The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 451

Chapter 451: It’s Free After All

 

At first, it did not register. Hao Ren was astounded for a few seconds before he realized what “creator of the planet” Vimm was talking about… It was none other than the goddess with five numerics in her name!

“You mean, these people are”—Hao Ren’s face stiffened, he struggled to find words as he pointed down at the place below—”Raven 12345’s believers?”

Vimm laughed. “Why not? Is there any god in the world who would be reluctant to have followers?”

Hao Ren was a little dumbfounded. He remembered that although Raven 12345 was indeed a goddess, and was an authentic one, she also had a billion believers. The last time he met with the goddess, she even sent New Year greetings to her own believers. However, knowing was one thing, witnessing it with his own eyes was another. Hao Ren looked down from the balcony, stunned. His mind had a hard time connecting the psychotic goddess with what was happening before him. No way! She really has believers?

“Didn’t you say that you were all busy rebuilding Aerym?” Hao Ren thought it best to hold back his comtempt. After all, Raven 12345 was still his superior. He had to look after her image, more so when he himself held the title of “pope”. But, there was something he still could not make out. “You still have time for things like this?”

“It is unbelieveable that you are so ignorant as an assistant of God. You have no idea, do you?” Vimm looked at Hao Ren, surprised. “Of course this is necessary. Rebuilding social order is one of the most important aspects of reconstruction.”

Looking at Hao Ren who was still blank, Vimm began to explain with a smile, “In most cases, intelligent beings are subject to their own emotions. The heart and mind are things that are invisible, but capable of determining the fate of an entire race. Our people are taking up new home in this new world, and they are really immersed in the surprises brought on by the new world at this moment. But at the same time, there are also more difficulties and dangers ahead. It is not easy to explore a wild planet. We need to keep the peoples’ spirits and morale up, so that they can divert their attention away from difficulties and pain temporarily.

“We need spiritual strength, entertainment, systematic education, political calls, heroes, and of course religion. Out of these, religion is the cheapest option at this stage.”

“This planet was created by God. Everyone knows it. So, we don’t need any extra cost to spread and prove the idea of the existence of God. We can spread the idea of a new god to the whole society at almost zero cost. Then, the only real cost is for manpower to increase the cohesiveness of the people under this new religion. This way, things are cheaper compared to creating a hundred heroes, implementing education, or psychological treatment. It is even simpler than remodeling the entertainment industry.”

Hao Ren nodded, not that he understood it. Despite that, he knew this was not only about political consideration of the Aerymian ruler, it was also about the cultural differences that existed. Religious belief was not necessarily a symbol of ignorance and regression. In many cases, a highly developed civilization would still believe in God. Not to mention, Raven 12345 was an authentic goddess. Plus, the belief of the Aerymian elves did make sense: they were standing on the earth created by the goddess after all.

“In fact, we have also considered seeking your help.” Vimm looked at Hao Ren with a smile. The latter was stunned for a moment. “What do you need help for?” Hao Ren asked.

“Have you really forgotten who you are?” This time it was Vimm who was confused. “Mother once said to me, that based on hierarchy, you are the pope. Would it not be natural for us to seek your help in drafting a Bible template when we first establish a new religion?”

Hao Ren was even more befuddled. It never crossed his mind before. “A Bible template? Like I know how.”

Vimm looked at Hao Ren and became more enthusiastic. His smile was now even brighter. “We really need you. We are as clueless as a dim light bulb here. Even the goddess herself has no idea about the situation here. We were actually waiting for the initial propaganda and framework of the religious system to take shape. After that, we would contact you to help us establish a connection with the goddess. But since you are here today, we may as well settle it all.”

Just as Hao Ren was about to wave if off, Lily appeared behind him out of nowhere. “That seems interesting, Landlord!”

The maiden felt bored, so she decided to sneak out of the house and walk up to Hao Ren quietly. Apparently, she had heard the conversation between Vimm and Hao Ren.

Hao Ren pressed his hand on Lily’s head, trying to turn her away. “Stop messing around. I’ve never done anything like that before! I already have to rely on commas to make up for the shortfall when I’m writing an 800-word report. It’s not that you don’t know.”

Lily then said with a brilliant smile, “Don’t think too much. It’s just an avenue for you to make up some words of propaganda. That’s it! Think of it as advertisement.”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “They’re talking about a Bible template here!”

Vimm saw the uneasiness on Hao Ren’s face. He kept his amusement to himself and said, “Well, let us not joke around. We are in the midst of compiling the Bible template. After it is completed, we will probably need the goddess to personally review it. Could you help think of a universal prayer, which we would use for our daily communion, and also for the purpose of spreading influence? No matter how I look at it, this should be your responsibility as the right-hand man of the goddess.”

Lily flamed it up further. “Yeah, it’s just an ad slogan!”

Hao Ren was dumbfounded. It really never crossed his mind that one day he would have to seriously consider such issues. He was silent, losing himself in his thoughts for a while before he looked up and said, “I’ll give it a try. It’s free after all, right?”

Vimm was like, “Are you serious?”

“Forget it. Let me consult my superior first.” Hao Ren let out a dry laugh before calling Raven 12345 on the phone.

“What’s up?” Raven 12345’s voice was as rude as usual.

“Here’s the thing: As the Aerymian elves are starting to develop their infrastructure, they think that they should also worship the planet’s creator—you, as their new god. They allowed me to ask you about our corporate culture and stuff like that…”

Hao Ren roughly told her about the elves’ situation. He felt that, even if Raven 12345 had never been interested in preaching, she should seriously consider it at this point. After all, that was her line of work. Although the Xi Ling Celestials were not a theocracy, as a goddess, this was something unavoidable.

Raven 12345 answered without hesitation, “Tell them, the secret phrase is, ‘Give it a try, it’s free after all’.”

Hao Ren was like, “Are you serious?”

Raven 12345 then plainly said, “Of course. It’s universally applicable. Everyone who believes in me knows that. Oh, by the way, do remind them that when they finally progress into the interstellar stage and meet other civilizations, they can use this secret phrase. The other folks will know that they are my people.”

Hao Ren hung up. He then turned around, held Vimm’s hand and said, “Brother, this is my advice: if all of you really want to be united under the banner of this boss, it is best to start by reconstructing your worldviews…”

Vimm was speechless.

While Vimm was in a state of complete astonishment, Hao Ren left the balcony. The MDT had been silent all this time, but it suddenly sighed. “Now I know why Madam Raven chose you as her assistant; both of you have so many things in common.”

Hao Ren regretted the fact that he was actually in tune with the psychopath.

Two days later, Hilda assembled three million armed escorts for Hao Ren. They were good to go.

Hao Ren sent a progress report to Raven 12345, who only had praises for his “armed escorts” idea, and hailed him for his political-correctness. After that, they agreed on a way for the thousands of large and small spacecrafts to cross over to Y’zaks’ homeland.

Obviously, the Aerymian elves had no capability to navigate across worlds. They could not even fly to the World Gate on their own. Their spacecrafts were only good at bullying bumpkins within the atmosphere. So, Hao Ren needed to open a temporary World Gate above Peatopia while on the other side, the World Gate would be opened near the boundary of the bubble zone of Y’zaks’ hometown.

After that, the elven fleet would sail to the Second Demonic Plane inside the bubble zone, where they would meet with Y’zaks, load up everything, and go back out all the way again.

As for the flight path in the bubble zone, there would not be a problem: the Petrachelys’ advanced time-space radar would identify the correct flight path. If Y’zaks had found this flight path back then, he would have made it out of the bubble zone… Well, in practice, he still would not have been able to do it, because he did not have a spacecraft.

Anyway, it was going to be a very “eventful” journey.

Chapter 452: Departure

 

Planet Aerym a.k.a Peatopia. Synchronous orbital position.

Although they had not entered the era of interstellar travel, the Aerymian elves had stayed in their own mother planet for thousands of years and successfully developed space station technology as well as space colonial technology and many more, which far exceeded the achievements of other similar civilizations. As they moved to the new Aerym, they brought along these technological know-hows. The space facilities they brought with them were now being re-assembled and launched into the synchronous orbits. There they were—the three transit stations on a geostationary orbit right above their new home planet.

On one of the transit stations, the fleet was ready. The silver-gray steel spaceships were in formation with more than a dozen large and slender motherships in the center. An incalculable number of triangular spacecrafts and small dart-like battleships formed the massive fleet. Even if the Aerymian elves had not been able to colonize any planets in their homeland, they had tried their best to develop very advanced aerospace technology. An intrastellar fleet could be just as epic.

The one billion Aerymian immigrants had brought thousands of spacecrafts with them. Although they were outdated and could not match the fleets of interstellar civilizations, they did have quite a presence in space. At least Hao Ren, who had never seen such a scene before was widemouthed for a long while. But, Ysre and Aylu totally surpassed him in this aspect as they were both rooted to the spot for like the whole day. Though the two elven aides had been in countless wars, never had they witnessed such a massive fleet of spacecrafts in space.

Among the thousands of ships, there were many armed cruisers and small escort ships, which could not be categorized as battleships. These spacecrafts were surrounding the larger motherships. When looking at them from a distance, these smaller ships looked like dregs falling off the bigger spaceships.

Hao Ren felt like he was being overly imaginative at times.

If in accordance with the professional space code of conduct, unless there was a technology known as the “joint shield” in place, all battleship fleets were absolutely prohibited from forming such a dense formation to prevent high-speed shrapnels of an exploded spacecraft from destroying nearby, friendly units. Large and medium-sized space battleships were usually arranged at intervals of thousands to tens of thousands of kilometers apart. The specific value depended on the technical model and size of the fleet. At the moment, the reason why these Aerymians spacecrafts were in that way arranged was because they were not carrying out regular warfare. It was necessary to keep them closely enough in order to pass through the temporary World Gate, which was limited in dimensions.

Hao Ren stood on the bridge of the Petrachelys with Lily overlooking the mighty forces before them. Both were in a state of excitement, with the only difference being that Hao Ren would not bite the chair like Lily. An image of Hilda appeared on the transmission panel. Her Majesty smiled to Hao Ren. “I put my people’s lives in your hands, but Vimm will personally lead them. Nonetheless, I hope you will bring them home safely.”

“You have my word.” Hao Ren assured her as he patted his chest. “To be honest, your technology may appear inadequate in this universe, but when applied in another, you could almost go in and out like a boss. There are no more than a handful of guys who can shoot down your spacecrafts with fireballs.”

Hilda nodded, and the MDT, which was slotted in the control panel snapped. “Get ready. The World Gate is open.”

As the MDT’s voice faded, a strange phenomenon occurred before them. The space in front of the fleet began to warp, starlights from the distant space appeared to dissipate away, and a film of about hundreds of kilometers across popped open. Through the sparkling light film, one could see the image of another universe.

Then, a glitter appeared on the light film before it transformed into a line of text.

“Death is nothing. If we can’t get around it, fight it and don’t bring shame to ourselves. We will not bully as much as be bullied. Success depends on 3% luck, 7% hard work, and 90% audacity. Best wishes from the greatest and brightest goddess, Raven 12345.

Hao Ren was speechless.

It seemed that even Lily could not stand it. She covered her head with her arms and hid under the chair. “Landlord, please don’t show my face on the transmission screen.”

Hao Ren sighed, and hit the radio button. “Let’s roll!”

Then, the Petrachelys led the way into the World Gate as the mighty fleet of battleships followed it from behind. Hao Ren gazed at the words again, “Death is nothing. If we can’t get around it, fight it…”. The words were being transmitted into the cockpit via the external cam, and his heart suddenly surged with a sense of pride.

For the first time in his life, he had brought so many people to a gang fight.

Passing through the World Gate was only a matter of seconds. In the blink of an eye, the mighty fleet had already arrived in another universe. As the twisted images and radio interference began to normalize, Hao Ren saw the scene outside the spacecraft.

“Here we are, at the border of the bubble zone. We’re on the ‘outside’,” Hao Ren gazed out into the extrernal space. “…Y’zaks was right.”

It was a vast space with bright stars.

Aside from the splendid fields of stars, the external cam also captured images of an incredible landscape: it appeared that the distribution of stars looked unnatural. A large area of ​​the stars was twisted as though it was spinning in the same direction like a whirlpool. In the twisting, swirling center of the whirlpool was a dazzling, silver-white spot where a vaguely recognizable image could be seen.

The MDT adjusted the recognition sensitivity and the image differential compensation parameters of the external cam, and a clearer image of the silver-white spot was finally captured.

It turned out the whirlpool was a reflective sphere. The so-called silvery-white spot was actually the reflection of the stars and Aerymian fleet.

“If I’m not mistaken, that’s the entrance to the bubble zone,” the voice of the MDT was heard on the control panel. “Strictly speaking, the bubble zone is the projection of the three-dimensional universe. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. What you need to do now is floor the throttle and get right in there. Oh right, maybe I’ll do it this time… By the way, when can you finish studying the tutorial, eh?”

Hao Ren slapped the MDT. “No one will blame you if you keep your mouth shut!”

Then, he turned his eyes on the communication panel. Vimm instantly showed up in the holographic projection.

“The MDT will lead you in. It will create a series of teleportation portals using the special function of the spacecraft. If you need assistance, just contact the Petrachelys directly. Meanwhile, we will go and meet up with Y’zaks. We’re going to do some necessary ‘fixes’ to the wreckage while we wait for you there.”

Vimm nodded and said, “Good luck.”

Hao Ren nodded back before he led Lily and the two elves off the bridge to go to the teleportation station in the Petrachelys.

Although the versatile, official inspector spacecraft could not match the firepower of the military version, it did have many useful features. One of it was the ability to remotely set its destination of teleportation for easier and more convenient execution of missions.

The teleportation station was located at the back of the bridge. It was a semicircular room, large enough to teleport a dozen people in a single platform.

While the weird spatial structure of the bubble zone presented some challenge, teleporting a small number of personnel in and out was relatively easy. It was not a problem for the Petrachelys. In the case of teleporting a mass not exceeding a certain threshold, the ship’s powerful onboard computer could disregard the chaotic structure of the bubble zone and directly establish a transmission path at any point in the bubble zone.

As for the destination’s coordinates, Hao Ren had it noted down right before they left Helcrown.

Vivian was hanging with Nangong Wuyue at the terrace in Helcrown Palace, looking out at the huge wreckage in the faraway darkness. Tiny little dots of light could be seen twinkling at the wreckage of the spacecraft. Those were the personnel Y’zaks had sent out to explore the wreckage. For the past two days, technicians who possessed the ability to go to space had all been assigned to the wreckage to check on its condition, like if there was a rupture in critical places. This was to prepare for their impending departure.

At that moment, the air on the terrace suddenly warped and Hao Ren as well as several others appeared before the two maidens.

As soon as they arrived, Lil Pea cheerfully jumped onto Nangong Wuyue’s lap, and happily recounted to her fish sister the story of her daddy dummy in the Aerymian square. Hao Ren smiled at Vivian. “Everything’s ready. Go and inform Y’zaks to get ready for repairs on the spacecraft wreckage. I’ve brought in engineering machinery, and our goal is to make that big toy fly within a day!”

Chapter 453: Major Makeover

 

Y’zaks was called out of the control room. Along with him came the hyperactive little Y’lisabet and deapanned Zadamor. Needless to say, they had been burying their heads in the pile of peculiar, high-tech gadgets. Y’zaks’ face instantly turned anxious once he saw Hao Ren.

Hao Ren waved to motion the two elven aides to go to their boss for a debrief while he laughed. “Worried? Millions of interstellar marines and thousands of spacecrafts are now heading towards this city from the border of the bubble zone. They will be arriving in a day at the soonest. I came back first, so that we could arrange things around here, and meet the Aerymian elves a day later and go back out.”

Actually, what the Aerymian elves sent were not interstellar marines. Hao Ren made it up because it felt so much cooler…

Y’zaks was all happy anyway. Meanwhile, Ysre and Aylu had been debriefed on their mission in planet Aerym. Basically, it was about Hilda’s attitude towards Helcrown and the “diplomatic rhetoric” she wanted to send to the people of Helcrown. Y’zaks nodded and listened attentively. He then waved his hand. “Well, it’s just as I expected. Hey, Hilda and I are acquaintances too. The Aerymian elves are truly brotherly.”

“After this, you’ll have all the time on your side to exchange feelings with the Aerymian elves.” Hao Ren raised his finger, pointing in the direction of the wreckage. “Are you free now? I’m thinking that we bring a few men to fix the wreckge first, at least make it flyable. Waste no time, because when we meet with the Aerymian elves, we’ll have to fly back out straightaway. We can’t wait for them to install the engine. Let’s do it ourselves.”

“Go and assemble all the ethereal engineers as well as the dwarven craftsmen,” Y’zaks turned to Zadamor. “Also, order the other demon technicians to come.”

Zadamor left to carry out his orders. Hao Ren quickly added, “Don’t gather in the city, go directly to the wreckage!”

A large group of technicians were soon called up and they assembled at the massive spaceship wreckage. Hundreds of kilometers was crazily huge for a spaceship. Hundreds of engineering teams gathered on a single piece of deck; that was how massive it was!

The spot where the team assembled had long been cleared out when Y’lisabet established her long-term exploration base camp there. The huge and flat armor plate was covered in runes and a gravity array, which regulated the air as well as temperature, forming a considerably large area of livable environment. The base had temporary buildings and facilities built with obsidian, indicating that people often lived there for a short period of time. In fact, when Y’lisabet planned to build a small town on the shell of the wreckage, the construction materials actually came from the ship’s salvaged materials.

The little girl even had plans to use the resources of this alien dimension to rebuild their empire, at least to construct a stronghold. Judging from the size of the wreckage, her plan seemed highly workable. It was said that the girl even wrote a reconstruction masterplan, but the plan failed to be carried out because she found that she was unable to cut the “steel” plates off the spacecraft.

It was really a scene of Yuanmou Man meeting Zentradi technology. The alien race which had been defeated in this place 200,000 years ago was at least seven generations ahead technologically than the now indigenous people in the region. Y’lisabet had knocked herself out, yet she still could not even loosen a bolt from the spacecraft. When she finally cut two or three pieces of material down from it, she realized that the amount of worn out tools was more than the materials she had salvaged.

In short, the demon girl’s ambitious work had to be set aside for the time being as the engineers of Helcrown had been assembled. The number was unexpectedly more than anticipated, so it seemed Hao Ren’s worry of insufficient manpower was no more a problem. Come to think about it, this was in fact, no surprise. When Helcrowm was under siege, those who survived till the end had to be a high-value group of people, given the utmost protection right from the beginning. What was the most valuable resource according to Y’zaks? Knowledge was power, so it was talent! Hence, it was natural that half of Helcrown’s population consisted of scientists!

Hao Ren opened his Dimensional Pocket and was about to clear out some stuff when a dimensional door suddenly emerged from some distorted space. Quirky, silver polyhedrons were pushed out from the door by several autonomous robots. Each polyhedron was about three to four meters in height, and it shone with a metallic lustre. Some of the alloy polygon covers had lights with Aerymian words dancing on them.

In short, they were very high-tech. Well, it seemed so to this world.

Then the squid-like autonomous robots ran around Hao Ren playfully. Y’lisabet could not hold back her curiosity and lunged towards one of the squid robots. “What is this thing?” she asked curiously.

The squid robot was stunned by her sudden appearance, but due to the commands in the squid robot, which identified her as a “friendly” party, it did not retaliate. It could only keep dodging left and right. Finally, it laid itself on the floor like a ball of yarn with all its tentacles retracted. Y’lisabet then took out a screwdriver and poked the ball of robotic tentacles. “This thing is really interesting.”

Hao Ren glared at Y’zaks and said, “Shouldn’t you keep your daughter under control?”

Y’zaks smiled wryly as he stepped forward and lifted the little demoness onto his shoulder with his fingers. “Let’s continue. By the way, what is this thing?”

“It’s a gravity regulator that’s been been decommissioned from the floating islands in Aerym,” said Hao Ren, pointing to a polyhedron device. “Those floating islands have been stabilized, and none of these things are in use now. Hilda keeps a whole lot of them in the warehouse, and they’re ready to be recycled. I asked for some of them from her. You should place them in every corner of the spaceship wreckage. The effective range of each gravity regulator is 10 km in radius. I’d like at least two of them to be placed in each effective range, got it?”

Y’zaks nodded, but before he could say anything, Y’lisabet had slipped down his arm, and patted the huge polyhedron device excitedly. “A device that can produce 10 km of gravity magic? Oh gosh! The largest magic array is only less than two kilometers across!”

Hao Ren glared at the mischievous child with caution. “Please put down the evil screwdriver in your hand,” he demanded.

The little girl tucked away her tool and curiously looked up at the text on the polyhedron’s display panel. “What does it say?”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. “This side up,” he said.

Y’lisabet was speechless.

The makeover of the wrecked spacecraft was carried out incessantly. Technicians of Helcrown who could operate in space were all out, installing the gravity regulators in every corner of the wreckage. It was a stressful operation as they had to make over a 100-km-long wreckage in just one day. But since Y’zaks had promised the moon, Hao Ren could only trust those technicians.

Fortunately, the installation of these gravity regulators did not require the use of high technology. As a key installation of the floating island, these gravity regulators were self-sustaining in the best possible way. They could operate for months in the absence of an external power supply, and be physically mounted anywhere, yet still work safely. During Hao Ren’s two days in planet Aerym, Hilda got her elven engineers to add a networked control system to the gravity regulators, allowing Hao Ren to control them with just a remote control.

The task of Y’zaks’ engineers was to securely mount these alien devices all over the spacecraft, even with rivets…

Hao Ren never thought such high-tech equipment could be worked with such low tech tools, but since Hilda vowed that these gravity regulators would work well in any circumstances, he could only wait. He looked forward to see how a space fortress could fly safely in space with just rivets, super glue, cast iron bolts, wires, and ropes as a patch. If pictures of this unprecedented scene were posted on the information link of the local universe, it was totally possible that the post would have been pinned to the top for at least half a year. He even had the title for the thread already.

Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the many planes in this world were ushering in a frenzied day.

The mighty fleet of Aerymian elves had made it across the desolate desert on the fringe of the bubble zone. They were now roaring and flying over the heads of the locals.

Checkpoint soldiers all over the world were all surprised as countless generals gazed up and found the unidentified flying objects blazing through the sky. They all asked the same question, “Where did those things come from?”

Chapter 454: War Is Imminent

 

The fleet of Aerymian elves stormed through the bubble zone. These elves from another world did not feel a thing about the defenses of this world. Although they were nervous and highly alert upon departure as it was their first ever real “interstellar combat” mission, they soon found that the enemy’s “air force” was not worthy of their attention. Only a few griffin forces and strange flying soldiers tried to intercept them from afar, but those forces were quickly smoked by their fleet and were simply not a threat.

If the Aerymian spacecrafts did not possess warp jump capabilities and had to follow a fixed route through the gateway between the bubble zones, things could have gone a lot easier.

One important reason why they were able to fly through the bubble without much resistence was because the bubble zone natives were caught by surprise and did not know how to react. The fleet’s entrance through the atmosphere was something totally unheard of in this world. The natives did not even know what it was. It was only until the Aerymian spacecrafts forced the teleportation door open under the guidance of the Petrachelys, that the natives started to realize that it was a group of “enemies”. By then, the alien fleet had already disappeared. With a large group of aliens suddenly flying by, what else could one do besides being flabbergasted?

Near the fourth gateway of Cadeceus, soldiers neatly lifted their heads to gazing into the heavens. All were at a loss. An elderly commander was heard muttering to his lieutenant, “What the hell are those things?”

“I have no idea. I just received a message from the Senjin Plane. Those steel monsters have just zoomed past their sky… Maybe, they’re imply passing by?”

Similar conversations can be heard at many gateways in many planes. Wherever the Aerymian elven fleet went, it left behind a trail of awe and wonder.

Meanwhile, at the wreckage site, the makeover operation was almost complete. A large number of gravity regulators had been installed at various key points both inside and outside the spacecraft wreckage, creating an anti-gravity field, which enveloped the entire wreckage. At least three gravity regulators were installed in each effective range, so that even if one was damaged the wreckage would not fall from the sky. After all the engineers left the wreckage, Hao Ren tested the regulators by activating the anti-gravity system. The system worked perfectly—a space fortress patched in rivets, super glue, cast iron bolts, wire ropes, and iron hoops.

Hao Ren and the others stood on the tower of the outer city wall, looking at the huge wreckage from a distance. The wreckage was several times bigger than Helcrown, but as spectacular as it was, its state of dilapidation was hard to ignore. Vivian held a small bat and tossed it in her hand as she whispered, “Why do I have the feeling that this thing looks even more broken than before we repaired it?”

Hao Ren facepalmed, thinking of his unsightly “engineering masterpiece”. He was almost reluctant to admit that it was a project under his auspice, but he put on a brave face and said, “It’s just an illusion… Most of the gravity regulators are inside. What can you do on the outside?”

Y’zaks scratched his head awkwardly. “Actually, we do have a more advanced installation technique, but due to time constraints, we couldn’t produce the necessary brackets for the gravity regulators… We could only improvise.”

Truly patriotic, the demon king did not not let the opportunity pass without promoting his local industries despite the difficult times.

“Well, as long as things don’t fall apart before the wreckage arrives at its destination, it’ll be okay,” Hao Ren smiled wrily. “We can’t afford to let the gravity regulators fall off. Misalignment of a few gravity regulators can trigger a chain reaction that will wipe out half of the power.”

“Is that what your bat’s for?” Lily’s mind always worked in weird and unique ways. She had been eyeballing the bat in Vivian’s hands for a while now, but she managed to resist her urge to bite. “Honestly, I’m confused…”

Vivian looked down at the little bat and said, “I’m just bored, but it’s for the same reason you chase and bite your own tail. Is that what your tail is for?”

In a serious tone of voice, Lily suddenly said, “If a tail isn’t for biting, then why should I keep it?”

Everyone around her was at a lost for words.

Lanina turned her head and licked her tail a few times, as though it would open the World Gate or something. But considering how the succubus had a weird behavior, we’ll just let her be.

After the gravity test was completed, they also had to solve the propulsion problem. However, the installation of the engine system was not a task the Helcrown engineers could handle. And to be honest, re-equipping a space fortress that spanned several hundred kilometers wide with a new engine was inherently impossible. An engine system was not the same as a gravity regulator. While the latter could be dismantled and mounted anywhere, an engine was a completely complex system; it consumed a great deal of energy, and needed a lot of things such as power lines, reactors, control centers, nozzles and things like that. The engineering work involved was enormous and even the entire rear-half of the wreckage had to be dismantled. So, it was not even considered from the very beginning.

Hao Ren was waiting for the fleet of Aerymian elves to arrive as the fleet had more than a dozen engineering tugs. They were previously used by the Aerymian elves to tow the floating islands, which had lost power in the “dead zone”. These tugs were powerful, suitable for working on things like the monster wreckage, and they had skilled technicians onboard.

When the tugs could fly around while towing a massive floating island, a mere spaceship wreckage seemed like child’s play.

Shortly after that, the voice of the MDT was heard in Hao Ren’s mind. “Yo! Boss, we are just around the corner! Come out quickly!”

Hao Ren turned to Y’zaks and said, “Get your people ready. We’re leaving now.”

The message calling for depature quickly spread throughout Helcrown. Soldiers immediately stayed in their positions to guard the city and a huge magic barrier was switched to battle-ready mode as Helcrown was shrouded in a layer of pale green, devilish shield. The civilians were ready as well. When the siren sounded, the streets quickly became deserted as all the elderly and children who could not fight stayed indoors with their doors and windows shut, ready to set off on an unknown journey.

Y’zaks stood on the city wall, and slowly transformed into a monstrous lava demon. As he looked down at his feet, he clenched the Black Sword, which used to be his primary battle weapon for years. It was finally in his hands again.

His daughter was carrying a pair of pickaxes and climbing up his feet.

“Y’lisabet, go back to the palace.” Y’zaks plucked his daughter down from his feet with two fingers and shoved her to Lanina. Amid the kicking and waving protests from the little demoness, Y’zaks solemnly issued his command, “Let’s roll!”

The whole city shook as its surrounding space warped with light and shadow. When everything subsided, the dark-red world of the Second Demonic Plane appeared in front of their eyes. As expected, the Demonic Army and the Allied Army were there.

The Allied Army and the Demonic Army swarmed the red, desolute Broken Plains with each occupying one side of the plains. Apparently they had not retreated much since the unexpected encounter several days ago. These people were not fools. They had probably figured out a thing or two after Helcrown appeared twice in the Second Plane. Even if they did not spot the pattern, they would surely remain there for a year and two. After all, the Demon King’s Legion was the shadow of their world. With such a horrific opponent, a split-second appearance could cause the world to fall into terror. It was only natural for the the two forces to remain in the area, lest Helcrown appeared again.

And they nailed it this time: Helcrown had indeed appeared again!

Demons and races of the human world had been dead set against each other for a long time despite Y’zaks’ best efforts. Ironically however, the two opposing forces had reluctantly reached an agreement for a truce in the Broken Plains. Although the contents of the agreement were unknown, it would not be far from something like preserving their strength to fight their common enemy and stuff like that. Hence, they stayed put in the Broken Plains—waiting for Helcrown’s re-emergence.

War was imminent.

Chapter 455: A Roaring Start to the Battle

 

General Grigory was in a very foul mood. Too many things that had happened lately that ground his gears. Everything started with the theft of the demonic crystal: A group of unknown origins, probably some cunning demon had orchestrated the heist that night. After causing a ruckus in the camp, they stole the crystal with the crazed demon king’s last words. But more incredibly, they took his house as well. That left Grigory furious, and very confused at the same time.

To make it worse, the crystal was lost under his guard, and that almost caused a fracture within the Allied Army. It was only through the efforts of the Pope that the clamouring of the heroes died down and the matter suppressed. Grigory had since been after the mystery behind the crystal’s theft. The veteran of countless wars knew that there was something much deeper to this. But before he even managed to sniff out a trail, the reappearance of the Demon King’s Army rocked the world.

Grigory immediately felt that the theft of the crystal has something to do with the reappearance of Helcrown. But now was not the time to dig further, and he left the matter at that and led his army personally into the scorching barrens of the demonic plane.

As his army marched at double speed, he had indeed caught sight of Helcrown appearing in midair. The sight of the city’s foreboding shadow had the Allied Army take a step back. That spine chilling sight could not be further from reality. Even as Helcrown disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, Grigory still had his men encamped at the southern area of the Shattered Plains, directly facing Serathon’s and Banuklaak’s demonic host. As they stood guard against the demons, they were also monitoring the mountains which Helcrown had disappeared.

General Grigory stood in front of his encampment surveying the black rock mountain, and recalled what happened in the war ten years ago. Rather than harbouring only hatred or fear like his kinsmen, Grigory was rather curious about the nature of the demon king. He would ponder for days on end of the motives and structure of the demon king’s actions, and seriously considered the influence he had on this world. Whether it is good or bad, he would get to the bottom of it. And this sense of curiosity was not unique to Grigory; the other six heroes and the Pope too shared the sentiment. Regardless, the crazed demon king was a mysterious adversary, and there is much to be gained from the fallen demon king.

At the very moment, Grigory’s adjutant ran towards him in a hurry. “General! A transmission from the rear!”

Grigory was jolted out of his thoughts, and turned. “What’s the situation?”

“A group of mysterious…. silver metallic beasts appeared out of nowhere. They broke through twenty three planes through the air. They seemed like they are military unit with an objective, and they are heading towards the demonic plane.”

Grigory frowned. “What sort of report is that? Mysterious silver beasts? Are the sentries at the gates that illiterate?”

“That’s how the transmission was,” the adjutant shrugged. “Those things appeared rather suddenly, and they were so unique that no one have seen them before. Perhaps General you might…”

Before the adjutant could finish, a roaring thundercrack broke through the sky!

Grigory looked up towards the source of the sound, and was greeted with the horrific sight of the sky splitting itself apart, as the horror-inspiring black city slowly appear from the breach!

The entire encampment fell into a massive furore, and despite the veterans quickly brought the scene under control, the screams of fear and panic still spread throughout the encampment. Many soldiers pointed to the air with a bone-rattling shiver. “Helcrown! It has appeared!”

At the same moment, the situation of the demonic host on the other side of the Shattered Plains were no better. Even those vicious demons were nothing but fodder in face of the might of the Demon King’s Army. Even from that distance, Grigory could hear their roars and cries. Even till now, ten years after his fall, the demon king was still a feared figure.

“Formation!!! Prepare for battle!” Grigory drew his longsword and using his magically enhanced voice, his command boomed across the camp. “Paladins, summon the light! Arcane Cannons, prepare to fire!”

On the other end of the plain, Serathon’s slithering voice rumbled throughout the the demon host’s camp. “Get a grip, you cowards! Demonblasters, Terrorgheists, Gargoyles! On me! Take that city down!”

Allied Army or Demonic Army, both were hellbent on taking down Helcrown the moment they knew that the city survived. All of them were prepared to blast the city out of the sky the moment it reappeared!

There was no need to reconfirm or reassess the situation, there was no need for reconnaissance or diplomatic manoeuvrers. The enemy was the crazed demon king, the primal disaster of the world whose reign of terror spanned hundreds of years. There was no time to hesitate, for any moment loss meant the second coming of apocalypse. Thus, every soldier present were at the ready, ready to rain hell upon their foe.

There was no possibility for diplomacy in the first place.

Holy light radiated from the Allied Army, and the radiance expelled the dark clouds above them. Giant conical arcane cannons were being brought to bear by arcane golems, the heavy artillery lumbered as it was turned into position, facing Helcrown. Azure arcane energies soon gathered within the cannon, letting out sharp screeching noises. The demon host too quickly moved into formation, and cannons, encrusted with demonic runes too trained their cannons towards the floating city, the Terrorgheists flying above gathered the gargoyles into a spearhead formation, and was waiting for the opportunity to charge in the moment the cannons breach the shields.

Y’zaks and the remnants of his army stood at the parapets. The plains before them lit into a hive of activity the moment Helcrown reappeared. But the demon king was expressionless. Well, you couldn’t tell most of the time anyway.

“We have located the last of the teleportation gate,” The MDT rang within Hao Ren’s head. “ETA five minutes.”

“Five minutes to go.” Hao Ren nodded at Y’zaks. “Maintain that gate behind us.”

Helcrown had reappeared even before the Aerym Elves had arrived. This was to provide a dimensional tether, to allow the elves to go into the dimension and grab the floating hulk out of the place. And before that, Helcrown would become the primary target of attack.

“Maintain the gate!” Y’zaks raised his Black Sword. Green runes hissed as it glowed bright. “Cannons to bear! Fire at will!”

The dark energy spire above Helcrown blasted out a blinding light, the dimensional gate behind the city stabilized under the light. At the time time, the heavy guns of both the Allied Army and the demon host roared.

Sky shattering screech rang out as the both arcane and demonic cannons fired. The city-levelling warmachines belched hot white bolts and corrupting dark energies towards the city in a storm of fire and fury. Helcrown was the epicentre of the attack.

At the same time, the spires on the outer walls of Helcrown glowed bright, and countless of runic wards appeared on the spires, launching counter fires to intercept the destructive payloads.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

Ear ringing explosions thundered as the missiles collided against each other. Most of the offensive payload were taken out by the counter fire, but some still found their mark as they impacted against the Helcrown’s energy barriers. The scorching and unstable payloads fizzled against the barrier as Helcrown was engulfed in a fusillade of fire and brimstone. As if apocalypse was nigh.

Against the earth shattering explosions, the dimensional gate behind the city stood.

Serathon swung his warglaive. “Terrorgheists! Attack!”

“Deploy the cannons!” Y’zaks roared. The sound of his roar even turned a few of the Terrorgheists into rocks before shattering, raining rocks on the ground below. The embrasures on the castle walls pulled aside as the cannons were deployed. Hundreds of menacing red light glowed from the gaps. The cannons were fully charged.

A mere city was facing two of the largest armies ever assembled. The odds were so lopsided at first glance that it was hilarious. But as the first round of cannon fire rained up both the Allied Army and the demon hosts, Y’zaks bellowed.

“Mongrels! My buddy here can summon a warhost of elves to blast your a**es back to kingdom come with just a phone call!”

Hao Ren was glad that Y’lisabet was already sent back into the keep….