454 War Is Imminen

The fleet of Aerymian elves stormed through the bubble zone. These elves from another world did not feel a thing about the defenses of this world. Although they were nervous and highly alert upon departure as it was their first ever real "interstellar combat" mission, they soon found that the enemy's "air force" was not worthy of their attention. Only a few griffin forces and strange flying soldiers tried to intercept them from afar, but those forces were quickly smoked by their fleet and were simply not a threat.

If the Aerymian spacecrafts did not possess warp jump capabilities and had to follow a fixed route through the gateway between the bubble zones, things could have gone a lot easier.

One important reason why they were able to fly through the bubble without much resistence was because the bubble zone natives were caught by surprise and did not know how to react. The fleet's entrance through the atmosphere was something totally unheard of in this world. The natives did not even know what it was. It was only until the Aerymian spacecrafts forced the teleportation door open under the guidance of the Petrachelys, that the natives started to realize that it was a group of "enemies". By then, the alien fleet had already disappeared. With a large group of aliens suddenly flying by, what else could one do besides being flabbergasted?

Near the fourth gateway of Cadeceus, soldiers neatly lifted their heads to gazing into the heavens. All were at a loss. An elderly commander was heard muttering to his lieutenant, "What the hell are those things?"

"I have no idea. I just received a message from the Senjin Plane. Those steel monsters have just zoomed past their sky... Maybe, they're imply passing by?"

Similar conversations can be heard at many gateways in many planes. Wherever the Aerymian elven fleet went, it left behind a trail of awe and wonder.

Meanwhile, at the wreckage site, the makeover operation was almost complete. A large number of gravity regulators had been installed at various key points both inside and outside the spacecraft wreckage, creating an anti-gravity field, which enveloped the entire wreckage. At least three gravity regulators were installed in each effective range, so that even if one was damaged the wreckage would not fall from the sky. After all the engineers left the wreckage, Hao Ren tested the regulators by activating the anti-gravity system. The system worked perfectly—a space fortress patched in rivets, super glue, cast iron bolts, wire ropes, and iron hoops.

Hao Ren and the others stood on the tower of the outer city wall, looking at the huge wreckage from a distance. The wreckage was several times bigger than Helcrown, but as spectacular as it was, its state of dilapidation was hard to ignore. Vivian held a small bat and tossed it in her hand as she whispered, "Why do I have the feeling that this thing looks even more broken than before we repaired it?"

Hao Ren facepalmed, thinking of his unsightly "engineering masterpiece". He was almost reluctant to admit that it was a project under his auspice, but he put on a brave face and said, "It's just an illusion... Most of the gravity regulators are inside. What can you do on the outside?"

Y'zaks scratched his head awkwardly. "Actually, we do have a more advanced installation technique, but due to time constraints, we couldn't produce the necessary brackets for the gravity regulators... We could only improvise."

Truly patriotic, the demon king did not not let the opportunity pass without promoting his local industries despite the difficult times.

"Well, as long as things don't fall apart before the wreckage arrives at its destination, it'll be okay," Hao Ren smiled wrily. "We can't afford to let the gravity regulators fall off. Misalignment of a few gravity regulators can trigger a chain reaction that will wipe out half of the power."

"Is that what your bat's for?" Lily's mind always worked in weird and unique ways. She had been eyeballing the bat in Vivian's hands for a while now, but she managed to resist her urge to bite. "Honestly, I'm confused..."

Vivian looked down at the little bat and said, "I'm just bored, but it's for the same reason you chase and bite your own tail. Is that what your tail is for?"

In a serious tone of voice, Lily suddenly said, "If a tail isn't for biting, then why should I keep it?"

Everyone around her was at a lost for words.

Lanina turned her head and licked her tail a few times, as though it would open the World Gate or something. But considering how the succubus had a weird behavior, we'll just let her be.

After the gravity test was completed, they also had to solve the propulsion problem. However, the installation of the engine system was not a task the Helcrown engineers could handle. And to be honest, re-equipping a space fortress that spanned several hundred kilometers wide with a new engine was inherently impossible. An engine system was not the same as a gravity regulator. While the latter could be dismantled and mounted anywhere, an engine was a completely complex system; it consumed a great deal of energy, and needed a lot of things such as power lines, reactors, control centers, nozzles and things like that. The engineering work involved was enormous and even the entire rear-half of the wreckage had to be dismantled. So, it was not even considered from the very beginning.

Hao Ren was waiting for the fleet of Aerymian elves to arrive as the fleet had more than a dozen engineering tugs. They were previously used by the Aerymian elves to tow the floating islands, which had lost power in the "dead zone". These tugs were powerful, suitable for working on things like the monster wreckage, and they had skilled technicians onboard.

When the tugs could fly around while towing a massive floating island, a mere spaceship wreckage seemed like child's play.

Shortly after that, the voice of the MDT was heard in Hao Ren's mind. "Yo! Boss, we are just around the corner! Come out quickly!"

Hao Ren turned to Y'zaks and said, "Get your people ready. We're leaving now."

The message calling for depature quickly spread throughout Helcrown. Soldiers immediately stayed in their positions to guard the city and a huge magic barrier was switched to battle-ready mode as Helcrown was shrouded in a layer of pale green, devilish shield. The civilians were ready as well. When the siren sounded, the streets quickly became deserted as all the elderly and children who could not fight stayed indoors with their doors and windows shut, ready to set off on an unknown journey.

Y'zaks stood on the city wall, and slowly transformed into a monstrous lava demon. As he looked down at his feet, he clenched the Black Sword, which used to be his primary battle weapon for years. It was finally in his hands again.

His daughter was carrying a pair of pickaxes and climbing up his feet.

"Y'lisabet, go back to the palace." Y'zaks plucked his daughter down from his feet with two fingers and shoved her to Lanina. Amid the kicking and waving protests from the little demoness, Y'zaks solemnly issued his command, "Let's roll!"

The whole city shook as its surrounding space warped with light and shadow. When everything subsided, the dark-red world of the Second Demonic Plane appeared in front of their eyes. As expected, the Demonic Army and the Allied Army were there.

The Allied Army and the Demonic Army swarmed the red, desolute Broken Plains with each occupying one side of the plains. Apparently they had not retreated much since the unexpected encounter several days ago. These people were not fools. They had probably figured out a thing or two after Helcrown appeared twice in the Second Plane. Even if they did not spot the pattern, they would surely remain there for a year and two. After all, the Demon King's Legion was the shadow of their world. With such a horrific opponent, a split-second appearance could cause the world to fall into terror. It was only natural for the the two forces to remain in the area, lest Helcrown appeared again.

And they nailed it this time: Helcrown had indeed appeared again!

Demons and races of the human world had been dead set against each other for a long time despite Y'zaks' best efforts. Ironically however, the two opposing forces had reluctantly reached an agreement for a truce in the Broken Plains. Although the contents of the agreement were unknown, it would not be far from something like preserving their strength to fight their common enemy and stuff like that. Hence, they stayed put in the Broken Plains—waiting for Helcrown's re-emergence.

War was imminent.