Chapter 292: with translation of chapter title

Afterwards.

Four transport aircraft rushed to the scene under the escort of a Viking III.

The transport aircraft lowered its landing gear, chose a spacious area to park, and the Viking III also transformed, converting into an armored unit heavier than a cyclops, landing on the ground to perform guard duty.

Immediately thereafter, technicians and the medical team surged out of the cabin and began to "clean up" the site.

They examined and treated the wounded, then helped collect the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

As for the two severely injured, near‑death elves, they were only preparing for transfer, since their physiology differs from humans and conventional treatment could cause secondary trauma.

Not long after.

The Second Legion's technicians and medical team completed the "clean‑up" procedure, boarded the transport aircraft to the 503rd Infantry Division base, and the Viking III reverted to fighter mode to continue escort.

Jie Luomu and the ten brave warriors of the Honor Guard also boarded the transport aircraft, ensuring no mistakes.

Moreover, the forces stationed at Puerdon took Buleiya's advice, temporarily halted the encirclement operation, and confined the Ghost‑faced Beast, which had been beguiled by Paras, within the uninhabited rainforest.

———————

…

Meanwhile.

The Umbrella Third Legion, Dark Angel fleet, is cruising within the Cordova star system, about 810 light‑years from Puerdon.

The fleet's size is slightly larger than that of the Second Legion.

The flagship Courage Anthem's specifications are also larger than the Hope Vessel, and although both belong to the Olympus Class, its length approaches twenty kilometers, making it an absolutely massive entity.

Upper deck of the vessel.

In a private cabin near the bridge area, a steady report resonated in Red Queen's tone:

"Chairman, this is footage captured by Agent Kennedy and others."

She and Bai Hou stood on either side of a fixed desk, delivering a verbal report to Sui Bian, while several holographic screens appeared on the desk to allow Sui Bian to directly review Puerdon's latest status.

Sui Bian, on this side…

He crossed his ten fingers, elbows resting on the desk, watching the footage with little expression.

But inwardly, he muttered uneasily, "In the end, it still came."

Just from that Paras‑controlled, puppet‑like "elf" body, which could contend with the Sparta Honor Guard and the legion champion, it is clear that Leon's speculation was flawless.

Paras is at least a high‑rank demon.

Of course, what weighs on Sui Bian's mind is not this Paras, but the opponent's various schemes, indicating that the Rift Space is gradually "watching" humanity.

That makes sense.

As human society becomes more prosperous, its emotions' projection onto the Sea of Souls becomes increasingly evident.

After fully assimilating the Empire's technology, humanity's interstellar travel became "cheap".

Initially, the warships and vessels seized by five mixed fleets were either dismantled for study, refurbished and sold to elites, or had their weapons stripped for civilian use.

Hover technology, plasma technology, and so on.

Furthermore, guided by administrators' memory storage, artificial stars and planetary‑scale structures will sooner or later enrich humanity's tech tree.

Even with a population of just over 170 billion, to the Rift Space they already count as a "delicious" species.

In Leon's uploaded report, those with slender ears, whose physical qualities and Spiritual Energy usage far surpass those of any race's "females", are called elves.

In a sense, they should be considered the "Spiritual Race".

However, based on the video and image material Leon captured, the elves appearing on Puerdon resemble the "Aida Spiritual Race" known to Sui Bian, yet are not exactly the same.

Because the most distinctive elf ears, compared to his impression, are "short", if they shed clothing disguises and rely only on hairstyles for concealment, tossing those elves into a crowd would achieve an almost perfect integration.

Secondly, height.

The elves Leon encountered average about 1.7 meters tall, close to humans, and in this respect differ significantly from the Aida Spiritual Race.

At this moment.

Sui Bian, watching the combat footage, suddenly frowned, then lightly waved his left hand to adjust the screen, replaying several segments.

His main purpose was to listen carefully to what Paras said.

For example, the counterpart described itself as the "War and Wisdom Goddess", also familiar with the "Hunting Goddess" and the "Round Moon Water", and held a unique view of humanity, looking down on all non‑human races.

Such words, demeanor, and traits made Sui Bian inevitably think of another goddess he knows—

Paras Athena.

Moreover, Paras is quite "opportunistic".

It voluntarily terminated its possession, successfully fled back to the Rift Space, rather than being bisected by Gerome's energy wrist‑blade, which would have forced its expulsion.

This prevented Sui Bian from "capturing" its whereabouts from afar, and also made it impossible to conduct Spiritual Energy plunder when it is at its peak; even a physical expulsion by Gerome would require a costly amount of points.

He pondered for a moment.

Sui Bian ended his elbow‑resting seated posture, rose from the chair, walked toward the cabin door, and instructed the two secretaries following him:

"Notify the fleet to end its patrol, temporarily return to the Solar System to observe developments, then inform Artemis to head immediately to the border fortress star zone."

"Also, tell the Ghost agents hidden in Puerdon that once the two surviving humanoid aberrations regain consciousness, they should immediately assist the Intelligence and Supervision Departments in interrogating them to determine why their species came."

"Understood (good)."

Outside the vessel.

The Courage Anthem first opened the jump portal, followed by warships and vessels of all classes sequentially activating, each entering the Rift Space and disappearing within the Cordova cosmos.

———————

…

Budeapeni local time: 2086/08/16 12:34.

The 503rd Division base in the northern suburbs of the city.

Nearly five hours have passed since the first comprehensive sweep launched at dawn; the main forces remain in the rainforest to block the Ghost‑faced Beast's activity zone, leaving the entire base desolate and quiet.

However, the maintenance workshop was very busy.

Logistics personnel wearing mechanical exoskeletons were busy maintaining and calibrating the Cyclops, and the airport ground crew were doing the same with aerial vehicles.

In the temporary stationed area belonging to Umbrella, inside the second-floor interrogation room of the Command Center.

Standard metal fixed tables and chairs, a mirror-like one-way window on the right wall, and a monitor installed in the corner.

At this moment, the elf named Iona, changed into a blue-and-white striped hospital gown; as soon as her condition improved and she regained consciousness, she was brought to the interrogation room, sat in the metal chair, and silently gazed at the one-way window.

As if she could see the person standing on the other side of the window.

As for another unnamed elf, having directly endured Paras's Spiritual Energy lightning, she has not yet awakened; due to different physiology, medical personnel cannot treat her.

Not long after.

The metal gate suddenly opened, and Leon, now wearing black trousers and a white shirt, entered the interrogation room.

However, Leon's shirt sleeves were rolled up, and his right forearm was wrapped in a transparent film that completely covered the skin.

Inside the film, a large amount of blue "liquid" filled it, treating the fractured and damaged forearm.

In fact, the liquid contains a large number of nanobots specialized in trauma; combined with the composite nanobots already in Leon's body, after just five hours, it almost completely healed his right forearm that Paras had "pinched" broken.

The gate closed.

Leon sat opposite her under Iona's gaze; then Iona also looked toward Leon's left side, as if she sensed a vague "person" standing there, making her feel somewhat uneasy.

That "person" is the Ghost agent, designated X-441, continuously maintaining the Optical Camouflage effect.

According to orders, he paused his surveillance of local officials and generals, and rushed to the 503rd Division base to assist in the interrogation.

If Iona becomes uncooperative, or if he senses a tendency to lie or deceive, X-441 will attempt to forcibly "browse" her memories.

Ghost agents are humanity's top Spiritual Users; from childhood and youth they were taken to Titan for training, and secretly had Sui Bian expend points to provide Spiritual Energy protection.

He cannot deal with that elder elf or Paras, but handling this young elf before him is more than sufficient.

However, to avoid directly "frying" Iona's brain and to prevent unnecessary war, X-441 will not act rashly.

Leon sat down.

With a professional smile, he asked: "If I'm not mistaken, you should be called Iona, right?"

"Iona Ulthernolis." Iona voluntarily gave her full name, glanced at the X-441 she couldn't see clearly, and spoke with a slightly sorrowful tone:

Due to Pallas's trickery… we have lost many companions, which has already deviated from the ancestors' prophecy…

"Prophecy?" Leon gradually wiped off his smile, pressing: "What is the prophecy's content? Who are you? What is your purpose in coming to Buleiya?"

Upon hearing that.

Ina also put away her sorrowful expression and said: "To demonstrate our clan's sincerity, I will reveal all that I know…"

Next.

According to Ina, Leon, X-441, and Buleiya on the other side of the one-way mirror learned that they are the "Weilin" clan.

Once the "neighbor" of the Orion Arm, the absolute overlord of the Sagittarius Arm, when converted to Earth years, they reached their peak ten thousand years ago.

At that time, the Weilin clan's population had to be counted in "trillions of billions", after all, the Sagittarius Arm's domain was roughly twice that of the Orion Arm.

Apart from the long-vanished administrators, they far surpassed all known races humanity has encountered in every aspect—physical strength, reaction speed, lifespan limit, and even the use of Spiritual Energy.

Among them, Ina herself said that their clan's most distinctive and also most fatal trait is their innate advantage in wielding Spiritual Energy, as well as an overly "keen" sense.

When the Weilin clan reached its peak, near-infinite social wealth could supply everyone, labor was no longer needed, thus material aspects could no longer satisfy them, leading them to pursue extreme spiritual pleasure.

Pleasure is everything.

But no matter when or which race, there will always be sages who can see the situation clearly.

A few scholars still studying Spiritual Energy sensed that this unrestrained indulgence and pleasure was continually churning the already turbid sea of souls, ultimately foreseeing that the clan's future would fall into an endless abyss because of it.

Thus these scholars tried to awaken the clan, but the result was contempt, mockery, and vilification.

Seeing the Weilin clan trapped in an irreversible and pitiful social state, these scholars, equally desperate, led the few who remained clear-minded to actively distance themselves from the Sagittarius Arm.

Either find a remote star system to settle, return to a simple agrarian life of farming and labor, or wander between galaxies.

Ina's ancestors chose to settle in a star system named "Ma'er" on the edge of the Orion Arm, over a hundred light-years from Buleiya, completely cutting off contact with the Weilin clan.

Thus they tend to call themselves Ma'er people rather than Weilin.

After ten thousand years until now, the total population of the Ma'er star system barely reached around twenty million.

Ina also revealed her age.

Leon and the others converted it to the human unit of "years", which equals 295 years old, making her a "young person" who has just come of age among the Ma'er.

The elder elf who died at Pallas's hands was over two thousand years old; the exact number is unknown even to Ina.

However, half of the ancestors who initially fled the Weilin clan perished in a "storm" over nine thousand years ago.

It was a dimensional storm large enough to sweep across the entire galaxy.

Ina's original words were: "Due to the Weilin clan's unrestrained indulgence and irreversible decadence, several evil gods awakened simultaneously."

Finally, accompanied by a "wail" from the most powerful evil god who favors extreme indulgence, this storm was triggered, capturing countless Weilin souls, including half of our Ma'er ancestors.

This storm split the once-flourishing Weilin clan into fragments, just as those scholar ancestors had foreseen, plunging them into an endless dark abyss where they became tools for evil gods and demons to amuse themselves.

The storm lasted a thousand years.

Those Weilin who only pursued pleasure have completely become slaves of the dimensional realm.

Within the Sagittarius Arm, at all times they enact mutual slaughter, abuse, and unimaginable perverse acts; the Weilin forced to awaken by the dimensional storm, however, are stuck in a "mire" desperately struggling.

After the storm's aftermath subsided, the chaotic scene gradually improved, but the Weilin clan had long lost its hegemonic bearing.

Only those who sensed the anomaly early and fled the Sagittarius Arm could maintain stability, minimizing damage—for example, Ina's Ma'er star system.

After hearing all that.

Leon, frowning, said: "Since you keep to yourselves and love a peaceful life, why would the evil god Pallas take notice of you? And why seek cooperation?"

Upon hearing that.

Ina immediately explained: "Even before you went to war with the Holy Covenant Empire, we Ma'er had already taken notice of you humans."

Moreover, not long ago the great ancestor Ailinmir foresaw that the evil god Paras had beguiled a massive number of the Kirahani tribe to prepare a sacrifice of Pu'erdun, even the entire humanity of the nearby star region.

At the same time, the ancestor Ailinmir also foresaw that only your true ruler and his offspring are the key to confronting and defeating all the evil gods.

(End of Chapter)