Chapter 17

"Rumble ~ ~"

Caspian's figure was enveloped by the massive phantom of the Fire Beast God. Suddenly, the phantom flapped its wings mightily.

Caspian shot out like a cannonball, hurtling toward the nearest stele-shaped spacecraft at breakneck speed!

"You can't escape!" The Mech tribe commander, observing from afar, still believed Caspian was attempting to flee the Netherfire Domain.

He swiftly issued a command: "Stop him!"

"Buzz ~ ~ ~" In response, the nine major camps, each consisting of ten thousand F9-level mechanical puppets, activated simultaneously. From the camp closest to Caspian, tens of thousands of mechanical puppets charged their energy cores.

Boom!

Tens of thousands of flames burst forth at once, coalescing into a massive fire dragon hundreds of meters thick, surging toward Caspian!

But Caspian, using the 'Stellar River Line' movement technique, was exceedingly agile.

The phantom of the Fire Beast God flapped its wings lightly, easily dodging the oncoming inferno. The fiery dragon swept past, barely grazing the tips of its flaming wings.

"Dodge all you like — let's see how long you can keep it up!" the Mech tribe commander sneered, watching Caspian effortlessly evade the combined assault.

Then came a relentless rhythm:

"Buzz ~ ~ Buzz ~ ~ Buzz ~ ~…"

Each of the nine major camps took turns charging energy, launching attack after attack in succession.

Yet no matter how precise or fierce their barrage, Caspian dodged them all at the final moment with uncanny precision.

Before long, he was fewer than 100,000 kilometers from one of the stele-shaped spacecraft.

Seeing this, a sly glint appeared in the Mech commander's eyes. "My Netherfire Domain's base spacecraft are not sitting ducks!"

"Swoosh!"

Protected by tens of thousands of mechanical puppets, the stele-shaped spacecraft closest to Caspian suddenly shot away, retreating from him at high speed.

Meanwhile, the other eight base spacecraft continued bombarding Caspian. Whenever he tried to change course, they adjusted in tandem, keeping him locked in their midst.

Caspian found no opening to strike any of the base spacecraft.

"This Bloodcloth Marquis is too fast," the Mech tribe commander muttered, his eyes flashing with disbelief. "Even with my coordinated puppet attacks, I can't touch him!"

He had assumed Caspian, as a Marquis fighting in a remote region like the Nine Nether Star Region, must have been among the weakest of Marquises.

Each coordinated strike from his Netherfire Domain's nine camps carried the power of a beginner Marquis-level attack. One direct hit should have heavily injured any Marquis!

But he hadn't anticipated that Caspian's speed would be so monstrous. Every energy barrage missed its mark.

"We can't go on like this. These attacks are just draining energy!"

The commander made a quick decision: "Use the Netherfire Domain's forbidden move!"

"Alas, activating the forbidden move will inflict major damage on the Domain. It'll cost tens of thousands of Yulan units to repair it afterward—but killing a Marquis would make it worth every bit!"

(Yulan units were the currency of the Mech tribe, with two Yulan units roughly equivalent to one Primal Chaos unit. Casting a forbidden move cost tens of thousands of Primal Chaos units—evidence of its terrifying power.)

"Buzz ~ ~"

Ninety thousand F-class mechanical puppets and all nine base spacecraft glowed crimson. Their energy cores ramped up to the extreme, preparing to unleash the devastating forbidden move.

But Caspian had no intention of giving them that chance.

In fact, in previous battles against Immortals from other races, including this one with the Mech commander, he hadn't yet revealed his full power.

The Fire Beast God's form, reminiscent of the ancient mythical beast Vermilion Bird, may not match the Wind or Thunder Beast Gods in terms of speed, but in short-range burst acceleration, it was unmatched among natural beast gods.

His burst speed left these mechanical puppets in the dust.

"Almost there! Only 80,000 kilometers left!" Caspian calculated as the glowing red lights of the base spacecraft intensified. "At full speed, I'll be there in under a second! These spacecraft can't possibly reach light speed or enter the dark universe that fast!"

"Screech!"

The phantom of the Fire Beast God on Caspian's body let out a piercing cry.

Immediately, flames erupted and expanded wildly across his surface. Then, they exploded!

"Rumble ~ ~"

The fiery explosion propelled Caspian like a comet. He blazed across the void like a streak of fire, arriving before the base spacecraft guarded by tens of thousands of mechanical puppets.

He raised his sword.

With a single slash, the blood-red sword light tore through tens of thousands of kilometers of space!

"Impossible! How can his acceleration be this absurd?" the Mech commander's eyes bulged as he watched.

The devastating sword light sliced through not just the mechanical puppets, but the base spacecraft's shield—designed to withstand a beginner Marquis Immortal's attack.

They were all split apart and rendered powerless!

"He's not a beginner Marquis!" the commander roared. "My Netherfire Domain!"

Panicking, he began recalling the remaining base spacecraft and mechanical puppets.

But now that Caspian had shown his hand, he would not let his prey escape.

What's more, all the spacecraft and puppets had been charging up for the forbidden move. They had only minimal reserve power.

With such sluggish recovery speed, they had no chance of escape.

Soon, Caspian reached another base spacecraft, destroying the mechanical puppets guarding it and storing the wreckage into his world ring.

"Swoosh!"

Another blood-red sword strike — and another spacecraft was his.

"Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!"

In less than thirty seconds, six of the nine base spacecraft had been neutralized and taken.

The last three, finally regaining enough power, fled into the dark universe.

"Hmph! You think you can escape into the dark universe?" Caspian sneered and pursued without hesitation.

He swiftly caught up with another spacecraft, slashing it down and absorbing it into his ring.

The final two managed to escape hundreds of millions of miles away and were soon retrieved by a third party.

"Found you!" Caspian grinned, locking eyes on his next target.

… …

"Damn it! Seven of my nine node bases were taken by that human!" In a shattered star fragment, the Mech tribe commander clutched his chest in fury.

He placed the two surviving spacecraft into his space ring and glared at the crimson figure fast approaching.

A fierce gleam appeared in his eyes.

"Don't push me, human—Bloodcloth Marquis!"

In his hand, a black orb appeared. Faint red lines glowed on its surface, and an overwhelming, dreadful energy pulsed from within.

Caspian recognized it immediately.

A Fire God Source Crystal—its explosive power equal to the self-destruction of a peak Marquis Immortal!

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