256

Chapter 256: Aliens, Angelic Legion, Dark Fleet

"Clatter!" The Six-winged Metal Humanoid looked around. The ruined debris showed no signs of life. Flapping the metal wings on its back, it shot up towards a Space Fighter being ganged up on in the sky.

"Swish swish swish!"

A burst of dense laser cannons suddenly shot out from an angle, directly riddling the unsuspecting Metal Wingman with holes.

With a loud crash, the falling Metal Wingman created a dent in the wing of the crashed Space Fighter.

Clatter! The Space Fighter that had successfully ambushed the Metal Wingman didn't even give the Pilot in the ship cabin a chance to catch his breath before over thirty figures on the ground flapped their wings and soared into the sky, surrounding him.

The Pilot quickly pulled the fighter up, trying to escape to high altitude. Pfft, a sharp longsword directly pierced through the Space Fighter's ship cabin hatch, pinning him to his seat.

The Space Fighter, set to automatic flight mode, shot straight into the sky carrying seven or eight pieces of wreckage, then activated the self-destruct program within the fighter.

"Boom!"

Another explosion, like a clap of thunder on a clear day, burst open in the air.

Witnessing all this, Elder Mandel merely covered his mouth, not daring to make a sound.

Whether it was the Kree Space Fighters or those Metal Wingmen, they were fighting like madmen. As long as it wasn't one of their own, any living being was their target.

Elder Mandel personally witnessed many "acquaintances" being blown to smithereens by the Space Fighters' laser cannons or having their heads cut off by those Metal Wingmen.

The entire Knowhere had become a veritable Slaughterhouse.

He could only hope that Star-Lord's Boss would arrive as soon as possible. As long as he could be brought out of Knowhere alive, he wouldn't charge commission for this business.

Compared to Elder Mandel, Hugh Veda and the twelve Card Soldiers he led were surprisingly calm. When the battle in Knowhere was at its fiercest, they took Elder Mandel and Star-Lord and hid in the underground Storage Room of a Shop. Relying on the Boss's Breath Concealment Talisman, they avoided rounds of reconnaissance by the Kree Space Fighters.

This patch of ruins was not far from where the Kree Space Fighter had just crashed. As the few of them peeked outside from within the ruins to see what was happening, rustle rustle—

The sound of bricks, stones, and rubble falling echoed on the ruins. Something was moving above them.

Noticing this, Hugh Veda made tactical hand signals to the Card Soldiers beside him. The group of Card Soldiers all pointed their energy rifles upwards.

Star-Lord carefully took out several metal disks and attached them to the ceiling. These metal disks had strong suction and strong magnetism and could emit a kind of current chains, instantly paralyzing and latching onto enemies. They were Star-Lord's secret weapon.

Clatter! Everyone listened as the footsteps above the ruins grew clearer, then suddenly stopped directly above them. Were they discovered? Everyone's hearts leaped into their throats. The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Hugh Veda raised his hand. The energy rifles in the hands of the dozen Card Soldiers were fully charged, waiting only for his command.

The dense firepower could instantly riddle the enemy above with holes.

Just as everyone was tense, clatter! The unknown creature above suddenly moved. Listening as the sound of sliding gravel faded into the distance, Hugh Veda made tactical hand signals, telling everyone to stay alert. He carefully crawled out of the Basement and looked outside through a gap in the ruins.

Not far away, near the Space Fighter wreckage, an invisible creature picked up a Kree corpse from the ground. As the creature shed its transparent camouflage, it revealed the dark, metallic-looking hard shell beneath.

A spindle-shaped head, a large mouth full of fangs, thick saliva dripping from its mouth, which dripped onto the Ground and immediately corroded a small pit in the Ground.

Powerful hind limbs, a sharp scorpion-like tail stinger whipping behind its rear. The more Hugh Veda looked at this creature, the more familiar it seemed.

The Alien spit out a sticky Alien Egg from its mouth. The Facehugger inside the egg broke out of the shell and drilled down along the Kree's severed neck. Soon, the Kree corpse's belly bulged, swelling up like an inflated balloon.

Rip! A pair of dark, sharp claws tore open the Kree's belly from the inside. Then a half-human-sized Small Xenomorph crawled out and began to gnaw on the Kree corpse.

As large chunks of flesh and blood went down, the Small Xenomorph grew rapidly, almost visibly. By the time it had finished gnawing on the Kree's flesh and blood, its size was already more than half the height of the Adult Xenomorph.

"Hiss hiss"

The two Aliens hissed at each other several times, then ran off in two directions. While running rapidly, their bodies gradually turned transparent, camouflaging themselves in the air.

"Boss!?"

When Hugh Veda crawled back into the Basement, the Card Soldiers looked at the smile on Hugh Veda's face and asked.

"The Boss is here!" Hugh Veda glanced at everyone and told them.

Hearing Hugh Veda's words, the dozen Card Soldiers all showed smiles of relief.

Throughout Knowhere, the Kree Space Fighters and The Collector Tivan's Metal Wingmen were engaged in a brutal battle. Metal wings fell like raindrops in the wind.

Boom boom boom, Space Fighters crashed and were destroyed. The sound of dense explosions was like firecrackers going off non-stop during the New Year in The East on Earth.

While the two sides were constantly fighting in the sky, on the Ground, an invisible force silently began to devour all living beings in Knowhere.

An extraterrestrial life form that looked similar to a stick insect was crouching under the wreckage of a crashed Space Fighter, hiding from the madly fighting Kree and Metal Wingmen.

Just as it was trembling, the air suddenly underwent a slight refraction. Pfft! The sound of a sharp object piercing flesh echoed. It felt a sharp pain in its chest and abdominal joints. It lowered its head. On its chest, a black, hexagonal pyramid-shaped tail stinger was slowly being pulled back.

"Crunch!" A shadow enveloped it at that moment. Just as it was about to raise its head, everything suddenly went black... Biting off the stick insect-like Alien's head in one bite, the Alien that revealed its form spit out an Alien Egg.

The reproduction mode of the first generation Aliens was similar to Earth's ant colonies, originally only able to lay Alien Eggs through the queen or empress, and then hatch into form.

After research by Professor Connors' Research Team, the new generation Aliens integrated the gene of hermaphroditic creatures like squid and snail into their bodies, allowing these ordinary Aliens to also rapidly produce Alien Eggs.

Although Tang Song only brought two thousand Aliens to Knowhere, as long as there are enough host bodies, these Aliens can undergo fission at a geometric rate.

And Knowhere, the largest Black Market in the Southern Galaxy, has a resident population of several million, plus transient Ravagers and Space Pirates. When the Kree warships blockaded Knowhere, and these people were being chased by Kree Space Fighters and scurrying away in panic, one by one, invisible figures appeared beside them, silently beginning to harvest their life.

Hideous Aliens, one after another, stepped on the corpses strewn across Knowhere and hissed towards the sky. "Corvus Glaive, Ebony Maw! What is the meaning of this?"

The Dark Order's Fleet suddenly surrounded their own fleet from behind in a crescent shape. Ronan the Accuser quickly contacted the commander of that fleet, questioning their intentions.

"Taking the Power Stone is the mission Thanos gave me. Do you intend to steal the credit!"

Ebony Maw stood with his hands clasped behind his back, hovering in the main control room of the Dark Fleet's flagship. Although he looked remarkably similar to a fish-like creature, his demeanor was extremely elegant.

"Lord Ronan, by the order of the great Thanos, this war in Knowhere will be taken over by us. You won't need to trouble yourself with the rest." Ebony Maw nodded slightly towards Ronan.

Ronan the Accuser looked at the projection of Ebony Maw and Corvus Glaive holding a long blade beside him. A flicker of fear and unwillingness flashed in his eyes. The Power Stone was right below in Knowhere.

As long as he obtained the Power Stone, he would possess strength equal to Thanos.

"Ebony Maw, originally, Thanos ordered me to find the Power Stone for him. Now the Power Stone is in Knowhere below. I have lost thousands of my people and dozens of warships. If I return to the Kree Empire like this, tail between my legs, I will also have no face to continue serving as the Accuser..."

"So, Lord Ronan, you intend to continue attacking Knowhere?!" Ebony Maw slightly raised his hand. Outside the projection, where Ronan couldn't see, the many warship captains of the Dark Fleet all looked at Ebony Maw's hand signal. As soon as he gave the signal, the hundreds of warships of the Dark Fleet would open fire on the Kree Fleet without mercy. "The Collector Tivan of Knowhere is difficult to deal with. My soldiers can cooperate with your operation. Taking Knowhere, as a condition, I want half of The Collector's Treasury and the spoils of war from Knowhere!"

Ebony Maw glanced at Ronan, and then exchanged glances with Corvus Glaive beside him.

"Half the wealth of Knowhere!" Alright, I can make that decision. Take Knowhere, and half the wealth is yours!"

The Black Order have always been by Thanos' side. As the capable assistants of this Cosmic Overlord, they know some secrets that ordinary people don't, just like the true identity of The Collector Tivan.

A member of the Elders of the Universe. Thanos, behind them, does not fear Tivan. However, wanting to take down this old monster, who is as old as the Universe itself, Ebony Maw and Corvus Glaive were not confident either.

So, even though they knew Ronan had ulterior motives, they were happy to have someone act as a vanguard.

"Commit Ground forces! At all costs, we must obtain the Power Stone before them!"

After cutting off communication with the Dark Fleet, Ronan's face was grim. After ordering the Fleet to conduct two rounds of shelling on Knowhere, he directly issued the landing order.

Hundreds of warships descended directly towards Knowhere. A continuous stream of fighter jets flew out from the Ship Cabins.

Seeing the descending Kree warships, the Metal Wingmen in the sky, a vast, dark mass, swooped towards them. The Kree warships' main cannons and secondary cannons all opened fire.

One shot fired, devastating dozens of miles. Large swathes of Metal Wingmen were annihilated in the fierce, high-intensity particle streams.

Kree Soldiers wearing black combat armor, under the cover of the warships, piloting Space Fighters, charged forward relentlessly towards The Collector's Palace at all costs. After the Accuser issued the 'at all costs' order, these Kree Soldiers who worshipped Ronan went completely mad.

Thousands of Space Fighters, under the cover of tens of thousands of unmanned energy emitting aircraft, completely disregarding any combat formations, charged straight ahead like wild boars.

Dense masses of Metal Wingmen flying in from all directions had just gathered, intending to stop them, but were directly bombarded by the Kree warships' main cannons, their feathers scattered and suffering heavy casualties.

These Kree warships didn't even use the forbidden high-energy weapons on the warships. A single volley of artillery fire from hundreds of warships tore apart the scattered formation of these Metal Wingmen.

Charge, charge, charge, charging with an unstoppable momentum... Soon the Kree's attack, spearheaded by Space Fighters, reached the Outside of The Collector Tivan's Palace. Seeing the continuous stream of Six-winged Metal Humanoids pouring out from under the blue energy shield, the turrets on one side of the Dark Star rose. The fully charged main cannon aimed at The Collector's Palace.

"Boom!"

A stream of energy particles dozens of meters thick slammed into the energy shield covering The Collector's Palace.

Just then, a triangular stargate several kilometers on each side suddenly appeared in front of The Collector's Door. The stargate opened, and Michael stepped out from within.

Behind him, over a thousand angels with several pairs of pure white wings on their backs filed out with sacred expressions.

According to the guidance of the Lord, Michael had just located Lost Heavenly Mountain through the stargate. The moment he stepped out of the stargate, he was met with a cannon blast head-on.

Facing the charged attack from the Dark Star's main cannon, Michael had no time to dodge. The pure white Holy Light in his hand flashed, and a cross holy sword condensed from Holy Light appeared in his palm. He gripped the sword hilt with both hands and delivered a standard cleaving thrust.

A pure white holy light pillar slammed into the incoming stream of energy particles!

Boom! The Holy Light and the Dark Star's main cannon blast caused a violent energy explosion. A massive mushroom cloud rose in front of The Collector's Castle Estate.

Michael stepped back, feeling the Holy Light surging within his body. With that one strike, although he shattered the stream of energy particles from the Dark Star's main cannon blast, the strike was hasty, and he couldn't use his full strength.

Stabilizing the Holy Light within his body, he narrowed his eyes and sensed the surrounding aura. Lost Heavenly Mountain was right behind him, but what was going on around here? He looked up. His eyes emitted a faint Holy Light, looking at the dense mass of starships and fighter jets on the horizon. Further out in Outer Space, there was also an entire Fleet.

Just as Michael hadn't yet realized what was happening, hundreds of Kree warships collectively roared at this obstacle.

The dozens of main cannons, secondary cannons, and anti-aircraft laser energy cannons on their hulls all aimed at Michael and the Angelic Legion behind him and unleashed high-energy particle streams.

Michael was incredibly frustrated. Behind him was his directly subordinate Angelic Legion Guard Legion. If he dodged, the force of these energy cannons would all hit his Guard Legion.

Having no choice, he could only brandish his holy light longsword, cutting out streaks of Holy Light, intercepting these ship cannon blasts.

It must be said, Michael was indeed worthy of the strength of a Heavenly Kingdom Vice-Regent. The artillery fire from an entire Kree Fleet was actually blocked by him alone with a single sword.

However, from the twitching corner of his mouth, it could be seen what the Archangel's mood was like.

While Michael was intercepting the Kree warships' attacks, the Guard Legion behind him, nearly a thousand angels, holding hands and linking feet, formed a complex multi-layer spherical formation.

The highest-ranking angels were located at the center point of this spherical formation. Around the sphere was pure, rapidly compressed white flames.

As these angels chanted rhythmic spells, the prayers of nearly a thousand people merged into a unified wave of sound.

Circles of white and silver Holy Light spread out from within the angels' bodies, forming a structure a hundred meters tall, a Golden Arches supported by six twelve-winged angel statues.

This Portal was the entrance to Paradise Mountain's control core, and also the symbol of Paradise Mountain, the Heaven's Gate.

This Heaven's Gate was also an Anywhere Door.

The so-called Anywhere Door means no matter where Paradise Mountain is, this clone projection of the Heaven's Gate can appear anywhere, deploying large numbers of the Angelic Legion into battlefield at the fastest speed.

It was precisely because of the existence of the Heaven's Gate that the vast numbers of the Angelic Legion earned the nickname 'Locust Legion'. White wings fluttering across the sky could appear anywhere at any time, and this is how the Angelic Legion's formidable ferocity was established.

Paradise Mountain, its entire body as white and lustrous as jade, faintly shimmering with a metallic radiance. Solemn, grand, sacred, and austere Paradise Mountain.

The base of this mountain covered tens of thousands of miles. Many white halls extended upwards from the foot of the mountain for an unknown distance.

Near these halls, which were often several kilometers in area and a hundred meters high, innumerable angels stood densely packed.

Suspended in the dark clouds were many structures, entirely white, cities about a mile in area.

These cities were similar in appearance to Sky Castles, except they were entirely white, forged from a strange material somewhere between metal and crystal.

Large groups of two-winged and four-winged angels were densely gathered within these cities, wrapping their bodies with their wings like birds, squatting motionless in the cities in a strange posture.

A six-winged angel in a white robe standing behind Michael took a golden horn from his neck, put it to his lips, and blew it forcefully. As the sound of the horn echoed through Paradise Mountain, millions of two-winged and four-winged angels spread their wings, led by thousands of six-winged angels, formed dense formations and charged towards the opened Heaven's Gate.

The sound of dense wingbeats continuously emanated. Millions of angels silently poured out from the golden Heaven's Gate in a continuous stream.

Seeing this scene, Ronan could no longer maintain his calm and composed demeanor. He frantically ordered the Fleet to attack the Heaven's Gate.

He even ordered the Dark Star to use its planet annihilation main cannon. A thick beam of energy shot out from the Dark Star. Michael swung his longsword, trying to intercept, but he had to divide his attention to protect the Guard Legion behind him who were forming the Heaven's Gate. So the holy light slash he unleashed only intercepted half of the planet annihilation main cannon's beam.

The remaining half of the energy blasted by the planet annihilation main cannon instantly pierced through the angelic formation and slammed into the Heaven's Gate. The Holy Light representing divine power collided with the energy ray representing technology.

The brightness in The Void suddenly seemed to increase dozens of times. Then a wave of white light energy exploded near the Heaven's Gate.

Hundreds of thousands of angels were vaguely visible for a brief flash in the white light, and were annihilated in the energy radiance that rushed out in all directions.

The nearly thousand angels behind Michael all spat out faint golden blood from their mouths. Nearly a hundred angels were consumed by the backlash of the white holy flames, turning into balls of white fireball.

Fortunately, the Heaven's Gate did not shatter because of this. After a tremor, it stabilized.

"Heretics!" Michael angrily raised the longsword in his hand. Flapping his wings, he instantly appeared above the Dark Star and slashed at the Dark Star with his sword.

At the same time, from within the Heaven's Gate, the continuously pouring out two-winged and four-winged angels also flapped their wings and flew up, pouncing on the Kree fighter jets and warships in the sky.

Blue energy particle rays were continuous, wave after wave, assailing the Angelic Legion like raindrops.

These ordinary two-winged angels, however, seemed to be utterly foolish, foolishly met the deadly energy particle rays head-on without knowing how to counterattack.

Tens of thousands of blue light beams pierced through the bodies of tens of thousands of angels, leaving transparent Holes the size of washbasins in their bodies.

The bodies of tens of thousands of angels paused slightly in The Void for a few seconds and then disintegrated. Countless white feathers fluttered in the air, messy, like a chicken coop that had just been hit by a heavy artillery shell.

The Void was filled with the white light masses and feathers left behind after their bodies disintegrated. The scene was horrific.

However, the loss of these angels seemed insignificant among the vast numbers of the Angelic Legion. As the Angelic Legion, once known as the Locust Legion, they once again shocked everyone present with their immense numbers.

"Our biocultivation line, how many battle beasts can it produce in a day at full capacity?"

Ebony Maw looked at the Ground of Knowhere, which was covered in white, and turned his head to look at Corvus Glaive beside him.

"Only with the resources carried by the warships, a hundred thousand. Unless we can resupply in Knowhere!" Corvus Glaive shook his head.

"Concentrate all firepower on this Portal, blocking their reinforcements inside. Unleash the battle beasts, spreading out in all directions from the center point, buy time.

Warships bombard The Collector's Castle, the two of us will charge in, seize the Power Stone and that visitor from another Universe!"

Corvus Glaive was indeed worthy of being the one among the Black Order most skilled at commanding Military. He quickly figured out the Angelic Legion's vital point.

If they used the warships' concentrated firepower to blockade the Heaven's Gate, that would slow down the Angelic Legion's proud human wave tactics.

Click, click, click, click, click—

At Corvus Glaive's command, hundreds of warships of the Black Order all aimed their charged main cannons at Knowhere. Thick energy beams descended from the sky, slamming into the middle of the dense Angelic Legion.

(end of chapter)