Chapter 250: Thirteen Warships Vs Three
"The Voss family?"
On the deck of the foremost Locke family warship, a middle aged man clad in dark golden armor narrowed his eyes and stared at the silver warships hovering beneath the distant clouds.
Compared to the Locke family’s imposing fleet, the force dispatched by the Voss family was not particularly large.
The Locke family had brought thirteen warships in total.
Three were main battleships measuring more than five hundred meters in length, while the remaining ten had spreadout in a fan shaped formation, completely sealing off the skies surrounding Myriad Beast Mountain.
The Voss family, on the other hand, had brought only three warships.
Yet no one present dared underestimate them because of the disparity in numbers.
Warships were completely different from ordinary flying vehicles. Each one was an aerial fortress powered by monster cores and sustained by numerous mana formations.
Both their construction and operation consumed terrifying amounts of resources, so only major shelters, the Players Association, powerful races, and top factions like the Locke and Voss families could afford to possess them.
They were normally deployed only during wars, monster outbreaks, or missions involving the protection of important convoys.
However, no matter how powerful a warship was, it could not cross the natural spatial rift surrounding Myriad Beast Mountain. The space there was so severely distorted that it could completely disable a warship’s navigation formations.
As a result, the fleets of the Locke and Voss families could only hover beyond the rift and guard the skies near the isolated region where Myriad Beast Mountain was located.
The three silver warships had not adopted any elaborate battle formation. They simply hovered side by side in silence.
No exposed cannons could be seen on their surfaces, nor did they possess the heavy armor considered essential for conventional warships. Instead, silver patterns resembling neural pathways flowed slowly across their hulls.
The same emblem was engraved at the center of all three warships.
A vertical silver eye.
When the Locke family’s detection power swept across the warships, the silver pupils seemed to sense the external scrutiny, and their tightly closed eyes slowly opened.
Buzz!
An invisible mental wave swept across the sky.
The detection power released by the Locke family instantly collapsed.
Several players controlling the reconnaissance formations groaned simultaneously, their faces turning deathly pale. Two streams of blood even flowed from one player’s nostrils.
"Stop the scans."
The man in dark golden armor immediately raised his hand.
All detection formations were deactivated at once.
Although his expression did not change significantly, his gaze had clearly become much more solemn.
This was the First Floor.
Regardless of how powerful a family might be on the higher floors, every player operating on the First Floor was still restricted by its rules.
However, having their levels restricted did not mean that everyone possessed equal strength.
Equipment, skills, class inheritances, combat experience, special items, and the battle formations controlled by their families could all create a despairingly vast difference between players of the same level.
The Locke family possessed immense influence on the First Floor and had already established a foundation of its own on the Second Floor.
But the Voss family was different.
Their true core strength had long since extended into the Third Floor.
On the surface, only a single floor separated the two families.
But anyone who truly understood the Mountain of Ascension knew that the price required to advance from the Second Floor to the Third Floor was far greater than the cost of entering the Second Floor from the First.
Any family capable of establishing a firm foothold on the Third Floor possessed resources, inheritances, and intelligence networks beyond the imagination of ordinary Second Floor factions.
The man in dark golden armor stepped forward.
Amplified by the warship’s formation, his deep voice immediately spread across the entire sky.
"I am the Locke family’s chief representative on the First Floor. Young Master Kane Locke’s Life Lamp suddenly shattered not long ago. We are currently unable to confirm whether he is alive or dead, and the last place he appeared was Myriad Beast Mountain."
"From this moment onward, the Locke family will temporarily seal off the area surrounding Myriad Beast Mountain and inspect every player leaving the mountain."
"If the Voss family has merely come to receive someone, we will not interfere. However, until Young Master Kane’s whereabouts have been confirmed, I hope you will refrain from interfering with the Locke family’s actions."
When his voice faded, the sky fell silent once again.
The Voss family’s three warships offered no response.
The man in dark golden armor frowned slightly.
He had already taken the initiative to explain the situation and had shown the Voss family sufficient respect.
However, their silence made him feel as though every word he had spoken had been cast into a bottomless lake without creating the slightest ripple.
Several seconds later, the space before the central silver warship suddenly distorted.
A platform formed entirely from mental energy slowly extended outward.
An old man dressed in a silver gray combat suit walked out of the warship.
The man was not particularly tall, nor did he release any powerful aura. Yet the moment he appeared, several of the Locke family’s strongest players simultaneously tensed.
Eight figures covered from head to toe in silver armor followed behind him.
Their movements, footsteps, and even breathing rhythms were perfectly synchronized, as though they were not eight independent lives but eight bodies controlled by a single consciousness.
The Silver Eye Guards.
A combat force specially cultivated by the Voss family.
Even on the Third Floor, the Silver Eye Guards possessed a resounding reputation.
Although the eight who had appeared here were merely members stationed on the First Floor, the combat inheritances they possessed still far surpassed those of ordinary First Floor players.
The silver robed elder stood at the edge of the platform and calmly looked toward the Locke family’s fleet.
"Seal off Myriad Beast Mountain?"
His voice was not loud, yet it entered everyone’s ears with perfect clarity.
"When did Myriad Beast Mountain become the Locke family’s private territory?"
The man in dark golden armor replied in a low voice, "I have already explained the reason. Young Master Kane possesses a special status, and his Life Lamp has never experienced any problems before. Now that it has suddenly shattered, we must investigate everyone who may be connected to the matter."
"You are free to search for Kane Locke," the old man said. "But you have no right to inspect the person the Voss family has come to receive."
The man’s gaze darkened.
"Who have you come to receive?"
"That has nothing to do with you."
The answer was exceedingly plain, but it instantly filled the entire sky with tension.
Anger appeared on the faces of numerous Locke family players.
They had brought the strongest forces of their entire First Floor branch and had already shown the Voss family more than enough respect. Yet from the moment the Voss family appeared, they had shown no intention of negotiating as equals.
Behind the man in dark golden armor, a young member of the Locke family finally lost his patience and stepped forward.
"This is the First Floor, not the Third! Even if the Voss family possesses influence on the Third Floor, that does not mean you can disregard the Locke family here!"
The old man did not become angry.
He merely turned his gaze toward the young man who had spoken.
"You are correct. This truly is not the Third Floor."
The young man’s expression relaxed slightly.
However, the elder’s next sentence caused it to freeze instantly.
"That is why the forces I brought are also those stationed by the Voss family on the First Floor."
As his voice fell, the silver robed elder raised one finger.
Buzz!
The vertical eye emblems on all three silver warships opened completely.
Countless silver rays erupted from the warships’ hulls and rapidly intertwined in the sky. In the blink of an eye, they formed an enormous eye that covered dozens of kilometers.
The silver eye hovered above the clouds.
Its pupil slowly rotated.
The next moment, its gaze fell upon the Locke family’s thirteen warships.