The Witcher: Start with the Lord Marrying a Wife.

Chapter 587 The First Appearance of the Star Devourer
Clad in the armor of a chaotic demigod, David stood silently atop the walls of the capital, his gaze as deep, calm, and sharp as the stars.

In the past few days, he had weighed the pros and cons and carefully assessed the situation: the Holy Light Church was gradually recovering from the shadow of its crushing defeat, gathering a larger and more ferocious army to prepare for a new round of bloody conquest; while the situation on the homeland was not yet stable, and countless remaining forces urgently needed to strengthen their defenses. However, he knew that if he waited passively, he would only be forced into a defensive posture and gradually weakened. Only by taking the initiative could he break the stalemate.

“Opening up a second front is the best option.” David slowly uttered these words, his voice steady yet filled with unwavering determination. “An expedition to the Astral Plane can not only acquire unknown resources and supplies, but also effectively distract the enemy, keeping the Church of Holy Light busy on multiple fronts.”

He turned to look at the people who were ready beside him—Lia's expression was resolute, her clear eyes reflecting endless wisdom and determination; Annie lightly gripped her staff, a hint of excitement and anticipation appearing on her face; Lena's soul crystal was surrounded by pale red spiritual flames, flickering like the lamp of life in the darkness; Arya stood silently to the side, the power of the Blood Prison World flowing steadily within her, an irreplaceable and powerful ally in the expedition.

In addition, there are several elite technical wizards who operate complex runic devices and ancient magical machinery, providing crucial support for this voyage.

“Hill,” David said, glancing at the commander of the army left behind on the homeland, a calm and resolute human wizard leader, “you will lead the majority of the wizard troops and elite guardians to hold Silvermoon. Do not let your guard down while we are away.”

Hill nodded in agreement, "Rest assured, my lord, I will protect the city with my life."

With the decision finalized, a colossal astral ship stood atop a floating platform on the outskirts of Silvermoon's capital. This spaceship, named the "Silverwing Ark," was a fusion of ancient elven wisdom and modern magical technology—its entire hull was constructed from the core of an ancient, living tree, its inscriptions pulsating and breathing as if alive, perfectly integrated with the shimmering, spirit-inlaid metal. Its entire body glowed with a ghostly blue light, like a giant silver-winged bird soaring through the night sky, or perhaps like wings traversing time and space, carrying everyone through layers of dimensional barriers.

David gazed ahead as he stepped onto the gangway, each step firm and powerful. He sensed the intense and stable core energy flowing within the ship's hull—the energy originating from a space navigation artifact left behind by his ancestors. Its fragments, after special integration, had become the soul hub controlling the entire ship. This artifact not only provided precise positioning but could also guide the spaceship to tear through the barriers of the void dimension, achieving interdimensional leaps.

All those boarding the ship entered their cabins one after another, their faces filled with a mixture of tension and anticipation. A solemn yet hopeful atmosphere, reminiscent of a new era, permeated the air. Anne softly chanted incantations, praying for a successful voyage, while Leah focused her mental energy on making final adjustments and confirmations around the navigation core.

Arya sat cross-legged before the specially made altar, closing her eyes to sense the swirling fluctuations of the Blood Prison World, adjusting her own power to its optimal state, ready to unleash powerful support energy at any time to protect everyone's safety.

Once everything was ready, David stood in the center of the spaceship's main control room. The large stardial fragment, embedded in the center of the ship and shimmering with a faint blue vein of light, resonated and hummed when he touched it. As he slowly pressed the activation rune array with both hands, a large three-dimensional star map composed of countless tiny points of light instantly unfolded, spreading out before everyone's eyes, as if opening a door to the unknown mysteries of the universe.

Then, the "Silver Ark" let out a deep and long roar. Its huge fuselage trembled slightly, and continuous, faint runes emerged from the bark-metal surface. Under the effect of spatial distortion, it appeared mysterious and unpredictable, as if it was about to take flight and tear the sky apart, which was spectacular and awe-inspiring!
In an instant, a dazzling white light burst forth, devouring and purifying all the remaining darkness around it. The "Silver Wing Ark" pierced the sky, rushing into the void with unstoppable force. The ripples that had spread across it instantly twisted and collapsed into fragmented illusions—this was the dimensional barrier beginning to loosen, being swiftly broken with lightning speed!

With a deep, reverberating roar, the Silverwing Ark, like a colossal beast, struggled forward through the dark, endless void of the astral plane. The ship trembled violently, causing the breathing and heartbeats of everyone inside to quicken. The air was thick with the smell of electric arcs, mingled with the magical aura unique to runes when activated. David gripped the edge of the control panel, his gaze fixed intently on the magnificent yet perilous astral landscape before him.

Outside lay an endless and unpredictable ethereal turbulence, a region filled with dazzling yet deadly energy storms. Multicolored bands of light, like giant whips of lightning, lashed wildly through the void, resembling ripples breaking through the Milky Way, constantly tearing out shadows and frenzy. These energy fluctuations were sometimes violent and turbulent, like roaring raging tides; at other times, they shifted to an eerie calm, like a slowly spreading mist. But in either form, they all concealed a deadly danger.

"Is the control over the core stable?" David asked in a deep voice.

Lia frowned, her hands hovering above the floating rune array, her spiritual power precisely regulating the energy flow inside the airship. "The stardial fragment played a crucial role, detecting multiple spacetime folds and gravity traps ahead, providing precise guidance for us to avoid dangerous paths. But the storm's intensity far exceeded expectations, so we can only cross it at top speed."

The spaceship weaved through the turbulent center, each lightning-fast jump accompanied by cabin tremors and a slight feeling of weightlessness. The soldiers gripped the handrails tightly; some wore solemn expressions, while others closed their eyes and focused on regulating their breathing to avoid being disturbed by this alien environment.

“It feels like being swept into the center of a cosmic torrent, with an invisible hand twisting space and tearing us to pieces,” Annie said in a low voice, her voice tinged with fear yet also with excitement. “But this is also the gateway to unknown forces, and we have no way out.”

As we passed through the gaps in the storm, the vast, dark sky suddenly revealed shattered, dazzling light. These were enormous wrecks floating in the astral plane—several massive, strangely shaped, and severely fractured unidentified architectural ruins silently suspended in the endless void. They seemed to have once been glorious, but now they had become objects of eternal wandering among fallen stars.

David used his enhanced vision to capture the details: the surfaces of the wreckage were covered with cracks and burn marks, and there were many irregular, scattered craters, as if they had been destroyed by a powerful impact or explosion. He frowned: "These are not ordinary battlefield relics; they seem to have been wantonly ravaged by some extreme force."

Leah added, "The residual runic fluctuations emanating from these ruins are unusually chaotic, completely different from the marks left by known civilizations... Even more alarming is the suspected presence of Zerg activity here. They are adept at eroding and devouring spatial creature creations, and their destructive methods are exceptionally ferocious, which this place perfectly matches."

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere inside the ship suddenly became tense. A tech wizard immediately activated sophisticated analytical instruments to monitor the radiation and spatial curvature of the wreckage, in case of a sudden attack by the Zerg or other unknown threats.

Meanwhile, the Silver Ark continued its high-speed journey, but the etheric storm was far from over—psychic hallucinations frequently plagued some members; some felt haunted shadows around them, while others heard whispers and cries from the depths of the void. This supernatural pressure could easily plunge them into panic or even mental breakdown.

Cynthia endured the pain of her bloodline transformation, as well as the mental turmoil. Her brows furrowed, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Waves of vibration nearly made her lose control, but she gritted her teeth and persevered, resisting the erosion with her own will. "I cannot fall. We must complete our mission," she murmured to herself, her eyes gleaming with an indomitable flame.

David remained vigilant, constantly adjusting his protective spells to safeguard his core team while simultaneously using his demigod power to stabilize the ship's magical field. "Everyone must stay focused! Don't let your guard down!" His voice was steady yet carried a palpable sense of urgency. "The danger we face is extraordinary; every step forward is a life-or-death test!" As time passed, they gradually approached the most dangerous area—a region riddled with complex temporal ripples and gravitational traps, known as the "Drifting Cluster," the very place where the massive, mountain-like star ruins were concentrated. From here onward, not only was the spatial structure extremely unstable, but they also faced the possibility of insectoid attacks and patrols by other unknown ancient beings…

The Silverwing Ark swayed slightly, and the entire ship was momentarily plunged into a state of weightlessness. Soldiers scrambled to grab onto the handrails or support each other to avoid falling and injuring themselves. For a moment, the ship echoed with the panting of knights and guards, but David remained steadfast, his gaze fixed firmly on the ever-changing, dreamlike, mysterious, and perilous new cosmic landscape outside the window.
Purple-blue radiating clouds intertwined to form a labyrinthine passageway;

Faint fluorescent dust particles drifted in the air;

Several small, broken meteorites emitting a chilling blue flame are scattered among the inlays;

The silhouette of a massive, mysterious creature, seemingly lost in thought, could even be vaguely seen in the shadows...

All of this is like the gateway to the cycle of old and new in a mysterious ancient legend!
Just as everyone held their breath and focused on the journey ahead, an even stronger and more oppressive aura suddenly came from afar. It was the intense mark left by some extraordinary being, enveloping the entire flight path like the Grim Reaper wielding a black scythe...

David clenched his fists. He knew that this was just the beginning, a prologue to a new era filled with thorns and hope.
"Is everything ready? We are about to step into a place where no one has ever dared to set foot before!"

Everyone responded in unison: "Ready!"

The Silver Ark carved a dazzling trail, once again hurtling towards that vast, ethereal, and infinitely dangerous abyss of the new universe, a place brimming with endless possibilities...

The Silverwing Ark traversed the dark void of the astral plane, gradually approaching the coordinate region known as the "Lonely Islands." The starlight outside the porthole grew increasingly sparse, a shadowy aura shrouding the vast starfield ahead, like a ghostly veil sweeping across an endless night. David stood in the center of the control room, his gaze fixed on the gradually expanding image on the projection crystal—a writhing, churning, deep, and eerie "veil of shadows."

This dark purple cloud was as thick as a physical substance, yet it possessed an eerie sense of movement, with countless tiny, tentacle-like structures appearing and disappearing within it, constantly twisting and spreading. The psionic sensors on the crystal projection emitted continuous alarms—

"Ultra-high energy level life signal detected! Abnormal gravitational field strength, engulfing all matter and energy in the entire area!"

The air seemed to freeze instantly, and the atmosphere in the cabin suddenly became tense. Lia, standing to the side, frowned deeply. She slowly reached out to adjust the navigation array, hoping to use the stardial fragments to uncover more details, but faced with this vast and terrifying dark cloud, she could only glimpse the tip of the iceberg.

“These… could these be the legendary Zerg hive?” Annie’s face was pale, her eyes filled with shock and fear. “The number of them is far beyond imagination. They are like huge houses patrolling the edge of the ‘veil’.”

Suddenly, the projection crystal flashed with a crack-like shape, a rare blank gap in the "Shadow Veil." Through the gap, a breathtaking scene abruptly appeared—

Dozens of massive, mountain-like tentacles, covered in a hard chitinous shell, slowly unfurled, stretching across the void like ancient behemoths. These tentacles were both agile and powerful, easily entangling a small planet before tearing it apart and crushing it with astonishing force.

With a deafening explosion, the shattered planet was sent into an enormous maw—a gigantic mouth constructed of countless sharp crystals, large enough to devour an entire planet! It was located at the edge of the core of the colossal structure, rumored to be one corner of the Mother Nest—an ancient entity known as the "Star Eater."

David's eyes narrowed. He felt the oppressive force radiating from that gigantic maw, like an invisible, ferocious demonic claw, dragging the surrounding space into a vortex of destruction. This was no ordinary creature that could rival it; it was an ominous monster capable of tearing apart stellar energy and devouring the will of a world.

The people inside the cabin were solemn. They were shocked by the terrifying power, but they also understood even more clearly what kind of desperate situation they were about to face. Lia clenched her fist, her voice low and firm: "The enemy is not only fierce, but also possesses extremely high intelligence and destructive potential. We must deal with it with caution."

Anne glanced at David: "My lord, with this scale and level of threat, if we had arrived even a moment later... we might not have been able to salvage the situation."

Arya remained silent and focused, her eyes, blazing with the fire of the Blood Prison, meeting the gaze of the screen's depths. "Similar existences also exist in the Blood Prison World. We must unleash our full power, using the 'Silverwing Ark' as the core of our breakthrough, to break through the encirclement in the shortest possible time."

David nodded, knowing the battle was extremely dangerous, but only by winning could he be worthy of defending all lives. He calmly commanded, "Activate the ship's defensive array! All personnel on alert! Report any unusual signs immediately!"

As he finished speaking, the runic metal plates around the Silverwing Ark coalesced into a multi-layered protective shield, emitting a pale blue electric glow; at the same time, the internal runic array accelerated its operation, strengthening the ship's shield to its limit.

(End of this chapter)