The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"How...how could this be? It can't be!" Katarina's eyes widened in disbelief as she watched her subordinate being easily sliced ​​in two. "Everyone I brought..."

"They all have combat power equivalent to mid-to-high-level armored warriors of the 'Agate' level... at least for the time when their cheap smart combat armor was still effective, right?" Ange asked after achieving her second kill—compared to the first one, the second victim showed some reaction, at least attempting to dodge. Unfortunately, this didn't stop Ange from quickly getting behind her and stabbing her through.

Two other rapidly cloned women dressed as maids screamed and charged forward. One's arm transformed into some kind of energy weapon, while the other turned her arm armor into flashy twin swords. However, Ange effortlessly dodged their attack and appeared behind them. Two plasma shoulder cannons instantly turned them into "meteors" falling from the sky.

"How dare you—" Katarina raised her arm, and the mini electromagnetic cannon fired three shots in quick succession with the assistance of the fire control computer. However, even these high-speed projectiles, traveling at speeds exceeding three kilometers per second, failed to harm her in the slightest. Instead, after Ange dodged, they struck one of Katarina's subordinates. The powerful kinetic energy of the electromagnetic projectiles shattered nearly a third of the man's body into fragments and blood.

The last two rapid clones lasted a little longer—about two seconds each. This was mainly because they didn't stick together but kept their distance from each other, forcing Ange to launch attacks separately, which took a little longer.

"This... um..." With all her subordinates shot down, Katarina was completely dumbfounded.

"Is it strange? Although I did think you had some hidden trump card at first, I didn't expect it to be this simple." After glancing at the estimated remaining working time of the anti-gravity wing on the helmet display, Ange smiled: it only took her less than forty seconds to deal with these people. "Unfortunately, you made a huge mistake: you actually dared to try to intercept me in the air."

"Well……"

“Unlike combat on the ground, aerial combat is three-dimensional—and Armored Warriors with anti-gravity wings can perform highly maneuverable maneuvers that ordinary aircraft cannot. Therefore, even if someone has been a pilot, their experience cannot be directly applied to aerial combat between Armored Warriors,” Ange continued. “Not to mention these quick-cloning humans you temporarily recruited. Perhaps they can be implanted with combat instincts and, for a short period, possess theoretical combat power comparable to mid-to-high-level Armored Warriors. But without experience, such combat power can only exist in theory.”

"Phew... alright, it seems it was indeed my oversight," Fa Yun's envoy began retreating at top speed. "But it doesn't matter, we've bought ourselves some time! Now, look at your feet... eh eh eh?!"

Less than a second after uttering those words, Katarina gasped, swallowing the rest of her sentence.

"Oh, Miss Cow, why aren't you saying anything? Is it because your friends' performance was somewhat unsatisfactory?" Ange asked.

At this moment, below the two, the remaining three torpedo boats of the Fayun people had all come to a halt. According to Katarina's plan, while she and her rapidly replicating subordinates were buying time, these torpedo boats were supposed to take the opportunity to approach the "Inaba" at full speed of over thirty-five knots and then launch a salvo of torpedoes. But now, they lay paralyzed on the sea like a group of dead fish, billowing smoke and drifting with the current.

"Please, do you really think I'll forget about your friends on the sea when I'm dealing with you?" Ange snapped her fingers, and a small shadow immediately flew out of the weapon storage box at "Golden Soup's" waist, hovering around her like a bee.

"A loitering munition?!"

"Hmm, it's good that you know these old-fashioned gadgets. These little things may have limited individual power, but they're incredibly intelligent... their autonomous fire control programs are far more efficient than the brains of some dairy cows," Ange said deliberately in a teasing tone. "While I was taking care of your friends, I also sent these little guys out to slightly blow up the engine rooms of those torpedo boats. But don't worry, I believe there shouldn't have been any casualties."

"Hmm..." Katarina hesitated for a moment, then suddenly launched a second round of fire with the small-caliber electromagnetic cannon—however, this time the target was not Ange, but the paralyzed torpedo boat of her own side.

With three massive explosions, the torpedoes carried by these torpedo boats, originally intended for attacking the Inaba, were detonated directly by the electromagnetic guns. The intense heat generated by the large amount of high explosives instantly turned the ship and its crew into ashes, leaving these poor creatures no time to even let out their final cries.

"Wow...that's really impressive, Miss Cow." Although she had seen all sorts of terrifying scenes, Ange still gasped when she saw Katarina take such decisive action.

In her plan, the reason for paralyzing, rather than sinking, these torpedo boats was naturally to capture their crew members—if she could bring them back to the Principality of Penglai for interrogation and obtain crucial confessions, she could put the Regency Council of the Principality of Fayun, who had orchestrated all of this, in an extremely unfavorable political position. However, if not a single witness was captured, that would be a different story.

"We are willing to make any sacrifice to realize Lord Iskander Lomonosov's great vision," Katrina said. "All of this is for the salvation of humanity!"

"Thank you, but I'd be happy to save myself." Ange said as she aimed the "Golden Soup" ion shoulder cannon at the other person—however, out of some subtle malice, her target was not the other person's head, but the two large bulges protruding from their chest.

However, Katarina certainly didn't intend to sit idly by. Knowing she was no match for Ange's experienced combat skills in the air, she preemptively acted a split second before Ange's ion shoulder cannons fired—though Katarina didn't choose to attack, instead launching several plumes of scorching smoke to temporarily interfere with Ange's visible light and thermal imaging capabilities. By the time the smoke was dispersed and cooled by the sea breeze, Katarina had vanished.

"Heh, this cow is even more adept at escaping than the squid," Ange muttered to herself as she landed back on the deck of the cruiser "Inaba" before the anti-gravity wings ran out of energy. "But what exactly is this thing trying to do? I have a feeling she wasn't going all out."

"Who are you saying didn't give it their all?" Fish asked, who was waiting for her on the aft deck of the cruiser.

"It's nothing," Ange shook her head, "The enemy's intercepting forces have been eliminated. Everyone can rest assured."

"Phew, that's great, but we need to act fast," Fish said. "We just received a communication that the situation is rapidly deteriorating."

"What's wrong?"

"Xana, who is at the embassy of the Principality of Penglai, reports that riots have broken out in several areas of Oasis Harbor. Moreover, the riots are spreading towards the embassy."

Meanwhile, on the western coast of Oasis Harbor, in the embassy area of ​​the Principality of Penglai.

With a "whoosh," she pulled back the bolt and loaded a 7.7mm bullet into the chamber. Then, Melu took a deep breath and peered out from behind her makeshift cover made of flour sacks, observing the distant street through the firing port.

Unlike the embassy of the Principality of Fayun, which rented the east wing of the Coral Palace and was located in the most bustling downtown area of ​​Oasis Harbor, the embassy of the Principality of Penglai was situated on the western edge of the atoll where Oasis Harbor was located, nestled among the coconut palms along the coast. It was converted from an old villa. Around this embassy, ​​dozens of smaller villas were scattered along the coastal road, including the one belonging to the Sherlin Consortium, which Luca used as the base of operations for the "Red Cat" bandit gang.

Because of its remote location, surrounded by dense coconut groves and sparse roads, the embassy of the Principality of Penglai was better positioned to deal with threats from the land than that of the Principality of Fayun. However, this wasn't because Penglai's foreign affairs department had considered the possibility of a major war when purchasing the site; it was simply because Penglai had little contact with Oasis Port and its diplomatic relations with it were not close, resulting in very limited diplomatic funds. Therefore, those selecting the embassy location simply chose the cheapest available spot.

Following Anjie's instructions, after the riots at Coral Palace gradually subsided, Yue Die, Ruan Aofu, Luca, and others immediately requested to leave from Oasis Harbor. After vaguely leaving behind the words "Beware of danger," they immediately withdrew to the embassy.

Within an hour, the "Red Cat" gang of thieves, the Short Skirt Pirates, and infantry and armored units unloaded from the "Inaba" arrived. Luca even summoned a group of armed security guards from the Schelling Foundation to strengthen the defenses. Several large trucks loaded with heavy loads were stranded in the middle of the road, surrounded by metal fences and barbed wire to serve as temporary roadblocks. Traps and foxholes were dug in the soft mud, while numerous sandbag bunkers (largely made from rice and flour sacks taken from the kitchen) were erected around the embassy and in the nearest small villas.

Subsequently, machine gun teams, snipers, and amphibious armored vehicles unloaded from the Inaba took their positions behind these temporary fortifications, while the members of Red Cat used their expertise to set up well-hidden booby traps and mines in the coconut grove and along the roadside.

Although those who entered the embassy area to set up defenses thought their actions were quite swift, even somewhat hasty, the speed at which events unfolded far exceeded even the most pessimistic expectations. Before "Red Cat" could even finish setting up the last few traps, flames erupted from several locations in Oasis Harbor, followed by billowing columns of smoke rising into the sky and a series of explosions.

"Is this what everyone's been calling the violent activities planned by the Fayun Mission?" Shana whispered anxiously, clutching her binoculars on the embassy rooftop after seeing the initial flashes of light.

"I'm afraid so." Her friend Melu observed all this through the scope of her sniper rifle—having been accustomed to hunting in the forest since childhood, she possessed a remarkable talent for shooting. After joining Fish's team, Ange immediately selected a top-quality sniper rifle for her, equipped with an extremely rare, high-level sight that the explorers had salvaged from the ruins of cities in the old civilization era.

This aiming system can hardly be simply called an "optical device." Besides the most basic visible light band (with up to 100x magnification), it can also detect targets and perform optical imaging in the infrared, ultraviolet, microwave, and even radio wave bands. Theoretically, it could even be used to detect and focus radio communication equipment and small radar emission sources. Furthermore, the intelligent fire control program can determine the ballistic performance of any weapon and make precise adjustments after only a few test shots; the shooter's job is essentially just to aim the crosshairs at the target.

Thanks to this equipment from the old civilization era, Melu could clearly see every detail of what was happening more than ten kilometers away: a group of strange figures, covered from head to toe in eerie black bodysuits and wearing black masks without any patterns, who looked like criminals from a detective suspense anime from the old civilization era, appeared on the street, randomly setting fires, exploding things, and attacking anyone who was unlucky enough to encounter them.

Of course, the police and security forces of Oasis Harbor also responded—awakened from their sleep by the riot that had broken out at Coral Palace a few hours earlier, they assembled according to emergency plans and began taking action to try to evacuate the crowd and maintain order. The first group of black faceless men to appear on the street were spotted by these people. Some of the more conscientious individuals tried to stop the black faceless men, but immediately became their first victims.

Like the armored warriors, the faceless black figures' tightly fitted black bodysuits could also transform to some extent, even turning into weapons. The first policeman to discover these uninvited guests and try to question their identities was pierced through the eye socket by a longsword that suddenly emerged from the man's arm before he even reached them.

The unfortunate policeman twitched twice, and before he could even figure out what was happening, he was already brain dead. His two companions were equally dumbfounded, even forgetting to draw their pistols, and were subsequently beheaded one by one by the black-faced man, like mowing grass.

Then, the mere five faceless black figures launched an attack on at least thirty or forty police officers and security forces soldiers—the latter even equipped with an armored car mounted with a machine gun. The battle was over in less than half a minute. The bodies of the soldiers and police were torn to shreds and scattered across the ground, and the armored car was reduced to a blazing pile of scrap metal. Only one of the five faceless black figures was killed.

"These people... are practically no different from armored warriors. Can we handle them?" Melu asked nervously.

"Don't worry, don't worry," said Yue Die, who had returned to the embassy to assume the position of commander-in-chief of defense. "I can guarantee that these guys will not be difficult to deal with."