Chapter 333: line with translation of chapter title

Prehistoric planet.

The intense battle at the Space Gate base never ceased; it seemed the Titan fleet had committed all its manpower and firepower, sparing no effort, to this front.

After all, on the entire planet, only the Space Gate base posed a high threat to the Titan side; other forces, such as indigenous peoples still in the Stone Age or just entering agricultural civilization, were hardly worth mentioning.

Only by destroying the base could one claim ground sovereignty.

At this moment.

In the jungle south of the base.

NuoWa and Sara had already gathered with many Astate recruits and were about to enter the area covered by the energy shield.

「Boom! Rumble!! 」

「Ri～tat-tat-tat! 」

Explosions and gunfire rang out nonstop; the firelight and the bright light from the shield literally illuminated the entire area as if it were daytime.

「Huff…huff…」

Sara, running, was a bit out of breath.

She was not an Astate, nor did she wear the lightweight HES; continuous running naturally left her exhausted.

What caused her emotions to fluctuate violently was the battle unfolding in the sky.

Wave after wave of air blasts and shockwaves incessantly struck the ground and trees, and also struck her spirit.

Afraid?

Fear was inevitable; when she saw an Astate recruit hit by an enemy aircraft's machine-gun strafing, his body blown to pieces, Sara's mind repeatedly flashed with the image of her father being beheaded by a demon.

Moreover, the sudden surge of various emotions also left her feelings in turmoil.

However, recalling the life of Gen Luo and the wild wolves, with laughter and crying, calmed her emotions; thinking back to past training and instruction, she seemed to quickly adapt to war.

Now, aside from bodily fatigue, her mind was free of any disturbance; she only thought about how to kill more alien scum!

Just then.

Another large Titan transport ship, hit by close-defense cannon fire and bursting into flames, completely lost control and hurtled swiftly toward the base's shield.

However, at the moment of imminent impact, the transport's relatively intact cabin exploded from inside out; immediately, two hulking objects resembling battle mechs burst out of the cabin through the breach created by the explosion.

「Hum—! Boom!! 」

「Thud! Thud! 」

As the transport ship smashed into the shield and was utterly destroyed, those two 'mechs' also crashed onto the jungle floor, avoiding sharing the transport's fate of destruction.

In the glow of the fire and the shield's light, the two mechs, standing at least fifteen meters tall, fitting human aesthetic sensibilities and armed with various caliber guns and missile launchers, stood directly in front of NuoWa, Sara, and the recruits.

「Whoosh! Whoosh! 」 Missiles shot out of their tubes.

「Bang! Bang! 」 The cannons also fired in unison.

Upon landing, the two mechs locked onto their targets and then launched an overwhelming assault with absolute firepower against the people lacking powered armor and thermal weapons.

"Unfortunately," NuoWa, before the enemy launched their attack, raised her left hand and released a faint-blue Spiritual Energy barrier that completely nullified all attacks, thwarting the mech pilots' intent to wipe them out in one strike.

And without waiting for her reminder, Sara already swung her Starlight Sword, releasing two silver Spiritual Shock arcs— or rather blade-like— that directly split the two mechs in half.

「Boom! Boom! 」

Then came a belated explosion.

Seeing that the threat blocking the path had been easily swept away by NuoWa and Sara, the crowd didn't dawdle, quickened their pace, and passed through the biologically identified shield, finally returning to the base.

「All recruits, please hurry to Sector 03 and stand by; note, all recruits please… 」

Inside the base, although there was constant clamor, it had not descended into panic; combined with the shield's defensive booms and muffled thuds from blocking attacks, and the incessantly repeated broadcast, it even gave people an inexplicable sense of reassurance.

Following the broadcast's reminder, the recruits who had rushed out of the jungle hurried to Sector 03.

As they moved forward, NuoWa deliberately slowed her steps so Sara could keep up; at the same time, NuoWa unintentionally glanced at the Starlight Sword.

Sara's ability to release stable, fixed-form Spiritual Shock is chiefly thanks to the Starlight Sword.

Although NuoWa's 'father,' namely Sui Bian, had also given her a Griffon Blade and many costly powered weapons, she usually prefers to use a sniper explosive-arrow gun to carry out missions.

Mainly because NuoWa believes those weapons are unsuitable for Ghost agents whose primary duties are stealth, assassination, and the like.

Too ostentatious.

However, Sara, this young girl just starting out, despite her waning stamina, can still unleash powerful Spiritual Energy, which genuinely makes NuoWa secretly admire her.

Especially in terms of mindset.

Looking back a hundred years, she did not have Sara's kind of 'luck'; having just lost her parents, she soon had an entire regiment of brothers, elder sisters, and a battalion-commander father to heal her psychological wounds.

NuoWa had been living in a church since age six; due to her early solitary nature, she didn't fit in with other children, until at fourteen she was adopted by Sui Bian and taken to Minos Island, where she underwent Ghost agent training together with thirty-six other orphans of her age.

Although Sui Bian personally taught them how to use Spiritual Energy and would take them on outings around Earth during breaks, NuoWa needed to 'share paternal love'.

Moreover, Sui Bian is now not only NuoWa's father, but also the father of ten OriginalBodies and hundreds of thousands of Astate.

On that point alone, Sara is far happier than she is.

？

Suddenly.

NuoWa seemed to sense something, shifting her focus from Sara to the base's central location.

「Thud, thud! 」

Accompanied by heavy footsteps, a DivineBody clad in golden-yellow armor and equipped with a large rear thruster stepped out of the Space Gate shrouded by massive facilities and valves.

Then this DivineBody activated an anti-gravity field and swiftly rose into the air, accompanied by dozens of similarly postured Honor Iron Fist centurions, each also equipped with thrusters.

「Is that the DivineBody of OriginalBody Rog?! 」 Sara exclaimed, stopping in her tracks.

「That's right. 」

NuoWa also halted, looked up at the DivineBody and centurion formation that had already broken out of the shield, and then responded to Sara's exclamation, saying:

「It looks like this group of humanoid aliens is heading straight into the chairman's gun barrel. 」

"At the gun barrel?" Sara didn't understand.

Whether it's the Speaker Sui known to the public or the company's chairman, Sui Bian is too "distant" for Sara, out of reach.

"Let's gather first," NuoWa said without explanation.

"Okay." Sara nodded.

…

At the same time, above the base.

Rog's DivineBody actively deployed the ◇ diamond-shaped shield, ignoring all artillery and attacks, and surged straight toward the maximum altitude the anti-gravity field could reach.

Some unfortunate Tau fighters and transports, unable to dodge, would be directly shattered by the diamond-shaped shield.

Half of the centurion squad following Rog stopped ascending and accelerating, instead assisting the base squadrons to deal with the persistent "flies" harassing the base.

"Bang! Bang!"

"Ri~TingTing!!"

The centurions' 80mm pulse cannons and 25mm five-barrel rotary Gauss guns fired wildly, making the base's "fireworks display" even more "splendid and colorful".

Tau fighters were completely helpless against these centurions.

The main model used by all squadrons taking off from the base remained the Viking series.

After all, the Viking fighter's maneuverability, adaptability, balance, etc., are excellent, and it's inexpensive to build, cheap; colloquially it's an absolute "hexagon".

When necessary, the Viking can also transform into a mecha unit…

Although the mecha state is greatly reduced in all aspects, this also highlights the Viking's versatility.

Now all Vikings, as well as humanity's main models, possess shield generators of varying power.

The Tau side, facing the base's squadrons, is at an absolute disadvantage in firepower, mobility, and defense.

Nevertheless, the Tau can at least rely on numbers to break shields, then destroy the Viking and human standard models.

But when facing the biological mecha centurions equipped with the ◇ diamond-shaped shield, the Tau side was directly stunned, after all the centurions' weapon calibers are nearly equivalent to ship guns.

Now look at Rog's side.

Rog's DivineBody and twenty centurions have already reached an altitude of 40,000 meters, which here is also the limit of the anti-gravity field.

When the ascent speed noticeably drops, even showing signs of being "pulled back" to the ground, the DivineBody's and centurions' rear thrusters begin to take over from the anti-gravity field.

"Boom!!" A bright blue tail flame spews out.

Soon, Rog first broke free of the "restraint", reaching low orbit of the prehistoric planet, and at the same time, through his DivineBody's eyes, he saw in the distance a Tau fleet composed of four hundred vessels of various classes.

Whoosh~——!

Swish~——!

In an instant, the Tau fleet launched a salvo at Rog, dense beams and missiles rushing toward him.

Under normal circumstances, Rog would not bother to dodge; the ◇ shield generated by his DivineBody can help him block almost all types of attack except Spiritual Energy.

But this time, the shield wall generated at the front of his DivineBody only canceled the various beam cannon strikes, and could not be calculated; moreover, the missiles coming from multiple angles all slowed down and stopped, unable to advance even a bit.

Subsequently, these missiles were forcibly redirected, suddenly accelerating back along their original path.

!!

The Tau fleet had no experience dealing with this strange phenomenon; each ship's captain could only issue emergency evasion orders and deploy close-in weapons, attempting to intercept the missiles they themselves had fired.

Boom--! Boom——!

The violent explosions instantly disabled many warships.

While all this was happening, Rog naturally wasn't idle; without waiting for the twenty centurions to be in place, he personally piloted his DivineBody, closely following the missiles he had controlled with Spiritual Energy, rushing at extreme speed toward the Tau fleet.

Having stayed in the Solar System for over a hundred years, Rog is not merely focused on defense; whenever he has time, he meets with Magnus to exchange some "little tricks" regarding Spiritual Energy.

He may not be able to use Spiritual Energy for purification, or exaggerated elemental attacks like "fire sea" or "electric rain", but he is quite adept at the simple "magic" of using Spiritual Energy to control objects.

When the missiles returned to their "home" and successfully detonated, Rog was already piloting his DivineBody, seizing the moment to charge into the fleet formation.

He controlled the 1200mm-caliber laser cannon held in his DivineBody's right hand, powered by an internal nuclear fusion reactor, aiming at the bridge of the nearest warship.

Whoosh-——!

Boom-——!

The piercing red beam instantly melted through the bridge, "vaporizing" the Tau who still didn't understand what provoking humanity meant, then pierced straight through the entire warship, and with undiminished power continued along a straight line destroying every ship.

The DivineBody's left hand then swept forward, first making a five-finger spreading motion, giving rise to countless ◇ diamond-shaped fragments that formed an unprecedentedly huge net.

Left hand clenched into a fist.

The net, which refused physical contact, closed in, enveloping part of the Tau fleet, then rapidly reduced the space inside, ultimately squeezing dozens of warships into explosion, "compressing" them into a super-massive metal sphere.

!!!

In just a brief moment, a few breaths, Rog alone destroyed nearly one-fifth of the fleet…

How can one fight like this?!

The Tau were dumbfounded, completely stunned.

Ground combat reported encountering a group of Astartes that could "tear them apart by hand", while the orbital fleet also faced an unbelievably exaggerated DivineBody, after which the fleet lost one-fifth of its strength.

Clearly it was only a space station with a few defending units, a "lowly civilization", yet how could the resistance be so brutal?

The Tau fleet fell into panic, unable to restrain itself.

At this moment, the twenty centurions arrived "fashionably late", cooperating with the DivineBody to begin a reckless charge and assault.

The centurions either, with extreme speed and high agility, directly destroyed the bridge, or damaged the engines to disable the warships.

The DivineBody dominated throughout, making Rog feel that the battle was…

Like crushing vegetables.

Possibly because the DivineBody and centurions, together with him as the OriginalBody, are overly "domineering", but more likely the Tau fleet is simply too fragile, even inferior to the Covenant Empire's flank fleet.

Of course, it's also not excluded that this Tau fleet is likewise a flank fleet of the Tau Empire.

Rog led his troops to participate in the battle, and not long after, the dazed Titanium Shore commander finally was 'like waking from a dream', hurriedly had the remaining fleet enter a state similar to jump travel, abandoning the ground forces, recklessly withdrawing from the prehistoric planet's gravitational range, disappearing into the deep space filled with stars.

———————

…

Two hours later.

At this moment, the battle at the Space Gate base has already ended.

After all, having lost the fleet's firepower and logistical support, the Titanium Shore ground forces that had entered the atmosphere chose to stay away from the Space Gate base, avoiding further clashes with humans.

Similarly, the base side had no time to pursue; they are currently rushing to make preparations, and once everything is ready, they will sweep the Titanium Shore people who have spread across the prehistoric planet.

Inside the base Command Center.

"Are you saying they are a group of refugees?" Rog, having switched back to the OriginalBody powered armor, asked doubtfully.

"Almost." NuoWa, standing before Rog, lightly nodded and continued: "Their star system and half of their colonies have been occupied by a group of green-skinned beastmen, and all the alien forces in that star sector have also suffered invasions by the green-skinned beastmen."

"As for the fleet that clashed with us, they thought our defensive strength was weak, and thus wanted to turn the new recruit training planet into a colony, shaping it into a refuge to escape the green-skinned."

(End of chapter)