Chương 148: Chapter 147: The EX-Rank Calamity Gate, and the Reflective Barrier

The sky above the Mariana Trench, at the heart of the Pacific, was split open by an enormous violet-black spatial tear. Waves rose and crashed under the storm. From the rift came a swarm of Void Demon Dragons escorting a colossal spiked sphere of black alloy and violet magma descending toward the atmosphere. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! On live international coverage, an emergency coalition of Earth's strongest Hunters poured fire, lightning, and blade-work into the Calamity entity's reflective barrier.

But every attack that touched the spiked armor bounced back at 100% force. BOOM! A reflected shockwave scattered the coalition across the raging sea, forcing rescue crews to pull them back. Thomas Hale, bloodied and exhausted on a rescue craft, stared toward the rift and said into a helicopter microphone:"Our attacks are feeding the reflection. Pull the teams back and find another approach!" In the office on the 120th floor of Lotte World Tower.

Lucian sat cross-legged on the sofa, bamboo chopsticks in hand, calmly slurping down a bowl of spicy beef instant noodles. He watched the 8K TV footage of a prominent Hunter struggling on the ocean and clicked his tongue.

"Ugly fight. There's a repeating maintenance seam under the reflective armor and nobody has reached it - they're all just headbutting the shell." Evelyn, beside him, typing on her laptop, looked up while chewing a bite of sausage.

"They do not have the old-network reference patterns you do, so how would they know which seam is a maintenance seam?" This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Lucian finished his noodles, set the bowl down, and stood, stepping out onto the balcony to look toward the East Sea. If the Calamity destroyed Earth, the new pilot, the people in it, and the world Lucian had only just begun to understand would be in danger.

A responsible investor never lets a cosmic software bug wreck his portfolio. Click. The office door opened. Eleanor, in gleaming white-and-gold holy knight armor, the Royal Holy Sword blazing at her hip, walked in carrying his black overcoat, draping it over his shoulders.

"This time... let's go clean up this 'space junk' together, Chairman." Lucian slid his arms into the coat sleeves, straightened the snow-rose pin on his chest, and smiled.

"Let's go. Gotta protect our customer base and consumer market, after all." Ting! Ting! Ting! The dim black System panel opened, filling his entire field of vision: [UNIFIED SYSTEM V2. 0: LOCAL LEGACY ANALYSIS] Detected: a possible Hyperion/old-network defense-cleanup subsystem embedded in the Calamity entity. Its reflective barrier and destructive countdown appear to be a corrupted local maintenance routine. No global power estimate is available or required.

Physical inspection of a specific authenticated maintenance port is required. [LOCAL INTERVENTION AVAILABLE: limited to this legacy device if an existing credential is accepted.] Lucian closed the panel and headed for the evacuation vehicle. BOOM! On the rooftop of Lotte World Tower, a chartered armored response aircraft with Vance Earth Holdings markings lifted from its pad under licensed emergency clearance.

It climbed through the storm corridor toward the Pacific under the direction of the emergency authorities. Around the world, viewers saw a small Vance Earth Holdings vessel approach the edge of the Mariana storm. International broadcasters screamed into their microphones in unison:"A Vance Earth Holdings response team has arrived under the emergency coordination plan!" Near the open hatch of the response aircraft, cutting through the raging storm at the heart of the calamity.

Astra, in a modest flower-print dress, stood barefoot near the open hatch, perfectly balanced against the aircraft's motion. She drew the Sun-Cleaving Dragon Blade from its sheath. CLANG! A controlled blade of golden holy light opened a path through the outer storm and scattered several approaching dragons without turning the ocean into a second disaster. Astra turned back to Lucian, ash-gray eyes blinking.

"Lucian... this thing is not grilled squid, is it?"