Chapter 275: Allies Shield World and the 'Elite

Soon after.

Within the dwarf planet's gravitational range, amidst the warship wreckage turned space junk, the Teutonic Knights is docked, and not far from her starboard side, a Covenant technology vessel is also docked.

That vessel resembles a whale, about nine hundred meters long, its specifications barely differing from the Steadfast-class; compared to the human fleet, it should likewise belong to the escort vessel category, just like the Steadfast-class.

This vessel was detected by Magnus using Spiritual Energy, and is an escort ship commanded by the Elite clan.

But her situation is not optimistic.

The hull is riddled with damage, severely compromised, to the point that maintaining internal pressure is difficult.

Thus it is clear that, had the Teutonic Knights not joined the melee, she would have long since merged with the nearby debris.

A sunken fate remains inevitable.

Thus four purple, sleek-looking transport aircraft, carrying the last survivors, abandoned ship and boarded the Teutonic Knights, an ally.

Inside the hangar…

"Ao! Ao!"

"Please cooperate with the inspection, thank you for your cooperation."

"Ya!!"

"For your safety, do not move randomly."

The scene was not overly chaotic.

Technicians wearing white clothing and mechanical exoskeletons were patiently conducting routine inspections and disinfection procedures on the Elites, Gurgle people, Hyena people, and a Longneck Jellyfish-like engineer.

Those maintaining order were hundreds of Honor Guard equipped with Terminator power armor, Dark Angel's Holy Knights and Tutmose's Sekhmet, as well as the Dark Angel's auxiliary forces.

Following the style of the OriginalBody and the entire legion, the name derives from the ancient Egyptian war and healing goddess Sekhmet, and their Terminator power armor also bears obvious Egyptian characteristics.

In terms of weapon loadout, compared to other legions' Honor Guard, it is somewhat monotonous, as the Sekhmet tend to employ Spiritual Energy in combat.

Once the technicians finish the routine procedures, they will grant this non-human allied group some freedom, then shift to operating the Covenant technology's transport and carrier aircraft.

A rough count.

Only fewer than two hundred survived, with the Gurgle and Hyena peoples making up the majority, the remainder being over twenty blue-armored Elites and a single yellow-armored Elite.

Having suffered betrayal by the Ghost-faced Beast and the Prophet, plus the experience of obtaining the Holy City from Moor and Vadami, and now being rescued by the Teutonic Knights, these young Elites hold humanity in reverence far exceeding their wariness.

The Hyena and Gurgle peoples have no further thoughts; they simply wish to follow the Elites they admire. As for that engineer…

He is extremely interested in human technology's decks, carrier aircraft, transport craft, and even the Honor Guard's Terminators, wanting to study them thoroughly.

At this moment.

On the outskirts of the crowd.

"Hmm…"

Leon, with his arms crossed before his chest armor, after hearing Magnus's recent remarks, let out a murmur and sought an affirmative reply from his brother:

"If my ears aren't mistaken, you just said the interior of that dwarf planet is hollow?"

"Yes." Magnus did not deny: "Moreover, the surface and inner world are still locked in fierce battle, with the Covenant Empire's forces engaged with a group…"

Saying this, Magnus's tone grew heavier: "A group of beings that cannot be sensed with Spiritual Energy are fighting; I only felt endless hunger from them."

It seems they have an extremely strong appetite for life, memory, or emotion, but to learn more we can only personally go to that dwarf planet to investigate."

"Memory and emotion?" Leon unconsciously furrowed his brow, speaking solemnly: "It appears there truly is the unknown insect race his father mentioned below."

"Maybe."

"Regardless, let's first try to obtain useful information from the Sangheili commander."

"Good."

The two OriginalBodies said as they walked through the crowd, approaching the yellow-armored Elite commander amidst the extreme astonishment of the Hyena and Gurgle peoples.

They stopped, and Magnus spoke to the counterpart: "Hello, I am the human OriginalBody Magnus; this beside me is OriginalBody Leon. May I ask what has happened on this planet?"

"..."

Seeing the two giants over four and a half meters tall, especially the brownish-red short-haired giant (Magnus), actually able to speak a human language he could understand, the yellow-armored Elite fell into utter shock.

Fortunately, this commander's psychological tolerance is relatively strong; after a moment, he clenched his right hand into a fist before his chest, showing sufficient respect as he introduced himself:

"It is an honor to receive the aid of the two OriginalBodies; I am the captain of the Fervent Prayer, Wolsa Wokan Bei, and also the supreme commander of the embarked forces."

"Actually, before you humans arrived here…"

Next, the Elite commander named Wolsa shared the information he knew with Leon and Magnus.

The red and white queens call their system Coronis, while the terms of the Covenant Empire refer to it as the "Peak Divine Realm."

Because the hollow dwarf planet sensed by Magnus is actually a celestial-level fortress built by the Forerunners, a Shield World.

Initially.

Converted to Earth years as humans commonly use, the Covenant Empire had known of the Coronis system's existence as early as four years ago.

But this system gave the Covenant Empire an impression of being extremely barren, impoverished, and of low development value.

Fortunately, the dwarf planet in the second orbit exhibited a surface environment suitable for biological habitation, attracting the close attention of the High Council.

Afterward, the High Council dispatched large numbers of scientific and engineering teams to conduct comprehensive inspection and research.

First to manifest was the anomaly that Covenant technology could not even survey the geology of this dwarf planet, as if some shielding measure were in place, leaving the subsurface full of the unknown.

After that.

The engineering team attempted the most primitive excavation methods and discovered a full-metal crust enveloping the dwarf planet.

Unearthing familiar metal structures, the High Council realized this is a celestial body constructed by the Forerunners.

This news caused a sensation for a time.

After all, among the Forerunner "heritage" possessed by the Covenant Empire, the largest is the Holy City, which is why it was made the capital.

And the discovery of this Shield World, which is several times larger than the Holy City, prompted the High Council to consider relocating the capital.

However, the decryption process is extremely slow, and even after three and a half years they have still been unable to access the interior.

And once they attempt to use the warship's high-energy beam, attempting violent excavation, they will be locked onto by the automatic artillery on the Shield World's surface.

Even with an energy shield, the warship cannot withstand the cannon's easy strike.

From this, the Covenant's scientific and engineering teams realize that this Shield World is still operating normally.

To avoid provoking a stronger counterattack, the Covenant Empire side had to abandon violent actions and rely on the Engineer Clan's decryption.

But progress remains slow, it can be said to be approximately zero.

Until more than twenty Earth days ago.

It exactly corresponds to the time point when Lao La Kelaofu's archaeological team opened the Meisi Ruiyin ruins.

The opening of the Meisi Ruiyin ruins not only let the priests discover humanity's existence, but also caused the Shield World's equatorial region to actively open an entrance, finally allowing Covenant personnel to enter the Shield World's interior.

However, what the Inner Earth World looks like, Wolsa does not know, because his clearance is insufficient to enter the Shield World's interior.

As for becoming this turbid state, it is inseparable from their battles with the Elite clan and the Ghost Face Beasts.

As the Kolinus Star System of the Peak Divine Realm, the Covenant Empire naturally deployed twelve elite fleets.

However, the civil war sparked by the City of Universal Love quickly spread throughout the Covenant Empire.

The Ghost Face Beast fleet stationed in the Kolinus Star System also, following secret orders from the three priests, with a two-fold numerical advantage, swiftly ambushed the Elite side.

Although caught off guard, the Elites, skilled in guerrilla tactics and likewise fond of jumping assist, stubbornly fought back and forth with the Ghost Face Beast fleet.

During this period.

The Elite troops left on the Shield World's surface were, however, slaughtered by the Ghost Face Beast-led Covenant Empire regular forces, due to their absolute numerical superiority.

And the Ghost Face Beast, in order to completely annihilate the Elite fleet, loudly proclaimed to Wolsa and them that they would release the weapon created by 'My God'.

But Wolsa said, after the Ghost Face Beast completed the release, the opposing side's communications fell into chaos, and the most frequently intercepted phrase was 'Request support!'.

The 'My God' weapon not only provided no help, but instead dragged the Ghost Face Beast-led regular forces into another mire.

Even so, the Elite fleet and the Ghost Face Beast fleet still fought to a mutual loss; if not for the addition of the 'Teutonic Knight' as external aid, the Ghost Face Beast fleet would have defeated all Elites at a pyrrhic cost.

…

Weapons manufactured by the Forerunners?

After hearing Wolsa's description, Magnus frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and proposed to Leon:

"Upload the currently known intelligence to the Red Queen, then prepare our guards, and together head to the surface entrance at the equator."

"Good."

Leon responded without objection, then turned and left here.

Magnus then slightly lowered his head, expressing thanks to Wolsa: "Thank you, captain, for the information; afterwards we'll handle everything ourselves."

"No need to thank, this is what allies should do." Wolsa lightly shook his head.

Next, this Elite commander raised his clenched right hand, his emotions becoming quite indignant, saying:

"Respected Magnus, if you want to land on the ground, be sure to bring me and my subordinates! I want to avenge my fallen comrades!"

"I understand how you feel, but for your sake and also for our safety, please stay aboard the Teutonic Knight," Magnus declined.

"This… alright, then I'll trouble you." Wolssa had no choice but to give in.

The conversation ended.

The auxiliary troops led this group of survivors to the edge of the hangar so they could rest.

Leon, meanwhile, used the Teutonic Knight's relay to upload the information to the Red Queen via his powered armor, so she could relay the current state of the Corinth Star System to her father, and then proceeded to arrange the landing on the surface.

Soon after.

The Teutonic Knight sailed out of the area littered with warship wreckage, gradually approaching the Shield World, and finally, while maintaining the Shield World's rotational speed, it performed a "docking" at an altitude of over forty kilometers above the ground.

Immediately after.

A large transport ship, escorted by four Viking fighters, left the hangar of the Teutonic Knight, passed through the murky atmosphere, and headed toward the equatorial entrance that leads to the Inner World.

———————

…

Shield World's equator.

Approaching a vast expanse of darkness that shrouded the region facing away from the sun.

On the calm seaside stood a large military base of the Holy Covenant Empire.

The strong light emanating from the base not only failed to illuminate the area and give organisms a sense of safety in the darkness, but instead could at any moment be swallowed by the "darkness."

Serving as a gateway to the Inner World, like an open supermassive gate, it lay not far to the west of this base.

"Ah……!" a piercing, heart-rending wail.

"Gurgle…!" along with the chewing and swallowing sounds of some creature, echoed inside and outside the base.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Suddenly, a dense cluster of blue-and-green plasma cannons flickered in one corner of the base's east side.

Up close observation.

Only a few Holy Covenant combat squads could be seen, fleeing in utter disorder toward a fortification.

As they ran, they pointed their guns backward, ignoring accuracy and overheating, and, to vent their uncontrollable anxiety and fear, they frantically pulled the triggers, firing plasma bolts at the "enemy."

Looking closely at their faces.

Each one looked as if they had seen a ghost, displaying an extremely terrified expression.

Even a few unruly ghost-faced beasts were panting heavily, paying no heed to any "for my tribe" or "for my god" as they ran at the front of the pack, seeking to increase their own chances of survival.

"Roar~~—!"

At that moment, an "Elite" monster roared as it burst out from the right side of the group, swung its thick right arm, and lunged straight at a ghost-faced beast.

"Bang!"

The "Elite" managed, with just a powerful swing of its right arm, to shatter the energy shield in one blow, its force undiminished, and actually flung the shield-less ghost-faced beast flying.

"Pfft!" Fresh blood spurted out instantly.

The ghost-faced beast, weighing nearly half a ton, flew out more than ten meters in a perfect arc, finally losing consciousness and being the first to lose combat capability.

Having dealt with one ghost-faced beast, the "Elite" seemed unsatisfied and chose to charge alone into the enemy ranks.

!!!

"Take it down!" the well-armored ghost-faced beast commander bellowed.

Everything happened extremely quickly; the Holy Covenant combat team had no time to react and was forced to halt their retreat, only able to first deal with this "Elite".

"Corpses ought to just lie still!"

"Roar! Damn Sangheili, even dead you won't rest!"

The ghost-faced beasts that reacted first, cursing, pointed their plasma rifle muzzles forward and wildly swept fire at the "Elite".

"Yah! Yah!"

Jackal people and Grunt people likewise shouted, forcing themselves to overcome fear, assisting their commanders in the attack.

"Roar..."

This "Elite" stubbornly endured several seconds of concentrated fire before finally letting out a roar and collapsing head-up onto the ground.

Seeing the successful takedown, at last the Holy Covenant soldiers could clearly see this "Elite" whose strength, speed, and vitality were extremely exaggerated.

"His" form was twisted and awkward, appearing very ungainly and uncoordinated.

The skin exposed outside the armor was viscous, earthy green, with dense writhing tentacles and feelers on the head and neck, while the right arm was mutated and twisted into a large whip-like organ.

(End of chapter)