Chapter 318 |
Not to mention the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters plunged into chaos due to the theft of the Tesseract.
After obtaining the Tesseract, Josh immediately returned to the Origin Star to test if the Tesseract could be used—the Origin Star was a name Josh casually gave to this world.
If this planet truly was, as legends say, the origin of many civilizations and races, then the name was well deserved.
However, Josh did not use the teleportation array that led to Earth.
After all, this was the Infinity Stone.
Although previously various Thern crystals could not sustain the energy consumption of the teleportation array, replacing them with the Space Stone might reverse the situation.
Though the Space Stone was relatively “gentle” among the Infinity Stones, Josh was still unsure if the teleportation array could withstand it.
So Josh planned to try using the teleportation array in the ruins where Kalai’s tribe was located.
As Josh placed the Infinity Stone into the energy source niche, the Space Stone instantly activated, pouring endless energy into the teleportation array. The interstellar portal formed almost instantly in mid-air, appearing very stable.
“Indeed, this is great! No more worries about energy issues, and we can also see where the remaining teleportation arrays lead!” Josh nodded in satisfaction.
But at that moment, the activated interstellar portal began to fluctuate.
“What’s going on?” Howard Duck asked, confused.
“Something’s coming through!” Josh squinted, staring intently at the portal.
At his words, a huge and terrifying head suddenly emerged from the portal, roaring loudly at Josh and the others below.
“Shit, what the hell is that thing?” Howard Duck jumped in fright.
Josh said nothing, his Divergent Sword appearing in hand. With a gentle sweep, the roaring beast’s head was severed and fell, dark green liquid splashing all over the teleportation hall.
“Ugh… disgusting!” Howard Duck gagged at the smell.
“Clean this place up!” Josh ordered the nearby robot guards, and a large group of robots began cleaning the teleportation hall immediately.
“How about we go take a look together?” Josh asked, looking at Howard Duck, who was covering his mouth and nose.
Howard Duck nodded silently.
Then Josh, Howard Duck, and his assistant Bursta leapt through the portal.
Unlike the teleportation arrays on Earth and the Origin Star, which were deep inside ruins, this array was unusually outdoors though still inside ruins.
But like the ruins on the Origin Star, this one also appeared long abandoned and had become a lair for giant beasts—specifically, the unlucky creature Josh had just beheaded.
But who told that thing to settle here? Running into Josh and his group was just bad luck.
Seeing it was just a deserted ruin occupied by giant beasts, Josh naturally took it over without hesitation, immediately deploying troops and habitually sending several satellite-type Transformers into space.
But this time Josh miscalculated.
The Transformers that had just entered the sky were destroyed instantly by attacks launched from space.
“…Uh-oh, looks like we’ve got a bit of trouble!” Josh realized this world was probably more complicated than the Origin Star.
Sure enough, within minutes of the Transformers’ destruction, a sizable, high-tech army charged toward the teleportation gate and launched a direct attack on Josh’s exploring robot troops at the perimeter.
The battle’s outcome shocked Josh—within minutes, his robot troops completely lost contact.
There was only one explanation: his entire army had been wiped out.
Moreover, from the information transmitted by the robot commander before losing contact, the enemy’s main force was also robots!
This was the first time Josh had encountered such a situation, which surprised him somewhat.
After all, it was the first time his forces had suffered such a heavy loss.
But it was only a surprise. With the Divergent Sword and the Power Stone in hand, Josh was still confident in his own strength.
Even if the enemy’s army was strong, he was not afraid.
Without hesitation, he led the first wave of troops teleported in, along with a backup fleet of over thirty warships prepared in his system space, to confront the enemy.
However, after the real battle started, Josh found he had been somewhat careless.
Not only was the enemy’s main force also a robot army, but their army, like his own, had superpowered beings.
There were three formidable female commanders: one wore a cat-shaped mask and could transform into a giant wildcat.
Though a wildcat, she could jump higher and move faster than most Transformers, and her sharp claws and teeth could easily pierce the alloy armor of Transformers and robotic soldiers.
The second was a beautiful woman with flowing red hair that reached her heels.
Her hair was extremely tough, and any robot caught in it was instantly crushed into scrap. Josh couldn’t help but think of the future mutant queen Medusa, whom he had already crushed in the cradle.
The last was a woman with a scorpion’s tail, sweeping it over the battlefield where no robot could withstand its strike.
Moreover, her tail secreted venom.
Normally, robots wouldn’t fear poison, but this scorpion woman’s venom was special, capable of corroding robot armor.
Besides these three, they had subordinates who, though far weaker, were still tough and possessed various special abilities.
“Bursta, you and your men take care of those three, no matter what happens!” Seeing the three fierce women slaughter his mechanical troops recklessly, Josh frowned and gave the order to Bursta.
Although most of these mechanical troops were worthless fodder aside from the Transformers serving as basic officers, Josh didn’t want his army to keep getting beaten like this.
As Josh’s assistant, Bursta was not a lone commander. Besides normal mechanical soldiers, he commanded twenty-four divine power warriors—all dual divine power warriors. Against the three women and their subordinates, they were more than enough, especially since these warriors were armed with Vibranium and Azeroth magical metal weapons.
Sure enough, once Bursta led the divine power warriors into battle, the situation quickly reversed.
The female commanders’ subordinates were helpless against the divine power warriors, and Bursta used his formidable Four Spirits power to take on the three women one-on-three.
However, the enemy’s overall commander was no fool. Seeing the battle turning unfavorable, she quickly ordered a retreat.
But Josh would not let them leave so easily. An unprovoked war—how could he just let it go?
He immediately ordered a full-scale pursuit.
Just as Josh’s army began advancing in full force, a hidden enemy strongman made a move.
A vast dark power began to spread across the battlefield, gradually enveloping Josh’s frontline troops, seeming to intend to swallow Josh’s army whole.
Even Bursta, with his Four Spirits power, could not contend with this force.
“So there’s a hidden big fish after all!” Seeing this, Josh remained calm. With a flash, he appeared above the front line of the battlefield. The Divergent Sword appeared in his hand and was stabbed directly into the ground. The immense destructive energy of the Power Stone surged forward, smashing the gathered dark forces and creating an area like a death mark between the two armies where no one dared enter.
Seeing Josh’s power, the enemy was obviously wary and did not attack again.
Josh also did not order his troops to continue the pursuit but began constructing defensive fortifications around the teleportation array.
Although that last strike seemed to easily crush the hidden enemy’s attack, Josh, who fought the enemy directly, clearly knew their strength was likely far greater than that.
Moreover, while the two armies were fighting, Josh sensed some powerful figures spying on their situation from another direction.
So Josh did not rush to the enemy’s lair. He did not want to let others take advantage due to his reckless attack without knowing the full situation.
Especially the teleportation array’s location could not be taken lightly.
If he ran off to fight someone and others sneaked through the teleportation array, stole the Cosmic Cube, and shut down the portal, Josh would have nowhere to cry.
It was better to first strengthen defenses and ensure the portal was not lost.
After this battle, Josh immediately boarded his fleet and ascended into space.
During the fleet’s ascent, they were attacked again, similar to the earlier satellite Transformer attack.
However, Josh’s fleet was not a fragile single Transformer that could be compared. They launched a counterattack on the spot.
Although fighting in the air put them at a disadvantage, the Star Wars level technology clearly surpassed the technology of this world’s civilization. After losing three warships and damaging five others, the remaining ships successfully entered space.
Seeing the unfavorable situation, the enemy warships began to retract forces, adopt defensive formations, and retreat. The direction they retreated toward was the same direction as the force that had previously attacked Josh’s legion.
After entering space, Josh’s fleet also discovered the general situation of this world.
This planet was very large. Not only was it bigger than Earth, but even the Origin Star, several times larger than Earth, was smaller than this planet.
Judging by the distribution of fleets and large space stations in space, at least five major powers existed on this huge planet.
The position of the teleportation array where Josh came through was right in the territory of the largest of these powers — which was the reason the war just broke out.
A huge army suddenly appeared inexplicably on their home turf; anyone would be furious.
However, after comparing the star system environment of this planet, the fleet discovered that, like the Origin Star, this place was not on the known star charts of the universe.
“Leader, the patrol found some people claiming to be envoys representing the Kingdom of Helya!” The next day, Bursta reported to Josh.
“Kingdom of Helya? We can communicate with them now? Did they explain their purpose?” Josh asked.
“Yes, after analysis, their language has many similarities with the universal language of the Origin Star, so we quickly established a corresponding language database and easily completed communication. They said they can help us jointly resist the evil Horde Empire!” Bursta explained.
“Heh, help us fight the evil Horde Empire? So the force that fought us yesterday was called the Horde Empire? Their strength is pretty good, but whether they’re evil is not something to judge rashly...Have you learned more specific information about this planet?” Josh smiled and asked.
Although the unknown strong enemy Josh fought yesterday used dark power,
Who said dark power had to be evil?
Moreover, if we talk about evil, Josh himself was seen as the great devil by most of the natives on the Origin Star.
“We’ve investigated a bit. This planet is called Eternia and has five kingdoms: the Horde Empire, Kingdom of Helya, Kingdom of Esselia, the Whispering Forest, and Brightmoon City!” Bursta answered in detail.
“However, the other four kingdoms have been at war for years, with most territories occupied by the Horde Empire. Two kingdoms have already been destroyed; their remaining forces allied with the other two kingdoms to jointly resist the Horde Empire but are still at a disadvantage. From what we heard, the Horde Empire on this planet is just a branch. They have a stronger Horde Empire in other star systems!”
“Oh? So the Horde Empire is also an interstellar empire, interesting. Have your people detain those envoys and send someone to that Horde Empire.” Josh smiled and ordered.
“Ah?” Bursta was a little stunned upon hearing Josh’s order.
“Heh, how could a lion team up with sheep? Four kingdoms can’t beat a branch of theirs, what kind of ally is that? Are we their babysitters?” Josh said disdainfully.
As for the battle just fought with the Horde Empire, the losses on both sides were actually not that big; with enough benefits, such losses were nothing.