Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!-Chapter 981 - 683: Encirclement (Part 2)

"Boss! I can't hold on anymore!" Black Beast gritted her teeth over the channel, her mecha surrounded by the Bug Race, making maneuvering increasingly difficult, "You guys continue! I'll stay here and draw their fire!"

In this intense battle, she had already considered sacrificing herself.

"Keep moving!" Bai E's voice was indisputable, his blade flashed, freeing her from the encirclement.

But with an injured member, the team's advance was significantly slowed.

Finally, after the arduous destruction of the command node of the second giant ship, Black Beast's mecha energy was critically low, with multiple internal system alarms, unable to continue high-intensity combat.

"Sir... I..." Black Beast looked at her nearly paralyzed mecha, her eyes full of reluctance.

"Retreat and assist in defending the space station," Bai E ordered, "You've done enough."

Black Beast gritted her teeth, piloting the damaged "Night Owl," arduously returning in the direction of the "Shield of Defense" space station.

Now only three members remained in the team.

The third giant ship.

Its internal defense was outrageous.

Almost every step triggered new traps and ambushes.

Victor's "Dawn" mecha, after continuous high-intensity combat and damage, finally reached its limit.

While dodging a flood of acid, the main thruster overheated and exploded, the mecha lost balance, hit directly by a plasma cannon from a heavily armored giant bug.

"Boom!" Dawn's chest armor melted through, Victor roared in rage, desperately controlling the mecha to fire its remaining weapons.

"Victor!" Catherine exclaimed.

"Get him out of here!" Bai E sliced through the heavily armored giant bug, shouting to Catherine.

No time for grief, no time for rescue, every second could bring a new attack.

Catherine's eyes were red, but she knew Bai E was right.

The Silver Feather mecha extended a mechanical arm, grabbed the remnants of Dawn, using all its strength to drag it towards the nearest breach.

"Hold on, Victor!"

"Bai E... I'm sorry..." Victor's voice echoed weakly in the channel and then went silent, extremely feeble.

Now, only Bai E and Catherine remained, facing the more intense defenses deep within the third giant ship.

Catherine's "Silver Feather" was already heavily scarred, the sniper rifle overheated and replaced several times, with spiritual energy links intermittently cut off.

But she gritted her teeth, still using precise shots to clear threats for Bai E.

Her shooting talent exploded to its fullest potential at this moment, always finding the most vulnerable junctions of the specialized Bug Race units, saving Bai E precious physical and spiritual energy.

The two cooperated seamlessly, like two ghosts traversing a mountain of blades and sea of flames, finally destroying another command node.

However, when they escaped from the third giant ship, they were despairingly aware that the Bug Race fleet and the "Traitor Fleet" seemed to have reached some sort of understanding, temporarily slowing their attack on the Karian defense line, instead starting to... tighten the encirclement!

The target was clearly the area where Bai E and Catherine were!

"Are they... targeting us?" Catherine's voice trembled.

Six giant Bug Race ships, along with that Traitor Fleet, were forming a massive, slow but steady net, intending to trap them in this starry sky!

"No, they're targeting me." Bai E's voice was terrifyingly calm.

In his "Insect Race Killer" perception, that hidden and enormous malice, like a cold deep sea, was slowly closing in from all directions.

The Bug Race's initial target might have been more than just a planet.

Devouring planets was instinct, but capturing or eliminating him, the "Insect Race Killer," could be an even higher-level directive!

The previous failure on the competition planet led them to adopt a more cautious and deadly strategy—

Using a planet and countless human fleets as bait and consumables to set up this lethal trap!

"Catherine, you retreat as well." Bai E said, looking towards the massive Bug Race ship in the distance with the most hidden spiritual energy fluctuations.

The Brain Worm was likely there or on one of the remaining two ships.

Regardless, he had to go.

"No! I can still fight!" Catherine stubbornly shook her head, Silver Feather mecha raising its sniper rifle, even though the barrel was scorching, the mecha also warning.

"That's an order." Bai E turned around, through the communication channel, as if he could see Catherine's violet eyes, "Go back, tell President Edwin and General Aleksey, concentrate all forces, firmly hold the 'Shield of Defense' and planet's final line. The Bug Race's target is me, their attack on the planet will weaken before I fall. You must... wait for the opportunity."

"But you alone..."

"Alone, I'm faster." Bai E interrupted, his tone carrying unquestionable determination.

Catherine looked at the blue and white "Star Emperor" mecha, now covered in scorched and damaged marks, tears flowed uncontrollably.

She knew Bai E was right.

Her presence might be a burden at this point.

And Bai E, alone, might still have a glimmer of hope with his terrifying personal strength and mobility, fighting out of a desperate situation.

"...Please...come back." Catherine's voice choked, maneuvering the Silver Feather mecha, looked deeply at the lone mecha before turning and speeding towards the "Shield of Defense" space station.

Now, only Bai E remained, one man, one mecha, suspended in the cold universe, surrounded by a steel and flesh net slowly closing in.

Six Bug Race bio-ships like five moving mountains, emitting a suffocating spiritual pressure.

Even the three giant ships with command nodes pierced by Bai E still had bio turrets on the surface emitting ominous glows.

And that Traitor Fleet, like hyenas circling a giant beast, flickered with dim cannon fire.

The entire battlefield seemed to fall silent for a moment.

Every surviving human, whether soldiers on the Karian line or high-ranking officials in the command center, saw through observation screens the lone blue and white mecha standing amidst the circle of destruction.

Despair, like the deepest chill, froze every heart.

One man, facing a Bug Race fleet and a Traitor Fleet, enough to devour a planet?

How could this be won?

"Why...why doesn't he retreat?" a young officer murmured.

"Retreat? To where?" General Aleksey shook his head bitterly, yet a nearly mad admiration burned in his eyes, "He's buying us time...using himself as bait."

President Edwin closed his eyes, hands clenched white-knuckled.

He entrusted the planet's fate, the hope of five billion citizens, in this man's hands.

And now, this man was walking alone into certain doom.

The Bug Race fleet completed their encirclement.

No warnings, no communications.

All the firepower from six giant ships and the Traitor Fleet poured destruction at the tiny blue dot at the center of the circle all at once!

Deep blue plasma beams, ghastly green acid projectiles, dense missiles, and the traitor fleet's human-standard artillery...like a deathly firework blooming in the universe, instantly engulfing the space where Bai E was!

"No——!" Catherine screamed heartwrenchingly in the Silver Feather mecha.

The command center fell silent. Everyone seemed to hear their own heart breaking.

Yet, at the core of that destructive energy weave, a point of dazzling blue and white light suddenly shone!

And...grew brighter!

"Humm——!"

An indescribable, vast spiritual energy wave like a Star Sea abruptly erupted!

Centered on that blue and white light point, forming an ever-expanding Spiritual Ability Field!

All attacking energies heading towards him, whether the Bug Race bio firepower or human plasma beams, upon contact with that Spiritual Ability Field, were like mud cows into the sea, forcibly twisted, deflected, even...absorbed!