Chapter 16: Standing Flags Before the Battle Is Not a Civilized Thing

Chapter 16: Standing Flags Before the Battle Is Not a Civilized Thing

An hour quickly passed. Gaia gathered everyone who had finished their work to prepare for the upcoming battle.

However, Gilbaris and his crew didn’t seem in any hurry to engage in combat. They remained comfortably seated inside their spaceship, leisurely watching the scene below.

“Did we gather this many people? Looks like he wants to fight us to the end. Gilbaris, let’s get started now.”

“Don’t be so impatient, Titan. It’s not our turn to act just yet. Let’s not forget the purpose of our hand-crafted spaceship. This is a rare opportunity to test its combat capabilities. Prepare to adjust the turrets and launch an attack on the castle below.”

“Yes.”

Upon receiving Gilbaris’s command, those operating the spaceship began adjusting its attack systems, locking onto the castle right beneath them.

“Target locked. Shall we fire now?”

“Just fire away.”

“Understood, commencing barrage.”

With the press of a button, the spaceship unleashed a torrent of energy blasts at the castle below.

However, Gaia and his crew were no pushovers; they had already prepared defensive barriers to withstand the assault.

“Impressive as always, my lord. You’ve prepared a protective barrier already? But it seems you’ve forgotten that there’s someone on my side, Diablo. I’m going to need you for this.”

“No problem, leave it to me. A barrier like this is nothing; I can break through it in one hit.”

Diablo left the control center and entered another room, taking a seat as he transferred his energy to the spaceship.

To breach the barrier, they needed to know its most vulnerable spot and apply overwhelming force to destroy it in one go. Among them, only Diablo possessed the necessary destructive power.

“Ready, Diablo?”

“Of course, I’m all set. You can start whenever.”

“Alright, initiating energy extraction from Diablo. Once we reach 100% energy, we’ll fire and break that barrier.”

“Got it.”

Collecting energy wasn’t an easy task, especially the kind as powerful as Diablo’s. It took nearly 30 seconds to successfully gather it all.

“Energy collection complete. Preparing to fire.”

“Now! Fire and shatter that barrier!”

With another press of the button, this time the spaceship targeted the castle’s barrier at the spot previously indicated by Belial as the weakest point, breaching it instantly.

“My lord Gaia, the barrier has been destroyed. What’s our next move?”

“What’s next? Now that the barrier’s down, we can’t just sit tight! We must take the offensive and drive these vile foes back! Prepare to move out with me!”

“But, my lord Gaia, the enemy still has a spaceship up there! If we move out to engage, we might not gain much of an advantage!”

The inhabitants of the Royal Palace felt a bit fearful about the current situation. Their barrier was down, but the enemy’s spaceship remained intact and ready for battle.

“What’s there to fear? It’s just a spaceship! We still have defensive turrets, right? Let’s use those to deal with it!”

Since they were defending, Gaia wasn’t foolish enough to rely solely on the barrier. He had weapons prepared for just such an occasion. The turrets were built precisely for times like these.

“Leave some people to operate the turrets to attack that spaceship. The rest will follow me to tackle the remaining enemies. It seems the enemy doesn’t want to wipe us out completely—they’re sending some troops down for melee combat.”

Seeing some enemies jump down from their spaceship onto their land, Gaia took a group of people to confront them.

“Hey, Gaia! Are we going out to face the enemy? Count us in! We haven’t had anything to do in the palace anyway! Since the enemy is attacking, let’s join the fight!”

Aierjisi and a few others were eager to follow him into battle. Even if Gaia didn’t agree, they were going to charge out anyway. But then again, Gaia had intended for them to join him from the start.

“Then let’s fight together! Let these scoundrels witness our true power!”

“Yay! Yake, don’t drag me down! If you get hurt, I’ll be hurt too, got it?”

“Sure, sure! I’ll do my best to avoid getting injured in battle!”

Seriously, even before a fight starts, Aierjisi has to remind him like he’s the one dragging her down—what a pain!

“Aierjisi, let’s have a little competition to see who can take down more enemies, how does that sound?”

“Fine by me! You think I’m scared of you? Let’s see who can defeat enemies faster!”

“I think neither of you can match my speed in taking down enemies.”

Just as they were preparing for their little contest, Ailin suddenly chimed in, making both of them target her.

“In that case, let’s have a three-way brawl to see who defeats the most enemies!”

“Sounds good! But what’s the prize for winning? And is there a punishment for losing?”

“If you win… forget it! Who has time to think about that now? The slaughter is about to begin!”

Weirafiya had originally wanted to ponder the rewards for winning and the penalties for losing, but such thinking clearly wasn’t her strong suit, so she tossed those thoughts aside.

“You three are so optimistic! The battle hasn’t even started, and you’re already thinking about who will kill the most enemies.”

“Of course! We’re definitely going to win this fight!”

“Absolutely! We’re going to teach those guys a good lesson, leaving them in shambles!”

Seeing his comrades so confident, Gaia couldn’t help but feel a bit lighter himself.

“Alright! Let’s charge in and wipe out those enemies, sending them scurrying back home!”