Chapter 258: The Sea Ship Is Sinking? Reinforcements!

Chapter 258: Chapter 258: The Sea Ship Is Sinking? Reinforcements!

Sitting on Lanton’s back, Liang He was puzzled by the sudden flash of terror in Ace’s eyes. She had indeed been bluffing him; her so-called backup plan was nothing more than an empty threat meant to scare him. But why did his expression abruptly change as if she truly possessed a secret weapon?

She wondered, "Strange, what exactly did he see?"

Following Ace’s gaze, Liang He looked toward the sea but found nothing unusual. The only thing she couldn’t bear to look at was the countless corpses of Fierce Beasts floating on the water.

"SCREECH!"

Though Liang He didn’t notice the anomaly, Lanton seemed to sense it. His sharp eagle eyes stared meaningfully at the sea, which had returned to a calm state, a dark gleam flashing in their depths.

"Even though I don’t know what Ace discovered, since he stopped attacking, we should first..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Ace charged into the control room like a madman and began wildly sweeping the sea’s surface with the Energy Cannon.

Seeing this, Liang He tried to draw his fire, but Ace completely ignored her.

"Damn it! Is he crazy?!"

If this continued, not only the Fierce Beasts but everyone on the Sea Ship would be buried at sea!

"Lanton! Find a way to get above the warship! I have to stop Ace!"

"SCREECH!"

The only solution now was to seize control of the warship and stop Ace’s rampage. However, having suffered a huge loss once before, how could Ace stumble in the same place twice? Liang He had absolutely no way to sneak inside the warship, let alone stop Ace and snatch its control.

"ROAR!"

Standing on the deck of the Sea Ship, Cedriel kept his eyes fixed on Liang He atop the Canglan Hunting Eagle. His golden tiger eyes were filled with worry and rage. He worried for Liang He’s safety and felt furious at his own powerlessness, unable to help her even though he desperately wanted to.

"Cedriel! Don’t do anything reckless!" President Lucas could hear the burning anxiety in Cedriel’s voice, but now was not the time to play the hero. "Have you forgotten what Liang He instructed you to do before she left?!"

Reminded by President Lucas, Cedriel finally remembered Liang He’s request. He tilted his head back and let out a long, resounding roar toward the sky. It wasn’t a cry of grief and indignation, nor was it an outburst of impulse—it was a summons.

"What’s going on?! Why does it feel like the Sea Ship is sinking?!" the sailors on board shouted in panic, but they were utterly powerless to stop the descent.

It wasn’t until a blue barrier enveloped the entire Sea Ship, instantly dragging it down to the bottom of the sea, that they realized the cause.

"It’s the Beastmen! It’s the power of the Mermaids!"

Mermaids. In Liang He’s impression, they were figures of legend. But in the eyes of interstellar citizens, especially these sailors, such beautiful creatures truly existed.

"ROAR!"

Wrapped up and pulled into the sea alongside the ship, Cedriel finally couldn’t hold back. His roar carried a trace of sorrow, and the powerful sound pierced through the seawater straight into Liang He’s ears.

"Liang He!"

As if hearing someone calling her name, Liang He subconsciously looked toward the sea. At this moment, the surface was calm and empty, save for the corpses of the Fierce Beasts.

"What’s going on? Where did those pieces of trash go?!" Ace’s furious roar echoed through the control room. He never imagined that such a colossal Sea Ship could vanish right under his nose. Having originally thought victory was in his grasp, he finally began to panic as he realized the situation was slipping completely out of his control.

"BEEP BEEP BEEP."

Just as Ace felt a numb prickling across his scalp, his Light Brain chimed, and a message popped into his view. Upon reading its contents, Ace violently swept everything on the console onto the floor and cursed loudly.

"Damn it! I actually forgot about those dead fish!"

As Skalan Star was an Ocean Planet, the presence of Mermaids within the nature reserve was not unusual. More importantly, these Mermaids did not have an Evolutionary Stage, and quite a few were SS-level Beastmen.

The power of a single Beastman might not be enough to contend with a warship, but the combined strength of a group of Beastmen—especially SS-level ones—was far beyond what a warship could withstand. Otherwise, the Rebel Army wouldn’t have had to rack their brains when dealing with SSS-level Beastmen in the past; they could have simply bombarded them with a warship’s cannons.

"Sir, the higher-ups’ order is to kill Liang He. Why don’t we just abandon the targets below?" Seeing his agitated state but mindful of their mission, one of Ace’s subordinates bit the bullet and offered the suggestion.

Fortunately, his words made sense. After Ace calmed down, his already sinister gaze turned even more ruthless.

"You’re right. I must kill Liang He today!"

This wasn’t just to complete the mission assigned by the higher-ups, but also to vent the raging fury in his heart! The Energy Cannon was once again aimed at Lanton and Liang He, who were hovering in the air.

However, Liang He had no intention of continuing to tangle with Ace.

"Lanton, fly toward the Mysterious Sea Area!"

"SCREECH!"

Now that the Sea Ship was protected and Ace could do nothing about it, Liang He had no more scruples. Ace would have no choice but to follow her. Since the Mysterious Sea Area was created by the Rebel Army, she might as well destroy it along the way! It all depended on whether Ace dared to follow suit!

"Sir, should we continue the pursuit?" The warship halted at the perimeter of the Mysterious Sea Area, watching helplessly as Liang He and Lanton entered the airspace above it, hesitating to advance.

Unaware of the underlying reason, Ace slapped the back of the subordinate’s head. "What kind of bullshit question is that?! Chase after them right now!"

"N—"

The subordinate had just tried to explain, but the moment he uttered a single letter, Ace kicked him to the ground.

"No? You dare to disobey my command?!"

Pulling out a Photon Gun, Ace prepared to execute the man on the spot to make an example of him and establish his authority, but a trusted aide quickly intervened.

"Sir, you’ve misunderstood. What he meant was..."

The aide whispered an explanation into Ace’s ear: this was the testing ground for the Black Wizard’s latest research. If it were destroyed, they likely wouldn’t be able to bear the consequences.

At the mention of the Black Wizard, the flames of Ace’s fury were instantly extinguished, as if drenched by a bucket of ice water. Naturally, he wouldn’t cast aside his pride to apologize to an innocent subordinate who was beaten and nearly killed. He simply holstered his Photon Gun in silence.

"Why did Lord Black Wizard place his testing ground here?" Ace muttered a quiet complaint, though he truly didn’t dare to ruin the Black Wizard’s experiment. But now that Liang He had slipped into the boundaries of the Mysterious Sea Area, they couldn’t just let her leave. "Drive the warship in first. Find a way to locate Liang He."

After not seeing her for days, Liang He had become even more cunning than the last time, like a slippery loach that simply couldn’t be caught. But the mission had to be completed. Otherwise, the harshest punishments reserved for failures would await Ace upon his return.

"Yes, sir!"

The control room steered the warship, carefully approaching the airspace above the Mysterious Sea Area. Unlike the perilous seabed, the sky above the Mysterious Sea Area showed no obvious anomalies—at most, it was a bit overly foggy. However, parting the sea mist to find a single person and an eagle was no easy task.

"Strange? Why isn’t there even a single trace of them?"

Logically speaking, the body of the Canglan Hunting Eagle was not small. It might take some effort to find them, but it shouldn’t be to the point where not a single shadow could be seen.

The crew inside the warship all began to feel a sense of rising panic, let alone Ace, who had nearly perished at Liang He’s hands before.

"Damn it! Where the hell did they go?!"