Chapter 686: The Transfer From Hell
As the void filament of law completely wrapped around the entire Sun Star Void Area, the scenery suddenly shifted.
Although imperceptible to the naked eye, all those who had mastered the power of elements and law felt themselves rapidly hurtling toward another place.
Unlike a domain-level teleportation array that could move them instantly, the makeshift teleportation station they had set up was sluggish as a turtle.
More importantly, just a few seconds into the transit, they felt their stomachs churn, and their minds turn into whirlpools of chaos.
It was like riding a roller coaster at a million times the intensity, making even those who had mastered the power of law felt like they were dying.
Nash, who was coordinating the giant ship of the Sun Star Void Area, also felt the strain.
Although various modules were stabilizing his body and soul, the debilitating effect of the transfer was beyond his imagination.
It seemed that transferring an entire territory turned the experience from merely uncomfortable into outright hell.
Fortunately, the majority of people were sheltered in the refuge, which countered this harrowing effect.
Otherwise, even if they didn’t die, it would have been enough to put them into an indefinite coma.
Soon, after a horrifying few minutes, the filament of law carrying them to the other side of the void finally collapsed.
Like a jolt from a sudden stop, everyone below the tier 6 realm lost consciousness.
Watching all key personnel fall, Nash’s expression darkened.
They were now at a critical juncture between life and death, yet most of the personnel were out cold.
Without even checking the detection monitors, Nash knew they were already surrounded by countless dark beasts.
"Atom, activate the autonomous mode of the Neon Defense System, and notify everyone still awake to shrink our activity perimeter!" Nash quickly ordered.
Fortunately, they had already deployed all defensive measures before the transfer.
Without needing any preparation, all the defensive modules began firing like streaks of lightning and meteors.
Watching this dazzling display, Nash finally heaved a sigh of relief.
With such a saturated field of fire, they should be able to hold the line for a while.
"Atom, activate the rescue system, quickly wake up the key personnel!"
Although indiscriminate firing could clear most of the dark beasts bearing down on them, it was far too wasteful.
Each of these 3,500 defensive modules was a money-devouring machine.
If left unchecked, all their reserves of void source crystals would be emptied in no time.
It could be said that while the blanket coverage of the Neon Defense System was formidable, it was also draining their lifeblood with every passing second.
Looking at the statistics on the monitor before him, Nash felt a gnawing dread.
Each second, over 3.5 billion units’ worth of void source crystals were being thrown into nothing.
To hold the front from being overrun each day, they would need to spend over 300 trillion.
To prevent bankruptcy before wiping out the dark beast swarm, they needed precision fire coverage.
Instead of firing at full power across all targets, they would vary intensity based on the tier of dark beast while leaving the weaker ones to the battleships and ground forces.
Unfortunately, most of the key personnel were temporarily knocked out.
Atom’s current computational capacity wasn’t sufficient to control the entire defensive system with such precision.
Unless he advanced to a tier 8 mechanical being, he could only manage them in broad strokes.
---
Soon, as seconds stretched into minutes and hours, the rescue system they had activated began to yield results.
With the first batch of personnel waking up, various technological devices were deployed from the Sun Star Void Area.
Among these was a detection probe, analyzing the distribution, strength, and position of each dark beast.
With more battlefield data coming in, Atom diverted some of his computational power for targeted strikes.
"The number of tier 8 dark beasts is a little too high."
Looking at the monitor, Nash saw tens of thousands of tier 8 dark beasts converging from every direction.
These were not a single wave, but a continuous stream, kill one, and another would appear, endlessly eroding their activity space.
"Have the mysterious beasts been deployed?" Nash asked Julius, who had also regained consciousness.
"Yes, they’re already being escorted by a fleet of battleships."
"Good, we shouldn’t face an energy crisis for a while."
Because they were killing dark beasts outside the array, those kills couldn’t be directly converted into merits through the authority granted to them by the Void Administrator.
To collect the much-needed universal energy, they had no choice but to deploy the mysterious beasts, who possessed a part of the Void Administrator’s authority.
Sweeping through the hordes of dark beasts, they converted them into pure energy that could be converted into void power, soul energy, elements, or even law.
Collecting these merits, the steady drain on their energy meter finally stabilized.
It didn’t increase, but at least it was no longer plummeting.
"It’s a pity the Neon Defense System isn’t cost-efficient enough to turn a profit." Nash sighed.
Even with various countermeasures, including matter produced by the Breathing Earth Loom, the output-to-cost ratio of each strike was deeply unfavorable.
Unlike manual combat or battleship engagement, the Neon Defense System was purely burning resources.
"There are still treasures and materials dropped from the dark beast corpses. If we sold those, we might be able to break even." Julius comforted.
"Treasures? Materials? Do you think those are easy to sell?"
They were deep in a wild void area teeming with countless resources one could practically pick off the ground.
Essentially, anything that wasn’t a rare or highly sought-after treasure could only be processed into raw materials.
The returns would naturally be lower, still leaving them at a net loss.
"Supreme Leader, don’t forget, we’re here to survive, not to profit," Julius said helplessly.
"You’re right. Though this place truly is a treasure trove. Once we clear this dark beast swarm, we can earn back everything we’ve spent!" Nash’s expression softened into a smile.
According to their various detection devices, they had already located multiple large-scale mineral clusters brimming with all kinds of resources.
Once they began mining, they wouldn’t need to worry about raw materials for the foreseeable future.
Rather than buying, they might even find themselves selling the surplus.
Suddenly, while they were still discussing, someone burst into the room.
"Nash! There’s a situation—!"
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