Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 165 | The Secret of the Sea Lord | Novela.app

‘Emperor’s Blade’ felt that something was wrong. The primary source of this unease was ‘Sun Star.’ Although the young man still exuded an unshakable sense of overwhelming power, there was… a subtle, inexplicable change in him compared to their last meeting. A change that was… …deeply unsettling. *** Although the ‘Sea Lord’ resembled a clumsy, gargantuan planetary-sized ball of flesh, closer inspection revealed it to be a cluster of agile and resilient, opaque black jellyfish. Every tentacle extending in all directions was a part of a specific ‘jellyfish.’ In battle, it was far from a passive target. When it was suddenly encased in mottled earth and stone summoned from deep space, it displayed incredibly fast reflexes. Within two minutes, it unleashed a ring of surging energy like a tidal wave, shattering the forming rocky planet into a hail of projectiles that streaked in every direction. Though the distant fleet was prepared for the aftershocks, Lei Ting reached out and blocked the impact for them, catching a fragment of stone to examine. To his surprise, the matter converted from Emperor’s Blade’s transcendent power was genuine stone. Calcium carbonate, silicon dioxide, silicates—and so on. Lei Ting’s optical computer detected the basic components of over eighty different types of stone within this single fragment. The majority was fragile calcium carbonate, but there were also dangerous elements like sulfides. However, under the control of the brownish-gold energy flowing through them, they maintained a harmonious coexistence similar to ‘Sun Alloy,’ without reacting with one another. Of course, limited by its material nature, Emperor’s Blade’s stone was not as terrifying as Sun Alloy. If Sun Alloy lost Lei Ting’s suppression, it would truly be a substance that wounded anyone who neared it and killed anyone who touched it. Emperor’s Blade’s stone, on the other hand… Even if it lost the maintenance of his power, these stones would likely just gradually break into fragments, becoming drifting debris ignored by the vast universe, eventually burning up in a star or merging into some planet during a nebular shift. As for the soil… Lei Ting shook his head. Although Emperor’s Blade’s power allowed him to mold planets with his bare hands, he could never use it alone to create a habitable home world for the Tane people that didn't rain boiling water. This was because the seemingly dry ‘soil’ was actually just stony particles aggregated by energy ripples. They were tinted by the light of Emperor’s Blade’s energy, making them look like golden-brown soil, but almost everything required for a conventional carbon-based biosphere—be it water, humus, or anything else—was absent. Of course, as long as there was a basic template, it was indeed feasible to mold new planets and integrate them into a star system’s orbit through technological means. Most of the planets currently inhabited by the Tane were in this state. Furthermore, limited by the condition of their stars, more than half of them still rained boiling water. Before the Star Network was fully partitioned into local networks, people had even begun giving them nicknames like ‘The Scalded.’ Now, the actual leader of these ‘Scalded’ people stood in space. With a point of his finger, several small rocky planets began to condense in the void, orbiting the Sea Lord. The massive mass of these man-made celestial bodies soon affected the Sea Lord’s movements. As its flight path shifted, it began to struggle against the planets, only to have its outer shell shattered several times by urchin-like spikes erupting from their surfaces. It failed to notice that an intensely active asteroid belt was beginning to form around it. “Have you noticed, ‘Sun Star’?” Emperor’s Blade sent a message from a distance. “It doesn’t possess high intelligence… but its reaction speed is incredible, and its perception is extremely keen. “But you know, this is irrational. Just as irrational as the ‘Void Behemoths.’” Lei Ting nodded. It was true. From the first time he encountered a Void Behemoth, a question had risen in his mind: with such a massive body, electrical signals from the cognitive center to the extremities should take several minutes to travel. Yet, in actual combat, they possessed such swift and sharp reaction speeds, even showing a stress response to every single instance of damage they sustained… Was that really logical? One must realize that even for ordinary humans, there were instances of ‘instinctively ignoring a wound because it was too small or shallow’! A living being that could rival a celestial body in size and even possessed its own gravity, whose biological essence could still be understood by carbon-based biotechnological civilizations, yet possessed such high-speed reactions and keen perception—it was as absurd as an ordinary 21st-century human being able to precisely sense the state of every single cell in their body. Consequently, various sectors of the galaxy had always harbored doubts about this, but related research had never been successful. Either there were data errors here or logistical failures there, and the career prospects for personnel were visibly bleak. This led to a sustainable amount of experts changing professions every year, becoming something of a new joke in the biochemical and materials science circles… “I’ll tell you a secret,” Emperor’s Blade said in a relaxed tone. “The failure of those research projects was no coincidence!” A Sea Lord tentacle swept toward him like a whip. Without a word, he raised his heavy sword and performed a leaping slash. As the tentacle was severed and flew off, dark red blood splashed into the deep space like a glaring sea. Lei Ting glanced at the blood, his expression changing. He pointed a hand, and a magnificent sea of golden light flashed in the void. Pitch-black ‘Star Alloy’ instantly emerged, transforming into a massive mesh barrier. The metallic structure expanded and locked into place, golden light shining within the regular hexagonal gaps. The brand-new space megastructure enveloped the Sea Lord and Emperor’s Blade, along with their small stone spheres and the surging spray of blood, like a giant coliseum. “You noticed,” Emperor’s Blade said. “Its blood is highly corrosive and polluting… and it’s a pollution from ‘the Other Side.’ But I also sense an energy signature similar to those behemoths within it…” Lei Ting’s brow furrowed. “So, why?” “Because they are essentially the same,” Emperor’s Blade said. He flickered and maneuvered through the Sea Lord’s whip-like tentacles, but suddenly plunged into a patch of seawater that had quietly manifested. Saltwater choked his airway, but it didn't matter; the Tane could adapt to all kinds of extreme environments. Underwater breathing was a function they had evolved eight thousand years ago. “…‘Void Behemoths’ are massive, and this thing is also massive. ‘Void Behemoths’ have their own designations, and this thing has its own. ‘Void Behemoths’ can absorb external energy for their own use, and this thing…” Emperor’s Blade raised his arm to block. A thick, flawless reinforced stone shell flashed into existence around him, steadily tanking a phantom-like blade strike. A spindle-shaped section fifteen meters thick was sliced clean off the stone shell by that blade, yet it was far from touching Emperor’s Blade’s actual body. A moment later, the stone shell disintegrated and exploded like a flurry of petals. Piercing screams echoed from the seawater manifesting in all directions. Emperor’s Blade looked back, only to see that the blade which had made a fine sculpture of his stone was actually a weapon in someone’s hand. The figure looked like an Abryzak military officer or general; after launching this sneak attack, they did not linger, quietly vanishing into the deep space. “…They can also devour physical matter or life for their own use,” Emperor’s Blade said. “Just like that.” Lei Ting’s gaze was cold as he stared fixedly at the spot where the phantom had vanished. He recognized that person. It was the military commander of Abryzak, an A-rank Transcendent. Though only ‘A-rank,’ that fellow’s superpower was extremely troublesome. Its name and effect were the same single-meaning word: ‘Severance.’ —That’s right. A simple, conceptual ‘Severance.’ As long as the energy output won the clash, any item infused with that energy could definitely cut through any other matter or energy in front of it. This was the ability of the Abryzak military commander, ‘Castor.’ Such an ability, combined with his incredible speed, made him a nearly perfect reaper on the battlefield of cold weapons. The last time Lei Ting had passed through the ‘Haglen Starry Waters’ on his way to the ‘Ring World,’ the person leading the troops to ‘escort’ him had been this very man. If the ‘Sea Lord’ incident hadn't occurred, when the Human Federation and the Abryzak Empire eventually clashed, the opponent would likely have had to trade blows with Lei Ting in diplomatic settings requiring a show of force, doing his utmost to cause some minor trouble that would make Lei Ting lose face. “His form of existence is no longer that of a normal organic organism,” Lei Ting said deeply, casually switching off his optical computer. “I can’t sense his life signs.” “Of course, because what you see now—all of this,” Emperor’s Blade smiled and gestured with his hands, as if introducing Lei Ting to the entire ocean filling the ‘Star Alloy Barrier,’ the massive shadow within it… and the phantoms constantly emerging above that shadow: “is actually all part of the ‘Sea Lord.’ “You can view them as avatars, fragments on an energy level, a dark, dying fantasy. They are no longer independent individuals, let alone possessing a true ‘self.’ To the ‘Sea Lord,’ they are merely its limbs, essentially no different from tentacles.” “You sound very familiar with this thing.” “Naturally… I fight to exterminate them.” The surrounding stars crashed and pressed inward. Light flickered in Emperor’s Blade’s eyes as he maintained his observation of Lei Ting while fighting. “The origin of the war that led to the Tane becoming displaced was never made public. But today, I can tell you—back then, our home planet was secretly replaced by one of these things.” “…” Lei Ting was shocked. “…Secretly replacing a planet?!” *** Glossary: