Chapter 78: Running errands? What business calls for a Green Skin crown?

The fortress is brightly lit.

The surviving soldiers of the Oumia group directly assumed command of the fortress's Star Realm Army.

At this moment, massive forces are frantically arranging defenses and loading ammunition.

Heavy firepower that was originally positioned at external fire points has been moved directly into the narrow fortress, preparing to rely on the interior terrain for defense.

At the front of the fortress, the defending forces are wildly firing outward, and the gate has become a corroded breach.

At this moment, the gate is piled high with the corpses of the Tyran swarm, but no matter how many the defenders kill, more swarms keep crowding in from behind.

Even that mountain of Tyran corpses periodically collapses backward, clearing the gate that would otherwise be completely blocked by bodies.

That is because the Tyran swarm continuously transports the corpses to a rear digestion pool, preparing to re‑incubate them into new swarm units.

Inside the fortress at this moment.

A large number of wounded soldiers stagger, helping each other as they retreat to the rear lines, while far fewer are sent forward to refill the front.

Moreover, a more despairing fact is that once the Tyran confirmed a large amount of biomass inside the fortress, the number of swarms dispatched here kept increasing, and even atop the fortress, as the rubble trembled and the heavy walls above quivered, scattered holes began to appear.

Another chunk of rubble suddenly falls, startling several soldiers below who tumble to the ground, and before they can get up, an ugly, howling insect head suddenly protrudes from above.

The terrified soldiers fall back, kicking their legs, while nearby Oumia troops, under a Black Watch Command, quickly raise their weapons and fire a barrage of lasers.

Even with a heavy chitinous shell, under such fire the insect can only collapse, its head blown to pieces, and before the men below can catch their breath, another blade insect follows immediately.

The concentrated fire continues to sweep the area, and beside this firefight, Xisi walks by, surveying the wounded on both sides of the fortress corridor, while Fanluosi follows closely behind.

Most of the soldiers are missing arms or legs, or their faces have been burned away by corrosive acid.

After all, unless they are truly unable to fight, these wounded would not be allowed to retreat.

At this moment, those whose front legs are still hiding, whose rear legs are being pulled by soldiers filling the lines, look at Xisi passing before them, their eyes still showing great hope.

After all, despite their injuries, they hope that this unknown commander, who even the Judge follows as a subordinate, can cut through the insect sea and keep them alive.

"Weak performance!"

Fanluosi snorts coldly; if Xisi hadn't given a clear order, Fanluosi would have executed all these wounded once they were clearly unable to fight.

He would have used that as punishment for their unwillingness to fight for the Empire to the very end!

After all, as the Judge, aside from Xisi, no one could make Fanluosi so kind, sincere, and courteous.

To other mortals, Fanluosi is a vicious bureaucrat who, once he sets his sights on someone, death is never far away.

The surrounding crowd, seeing such harsh treatment toward themselves, turn to Xisi and the Judge, who tries to force a smile, but can only mutter a few words in their hearts before pretending not to notice.

Xisi withdraws his gaze from the wounded and walks to the command post where sand and gravel keep falling.

Daiweiluo has been waiting; seeing Xisi arrive, he immediately points his hand at several senior Star Realm Army officers standing nearby.

"We asked clearly; their reports only go up to three months ago. Three months ago the eastern hemisphere fell completely, and the Mechanical Church's Foundry General withdrew the Guardian Sect Army, leaving these Star Realm Army troops trapped in the fortress behind."

Daiweiluo explains; Xisi looks directly at the freshly updated map. On the massive map covering the entire Ustali, almost the whole planet has become a battlefield of Green Skin and Tyran, while humanity has been forced to the Arctic, relying on the Arctic fortress and a steady stream of reinforcements from other star systems to hold a desperate resistance.

And the fortress where Xisi stands now is almost half a planet away from the Imperial Control Zone!

Fanluosi looks at the map in silence, while Daiweiluo watches the scene, curious about what Xisi will do this time.

Could it be like Alert Star, gathering the remnants and charging forward?

But unlike the relatively chaotic battlefield of Alert Star, Ustali now filled with Green Skin and Tyran likely has far fewer remnants waiting for Xisi to gather.

The command console is silent; Xisi stares at the map without speaking, so even the wounded he is supporting in front of him hold back any sound.

He looks at a situation no longer a crossing of a region or a city district, but a direct traverse across an entire continent, all without any vehicle and under constant swarm assault; even Xisi, unless the Divine Emperor personally intervenes, could not possibly cut through.

And as for Terror, there's no need to consider it; after all, killing insects cannot please Terror.

With Terror and the Divine Emperor temporarily absent, Xisi is at a loss for ideas, even furrowing his brow in a way that signals trouble.

Daiweiluo watches this scene with a slight stare, while Fanluosi's eyes show even more regret.

If I hadn't forced Xisi to go to Virolia, perhaps Xisi would already be among the fortress clusters in the Arctic.

The three remain silent until Bunoke is also dragged back by several Black Watch members accompanied by Oumia soldiers.

Listening to Bunoke's continual cries and curses, Xisi finally shifts his gaze from the map to his original team.

At this moment, Bunoke's right arm has been completely corroded and melted by plasma, and his right eye is just an empty socket.

The only somewhat good thing is that the plasma burn instantly stopped Bunoke's bleeding, preventing him from bleeding to death.

Ana personally steps forward to treat Bunoke, constantly soothing him.

Fanluosi merely glances, then his expression remains calm:

"There's no major problem; he's lost his right eye and arm, but he's alive. Since he's Lord Xisi's aide, once we get to the Arctic, the Mechanical Church can replace them with a secondary precision prosthetic."

Xisi hears this and slightly relaxes, then, seeing how severely Bunoke is wounded, looks puzzled toward the Black Watch.

The Black Watch replies helplessly:

"Lord Bunoke saw the swarm trying to drag away the bodies of our dead, got angry and rushed out to seize the remains, getting injured."

Hearing this, Daiweiluo and Fanluosi raise their eyebrows, looking at Bunoke with a hint of admiration.

Xisi then, after listening, looks at the Display, watching the firefight line that has already retreated to the middle of the fortress.

Soon, Xisi spots the reclaimed remains on the screen, and as he follows them forward, he sees massive swarms of Tyran; besides transporting the dead insects, they are also mixed with a huge number of...

Green Skin?!

Xisi's deep-set eyes, set for crossing the continent, instantly light up upon seeing Green Skin.

He doesn't even have time to soothe Bunoke; Xisi directly looks at several Star Realm Army officers nearby.

"Is there Green Skin nearby?"

The officers glance at each other, then nod hesitantly:

"Yes."

"How many?"

"We don't know the exact number, but before their leader was assassinated by the Tyran, they could launch a direct attack against the Tyran."

Xisi's eyes brightened at the words; that is indeed Ouketaliusi's usual behavior.

Because they were facing the Green Skin, Tai Lun was forced to resort to assassinating the leader in order to suppress them.

Since the Green Skin would immediately fall into civil war once their leader was gone, until a new leader was chosen, this gave Tai Lun the chance to eliminate them one by one.

Now that Xisi understood the situation, he immediately walked to the map and ordered the officer to circle the area where the Green Skin were located.

The officer grew more puzzled at the words, but Fanluosi stared intently at Xisi, and his expression instantly turned extremely strange.

Even the thought that surfaced in his mind—if it weren't Xisi who was ready to do such a thing, Fanluosi would probably have had to scatter the other's ashes.

Finally, when Xisi pinpointed the location of the leaderless Green Skin group, he stood up directly and faced Daiweiluo and Fanluosi.

"I need to go out and take care of something; you must hold the line."

Daiweiluo didn't think it over and simply nodded.

Fanluosi, however, watched Xisi start rummaging in his pocket, his cheeks flushing to the extreme.

When Xisi, alone, exited the fortress through another passage, stepping out with his front foot while the other, who had taken the thing from his pocket and placed it on his head, followed with his back foot, Fanluosi, after a long inner struggle, finally inhaled deeply, his eyes brimming with suppressed frustration:

"What on earth are you going to do that makes you have to put an Alien Form Crown......"

"... on your own head?!"