Chương 623: First Attack.

While they were planning, Altherion's fleet traversed the voids at a constant speed. Their direction was fixed on Nualis, clearly wanting to use it as a temporary resting station. The journey had been long, so stopping for a while to refresh their minds before fighting was a good idea. Some complained, though. One of Altherion's closest subordinates, Draevin, leaned back on his chair and commented.

"Lord Altherion, while I do understand your desire to do things perfectly, we don't really need it, right? What can she do? You and Lord Vaarn are enough to lay waste to that world. We have nine Sixth Energy Cycles in total, and a fleet of over 100, 000 <Fourth Energy Cycles>, 5, 000 <Fifth Energy Cycles>, 7 <Sixth Energy Cycles>, and 2 Star Lords. An army like this is enough to scare off a world with a Level 150 True World Tree, not to mention anything weaker.

Altherion nodded, standing straight in the ship's main cabin. Nevertheless, there was something that wasn't really clicking for him.

"Check the trajectories of the planets." Confusion flashed on some of them, but they did so either way.

"Completed. You'll receive the information package at your personal data viewing center, Star Lord Altherion." Altherion checked the data and then compared it with what they saw over 4 years ago, when they were at the edge of the Solar System's Oort Cloud.

"... Odd." Marisella blinked and asked, confused.

"What's odd, Lord Altherion?"

"This." He shared the information with the four confidants accompanying him. They were all Level 150 and above and had followed him for many years. After checking the information he shared, they also showed puzzled looks.

"Is there a jamming or interfering aura from the star?"

"That won't get such big variables in orbits. There are some that are even more ridiculous. Look at these over the years." One of them frowned.

"Is there some sort of accelerating field?"

"There must be. Otherwise, it doesn't really explain the strange paths of these few celestial bodies. Look, this one comet made a complete U-turn in just a few months, even accelerating to almost double its speed." All of them began exchanging ideas, and Altherion showed a stern look.

"That's why we must not take things lightly. Remember that you can die at any moment while traversing the void. The number of odd variables across the galaxy is too many to be excessively confident. Since we are here to do a job and cut the weeds at their roots, we must do it properly. Otherwise, we will see that weed come back stronger next time around."

"Understood." All of them were still puzzled about the many oddities that Altherion pointed at. They even discovered other ones.

"Warning. Prepare for impact." Altherion looked over and frowned.

"When did this asteroid's path deviate to meet with ours?"

"We didn't notice it until recently, Star Lord Altherion. The dodging maneuvers would break our stealth formation. If any of the Covenant's envoys are checking the Solar System, we will be discovered." The main ship control room sends these messages. Altherion read them closely and nodded.

"Activate shields. A single asteroid won't be a problem, even if it is somewhat large." As he was speaking, he received a communication request from the other World-Type ship. After checking, he saw that it was Vaarn.

"What's wrong, Vaarn?"

"Altherion, we lost one of our Moon-Type ships. They are not on our radar. Can you check yours?" Altherion frowned and checked. He also told the main crew to give it a look. While he was checking, the asteroid struck the ship, causing it to tremble. Even some lights flickered momentarily. Altherion looked around once and asked.

"Status of shields?"

"Ninety-two percent."

"Good. Any news of the lost Moon-Type Spaceship?"

"None."

"Hmm…" Marisella asked, confused.

"Which one is it?" The crew answered.

"It's Moon-Type number 34. The last trace found of it was exactly twenty minutes and forty-three seconds ago." Draevin shook his head.

"This Solar System is too odd. Lord Altherion, we can't simply lose one of our ships. There are quite a few troops in that one."

"How were our numbers affected?"

"We have 35 Moon-Types, carrying 70% of our army equally distributed among them. Losing one of them is like losing 2% of our army."

"So… about 1, 000 <Fourth Energy Cycles> and 100 <Fifth Energy Cycles>? That's certainly not negligible. Not to mention the cost of a Moon-Type ship." Altherion sighed, his face complicated.

"Made a turn, we'll search for them for a month. If there are no traces, then we will continue forward and consider them as lost in action." This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Everyone's faces became a bit solemn. This was placed as an <Exploration Mission> by Altherion because he couldn't spell out his wish for revenge.

If they lost too many ships and people in an <Exploration Mission> without gaining results, punishment awaited them back home. Meanwhile, the Moon-Type 34 had been sucked into a spatial pocket Liu Shu created. This type of tactic used ridiculous amounts of Aether Mana and Anima Energy. Therefore, once she created it, she spent 2 <Eternity Strands> to keep its integrity.

'I have… seven hours. Let's hope I can deal with it. In this amount of time.' While using a single <Eternity Strand> and using the following effect: "You can maintain one effect permanently until the <Eternity Strand> duration runs out", Liu Shu could maintain the new sub-dimensional space for a little while, but not for long. Inside the Moon-Type 34, the soldiers were confused. At one moment, they were traversing the dark void, and suddenly, all lights disappeared. Before, it was dark, but with glittering stars.

Now, it was pitch black, except for the light of their ship. The leader of this ship was a Level 149 human named Valith.

"What happened? Report!" The one looking at the screens was stumped.

"Lord, we've been dimensionally moved. Our ship's Rune and Arrays tried to prevent it, but the strength of the caster was too strong. We are most likely dealing with a <Sixth Energy Cycle> at the Star Lord level. Such control is otherwise impossible." While they discussed, someone spoke with a hint of confusion.

"What is that? I can see something blue glowing over there."

"Blue?" Valith frowned and glanced over. At first, the blue glow was small, stretching a single line in the distance. Yet, in the next second, these blue glowing lines started appearing from all corners around them. Valith was quick to order and didn't panic.

"Activate <Blaze Lights>. Let's illuminate this void!" The shield of the Moon-Type 34 overcharged, generating a massive flash of light.

"Reveal photo evidence." Valith looked over at the side, but the person who processed the photos was frozen, her face losing all color. Valith became angry.

"What are you waiting for!? Share them!"

"L-L-Lord Valith, we are in deep trouble. We need to flee!" Valith clicked his tongue and strolled over, pushing the woman aside to look at the photo images. The woman fell to the ground, her legs having grown weak. Once Valith looked, he was no better than the woman. Even when he was a captain, the origin of the blue lines that covered their surroundings was nothing but a scene out of a nightmare.

"Roots? Didn't Lord Vaarn say that this area didn't have a True World Tree that surpassed the planetary level!?" One of the massive roots stretching across the skies moved, lashing at the Moon-Type 34. Valith noticed and shouted.

"Shields at maximum output! We are inside a dimensional space created by a World Tree!" The Moon-Type 34's outer shell lit up, the shields glowing brightly. Then, a root as thick as the ship struck down. BOOM! [-205, 400, 000] (2, 054)! While the World-Type ships had around 10 <Phoer Stars> of defense, the Moon Types only had 1 <Phoer Star> worth of it. Of course, that was still 100, 000 <Phoer Cores> worth of defense.

If you then added the damage negation runes and arrays, penetrating that 1 <Phoer Star> worth of defense would be quite difficult. Still, the first strike was hard enough to hurl the ship through the void, causing the people inside to fall to their feet. The one checking on the shield's integrity shouted, his voice trembling.

"Shield's integrity at 97. 9%!"

"She blew off over 2% with one casual hit!?" Valtih had a stupified expression, and he shouted.

"Activate all weapons! Attack indiscriminately around us!"

"Lord, this is but a remote part of the World Tree! Attacking won't damage her greatly!"

"Do you think that we are trying to damage her!? Destroy the roots and escape this sub-dimension! We need to inform Star Lord Vaarn and Star Lord Altherion that the World Tree has awakened and developed far beyond our measures!" When he spoke, Liu Shu's voice echoed in the sub-dimensional space.

"Escape? You are far too tangled within my roots for that. I will have all of you die on me here. <Stop>." Everyone in the ship froze for over a second. During that one second, Liu Shu gathered her energy to create another attack. Ternary essences gathered, the space around the Moon-Type 34 twisted, and Liu Shu's power manifested.

"<Elemental Lord Willow Catastrophe: Space Collapse>, <Eternity Strand>...." Both skills manifested in the world and were then combined. With that, one of Liu Shu's most brutal attacks formed once more, previously used to attack Orwen.

"... <Eternal Void>." CRASH! The space around the Moon-Type 34 shattered like broken glass, spatial fissures trying to cut everything into pieces by ruthlessly ripping the atoms apart. The strength behind this attack was incomparable to Liu Shu's root strike, and it manifested as a string of damage numbers. [-495, 560, 000] (4, 955)! [-495, 560, 000] (4, 955)! [-495, 560, 000] (4, 955)!

"<Accelerate>!" The tick rate of the skill sped up, the spatial rifts digging into the ship's defense and tearing it apart.

"Damage to the ship's outer layer! 93%! 88%! 83%!... At this rate, the ship will collapse in twenty seconds!" Valith's face paled, but he quickly reacted.

"Bear with it! Spatial rifts mend themselves quickly! We only need to bear the storm, and we can then retaliate!" Messages of damage throughout the ship reached Valith one after another.

"The left central cannon array is damaged and unoperational!"

"The right energy wing is damaged. Energy recovery rate is down by 34%!"

"The Solar Energy Conversion Layer is destroyed! We'll need to be towed out of here!"

"Frontal Cannon malfunction! Minor energy weapons have all been compromised!" Valith's conviction of the space rift closing began to falter. The one in charge of the defense shouted.

"Lord Valith, the shields are at 33% integrity! The spatial rift is not showing signs of closure!"

"How is that possible!? Even if this is a subspace, the energy needed to keep a spatial rift of this magnitude open is far too high for a Level 100 being!"

"23%! 18%! LORD VALITH, ORDERS!?" Valtih's mind was blank. Orders? What did they want him to order? Their thrusters were broken, their energy wings unoperational, and their weapons had already collapsed! Liu Shu's voice echoed once more around them.

"<Elemental Lord Willow Catastrophe: Radiant Sun>, <Eternity Strand>." A ball of pure light engulfed the ship, heating up the surroundings, but instead of disappearing, the light was kept at its brightest point.

"... burn inside my <True Sun>."