"Have they found me?"
Luna became alert.
The energy storage within the ring behind her activated.
As a self-contained weapon system, the energy reserve for the Transcendent Realm didn't require long; typically, it only took tens of seconds, or sometimes mere seconds.
Just as Luna was prepared, she heard a distant zzz-zzzt sound, reminiscent of electricity.
This distinct electrical noise was peculiar to high-power equipment in operation.
Its key characteristic was its brief, repetitive nature.
Luna's Transcendent Realm and other associated gear behind her would also emit this sound. Only when functioning normally in the vacuum of space, without a medium to carry sound waves, would it remain relatively silent.
The noise intensified.
Luna looked in that direction.
She saw a Zuim individual rapidly retreating, pursued by hundreds of black smoke-like entities.
The next moment, this Zuim individual shot past her, speeding further into the distance.
Luna, meanwhile, remained stationary, facing the aggressively approaching enemies.
Luna quickly felt her physical form being torn apart. It seemed a pervasive force was acting upon her from all directions.
Fortunately, she had kept her mech active and was prepared just moments ago. Otherwise, this force would surely have ripped her to shreds.
But Luna still detected numerous fissures appearing within her body.
These fissures refused to close; they seemed to be actively filled by something unknown.
At this juncture, Luna had no time to concern herself with these internal injuries.
The ring behind her suddenly began to rotate, then decomposed into many arc-shaped components. Behind her, these pieces reassembled into 5 concentric rings.
These concentric rings were not perfectly circular but were continuously formed circles made of segmented arcs. Each component now glowed, emitting a soft purple light that continuously propelled forward. Although their velocity remained unchanged, their energy level climbed higher and higher.
A portion of the photons had slowly transmuted into a form of artificial particle; each energy particle was equivalent to a small grenade.
Countless particles were unleashed.
The entire passage was disintegrated by this barrage.
The rushing black smoke entities hastily attempted to create a defense, and a transparent spherical shield materialized in front of them, enveloping them 360 degrees.
But it proved futile.
That energy shield was relentlessly compressed by the high-energy rays, eventually adhering tightly to their forms before bursting like soap bubbles.
All enemies were utterly vaporized under the potent rays.
The vaporization process, though instantaneous, was not sudden; it resembled a mist being meticulously burned away.
"Who authorized you to kill them?"
After Luna completed the devastating barrage, a resentful voice came from behind her.
She turned to look.
It was the Zuim clansman who had just fled.
At this moment, he stood not far from Luna, his face contorted with hostility.
Luna sensed an aura from him similar to her own.
"No one did. Instead, I ask you: why did you deliberately lead the hostiles toward me? This is a cooperative mission. We are facing an alien civilization. Your actions will surely result in a significant score deduction."
Upon hearing Luna's words, the other party immediately became agitated.
A small sprite flew out from his body. This sprite appeared to be composed of water, shaped much like a miniature, chibi snake.
Although it looked harmless and somewhat endearing.
Luna, however, would not underestimate this entity.
Theoretically, nothing stipulated the specific form a Transcendent Realm manifestation must take.
A Transcendent Realm could be Damoro's cube, Luna's circle, Sucan's wings, or, naturally, this sprite's form.
"Do you intend to fight me?"
"Then you are even more heinous."
"Fighting comrades for the sake of enemy lives on the battlefield? I highly doubt the punishment will be lenient. Perhaps you are already due for elimination?"
Luna remained outwardly calm.
As she noted, engaging in combat in such a situation gave the opposing party ample grounds to incur elimination from Hyperdimensional Space.
Therefore, the other party was merely attempting to intimidate her.
"I was merely drawing those initial threats out. My comrades are inside dismantling the energy core."
"Although the reward for destroying the core isn't substantial, even a tiny gain is still worth acquiring. So, please, wait here."
Every Divine being was, inherently, a truly intelligent person.
"Then you are truly unqualified."
"This is the enemy's main base. Inside, there are billions, tens of billions of hostiles, and you only lured out a few hundred, yet you claim you're easing the burden on your comrades. How adorably misguided."
Luna taunted him.
Of course, she was merely speaking to probe.
Unless the other party was genuinely brainless, he wouldn't have only lured out a few hundred enemies.
In reality, the other party's intent was to draw enemy focus, slowly escalating the conflict by allowing those few hundred enemies to multiply, thus creating a larger engagement for his comrades to destroy the energy core amidst the chaos.
So, they actually hadn't initiated their main attack yet.
"No need for useless schemes."
"There aren't just a few of us Divine here; more Divine entities will arrive very soon. It could become complicated then."
"So the optimal approach is a swift victory. Dawdling like this, I truly suspect you're here on vacation."
Luna did not leave immediately, instead engaging the other party in conversation for a while.
The other party was a Divine being, absolutely capable of preventing her from leaving if he chose to be obstructive.
If this fellow stubbornly refused to cooperate, it would certainly complicate matters for her.
The other party considered Luna's words carefully.
"The plan does have certain vulnerabilities, but if you insist on leaving, you must sign a contract with me."
"Upon mission completion, a portion of the accrued reward goes to me."
Hearing his serious tone.
Luna revealed a slight smile.
"Just recently ascended to Divine status?"
"Otherwise, you wouldn't be so financially desperate."
"Don't worry, I have no need for that meager reward."
"However, I genuinely dislike being threatened."
"So, farewell!"
Luna instantly vanished from his sight.
Her form moved rapidly within the fourth dimension, while simultaneously rendering herself invisible.
The Zuim clansman was only half a second too slow to react before Luna's trace vanished.
"Damn it!"
He hastily gave chase.
Although he couldn't see Luna, he knew her trajectory was toward the energy core.
He pursued.
In just a few minutes, he finally returned to the energy core's vicinity, and simultaneously sent a signal to his comrade.
That comrade approached him.
It was a Multi-eyed entity.
However, he was no longer in his original Multi-eyed form; he had shifted into a new one.
It appeared to possess hundreds of large and small eyeballs, giving it a rather Cthulhu-esque appearance.
"A visitor just arrived; they charged straight in," the other explained what had just transpired to him.
Jyun did not conceal the details of what had occurred.
"I know. I just encountered that individual. He severely disrupted our planning."
"Now, all preliminary plans are void. We will directly assault the location alongside him."
"But we must still maintain caution. After all, we are confronting an entire civilization. Prudence is best. We simply need to secure the remnants after he makes the initial breakthrough."
They had exercised caution previously.
Facing an entire civilization, there was always the potential for them to possess ultimate countermeasures.
And while their individual combat prowess was substantial, ultimately, even a random capital ship-level combat unit possessed the capability to instantly neutralize them. They were certainly not as reckless as Luna.
"Understood!"
The two quickly entered through the aperture Luna had forced open.
After they passed through.
Several more figures arrived from the distance, following their entry.
Behind them came several further waves of individuals.
The adage "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it" was effectively transformed into: "The mantis has an oriole behind it, and behind the oriole is a lizard, and behind the lizard is a snake, and behind the snake is a hawk…" like a series of nesting dolls.
...
Luna indeed charged directly towards the location of the energy core.
The core was already secured by three concentric layers of enemy forces.
Furthermore, numerous powerful individual offensive weapons were deployed, prepared to meet their assault.
But Luna was far from a weakling.
She dared to charge straight through because, during the preceding engagement, she had already discerned that the enemy's power projection was not as formidable as anticipated.
From the very start, the upper echelons had indicated that this adversary lacked overwhelming strength. The missions assigned by Hyperdimensional Space also conveyed the same assessment.
But this was, after all, a completely unknown civilization.
Who could state anything with absolute certainty?
It was not rare for Hyperdimensional Space to issue flawed directives when applied to real-world execution.
On numerous occasions, during actual mission deployment, Hyperdimensional Space implemented subsequent supplemental adjustments, making it difficult for participants to feel they were in the true Hyperdimensional Space, rather feeling it resembled a specialized game environment.
Yet, Hyperdimensional Space remained unimaginably brutal.
This inherent cruelty instilled a profound fear deep within people's hearts.
However, based on the intelligence gathered earlier, Luna had already conducted a risk assessment for this specific maneuver.
The risk factor was categorized as relatively low, which is why she dared to charge directly.
In truth, her mindset diverged significantly from Jyun's deliberations.
She needed to neutralize the energy core as swiftly as possible, rather than engaging in slow, methodical planning.
Only a few hours had elapsed since the initial boarding of the warship. For such a massive stronghold, full mobilization required substantial time.
Therefore, the current moment was actually the most opportune window, not a time for prolonged deliberation.
Delaying further would only allow the enemy to consolidate their defenses and preparations.
Charging inside, Luna found herself within a very large, open space.
It was immensely vast, reminiscent of deep space.
Countless beams of light shot from the center towards precision-drilled apertures distributed around the perimeter.
These light beams exhibited no energy dissipation whatsoever. The only reason they could be tracked was due to the faint traces left behind after high-energy matter streaked through the void.
In essence, these were gravitational signatures.
Energy is intrinsically matter, and matter generates gravity. As long as gravitational trajectories were mapped, the magnitude and intensity of the energy source could be calculated.
All energy flow must originate from the central point.
At the center, there resided a colossal energy source.
It was simply that Luna could not discern its physical appearance.
What she encountered first, however, were the enemy's immediate preparations.
Dense black smoke materialized, evoking the sensation of facing the life forms from the Eternal Cycle Star Nation.
Yet, these were distinct.
The Eternal Cycle Star Nation beings were absolute black; these life forms before her appeared somewhat transparent, genuinely gaseous.
Despite being termed 'gaseous,' detection revealed that these life forms possessed a substantial solid volume existing in the fourth dimension.
This solid volume also encompassed a significant internal space.
By calculation, the actual physical volume of each four-dimensional life form was comparable to that of a capital ship.
At this moment, these entities blocked Luna's path forward.
The instant they perceived Luna, they activated their weaponry.
"Destroy!"
Luna perceived a sound. Though she couldn't precisely decipher the foreign utterance, it likely conveyed something akin to "Engage" or "Open fire."
Then Luna witnessed the surrounding space shattering piece by piece.
However, according to the mech's diagnostics feedback, it wasn't the space itself being destroyed, but rather light itself being segmented. The next instant, her body sustained severe damage. A terrifying entity sliced through her form, cleaving her body and mech into two distinct halves.
Before Luna could analyze the weapon utilized by the opponent, her form was subjected to another shearing force.
But this time, the sensation was more akin to a cut along a fourth-dimensional axis. Her physical appearance remained intact, yet she acutely felt pain.
What followed were continuous shearing attacks.
Luna felt her physical structure could no longer withstand the assault.
Her life force was on the verge of being extinguished.
Fortuitously, at this critical juncture, she finally managed to activate her Transcendent Realm defense.
The Transcendent Realm's defensive field could manage to deflect those instantaneous blades.
Yet, Luna only required that single instant of reprieve.
Her body was swiftly reassembled by the mech systems.
Her expression turned grave.
Her hands clasped tightly together in front of her.
"Spatial Compression!"
The Transcendent Realm chassis vibrated violently, emitting a piercing electrical whine.
In front of Luna, the space to her left and right compressed inwards, engulfing those enemies.
Spatial compression here was not merely utilizing or applying gravity to space; it was a pure, fundamental particle compression.
Since gas happened to be present in this environment, Luna could effectively employ this ability.
Essentially, she compressed the ambient gas inward from both sides, and the life forms existing within that gas were consequently carried toward the central point.
During this process, the gas gradually transitioned into a solid state, effectively encasing the life forms on the left and right.
A potent force directly "clapped" everything positioned in front of Luna.
Luna finally managed to break free from the brief, intense assault.
However, this was merely the prelude.
The Transcendent Realm behind Luna deployed itself.
It manifested scattered throughout the entire space.
Luna's body suddenly retreated.
The Transcendent Realm, positioned in various locations, sealed off a specific region of space directly ahead of Luna, transforming it into an enclosed domain.
This confined space rapidly shrunk several times over. The Transcendent Realm then injected dark energy into it, forcing it to expand violently.
This expansion was conducted at a spatial level.
It actively pulled and tore at the internal fabric of space.
Within the boundaries set by the Transcendent Realm, every particle was shredded and obliterated.
Everything occurred in an instant.
Those mist-like life forms didn't even have time for a subsequent reaction before suffering devastating casualties.
"Return!"
Luna gestured with her hand.
The Transcendent Realm returned to its position behind her, continuing its transformation into a silver-white ring.
At this critical juncture, those mist-like entities had also managed to recover.
"Attack!"
"Target that one exclusively!"
They had previously maintained a degree of restraint because there was only a single enemy engaging them.
But Luna quickly taught them an unforgettable lesson regarding power levels.
This singular entity's strength was astonishingly potent!
Just as they initiated their move, Luna abruptly retreated backward.
As Luna withdrew, another contingent of figures rushed in from the exterior of the space. This group consisted of the Divine beings who had followed Luna.
The moment they arrived, they were immediately met with a concentrated laser barrage from the mist-like entities.
Everyone frantically began dodging the incoming fire.
After a few seconds, they managed to regain composure, then activated their respective Transcendent Realms, charging directly towards the mist-like entities.
Navigating amidst countless lasers, their own powerful computational arrays calculated the trajectories of every single fired beam, and each one was perfectly evaded.
This represented absolute, crushing superiority at the individual level.
As long as the enemy refrained from deploying carrier-class armaments and large-scale spatial nullification devices in this area, the Divine beings present were effectively invincible.
Of course.
One crucial caveat needed to be mentioned: this invincibility held true only under conditions of infinite energy reserves.
Luna, having retreated, was fully aware that others were following her advance precisely because the energy reserves of her own Transcendent Realm were currently depleted.
While the Transcendent Realm was overwhelmingly powerful, its energy consumption was equally terrifying.
This was not the controlled environment inside a warship.
On a vessel, the ship's main server could remotely supply energy to its components. Here, however, they could only rely on the Transcendent Realm's internal power system to slowly absorb ambient energy, such as light.
A painfully slow process.
However, Luna never intended to personally assault the enemy's energy core anyway.
This mission was designed to be protracted, and there was still a long way to go.
...
On the opposite flank of the stronghold.
Sucan had already achieved deep penetration into the enemy's interior defenses.
He was currently enduring relentless enemy assaults and was quite certain that his continued advance would lead him directly to the enemy's command center or other crucial operational areas.
He had already managed to pinpoint the energy core's location.
However, as someone originating from Hyperdimensional Space, he understood that other Divine beings would undoubtedly be assigned the task of eradicating the energy core.
Every single Divine being was an extraordinarily terrifying force.
In Sucan's estimation, Divine beings inherently lacked a discernible hierarchy of strength. Each of those beings was functionally equivalent to him.
If several, or even over a dozen, Divine beings materialized at the energy core, he couldn't imagine any scenario where the enemy could halt their advance.
So, why should he divert there?
He aimed to distinguish himself exceptionally in this conflict, and that meant he absolutely could not usurp the critical objective assigned to others.
What he desired was a challenge inherently more difficult.
For instance, infiltrating the military core of this stronghold.
...
At this precise moment, Sucan was confronting a pitch-black void.
This was solely what he perceived through his two-dimensional vision spectrum.
Three-dimensional beings perceive two-dimensional images via light, subsequently processing those 2D projections into a 3D reality within their minds.
Four-dimensional beings, conversely, could perceive reality akin to 3D holograms.
This concept was easily understood: it was similar to radar scanning.
Three-dimensional entities could not see objects concealed behind solid walls, whereas four-dimensional entities could bypass such obstacles.
Three-dimensional sight was inherently limited.
The number of enemies Sucan could currently perceive might only represent one-tenth, or perhaps even just 1%, of the total hostile force.
Most critically.
Even with this limitation.
The visible enemies confronting him already numbered in the thousands.
"How much energy remains?" Sucan inquired.
[27.14%]
The mech's response introduced a distinct feeling of peril for Sucan.
Although he excelled in close-quarters combat and had been diligently monitoring his energy expenditure, the continuous advance had still exacted a considerable toll on the Transcendent Realm's power reserves.
He was uncertain how much further he could proceed efficiently.
He began contemplating whether he needed to reduce his pace.
At that very instant, the enemy's counterattack arrived. The surrounding particles appeared to be experiencing a state akin to boiling. This intense vibration was gradually encroaching upon his suit, attempting to assimilate his physical form as well.
The mech delivered a time constraint; if he failed to locate the source, the machine itself would cease to function.
Sucan activated his light blades.
The light blades remained fiercely bright, akin to holding the scorching core of the sun in his hands.
"Are you serious? Retreat now? Impossible!"
His body, manifesting as a crimson streak, plunged directly into the dense mist of life. All around was enveloped by a haze so dark and oppressive it felt like gathering storm clouds.
This mist was so thick it caused the light blades in his hands to appear muted.
"Chaos of a Hundred Flowers!"
The light blades in Sucan's hands suddenly erupted in a full bloom.
Streaks of intense light, resembling petals, shot outwards. The entire space was instantly illuminated with dazzling brightness.
Each individual light streak possessed destructive power equivalent to hundreds of millions of tons of TNT. Upon striking any object, the resulting light and heat even surpassed that found within a star's core.
The immediate vicinity was utterly shredded.
The passage, originally perhaps less than 200 meters wide, had now been expanded to a diameter of 20 kilometers.
Debris and molten metallic flows littered the surroundings.
The air was obscured by a heavy vapor. This mist was not true gas like hydrogen or oxygen, but was instead composed of heavy elements like vaporized iron.
Vast quantities of metal had been subjected to vaporization during the assault. The resulting dense metallic fog now caused a fine rain to fall throughout this localized space. Every droplet was a superheated metallic sphere, holding a temperature of thousands of degrees Celsius.
However, Sucan found no respite.
The melted space was instantly torn open again by a large breach. Mist-like life forms continuously poured through, relentlessly advancing toward him.
"Truly endless!"
Sucan's expression grew solemn. He braced himself to meet their charge.
At that moment, his ears were instantly overwhelmed by a tremendous sound.
This sound was terrifying; even the surrounding structural walls developed deep cracks. One had to remember these walls were constructed from extremely high-strength artificial elements. To shatter these metals simply via sonic waves and shockwaves—what level had this power reached?
Sucan did not pause for analysis. Instead, the corners of his mouth curved into a slight smile.
Only one thing could generate a sound of that magnitude: the catastrophic explosion of an energy core.
"A bit slower than I anticipated. If it had lagged any further, I might have been stranded here."
"A gathering of such troublesome entities."
The reason Sucan persisted, even after running out of conventional energy, was to await this precise moment. Advanced civilizations, too, were critically dependent on fuel. Without an energy source, they possessed nothing. It was akin to holding the button to launch an atomic bomb, only for the nuclear well to experience a total power outage—you frantically press, but there is no response. Losing its energy source was equally fatal for such a massive war fortress.
Gazing at the mist-like life forms rushing toward him, Sucan, at this juncture, transmitted mathematical data for the second time.
"Surrender!"
"Our civilization comes seeking peace. If you continue to resist, we will not hesitate to eradicate your civilization."
"You may desperately strive to project an image of immense power, but this empty force is not genuine strength. With your current capability, you can at best control a few adjacent star systems. Destroying this stronghold only clears the path for the next system you desperately guard. That is the extent of your protection."
"You understand this: you cannot halt our advance!"
"Perhaps in the fourth dimension, your supreme civilization forbids surrender; capitulation means your destruction by them. But do you truly believe we would destroy you faster than they would?"
"We maintain our original statement: Do not be constrained by dimensional thought. Your relationship with us is identical to your relationship with any other four-dimensional civilization—you are adversaries. No civilization permits the independent existence of another of its kind nearby."
"The difference lies here: some civilizations eliminate all rivals, while others accept coexistence. We are the latter."
"Choose your fate!"
"Your decision will determine the destiny of your civilization!"
As Sucan's message permeated the area.
The mist-like life forms that had been surging toward him abruptly halted.
Just as every individual within the Human Federation possessed high intelligence, the beings of the opposing high-tier civilization did not require secondary scholars to decipher the information contained within Sucan's mathematical projections; they could interpret it instantly.
At this instant, they hesitated. This was a choice concerning the survival of their entire civilization.
As mere life forms, they were incapable of bearing the burden of such a decision. They could only pause, transmitting this complex intelligence up to their highest echelons.
The entire space fell into an eerie silence.
...
Meanwhile, on the opposing side.
The ruling council of the civilization, having received this intelligence, also fell into profound silence.
It wasn't until after a considerable period that one life form finally spoke: "The enemy's warriors are too formidable. We simply cannot halt them."
"They can compress potent technology into individual combat gear. Currently, we are facing only a fraction of the enemy's forces, and this fraction alone is sufficient to utterly annihilate our fortress. How utterly farcical!"
Another voice still intended to argue defensively.
"That is only because we are not fully prepared yet!"
The entity that had just spoken challenged it.
"Will that enemy grant us the time required to prepare?"
"This has transpired more than once, and it is happening again. Can we truly rely on the excuse of 'lack of preparation' next time?"
"We are facing total war…"
Its body trembled as it articulated the last sentence. Because its core essence was in extreme turmoil. When confronting such an overwhelmingly powerful civilization, what choice should they ultimately make?