Chapter 248: Teraflare
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was not possible to access the propulsion unit block from the maintenance hatch, but the hatch led up to the rear maintenance area of the block. This space island's propulsion system was an enormous one. The main area itself covered at least a few hundred metres of distance and was almost the size of a small mountain. Behind it, there was an industrial equipment room. This room contained all the necessary items needed to run the place and it was deep underground. When the block exploded, the area was not blown apart, but it did leave a gigantic crack on the outer barrier.
Hao Ren found himself in a very wide room, and in it were all sorts of weird equipment. They were beyond him. The artificial gravitational field had completely shut down in this area, and as the most powerful thrust had since passed, many of the equipment as well as debris were floating. There was a giant crack on the angled alloy roof of the room. Blinding light shone through the crack, casting a rather eerie and dangerous looking silhouette coupled with all of the floating debris.
The first thing Hao Ren did was to look for something that resembled a control terminal. He knew this was already the inner part of the block and if they could shut the whole thing down from inside, it was without question the best way forward. He may not have known how to operate it but he could transfer the image that he saw to the MDT for it to liaise with the elven specialists. However, that thought quickly went out the window. It was clear that the place was ruined and the charred, broken crystalline control panels were of no use.
A layer of molten shield surrounded Y'zaks as he moved. The demon was already prepared to go head on if the situation called for it. After sensing the flow of energy in the area, he went to one of the corners in the room and blew a hole in the wall. "The place where things went haywire should be ahead."
Hao Ren took a curious peek and saw nothing but blinding flashes of light. Only after his sight recovered that he could properly see what was in the room. The front part housed the propulsion system's combustion valve of sorts. From it, a long, tubular pipeway extended all the way outside. At the end of the pipe, beyond the raging flames, one could faintly see the stars. As he squinted his eyes, he could see the silhouette of another island passing by in a flash. There were many auxiliary pipes, which were laid symmetrically along the walls of the main pipeway, and they were the main source of the light. There was roughly a 10 metre buffer zone between the superheated auxiliary pipes and the maintenance area. It was divided by an enormous ring-shaped device. Despite the buffer, Hao Ren could still feel the heat coming at him. Although it could have just been psychological.
Y'zaks tore a bigger hole in the wall and leapt ahead. Standing in the buffer zone with his arms wide open, a crimson cloud of flames, almost molten covered his body, and his size expanded within the demonic cloud rapidly. No sooner, he had transformed into a five-metre-tall great demon.
Hao Ren followed suit as he leapt into the buffer zone. "Haven't seen you in that form for a good while."
"Heh, I still feel more comfortable this way," Y'zaks said as he stretched his arms and legs. Thankfully, they were using telepathy to communicate or else, the great demon would have spouted hot embers the moment he spoke. "I'll go have a look outside. It's a bit hard to determine how the whole propulsion unit is doing from here."
Hao Ren nodded and as he looked around the place, he spotted something in the distance.
He signalled Y'zaks to stop for a moment as he laboriously made his way towards the object. It was just as the MDT said, he could indeed move in space without any outside force. As he moved, Hao Ren saw a series of blurry afterimages behind him. This however, did not mean that he was moving quickly. Rather, it was the effect of location conversion. Using this method to move in space felt like his innards were being torn apart, then reformed again and again along the path. It caused him to feel nauseated, an unpleasent reminder that he was not supposed to move for long periods of time. By the time he reached the object, he finally realised what he saw—an Aerymian elf in a peculiar looking spacesuit. By the looks of it, the person was dead.
Hao Ren supressed the shock and anxiety that started to well within him as he turned the corpse around. Under the transparent helmet was the face of a young, male elf. He did not look like he suffered before his demise. With his eyes closed, he almost looked like he was in deep sleep. Hao Ren could not locate any obvious signs of injury as well and that piqued his curiosity. Only when he spotted a very thin gash on the suit that he realised how the elf died—death by decompression.
It seemed that the elf's biological make-up was different from humans. When they die in a vacuum, they look like they just went into a deep slumber.
Hao Ren searched the area and realised that the elf had collapsed in front one of the control terminals. His arms were still holding on to the control lever. Hao Ren tried to identify the wordings next to the control panel, and after some effort, he managed to translate the words: Emergency Stop.
Hao Ren then understood what had went on here. It seemed like before the propulsion unit exploded, the maintenance team already detected that something was amiss. The dead elf was probably a crew member on duty and when he found out that the system had gone haywire. Realising that he had lost contact with the surface, he tried to slam the emergency stop lever. But evidently, he failed.
A normal elf who sacrificed himself on the line of duty. Even though he traded his life for the protection of his island, his last effort was unfortunately futile.
"We better move his body somewhere safer." Y'zaks lowered his gaze towards the elf. "This place is about to blow up."
Hao Ren nodded again solemnly. After securing the dead elf on his back, he floated all the way back to the corridor and placed the body near the second bulkhead. It was probably the safest of all places at that point of time.
Subsequently, he followed Y'zaks along the gigantic pipeway out of the propulsion system. This was a rather harrowing experience. Hao Ren never thought someone would have the balls of iron to dash out of a pipe thruster under a blazing inferno. He was worried if his Steel Membrane Shield could withstand the extreme heat, but it seemed that Imperial products were just too solid; aside from some major nausea, Hao Ren was pretty much unscatched.
However, his shield had somewhat depleted.
A giant pillar of flame, almost 10 kilometres tall, was blazing in front of them. The scene was almost too nerve-wrecking to bear.
This flame was from the propulsion system. There were three main thrusters, but only one was operational. Of the two non-operational thrusters, one had since died off while another was shredded by the explosion. They were however, not completely destroyed yet. It appeared that there was a miscalculation by the elves on the status of the engines. There were multiple stabilisers by the engines, all located on the underside of the hoop. Spewing blue flames, the stabilisers were frantically trying to stabilise the island, not knowing that they were expediting its demise.
Y'zaks stood beside Hao Ren, his body engulfed in raging flames that even a vacuum could not quench. Without any gravitational pull, the flames formed into an orb around the great demon, making the already imposing figure a miniature sun. He frowned as he looked at the layout of the engines, which were quite beyond him. After comparisons with a few key parts that the elven mage had told him, he said, "It seems like blowing that up will solve the issue. Things can't get any worse anyway."
As he finished his sentence, he conjured an enormous fireball with demonic green flames licking about. Hao Ren took the chance to look around and he saw from a distance, the small corvettes that were unable to take out the engines. The elves onboard could only look from afar, puzzled. To them, Hao Ren and Y'zaks were creatures of wonders beyond their understanding.
Hao Ren finally realised how it felt to be seen as a "supernatural" being.
After a while, Y'zaks' fireball, or more appropriately, Teraflare was at its apex. Hao Ren gawked at the giant fireball in front of him. The Teraflare was spinning rapidly with runic chains forming all over it as it floated above Y'zaks' hands.
"You sure this will work?"
"I've taken everything into consideration." Y'zaks nodded confidently. He then spun on the spot twice and flung the fireball at the propulsion unit with aplomb!
The gigantic fireball enveloped the propulsion system as it exploded. Its strength... was much smaller than Hao Ren had anticipated. Apparently, Y'zaks had indeed taken everything into account. The Teraflare did not wipe the island off the map.
As the smoke cleared, Hao Ren looked intently at the place where the propulsion system originally stood. Has the crisis... been averted?