I became a god through frontier slaughter, and I crushed the academy's prodigies!

At an altitude of 10,000 meters in the stratosphere, icy winds cut through the clouds like blades.

A dark purple starship, a kilometer long, activated its highest level of optical cloaking and silently hovered in the thin air.

A honeycomb-shaped energy shield circulates on the surface of the starship, completely isolating it from the violent air currents from the outside.

Monsa's thick arms braced against the control panel, the dark purple veins on the back of his hands bulging like gnarled tree roots.

It's been three whole days.

A long wait of seventy-two hours.

They laid a trap, and Gu Yan prepared a ninth-tier natal puppet, just waiting for the human boy to step into it.

But the opponent, just a step away from the death line, stopped without warning and turned to clean up the battlefield!

Didn't the intelligence report say that Shen Tian was a young man who was ambitious and eager for quick success?

The last time he went to the Black Abyss Rift, he was able to go alone into the trap set for him by Xu Daozhen and the Purple Spirit Clan.

Why didn't it work this time?

Are we going to give up now and become cowards?

Is it...

Can he sense the presence of the Ancient Nightmare?

The moment the thought crossed Monsa's mind, he dismissed it.

How is that possible!

Ancient Nightmare has always existed in the form of a spiritual entity, without merging with its natal puppet.

It's absolutely impossible for it to produce even the slightest fluctuation.

The transport ship also had devices to shield mental fluctuations, so Shen Tian had no way of detecting the aura of the Ancient Nightmare.

Unless he can predict the future!

"You cunning beast..."

Monsa's voice was squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Our invisibility device can perfectly conceal ninth-grade spiritual power. How could a mere human youth see through it?"

Gu Yan and Meng Sa had the same idea.

However, Gu Yan, a ninth-grade mentalist, still did not understand Shen Tian's methods.

"It's pointless to dwell on how he saw through it now."

Monsa's breath hitched, his chest heaving violently. He was acutely aware of his predicament.

One hundred thousand expensive killing puppets—that's a whole year's worth of military production capacity for the Purple Spirit Clan!

More than 10,000 mentalists are elites who have been trained with countless resources!

But when faced with the human race's exploding spiders cobbled together from inferior pig iron and crude spirit runes, a bunch of iron lumps that completely abandoned mobility in pursuit of maximum firepower.

But they returned defeated!

The human race used an almost thuggish attrition rate to crush their proud puppet army into scrap metal.

To win with fewer troops and to overcome the strong with the weak.

An unprecedented and utterly humiliating disgrace!

"Half of the wealth we brought with us has been emptied."

"Tianyun Prefecture didn't hand over Shen Tian, ​​and instead we suffered a crushing defeat in Jiangcheng. Have you considered the consequences if this news gets back to the clan?"

Monsa's pupils contracted sharply.

The Purple Spirit Clan is not a monolithic entity either.

Within the Supreme Council, the open and covert struggles between different factions have continued for centuries.

He and Gu Yan were of the same faction, and this time they only obtained command of the expeditionary force after signing a military pledge.

Before setting off, they made a grand speech in the council, vowing to wash away the shame of the mission's destruction with the blood of the human race.

But now?

If they return to the Purple Spirit Clan with this dismal record, it would be a dismal failure.

The old foxes from other factions will definitely pounce like sharks smelling blood.

They would be stripped of their military power, and even their families would be uprooted, becoming victims of political struggle.

"No refunds allowed."

Monsa's voice was terribly low.

"But if we continue fighting, do we still have a chance of winning?"

Monsa's eyes were bloodshot.

They were in a dilemma.

In the face of the unfathomable war potential of Tianyun Prefecture, without the intervention of Mengsa and Guyan, their remaining forces may not necessarily gain any advantage.

If they retreat, what awaits them is a political reckoning that is even more humiliating than dying on the battlefield.

"We cannot back down."

Monsa suddenly turned around, his massive body exuding a terrifying sense of oppression, instantly compressing the surrounding air and producing a series of muffled sonic booms.

"We must lure Shen Tian out so the two of us can join forces to kill him. That way, we can have a proper explanation when we get back!"

Gu Yan looked at him,

"What do you want to do?"

Monsa strode to the map.

The light screen instantly magnified, revealing the terrain surrounding Tianyun Prefecture.

Monsa's finger slammed heavily onto the coordinates of Jiangcheng.

"What kind of person is Shen Tian? He is officially recognized by Xu Daozhen as the number one genius in the Dragon Kingdom."

"What do you think would happen if we destroyed his Jiangcheng right under his nose?"

"I refuse to believe he won't chase after us!"

The ancient nightmare's spirit body, suspended in mid-air, rippled slightly, and a look of horror flashed across its illusory face.

"You want to use the Annihilation Cannon?"

Even Gu Yan couldn't help but marvel at this audacious plan.

"This place is a full three thousand kilometers away from Jiangcheng. If we want to carry out a devastating attack from this distance, the main ship's energy alone is simply not enough."

"Then transfer all the energy from those fifty starships!"

Monsa turned his head abruptly.

"Activate all main cannons! Converge fifty annihilation beams into a single point! I will wipe Jiangcheng off this planet in an instant!"

Gu Yan fell silent.

The Purple Spirit Clan officers in charge of piloting the starships were all trembling with fear, not daring to even breathe loudly.

Draining the energy of fifty starships means that after this attack, the entire Purple Spirit Clan expeditionary force will completely lose its mobility and defensive shields.

If Shen Tian comes, it will be a complete life-or-death struggle.

Even if Shen Tian is killed, it will be a Pyrrhic victory.

If other experts from within the Dragon Kingdom were to arrive, the consequences would be even more unimaginable.

Xu Daozhen promised that he would not intervene.

But Xu Daozhen isn't the only old monster in the Dragon Kingdom!

Even now, the Dragon Kingdom is one of the strongest human nations on Earth!

This is a high-stakes gamble with no way out.

"If we don't gamble, and we go back with this pile of junk, do you think those old fogies will let us off the hook?"

Monsa saw through Gu Yan's hesitation, and his voice suddenly rose, making the glass vibrate.

"Once Shen Tian is dead, the human army will be leaderless. We can not only atone for our crimes but also completely control this territory!"

A ghostly blue light flickered in the ancient nightmare's illusory eyes.

After a while.

"Give me root privileges".

Ancient Nightmare's voice was icy and chilling.

Monsa let out a wild laugh.

"Activate the Purple Annihilation Cannon!"

The stratosphere at an altitude of 10,000 meters.

Fifty massive starships, which had been operating at the highest level of optical cloaking, simultaneously removed their disguises.

The dark purple hull resembled fifty prehistoric behemoths lurking deep in the clouds, suddenly revealing their ferocious fangs.

"The energy core is operating at overload."

"Shield system deactivated."

"Convert all energy to the main gun array!"

Electronic sounds echoed inside each transport ship.

Visible dark purple energy flowed like rivers flowing into the sea, rushing madly towards the main gun muzzle at the bow of the starship along the energy loop on its surface.

The surrounding air was instantly sucked away, and the violent energy fluctuations distorted the light.

The stratospheric gales were torn apart by this force, creating vacuum zones hundreds of meters wide.

Fifty cannons, each over thirty meters in diameter, simultaneously lit up with a blinding, eerie light.

That was a terrifying energy capable of annihilating all matter.

The clouds were dyed an eerie purplish-red by the light, as if the entire sky were bleeding.

Main gun charging progress: 30%...50%...70%...