Chapter 1323: The Players
Prince Merov used the secret code to unblock a region of space. After some fluctuation, the darkness in front of him cleared, showing a purple gate.
"Haaa!" The man took a breath, his face full of reluctance and regret. But he channeled his aura to enter.
As he was about to do that, a sharp aura fluctuation broke out in the distance.
Without any hesitation, Merov turned around and his aura locked the person who arrived.
A green light appeared in front of the intruder, its size easily rivalling that of entire earth. It took the shape of a frog and opened its mouth. A powerful suction force pulled at the intruder.
Like a giant beast opening its mouth to drink the oceans clean, the green frog tried to devour the incomer's life force.
"Hmph!"
Rather than panic that a Space awakener should've have shown, there was a snort of derision and anger.
The opponent's silhouttee began to glow white, similar to fireflies under the night. The light was beautiful, signalled with the essence of life itself and fought back against the hostile life force.
The exchange of Life Spirit and Life Force Controller ended in a draw.
"It's you?" Merov's eyes widened as he finally recognized the aura and the person in question.
Sonya.
Her hair was disheveled and her blue armor was starting to crack. Tendrils of space—appearing as black and gray rays—fluctuated around her, signalling that she had just been through violent teleportations beyond what she could handle.
"Run! Merov! They're coming!"
Princess Sonya's reverberated in his mind as if they had telepathy.
A thread of her hair that had been intentionally or unintentionally seperated and thrown off reached the space gate.
With a thought, Sonya's position changed and she appeared at the hair's location.
Prince Merov also wanted to leave but his pride didn't allow him to be lead on by anyone else, much less this woman he considered 'useless' in the match.
"Who is chasing?" He asked with a grudging expression.
Matching his words, the huge frog beast appeared behind him and stared down at the Princess.
"I don't have time!"
Sonya began to activate the space gate. To keep it running as long as possible while remaining as stealthy, such measures were necessary. But now, it's costing them precious seconds.
"Hurry up and help me! We have to lea—"
Seven beams of light fell from the space. A powerful aura tsunami swept the surroundings and the instincts of the two screamed to flee.
"If he was wrong, I wanted to revoke the diplomatic immunity and at least slaughter half of that duchy." The man with space-like skin commented as the six-pointed star in his eyes turned a dangerous red.
"But well, this is a great achievement. Our squad will be more than happy to take this merit." The leader's lips curled into a smile.
"Captain, any communication with the enemy should be avoided. Neutralizing the threat is of foremost importance and any delay caused by talks could lead to unexpected variables." A Veyan woman with long glowing sliver said.
The Captain pursed his lips into a thin line and raised his hand.
Sonya who was about to use an emergency measure to forcibly activate the space gate felt a barrier between her and the structure.
"If you do that, you can esacpe but it'll blow up after us. Shouldn't we need to pay a visit to this beautiful place used as the launch ground against us?" The Captain snapped his fingers.
Ka! Ka! Ka!
With the sound of metal being cut by metal, layers and layers of space barriers began to pile over the first, creating a thick gray wall enveloping the space gate.
Sonya had a chance of drilling a hole in a single layer and sneaking in using her power as a Life Spirit.
But this...
Even if they sat down and let her, she wouldn't be able to breakthrough for the next day.
Sonya's face paled and she put her hand on her belt. She was in a red casual dress, suitable for both combat.
The belt would've seemed a new fanshion trend on the dress she wore but it was far from being that simple.
A powerful force enveloped Sonya. It couldn't attack nor could it teleport her away. But it could defend her from one attack. A single attack from a rank 8 for a single instance.
That's it.
It's impossible to win against a real rank 8 with that treasure.
But Sonya wasn't looking to win. She was looking to die. The treasure would block them from stopping her kill herself.
The captain and the team watched her antics with a disdainful expression. With the space gate blocked, she had nowhere to escape. There's nothing to worry about.
On the other hand, the man...
He looked at them with no fear.
The Orion wanted to engage and neutralize him right away. But the Captain didn't order them right away.
Theirs was a new team without many achievements. Otherwise, they wouldn't be sent to a mission as unpopular as this.
Losing even a single member would impact his track record. This merit would be high, yes. But if possible, he wanted no losses.
"If you surrender to us, the—"
"If you let me go, you will be safe." Prince Merov suddenly said.
"Wh-What?" The Orions blinked in confusion, their starry eyes fluctuating in brightness and size.
"A rank 8 cannot stop m—" Merov's words weren't even finished before the space around him blocked off, effectively freezing him in place and imprisoning the man.
But at the last moment, there was only a smirk on his face.
"Captain," A member pointed to the little green dots that suddenly appeared around them.
"Hmph!" With a sweep of his hand, the space around the life force exploded, devouring them in an instant.
Click!
Like the cracking of an eggshell, the space cracked.
The Captain's eyes widened and he realized that this had all been a farce.
Merov's body inside the blocked space dissipated.
The Prince materialized near space gate, not far from Sonya. In his hands was a cracking disc.
The two didn't waste any time and dived into the space gate.
Due to their emergency procedures, the space gate took a huge toll and began to collapse.
The captain wasn't shocked as they might've expected. Instead, he had a cold smile on his face.
With a snap of his fingers, the collapsin space gate began to stabilize. The Orions checked their supplies one last time before stepping towards the gate.
"Brillaint, Captain! Those idiots would've never guessed!" A Veyan woman with short silvery hair said.
"They might've guessed." The long haired one disagreed. "It's common knowledge that space gates will rather self-destruct than let an enemy race in. Even if we tried to, we'd be stranded half-way."
"Then why..." The short-haired one titled her head in confusion.
She was one of those geniuses who directly got recruited into the group. Despite her ignorance, she's only 700 years this year and already a peak rank 7!
"The best way to crack the space gate's defense mechanisms is to cause it to partially collapse and then stabilize the space enough to use it." The captain said and the squad stepped into the gate.