Book 10: Chapter 46: First Battle in the Ruins

The Insectoid “Chariots” had several branches. Most looked like stag beetles or scarabs. Their common feature? Thick, heavy shells. Crawling on the ground, they resembled gigantic tanks. Some had large pincer limbs like a stag beetle near their mouths, others didn’t.

Most Chariots were hundreds of meters long. Some even approached a kilometer. Even in the Paranto dimension where everything was enlarged dozens of times, they were truly massive behemoths.

As for the other kind of giant called the “WeaverSpider,” that was the big bug shaped like a spider but with a curved horn-like spike on its back. This creature lacked the smooth shell of the Chariots. Its abdomen and claws were covered in fluffy, thorny bristles. Its head was half-hidden within its body cavity, while the exposed part featured four pairs of shiny, black gem-like eyes.

Besides the Apostles he brought, Gan Luo’s Insectoids included two Chariots resembling stag beetles, two resembling scarabs, three WeaverSpiders, and the rest were Napathas.

However, these Napathas were different from the ones Qin Lun’s group had battled at the edge of the X-352 star system. The twenty-plus Napathas brought by Gan Luo had huge abdomens ringed with golden patterns. Their mouthparts and bodies were larger, and they sported an extra pair of wings. Clearly, they were stronger.

Saintess Ruxin led over eighty Hismael Guardians into battle against these insects almost immediately.

The weapons the Hismael Guardians used weren’t physical objects. They were spears formed from spiritual energy.

In the vacuum of space, this spiritual energy could combine with stellar radiation particles to form Void Lances or even Anti-Matter Javelins. Here in the atmosphere-rich Paranto dimension, they combined with various airborne ions, creating throwing spears imbued with properties like lightning or fire.

Crackling lightning spears flew like streaks of light. Seven or eight golden-patterned Napathas were struck and exploded into pieces the moment the spears left the Guardian’s hands. Acidic insect bodily fluids splattered across the giant steps of the ruins, sizzling and corroding the stone, leaving it pitted and pocked.

Saintess Ruxin, leading the Hismael Guardians, was even more terrifying. She didn’t form a throwing spear like her subordinates. She stretched out her crystalline, delicate arms, morphing them into two long trails of smoky vapor. Like whips, she lashed out left and right, each snaring a Napatha.

Although they seemed like insubstantial smoke, a mere constriction from these vaporous coils cleanly sheared the two golden-patterned Napathas in half. There wasn’t even a sound as their bodies fell from the sky. The cross-sections glowed with a high-temperature glassy sheen. Not a drop of bodily fluid leaked out.

However, this sudden, brutal attack didn’t cause panic among the Napathas. The remaining dozen-plus Napathas arced through the air. They dive-bombed onto the backs of the two scarab-like Chariots. There, they curled themselves into tight balls, clinging stubbornly to the shell like fluffy pom-poms. Their intention was unclear.

The huge, cumbersome scarab Chariots clumsily shifted their thick limbs sideways. A shimmering crystalline light pulsed over their surfaces. Two blue, hemispherical shields sprang up, encasing all the insects within their protective dome. The elemental spears thrown by the Hismael Guardians splashed against the shields, creating ripples visible to the naked eye, yet they couldn’t punch through the defense.

The two WeaverSpiders became a different matter. Their bodies shook imperceptibly, their hairy surfaces brushed by a ripple of shimmering, multi-colored transparency. Then, their huge insect bodies seemed to vanish, blending perfectly into the surroundings – they possessed a rare cloaking ability.

The other two stag beetle-like Chariots didn’t produce spherical shields. Instead, they reared back, roaring defiantly. Their splayed pincer limbs resembled positive and negative ion rods. Between them, irregular flashes of electric light sparked violently. These flashes grew denser and denser, ultimately coalescing into terrifying orbs of crackling lightning, one per Chariot, which they then spat high into the air.

The lightning orbs, wreathed in fierce energy, were large but moved slowly. Yet, seeing them, Saintess Ruxin, leader of the Hismael Guardians, paled. She urgently shouted to her comrades, “Get clear!”

Zzzzzz-CRACK! Scarcely had Ruxin’s cry echoed than the two lightning orbs detonated mid-air. Explosive bolts of thunder, like crazed electric serpents, lashed wildly in all directions. Several Guardians who couldn’t dodge fast enough were instantly struck.

Two Guardians struck by the thickest bolts didn’t even have time to cry out. Their forms disintegrated into amorphous clouds of wispy smoke. Their souls had been shattered. They were beyond saving.

Besides these two unfortunates, several other Guardians just a hair slower scrambled to avoid the blasts. They were clipped by thinner bolts of lightning. Any part of their body touched by the electric fury instantly evaporated. They screamed in agony.

But the Insectoids’ counterattack wasn’t finished. After projecting their blue shields, the backs of the two scarab Chariots split open, their thick shells fracturing into countless small segments that vibrated faintly. Several of the golden-patterned Napathas clinging to these shells were suddenly ejected like cannon-fire out of the protective dome. They shot like missiles towards the Hismael Guardians who had suffered grave injuries.

The Guardians near the wounded comrades were horrified. The closest ones rapidly summoned crackling Lightning Spears in their hands and hurled them, desperately hoping to intercept the Napathas mid-flight.

“Stop!… Be careful!…” Saintess Ruxin saw this, and a warning from an elder suddenly flashed in her mind’s eye. Panic widened her apricot-shaped eyes as she yelled, frantic.

The Guardians who had thrown the Lightning Spears paused, confusion momentarily freezing them as they turned bewildered eyes towards Ruxin.

In that instant, a ripple shimmered directly in front of them. In the center of this ripple, a narrow, elongated Space-Time Rift tore open. From its dark maw, several grey, curved spikes erupted with blinding speed. They impaled the baffled Guardians.

Almost simultaneously, deep within the protective dome formed by the Chariot bugs, a ripple appeared at one corner. The two WeaverSpiders abruptly became visible again. A small cluster of the spikes on each WeaverSpider’s back was now missing. Their attack had forced them out of their perfect camouflage.

The Guardians who had rushed to save their comrades trembled violently. Their bodies dissolved into puffs of light smoke. The Lightning Spears they had desperately summoned, now bereft of the soul energy guiding them, also dissipated into the air.

Unhindered now, the golden-patterned Napathas, once launched from the shield, unfurled their previously curled bodies. Their long, sharp needle-like proboscises glinted with a greenish luminescence. They stabbed towards their targets like deadly lances.

Among the Guardians crippled by the lightning orbs, only one, the least injured, narrowly dodged the Napatha’s lethal strike. The rest were transfixed on the path of the green-glowing mouthparts. Their bodies stiffened momentarily before dissolving into wispy tendrils of smoke.

Naturally, the Napathas that had left the protective dome only had energy for this single attack. Enraged Guardians swiftly tore them apart with fresh Lightning Spears soon after.

Regardless, in this single Insectoid counter-volley, they had managed to kill over ten Hismael Guardians. They leveled the casualty count to almost one-for-one. Compared to the vastly more numerous insects, Hismael Guardians were much harder to train. Plus, they were initially outnumbered. Tactically, considering just this round, the Hismael side suffered a clear loss.

Saintess Ruxin bit her lower lip tightly. Shame and fury warred within her. The elder’s warning echoed sharply in her mind again. Lower-ranked Insectoids mostly lacked high intelligence, but the higher orders were different – they possessed cunning rivaling any intelligent life.

This outcome was obviously the result of them underestimating the enemy. While Hismael Guardians possessed formidable power, and the Chariots’ lightning orbs combined with Napathas represented a typical Insectoid tactic, what truly cost them here was the WeaverSpider’s ambush.

The WeaverSpider spikes alone didn’t have the power to kill a Guardian. This devastating result happened solely because those Guardians, rushed to save their comrades. Forcing the lightning spears so quickly had drained the defensive energy normally shielding their bodies in that critical instant.

Ruxin glanced around at her remaining companions and sighed inwardly.

Insectoids and Hismael had clashed for millennia. Only when the two races were driven out of the Gith Star System by the Gith at their zenith, forced to migrate to the Scorpius Galaxy, had hostilities finally ceased. Just looking at their vastly different cultures and a thousand years of war, it was hard for outsiders to imagine they shared a common origin: both inheritors of the long-vanished Angel Race.

Peace finally gave both races time to rest and recuperate. But their newer generations, born without experiencing real war, also lacked the combat experience of their forebears. However, compared to the Hismael Guardians, the Insectoids feared no death and were immune to emotional turmoil. They were destined to adapt to warfare much faster – a race naturally born for battle.

“Don’t rush in recklessly!” Ruxin commanded, her voice sharp with newfound seriousness, banishing her previous casual air. “Use elemental spears to gradually wear down the Chariot shields! They can’t hold them up forever!” Deep within her thoughts, an unsettling idea flickered: If a handful of bugs cost them a dozen companions, what awaited them when they faced the Descendant Apostles the bugs served? Should she call down their own Descendant Apostles for help?

“Out of the question!” The thought hadn’t even fully formed before she vehemently shook her head. She had just dismissed Qin Mei and the other Descendant Apostles. To go crawling back pleading for assistance now? Where would the pride of the Hismael stand? At the very least, they needed to gauge the enemy Apostles’ strength first! She gritted her teeth, biting her lower lip again. The decision was made.

Ruxin’s choice might seem rash or foolish, but in context, it wasn’t strange.

Currently, four teams operated within the Gospel World. Both the Chaos and DivineLight teams prioritized defeating the Patroller Team as their main goal. They weren’t just led by High-Rank Apostles; their members were capable fighters, their combat professions perfectly balanced with damage dealers, support, and healers all present.

Patroller Team, led by Robin, lacked a High-Rank Apostle. Still, they were all elite. Their members possessed immense potential and unique skills. Besides Qin Lun, they had two capable Leaders among them: Robin and Balin.

Qin Mei’s team was a stark contrast. This group was a ragtag, unevenly skilled, mix she’d strong-armed into cooperation. Their combat professions were incomplete. Had Qin Mei’s formidable personal power not inflated the team’s overall evaluation, they would never have qualified to enter a high-tier world like the Gospel.

Qin Mei’s careful plotting, choosing to sit out the decisive four-team confrontation back in the X-352 star system, stemmed partly from this weakness.

Earlier in the operation, the Apostles in Qin Mei’s team engaged in direct combat drills with the Hismael Guardians. Their displayed prowess wasn’t particularly strong. Qin Mei herself never participated, compounding the Hismael misunderstanding of Descendant Apostle strength.

Moreover, Qin Mei’s intricate schemes had made the entire campaign effortless thus far for the Hismael. This side effect bred complacency and a dangerously lowered guard against their enemies. This led Guardian Saintess Ruxin to make the flawed choice of cutting out their Descendant Apostle allies.