【Elise instructs her forces to break through the enemy's defenses.】
“The... the enemy! There are so many of them swarming from the sky!”
“Didn't we already know that? Hurry and prepare for battle!”
As the distance closed, the screen in front of Lin Miao not only echoed with the violent sound of flying species flapping their wings but also carried the frantic voices of the enemy.
Their claim of “already knowing” was not a bluff.
Although their voices were anxious, they quickly took up defensive formations and began resisting as if they had anticipated this very moment.
The first thing they deployed was a faint golden energy shield that enveloped the entire Sky Island.
This technology of releasing energy to form a protective barrier was something the Great Devourer had frequently dealt with back on Terra. Now, even the Great Devourer itself favored its use.
Sure enough, as if accustomed to it, the Great Devourers surrounded the Sky Island and launched a fierce assault, attempting to shatter the barrier.
However, even though countless Great Devourers instantly swarmed from all directions, relentlessly hammering the spherical barrier without leaving a single gap, the Sky Island's shield was not so easily broken.
The powerful mandibles of the Dragon Ants, and even the venom-sting artillery of the tiger hornet ants and Tyrants, proved completely ineffective.
“Counterattack!”
Instead, they wheeled out massive cannons from within the shield and began to fire back.
Although the paladins wore armor resembling medieval knights, the weapons they brought out could fire concentrated holy power like artillery shells, or project them in the form of light cannons.
【Elise feels displeased by the enemy's unyielding shield.】
Faced with this one-sided bombardment, her ordinary units, lacking psionic barriers to protect them, fell like swarms of flies. Consequently, Elise ordered the forces clinging to the shield to withdraw to a safe distance.
She had likely run the calculations and concluded that ordinary attacks could not breach the Sky Island's defenses.
Elise's plan was to launch a surprise raid on the enemy's Sky Island, land a massive force transported by the super-large aerial transport Behemoth onto the island, and wipe out the enemy completely.
If they could not break that shield, the raid would be impossible to execute.
Fortunately, Elise had already anticipated this.
This is the new species Elise created.
Elise had previously overwhelmed her enemies on the ground with sheer firepower to secure victory.
That was the Prism Cannon, a weapon of the Terra elves bestowed by their god. After absorbing it, she had modified it into a biological artillery unit—the Disintegration Cannon.
How powerful would it be if Elise used it in the air instead of on the ground? Lin Miao did not even need to think to imagine the devastating results.
“What on earth is that...”
Lin Miao saw an enemy paladin staring blankly into the distant sky, muttering to himself.
Within the swarm of flying species that had retreated out of range, a colossal creature slowly materialized after disabling its camouflage mode. Its appearance was almost identical to a Behemoth, featuring a massive fish-like body, octopus-like fins, and an exoskeleton.
But this new, super-large mutant—the Behemoth Beta—was not designed for transport.
It was a pure combat unit built for aerial artillery battles to suppress the enemy.
Unlike the older Behemoth models, which had hollow interiors, its inside was completely packed with Disintegration Cannons and their supporting systems.
Its exoskeleton was several times thicker, and to boost its output, it was connected to the largest possible magic hearts to the maximum extent.
Elise had conceived the idea for this organism as early as the battle of Terra, but she had been unable to realize it due to various complications. This time, sensing an urgent need for it, she had finally brought it to life.
“F-Fire! Shoot it down before it gets any closer!”
The enemy captain, seemingly sensing an ominous pressure, urged his subordinates in terror.
They aimed the largest of their deployed cannons and fired continuously, but just as the Sky Island wrapped itself in a golden barrier, the Behemoth Beta blocked the bombardment with a deep blue barrier of its own.
After all, raw output could not overcome physical size.
Just as the Sky Island had dealt with the Swarm's flying species, mere truck-sized cannons could not hope to breach the barrier of the warship-sized Behemoth Beta.
【Elise orders the enemy to be shot down.】
The Behemoth Beta sailed calmly through the enemy's artillery fire, gliding past the side of the Sky Island as the soldiers of the Goddess of Light Association stared at it in a daze.
At that moment, the countless ribs connected to its massive spine flipped upward, tearing through flesh to emerge from the gaps in its opening exoskeleton.
These were no ordinary ribs.
Every single one of those colossal bones was an artillery barrel packed with immense energy—a Disintegration Cannon.
Furthermore, they were far larger and more powerful than the ones mounted on the Spore Beasts on the ground.
A volley from the Disintegration Cannons struck the slow-moving, colossal Sky Island.
A massive impact and tremor convulsed the entire island. Lin Miao could see the resulting shockwaves rippling through the atmosphere.
Most of the people on the Sky Island failed to keep their footing and fell to the ground in unison.
This was entirely different from when the flying species had been buzzing around them.
The massive barrier was instantly overwhelmed, spiderwebbed with cracks, and shattered in places to reveal open gaps.
“Continue firing.”
On another screen, Elise stood up abruptly from her chair woven from the bodies of worker ants, laughing with irrepressible ecstasy.
Under Elise's command, the Behemoth Beta turned around, bared the ribs on its other side, and unleashed another volley of Disintegration Cannons, once again hammering the Sky Island's barrier before it could fully recover.
It's wounded.
The members of the Goddess of Light Association turned pale as they desperately tried to maintain the barrier, but in the end, the seemingly impregnable and flawless Sky Island barrier shattered.
The broken gaps were wounds, and a wounded animal was always the easiest prey to hunt.
“Servants on standby, launch the assault!”
Like a swarm of Great Devourers rushing toward a bleeding, wounded beast, the standby forces surged forward once again, darkening the sky.
The same went for the ten transport Behemoths packed with troops.
Lin Miao spotted Celia and Lisette standing on the head of one of them.
As the Behemoth opened its massive maw, Celia and Lisette leaped into the air, projecting a barrier to deflect incoming enemy attacks. They charged through the cracked gaps in the barrier alongside the forces pouring out of the Behemoth's mouth, successfully breaching the interior of the Sky Island.
“It has come to this, we have no other choice! The remaining distance is short. No matter what, we must push forward and unleash the Heavenly Thunderbolts!”
Although the barrier had cracked and shattered, it had not completely collapsed. Was that where they saw a glimmer of hope?
Under the roaring commands of their leader—who was undoubtedly Governor Delta—they fought desperately against the invading forces.
Do they think they can find hope by blowing up the Stargate along with our nests? Or do they believe that by destroying Gaia's physical form, they can receive aid from the other side of the Stargate once more?
Lin Miao listened to their thoughts and chuckled dryly.
Although the Stargate his forces had first used to step onto this world belonged to the enemy, the Great Devourer had already mastered Stargate Forging Technology.
The Great Devourer had already constructed another Stargate connecting to Terra elsewhere while occupying this region.
Even if things went exactly as they hoped and the Heavenly Thunderbolts destroyed both the Stargate and the nests, the Great Devourer could easily adapt.
The same went for Gaia's body.
While the destruction of her physical form would be a significant blow, her roots anchored deep underground would remain intact.
As long as it wasn't for an extended period, Gaia could scatter her seeds elsewhere, reconnect those roots, resurrect herself, and utilize them once more.
Naturally, such contingencies had already been put in place.
Therefore, Lin Miao's servants were currently fighting under highly advantageous conditions.
“These monsters...”
The panicked paladins and priests nervously drew their weapons as they faced Lisette, Celia, and a massive horde of Lictors that had materialized before them.
“Take your positions.”
Celia's eyes flashed. Instantly, Lisette and the Lictors acting as knights formed a vanguard.
Celia herself stood at the rear, gathering power alongside the units serving as mages.
Although they looked like terrifying, chimeric monsters, their flawless, synchronized, and swift movements guided by the hive mind shook the resolve of the paladins and priests, who were undoubtedly elite combatants.
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