Chapter 598: Heaven and Hell
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was not the first time they entered purple gas cloud zone, yet Ye Chong still was affected by the intense atmosphere. It was rare to see him this tense. This was in contrast with the calm crew members, who would probably never understand what encounters their captain had on his first visit here. This was the place where Ye Chong met a 6-toed red-tailed beast and obviously it turned out to be a close battle that haunted him as if yesterday.
The purple cloud this time was a lot larger than the one on Planet Yi Ju before. And Ye Chong was very aware of how it went directly proportional to the size of the red-tailed beasts clan.
The war also raged on at the galaxy between planets. Be it the red-tailed beast or the Xue Lai clan, they were both having a hard time in the war. The Xue Lai clan had deployed their best soldiers armed with the classic beam firearms. It might be a classic model yet remained as lethal to the red-tailed beasts. It was only natural to Ye Chong as the Xue Lai clan had the most technological talents among all the 3 aristocratic families. I mean, even the consortium could produce an impeccable weapon like the G-Z.
However, the foes were not too weak either. So it remained as a difficult fight ahead for the Xue Lai clan.
Ye Chong's soulless eyes fixed upon the lively war-field, like a killer he was.
He was looking for a target.
He had just found one.
Darkniss then launched itself into the purple cloud.
Back at the main control room, a shooter was assigned to lead the way. The ship was dead silent, as the crew members kept their mouth shut and let the professional do the job.
"Target: Radius Vector at 25 degrees. FIRE!"
"32 degrees, NOW!"
The beams struck at the joints of the nest like lightning.
A large explosion occurred and the purple cloud nest had turned chaotic. Certainly it was the work of the highly compressive grenades. Not even the hardened joints of the nest could withstand the explosion.
The damage the grenades had caused was beyond Ye Chong's imagination. He watched the large area of the nest blowing up as a single grenade fell like a shooting star.
Darkniss eventually passed the purple cloud zone and hit the interior of the nest. "Photon mode!" That was when Appilok noticed the effectiveness of these grenades on the tendrils.
The tendrils were turned into splashes of disgusting fluids. No sound was heard yet the explosions were convincingly epic. Fluids were discharged from the tumors of the tendrils and flooded the place.
The capability of the grenades was a joyful sight to the crew members. They had been long terrified by the horrendous-looking tumors which hung like a resting monstrosity. Ye Chong had to admit that there were more tumors compared to his adventure on Planet Yi Ju.
The tumors were the breeding chamber of the red-tailed beasts after all. There were at least 100,000 of them.
In the midst of explosion, Ye Chong was at first relieved, till he saw something ahead.
There were suddenly a pack of red-tailed beasts sprinting towards Darkniss, about a thousand of them. The grenades rained upon the red-tailed beasts, sending them backwards, yet not even a scratch could be seen on them, while they seemed to have been enraged.
Their previous victorious experience had them convinced that nothing was undefeatable as long as they launched their piercing tails together. They strongly believed that this giant piece of scrap would once again, like the other scraps they had destroyed before, be pierced into ashes.
They were given the light treatment again, as they turned blind for a moment. They were unperturbed however, as they had experienced similar occurrences before and they were unharmed in the end.
They evaded the attacks as usual and they were planning to make their attack.
SPRINT!
Wait...uhh...
Something felt strange on the neck...
Uhh...how...why is it getting darker...
I can't...feel my toes...My tail was...hitting something?
...(What actually happened?)...
Brahmara, also known as Siva, danced with its blade on the war-field, even though its grand debut had yet caused to turn the tables on the situation.
"Chief, we are not in a good situation now." Reported an elderly.
A middle-aged woman nodded. She could see the situation as clear as the elderly. She was the chief whom the elderly was reporting to after all. Nonetheless, she could not think of a solid plan, not just yet. The war with the red-tailed beasts had lasted much longer than she had imagined. The situation of her clan had only worsened each day. Their territory had shrunk and the war with the red-tailed beasts had only grown larger.
This was the only planet left for them. It was such irony that an animal was able to corner them.
The Xue Lai clan, unlike the theoretical outcome due to their technological advancement, was actually the worst among the all 3 aristocrats.
Still, it was this stress of being cornered that had initiated their potential.
It was a retreating fight at first, as the Xue Lai clan army retreated from the vigorous attacks of the red-tailed beasts. They might be weak but they were sure tenacious, much more tenacious than the red-tailed beasts had expected. The retreating wave soon stood still and braced the attack well.
The chief continued watching the situation.
She had been a chief for over 20 years. Her days as a chief passed restlessly. She was ever-cautious, knowing her responsibilities. If she was given the choice, she would not have sat on this bed of rose. Unfortunately her sister disappeared one day out of sudden, so, being the sole heir she was, she had to hit the throne.
It was god-blessed for she never made a wrong decision as a chief. The people liked her all these years. It stirred her a little as she realized her caution for the entire term.
"Chief, please look. Something had happened!" Notified Lady Xue, one of the servants.
Lady Xue might be known as her maidservant, but she was treated as her own daughter. Lady Xue was intelligent and probably the most talented person among the younger generation. Though not as talented as Yu Shan, her son. However, Yu Shan was accursed by his top-notch intelligence as his growth had ceased as a child. Despite being 24 years old, he still had a body and mind of a 7 to 8 years old child.
It was as if a sign of envy from god, to show all humans were equal. Yu Shan was gifted with his amazing intelligence in mechanics yet was probably "handicapped" since he was born. Nonetheless this did not stop him from his great contribution to the clan.
One would never know, the top player of the Xue Lai clan, the creator of Brahmara turned out to be a boy from Neverland.
Ever since Shang had disappeared with the chief's sister, the Xue Lai clan had lost its greatest player, but well, fate was capricious, as if god would like to watch dramas, almost simultaneously, the top pilots from the other families had disappeared too. Ye Luo from the Ye family vanished while the top pilot of Xi Feng had been murdered in the free space zone.
Yu Shan had watched the growth of Brahmara ever since it was created. They were like brothers and the chief, being the mother, was proud of them. Yu Shan was talented but that did not assure him a good chief. Well, at least he had Brahmara, so he was rather invincible.
Only if Shang was there, it would feel more like a family.
The chief missed both Shang and her sister. Shang should be still in this world, perhaps, even though she was sure that her sister was no longer the owner. The new owner was some boy named Ye Chong. All these while she had been trying to figure out the relationship between Ye Chong and her sister. She would want to lift the cover and check Ye Chong out but Ye Chong turned out to be a rather ferocious and hostile person. It was supposed to be a reunion yet it ended with bad blood as both of them were quite hot-tempered at first too.
The puzzling part was the fact Yu Shan seemed to be have grown fond of Ye Chong, while Ye Chong took good care of him. Yu Shan was a nitpicker and he technically had no friends in the clan. It was almost surprising when she heard him confessing his fond over Ye Chong. Ye Chong had also asked Yu Shan about Shang before. Well, that justified one thing - he owned Shang.
Brahmara was a production based off of Shang's design by Yu Shan, while it involved more of the newer technologies, even though the materials involved remained inferior.
Brahmara was probably as strong as Shang in the past, though the chief was never competent as her sister. The chief's sister was a firm figure, a supportive leader and she missed her.
"Chief!"
And she put her sentiments away, shifting her focus back onto the battlefield.
"What's the issue now?" She said grimly. Being a chief for so long, she had mastered the skill of hiding her emotions.
"The red-tailed beasts seemed to be retreating!" Reported Lady Xue, in a bit of confusion.
"Retreating?" The chief was bewildered as well. The red-tailed beasts were indeed leaving the place... hurriedly... but why? What had triggered their fear so much?
She knew the beasts well after battling them for so long. The red-tailed beasts might have launched their attacks frantically but they fought on orderly rapports.
They might be locked in a stalemate but the red-tailed beasts were obviously winning. There was no point for the red-tailed beasts to retreat.
So why, what made them?
Could there be a plot twist?
Clusters of red-tailed beasts scurried from the scene as they ran towards the purple cloud zone in fright.
The chief rolled her eyes, "Send orders to Brahmara — Hold the beasts back, no matter what! They can't leave just yet!" The chief could foresee their plan, and she would certainly not allow it to happen. She might not be unsure of the situation inside the purple cloud nest, but she would not allow them to get what they want!
Well, that was what she could do anyway. They must do something!
The pilots sent the order promptly, as they were also aware of the sudden change among the red-tailed beasts. They would not confront the red-tailed beasts, instead they would confuse them with strange attacks.
The pilots launched their mechs upon the red-tailed beasts, chasing after them, shooting beams from all sorts of direction to knock the beasts off the track. The beasts were struggling to run away.
This was where the superiority of ranged attacks of the Xue Lai clan shone.
The beasts were killed one by one by the crimson beams. It was not because of the impeccable accuracy, it was because the beasts were struggling to protect their nest by taking the beams themselves.
It took about 30 minutes for them to arrive at the nest.
That was probably the countdown to the fall of their nest ironically.
Why they were trying so hard to protect the nest?
Had they lost their mind?
The entire Xue Lai clan was not sure of what had happened to the red-tailed beasts, but one thing for sure, it was a golden opportunity to fight back.
It was no longer a battlefield for the clan. It was instead a training ground for them to practice shooting, an easy training too, as the red-tailed beasts were too frantic to perform any proper evasion. They were not even trying.
It was probably the most thrilling battle ever. No more strategy, no more tricks, no more counter attack, no more piercing red tails, no more evasion, it was just shooting.
It was a release of fury accumulated over the past few weeks of warring the red-tailed beasts for the Xue Lai clan.
The wave of red-tailed beasts was shrinking drastically while the living ones still ran towards their nest in panic.
It was a dense wave at first, once countless. But in less than 10 minutes, about only a thousand remained.
That was when something actually happened at the nest.