Run!

"Holy... shit," He Tangtang muttered woodenly, freezing in place for a second. There was certainly enough good food now—the problem was whether he could actually stomach it. With the Expeditionary Force's current condition, could they endure and devour this horde of Great Spikes? High above in the distance, humanity's small scout ship was retreating at top speed. Soon, a dark, oppressive swarm of Great Spike vessels entered everyone's view. "Could this... could this be the legendary ultimate fleet of the Great Spike civilization, led by Miwang?!" That was the thought that surged through the minds of ninety percent of the soldiers on the scene almost immediately. However—"Probably not." Before long, Wen Jifei, Han Qingyu, and the others reached a judgment. This cluster of Great Spike ships was flying in tight formation, sweeping forward in a dense swath. While its momentum seemed overwhelming at first glance, the actual number of ships wasn't particularly large. There were roughly a hundred or so, and led by only a single colossal dreadnought. This dreadnought was enormous, bigger than any Great Spike mothership humanity had ever seen before—at least one and a half times the size of the Doomsday Great Wall overall. Aside from it, the rest were merely ordinary small and medium Great Spike craft. This was definitely not the composition of an ultimate civilization fleet. "The question is, where the hell did they come from?" Admiral Yergana asked in bewilderment, anxious and irritated. "That makes no sense!" Wen Jifei didn't bother answering aloud; the same confusion raged in his own mind. There was definitely no second tractor field on Mars. And according to Pegmont's intel, the previous tractor field had definitely not completed a summon before it was destroyed. Could a small-scale Great Spike fleet have already been operating around Mars? But how would they have gotten here? According to Azure's research and analysis, before the Great Spike civilization fled from Antarctica and accidentally reached Mars, hadn't they only ever possessed Blue Star's coordinates? That was why their ships had mindlessly plunged toward Blue Star over the past century... Or did they secretly establish another tractor field on some small nearby planet at the same time? Could that one have even been their primary tractor field? And then, just in the past few days, they completed the summoning, bringing forth this vengeful Great Spike fleet now before them? The latter was highly likely. After all, while low-tier Great Spikes had always been considered devoid of emotion and intellect, mid- and high-tier Great Spikes were confirmed to possess intelligence. Back during the Zenith War, the two commanding Daies had already displayed their intellect and almost terrifying capacity to learn. So, was there actually another Daie among the Great Spike ships that had fled from Antarctica? It had hidden itself. Kept hidden the entire time. What if this entire setup was truly its deception to cross the sea under false pretenses? No one could blame Pegmont for this. He had been monitoring the tractor field all alone; with so many Great Spike craft flying over vast distances across Mars every day, it would have been near impossible for him to notice any anomalies among them. "If anyone is to blame, it can only be us commanders for taking Great Spikes too lightly and assuming too much." Wen Jifei shook his head hard, then locked his gaze onto the fleet of Great Spike ships that was gradually coming into focus. Now was not the time to dwell on that; what he had to do was make decisions and respond. "No wonder the battle for Mars was so much easier than expected," General Yergana ground out beside him. The old general had roughly figured it out as well. The mistake had already been made. As things stood, their ships hadn't even taken off yet. Running would be astronomically difficult. Furthermore, even if they could escape, who could guarantee that this Great Spike fleet wouldn't ultimately threaten the search for the skeletal remains on the Moon? It was just a hundred or so small and medium craft. As for that large one? Were there Daies inside? How many? Even though Major Qing and Pegmont in the Expeditionary Force were severely wounded, they still had Admiral Jiang Longchi, Wu Xu, He Tangtang, Shen Yixiu, Shu You, Christine... Therefore, they had to fight. It was doable. Let's do it! Admiral Yergana completed all his calculations and judgments in an instant. With a metallic clang, he drew his blade, source energy surging. "Board the ships! Form ranks! Prepare to engage the enemy!" The troops reacted instantly, moving swiftly and efficiently according to orders. Among the tens of thousands, those preparing to board ships got ready, and those forming battle lines fell into formation... For a moment, the blue light of activated source energy devices and the clatter of soldiers drawing blades blanketed the entire Martian desert. Wen Jifei had no objection to General Yergana's judgment and order; he had arrived at almost the exact same conclusion and decisively agreed. However, in the very next second— "No!" "Run!" An urgent cry rang out in unison, erupting alongside surging source energy. Two voices. One came from Han Qingyu, who was being supported by attendants. The other came from Wen Jifei, who just a second earlier had agreed with the order. Even as he shouted, Wen Jifei raised his sniper rifle, peering closely through the scope to confirm what he saw. Meanwhile, despite his unhealed severe injuries, Han Qingyu snatched his source energy device from the medical personnel's hands, swiftly strapping it onto his body. Then, with a forceful wave of his hand, he summoned the four weapons resting beside Rusty Sister in the distance: his large and small blue-light pillar swords and his two dead iron straight swords. "Launch the ships! Everyone board! Run!" Major Qing's urgent roar echoed across the battlefield. At the same time, with a deafening boom, the triple source energy within him erupted recklessly and violently. At this moment, high in the distant sky, atop that colossal Great Spike warship, an exceptionally massive, aberrant Great Spike had completed its ejection from the hatch. It was perhaps a hundred meters tall and thirty meters wide. Its body was clad in silver armor resembling giant scales, faintly shimmering with blue light. On the front of its head, two huge, curved horns rose like a pair of giant scimitars mounted atop its skull. A Great Spike: Ptar! Humanity had seen this creature before. At the conclusion of the battle in Antarctica, a Ptar had once emerged from the destroyed and severed tractor conduit. On that occasion, humanity had managed to slay the monster. Many had taken part in that final desperate strike, including top-tier combatants from both Azure and Snow Lotus—Han Qingyu, Wu Xu, Rusty Sister... Yet they hadn't even been the primary force behind the kill. The main force then was Ne, the leader of Snow Lotus, alongside Chen Buer, who had rushed to the battlefield. Furthermore, that Ptar had suffered crushing pressure within the severed tractor conduit and forcibly arrived heavily wounded. Its actual combat capability had probably not even been half of what it would be in healthy condition. As for the Ptar before them now, it was glaringly obvious that it was healthy and intact. Therefore, there was no chance. Not the slightest shred of a chance. In the distant sky, having completed its ejection, the Ptar uncoiled its colossal frame in midair and charged forward... Accompanied by the howling rush of source energy, it raised the nearly hundred-meter-long, four-ridged pillar sword in its grip and swung it downward. Boom! The fleeing scout ship was utterly shattered in midair. There was no chance. Not even the luxury of a wishful delusion. "Run!" Wen Jifei bellowed frantically over the general army comms channel, the sheer panic in his voice something almost never heard before. At the same time—bam!—the Ptar landed on both feet. Its enormous bulk crashed down heavily, sending violent tremors rippling through the ground. Immediately, it swept the four-ridged pillar sword to its side, leaned forward, and began sprinting toward them at breakneck speed. A portion of the small and medium Great Spike craft in the sky descended toward the ground with it, dumping out a swarm of Red Shoulders and at least three Daies as they neared the surface. The other craft continued flying through the air, hurtling toward the Expeditionary Force's positions. "Run!" Han Qingyu spoke again. It was still that single word. Yet even as he shouted it, he surged all the source energy throughout his body and charged forward on his own initiative to meet the oncoming threat.