Chapter 7503 Difficult Descent
Chapter 7503 Difficult Descent
Nobody knew what the aliens were up to in the inner system, but the combined fleet had very little choice about the matter.
The humans could either venture forward, stay in place or turn around and escape as quickly as possible.
The Larkinsons were no cowards, and their allies possessed just as much courage.
The second option only wasted more time while the third option was unacceptable in their eyes.
They had invested so much time and effort to reach this restricted star system. To turn around just after they had taken a single glimpse from a remote position would mean they got very little out of this diversion aside from collecting a bit of first-hand information.
That was far from enough to justify this venture!
Though everyone became increasingly more aware that proceeding forward would plunge all of them into danger, they still resolved to confront the threat head-on rather than take the more prudent course of action.
They were all soldiers of red humanity. They suppressed their individual desires in order to think about how they could best serve the greater good of their race and civilization.
Whatever the Red Cabal had been doing in this star system was obviously of great importance.
It might even have the potential to affect the balance of war in the region!
Faced with the increasingly more likely possibility that the native aliens were in the process of hatching a scheme that could potentially give them the edge they needed to break through the Terran Alliance's borders, the humans felt obligated to investigate this matter to the end.
At first, the journey proceeded fairly calmly, if slowly.
The dark cloud hanging right over everyone's heads had temporarily been shoved away.
The Minerva Mark II continued to project her enormous Command Field in every direction.
Although this domain field was not as powerful as a proper Saint Kingdom, its range was far greater. This granted the many mechs and starships of the combined fleet complete protection against the dark miasma and the irrational deathborn hiding within.
However, the Command Field did not unfold at its maximum range, but kept itself as contained as possible, thereby forcing all of the human carriers and warships to compress their formations and risk collisions.
Casella's willpower was not infinite or inexhaustible.
The smaller her domain field, the longer she could maintain her current state.
A larger domain field also exposed it to greater pressure from the environment.
Her burden would grow exponentially if she kept trying to expand her Command Field!
Even at her present state, she could still feel her willpower being worn out at a faster rate than usual due to the constant need to resist the increasingly more hostile environment.
"You need to implement alternative solutions quickly, Ves." The Saint Commander privately communicated with the former patriarch. "The dark miasma's concentration is rising the further we move towards the center of the star system. The amount of deathborn attacking the edge of my Command Field is also rising. I may not be able to last as long as I initially projected."
Ves frowned. "I see. That is… not good news. We should be ready to relieve your burden, though. Even if you have to cut your session short by 2 or so hours, our stopgap solutions should be ready for deployment at that time. It will be rough, but it doesn't matter as long as we can hold out for at least 2 more days. Should we slow down our advance even further?"
"No. The inability to engage in warp travel has already hampered our mobility. The poor visibility and increasing risks of venturing deeper into hostile territory are not sufficient reasons to slow us down even further. The more time we surrender to our adversaries, the more time they have to prepare for our arrival. We absolutely cannot give them the opportunity to complete their welcome package."
Ves reluctantly agreed. Though he still feared the possibility of crashing head-first into a major threat, Casella indeed made a good point about giving the enemy too much time.
"By the way, the seers managed to gather more information now that we are making our way inwards. They have not only confirmed that the red dwarf star at the center has been weakening at a highly accelerated rate, but that one of the planets in the inner system has become a focal point of death energy."
"That does not tell me much. What is your interpretation, Ves?"
He did not immediately respond.
To be honest, he barely knew anything about the oddities in this star system.
Too much of it did not have any relation to his existing knowledge base.
That did not mean he had to rely on himself to provide the answers.
"I cannot tell you much that I am confident about, but I know someone who possesses much greater expertise in these kinds of matters. Let me call her over. Give me a minute."
Mrow.
His companion spirit surged out of his head. The intangible purple cat with streaks of lights running through his fur appeared a little bit more listless than usual.
Blinky was not having a good time ever since they arrived in this star system.
Normally, Blinky's routine task was to absorb ambient E energy radiation in order to grow and expand the Blinkyverse.
It took an astronomical amount of E energy radiation to advance the internal universe to the next stage of its evolution.
This was never supposed to be a quick job.
Ves had willingly chosen to give up on expediency in order to aim for much greater payoff.
He was willing to wait for decades if not centuries in order to accumulate the power of his Blinkyverse step by step until it had turned into one of the greatest wellsprings of power!
However, that dream was still too distant for Blinky's present cultivation.
In his current condition, he could never create a zone of safety as large as Casella's Command Field!
Not only was he unable to contribute to the safety of the combined fleet, he also could not absorb the ambient energies that had saturated the Hypeh-Tekas System.
Ves had always considered the act of absorbing E energy radiation to be low risk.
Even if it was originally 'owned' by the heavenly authority of Messier 87, the supermassive galaxy watched over so many subjects that it could never spare so much attention to an insignificant human ant like himself!
However, absorbing the death E energy and other negative energies mixed with it sounded much more dangerous!
Even if the Blinkyverse technically possessed the property of accommodating every variation of E energy, Ves did not dare to allow his companion spirit to suck in a single mote of death E energy.
He did not have any solid proof of this assertion, but he strongly suspected that the death energy had fallen under the control of an unfathomable entity.
He would never allow himself to create a glaring opening within the Blinkyverse by letting his companion spirit absorb tainted energy!
Even if the death energy did not possess the ability to turn into a trojan horse of sorts, he still did not think it was wise to absorb any of it. The source was highly suspect and most likely corrupted to the point that it could distort the development of the Blinkyverse.
Therefore, Ves felt it was better for Blinky to abstain from cultivating and engage in fasting for a time.
"I'm sorry, buddy, but I will have to ask you to exert yourself."
Mrow…
Blinky did not like it, but because he was Ves' other personality, he could not possibly refuse this request.
The Star Cat froze for a time before his intangible form started to morph into a different shape.
Soon enough, Blinky had completed the process that enabled the descent of a friendly spirit from afar!
A miniature lady with a lovely lotus in her hair hovered just beside Ves and made a disgusted expression.
"Ugh. This space is worse than you have described." Helena's temporary avatar spoke. "I do not envy you for having to navigate through this field of desecration and resentment. If not for your ace commander's protection, I would have wanted to withdraw my presence immediately. It is already difficult enough for me to maintain this connection under these conditions."
"I thought that you would have felt more comfortable in a negative energy environment." Ves remarked with a hint of confusion.
"You know nothing, little brother. This is not a natural place of death! This is the outcome of a deliberate act of desecrating life! These 'deathborn' as you have called them are not kin to me and my subjects. We may share a few traits, but they are completely foreign in all other ways! They do not have the slightest instinct or reason to subject themselves to my authority. In fact, I can already feel that they are under the thrall of another master."
The mention of a supposed master alarmed both Ves and the Saint Commander!
"What can you tell us about this master?"