Chapter 618: Storm of Blades and Shattered Hulls

Boom!

The edge of the demon blade sliced into the Dominator Worm’s shell, tougher than super-alloys, sending waves of energy exploding everywhere.

This time though, the worm no longer had the ‘Guard’ defense from the Covenant of Flame. No matter how sturdy the Tiger Carapace King Bug’s seventh-tier shell was, it only lasted less than ten seconds under that terrifying cutting force. Then it split clean in two.

Not only the shell—even its flesh inside was cut apart within a few pounding heartbeats.

After slicing the Tiger Carapace King Bug in two, the now-dimmed power of the demon blade slammed into the outer layer of the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang, right where the Death Calamity Star Shell guarded it.

In the control room, Song Wujian heard nothing but the relentless crackling of breaking layers—the sound of the star shell shattering under that savage force.

Thankfully, the Tiger Carapace King Bug’s sacrifice had bought some time, and the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang had already replaced its armor with black-grade Death Calamity Star Shell Armor, reinforced up to level 80. Its defense couldn’t be matched, especially with the special Death Calamity Star Husk Guard defensive trait.

Though it still struggled to withstand the full force of the demon blade head-on, at least it could hold out for a good while.

If they’d still been relying on the golden Flame God Starship Hull Armor, they probably would’ve reached their breaking point by now.

Compared to the durability of the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang, the other Star-Annihilator-class ships nearby were in a much worse state.

None of them had enslaved creatures to wear down the demon blade’s might first, and most only used gold-grade hull armor. Some even made do with silver-grade. Even activating their armor’s defensive trait didn’t help—they were all teetering on the verge of collapse.

Not everyone was as lucky as Song Wujian, who earned an incredibly rare golden Upgraded Fire Source right after advancing to Star-Annihilator, turning his Torch Seed gold.

Of the more than ten Star-Annihilator captains present, almost half had advanced over ten thousand years ago, but most still only wielded silver fire seeds.

Worst off was the Morningstar Traverse. Sure, Rosetta Morningstar advanced to seventh-tier centuries before Song Wujian, but the Morningstar Family’s heritage only went back a few millennia. They couldn’t compare to ancient houses like the Song Family, let alone the truly immortal lineages.

Even now, the Morningstar Traverse’s hull armor was nothing but a slab of silver. Under the demon blade’s assault, its protective trait failed seconds ago, and now wild blade energy tore directly into the ship’s hull.

No matter how much its silver-grade hull armor was reinforced—level 79 to the max—even that couldn’t bear the strike from the peak eighth-tier Eight-Armed Demon God’s Slash.

In only a few seconds, Morningstar Traverse’s armor shattered completely. The hull itself suffered over seventy percent damage—just a step away from total shutdown at eighty percent.

Luckily, Rosetta Morningstar kept her cool, activating a silver repair module at the best moment. In an instant, both the hull and the armor snapped back to peak condition.

But that was just a band-aid, not a cure. The freshly restored armor was already being shredded again, and it wouldn’t be long before it broke for good.

Bottom line, silver-grade hull armor just wasn’t tough enough.

Rosetta Morningstar’s face went deathly pale at the sight, a chill stark in her heart.

Crack!

“Warning! Hull armor damaged 80%, hull damage at 54%. Please repair immediately!”

Hearing the warning that hull damage had gone over fifty percent, Rosetta Morningstar forced herself to stay calm, fighting her fear down.

There was no second repair module left on the Morningstar Traverse. Now, Rosetta knew she had to keep her head.

Her mind raced. Suddenly, her eyes lit up.

“Ask for help. Right… right now my only hope is outside help!”

That thought sent her gaze darting again.

Since it was life or death and an outside favor, she had to offer something outsiders would really want.

Then, as if struck by inspiration, Rosetta Morningstar glanced quickly sideways. When she saw the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang’s hull still standing firm, her eyes narrowed to slits.

……

Beep, beep, beep!

Inside the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang, Song Wujian let out a soft huh, suspicious who’d contact him now—especially using a private encrypted magnetic channel.

“Song Wujian, save me—the Morningstar Traverse can’t take any more. If you don’t help in five seconds, I’m leaking the Timeworld Tree Sanctuary to everyone.”

After reading the encrypted message, Song Wujian’s eyes went cold.

Before he could reply, the Market Projection Token in his hand started to vibrate.

Song Wujian, instantly realizing something, tossed the Market Projection Token to the sixth-tier Doomstar slave behind him.

A split second later, the sixth-tier Doomstar’s figure flickered out of sight; another second, it appeared holding two new modules.

One of them was the Mermaid Queen’s Blessing—just recently acquired by Song Chi’s group.

The other was the Pusa Zen Seal.

The Tiger Carapace King Bug had served the Broodmother, who was enslaved by the Celestial Authority Ring. When the Tiger Carapace King Bug died, Song Chi got an immediate alert from the Broodmother.

That was why he’d rushed these two modules over—making sure the Old Ancestor survived was the priority.

Taking both modules and their reinforcement materials, Song Wujian wasted no time installing them, immediately boosting both to level 80.

He didn’t forget about Rosetta Morningstar either. Anger burned in his chest at Rosetta’s threat—anyone in his shoes would be mad.

But there was nothing else to do. He couldn’t ignore her.

The Timeworld Fruit Sanctuary was simply too important. Even though Song Chi had already transplanted the seventh-tier Timeworld Tree, there were still two sixth-tier and even more fourth- and fifth-tier Timeworld Trees inside. Even with the Song Family’s current power, that sort of secret getting out would still land them in endless trouble.

A single sixth-tier Timeworld Tree might be manageable—but two, plus the others, was an entirely different story. The Song Family just wasn’t strong enough yet.

“Rosetta, you’re ruthless!”

“Don’t resist. I’ll send you a binding invitation.”

With that, Song Wujian sent another message—this time, just a screenshot of module attributes.

It showed off the Deep Sea Link trait from the Mermaid Queen’s Blessing.

“That Mermaid Queen’s Blessing—the Stark Family’s? You guys really managed to snatch it without a word. Impressive!”

“Heh, right back at you.”

Seeing Song Wujian admit it directly made Rosetta break into a genuine grin.

She remembered Hardy Stark had used that exact module before, so she knew what it could do—increase warship defense massively. With this and the Morningstar Traverse’s red-grade repair module, there was real hope of survival.

For a moment, she stopped typing her other plea for help to the other Star-Annihilator captains.

Having lived six or seven thousand years, she’d never be so naïve as to put all her faith in Song Wujian—especially after burning that bridge today.

But after only one second, Rosetta resumed, quickly typing messages to the Yaohan Kingdom’s other three leading houses as backup.

Her suspicious nature told her never to trust Song Wujian completely. She needed other lifelines.

As for the Timeworld Tree Sanctuary?

If you die, nothing else matters.

After all, she was a Star-Annihilator captain with ages ahead of her—Rosetta Morningstar would never let herself perish here.

What she didn’t realize was that one second of hesitation was enough to seal her fate.

Suddenly, from the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang, over a dozen beams of golden light shot forth, each targeting a different Star-Annihilator. At first, the captains didn’t understand; but the moment those golden rays hit their ships and the messages arrived in their ears, it all made sense.

Smiles broke out, and grateful looks turned Song Wujian’s way.

“Received Deep Sea Link from the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang. Firepower, speed, and defense—doubled!”

The message might’ve sounded offhand, but the buff was absolutely real—a massive boost to their ships’ ability to survive the next attacks.

What none of them noticed was that the Morningstar Traverse had received a slightly different golden light.

In the Traverse’s control room, Rosetta Morningstar wore a frozen smile—it might have looked happy, but her entire face was stiff.

“Song Wujian…”

And that was exactly what happened.

Rosetta Morningstar found herself trapped, utterly motionless.

What had entered the Morningstar Traverse wasn’t Deep Sea Link’s light, but the Pusa Zen Seal’s timestop power.

Before long, the Traverse’s freshly repaired armor started shattering again—this time, crumbling to pieces.

The hull itself followed, ripped apart seconds later by the demon blade’s attack.

Suddenly, one of the captains cried out in the chat.

“We lost someone! It was fourteen in the group chat—now it’s down to thirteen.”

“Who sank?”

“Looks like it was the Morningstar Kingdom’s Morningstar Traverse!”

“And Rosetta Morningstar? Did she teleport out in time?”

“Doesn’t seem like it—she died with her ship!”

……

A stunned silence fell. The captains’ faces turned grave.

After all, who knew which of them might be next?

Back in the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang’s control room, Song Wujian’s face was just as heavy. No one could read what was really on his mind.

Whatever he was thinking stayed locked deep inside.

“Rosetta, you did this to yourself. Don’t blame me…”

Rosetta Morningstar’s death was just the beginning.

In less than two minutes, the remaining captains were hammered by more attacks from the eighth-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon. Several ships barely survived the first round, only to go under one by one.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

Above the starry sky, the monster lashed out again—a powerful arm aimed straight at the Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang.

Song Wujian clenched his jaw tight.

He shot a glance at a nearby extradimensional space, his face growing darker.

“Why isn’t it over yet? I’ve used up the Zen Seal · Internal · Time Acceleration trait, and the Death Calamity Star Husk Guard’s second round is over. The Calm-Sea Dragon-Xiang can’t take much more.”

“Do I really have to use this Market Projection Token?”

Right then, the extradimensional barrier finally stirred.

A barrier even an eighth-tier serpent demon couldn’t destroy now cracked everywhere.

A blink later, the dimensional walls shattered—and the situation inside was finally clear to every Star-Annihilator captain.

Where there had once been two Star River-class ships and an eighth-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon, now only the two, both with slight damage, remained.

As for the serpent demon, it drifted lifeless through the starry void, dead beyond all doubt.

As the barrier broke, the Star River ships wheeled about and trained all guns on the last remaining eighth-tier Eight-Armed Serpent Demon.

They’d already seen the wrecked hulls of four Star-Annihilator-class ships beside them.

A battle like this—losing four Annihilator-class ships—was a heavy blow. Even if they did manage to kill an eighth-tier demon and escape punishment, any more losses would mean censure no matter the credit.

Law fields from the two Star River ships spread wide, instantly neutralizing all of the demon’s attacks.

One after another, the heavily damaged Annihilator-class ships received transmission from the Star River ships.

“Your mission’s over. We’ll handle it from here!”

Without another word, the two Star River ships tore after the last serpent demon, which fled at full speed, leaving just ten Annihilator-class ships behind.

A hush fell over the remaining captains. Even the bravest kept glancing at the mangled wrecks around them.

In just a few minutes, four Star-Annihilator-class ships had sunk. This is the brutality of civilization’s wars—moments like these leave no one at ease.

At this point, the head of the Lingyue Zhao Clan finally spoke up:

“Here’s some good news—two of the captains managed to teleport out before their ships sank. They’re still alive.”

No one seemed surprised—it was only natural. When you’ve lived thousands or tens of thousands of years, you know when it’s time to cut your losses.

They’d all survived the seventh life baptism; even without warship dark energy cultivation platforms, they could live freely for many more millennia. If you had the chance to save your life, of course you took it.

Before anyone could say more, spatial waves rippled through the surrounding star domain—summoned eighth-tier serpent demons had arrived.