Chapter 265: 271. Chapter 271: Say the word, and stab

271. Chapter 271: Say the word, and stab

"Activate!"

Lin Ke silently disappeared from the cockpit of the water-drop battleship.

Jielade, who had received Lin Ke's orders, was only slightly surprised by Lin Ke's ghostly manner of departure, then took over the task of piloting the water-drop battleship and continuing to cruise.

Using a transfer via the 'Small World', Fulandu reverse-summoned, and Lin Ke abruptly appeared at the stern of the flagship of the Blaze and Metal Merchant Company fleet.

He donned the newly upgraded interstellar combat mode battle armor with a soft shout in his heart.

The armor's main color is bright red, and the five-colored five-pointed star on the forehead flashes with the same splendor as the ring on the chest.

A two-handed giant sword is slung across his back, its bare blade cold and sharp.

"Warning! Warning!"

An unidentified mage has appeared! An unidentified mage has appeared!

The flagship of the Blaze and Metal Merchant Company detected Lin Ke's presence, and Talin immediately issued a warning.

On the large screen in the cockpit, the figure of Lin Ke in battle armor appeared.

"Linke Grand!"

Seeing the familiar physique and fighting style, Mage Weina immediately recognized Lin Ke, exclaimed in alarm, instantly felt something was wrong, and shouted, "Quick, reinforce the aft defenses, quick!"

The moment the flagship's Talin detected Lin Ke's figure, it had already, according to the emergency plan, adjusted the intensity distribution of the defensive shield.

Unfortunately, the circulation of the defensive shield had been disrupted by the previous full-power annihilation light.

It was like a narrow channel; even if the reservoir had plenty of water, it could not be delivered immediately, only slowly.

The defensive strength of the aft could not be increased for the time being.

There remained a certain risk of being breached.

"Turn!"

After being reminded by Talin, Mage Weina noticed this, immediately changed the order, and at the same time glared at the mages responsible for hull maintenance.

The main warship, while moving at high speed, abruptly switched the direction of engine thrust output, pushing the hull to sway sideways, attempting to use the thick front of its defensive shield to face Lin Ke.

This scene was simultaneously captured by the 'Cloud Rainbow' and the flagship of the White Tower Alliance.

Real-time images were displayed on both of their screens.

"Quick! Quick! Quick!"

In the cockpit of the 'Cloud Rainbow', Shanduola gripped her hands tightly and muttered to herself.

If she made contact, she would surely urge the motionless Linke Grand, who seemed to be gathering power, to quickly attack while taking advantage of the fact that that bitch Weina had not yet adjusted.

She must not start strong and finish weak, missing the great opportunity.

Unfortunately, Lin Ke not only had no direct contact with her, but also remained silently suspended in midair, making no attack.

This gave the flagship of the Blaze and Metal Merchant Company fleet ample time to adjust.

In the flagship of the White Tower Alliance fleet, the Scholar Xierwanuo closed the heavy book in his hands, leaned forward, intently stared at the real-time image of Lin Ke for a few glances, and curled his lip, saying:

"This is fake, an illusion. Doesn't even Mage Weina see this? Linke Grand's attack target is definitely not her flagship. It seems her reason has already begun to be gnawed by desire, unable to stay calm at all times; usually fine, but in a crisis it will be deadly."

Then Scholar Xierwanuo ordered: "Detach from contact with the 'Cloud Rainbow', withdraw from the battlefield, assume defensive formation."

From the start, Scholar Xierwanuo felt very strange; obviously this outing was for training, so why change plans midway to come and assassinate Shanduola?

Although he couldn't pinpoint what was wrong, he faithfully carried out his inner urge, yet he remained doubtful.

So, from the beginning of the battle, they have been fighting until now.

Under Scholar Xierwanuo's indication, the White Tower Alliance fleet appeared to be fighting fiercely on the surface, but in fact had prepared to disengage from the battlefield at any moment and flee thousands of miles away.

With the order given, each warship captain immediately executed the plan.

Before the flagship of the Blaze and Metal Merchant Company had finished adjusting its orientation, they began to orderly disengage from contact with the 'Cloud Rainbow', gradually withdrawing from the battlefield.

"You got off easy!"

Seeing this, Shanduola gritted her teeth and, unwilling, ordered: "Adjust the attack target, all pointing at the Blaze and Metal Merchant Company fleet."

"Understood."

Talin accepted the order and immediately carried it out.

Under Talin's guidance, the five young scions of the great clans each locked their combat system magical devices onto the five warships of the Blaze and Metal Merchant Company fleet.

In the void, in an unmeasurable place.

Dean Fuliste and Ms. Lisangdela stood side by side, watching Lin Ke seize the opportunity, a sudden flash, "not a single shot fired", and thus caused one fleet to fall into utter chaos, another fleet intending to withdraw, couldn't help but remark: "This kid's ability to seize battle opportunities is not bad."

"Hmph!"

Ms. Lisangdela let out a cold snort.

She had heard from various channels that Linke Grand, unbeknownst to himself, had been arranged to be sent to his death, and she was very dissatisfied.

This dissatisfaction was supposedly directed at the academy.

In fact, it was aimed at her, the one who made this arrangement!

Thus, after overhearing Linke Grand's invitation to Tifuni, Ms. Lisangdela made a small maneuver, letting Shanduola also join "Do Anything Freely".

At that time, the exposure of "Do Anything Freely" would greatly increase, inevitably inviting much opposition and suppression.

Even if Linke Grand is highly capable, under high pressure he could still develop "Do Anything Freely" into something strong, and Ms. Lisangdela would not be disappointed.

It only takes a small maneuver to squeeze out Linke Grand and his little girlfriend, allowing Shanduola to rise to power and rightfully grasp a considerable force.

Picking peaches, that's what she's best at.

Dean Fuliste, seeing the change in his second sister's demeanor, immediately guessed what she was plotting, and was left speechless.

After a moment, Dean Fuliste gave a reminder: "Cognitive magic is not omnipotent; be careful that your scheme fails to be achieved, and you'll drag Shanduola into it as well."

"He dares!"

Ms. Lisangdela's brows rose, and she flew into a rage.

"Heh…"

Dean Frister smiled without speaking.

Now they dare to test him to his face; what else wouldn't they dare to do?

There are two other unfathomable places.

The sage-level legions of the Blaze & Metal Trading Company and the White Tower Alliance lie hidden there.

Sixth-level Sage Markmixilian Medros and Sixth-level Sage Mike Philo had long since, via the fleet's reconnaissance system, discovered the droplet-shaped micro-warship loitering at the edge of the battlefield, near the rear flank of the White Tower Alliance fleet.

When Lin Ke suddenly appeared at the stern of the Blaze & Metal Trading Company's flagship, both men heightened their attention, wanting to see what would happen next while preparing to act.

Being routed, being defeated, is acceptable.

Our juniors must not be captured or killed.

Contract?

The contract only forbids providing aid; it doesn't forbid saving people!

As long as the mages want, there are plenty of ways to get around the contract.

At most, it would provoke a ninth-level Archmage who made the blank contract, and a trace of rule-power attached to the original contract would punish them.

It's not a violation of the contract, so they wouldn't face the full force of the rules wielded by a ninth-level Archmage.

This price can be borne.

On the battlefield.

Lin Ke's illusion floated in the void, forcing the Blaze & Metal Trading Company's flagship to turn.

His true body, however, had once again, with the help of Frond, silently arrived at the supply ship's side.

Feigning east, striking west, he drew the attention of the Blaze & Metal Trading Company's fleet onto the main warships.

Lin Ke chose to first target the supply ship.

In this initial engagement, we must fight prudently, secure victory, and achieve results.

He took the greatsword from his back, Lin Ke gripped it with both hands and raised it high. The blade facing the supply ship's hull glowed with an inconspicuous dark light.

Self-created composite spell, "Heaven-Slaying Sword".

Using his innate magic battle armor as a medium, he forcibly combined the two-ring composite spells "Mimic Weapon", "Disassociation", "Antimatter Annihilation", "Ultra-High-Frequency Vibration", and "Ultra-High-Temperature Cutting"; via the celestial structure of the "Grand Cosmos Meditation Method", he instantly output excess mental and magical power, amplified by the "Small World" source power, unleashing Lin Ke's currently strongest strike.

Recalling the inspiration for this spell, the severing claw in the spacetime turbulence;

Recalling the original intention behind forcibly creating this spell, when accompanying Aeriis through the first trial, being trapped in a contradictory space, unable to escape, feeling stifled;

Lin Ke felt anger and heroic fervor rising in his heart, as if even the heavens should be cleaved apart by him.

"Warning! Warning!"

Red warning lights flared inside the supply ship.

The Talin warning alarm sounded throughout.

The defense system sensed the imminent high-energy attack and emitted a piercing alarm.

Originally, the defense shield had uniform strength on all six sides—up, down, left, right, front, back—but ignoring damage to the defense system, it desperately piled protection onto the side about to be attacked.

Attempting to block the incoming attack.

"Slash!"

After charging up, Lin Ke muttered a word and swung the sword down.

The blade of the two-handed greatsword suddenly increased a hundredfold.

In the starry sky appeared a 200-meter-long, 15-meter-wide ultra-giant sword-shaped light-shadow, seemingly slow but actually swift; in the blink of an eye it struck the supply ship.

At the moment Lin Ke struck down with his sword, his true body vanished again.

And the supply ship, even while desperately stacking its side shield strength, still could not fully withstand this strike.

The defense shield held for only ten seconds before being shattered.

Nevertheless, it wore down much of the attack's force.

With this ten-second buffer, the supply ship's hull adjusted somewhat, turning from facing the strike head-on to angling against it.

The material of the ship's hull is special, and it was pre-enchanted with strengthening during construction, thus inherently possessing high defensive capability.

It barely withstood the residual shockwave of Lin Ke's "Heaven-Slaying Sword", not being cleaved in two, yet suffering heavy damage.

One-third of the aft compartment was sliced open, the engine died, and the ship's body violently shook from the sudden loss of momentum, while large amounts of stored supplies rapidly leaked from the breach.

In other words, although Lin Ke's strike did not fully succeed and did not directly destroy the supply ship, it also caused the Blaze & Metal Trading Company's fleet to lose at least half of its supplies.

And the attacker was not only Lin Ke.

At the moment Lin Ke's true body suddenly appeared, the "Yunni" swiftly aimed all its attack armaments, including the main cannon's Annihilation Light, at the supply ship.

There was no time for fine aiming; it was a blanket saturation attack.

A full-power medium-caliber Annihilation Light beam, accompanied by a cadre of lesser weapons—starburst cannons, dissociators, antimatter cannons—directly engulfed the supply ship.

Deprived of power and defense, what could the supply ship use to dodge or defend against this barrage?

Nothing!

The supply ship could only, under the furious glare of the mage Vina, be utterly annihilated, leaving not even a scrap.

The Annihilation Light directly turned all debris into minute particles, diffusing through the void.

The sole consolation is that the mage world, having summed up the lessons from the early days of the conquest of the myriad heavens, has made all mage organizations' supply ships fully unmanned and intelligently controlled.

Prioritizing the destruction of logistics and cutting off supplies is, however, a universal war principle across the myriad heavens.

Moreover, the supply ship's defensive strength and armament configuration cannot be increased.

Otherwise, would it still be called a supply ship?

In order to reduce personnel casualties, the model of unmanned intelligent control for supply ships has been vigorously promoted.

The main pilot's seat of the droplet warship.

Just as when he disappeared, Lin Ke's figure appeared ghostlike.

The star‑combat mode armor has been disengaged.

Watching the supply ship be utterly annihilated under the finishing blow of the Yunni, Lin Ke frowned slightly.

Without practice, theoretical designs always have deviations.

In Lin Ke's conception, even if the supply ship made adjustments, it would still be put out of action.

"We still need to make a slight adjustment."

Recalling the moment he unleashed Heaven‑Slaying Strike, Lin Ke suddenly realized that the incompatibility between several forcibly combined second‑circle spells was why the power fell short of expectations.

But now is not the time to dwell on these.

"Yunni", taking advantage of the momentum from annihilating the supply ship and with the White Tower Alliance fleet pulling back, has already launched an offensive against the Flame and Metal Merchant Consortium.

Under fire from the enemy's three support warships, they relentlessly pursued the enemy main ship, which still needed time to readjust.

"Withdraw!"

On the main ship's bridge, Witch Verna unwillingly glanced at the arrogant Yunni, gritted her teeth, and issued that order.

A mysterious Linke Grand lurked outside, scouting; the Yunni facing them was terrifyingly strong, and the White Tower Alliance fleet went from half‑hearted participation to just watching the show—if they kept fighting, they'd lose more than just one supply ship.

"Understood."

Taling accepted the order.

The four captains of the main ship and the support warships all let out a sigh of relief.

The witches who had followed Verna out for training felt the stone in their hearts finally drop.

The impact of that scene on them was truly too great.

In the past, they had only seen videos of one person destroying a warship in classic cases, and it felt incredibly satisfying.

Now it was their own fleet that became the protagonist of being destroyed by a single person, and it felt truly terrifying.

Everyone is an official‑rank witch, and moreover a second‑rank witch—how can you be so monstrously strong?

Even ordinary third‑rank witches might not be able to achieve this.

The gap is really damn huge.

"You're running?"

Inside the Droplet battleship, watching the Flame and Metal Merchant Consortium's prudent move, Lin Ke frowned, displeased.

Just now you said you'd poke the main ship's rear, but you haven't even started—how can you run?

"Flandre."

Lin Ke shouted in his heart.

"Sir, your language is crude; mind your manners."

When Flandre reverse‑summoned Lin Ke, she also threw in a teasing remark.

"Hmph!"

Lin Ke gave a cold snort.

Armored, his true form suddenly appeared at the main ship's stern, with a five‑pointed multicolored star on his forehead and a circular ring on his chest storing energy.

"Mini‑World" source power empowered, "Multithreaded Thought" state, activate!

Based on the upgraded first‑circle Disintegration Ray, the second‑circle spell Severance Technique, a modified version of Severance Technique, fired two beams as thick as an adult's arm from the forehead and chest.

It precisely struck the still‑unrepaired gap in Witch Verna's main ship stern defensive shield.

The modified Severance Technique was very pure, not forcibly combined with other spells, merely wildly amplifying power; the damage it caused was actually greater than that of the carefully conceived Heaven‑Slaying Sword.

In Lin Ke's astonished gaze, the two light beams, one above and one below, struck the main ship's stern shield and actually managed to pierce the membrane‑like shield!

Even after the shield absorbed most of the attack's force, only two small pits remained on the hull, with some paint scraped off.

But this is still too shocking!

Not even full‑power medium‑caliber annihilation light could achieve this.

"What a pity."

Lin Ke sighed, and before the main ship's combat system could fully lock onto him, he returned to the Droplet battleship.

He still wanted to fire two more shots.