Chapter 587: The Breakthrough at the Wormhole Front

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.

That day, above the Great Wall of Civilization in the Tianpan Galaxy, tens of millions of warships surged forward, leaving the protective light barrier behind as they charged toward the distant wormhole gateway.

On the other side of this wormhole lay the Chipan Galaxy, controlled by the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon. In other words, once the fleet broke through, they would finally push the frontlines into enemy territory.

But achieving this was anything but easy. Even now, ten massive Sky Serpent motherships and dozens of their smaller counterparts, escorting more than a hundred million standard Sky Serpent warships, were arrayed in formation outside the wormhole entrance.

Looking at that formidable blockade, it was obvious—their goal was to keep the expeditionary fleet of the Tianpan Galaxy pinned here, doing everything they could to prevent the flames of war from reaching the Chipan Galaxy.

Both sides understood the stakes, so the Tianpan Galaxy’s two-nation fleet deployed more than a hundred million warships all at once, skipping any probing skirmishes and determined to shatter the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon’s defenses in a single push.

Of those, the three families of the Yaohan Kingdom each dispatched 27 million warships, totaling 80 million.

The Morningstar Kingdom contributed 30 million warships.

The Morningstar Family sent 11 million.

Allied groups led by the Gold Horn Lu Family added another 12 million.

The Song Family fielded 7 million ships.

Within the Song Family ranks, 5 million from subsidiary forces encircled the 2 million direct Song ships, the entire 7 million-strong armada following close behind the Three-Eyed Clan’s Dominion Flagship, a dark sea sweeping straight toward the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon army’s lines.

Compared to the Song Family fleet, the other two kingdom squadrons felt distinctly overshadowed. Even with superior numbers, a single Dominion Flagship was all it took to equalize the odds.

On the Morningstar side, the vanguard consisted of two menacing High-Grade Mobile Battlestars.

After advancing to the Immortal Houses, the Morningstar Family had developed at an astounding pace for centuries, adding two new Dreadnought Captains, more battleships and even more Zhulu-class cruisers.

But up against such a direct and massive defense line, Sixth-Tier Dreadnoughts couldn’t compare to the impact of a Sixth-Tier High-Grade Mobile Battlestar.

Ten million Morningstar-family warships clustered tightly behind the two mobile battlestars, advancing steadily.

The royal fleet’s vanguard naturally fell to the joint forces led by the Gold Horn Lu Family. Over 12 million warships swept out in a long line, pushing forward with difficulty under a hail of fire from the Sky Serpent fleet, struggling for every inch.

Originally, the Gold Horn Lu Family and their allies weren’t keen on committing everything—casualties were always worst during a push.

But whether they liked it or not, with pressure from Song Wujian and Rosetta Morningstar, the two Star-Annihilator-class Captains, there was simply no room for argument.

Luckily, these families weren’t unprepared.

Three High-Grade Mobile Battlestars, each boasting formidable Sixth-Tier defenses, stood like iron fortresses in the stars. The 12 million warships relied on them to advance, and casualties—at least for now—remained bearable.

……

“Aisha, Aiyuan, what do you think?”

“The Tianpan Galaxy humans look ready to storm our blockade no matter the cost. Here, we have no advantage. Should we stand and fight, or pull back?”

Inside several of the massive Sky Serpent motherships, a handful of imposing Eight-Armed Serpent Demon sovereigns conferred via fleet comms.

Facing one especially intimidating sovereign whose strength neared the Seventh Tier peak, another responded:

“Retreat is inevitable, our real battleground is the Chipan Galaxy. We can’t just fall back so easily, though—otherwise they’ll know we’ve set something up on the far side of the wormhole.”

……

With the command for full assault issued from the ten main Sky Serpent motherships, even more warships began pouring out by the dozens.

In just moments, their numbers ballooned—over two hundred million Sky Serpent ships now packed the formation.

More importantly, these two hundred million were hardly passive. Fearless, they wove themselves together into a massive net across the starlit void, advancing straight at the hundred million-strong Tianpan Galaxy armada, threatening to completely surround and annihilate the first wave.

Boom!

Explosions rocked the superalloy plating of the High-Grade Mobile Battlestars. At first, they held strong, but as time went by, more and more Sky Serpent ships focused their fire—no matter how tough, even their extreme Sixth-Tier defenses were finally pushed to the limit.

Crack—BOOM!

A thunderous blast. One of the leading High-Grade Mobile Battlestars in the Gold Horn Lu Family coalition was finally obliterated.

Fortunately, the supporting fleets behind it had sensed the danger and withdrew before the detonation, sparing the rest from serious harm.

But that didn’t mean there was no cost. These mobile battlestars weren’t Torch Battleships—being marvels of technology, each required tens of thousands of operators to reach full power.

This particular High-Grade Mobile Battlestar belonged to the Eagle Family, and with its explosion, it meant the instant death of hundreds of thousands of their clansmen inside.

Even though these Eagle Family clansmen hadn’t awakened the Torch Seed and were only ordinary members, it was a heavy loss all the same.

With one battlestar gone, the remaining three could barely shield the 12 million ships as before—now, millions were suddenly exposed to the endless barrage of Sky Serpent fire ahead.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The thunder of artillery grew fiercer. In mere moments, hundreds of thousands of ships in the Gold Horn Lu Family alliance were smashed apart, soon overwhelmed by the next wave of main cannon fire from the Sky Serpent fleet.

“No! All captains, listen up—activate defensive protocols!”

At once, ships all across the fleet began to glow as their shields flared to life. But compared to the millions present, only a small fraction were Torch Battleships—the vast majority were standard warships.

While the Morningstar Kingdom’s vanguard fell into chaos, the Yaohan Kingdom’s forces fared noticeably better.

Of course, there was confusion everywhere. Everyone sought their chance at glory in this war—not just the Gold Horn Lu Family on the Morningstar side; the Yaohan Kingdom had no shortage of ambitious factions, either.

……

Morningstar Kingdom, Song Family fleet holding the right flank.

Because they had the Three-Eyed Clan’s Dominion Flagship slicing a path, the Song Family attracted much more attention from the Eight-Armed Serpent Demon fleet.

Over 200 million Sky Serpent ships converged from all sides, but over 30 million barreled straight at the Song Family—more than four times their own fleet’s total.

Staring at this oncoming tidal wave, a nervous Zhulu-class Captain called out in the Song Family fleet’s high-level comm channel:

“Should we call for backup? They outnumber us by a mile!”

It was the Patriarch of a Fourth-Tier clan aligned with the Songs—he’d never seen a battle so fierce.

A voice quickly cut in from the heart of the Song fleet—Song Xingru.

“Settle down. It’s just ordinary Sky Serpent ships. Numbers don’t mean a thing.”

After her bracing words, Song Xingru glanced to Song Shiyuan on comms.

When Shiyuan nodded, she shouted again:

“All Song Family members, prepare to deploy Hellfire Mechs!”

As her order rang out in every Song Family ear, twenty thousand escort ships opened their hatches across the fleet.

A second later, swarms of mini-mechs poured out from the escorts.

Once clear of their carriers, the mechs rapidly expanded. In no time, more than twenty thousand Hellfire Mechs, each standing over a hundred meters high and armed with Fourth-Tier firepower, formed up in front of the Song alliance fleet.

The Song Family had been producing Hellfire Mechs for a century, with each new fleet deployment only adding to their number. This expedition alone saw their eight million ships carry more than fifty thousand mechs—these twenty thousand weren’t even half.

With their devastating nuclear ray cannons blazing away, hundreds or thousands of Sky Serpent ships were destroyed every second overhead.

But even this couldn’t completely stem the enemy horde—thirty million was simply overwhelming.

Seeing this, Song Chi aboard the Heavenly Ruin made a decision.

He glanced over to Song Shiyuan and Song Xingru, exchanged a few quick words, then fixed his gaze on the encroaching Sky Serpent tide.

He, Shiyuan, and Xingru led this first Song Family assault, with the Clan Elder and Song Yan positioned farther back—Song Shixing remained behind on Dragon-Spine Continent. With Shiyuan’s consent, Song Chi made his move.

Space-skipping Pearl, activate!

With a flash of orange, the Space-skipping Pearl sent the Heavenly Ruin vanishing from the fleet.

Moments later, they reappeared right at the heart of the Sky Serpent formation, throwing the Heavenly Ruin deep into enemy territory.

While the other captains gawked in shock, Song Chi inside the Heavenly Ruin’s command center remained perfectly calm.

He murmured to himself:

“Since the Neutron-Star Core Armor advanced to golden sanctum quality, I haven’t really tested its new feature. Time to see its power for myself!”

Under the sights of a million enemy cannons swiveling to target the Heavenly Ruin, Song Chi was already a step ahead.

Neutron-Star Core Armor: Neutron-Star Fission—engaged!

The 160,000-meter-long Heavenly Ruin instantly transformed into a miniature neutron star, its surface burning at tens of millions of degrees, heat erupting with terrifying force. In seconds, more than ten thousand Sky Serpent ships melted away in the inferno.

Inside that microstar, Song Chi glanced sidelong at the Soul-Devourer Sacrificial Altar component.

Current soul consumption progress: Stage 1—12%.

He hadn’t risked all this for fun. The true target was powering that altar.

What better method to flood it with soul energy than all-out war?

But this was only the appetizer—Song Chi’s real strength didn’t lie in the defensive fission feature.

That was just to make sure the Heavenly Ruin could hold out under the coming storm of focused enemy fire.

He concentrated—and unleashed another effect.

Again utilizing the Neutron-Star Core Armor, but this time, not the defensive fission. Instead, he tapped the fifth trait awakened after its gold-tier ascension.

“High-Energy Particle Storm—activate!”

WOOOOO!

A flood of high-energy particles sprayed out from the warship’s hull, and in an instant, a stormy domain spanning a billion kilometers took shape around the Heavenly Ruin.

Within the very first second, tens of thousands of Sky Serpent warships vanished, swallowed by the searing particle flows.

By the third second, ship losses soared past a hundred thousand.

With every second, hundreds of thousands more enemy ships erupted in destruction within the raging storm.

Ten seconds in, the Sky Serpent fleet suffered a million ships destroyed.

But Song Chi didn’t linger. He triggered the Angel King’s Authority Wings’ escape function and withdrew the Heavenly Ruin, zipping back to the safety of the Song Family fleet.

He couldn’t keep going—not after that rampage. The area within a billion-kilometer radius was already 80% cleared. There was little point in staying.

Worse, the many millions of Sky Serpent ships just outside the particle storm were starting to react. If he didn’t retreat now, the Heavenly Ruin risked being swarmed by concentrated enemy fire—no matter its upgrades, that would be fatal.

“Elder Chi’s incredible!”

“Holy crap, that was unreal!”

Plenty of captains inside the fleet were left speechless, awed by Song Chi’s brilliant maneuver.

But Song Chi ignored the comm chatter, turning back to check the Soul-Devourer Sacrificial Altar’s progress.

Current soul absorption: Stage 1—78%.

Seeing those numbers, he felt a wave of confidence.

Though later stages required exponentially more souls, seeing this pace, he was certain—unless something drastic happened, the altar would reach full charge by battle’s end.

He didn’t have time to dwell; more than twenty million Sky Serpent ships were barreling right into the Song Family’s seven million strong fleet.

At the last moment, in the Unmoving Vajra dreadnought to the side, Song Shiyuan seized the opportunity and activated the Darkstar Mystic Turtle Armor.

That silvery strategic module linked over forty thousand Torch Battleships across the Song ranks, instantly boosting both shield and hull integrity by more than forty percent.

At peak, it could’ve enhanced by fifty percent, but the Unmoving Vajra was only a dreadnought—not quite able to tap the unit’s true potential.

Subsidiary factions earned several thousand slots in the boost too—after all, since they’d chosen to stand with the Song Family, it wouldn’t do to leave them in the cold.