National Star Sea Era...

Chapter 921 Bottomless Abyss - Return to the Void
Just as Song Chi was making intensive preparations to attack the eleventh-order mythical origin ship in the Ancestral Domain of the Flame, the All-Star Seas United Fleet, far away in the endless light-years, also ushered in the most critical and tragic moment in thousands of years of war.

After thousands of years of gradual advancement, at the cost of countless civilization fleets being reduced to ashes, the massive legion led by the four transcendent civilizations finally managed to tear through the layers of defenses of the abyssal monsters, its advance aimed directly at the entrance to the enormous passage opened by the bottomless abyss in the shattered star sea.

It was a massive rift stretching across the starry sky, its edges writhing with viscous, dark red flesh and blood. Inside was a bottomless abyss, emanating an aura that sent shivers down one's spine. Endless demonic energy surged forth from it like a tangible tide, polluting everything around it.

Faced with this final entrance to the demon's lair, the four controllers hesitated almost without a moment's hesitation. After a brief tactical discussion, a cold, forceful order resounded throughout the allied forces:

"All troops, charge! Fight your way into the abyss!"

There were no cheers of victory in sight, only a heavy and resolute feeling pervading the hearts of countless captains.

The massive combined fleet, like moths drawn to a flame, or a torrent bursting its banks, recklessly plunged into the abyss leading to the unknown and death.

However, what awaited them was not the chaotic heart of the abyss caused by the collapse of the front lines as they had imagined.

The deepest layers of the abyss were already on high alert, with countless main forces of the abyss demons, twisted war beasts, and high-ranking demon lords exuding terrifying auras, densely filling every inch of space within sight like a black steel jungle.

They waited patiently, constructing a defensive system far more robust and lethal than the Star Sea Battlefield.

The allied fleet had barely broken through the passage when it crashed into this impenetrable wall.

In an instant, an even more brutal battle erupted within the abyss. The brilliance of magic and the roar of naval cannons shone in the dark abyss, and every second, thousands of units were annihilated in the collisions.

The high command of the combined fleet felt their hearts sink. They knew that the Abyss Demons had deliberately let them in, intending to use their home-field advantage to completely bury their expeditionary force.

"No time to rest, there's no time left!"

The Eternal Ancestor of the Eternal Race spoke in a cold and urgent voice. Through special means of detection, they had confirmed that the Abyss had been plundering the Star Sea during this period, especially the enormous amount of flesh and blood essence it had seized from the Celestial Ape Star Realm. Its dimensional ascension process had entered the final accelerated stage.

Furthermore, with the "Western Extreme Region of the Star Sea" which they have already secretly controlled as a dimensional anchor point, once the accumulation is complete, the bottomless abyss may directly initiate the ultimate leap from low dimensions to high dimensions.

By then, everything will be beyond repair.

"Execute the 'Breakthrough' plan! Target: the deepest part of the abyss—[The Abyss of Return]!"

The cruel order was given, and in order to interrupt the process before the Abyss could complete its dimensional ascension, the combined fleet had to adopt the most extreme and bloody tactics—to forcibly break through the Abyss's layers of defenses without regard for casualties.

This also means that a large number of lower-level fleets, legions sent by small and medium-sized civilizations, and even some of the coalition's own second-line troops were clearly treated as expendable supplies and cannon fodder.

They were ordered to launch wave after wave of suicidal charges against the most fortified positions of the Abyss Demon Army, using the wreckage of warships and the lives of warriors to tear open brief passages in the demonic tide.

The true elite forces, the spearhead troops composed of the direct legions of the four transcendent civilizations, the core fleets of the powerful hegemonic civilizations, and all mythical units, followed closely behind, recklessly advancing towards the bottom of the abyss along a path paved with countless lives.

The cruelty of war was brought to its extreme at this moment. With each step deeper into the abyss, one was treading on mountains and seas of corpses. Death became the only theme at this moment.

……

One of the deepest layers of the bottomless abyss, the [Molten Hell Abyss].

This is a land ruled by fire and sulfur. The sky is filled with eternally rolling dark red fire clouds, and the earth is made up of cooled lava and scorching rifts. The air is filled with high temperatures that can instantly vaporize steel and pungent toxic fumes. Countless volcanoes, like abscesses of the world, constantly erupt destructive torrents.

When the vanguard of the All-Star Alliance forced their way into this level along the bloody path, what they saw was a hellish scene, and an endless army of abyssal demons that had been waiting there for a long time.

The composition of the demon army is chilling.

On the left was an endless army of fire demons. These creatures, composed of pure flame and the desire for destruction, had bodies as tall as mountains, with dark red lava patterns flowing across their surfaces. In their hands were long whips and giant swords with the power to incinerate stars.

With each step they took, the lava earth trembled; with each breath, they spewed out shadow fire that distorted space. The leading Flame Demon Lords were no less powerful than mythical beings, and the fiery domains surrounding them scorched the space itself, making it crackle and sizzle.

On the right is the embodiment of chaos and savagery—the demon legion. They roared deafeningly, their eyes gleaming with the most primal desire for slaughter and souls. The demonic tide was like a black tsunami, chaotic yet full of destructive power. They wielded their innate claws and magical weapons, their bloodlust almost tangible.

In addition, there was also a large number of the Buddhist soldiers of the Shakya clan at the very front of the demon army.

These beings, who should have been dignified and radiant with Buddha's light, are now shrouded in dark demonic energy, their golden Buddha light transformed into a gloomy demonic glow.

Their eyes no longer held compassion, only a twisted, deathly stillness and fanaticism. The vajras they held were stained with blood, the prayer beads they waved were strung with bones, and the chants they uttered were no longer sutras of salvation, but abyssal curses that blasphemed everything.

These once powerful members of the Shi race, who guarded the order of the star sea, could not even preserve their last remains and inheritances after the destruction of their civilization. Instead, they were corrupted and transformed by the demonic energy of the abyss, enslaved by the mind-stealing demon, and turned into terrifying weapons to attack their homeland and allies. This kind of spiritual shock is far more suffocating than the horror of the demons themselves.

"For the starry sea! For survival! Kill!!"

The coalition commander let out a hoarse roar, suppressing the heaviness in his heart. There was no time for grief, no room for hesitation.

The next moment, the collision of steel and flesh erupted with a deafening roar.

The Titans' thunder hammer army, carrying immense power, crashed into the Fiery Demon array. The exploding lightning and flames instantly cleared a large area, but even more Fiery Demons surged forward, using their burning bodies to exhaust the thunder's energy.

The Eternal Race's starlight barrier flickered violently under the impact of the demon sea. Countless low-level demons crashed into the barrier like moths to a flame, only to be shattered to pieces. However, their deaths corroded the barrier's energy. Furthermore, the powerful Balor Balrog wielded its decapitation sword and slashed fiercely at the light barrier, stirring up ripples across the sky.

The astrologers of the Origin Star Temple guided destructive beams of starlight, which fell like divine punishment into the Buddhist-soldiers' demonic formation, vaporizing the demonized Arhats and Bodhisattvas one by one. However, the demonized Buddhist soldiers also unleashed bizarre and unpredictable abyssal Buddhist incantations. The filthy demonic light corroded the armor and souls of the allied warriors, and even distorted the laws of nature, causing powerful warships to suddenly go out of control and turn their cannons to bombard their own troops.

The mechanical legions of the Myriad Machines' Nest are like cold killing machines, reaping the lives of monsters with precision and efficiency. However, the heat of the Flame Demon is enough to melt special alloys, and the chaotic attacks of the demons often destroy the intricate mechanical structures in a way that violates the laws of physics. Furthermore, the transformative magic light of the demonic Buddha Soldiers can even infect the intelligent core of the machines, causing them to betray them instantly.

Sacrifice happens every moment.

A mothership belonging to a mid-level civilization, in order to create space for the Titan legion ahead, resolutely rammed into a Balrog and self-destructed. The brilliant fireball briefly illuminated the dark abyss, but also claimed the lives of ten thousand crew members. A squad of Elven Star Knights, to protect the mage corps of the Origin Star Temple who were channeling a large-scale forbidden spell, formed a final spear formation. They fought to the death against the onslaught of demons, but ultimately, exhausted, they were torn to pieces by the raging demons. Their sacrifice bought three precious seconds for the forbidden spell to complete.

An old wizard ruler of a wizarding civilization, riding his alchemical mechanical fortress, perished together with a demonized Arhat of the Shakya clan.

The Molten Abyss has been completely transformed into a meat grinder.

The lava was stained an eerie dark purple by blood, and the land was covered with the wreckage of warships, the corpses of monsters, and the remains of warriors from various races. The flames of explosions, the glow of magic, and the clash of energies rose and fell, casting an ever-changing, flickering light on this abyss.

The roars, explosions, roars of energy, and cries of impending doom... all combined to create a cruel symphony of destruction.

The air was thick with the stench of blood, sulfur, and burnt flesh.

The rules here become chaotic and fragile, with spatial rifts appearing from time to time, devouring everything around them.

In this hellish environment, the allied forces paved the way with their lives and opened the path with their souls, inch by inch, advancing with great difficulty towards the abyss passage to the next level.

Every step was soaked in blood and sacrifice. They all knew that this was just the beginning. After the [Molten Abyss], there were even more terrifying abyssal layers waiting for them. But no one retreated, because there was no way back.

Rather than letting the abyss complete its dimensional ascension, plundering most of the fortune and origin of the heavens and the stars, which would inevitably lead to the destruction and extinction of countless civilizations in the coming eras, it is better to fight to the death.

It is precisely because of this unwavering belief that the Allied Forces of the Stars and Seas have been able to maintain their offensive until now. However, even so, it remains extremely difficult to continue advancing.

The resistance of the Abyss Demons was equally frenzied and tenacious. The roars of the Flame Demons, the howls of the Demons, and the eerie chants of the demonized Buddhist soldiers intertwined together. Taking advantage of the home-field advantage of the Abyss environment, they continuously surged out from the lava, from the cracks, and from the distorted void, seemingly endless.

A fierce tug-of-war unfolded on every burning hill and along every boiling lava river.

As time went by, the countless small and medium-sized civilization fleets and affiliated race legions that were initially thrown into the battlefield as cannon fodder have been reduced to less than one-tenth, almost wiped out.

The wreckage of warships floated in the lava, and the bones of warriors from all races covered the scorched earth, staining the dark red abyss with an even deeper, more desperate ochre.

Finally, on this day, a cold and unquestionable order was transmitted directly to the headquarters of the Torchfire Civilization Expeditionary Fleet through a special hyperdimensional communication channel.

The order was concise yet brutal: the Torchfire Civilization Fleet must immediately take over the main force position at the front line, replacing the Titan flank legions which have suffered heavy casualties, and maintain the offensive on the core passage of the [Molten Abyss] without fail.

The moment the order was given, the command center of the Torch Fleet fell into dead silence.

The wills of the four human emperors—Jiang Yuan, Ying Yi, Ji Heng, and Pei Dinan—as well as Song Chi's wisp of consciousness, which was far away in the ancestral domain but could still sense the situation here, all fell silent.

Resentment, anger, helplessness... a mix of emotions swirled in their hearts.

Everyone knows what a "key position" means on this meat grinder-like front line.

That would mean deploying the civilization's most vital fleet into a frontal assault with the highest mortality rate. It would mean that the strength carefully preserved over the past thousands of years could be exhausted in a very short time. The Titan flank legions were incredibly powerful, yet they were crippled and needed to be rotated. If the Torchlight Fleet were to take their place, the consequences would be unimaginable.

This is a blatant conspiracy, and also a "reasonable" way for transcendent civilizations to exploit non-transcendent forces.

Although the Torch Civilization is a newly emerging overlord of the Shattered Star Sea with boundless potential, in the eyes of the four transcendent beings—the Sky-Splitting God King, the Eternal Ancestor, the Origin Star God Lord, and the Mother of All Machines—they are ultimately a step behind without the endorsement of their own transcendent beings.

In this war that concerns the fate of the entire star system, yet also involves the power struggles among top civilizations, these "newly rich" individuals are often placed in the most dangerous and brutal positions.

"We had no choice..." Jiang Yuanren's clone slowly spoke, his voice slightly hoarse. His immortal ship clone, [Shenxia Jiuli], was covered with burn marks left from the battle with the Flame Demon Lord.

The [Immortal Qin Ancestral Dragon] controlled by Ying Yirenhuang's clone exuded a chilling killing intent, but in the end it only turned into a cold snort.

No one dares to refuse?
Because if they show any disobedience, they will likely be immediately accused of "deserting in the face of battle" and "sabotaging the coalition forces." At that point, the four transcendent civilizations will crush their expeditionary fleet as a warning to others, without even the Abyss needing to lift a finger.

"Execute the order." Ji Heng's tone was calm, but the slight trembling of the [Xuanhuang Chiyu] ship revealed the unease in his heart.

Ferdinand nodded silently as well, and his ship, the [Heavenly Light], began to gather holy energy in preparation for the impending bloody battle.

Song Chi, far away in the ancestral domain, sensed all of this and felt equally heavy-hearted.

However, at this moment, most of his mind was focused on his own breakthrough and he could not be distracted by anything else. He could only convey this worry and determination to his ethereal body at the front line through a mysterious connection.

"Send the order to the entire army!" The voice of Emperor Jiang Yuan's avatar resounded through the Firelink Network in the minds of every Firelink warship captain. "Move forward to take over the Titan Legion's defenses. This battle concerns the survival of civilization. I urge you all... to fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

"Fight to the death!"

A tragic and resolute echo reverberated through the fleet channel.

Despite their resentment at the injustice and fear of the future, not a single captain of the Torch Ship retreated.

They knew very well that from the moment they embarked on the expedition, their personal lives and deaths were already intertwined with the fate of civilization.

The next moment, the massive Fireflight Fleet began to move forward as a whole. Five mythical immortal ship clones, exuding immense divine power, served as the spearhead, leading the massive fleet, which, though shrunken, was still elite after thousands of years of war, and resolutely sailed towards the infernal sea that had devoured countless lives.

There, ferocious fire demons, crazed demons, and bizarrely twisted demonized Buddhist soldiers greet this new "prey" with their bloodthirsty eyes.

The Expeditionary Fleet of the Burning Flame Civilization is about to face the most brutal and dangerous battle since its departure.

(End of this chapter)