Chapter 1167: The Leadership
General Draken roared a battle cry that shook the surrounding space as his battleaxe shattered the final layer of hardened bone protecting the inner sanctum. The thick cartilage peeled back like dried bark under the force of his kinetic blow. The organic doors splintered into thousands of sharp fragments that rained down across the soft tissue floor of the vast corridor. General Seraphina stepped through the ruined opening right behind him while her segmented whip sword danced around her like a metallic serpent tasting the air. The dark claustrophobic corridors finally gave way to a cavernous central chamber pulsating with a sickly purple light.
Rivers of glowing green fluid flowed across the uneven floor and pooled around elevated platforms made of jagged coral and bone. The air in this room felt heavy and suffocating as if the space itself was trying to crush intruders. This was the true heart of the enemy headquarters where the highest ranking officers directed their endless swarms and plotted their silent conquests.
Zhan Tian went through the breach with a calm measured stride while resting his silver glaive across his shoulder. Elder Huo Zheng and Li Yu followed closely behind the Worldkeeper while taking in the sight of the enemy leadership. The remaining generals fanned out across the chamber to secure the perimeter and lock down any potential escape routes for their prey.
At the center of the vast chamber stood the true leadership of this alien branch. There were over a dozen towering Hollow Husk commanders possessing thick chitinous armor that gleamed with dark metallic hues. Their tentacles were thicker and covered in razor sharp barbs while their bulbous black eyes radiated a cold intellect that was more than willing to throw away anyone outside. They gripped large weapons forged from organic matter that pulsed with Qi and rivaled the finest forged metals of the Myriad Realms.
"You have nowhere left to run," Zhan Tian spoke with a voice that carried the weight of rolling thunder. "Your outer defenses are falling and your grand swarm is dying to my legions. Surrender your secrets to me and you will find a swift end. Do not and we will make sure you suffer as much as possible before your end comes."
The alien leaders did not bother to respond with words or pleas for mercy. They knew the nature of war better than most and they understood that this was a battle of extermination. The largest among them raised a jagged organic spear and let out a piercing shriek that rattled the chamber walls and disturbed the green pools. The commanders blurred into motion and launched a highly coordinated assault against the invaders.
General Goliath stepped forward and coated his heavy gauntlets in dense earth Qi to intercept the leading alien. The towering brawler threw a punishing punch that collided head on with the organic spear. The resulting shockwave cracked the soft floor and sent violent ripples through the glowing green pools. The alien commander held its ground and pushed back with a surprising physical strength that made Goliath grunt before readjusting his strength. They were strong in their own right and possessed a dense physical foundation that allowed them to clash directly against the generals without being instantly crushed.
"They have some weight behind their strikes," Goliath grinned while pulling his fist back and delivering a rapid flurry of blows that forced the commander to raise its thick tentacles in defense.
General Zane rode a current of wind to flank another leader and threw his dual chakrams with a sharp flick of his wrists. The spinning blades generated tearing winds that swept across the room but the Hollow Husk leader deflected the attack by hardening its tentacles into rigid bone shields. The metal sparked violently against the organic armor before General Rai flashed into the opening like a bolt of blue lightning. Rai thrust his silver spear toward the creature's chest but the alien commander twisted its body at an unnatural angle to avoid a fatal blow while swinging a curved bone sword in retaliation that forced Rai to parry.
"Do not underestimate them just because their troops are weak," Zhan Tian instructed his generals while deflecting a barrage of spikes with a casual swing of his glaive. "Do not play around with them and end it swiftly."
The generals adjusted their tactics seamlessly and increased their offensive pressure. Seraphina used her segmented whip sword to entangle the weapons of two commanders at once while Draken charged in with a wild laugh to deliver punishing cleaves with his blood soaked battleaxe. The alien leaders fought with a desperate ferocity and utilized strange laws to bend their attacks around the heavy defenses of the human cultivators. They were skilled and powerful warriors who had conquered realms but they were simply outmatched by the seasoned veterans fighting at full power.
General Ghost stood on a raised coral platform near the entrance and fired phantom arrows that phased through the organic shields of the alien commanders to strike their vital organs. Fifth General Tarkus slammed his heavy mace against the floor and sent destructive sound vibrations rippling through the chamber that caused the alien armor to crack and splinter under the intense frequency.
Zhan Tian stepped fully into the fray and his presence alone shifted the tides of the battle even more. He swung his glaive and released a sweeping crescent of Qi that severed the weapon arm of the largest commander in a single fluid motion. The creature hissed in pain and retreated toward the center of the chamber while the other leaders quickly formed a defensive ring around it. They realized very quickly that they could not win a prolonged battle against these invaders. The human generals possessed superior techniques, deeper Qi reserves and a flawless synergy that picked their defenses apart piece by piece.
The injured leader looked around the ruined chamber and then communicated a silent command to its kin through their mental link. A unified sense of grim resolution washed over the remaining Hollow Husk commanders as they knew their physical bodies would perish today but they refused to let their conquerors claim a clean victory and walk away unscathed.
The alien leaders plunged their organic weapons deep into their own chests and began to chant in a guttural clicking language that vibrated with a dark ancient power. Their bulbous eyes rolled back into their skulls as they initiated a terrifying array built upon the foundation of their own lives.
"Stop them right now," Elder Huo Zheng shouted while stepping forward with his broadsword raised high. "They are initiating a sacrificial formation!"
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General Yue plucked a rapid series of sharp notes on her guqin to send lethal threads of Qi toward the chanting leaders. The silver threads struck the aliens but instead of cutting their flesh, the Qi was absorbed into a sudden vortex of blood red energy that erupted from their bodies. The leaders were sacrificing their own vitality to power something far more dangerous than themselves and the resulting energy field deflected any incoming attacks. There was no stopping such a thing once it had begun.
The walls of the vast cavernous chamber began to melt and drip like hot wax. The hardened bone and pulsing purple flesh liquefied into a torrent of raw Qi and thick blood essence. The sacrifice did not stop at the walls of the command room. Outside in the void, the millions of remaining Hollow Husk creatures fighting the Four Legions suddenly froze in place. They dropped their weapons and shrieked in unison as their bodies rapidly dissolved into red mist. The leaders were sacrificing the lives of their entire surviving swarm and melting their own people down to generate enough energy for their final ritual.
The grand organic fortress itself began to collapse and dissolve into the void. The rivers of green fluid, the thousands of breeding pools and the thick outer shells were all converted into raw power. Everything was used and converted into an ocean of corrupted Qi and more importantly a vast sea of blood essence. The torrent of blood and energy rushed into the center of the chamber and formed an enormous swirling vortex above the dying leaders. Space warped and tore under the pressure of the gathered energy as the leaders used the sacrifice to tear open an enormous spatial rift leading to an unknown abyss.
"Fall back and group up," Zhan Tian ordered while raising a free hand to project a Qi shield over his generals. The resulting shockwave from the tearing space threatened to pull them into the rift and crush their bodies if they remained.
The spatial doorway expanded rapidly and a suffocating aura leaked out from the other side. It was an ancient terrifying presence that defied natural logic and made the void itself tremble in fear. The alien leaders fell to their knees as their bodies withered away into dry husks and they offered their last drops of blood essence to widen the portal for their master.
However a strange phenomenon occurred as the vortex spun wildly. The rift struggled to expand past a certain point and the edges of the portal began to flicker unevenly. The swirling blood essence sputtered and the raw Qi fueling the portal seemed to run dry much faster than the alien commanders had anticipated or calculated. The largest leader let out a confused and panicked shriek as it looked at the struggling vortex with its dying breath. They had calculated the amount of sacrifice needed based on the vast numbers of their swarm and the density of their organic fortress. It should have been more than enough to open the gate fully.
Standing safely behind the generals Li Yu watched the failing portal and a sudden realization dawned on him as he gripped the shaft of Star Abyss. He had been a very busy man since the beginning of this campaign and especially during this final battle. He had not just been sucking away Qi with his ethereal Koi to boost his own cultivation. He had been hooking suicide seals and capturing thousands of crippled survivors to build his aquatic legion inside his Koi Sanctuary.
More importantly, he had been sweeping the battlefield for dead bodies as well. The corpses of the alien fodder were highly nutritious and he had stored mountains of them inside his Koi Sanctuary to serve as free feed for the various aquatic beasts growing in his inner world. This was something he commonly did through any battlefield he was on with the only exception being human bodies. He would never miss such a rare opportunity to gather free resources for his Koi Sanctuary and he had collected a staggering amount of flesh and bone while the Four Legions fought the swarm. He didn’t have much else to do during the engagement.
Because Li Yu had siphoned away so many bodies and drained such a vast amount of ambient energy, the total volume of blood essence and Qi available for the ritual was significantly lower than the leaders had calculated. They never expected anyone to be gathering and taking away such things during the battle, with the loss of Qi being the most significant since Li Yu was just draining everything as fast as he could. The sacrifice was starved of the vital fuel it needed to fully complete the grand summoning. His own unyielding greed for resources and his desire to feed his pets had unknowingly sabotaged the enemy plan right under their noses.
The alien leader let out a final despairing wail as its body turned to ash realizing their god would not be able to cross over properly.
The rift stabilized but it was far weaker and narrower than intended. The edges of the spatial tear sparked with chaotic lightning as the portal fought to remain open. From the depths of the dark portal a towering entity emerged. It was a Colossal Squid of nightmare proportions with skin that seemed to shift through colors not found in the natural world. Its giant bulbous eyes held a cruel but ancient intellect and its enormous tentacles were covered in jagged maws that snapped at the empty air. The horror radiated a supreme power that made even the generals tighten their grips on their weapons and prepare for a tough fight.
The Colossal Squid let out a deafening roar that shook the remains of the melted fortress and tried to push its enormous body through the spatial doorway. The dark rift groaned and cracked but the opening was simply too small. The severe lack of sacrificial energy meant the portal could not accommodate the true size of the ancient beast so it could not fully enter.
The squid pushed its horrifying head and several of its giant tentacles through the rift but its main body became firmly wedged in the spatial tear. The portal sparked with violent energy that began to cut into the creature's thick hide and caused it to shriek in genuine rage as it diverted its own power into widening the portal itself. It was stuck halfway between its own abyss and the current realm.
"The portal is failing to let it through," Elder Huo Zheng observed while lowering his broadsword slightly and letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "It cannot bring its full might into this realm."
"Its power is restricted and its mobility is largely gone," Zhan Tian noted with a sharp predatory smile forming on his face. The Worldkeeper recognized the opportunity presenting itself. The enemy had summoned a supreme terror from who knows where but failed to give it room to fight properly.
The Colossal Squid thrashed its free tentacles and lashed out at the generals in a blind fury. The giant appendages carried enough force to shatter what was in its path and warp the surrounding space but the creature could not advance forward. It was tethered tightly to the shrinking rift and unable to utilize its full array of ancient laws or its overwhelming physical bulk. With it also having to divert its own Qi to open the rift further, it was like it was fighting with an arm tied behind its back and on one leg.
"This is our chance," Zhan Tian declared while his glaive hummed with an intense silver light that pushed back the terrifying aura of the beast. "The creature is trapped and cannot maneuver. We will cut it down before it can find a way to break free or expand the rift. Focus your attacks on its exposed limbs and blind its eyes. Do not let it retreat back in, we kill it today to end a threat for tomorrow!"
The generals rallied around their lord and prepared to unleash their most devastating techniques upon the trapped horror. Li Yu watched from the rear and gripped his staff while a sense of anticipation filled his chest. His accidental and still unknowing sabotage had given his grandfather the perfect opening and now they were going to slay a creature of ancient legend right here in the void.