Chapter 29: On the Way, Almost There
Joshua had been waiting for a very long time.
Ever since that day he struck the silver ancient dragon, startling it from its slumber, he had been waiting—waiting to travel to that unknown world, to face it with his true body.
Joshua was warlike; that was a fact. Joshua had always wanted to challenge an ancient dragon, to witness firsthand the power of the so-called 'perfect being' and 'primordial life'; that was also a fact. There was no doubt that his desire to fight the ancient dragon was his own personal wish. He genuinely wanted to cross swords with it, to determine who was superior, even if the creature originally had no knowledge of him and harbored no conflict or grudge whatsoever.
—But even being so warlike, Joshua had always adhered to one principle: never strike first against an existence that had not shown hostility. No matter how much he craved battle, at the very least, it had to be an open and fair challenge. What he had done over half a month ago, influenced by his divinity, was unquestionably a sneak attack. He had taken advantage of the ancient dragon's unpreparedness, forcibly swung a fist at it, and startled it from its slumber.
The chain reaction triggered by this action had even caused a massive uproar across the entire wide world sphere in the vicinity, undoubtedly causing trouble for the ancient dragon.
Even if Joshua had a thousand reasons, he could not erase this fact. An evil deed born from the inability to control one's own desires was far too laughable, far too shameful.
"I did it. I'll bear it."
He thought this, and could not wait to wash away this disgrace. Undoubtedly, in the multiverse, they were not the only team chasing the ancient dragon's trail. Now that the ancient dragon's roar had stirred ripples around the Abyss, countless demons and alien races were already roaming the periphery of that world, coveting the ancient dragon's power.
Driving these beings away was the warrior's goal this time... Of course, Joshua did not consider this compensation for his previous reckless actions, nor was it out of any goodwill.
After all, there could only be one person who would ultimately challenge the ancient dragon.
"Joshua, do you sense it? The Observer has detected massive space-time fluctuations... Tch, just how many people are around here?"
In the endless dark void, a white airship was riding the currents of space-time, racing swiftly through the void. This was the beloved ship of Baniel and William, the 'Observer', after multiple modifications. Utilizing the ancient elven sunship technology, it possessed the ability to navigate freely through the void, one of the fruits of the two legendary mages' explorations of ancient ruins in earlier years.
This small airship, no more than one hundred and fifty meters in total length, was shaped like an inverted trapezoid, with elliptical side cabins hanging on both sides. Though it appeared compact, it was fully equipped, even carrying void observation devices that were considered top-tier even at the Sky-Piercing White Tower. At this moment, Baniel was using this observation instrument to detect abnormal energy fluctuations in the surrounding space-time. The legendary mage drew in a sharp breath: "The Abyss demons of the Sixth Abyss! The Five-Colored Dragon Clan! Three completely different tracks, all seemingly from different worlds!"
"That means at least five factions capable of traversing the void have detected the ancient dragon's presence and are rapidly approaching that world." Beside him, William, who was controlling the Observer's movement, frowned. "We know the Abyss Lord of the Sixth Abyss. The Glutton Demon King Goliath commands five Demon Lords, a super-large faction even within the entire Abyss. They frequently invade other abysses and worlds. The Five-Colored Dragon Clan are also old acquaintances. Though they've been beaten rather miserably by the Church of the Seven Gods lately, they still have at least three legendary Dragon Kings as their backbone. As for the other tracks... they're hard to identify, but they're definitely not from Mycroft."
"Tch, it's really lively." Baniel shook his head. "But that's to be expected. The appearance of a primordial lifeform is an extremely rare opportunity for any civilization. To be honest, most of the worlds relatively close to us are on the verge of destruction, about to merge into the Abyss."
Joshua thought about the nearby Carlis World and the Ilgena World, which had been attacked by the Calamity Evil God, and couldn't help but nod in agreement. They were indeed worlds on their last breath.
"But we don't care about all that—if they want to save their own worlds, they can work for it themselves. If they block our way to see the ancient dragon, they'd better be ready to get blasted away!"
Having roughly guessed the possible origins of the unknown factions, Baniel and William immediately became spirited. Among them, the white-haired old mage Baniel turned to his old friend and flashed a smile: "Haha, this adventure is really thrilling! At least nine legends, five factions capable of traversing the void—have we ever played this big in the past few decades?"
"Of course not before—but now we have!"
William controlled the Observer as it sped through the void, laughing heartily as well. "How interesting! A free and unrestrained adventure, unbound by anything, challenging the limits of oneself, with no worries about the consequences—this is why we never joined any faction and kept our freedom!"
Suddenly, a white arc of light could be seen lighting up in the void. It warped space-time, advancing along the currents, passing by one world after another that shone with brilliance in the Great Magic Tide, drawing closer and closer to its destination.
But just as it was about to reach its predetermined target, a massive fleet abruptly appeared in the void.
In the dark void of the multiverse, filled with endless space-time turbulence, observing in such an environment required specific instruments or a strength powerful enough to pierce through space-time. But no matter how fine the instruments or how great the strength, the observation range had its limits. For the three legendary powerhouses aboard the Observer, just as they were about to reach the world where the ancient dragon resided, a massive, peculiar fleet suddenly appeared at the edge of their observation range.
This was a fleet composed of thousands of spherical warships. These ships had an inconspicuous deep blue coating, and their outer armor, resembling biological scales, was emblazoned with a peculiar emblem. Most of the spherical warships were of equal size, about four hundred meters in diameter, while the central one, presumably the flagship, was a giant spherical warship nearly a full kilometer in length. Its massive size and distinctive sky-blue coating made its special status obvious at a glance.
"Warning, halt, this space-time domain has been blockaded by us!"
"A void fleet. Seems like they want us to stop and not go forward."
Joshua raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Looks somewhat spectacular. Mycroft Continent hasn't even popularized floating warships yet, has it? What do we do? Sink them or just break through?"
"You call this spectacular?"
Hearing Joshua's words, William couldn't help but snort. Controlling the Observer, he shook his head. "To be honest, if the Mycroft World hadn't yet developed the most basic mana industrial system, unable to turn our research progress into tangible results, this kind of fleet?"
"If we were to fully civilianize and popularize the power we legendary powerhouses wield, I can't even imagine how powerful the entire Mycroft civilization would become... This kind of fleet?"
Baniel also snorted. "Crude application of runes. Laughable."
"Since they haven't opened fire, let's reluctantly just break through."
"Vessel ahead."
A powerful magical fluctuation, capable of transmitting even through the void, emanated from the giant spherical warship. Inside the command center of the flagship, a creature with an upper body resembling an octopus and a lower body like a worm, possessing a massive head and tentacles, was controlling its magic to resonate with the warship, commanding the entire fleet to be on alert: "Please turn back immediately. If you continue to act, we will open fire...?!"
With this strange creature's command, the entire spherical fleet immediately released astonishing magical fluctuations. Countless scale-like pieces inscribed with runes flew off from these spherical warships, forming simple yet intricate giant arrays in the void. Energy rapidly condensed within the arrays, and deep red magical beams were about to fire. But just as the flagship's controller sensed that the Observer had no intention of slowing down and was about to order an attack, it suddenly halted all actions, even holding its breath through the respiratory pores on its back.
—By the ancestors of generations, what in the world is going on?!
Dakrodas, the commander-in-chief of the Fetira Federation's First Fleet and the controller of the flagship, could not believe what he was seeing. He stood dumbfounded in the command cabin of the spherical warship, staring wide-eyed at the insane scene on the magical screen before him.
At the other end of the void, that small white flying craft, originally rated with a threat level of less than five in the warship's prediction system, equivalent to drifting debris in the void. Such a weak flying vessel surely belonged to a civilization with no threat at all, which was why he had casually ordered its expulsion and planned to destroy it... But just now, the situation had suddenly changed.
"Five, ninety-two thousand, one million six hundred thousand, seventy-four million, three hundred and eighty million?!"
Dakrodas stared blankly as the numbers in the prediction system skyrocketed at an inconceivable speed, finally soaring to a bottom line that even ten First Fleets could not match. At first, he thought the warship's mana system had malfunctioned, but the subsequent energy detection system dealt him a heavy blow: "Energy index exceeding five hundred million, ultra-high energy alert, recommend evasion?!"
Were they facing a miniature sun?
Dakrodas still refused to believe it. Although he knew the multiverse was vast and boundless, filled with countless powerful beings, the strength of the Fetira Federation, which had once conquered several worlds, was no illusion. Even though the federation had been severely weakened by civil war, with even its original world on the brink of destruction, he could not simply accept that such a small ship possessed power far exceeding their entire fleet. So Dakrodas unhesitatingly abandoned the possibly malfunctioning detection system of the spherical warship and instead extended his own magical power, trying to peer into the true nature of that small ship—
And so, he saw the so-called truth.
It was three vast and majestic wills. One seemed to be formed from countless overlapping spiderwebs, with innumerable mental circuits composing a spiritual system as complex as an entire world. One was like the embodiment of runes, with millions of completely different runes, representing countless meanings, manipulated like toys under his control, able to be freely combined into all things. And the last one was like a sun, or like red-hot steel—solid and indestructible, yet possessing a heat that could burn everything. Though not as unfathomable as the previous two wills, it had a kind of pure power.
Each will controlled enough energy to drive the entire fleet for several months, and this energy was perfectly restrained within their bodies. They had not released it before, so the warship system had misjudged their combat power as five. But now, the still-rising numbers clearly told Dakrodas that their proud strength was nothing in the face of certain super lifeforms.
The entire Fetira fleet stood frozen in place in the void, allowing the Observer, only half their size or even smaller, to pass slowly through the gaps in their formation. All the runic attack arrays they had released seemed paralyzed, respectfully ushering the Rune Master's passage and departure. It was only when the Observer had completely disappeared from the Fetira fleet's detection range that everyone seemed to wake from a dream, their bodies oozing cooling fluid akin to cold sweat.
"...Too dangerous."
After the Observer had completely vanished, Dakrodas trembled as he used his tentacles to wipe the cooling fluid flowing from his body. He couldn't help but murmur, "Indeed, matters concerning primordial life are not something we can participate in... Report to the council, and notify the forward detachment. We are aborting the mission... First Fleet, prepare to return!"
The efficiency of the Fetirans was commendable. Within just a few minutes, the entire fleet had completed its maneuvering. Then, this peculiar spherical fleet decisively turned back and vanished into the void.
It was the right choice.
Because by now, the vicinity of the Chronos World had become a battlefield where Demon Lords, legendary Dragon Kings, super warships comparable to legendary powerhouses, and unknown super lifeforms were all confronting each other. For the sake of seizing the ancient dragon's power, no one would back down. A brutal great war was about to unfold.
And at that moment, a small white airship was still sailing through the void.
Already on the way, almost there.