Chapter 2493 - Clash of Astralships
The commander of the Black Panther Army, Lin Xiaoxiao, had ordered the fleet to prepare for the next assault. The ten million troops contained inside were ready to deploy from the tens of thousands of ships.
"With Master controlling the fusion formation, most of the nova source in the Inkwell Sea has already been suppressed. Their combat capabilities will no doubt suffer and they won't be able to last long. Not to mention, we have Yin Chen with us, so we can try swiftly ending this and build an advantage for our side!" They had to settle this battle fast in preparation for a potentially even more terrifying foe: the ebon army from Ebonia.
Tianming wouldn't drag things out. He knew that the ebons of the Inkwell Sea were trying to buy time; but they couldn't just sit there defending, either, so a few divine astralships of their own were starting up within the formation, preparing to engage the enemy ships from behind its protection.
According to Yin Chen, the ebons had one sanctuary-class ship and some thirty thousand others. They barely numbered half as many as the Black Panther Army’s loadout. The ships were a ragtag bunch at best with no standardization, with most of them being deific class. And as they had been marked by the formation, they were free to enter and leave it as they pleased. But without a base supporting them, they wouldn't dare to even attempt to hinder the invading army.
Even then, that still provided the Lin Clan with another means of attack: they could board the enemy ships and attack the people within. However, it wouldn't be easy to do that within a short time, and it would be a risky move to make if one wasn't a powerful elite. There was a good chance the ship could return into the formation before it was taken, leaving the boarders to the mercy of the enemy.
The two grand fleets were facing each other. Lin Xiaoxao's strategy was to focus on destroying the enemy ships for now; the defensive formation posed no threat to the invading army, after all.
Since the enemy dared to leave the formation, Lin Xiaoxiao ordered, "Take out their astralships before attacking their formation!" Without delay, the eighty thousand ships of the Black Panther Army shifted their objectives and shot toward the stray enemy ships.
"Now this is the kind of battlefield where the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb excels." Tianming's blood was boiling and his body was one with the ship as it attacked. The colorful, multi-headed dragon soared through the skies, evading and defending against attacks while weaving through the enemy fleet without a shred of fear. Each time its many jaws closed, the enemy’s deific-class ships crumbled like tofu, triggering a nova source explosion the size of the moon! Thankfully, given the sheer size of a fifth-class nova source world, the explosion was naught but a tiny flash in the sky that disappeared within a few short moments.
A large number of ships fell to the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. Its nine dragon heads and magnificent sword tail culled enemy ships like no other in close combat. The multi-purpose ships of the ebons stood no chance at all.
"How fierce!""Whose ship is that?!"
"How could the Lin Clan have such impressive close-combat ships?!"
The ebons broke into abject chaos. The Black Panther Army, on the other hand, managed to tear apart the defensive deployments of the enemy, thanks to Tianming's efforts, further contributing to their discoordination and stacking the odds even more.
"Lin Feng! Lin Feng!" Once they knew who the one piloting the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was, they chanted his name nonstop. Tianming felt their faith building from within the ship.
"Looks like Gladeus might be the first step for me to form Omnisentient Threads! It's a good opportunity. Ji Ji, give them a harsh one!"
"Demanding yet more things from me.... You wanna die?" Though it was still angry, it did as it was told and mustered pink nova source to fill the nine heads of the dragon. The radiance of the dragon heads once more enveloped the battlefield, illuminating the billion faces behind the formation.
"Dragonrage Cannon!" The power that surged from the Blazedragon Core exploded, filling the sky with pink flames that formed spiraling dragons that flew toward the countless divine astralships ahead! Half of the sky was engulfed in the raging dragon's pink breath. The nova source, unleashed in a controlled manner through the tomb’s divine astralship formation, seemed to smash the sky itself apart amidst all the rumbling and crackling of flames, baptizing countless ships with cleansing fire! Many astralship explosions quickly followed, reducing their ebon pilots to dust. The exploding miniature nova sources had been gathered from Gladeus to begin with, so they dissipated into the surroundings. The wrath of the Blazedragon vanished soon after, but the shock and awe it left behind had been carved into the hearts of those who witnessed it.
"My Ji Ji's so powerful." Tianming was truly impressed at its ability to control nova source, which made the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb among the strongest sanctuary-class ships to the point that it rivaled an ether class. The Fiendclaw itself was only mid-sanctuary-class at best.
That single, huge blow wiped out hundreds of heliacal-class ships and even tens of skypiercer-class ships, but it was just the start—the rest of the Black Panther Army had yet to unleash their onslaught. The clash was completely stacked on one side over another. With two sanctuary-class ships leading the charge, the gigantic swords shattered many enemy divine astralships with no great difficulty. The ships that left their defensive formations to harass the invaders were quickly dispatched within a single wave of attacks, completely unable to do any significant damage.
"Retreat! Retreat!"
"Go back to the Inkwell Sea!"
Countless ebons cried out to fall back. Most of the ships that just popped out of the formation turned tail and went back in. Not only had their attack completely failed, they’d even lost thousands of divine astralships and much of their morale, causing the rest of their compatriots in the Inkwell Sea to fall into a panic.
"Lin Feng!" Tianming was the one who had made an opening for them to exploit once more. The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb was completely unmatched and the tens of millions of troops in the Black Panther Army cheered for him once more. War was where heroes were made, and he was going through that process. While his Imperial Will hadn't managed to form its own order yet, he felt like he would definitely have a chance in the future. "This is the path I shall tread!"
"What path?" Ying Huo asked.
"Chicken Bro, it's called showing off. The more he shows off, the more powerful he’ll become," Meow Meow said.
"Impressive!"Tianming ignored them. The transformation his ship had gone through was incredibly satisfying for him. As long as he didn't run into any ether-class ships on Gladeus, he would be unstoppable; and with Yin Chen around, no ether-class ship could hide from his view. There was nothing to worry about. "Let's keep showi— I mean, advancing!"
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