Chapter 77: External Deep Space Torpedo Launcher (Happy New Year's Eve)
Chapter 77: External Deep Space Torpedo Launcher (Happy New Year's Eve)
Song Chi understood Shen Qing's thoughts and recognized that Shen Qing's situation was different from his own. Shen Qing didn't have a Second-Stage father or a Third-Stage grandfather, so he had to acquire most resources on his own.
Given the clear knowledge that the crystal box below contained at least two blue-grade curios, the allure was undeniable, and Shen Qing's desire to obtain them was natural.
However, understanding was one thing; blindly agreeing was another. Song Chi needed to ensure that Shen Qing had a well-thought-out plan with a reasonable chance of success, rather than just a reckless gamble.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be helping Shen Qing but sending him to his death, and likely endangering himself in the process. Song Chi would not allow that to happen.
"Shen Qing, are you sure? If this is a decision you've carefully considered, I'll support you. But I need to know your plan—how you intend to deal with the Queen's nest. If—"
Before Song Chi could finish, Shen Qing suddenly increased the altitude of the Green Edge, positioning it so that Song Chi could see the underside of the ship from the Celestial Dome.
Song Chi's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't noticed before, but the Green Edge had a neat slot on its underside, and hanging from this slot was a special device.
Just as he was about to get a closer look, Shen Qing's explanation came through the communication screen.
"It's an external launcher, a white-grade 'Deep Space Torpedo Launcher.' This is one of the white-grade components we found in the first layer of the ruins. Because of this component, I brought two military-grade 'Tomahawk' deep space torpedoes. I originally planned to save them for the crystal box, but I'll have to use them now."
Hearing this, Song Chi's hesitation vanished.
Military-grade Tomahawk deep space torpedoes could only be bought on the black market, and they were expensive, costing hundreds of zero-stage floating land essences each. The key issue was that these torpedoes typically had a low firing speed, making it difficult to hit fast-moving targets.
However, their power was unparalleled. If they hit a target at close range, they could unleash a Second-Stage energy explosion, posing a significant threat even to Second-Stage star sea life forms.
The Queen had not yet fully awakened and was immobile within her nest, making her a perfect target for the deep space torpedo.
With a Second-Stage deep space torpedo at his disposal, Song Chi saw no reason to object.
Seeing Song Chi's agreement, Shen Qing became excited.
"Song Chi, I need you to get me there!"
The Green Edge's energy shield was nearly depleted and couldn't withstand the corrosive acid spray from the thousands of spitter bugs below. Only the Celestial Dome, with its blue-grade energy shield, could provide the necessary protection.
Song Chi nodded. "You maneuver the Green Edge to stay above me. This should reduce the acid attacks on the Green Edge by 90%."
With the plan set, Shen Qing quickly positioned the Green Edge directly above the Celestial Dome. The two ships, similar in size, now formed a reinforced vessel when combined.
With the Celestial Dome blocking the acid attacks, the Green Edge suffered far fewer hits, and the energy shield's depletion rate slowed significantly.
Humming loudly, the Celestial Dome's engines roared as it charged through the acid spray toward the Queen's nest. When they were less than a kilometer away, the Green Edge detached and moved in the opposite direction.
The Green Edge continued to approach the Queen's nest, needing to get as close as possible to ensure the torpedo's success. Meanwhile, the Celestial Dome returned to the starting point, drawing the thousands of spitter bugs away to prevent them from interfering with the Green Edge's mission.
The Celestial Dome quickly reentered the acid spray, using particle beam cannons and dark energy secondary cannons to clear the spitter bugs below. Song Chi kept a close eye on Shen Qing's progress.
With the Celestial Dome's distraction, the Green Edge faced only a few dozen spitter bugs, which posed no immediate threat.
Satisfied, Song Chi focused on dealing with the spitter bugs below.
As for the thousands of iron bugs still in the second layer, Song Chi largely ignored them. Iron bugs had no ranged attacks and could only emit strange, screeching noises from below.
Shield Value: 17,409/29,184
Glancing at the dark matter energy shield's status, Song Chi noted that despite the relentless attacks from the iron-armored beetles and thousands of spitting bugs, the shield was still holding at nearly 60% capacity.
He couldn't help but feel a renewed sense of gratitude towards the mechanical race for the orange-quality dark matter energy shield generator. Since its installation, it had saved him multiple times in critical moments.
Not just now, but also during the recent market upgrade.
As he pondered, two more minutes passed. Song Chi continued to maneuver the Skyvault, dodging the relentless onslaught while redirecting his attention to the Greenblade. Before he could fully focus, a sudden, intense explosion reverberated through the second layer of the space.
A massive shockwave surged from the direction of the Greenblade, pushing the Skyvault back a short distance despite its stable hover.
Recognizing the shockwave as the result of a deep-space torpedo explosion, Song Chi remained calm. He steadied the Skyvault and turned his gaze to the communication screen.
The enclosed space was only a few kilometers wide, and the distance between the Skyvault and the Greenblade was less than a kilometer. They were still within the range of the plasma flyer's magnetic field, so their communication link hadn't been severed.
"How's it going?"
On the communication screen, Shen Qing looked grim. Seeing this, Song Chi already had an idea of the answer.
"Did it miss?"
Shen Qing shook his head, indicating that it wasn't a miss. This only deepened Song Chi's confusion.
"It hit, but didn't destroy it?"
"How is that possible? A second-tier deep-space torpedo hitting head-on would severely wound even a peak second-tier lifeform. Could this queen have been third-tier before it went into hibernation? Could its nest have third-tier strength?"
As he voiced his doubts, Shen Qing nodded in the projection.
"Yes, this queen must have been third-tier at its peak."
As they spoke, both their faces changed. A low, ominous hiss echoed from the queen's nest, and the next moment, the massive nest, nearly fifty meters tall, began to tremble violently. The queen, having been hit head-on by the torpedo, was now fully awake and using all its strength to break through the outer layers of the nest.
This sudden development sent a chill down both their spines. The queen, at its peak, was a third-tier lifeform. If it fully awakened and summoned its elite swarm, they would be in serious trouble. Clearing out the entire insect horde would be out of the question, and even escaping might be impossible.
There was another bad sign. With the queen's hiss, the nearly ten thousand zero-tier iron-armored beetles and spitting bugs in the second layer seemed to receive a call. Their eyes turned blood-red, and they ignored the Skyvault above, surging madly toward the queen's nest.
Clearly, the queen was summoning its offspring.
Amidst their shock, Shen Qing spoke up.
"Xiao Chi, hold out a bit longer. Not too long, just thirty seconds."
The military-grade deep-space torpedo hadn't completely shattered the nest's outer shell, but it had created a large gap. One more torpedo would be enough to severely wound the queen, even if it was once a third-tier lifeform.
Regardless of its past, it now only had first-tier strength, and a second-tier deep-space torpedo would be a fatal threat.
Hearing this, Song Chi's eyes flickered, and he glanced at the dark matter energy shield's status.
9,405/29,184
Seeing that it still had nearly ten thousand points left, he didn't hesitate. Clenching his teeth, he agreed.
In the sky, the Skyvault's main and auxiliary cannons fired relentlessly, trying to hold back the insect horde surging toward the queen's nest.
In a moment of desperation, Song Chi even opened the hatch, allowing ten level-15 Fire Chrysanthemum puppets, clad in exoskeleton armor, to jump off the flyer and block the swarm.
But no matter how he tried to stop them, the insects, now in a state of extreme frenzy, were unstoppable.
The ten fully armed first-tier Fire Chrysanthemum puppets were overwhelmed by the swarm in less than five seconds. Without overwhelming power, they were no match for the overwhelming numbers.
As the insect horde drew closer to the queen's nest, Song Chi clenched his teeth. In the next moment, the Skyvault's engines dimmed, and the entire flyer descended.
Bang!
The nearly twenty-meter-long hull landed on the rocky ground with a dull thud, blocking the path of the advancing insect horde.
Song Chi was determined to use the Caelum itself to block the insect swarm, buying as much time as possible.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
Iron-armored insects crashed into the energy shield, their vicious mandibles gnawing away. Corrosive acid splashed against the protective barrier, hissing violently.
Within mere seconds, Song Chi watched as the dark matter energy shield's value plummeted from ten thousand to six thousand, then five thousand, four thousand, three thousand... When the shield value dropped below two thousand five hundred, Song Chi pushed the Assault Engine to its limits, and the Caelum quickly rose back into the air.
This was already the limit he could accept. He couldn't risk overloading the dark matter energy shield generator; otherwise, any unexpected incidents later would leave him with no room to maneuver.
Fortunately, the Caelum's obstruction delayed the insect swarm by nearly ten seconds, adding to the time already bought, which, though not quite half a minute, was close enough.
A few seconds later, before the swarm could reach the queen's lair, the Green Saber launched its second military deep-space torpedo, which shot through the breach and into the massive tumor-like nest.
Boom!
A second later, a violent explosion erupted from within the queen's lair. Song Chi could faintly hear the agonized screeches amidst the blast.
The swarm of iron-armored and splash insects outside the nest was also affected; nearly ten thousand insects were engulfed by the explosion, vaporizing most of them.
Song Chi and his companion regarded this as a pleasant surprise.
Once the explosion's force dissipated, the two began swiftly clearing the remaining insects. They didn't dare to investigate the partially destroyed queen's lair, opting to clear all the zeroth-tier insects first.
Who knew if the deep-space torpedo had killed the queen outright? She was once a third-tier lifeform, and though her life energy had diminished, her physical strength hadn't weakened. A second-tier deep-space torpedo might not have been enough to kill her.
After another twenty minutes, all the other insects in the second level were eliminated. Song Chi and his companion still didn't approach the queen's lair. Instead, they maneuvered the airship above the crystal box, which was made of an unknown material, and began a full-scale bombardment.
The crystal box's extreme hardness, whether due to its material or the special field the "Buluo Civilization" had applied, made it incredibly resilient. Even with two etheric airships firing at full power, it would take at least five hours to shatter it.
Time ticked by. Compared to their earlier bombardment of the repulsion field on the first level, the two were now more motivated, their eyes gleaming with excitement at the thought of the star sea curios locked inside the crystal box.
Of course, while they continued to fire, they didn't forget to remain vigilant about the queen's lair. They were on the verge of reaping their rewards and didn't want to ruin everything at this point.
One hour...
Three hours...
Six hours...
Soon, seven hours had passed. The initial excitement of the two was replaced by tension. They had less than two hours left before they had to return. If they couldn't shatter the crystal box in the next hour or so, their efforts over the past twenty hours would be for nothing.
Fortunately, things didn't reach that point. After another twenty minutes, a crack echoed through the air. The crystal box, which had shown no signs of damage a second ago, suddenly shattered, and all the fragments turned to dust, dispersing in the enclosed space.
Ignoring the fragments, the two focused on the glowing objects floating below.
Amidst the white and blue hues, the most striking was a blinding purple light.
Clearly, the second level contained not only white and blue-quality curios but also a purple-quality one.
However, there was a downside: among the five glowing objects, only one was purple, with two white and two blue.
Firecrackers mark the end of the old year, and the spring breeze brings warmth to the Tusu Wine.
Happy New Year, everyone!
(End of Chapter)
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