Chapter 669: Race for the Secret Realm Altar

In the end, orders still outweighed everything else.

The Torch Battleships, which had slowed for just a moment, picked up speed again as soon as the Ying Clan’s Star River-class Captain barked out a strict pursuit command.

But even that brief hesitation had consequences. The Eight-Armed Serpent Demons, all of at least fifth-tier strength, used their incredible speed to widen the gap in just those few seconds.

Now, over a thousand Eight-Armed Serpent Demons were just a hair’s breadth from reaching the ground below.

“That’s the Secret Realm Altar! They’re preparing to ignite the altar’s source rules. If they succeed, they’ll gain temporary power strong enough to challenge those stronger than them. We can’t let that happen!”

No one knew exactly what comms device this Star River-class Captain from the Divine Dynasty had used, but his message rang out clearly and urgently in every Torch Battleship present.

Every captain there was the finest of the fine. In a flash, they grasped just how dangerous that so-called Secret Realm Altar could be.

Bzzz! Bzzz! Bzzz!

Suddenly, a powerful spatial ripple swept through. Leading by example, the Ying Clan’s Star River-class Battleship was the first to activate its flash-displacement ability.

Moments later, that battleship appeared right in the middle of the fast-moving Serpent Demon ranks below, making its target clear: an Eighth-Tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon.

With the Star River-class Battleship from the Divine Dynasty making the first move, every other faction’s Torch Battleships quickly followed. One after another, their flash-displacement components activated, and they blinked into position right among the Serpent Demons.

Fierce fighting erupted again, broken up by the sudden, desperate self-destructions of the Eight-Armed Serpent Demons.

But this time, the Torch Captains had learned their lesson. Before blinking into the demon horde, each one either activated their ship’s armored defenses or triggered other special defensive systems, so when the demons exploded, their losses dropped sharply.

Song Chi and his side followed suit. Even their Clan Elder and the other three joined in, diving into the Serpent Demon swarms one after another.

After all, these were just warship replicas. Even if one went down, there was nothing to lose. No reason to keep hiding at the back.

Sure, picking off a few stragglers or swiping someone else’s kill was fine sometimes. But right now, failing to step up in this crucial moment? The major powers monitoring the secret realm wouldn’t tolerate anything less.

When it came to the big picture, the Song Family always knew where their priorities lay.

In the thick of the melee, Song Chi found himself missing the High-Energy Particle Storm ability. This devastating area attack would have been perfect, especially since every allied ship nearby had their special defenses up. The timing couldn’t have been better for a big blast.

Too bad the cooldown was ten years. Even with the help of the Pusa Zen Seal, it was still two years. There was a long wait left before it would be ready again.

Still, with the awesome firepower of the Mirror Warship, Eight-Armed Serpent Demons of all ranks kept falling one after another. Out on the Demon Serpent Continent’s Hunt Contribution Leaderboard, the points for Beidou Sevenstar Hall·Yaoguang Star Tower·Jingzhe were rising at lightning speed.

……

“Serpent Prison! Serpent Demon Avatar! Now!”

In the Eighth-Tier battlefield, several of the top Eight-Armed Serpent Demons simultaneously unleashed a combination of their innate powers. Domains and phantom arms sprang into existence around them, instantly suppressing the Star River-class Battleships from the Ying Clan, Immortal Qin Industries, Beidou Sevenstar Hall, and Meng Clan.

Taking advantage of this, the only Eighth-Tier Peak Serpent Demon among them let Dominion Power surge wildly from within. Its body flickered with darkness that seemed to swallow all light.

Before the Star River-class Battleships realized what was happening, the serpent demon’s body blurred into a shadow, disappearing from the low-altitude battlefield and reappearing atop the blood-soaked bone altar below.

“No!”

The captains in those warship command rooms all paled. If the enemy managed to activate the altar, every Eight-Armed Serpent Demon present would be massively empowered—the Torch Battleships wouldn’t stand a chance.

If those forces fell, the Torch Captains hiding deeper inside the floating-land would probably be doomed too.

Worse, it would ruin the whole plan to breach the shield of the Demon Serpent Floating-Land. Everything done so far would be for nothing.

“Greedwolf! Gongshu!”

A shout rang out from within the Ying Clan’s Star River-class Battleship. Instantly, Greedwolf Hall Master from the Beidou Sevenstar Hall and Gongshu Qiu from Immortal Qin Industries responded without hesitation. The hulls of their battleships shone with brilliant colors.

Above Greedwolf Hall Master’s flagship, seven illusory Star Towers took shape: Tianquan, Tianshu, Tianji, Tianxuan, Yuheng, Yaoguang and Kaiyang. Each tower glowed a different hue, and together they blazed with dazzling rainbow light.

Song Chi also noticed that as those Star Towers were solidifying, the void above them was ripped open all at once.

Tianquan Star.

Tianshu Star.

Tianji Star.

Tianxuan Star.

Yuheng Star.

Yaoguang Star.

Kaiyang Star.

Seven ancient stars from the multiverse era projected their light through the void, illuminating the entire heavens above the core floating continent of the secret realm with brilliance.

As these legendary starlights descended, every Torch Battleship basking in their glow was imbued with a power beyond description—especially the Ying Clan’s Star River-class Battleship, whose aura became even more formidable.

Turning to Gongshu Qiu’s ship, beneath the same rainbow light, an illusory mechanical cube came into being—the Star River Mechanical Cube, a mythic relic of Immortal Qin Industries known as the Torch Jewel of Industry.

The cube primarily boosted all things mechanical, but that wasn’t all it could do. As the cube spun, one of its gathered faces fired a ray of rainbow light that pierced through the layers of Serpent Prison created by several Eighth-Tier Serpent Demons.

A special passage appeared right before the Ying Clan’s Star River-class Battleship—a corridor made from mysterious mechanical alloy, utterly devoid of energy fluctuations.

This was the “Anti-Magic Mechanical Corridor,” the signature ability of the Star River Mechanical Cube.

Wasting no time, the Ying Clan’s Star River-class Battleship, now empowered by the starlight, plunged straight into the corridor’s entrance.

Before the Anti-Magic Mechanical Corridor, the stacked Serpent Prison—normally nearly as strong as a ninth-tier technique—couldn’t lay a finger on the Ying Clan ship.

By the time the serpent demon overlords caught on, the Ying Clan’s warship had already broken through the layers of suppression and appeared right above the Secret Realm Altar.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Brilliant light had been gathering at the warship’s bow, and now it exploded into several blazing beams, shooting down at the altar below.

Not just the dual Star-Annihilator Cannons, but the Star River Cannon was firing too.

Both the Star-Annihilator and Star River Cannon were legendary weapons—symbols of ultimate destructive force in the Endless Shattered Sea. They were the human civilization’s greatest assets in war.

To the many civilizations of the Shattered Sea, just hearing those names—Star-Annihilator and Star River Cannon—was the stuff of nightmares.

Anyone reading foreign records could tell just how terrifying their power really was.

So imagine the pressure bearing down on the Eighth-Tier Serpent Demon Dominator as it stood on the altar, facing a barrage from two Star-Annihilator Cannons and a Star River Cannon.

Even though it was a peak Eighth-Tier lifeform, it had no choice but to halt its ritual and pour everything it had into defending against the beams of annihilation raining down from above.

Its Dominion Power exploded to full strength, black and gold lightning coursing down its eight colossal arms. With death hovering overhead, this near-Ninth-Tier existence threw everything it had into blocking the attack.

Held high was an azure bone shield, radiating intense black light—a black supreme-quality defensive Oddity.

With its peak Dominion Power channeled through it, this bone shield unleashed almost all of its potential, but even then it couldn’t block every blast.

After neutralizing the fire from all the main and supercannons, the shield lasted only a few seconds longer under a direct Star-Annihilator beam.

Once its power was spent, a massive black warhammer took its place—but made for offense, not defense, it faltered even quicker.

Next came a supreme-quality black saber, a gold-plated arm shield, then full-body black armor—every defense the demon could muster.

Somehow, with every trick at its disposal, the serpent overlord barely survived the storm of light beams.

But to its despair, those beams weren’t all the deck had to offer. Once the devastation faded, a familiar seven-colored blade came slashing down, unstoppable.

Even worse, at almost the same moment, strands of golden law shot from the void, binding its entire body so tightly it could hardly move.

Though its tremendous strength and physique could break those bonds, the Dragon Sparrow Blade was already crashing down. There simply wasn’t time to get free.

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

At that critical instant, a wild howl tore through the air.

One second it was far away, the next, a blur shot past—then a massive black serpent with nine snarling heads materialized right between the Dragon Sparrow Blade and the Eighth-Tier Peak Serpent Demon.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Dragon Sparrow Blade’s phantom struck one of the hydra’s heads, ripping the void apart with an explosion that sent a violent energy storm ripping out in every direction.

“Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra!”

“And it’s an Eighth-Tier Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra!”

The moment Song Chi and the others glimpsed the serpent’s twisted form, they recognized it instantly.

The hydra’s features were far too distinctive. Anyone who’d seen the real deal would never mistake it for something else.

As curious as the Torch Captains were about this sudden appearance, all of them knew—it could only bring bad news.

The Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra was the mount of the Eight-Armed Demon God, whom the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon Civilization worshipped. The one in the secret realm now was only a bloodline descendant, not the true hydra from the Bottomless Abyss, but its relationship to the Demon God needed no explanation.

As the explosions faded, the battlefield’s new status was clear.

Above the altar, the Dragon Sparrow Blade’s phantom still flickered but its light was noticeably dim. The hydra, which had nine heads seconds ago, now had only five—four had just been severed by the blade.

Meanwhile, the Eighth-Tier Peak Serpent Demon Dominator stood unharmed and was already starting the altar ritual again.

“Dragon Sparrow Blade—strike again!”

With the starlight strengthening the Ying Clan ship, its captain managed to keep the Dragon Sparrow Blade summoned just long enough to swing it a second time.

That second rainbow blade swept down. Even though the hydra went all out to defend itself, another three of its heads were sheared clean off.

In mere moments, the Eighth-Tier Hydra had just two heads left. Mercury-like silver blood sprayed everywhere as its aura visibly faded.

But at this point, the Ying Clan ship didn’t have a second to spare for the beast.

Repelled by the warship’s overwhelming rules field, the battered Abyssal Nine-Headed Hydra was hurled millions of kilometers away—just a limp puppet on a cut string.

Yet, even pushed to the brink, the hydra still struggled, as if driven by a death wish or some unbreakable command.

Ssshhh! Ssshhh! Ssshhh!

Scalding red steam billowed from its wounded body as it willingly burned up its life force, buying back just enough strength to stagger upright. The two remaining heads kept roaring and its battered body hurled itself back toward the altar.

But the Torch Captains above, watching every move below, weren’t about to let it get away with that.

A few Star River-class Battleships revved their engines, aiming to block the black serpent themselves—only to be intercepted by the Eighth-Tier Serpent Demons still bent on stopping them.