart flight assist.

"Hold on tight."

Hunter maneuvered the Blazing Light Starship, channeling the majority of its power into the thrusters. Blazing flames erupted from the exhaust as the ship practically transformed into a streak of flowing light.

The Blazing Light Starship boasted superior maneuverability and agility, and Hunter's piloting skills were top-tier. He dipped, rolled, and weaved. Even though a volley from over twenty warships looked terrifying, the vast majority of the attacks merely grazed past, failing to land a direct hit on the ship. Only a small fraction of the strikes forced the energy shield to flicker relentlessly.

It was the personal vessel of the Blazing Eye Star's leader, after all; it wouldn't be breached so easily.

"Heh, they don't even know how to stagger their volleys. They can't even calculate the cooldown and recharge times of their ship-mounted energy cannons." Hunter sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. The Spear of Argos began to "ignite," gathering power for its laser beam.

The Splinter Deployment Armor of the Titan Colonization Armor detached, flowing out through a gap in the Blazing Light Starship's opened blast door, condensing into five Electromagnetic Cannon Turrets on the exterior of the hull.

"You can use it like that too?" Hunter was slightly surprised, but it only made him more excited. "This makes things even easier."

The Blazing Light Starship barrel-rolled, narrowly dodging a few physical artillery shells. The enemy's energy cannons were still cooling down and recharging; this was a rare window for an assault.

The wind-up time required to enter a Warp state was too long, and the enemy fleet would never give them that opportunity.

"Boss, their pilot is highly skilled."

A Captain spoke solemnly over the command channel. Huo Jina was naturally aware of this; his own fleet command skills were lacking, making him merely a half-baked tactician.

Marauders typically fought by swarming their targets all at once; very few bothered to play around with actual tactics.

"Li Yu!" Hunter shouted, rapidly closing in on an Assault Cruiser. The Electromagnetic Cannon Turrets attached to the hull of the Blazing Light Starship were already fully charged. Azure electric arcs exploded violently against the enemy's energy shield, causing it to flash erratically.

Space was silent, but the electric arcs surged like a storm!

"Reroute power! Reroute power!" the Captain of the Assault Cruiser bellowed as the warship's aging energy engine labored to keep up.

But the Spear of Argos was already primed and ready. This weapon system was renowned for its immense penetrative power. A crimson light beam instantly pierced through the blue electric arcs, tearing a tiny rift in the already unstable energy shield.

The metal hull managed to hold out for a mere half-second before being punched straight through. The internal structure was completely shredded. Sparks flew everywhere as a massive shockwave erupted, instantly twisting and snapping the alloy hull in half!

The aftermath swept outwards, and the cascading collapse rapidly expanded. Ship cabins began to explode and shatter, and the breach instantaneously widened several times over.

The vacuum of space acted like a hurricane. A large number of Marauders were violently sucked out of the warship by the terrifying depressurization and cast into the void.

Some of their bodies rapidly stiffened as their blood vessels ruptured one after another. The vacuum environment was an absolute death sentence for low-tier lifeforms.

Only a small minority of the Marauders wearing armor equipped with a self-sustaining cycle managed to survive the ordeal, completely unharmed for the time being.