https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-98-The-Deep-Blue-Spore-Mother-Tree/12833473/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-100-Boarding-Pass-for-the-Ember-Fleet-Ship/12833475/
Chapter 99: Force Field · Deep Blue Spore Storm Dragon
Chapter 99: Force Field · Deep Blue Spore Storm Dragon
Seizing the opportunity, the woman deftly maneuvered her warship, breaking through the barrier and shooting upward.
As the silver cruiser burst forth, the outer layer of deep blue spores grew even more frenzied, surging upward with a mad frenzy. However, the intense heat proved to be their undoing, causing them to evaporate like moths drawn to a flame. Countless deep blue spores were vaporized by the scorching temperatures.
The only exception were the advanced deep blue spores that had evolved from the tree armor shed by the Deep Blue Mother Tree. These spores had a far greater resistance to heat compared to their ordinary counterparts.
Despite the heat, these advanced spores continued to approach the silver cruiser, though their speed was significantly reduced. They still managed to inch closer, undeterred by the high temperatures.
Fortunately, the advanced deep blue spores moved slowly. Compared to the cruiser, which had swiftly reached the base of the mother tree, their speed was negligible. Moreover, their numbers were limited, posing no immediate threat to the woman's ship in the short term.
Beneath the tree, the silver ship's hatch quietly opened, and a tractor beam emerged from the cruiser, swiftly enveloping a deep blue fruit above. The tractor beam then began pulling the fruit back toward the cruiser's hold.
Buzz!
The sudden touch to its essence fruit seemed to disturb the Deep Blue Mother Tree, a plant that had reached the fifth stage of life. The tree began to tremble, and the rate at which its armor-like bark shed increased tenfold.
In the ship's control room, a man's voice roared through the communication screen.
"Level 2 stress response activated. The Deep Blue Spore Storm is coming. If we don't leave soon, we won't make it out, Ansewei, hurry!"
The woman, already well-prepared from countless simulations, reacted instantly at the first sign of the Level 2 stress response.
The main cannon at the bow of the silver cruiser swiveled, aiming directly at the deep blue fruit above.
Swish!
A jet-black energy beam shot out, precisely severing the stem connecting the fruit to the mother tree.
Crack!
The stem, far harder than ordinary alloys, snapped under the beam's precision cut. Without the stem to hold it, the tractor beam pulled the five-meter-wide deep blue fruit into the cruiser's hold.
As the fruit entered the hold, the woman quickly closed the hatch. She then multitasked, swiftly turning the ship and heading back toward the Three Talents Array, which was on the verge of collapse.
As she turned the ship, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the sky above. To her shock, the number of deep blue fruits on the mother tree was in the hundreds.
Yes, the Deep Blue Mother Tree bore hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deep blue fruits, a sight that made one's mouth water.
A flicker of regret crossed her eyes. She had paid a high price for this mission and had wanted to gather more fruits. However, doing so would trigger an even more exaggerated stress response from the mother tree, likely resulting in all five ships being trapped and destroyed.
Crack, crack, crack!
Before the silver cruiser could return to the array, the Three Talents Array, powered by three purple components and only slightly less potent than orange components, suddenly collapsed. In the next instant, an uncountable number of deep blue spores swarmed the area, quickly enveloping the five Ember Fleet ships, including the silver cruiser.
Buzz!
The energy shields on all five ships began to hum, a sign that they were struggling to hold back the overwhelming number of spores.
The Ember Fleet captains also noticed that not only were their energy shields dimming, but the armor beneath the shields was beginning to turn a light blue as the spores' virus infiltrated the hull.
The five captains exchanged worried glances. They were all too familiar with this phenomenon.
The deep blue spores contained a deep blue virus. When an object was lightly infected, its surface would gradually turn light blue. If not quickly removed from the spores' area, the light blue color would deepen over time.
Once it turned deep blue, the object would be completely eroded and turn into deep blue powder, serving as nourishment for the Deep Blue Mother Tree and its spores.
"William, hurry!"
In the control room of the silver cruiser, the woman called out urgently.
Hearing this, the man in the adjacent black cruiser nodded slightly.
With a mental command, the next second, a special purple component inside the black cruiser was activated.
"Repulsion Field, activate!"
As he spoke, a green halo radiated outward from the black cruiser, rapidly spreading in all directions.
Boom!
The intense repulsion shockwave pushed all the deep blue spores and advanced deep blue spores several thousand meters away.
Seeing this, the woman's gaze shifted to the teleportation device component on her ship.
After they had teleported over, she immediately activated a special component on her cruiser. This component halved the cooldown time for a designated component. As a result, the teleportation device on her cruiser had its cooldown reduced by half. With the few minutes that had already passed, the cooldown was now less than a minute.
Several thousand meters away, the countless deep blue spores that had been pushed back by the repulsion field surged back toward the five Ember Fleet cruisers as quickly as possible.
The five Ember Fleet cruisers, having a well-prepared plan, responded accordingly. Except for the woman's silver cruiser, the other four cruisers were sequentially absorbed into the Ember Ancestors' nodes of their respective captains. Once their physical bodies were exposed to the starfield, the four captains wasted no time, their aura energy flowing around them as they swiftly moved toward the silver cruiser.
Since the teleportation from a light-year away, only a few minutes had passed. The teleportation devices on their cruisers still required over ten minutes to complete their cooldown. If they had to escape on their own using spatial teleportation, they would be too late.
As the four captains rushed into the cabin, the silver cruiser's open hatch closed rapidly. At the same time, the woman in the control room heard the deduction of Essence of Floating Land.
[40 strands of Tier 3 Essence of Floating Land deducted!]
The woman, who was mentally prepared, chose to ignore it.
After completing these actions, the five of them began to wait quietly.
Several dozen seconds later, the teleportation device's cooldown was completed. The woman immediately reactivated the component.
However, even though this purple-level teleportation device had been enhanced to Level 40, its charging time still lasted 10 minutes.
Looking outside the cruiser, the countless deep blue spores had already crossed the several thousand meters and reached the cruiser. If they waited another ten minutes, even the orange-quality energy shield on her cruiser wouldn't hold.
Moreover, near the deep blue spore mother tree's trunk, several spore storms were forming and rapidly expanding. Once they spread over, pulling the cruiser into their gravitational field, it would be difficult to perform a spatial teleportation.
The woman's face, with its delicate features, showed no signs of panic. She had dared to invade the deep blue spore mother tree's territory, so she was well-prepared.
With another mental command, another special component on the cruiser was activated. This component, like the previous one, reduced time, but this time it was the charging time, not the cooldown.
As this component took effect, the teleportation device's original 10-minute charging time was halved to just 5 minutes.
Even so, no one could guarantee their safety.
Around the cruiser, countless deep blue spores and advanced deep blue spores piled up outside the orange-quality energy shield. The spore viruses were desperately eroding this layer of energy shield.
Time ticked by in agonizing seconds.
The energy shield on the silver cruiser was gradually dimming, and even the surface armor of the cruiser was gradually turning blue.
It felt like an eternity, but finally, the ship's semi-intelligent system issued a pleasant chime.
[Teleportation device charging nearly complete, 10, 9, 8...]
[3, 2, 1, 0]
As the number 0 echoed, the tension in the woman's eyes eased. The energy shield was about to collapse, and if they had delayed any longer, she would have been trapped in this star domain forever. Fortunately, it hadn't come to that.
Buzz!
A space vortex with a diameter of several kilometers appeared in front of the cruiser. The nearby deep blue spores were immediately sucked into the vortex and instantly shredded by the terrifying spatial forces.
The woman urgently maneuvered the cruiser forward, and just as it was about to enter the space vortex, a deep blue spore storm with a diameter of several kilometers, which had grown rapidly, appeared behind the cruiser.
Wailing winds!
Under the fierce storm, the silver cruiser began to shake violently. The energy shield, already on the brink of overload, suddenly shattered.
Without the protection of the energy shield, the dense swarm of deep blue spores surged forward. But that wasn't the worst part; the spore storm had transformed into a storm dragon, roaring as it charged directly towards the cruiser's rear.
The spore storm had a diameter of several kilometers, carrying an unimaginable amount of energy.
It was clear that if this storm dragon were to collide with the cruiser's rear, even if the silver cruiser didn't sink immediately, the uncontrolled thrust would likely push it into the spatial vortex ahead, resulting in it being shredded by the spatial rifts.
At the critical moment, the woman activated the active feature of the shadow inkstone armor, "Inkstone Shield," embedded in the cruiser's basic components.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A thick, black stone shield suddenly condensed, tightly enveloping the entire cruiser.
In the next second, the storm dragon from behind collided with the cruiser's rear.
Driven by the terrifying force, the cruiser, now protected by the inkstone shield, was thrust straight into the spatial vortex ahead.
...
Hundreds of light-years away, a massive spatial vortex suddenly appeared in the silent starry sky, followed by a huge, dark object emerging from the vortex.
On this dark, stone-armored layer, there were numerous terrifying giant cracks. A few minutes later, when the inkstone shield dissipated, the silver cruiser inside was revealed, but its condition was far from ideal.
The once sleek and shiny silver hull was now covered with countless large and small cracks. The main cannon at the bow had been severed in half, completely destroyed by the spatial rift.
Crack!
Amidst the hiss of steam, the cruiser's hatch opened, and four Flame Fleet captains, all still shaken, quickly emerged. They immediately summoned their own Flame Fleet ships, as only within their own ships could they find a sense of security.
In the main control room of the silver cruiser, the woman gently rubbed her temples, her crystalline eyes reflecting deep fatigue.
Throughout the previous ordeal, her mental energy had been operating at an overload, and even with a third-tier guiding technique, she still felt the strain.
However, she soon felt a surge of joy. No matter what, they had finally obtained the Deep Blue Fruit, which was definitely worth celebrating.
The cost had been high, but she didn't care.
The person behind her was nearing the end of their life, and most longevity-enhancing items had already been used, rendering them ineffective. But this Deep Blue Fruit was different. Born from a fifth-tier Deep Blue Mother Tree, it couldn't extend the person's life by a century, but it could add another fifty years.
Fifty years. With this buffer, her fleet had a chance to advance to the fourth tier. Once it became a Pursuit Ship, she would have more autonomy and wouldn't have to passively accept others' arrangements.
Putting aside her thoughts, she focused her mind, and the cruiser's hatch opened again. Four beams of light shot out from the cockpit, each directed towards one of the four ships on the side.
This was the subsequent reward for the four Flame Fleet ships she had invited to help. Even though it was a significant amount for her, it had to be paid.
Aside from personal credit, the identity of the captain of the black cruiser on the left was not simple. He was a direct descendant of one of the strongest noble families in the principality. If she refused to pay, his family could exert pressure, and even with her status, she would face considerable challenges.
After receiving the reward, the man in the black cruiser tried one last time to ask about the "Telepathic Remote Control System" component, but was firmly rejected.
Once the four ships had left, the woman's tense expression finally gave way. Her delicate face turned deathly pale, and the previously stable silver cruiser began to emit urgent red alarms.
The spatial forces were not so easily overcome. Even with the protection of the inkstone shield, the damage to the silver cruiser was beyond imagination.
(End of Chapter)
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