Soul Land IV (Douluo Dalu) : Ultimate Fighting

875 – Start!

TL: BluVerse

The warship thrusters were fired to the maximum extent, and the stealth effect was activated. Like a monstrous beast, it fiercely charged toward the opposing warship.

At the front end of Lan Xuanyu’s warship, a massive ram had been installed, crafted from exceptionally sharp alloy. What made it even more formidable was its substantial size.

After their narrow escape from the previous encounter, Lan Xuanyu found the ram to be exceptionally effective. Warship shields were primarily designed to defend against energy impacts, providing a weaker defense against physical attacks. They functioned by oscillating at different energy frequencies, offering protection against energy-based assaults.

While shields capable of defending against inert attacks existed, they were almost unnecessary in space battles. Physical attacks in space combat? Only warships specifically designated for clearing asteroid belts would be equipped with such shields. Shields capable of protecting against physical attacks consumed significantly more energy.

This was why they encountered a warship with a ram in the Chaos Star Field.

Under normal circumstances, the likelihood of two warships getting close in space combat was extremely low—this wasn’t dogfighting with fighter jets or mechs. Only commanders supremely confident in their warship’s maneuverability would consider giving it the ability for physical collision attacks.

After their near-miss in the Chaos Star Field, Lan Xuanyu and his team saw the value in this feature, especially in complex terrains like the Chaos Star Field, where it was easier to get close to opponents.

The ram possessed a high-frequency vibrational cutting effect, and the enormous pointed edge vibrated with a buzzing sound.

At this moment, after being struck by Lan Xuanyu’s main cannon, the opposing warship was shaking violently. It collided with an asteroid ahead during the chaos, and it was facing away from Lan Xuanyu’s team! Trying to turn around just after entering an asteroid belt and being attacked was no easy feat.

Calculations aside, in an instant, Lan Xuanyu’s warship had also entered the asteroid belt.

The countdown of seventy-two hours officially began!

“Boom!” The massive ram directly broke through the opponent’s energy shield from the side-rear and fiercely collided with the opposing warship’s flank.

In the next moment, without any hesitation, the eight secondary cannons simultaneously gleamed. With the opponent now defenseless without a shield, they ruthlessly pounded on the enemy warship.

For a moment, a colossal burst of flames erupted, and the enemy warship emitted a series of deafening explosions.

“Deploy,” Lan Xuanyu commanded in a cold voice.

The Meteor-class asault warship split open underneath, and six Mechas flew out, instantly dispersing and rushing toward the clearly incapacitated warship that had been bombed. Meanwhile, Lan Xuanyu’s warship abruptly shook, flinging the impaled warship aside. It collided with a massive asteroid, and due to the earlier intense bombardment, this collision nearly severed it in half, with the protective shield completely gone.

Six interstellar fighter jets rapidly approached, amidst a blaze of fire, and it was evident that, as they closed in on the opposing warship, each transformed into a mecha, landing resolutely in the areas of the warship that had not exploded.

One of the mechas was particularly eye-catching, emitting a faint golden glow on its surface, as if melting, and it promptly burrowed into the opposing warship. Undoubtedly, this was Tang Yuge’s Metal Escape. The assault squad was led by her, and all members were Soul Saints of the seventh rank and above.

This was a prolonged assessment, and the greatest challenge, aside from their combat abilities, was their endurance. In normal circumstances, if they came here, Lan Xuanyu would directly order continuous firing to obliterate the enemy’s warship and then harvest resources from the debris. That method was the fastest, allowing them to exit the battlefield promptly.

But now, that wasn’t an option! They had to endure here for seventy-two hours, possibly in continuous combat. They needed supplies, and where did the supplies come from? Naturally, from these enemy warships. So, they were willing to take some risks to obtain the maximum amount of resources.

With the intrusion of the six Skywing Mechas, Lan Xuanyu commanded the warship to swiftly change its orientation, hiding alongside a larger asteroid in the shadows. Simultaneously, reconnaissance detection was fully activated, prepared to intercept any approaching warships that sensed the commotion.

With the enhancement of the Two-Word Battle Armor, Tang Yuge, with her eight ring cultivation, was extremely powerful, and she controlled the metal element from the inside out. She directly melted a large hole in the opposing warship, and all six mechas entered.

Soon, Lan Xuanyu received the message—they had located the enemy’s reserve of rare metals, sweeping away the remaining combatants.

The six Skywing Mechas successively drilled out, soared into the sky, transformed back into Skywing fighters, and flew toward the warship. A dozen seconds after they left, the warship instantly exploded into a massive fireball. The power reactor had been detonated.

Lan Xuanyu immediately ordered the warship to dive into the interior of the Chaos Star Field like a nimble fish. The six Skywing fighters silently re-entered the interior of the warship. In the blink of an eye, they were far from the battlefield.

From start to finish, this battle took no more than ten minutes. In the context of an interstellar space battle, it was undeniably swift.

A perfect start!

Even the most critical teachers from Shrek Academy couldn’t find any flaws in their actions this time.

Searching for the optimal entry point, destroying a warship, plundering resources with the Skywing Mechas, detonating the opponent, and instantly retreating from the battlefield—they revealed no vulnerabilities from start to finish. Even when other warships arrived during their final harvest, they were ready to confront the enemy with vigilant preparation.

Wang Tianyu looked at everything unfolding on the large screen in front of him and couldn’t help but nod slightly. Tang Zhenhua, on the other hand, revealed a smile for the first time. These were his disciples! Tactical proficiency wasn’t just something to be learned; it had to be forged through continuous real-world combat.

Undoubtedly, his disciples had done exceptionally well. Acting decisively, striking with a single blow while conserving energy as much as possible—even the most outstanding Federal commanders couldn’t have done better.

As the warship entered the Chaos Star Field, Lan Xuanyu ordered the thrusters to be in a half-open state. Tang Yuge and the others unloaded the rare metals they had harvested this time and conducted a quantity assessment.

The harvest was quite bountiful because the enemy warship had just arrived in the Chaos Star Field, and the carried rare metals hadn’t undergone much consumption. However, they were relatively ordinary rare metals, totaling about five tons.

Certainly, this wasn’t the Meteor-class assault wathip in a fully loaded state; evidently, the other side feared the possibility of significant losses if they were destroyed here.

Lan Xuanyu didn’t order an attempt to extract metals from the Chaos Star Field meteorites to replenish themselves. Once metal extraction began, more significant energy fluctuations would occur, and although it might yield rare metals, the risk of exposure would be greater.

They had ample energy reserves now, and there was no need to take unnecessary risks.

After unloading the previously plundered resources, the six Skywing fighters were released again. In their aircraft forms, they flew within the asteroid belt.

Over the years, during Tang Zhenhua’s devilish training, each of the thirty-three Skywings became adept at piloting aircraft. The six selected by Lan Xuanyu were among the best.

Except for Ding Zhuohan, who had to remain on the warship as the reserve second commander, the top-ranking aircraft pilots were among these six. This group included Tang Yuge, Yuanen Huihui, Liu Feng, Bai Xiuxiu, Jia Yu, and Lin Donghui.

Both Lan Mengqin and Qian Lei weren’t particularly skilled in aircraft piloting. Qian Lei’s Skywing Mecha was, in fact, the largest among all of them.

Jia Yu had exceptional talent in aircraft piloting, ranking third among the entire class solely in the comparison of piloting skills, just below Lan Xuanyu and Ding Zhuohan.