Chapter 616: Divine Race

Above the tomb at this moment…

Boom—!!!

The green light surged outward like a volcanic eruption, reaching the sky, its scale so massive that even the near‑orbit Shark‑eater fleet could be clearly seen with the naked eye.

However, if one looks at the entire Caron Tower through the Shark‑eater fleet, green patches of varying sizes appear everywhere, indicating that Caron Tower hosts more than one tomb and suggesting that, ten million years ago, it was likely the capital of the Iseir Dynasty.

Thus, even though Sarcos Iseir, the supreme ruler of the Iseir Dynasty, has truly fallen, the nobles and various lords under his command still retain self‑awareness.

Like humans, when the highest authority is vacant, the subordinate powers each form their own camps, engaging in open and covert struggles; moreover, Space Death Spirits are bound by "protocols" and "logic", with strict hierarchies granting superiors absolute power over subordinates.

Therefore, the various Death‑spirit tombs on Caron Tower are unlikely to reorganize a large‑scale invasion quickly, granting the human side ample reaction time…

Especially the Empire Navy.

When total war broke out on the ground, many tomb warships rose into the sky.

According to length and width matching the Empire Navy's warship standards, there are at least forty Death‑spirit carriers, over twelve hundred battlecruisers, destroyers, etc., in near‑Earth orbit of Caron Tower, with more warships continuously taking off.

Not long ago, the AI Selina analyzed current intelligence and roughly estimated the Death‑spirit warships buried beneath Caron Tower's surface,

In contrast, on the Empire's side, the total number of warships from four battalions and the local navy just exceeds four hundred, at 403 vessels.

Fortunately, today's Human Empire, aside from Legions, OriginalBody and Astate, finds its most "wealthy" branch in the Empire Navy; its technology is also one of the Human Empire's ceilings, allowing it to match Death‑spirits three times its own strength.

Of course, another main reason it can match the Death‑spirits is the Shark‑eater fleet's frequent raids, flanking maneuvers, and…

jump‑faction.

"When in doubt, jump‑faction solves it," these eight characters are considered one of the Human Empire's maxims.

Death‑spirit warships are all living metal, rendering them completely immune to solar flares and gaseous giant planets, and they excel at self‑repair.

Moreover, with inertia‑free engines, they can freely travel faster‑than‑light in real space; coupled with their scythe‑ and scorpion‑like appearance, Death‑spirit battleships, destroyers, or escorts can become "piercing needles" and "curved blades" to clash hull‑to‑hull.

Before Sarcos fell, more than twenty Paris escort ships (new model) had already been rammed and sunk by Death‑spirit warships.

When the green radiance emitted by Sarcos's tomb dims, the near‑Earth orbit again flickers with the trajectories of its laser, electromagnetic, Gauss cannons, as well as the flashes from shattered shields and exploding warships.

But the ensuing "naval battle" is pure chaos.

The various lords and nobles of the Iseir Dynasty are at odds, and they clash with the Empire Navy.

The multi‑sided melee means the "sea" need not be worried for now, unless the Iseir Dynasty quickly crowns a new overlord.

As for the surface side…

Sarcos's tomb is now unrecognizable; due to six thousand Krig‑operated overload power‑armor reactors, the tomb's core also suffered overload.

The violent explosion flipped everything, and it is the culprit behind the green light surge.

As the aftershocks fade, the tomb collapses, letting the afternoon sun erase all dead silence inside.

From an aerial view.

The metal dome was blown open into a gigantic breach forty kilometers across; the trapezoidal pyramid has long become ruins, the former massive metal pillars and small pyramids reduced to rubble, and metal skeletons litter the ground.

And the human side?

Corpses are scarce, for the overwhelming majority of warriors faced certain death and, while still conscious, chose to perish together with the surrounding alien fragments.

Now many squid‑like flying sentinels assist each division's engineers and technicians in clearing the battlefield, and occasionally the clatter of reloading guns—"tang‑tang", "da‑da"—can be heard.

As for An Na Jin, who was previously engulfed by white light, he now sits dazed amid the ruins.

His face is blackened by soot, hair disheveled; the power armor forged by Hephestus bears many scratches from the earlier battle, and his chest plate shows a clear footprint.

An Na Jin himself stares blankly ahead, ignoring two technicians fitted with multiple prosthetic limbs who are checking his body, his gaze slightly vacant.

But as the sunlight wanes, another giant silhouette appears before him.

His gaze lifts upward.

An Na Jin sees Wokan, far cleaner and tidier than himself, expressionless as he looks down at him.

After fixing his hair and appearance, An Na Jin stands, his tone slightly low as he says, "Wokan, this is my first time truly feeling what defeat is like."

"Defeat?" Wokan glanced around, "The result of defeat should be those metal aberrations collecting our corpses for us; since we can still stand, it means we have won, it is victory."

"It's a tragic victory." An Na Jin's shoulders slump, a hint of deflation in his whole being.

Indeed, setting aside the earlier "minor" trials their father gave them, this should be An Na Jin's first time independently leading a unit the size of an assault brigade.

However, the result was that everyone except him perished, which for him is undeniably a massive blow.

After all, browsing the records and deeds of the OriginalBody brothers, each one shone in their first command; of course, the sheer casualty numbers are hard to accept…

Although the exact figures haven't been tallied, An Na Jin can still estimate the general scope.

The four battalions suffered nearly ten thousand deaths; averaged out, each regiment lost one‑third of its Astate, and each assault brigade likewise lost one‑third of its support troops.

The local army and naval marines suffered over half casualties, let alone the Krig, who favor suicide attacks; currently only the navy's losses are relatively lower.

One could say that whether before or after the Human Empire's founding, such a brutal war has never been encountered.

This is undoubtedly an apocalyptic‑level war.

"Sacrifice is the Empire's foundation." Wokan offers no consolation, continuing, "Adapt early; more fragments will await us to eliminate in the future."

"." An Na Jin nods wordlessly.

…

As the two newly awakened OriginalBodies, after the harrowing battle, experience renewed growth in spirit…

Approximately 3,400 light‑years from Caron Tower lies a garden world named Asudia.

Asudia is not merely a tourist attraction; it also bears the burden of prompting wealthy merchants from other universes to invest in the Zero‑Three universe, its economy flourishing, and a star gate at the edge of its system serves as an absolute transport hub.

Thus, in the Zero‑Three universe, Asudia ranks among the top‑50 "habitable" planets (with high property prices).

However, present‑day Asudia has already endured war's devastation.

On its surface, either nuclear flash or raging fires consuming grasslands, forests, and entire cities; near‑Earth orbit is littered with sunken ship wreckage.

At this moment.

Inside the core hall of a necropolis tomb located in the Northern Hemisphere.

"Zi—la—!" the sound of a blade smoothly slicing through some kind of entity.

"Dong~…dong…dong…" and the sounds of a metal sphere falling and rolling.

Seeing Sui Meng, over five meters tall, dressed in powered armor with an ancient Huaxia style, he wielded a pitch-black rod in his hand, the Blood Dragon Blade adorned with dragon scale patterns and a coiling blood dragon (similar to a crescent moon blade), and successfully beheaded a necromancer lord.

Then, he took advantage of the momentum to throw the Blood Dragon Blade, piercing the core and completely solving the tomb's problem of the necromancers constantly reviving.

But Sui Meng did not rush to retrieve his weapon; instead, his gaze turned to the right, toward a fissure emitting a fluorescent green light, a cube twenty meters on each side.

Because, according to the relevant data given by his father and his own speculation, inside that cube it is highly likely that the God Clan of the material universe is imprisoned—

Star God.

(End of chapter)