Chapter 736: Chapter 357: Frenzied Assimilation (Part 2)
The containment net is incapable of completely restraining such a creature. The people on the Fallen Island Battleship shouted loudly, increasing the ship cannon’s power to the maximum.
Originally, aiming and evading the opponent’s attacks were necessary to prevent our ship cannon from being destroyed, but now there’s no hesitation.
The entire ship’s Decomposition Light Cannons charged energy together, dazzling beams rained down, and amidst the sound like smoke dispersing, plumes of dust fell, precisely the hulls of Imperial Battleships decomposed to their smallest units.
The bombardment hadn’t lasted long before the exterior of the Destruction Battleship became difficult to maintain, revealing something akin to a core.
A dim black-purple heart throbbed at the center of the torso, continuously creating and delivering purple-black flesh and controlling the plaster-like surface skin to pulsate in circles.
"Aim for the core!" Loken commanded.
The body of the Destruction Battleship struggled to use purple-black tendons to pull the ship as armor to shield the core, but further shellfire destroyed this armor, with some decomposition beams blasting the core.
The flesh comprising the core was swiftly decomposed, yet immediately grew back.
The attack was effective but couldn’t finish it in one blow.
Li Ang had discovered during his encounter with a part of Jenoside on Mengze Island that sharp physical attacks were ineffective, and the Island Founder believed that the Decomposition Light Wave could disintegrate the Star Soul’s body, but perhaps they didn’t know the peculiarity of this Star Soul meant to slaughter Star Souls.
The Ancient Ship needed to continue its attack, but the head of the declining Annihilation Star Soul suddenly extended and lifted, swaying bizarrely in the air. A sharp ringing sounded in Li Ang’s mind, as if he heard Ivynis’s scream across unknown layers of time and space.
Evidently, the young girl was forced to offer to Jenoside, and its elongated neck quickly swelled, grotesquely growing wide flesh wings.
These flesh wings flapped gently, radiating blood-red thunder, blasting everything they touched in the sky and on the ground into dust. The containment net broke instantly, and the ancient mechanical arm, losing its bearing point, swung back in reverse, almost throwing the operators off their seats.
The Fallen Island Battleship was struck by several bolts of thunder, and the hull, protected by Melting and Gathering Law, was also damaged, with two ship cannons directly shattered.
The thunder, as a net, conducted a comprehensive strike, damaging more ship cannons.
Up until now, more than half of the ship cannons reserved as Light Beam Drills had been damaged, significantly reducing the firepower of the entire Ancient Battleship.
To preserve the remaining ship cannons from destruction, the Ancient Ship retreated rapidly, moving out of the Star Soul’s attack range.
Jenoside withered a bit with each burst of power, a fact apparent to anyone with a modicum of Magic Control.
Yet its core pounded fiercely, filling its entire body with energy like starlight. Amidst indistinguishable roars from the Star Soul itself or the Imperial people within, the Destruction Battleship leapt up, ascending rapidly.
It sped towards the Fallen Island Battleship.
Seemingly aware that it was forced into a corner, the Imperial side switched attack modes.
The Steel Giant God, with a humanoid form, grasped the Island Founder ship firmly even though the warship’s hand composed of its hull wasn’t as precise, trying to haul it to crash into the Isle of Casting of the City of the Ship’s Rudder.
Compared to the Destruction Battleship, the Fallen Island Battleship’s armor was crafted using Melting and Gathering Law, unable to be entirely crushed by the formidable black-red thunder.
Physical contact and impact instead distorted the warship armor on the surface of the Destruction Battleship, but it seemed unfazed, spewing vast amounts of Annihilator Flesh entwining around the Fallen Island Battleship.
This flesh moved on the solid and smooth armor like soft-bodied Demons with a will of their own, searching for crevices.
Once a place where most of the Shadow Shipyard’s people lived, the Fallen Island Battleship naturally had various passage doors, and at this moment, the Annihilator Flesh swiftly penetrated these gaps.
"Things aren’t looking good."
Both Li Ang and the nearby Excellence Realm Sky Knights could see that the Fallen Island Battleship seemed to have its weak points exposed.
This ship was originally designed as an engineering ship, its weaponry enhanced to accommodate Light Beam Drills as ship cannons, yet virtually powerless against a shape-shifting Demon adhering like this.
The Decomposition Light Cannon under the hull continued firing, but the Destruction Battleship wasn’t merely a Steel Giant God; it could transform.
Its originally dual-footed part supporting its weight fully powered up, becoming an air platform bearing the upper body. Some shellfire destroyed the Annihilator Flesh, causing attached ships to fall off integrally but couldn’t truly harm it.
The flesh emitted from the core flowed unrestrained as if attempting to "devour" the Fallen Island Battleship itself.
"Can that thing devour other ships? Is it now trying to devour the Fallen Island Battleship?" Melegon gritted out.
"That seems to be the case."
Li Ang checked its panel to confirm that the "Ship Assimilation" skill was indeed listed on it.
"How could it have such a trick?!" The Knight Commander tightly gripped the sword hilt.
When both sides were at their peak, the Imperial could neither launch such a raid nor wanted to.
If approached rashly back then, it would be severely harmed by a barrage of concentrated Decomposition Light Cannons, and assimilating such a large vessel evidently required the Annihilation Star Soul to use its full strength.
If the assimilation failed, not to mention collapse, it would at the very least suffer tremendous backlash; thus, only at the final moment did they attack without concern.
Swelling flesh rapidly spread, enveloping the upper layer of the Fallen Island Battleship, infiltrating inside. The participants in combat could hardly destroy them, only watch as they approached.
The Fallen Island Battleship’s propulsion struggled to resist the ravaging presence atop the hull, descending bit by bit.
"We can’t let it assimilate!"
Melegon promptly assembled the Order Flower Sword Corps to launch an attack.
Two combat boats descended at full speed to the vicinity of the Star Soul and Fallen Island Battleship, where the Order Knights cast various magic and maneuvers like they were combating a massive airborne Demon.
"The core! We must find the core!" Li Ang reminded them.
Against the Annihilation Star Soul Flesh, their attack was ineffective; so long as the Light of the Star Soul existed, it continually regenerated.
The combat boats attempted to maneuver to a vantage point for sighting the core, but the Annihilation Star Soul threw out flesh nets to obstruct.
The remnants of the entire city’s Annihilation Knights also approached, and though few, they still climbed aboard via the hanging Star Soul Flesh with their non-human physicality.
The Order Knights immediately engaged these formidable foes while rapidly regenerating around the Star Soul’s core.
"Damn it! We could ram both boats, but handling the aftermath is beyond us!"
Melegon and Er Mei, transformed into thunder, swiftly cleared the Annihilation Knights, signaling for the two boats to re-enter Dragonpiercer Mode, smashing through the obstruction of the Star Soul’s flesh, with the shield deflecting the many weakened remaining Destruction Ship Cannons while approaching the core.
A spatial rift broke open with a crash, revealing within the silhouette of the Eye of God.
"Inconceivable that an infallible task would encounter such immense obstacles."
"Apostle of the Six-armed Saint King, we shall remember you."
"The battle isn’t over; don’t think you’ve won yet."
The Eyes of God collectively raised the Star Core, with Jenoside’s scream piercing the sky, projecting palpable grief like emotions from the Star Soul, as its core began to radiate light.
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