At this moment, as that silhouette and the swarm of Great Spikes reappeared in sight, the Xilang Peak battlefield erupted in brief jubilation, which then fell abruptly silent.
The more than thirty thousand Azure Coalition soldiers standing across the foot of the mountain, including the coalition commanders observing from the high platform, collectively raised their heads to gaze up at the snow-capped peak and the scene unfolding upon it.
Amidst their surprise, exhilaration, shock, and awe, an indefinable complexity stirred in their hearts.
Today was supposed to be a full-scale battle. Yet Operation Voice—humanity's, or rather Azure's, first large-scale offensive against the Great Spike invaders—had already been declared a failure earlier.
There seemed to be no disputing this. After all, the coalition's operational objectives had not been achieved, the trial of the new combat doctrine had failed, and on top of suffering heavy casualties, two super-elite teams had almost been lost out there.
Yes, it had failed.
Then what was this current situation supposed to be?
"If this were an ancient battlefield, when you've snatched the enemy commander's weapon, does that count as a win?"
At this moment, amidst the light, shadow, and snow, the scene on the mountain was bizarrely divided into three parts.
From the foot of the mountain upward: five figures were sprinting uphill with everything they had, trailing five streaks of light.
Three were in the lead—the other three super combat powers deployed for this battle, who had just been ordered to charge.
The other two figures trailed slightly behind. The vast majority of people present did not recognize them, nor had the commanders issued any rescue orders concerning them; a black spear and a suit of iron armor plunged straight toward the Great Spike horde.
On the lower-middle slopes: clutching the Red Shoulder's starlight column sword to his chest, that man dragged more than five hundred Great Spikes behind him, kicking up flurries of ice and snow as he sprinted wildly.
Just moments ago, they thought he had died... But no, he was merely heavily wounded and bathed in blood, and then...
"He's running again, with the Great Spikes in tow."
Watching this, people could not help feeling a daze come over them, for tonight seemed to have been like this all along. The scene had been on continuous repeat: that man leading a pack of Great Spikes in a mad dash. From the moment he appeared in everyone's sight until now, he had been running nonstop like this.
And yet, he had just taken a direct strike from the Red Shoulder... And what he plundered from the Great Spikes had evolved from a craft hoisted on his shoulder to the starlight column sword clutched in his arms.
He just kept running like that. Earlier, his running had bought a chance of survival for two super-elite teams, over eighty people; now, it had bought an opportunity to slay a Red Shoulder...
Looking further up, slightly higher on the mountainside, along a flanking cliff face: Huaxia's super combat power, God Lü, was locked in a desperate life-and-death struggle with the Red Shoulder.
This close-quarters duel had already lasted for nearly five minutes. The man was covered in blood from multiple wounds, while the Red Shoulder's iron armor had also been breached at the arm and waist. It was supposed to be a heroic and magnificent clash. But now, because the Red Shoulder had no weapon in hand, it looked inexplicably bizarre.
In truth, the Red Shoulder itself was thoroughly frustrated right now. By all rights, this alien insect before it possessed nowhere near enough strength to contend with it in prolonged close-quarters combat.
However, its sword was gone.
Snatched away.
The Red Shoulder did not know if the peer-level vanguard who died on this blue planet before it had suffered the same fate. But its column sword was a weapon from a higher rank—it was supposed to be able to return.
Within a certain range, it could use source energy to summon the starlight column sword back to its hand, which was why it had attacked in such a manner.
Yet just now, for some reason, the column sword suddenly refused to return.
The Red Shoulder had tried numerous times, but the starlight column sword still made no response.
"The starlight column sword moves on its own, but the surge of bone source can suppress it." This was Han Qingyu's own observation and judgment. He was still in his peak state, so running ahead of the Great Spikes was far easier than before.
However, he had to consider disengaging before the four-turbine state faded. Otherwise, he feared the danger, and feared even more that the column sword would fly back. This thing clearly looked valuable; five metal blocks could not go to waste.
To find an escape route, Han Qingyu glanced down the mountain. But when he caught sight of Rusty Sister and Wu Xu, panic and irritation flared up at once. "Get back!" he roared.
Hearing him, Wu Xu and Rusty Sister halted slightly above the foot of the mountain and looked up. They stood there, unwilling to retreat, yet not daring to advance further on their own initiative.
In their eyes, Han Qingyu was heavily wounded. Everyone at the base of the mountain thought so.
Indeed, Han Qingyu had injuries; a strike from a Red Shoulder was truly hard to parry. But in his peak four-turbine state, after deflecting the brunt of the force before absorbing the rest, it was not actually that severe, so for now, he was generally fine.
At the same time, he also spotted the three other blurs—the three Azure super combat powers charging swiftly up the snow-capped mountain.
Fearing a language barrier, Han Qingyu simply pointed toward God Lü, signaling them to ignore him and go assist God Lü.
Four super combat powers ganging up on a weaponless Red Shoulder—they should be able to finish it off, right? Kill the bastard!
Thinking this, Han Qingyu glanced back toward the battlefield diagonally above, growing anxious again. "Hang in there, God Lü!"
Lü Moyi saw Han Qingyu turn his head. A moment ago, he had thought he had gotten the boy killed, only to see him come charging back out like that with the Great Spikes in tow... His feelings were complicated, but dominated above all by shame.
The blue-light craft he risked his life to bring back was destroyed on my watch.
And then, to help me fight the Red Shoulder, he risked his life again to haul off its column sword...
"Die!"
Humiliated and ashamed, he could only wash it clean through battle. Lü Moyi whirled around, slashing furiously at the Red Shoulder.
The death match between the super combat power and the Red Shoulder was so fast that they seemed like two streaks of light continuously swirling and colliding. People down below could hardly make it out clearly; they could only wait for the other three supers to arrive and join forces to slay the Red Shoulder.
That was a Red Shoulder! Kill it! Kill it while that man held the Great Spike horde at bay...
"Wait, what is he doing now?!"
In the sight of the onlookers below, one of the straight sabers in Han Qingyu's grip suddenly flew from his hand, spinning rapidly in an upward arc from low to high, skimming the thick layer of snow along the ground.
Thump! Bang, bang, bang! Something beneath the snow was flipped into the air by the spinning saber.
"What's that?"
"Shuttle craft—a whole bunch of them!"
"What a powerful source energy surge. Is he..."
So what in the world was he trying to do?
Thirty thousand people were bewildered. The commanders on the high platform were just as baffled. They should have been completely focused on the duel between the super combat powers and the Red Shoulder, but that man... every time he did something incomprehensible, it seemed to bring about a decisive turning point. They could not help watching him.
From Han Qingyu's perspective, upon finding Wu Xu and Rusty Sister standing down there refusing to leave, he had initially wanted to curse them out. But on second thought: at this distance, the two of them should be able to run... in that case, they shouldn't go back empty-handed.
Conveniently, not far off were the forty-odd shuttle craft he had previously kicked down the mountain. Knowing that with an entire horde of Great Spikes on his heels he could not afford to slow down in the slightest, Han Qingyu launched his blade—the arc of Rusty Sister Dimple Slash swept upward from the ground...
Amidst booming rumbles and whirling snow, several shuttle craft were flipped into the air along Han Qingyu's path ahead.
Dragging the horde of Great Spikes behind him without pausing for a single beat, Han Qingyu leapt forward mid-stride, twisted his body in midair, and kicked a shuttle craft flying with a bang, sending it hurtling toward Wu Xu and Rusty Sister.
Bang, bang, bang, bang! Kicking down five of them in a single breath, Han Qingyu landed more than ten meters away, caught the spinning saber, sheathed it behind his back, and sprinted onward without looking back.
The horde of Great Spikes swept past right on his heels.
The scene left behind: snow filling the sky as five shuttle craft flew through the air toward the foot of the mountain.
"Is he... could it be, is he still thinking about salvaging craft?" On the command platform, when one of the generals said this, he didn't use an exaggerated tone at all, yet the emotion wrapped inside that plain remark was beyond words.
The translators relayed it in various languages... The command platform fell silent. Such persistence... Just how unyielding was the will of this stubborn Huaxia soldier?!
At the same time, Wen Jifei was about to go crazy. If not for the huge crowd and his own lack of combat ability, he would have charged up there, grabbed that bastard, and cursed him out.
Even at a time like this, he was still thinking about harvesting metal blocks!
Then again, if he didn't do this, it seemed there wasn't much else for him to do either. It wasn't like he could go chop at the Red Shoulder, could he?
Crack, crack, crack, crack...
Since they were not blue-light models, once the five shuttle craft left the control range of the Great Spikes, they immediately began their self-destruct sequences, shattering in midair.
On and below the command platform, nearly everyone sighed in regret at the same time: "What a shame."
Meanwhile, the shattered fragments of the self-destructed craft fell before Wu Xu and Rusty Sister... The two looked at each other and caught the drift. Keeping their movements concealed, they silently picked up the five fallen metal blocks and hid them away.
"Look!"
"What is it?"
"He looped back around?!"
Bathed in blood and dragging the swarm of Great Spikes behind him, Han Qingyu executed two turns violating physics in succession, rumbling right back like a runaway train from the reverse slope where they had vanished moments ago.
"He's coming back for more?!"
"Don't... stop trying!"
People thought to themselves.
Huaxia Front, Council Headquarters, conference room.
Because reports from the front line had to be compiled and relayed, the rear was several minutes behind the actual battlefield.
Xin Yaoqiao could finally no longer maintain her calm, rational composure. She was weeping—not wailing aloud, but silent tears fell pitter-patter down her cheeks. Still, she refused to leave the conference room, waiting for follow-up news.
Just moments ago, the communicator had reported the scene of Han Qingyu being struck off the cliff by the Red Shoulder. Overcome by emotion, the announcer had added: "He may have fallen in battle."
The conference room had instantly fallen dead silent.
Even Chen Buer, who had already returned, remained silent. He had heard the announcer describe the starlight column sword in the Red Shoulder's hand earlier, and now he was no longer certain of this Red Shoulder's power.
"Did that boy really just die like that?"
Clatter, tap. The sound of something knocking against a table came through the communication equipment. It seemed someone had rushed in from elsewhere and seized the announcer's place, knocking into something in their frantic haste... Then, the agitated voice of a Huaxia soldier reported: "Alive! He's still alive! He came back out from behind the mountainside, dragging a pack of Great Spikes, still running!"
The other end briefly described Han Qingyu's general condition, concluding with:
"Also, he snatched away the Red Shoulder's column sword!"
"Huh?!"
"..."
Sn-snatched away? The Red Shoulder's column sword?!
Including Legion Commander Chen, who had once slain a Red Shoulder with his own hands, the numerous high-ranking figures in the room first froze in astonishment. Then, looking at each other across the long table, they broke into silent chuckles, trapped between laughter and tears, filled with an indescribable mix of emotions.
"Ugh..." At the far end of the long table, Xin Yaoqiao raised her hand to wipe her tears even as she couldn't help smiling, sobbing and sniffling through her laughter.
"As for the current battlefield situation: that man is holding back the Great Spike horde, and God Lü is locked in combat with the Red Shoulder—a weaponless Red Shoulder... The other three super combat powers will arrive any second. The command's recommendation is to seize this opportunity and attempt an outright kill."
Chapter 256