Chapter 187 Full Strength

Han Xiao wasn't facing a magic-type Esper for the first time. Each Beyond Grade A mage specialized in different schools of magic and had their own unique combat styles.

Ravenlaude was a member of the Ancient Ones. Although limited by his potential, he had reached the ceiling of his growth and could not advance to the peak of Beyond Grade A. However, in the long years, he had learned endless spells. The Arcane Research Institute under his command was his magical scientific research force used to develop new spells. At this time, in the battle, he displayed extremely broad magical knowledge.

Compared to him, the "Dragon Emperor" Millizaus, who was also an Ancient One, had a very distinct style. Using the martial arts novels he had read in his previous life as an analogy, the Old Dragon was like a master with extremely strong internal energy, mainly using the powerful Dragon Race magic inherited from his race. His combat mode was wide open and closed, sweeping across all directions with brute force. Ravenlaude, on the other hand, was the type of player with ordinary internal energy but extremely exquisite and ever-changing moves, with profound skills in countering moves.

Beyond Grade As were not simple. Facing extremely unfavorable situations, Ravenlaude was beaten into a fluster by Youzu and other Apostle Weapons, falling into a disadvantage. However, he gradually used a wealth of magic to cooperate, giving himself room to breathe. Without saying a word, he launched a set of well-prepared combos.

The gem on his staff flashed, and ribbon-like rune rings appeared around him. Purple arcane energy rose like a whirlwind, rapidly expanding into a tornado. The violent energy sent the Apostle Weapons entangled in close combat flying out, creating a brief output space. Ravenlaude was in the eye of the storm. With a change in his gestures, the arcane storm rapidly condensed, transforming into thousands of magic arrows, suspended around him. The high-density arcane energy seemed to materialize, turning into crystal-clear amethyst.

"Secret Skill - Arcane Nova Arrow Barrage!"

The runes vibrated, and the amethyst-like arrows suddenly shot out in all directions, flying into the mechanical troops and exploding into clusters of bright purple arcane energy.

Boom boom boom boom!!

Ripples of arcane shock spread out, sending large swaths of mechanical soldiers flying. At the same time, the magical particle vibrations brought by the arcane energy also caused many mechanical soldiers to fall into a brief stiffness. This move combined large-scale output and control effects.

Ravenlaude's movements did not stop. With a swipe of his palm, a materialized magic book suddenly scattered, and all the glowing pages fluttered and danced, turning into a ring-shaped rotating blur of light, transforming into a white, hazy sub-dimensional passage. Behind him, it rapidly expanded, the diameter of the circular passage rushing toward ten thousand meters.

Buzz buzz buzz—

A huge quadrangular spire, like a crystal casting, poked out from the passage, extending obliquely. It was gradually revealing its full appearance, and it could be seen at a glance that it was a magnificent magical building.

High-level Arcane - Mage Tower Summon!

"He's summoning a mage tower, stop him!" Youzu's eyes flashed. He stopped his flying figure, held his spear horizontally, and charged up again.

The mage tower was the core equipment of high-level magic Espers. Whether it was used or not made a world of difference. Only a mage who was one with his tower was in his full combat form.

For example, Austin's Arcane Sanctum was a Gold Grade mage tower, which not only provided him with extremely strong combat power but also allowed him to possess extraordinary flexibility.

Mage towers that could be stored in sub-dimensions and summoned at any time were expensive. When a normal mage summoned a mage tower, it basically meant that he had decided to enter a positional warfare mode because most mage towers did not have the powerful teleportation ability of the Arcane Sanctum.

The mage tower was his trump card. Summoning it at this time meant that he was going all out.

"Black Star, you are indeed more powerful than me… but it's not so easy to defeat me!"

Ravenlaude pursed his lips tightly. The arrogance of a Beyond Grade A was stimulated, and his fighting spirit burned.

The mechanical troops immediately activated the space stabilization device. However, in the domain of the Deep Purple Duel Arena, the rich magical energy weakened the effect of the space stabilization device. Ravenlaude was also casting spells to resist, trying his best to keep the summoning channel stable.

The mage tower extended piece by piece. Argent Flash and the mechanical troops shifted their firepower, bombarding the mage tower that was being teleported. Large arcane defense runes protecting the mage tower then appeared, like a translucent light energy shield, constantly resisting the concentrated fire, shaking constantly, and blasting out circles of light waves and electric arcs.

Ravenlaude output his magic power with all his might, and deep purple light rose on his body. During the summoning process of the mage tower, his mobility was greatly reduced, and a thick arcane shield protected him from being interrupted.

Suddenly, the space behind him fluctuated. Frenzied Hunter, with its short-range jump function, teleported inside the shield. The sharp blades and fangs, carrying electric arcs, drew out a sharp chill.

At the critical moment, Ravenlaude hurriedly twisted his body. Frenzied Hunter brushed past him, bringing a trail of blood beads.

Arcane energy vibrated, sending Frenzied Hunter flying out. Only then did he lower his head to look. Deep cuts had been opened on his ribs and the side of his leg. The wounds were wriggling closed under the instinctive action of his body.

Before he could make any other movements, Youzu had already charged up, with afterimages of high-speed movement, and stabbed out fiercely with his spear, as fast as a meteor.

Youzu's spear had the effect of dispelling magic and energy, which greatly restrained him. At this time, the summoning was coming to an end. If he wanted to resist this attack, he had to cast a spell to deal with it, forcibly interrupting the summoning… Ravenlaude gritted his teeth. He simply did not dodge or evade, risking injury to pull out the mage tower.

Swish!

The shield was like paper in front of Youzu. The spear easily penetrated the shield like cutting tofu, and with a swish, it pierced through Ravenlaude's chest.

A bloody sweetness immediately surged into his throat. Ravenlaude ignored it and completed the last spell of the summoning, glaring angrily.

"Descend!"

Boom!

The entire mage tower was finally summoned completely, and the light was blazing. The thick and extremely magical energy was released with a bang, like a hurricane rising from the ground. All the mechanical soldiers in the field, including the Apostle Weapons, were blown away and smashed against the inner wall of the Deep Purple Duel Arena, causing secondary damage.

This was a crystal tower. The base was a huge disc. The whole thing looked a bit like a chess piece magnified countless times. Colorful magical light flowed in the crystal, and countless rune arrays formed a spherical罩子, wrapping the mage tower in it, slowly rotating.

Ravenlaude coughed twice, casually pinched out a ball of light green healing magic, stuffed it into the penetrating wound poked out by Youzu to stop the bleeding, and then flew into the mage tower, connecting his magic power with the mage tower's energy core, becoming one with the tower.

In the next moment, a row of dark holes appeared at the base of the mage tower, and dense magical puppets and alchemy puppets poured out. Teleportation channels opened up again around them, and a massive number of monsters were summoned to meet the mechanical troops.

The spear shaft rotated in his palm. Youzu waved his spear like a stick, throwing out waves of slashing light, easily turning the magical puppets and monsters blocking his way into two pieces, sweeping out patches of blank space in the enemy pile. The scene was similar to harvesting chives.

At this moment, Ravenlaude's mental fluctuations filled the entire domain, as if his thunderous voice echoed between heaven and earth.

"Since you seek battle, then carry it through to the end, Black Star, come!"

"A Beyond Grade A mage in full form… I cannot let the Overlord's trust down!"

Youzu's eyes flashed with electricity. The data neural network calculated the massive flow of information, unafraid, and led the adjusted mechanical troops to go up side by side.

The forces of both sides were like two torrents, colliding fiercely and stirring up monstrous waves!

…

After a long time, when the Imperial Fleet arrived at the scene, they saw a mess.

Countless gems, arcane gold, flesh, and mechanical wreckage floated in this area. The space was still filled with the scorching radiation left after countless high-energy reactions. A riddled mage tower floated there, the crystal covered with scorched pits and spider web-like cracks. The lingering magical light was completely dim. It could be seen that it had experienced an extremely tragic battle.

The Imperial Fleet did not see any trace of the mechanical troops. They quickly sent people into the mage tower and found Ravenlaude leaning against the wall. His clothes were torn and he was in a mess, haggard, with multiple wounds all over his body. There were pools of solidified golden blood on the ground. The broken staff was placed beside his feet, and the break was as smooth as a mirror.

"You… cough cough… finally came."

Ravenlaude's voice was weak. He leaned against the wall and stood up. Several Imperial soldiers quickly stepped forward to support him.

"What happened here?!" Beicrodi, who was commanding remotely, was shocked.

The opponent was just Black Star's mechanical troops. Even if they couldn't get it back, Ravenlaude, a dignified Beyond Grade A, shouldn't have been beaten into this state, right?!

"Could it be that Black Star's main body came?" Beicrodi thought of this possibility and asked curiously.

Ravenlaude shook his head and gasped, "No, he didn't come."

"Oh oh… so you should have annihilated the mechanical troops and retrieved the Chaotic Secret Energy?" Beicrodi tentatively asked. No wonder he couldn't see any trace of the mechanical troops. He felt that this guess was the most likely.

"No, I was defeated." Ravenlaude shook his head again, his expression complicated.

Beicrodi's face stiffened. "So, you, a Beyond Grade A, came in person and even used a mage tower, but in the end, you were defeated by a mechanical force of Black Star's that didn't have an Overlord avatar?"

Little brother, what's wrong with you?

You're too weak!

Seeing Beicrodi's expression, Ravenlaude knew that the other party was despising him. He couldn't help but feel embarrassed and said in a deep voice, "You know nothing about Black Star's power!"

As he spoke, he repeated the battle process, describing the battle in detail, and made an accurate analysis of Han Xiao's current strength level:

"I have fought against the Mechanical God before. My impression is very clear. The current Black Star must have touched the level of Divine Transcendence, so his Apostle Weapons and mechanical troops have the combat power to overwhelm me!"

Listening to the report, Beicrodi's face unknowingly became extremely serious.

He was silent for a long time before slowly opening his mouth:

"Black Star's strength has stagnated for about twenty years. I originally thought that he would need a longer time to break through the bottleneck… I didn't expect him to grow so fast again."

During the version update, Han Xiao did not upgrade much, and the situation seemed to be stuck in a bottleneck, which made the outside world breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that he had finally reached a temporary limit.

Beicrodi originally thought so too, but seeing Ravenlaude's embarrassed appearance at this moment, he knew that Black Star had once again figured out a way forward… Twenty years was not short, but relative to the growth scale of a Beyond Grade A, it was too fast!

Letting out a long breath, Beicrodi said heavily, "Report the situation of the operation to His Excellency the President, and this information should be classified as a secret file and must not be leaked."

At this moment, he made the right choice. Hiding the information that Black Star's strength had increased again was not what he wanted in his heart, but he knew that President Ulan Riel would definitely issue such an order.

Although Beicrodi did not like Black Star, he knew that hiding the strength of his allies was beneficial to the empire. Even if his beloved Chaotic Secret Energy was snatched away, he had to pinch his nose and help Black Star clean up the mess.

"Let's retreat." Beicrodi was in a depressed mood and gave up on the operation.

"What about our deal…"

Ravenlaude opened his mouth and hinted with his eyes at the mess on the ground. The meaning was clear. We have done our best, so we should be rewarded for our hard work even if we didn't succeed.

Beicrodi was expressionless. "The empire will bear the cost of repairing your mage tower and the loss of your puppets. As for the universe treasure… I'm sorry, your mission was not completed, so I can't give it to you. This is the rule."

After saying that, he did not want to talk about this issue anymore and hung up the communication.

Ravenlaude gritted his teeth hatefully.

Not only was his mage tower broken and his puppets destroyed, but he was also beaten up. Moreover, he didn't even get the reward he had been thinking about… It was a huge loss!

Ravenlaude rubbed the bruises on his face, his face full of resentment, wanting to cry but having no tears.

This beating was for nothing!

Black Star, you bastard, we are allies anyway, but you are really ruthless!

Just you wait, I will get my revenge sooner or later!

‘That's right, Tyrant was also bullied by Black Star before, I'll go find him!’ Ravenlaude said angrily.

He was angry just because he was beaten up by Han Xiao. As for the problem of missing the universe treasure, he did not completely blame Han Xiao. If there was no Black Star, the one who would have obtained it would have been Secret Master. After all, grudges had masters and debts had debtors. In this regard, he was still rational…

But he was still so angry!!

…

Back at the initial battlefield, the Overlord avatar was still fighting Secret Master with the mechanical army, rolling around and fighting for three thousand rounds.

At this moment, the Overlord avatar suddenly paused, abruptly ordering the troops to stop firing and withdrawing.

"Hmm?" Secret Master frowned, holding the magic battle ax in his hand without throwing it out. "Why aren't you fighting?"

Han Xiao waved his hand. "I got what I wanted. There's no need to fight anymore. If you're still not satisfied, I can keep you company."

Hearing this, Secret Master was a little silent.

He had been held back for too long. He had no idea where Black Star had taken the Chaotic Secret Energy. He couldn't catch up even if he chased after it. He originally wanted to give Han Xiao a lesson with the Luck Secret Technique, but this guy was the unluckiest guy he had ever seen. His luck couldn't be reduced any further. According to the fortune teller, this was a sign of an early death. Logically speaking, he should have died long ago. Who would have thought that he could become the big shot he was today.

To be honest, Secret Master actually admired him a little. It was amazing that he could walk to this day with such a tragic fate and luck. He had to admit it.

Since the luck methods could not do anything to Black Star, Secret Master could only endure this anger. After all, even if he destroyed the Overlord avatar here, it would not cause much loss to Black Star… Moreover, he couldn't destroy it.

"I'll count this as your win today." Secret Master took a deep look at Han Xiao and sent a one-on-one mental wave. "Seeing as you are so unlucky that you are pitiful, I will give you a reminder. Gorutan might be planning something unfavorable to you."

Han Xiao was stunned. "You're so kind to remind me?"

"Hmph."

Secret Master did not answer, turned around and returned to his spaceship, leading his fleet to turn around and leave.

Looking at Secret Master's leaving back, Han Xiao's heart stirred slightly.

Han Xiao remembered that Secret Master and Beast Ancestor Gorutan were both protectors of the Interstellar Black Market. Logically speaking, they should be in the same camp. In the situation where he had ruined his good deeds, he actually took the initiative to remind him and sold out Gorutan…

‘It seems that there is infighting among the protectors of the Interstellar Black Market… Could it be that the fewer protectors there are, the more benefits they can share?’ Han Xiao thought to himself.

With the end of the battle between the two, the other forces who were watching the show all dispersed since there was no more fun to watch.

For most forces, although they made a trip for nothing this time, it was considered a worthwhile trip to have personally participated in a major event. They obtained first-hand information, and they would have plenty of opportunities to brag to others in the future.

As for the Modo Civilization, they were probably the biggest loser in this incident.

They didn't even touch the Chaotic Secret Energy, and several dozen Heavenly Disaster Grade elites had died.

"How miserable…"

Han Xiao expressed his sympathy.

The battle for the Chaotic Secret Energy had come to an end. All the irrelevant people had left, and he could finally count the great treasures he had obtained.