Long Time No See

In the video, the two exchanged a few more words.

Kavin's independent channel proved to be extremely useful, at least in its ability to transmit intelligence for Lister.

He currently has no intention of completing this mission.

He was just wasting time, waiting for Kavin to teleport away, so that the subsequent missions wouldn't affect him much.

Anyway, he's already Quasi-Hegemon at the eighteenth level, so he still has some minor privileges.

Without any rebellion or other circumstances, the Federation Military District certainly wouldn't punish him.

"You should prepare more; I suspect the Seventh Army has more than just a backup plan."

"Yes, I'll arrange it."

As the projected image was cut off, Cohen, who had already tried to communicate multiple times, finally managed to get the signal back on.

"Sir, there's an urgent meeting."

"Yes! It was convened by Tolon; we must attend now."

Lister was one of the last to join the holographic conference.

Seeing that everyone was present, Tolon, who was at the front, didn't waste any words and immediately began the meeting.

"The main purpose of this meeting is to convey an important piece of intelligence."

"We encountered obstacles during our attack down the middle route."

As soon as he finished speaking, an Evil Shadow Mechanical Bird appeared in the conference room.

Because it was a holographic recording device, everyone examined it closely.

"We've encountered this 'Strange Bird' at the coordinates of all three routes that have entered the middle section."

"Rank rating: 13-16, Combat strength rating: B."

"Isn't it just a mechanical bird?"

Roland couldn't help but tease Lister beside him.

The sound wasn't loud, but those present were all high-level Class Holder, so they heard it clearly.

Upon hearing this, Tolon quickly offered an explanation.

"More than!"

"Units that haven't encountered this 'Strange Bird' yet should take note."

"Our troops on these lines have suffered heavy losses, so don't underestimate it."

"As for why it's called the 'Strange Bird,' and some of its characteristics, Councilor Ailan has had more experience with it, so she'll explain it to everyone."

Although Ailan was not polite to their military commanders, he was quite serious about sharing intelligence on specific combat matters.

"I named it 'Strange Bird'."

"Its combat style primarily relies on wing-blade attacks, including group attacks. The damage can penetrate the soul, and it boasts extremely high mobility. Its only weakness is low defense."

"However, these 'Strange Birds' usually launch suicidal attacks, so there's no question of them having any weaknesses in their defenses."

"Suicide? Aren't all mechanical lifeforms like that?"

A lieutenant colonel from the Sixth Army Group asked, puzzled.

The slowest progress currently is seen in the Sixth, Fourteenth, and Arcane Army Groups led by Lister.

They're still just loitering around on the periphery; the army hasn't even entered the middle section.

All three sides seemed quite satisfied with their respective battle strategies, at least considering the heavy losses they had heard about on the other three fronts.

Furthermore, important enemy intelligence was discussed at today's meeting, which is an advantage of delaying the attack.

"While the 'Strange Bird' shares similarities with other mechanical lifeforms in style, its combat approach differs."

"Other mechanical lifeforms fight with more fearlessness, while the 'Strange Bird' is a completely suicidal attack. You'll understand once you get in touch with it, or you can watch this video to see for yourself."

Inside the conference room, footage of mechanical birds launching a suicide attack on all the warships, while several escort ships carried away the remaining mechanical lifeforms, was quickly played.

She was the one Lister secretly commanded the battle, and she also had the most contact with the mechanical birds during the operation.

"I see. Partial soul damage, high mobility, suicide attack."

"But why call it a 'Strange Bird'?"

These questions came from a colonel in the Fourteenth Army, who could immediately sense the extraordinary nature of this mechanical bird.

The fact that it inflicts soul damage alone is quite troublesome; I'd like to know more about it.

"It's very simple, based on my personal observations so far."

"This 'Strange Bird' is not as simple as Colonel Roland thought; it's not merely a mechanical life form, but rather exhibits characteristics of Zerg civilization."

After he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the meeting fell silent for a moment, and then quickly turned into a heated discussion.

"Hiss~!"

"How is this possible!?"

"There must be some mistake? A combination of mechanical lifeforms and Zerg lifeforms?"

"Has our Galactic Federation ever had such a civilization?"

After Ailan shared his conjecture, everyone, whether they had encountered the mechanical bird or not, was somewhat incredulous.

Captain Boren behind him clearly didn't believe it either, and even went to talk to him about it.

"Lister, do you think that's possible?"

"I don't know, I haven't had any contact with them yet."

Lister was quite surprised that Boren was dismissed with a single sentence.

Unexpectedly Jiji's all-out attack lasted less than three days before Ailan saw through all their secrets.

Compared to Kavin's Mechanical Civilization, Jiji, this Evil Shadow Mechanical Bird, has stepped on both taboos.

This is also why Lister originally sealed it away; it simply couldn't bear to see the light of day.

In this battle, it was because there were too many teams surrounding and attacking Kavin that they wanted to use the name of the Mechanical Civilization to release Jiji.

On one hand, it was to help Kavin, and on the other hand, it was to experience Jiji's combat strength.

Who knew that the characteristics of the Zerg civilization would still be exposed.

"Quiet!"

Tolon interrupted the discussion at the meeting and then gestured to Ailan.

"From what I've observed, the proportion of these mechanical birds with Tier 14 combat power is steadily increasing."

"And the number of each coordinate point is increasing with each iteration, indicating that our overall strength is also improving."

As he spoke, he showed several images of encountering mechanical birds during the meeting, and the scarlet color at the tail of the wings did indeed deepen with each encounter.

It does indeed exhibit characteristics of a Zerg civilization.

Even Roland couldn't help but glance at Lister with a strange look.

He naturally didn't know that Jiji actually belonged to Lister, but he was just curious whether Jiji was related to the Zerg civilization.

After all, Kavin has always been researching mechanical life forms, not Zerg civilizations.

The only reason I noticed him was because he was close to Kavin, and probably knew more about him.

These are the main points of this meeting.

"Finally, I gave a requirement: within half a month, all lines must advance to the core area."

Meeting adjourned!

Essentially, the fact that three lanes were slacking off made it extremely difficult for the other three lanes, which were putting in effort, to attack.

This is also why Tolon set a deadline for the attack this time.

However, despite the requirements, the Evil Shadow Mechanical Bird is indeed the most difficult hurdle to overcome in the mid-section.

The endless numbers of enemy ships, their suicidal attacks, and even the occasional remote command of attacks by Lister from the rear, all became obstacles for all the fleets.

Fortunately, each route was cleared by large warships, providing absolute firepower suppression, including the presence of Quasi-Hegemon.

No matter how high the level of the Evil Shadow Mechanical Bird, it has no chance of defeating the Quasi-Hegemon.

An absolute gap in strength cannot be bridged by sheer numbers.

However, this also slowed down the team's attack speed. Often, only when the Quasi-Hegemon personally arrived could they successfully advance the mission coordinates.

"Let Jiji leave."

Are you ready?

In the projection, Lister contacted Kavin again.

"The migration is already underway, and it will take another half a month to complete."

"But I can hold out for this long."

"Okay! Then be careful."

It has been almost half a month since the last meeting ended.

The warships on several routes have only recently been operating at full firepower.

Ultimately, the superior strength of the warships and top-tier combat forces means that advancing is not a problem if they really want to.

All the routes are about to enter the core area, and it's clear that Kavin is preparing to personally intervene.

Having understood the combined combat power of World-Ending Level, he wasn't too worried about Kavin.

Instead, they boarded the escort ship again and sealed the Jiji in the core area, destroying the breeding pods and the constant energy tower as well.

Although most of the information about the Evil Shadow Mechanical Bird has been revealed, the mother bird has never been found.

The moment has come to a halt; the timing is perfect.

Jiji won't be appearing again anytime soon.

"Well done!"

After patting Jiji's forehead and cuddling for a while, he sealed it away.

"Sir, Ship DW-02 has requested backup."

Just as A73 entered the core area, stuck on the last day to complete the mission, Cohen hurriedly sent a mission message.

"DW-02 ship?"

"It's that line with Representative Ailan."

Seeing his confusion, Captain Boren offered a reminder.

"You absolutely have to go?"

"Not only our ship, but the other five lines have also received requests for reinforcements."

"Captain Tolon at headquarters has given orders to proceed immediately as reinforcements."

"Okay, let's go then."

By the time Lister's fleet arrived, the battle had already reached a fever pitch.

Just as he had predicted, Senator Ailan's overzealousness led to strong resistance.

The planet where the battle took place was already riddled with holes, and the battle had expanded from the planet to outer space.

Due to the surge in the number of machine lifeforms and the increasing number of reinforcements from the Church of Mechanical Truth.

Even four Quasi-Hegemon, including Ailan and Tolon, have joined the battle, as if a long-awaited war between the two sides has suddenly erupted.

As a blinding white light flashed past the porthole of A73, the massive energy shock caused even the large ship to shake.

Six distinctly different robots were seen approaching from a distance in a triangular formation, their back thrusters spewing out plasma streams that melted the meteorite belts along their path into crimson magma.

They look roughly the same as humans, but their bodies have various exposed mechanical modifications.

Especially noteworthy is that the thrusters on its back are still emitting blue smoke.

His eyes were resolute, and he showed no fear in the face of four Quasi-Hegemon.

[Target: Wuen (Kavin's personal guard unit)]

[Occupation: Alchemy Master (Mechanical Engineering)]

[Level: LV168]

[Skill: Alchemy Furnace (SS Rank)...,

Mechanical Detonation (Class S)

...]

[Overall Rating: S]

[Target: Kazan (Kavin's personal guard unit)]

[Overall Rating: S]

There were six S-class robots of the 17th tier, each with a different sub-class and skills.

The combined combat power of the six personal guard units of Kavin far surpasses the endless torrent of mechanical steel behind him.

This is what Kavin is all about; at only level 17, he can create mechanical lifeforms of the same level with combat power guaranteed to be at the S-rank.

No wonder the Ninth Central Army was completely wiped out when it launched a solo encirclement and suppression campaign.

"Deploy the combined shield!"

"Focusing on continuous attacks with supplementary strikes."

Lister's order was immediately relayed throughout the ship.

The fleets of Arcane and the Glimmer Civilization quickly converged, and energy shields instantly enveloped the two ships.

Seeing this, Lister felt relieved and left to join the battle.

At this moment, Wuen launched the first attack, and the mechanical arm deployed its honeycomb-shaped launchers.

Thousands of miniature alchemical warheads exploded in the center of the Federation fleet, and the dark green corrosive liquid instantly melted through the armor of three destroyers of the Seventh Army, causing the ships to disintegrate silently in the vacuum.

Kazan didn't lag behind either; the gravity Twist device on his chest was activated, and a space with a diameter of one kilometer suddenly began to collapse.

They forcefully squeezed Ailan's DW Fleet and the three small frigates of the Fourteenth Central Army inward.

But the space that was being compressed was suddenly released in the next moment.

"You mere mechanical creations dare to play with space in front of me?"

A surge of powerful energy appeared in Ailan's staff.

As a spatial mage of Witchcraft Civilization, he was extremely confident in his mastery of space.

The energy at the tip of the staff gathered again, suddenly bursting forth with a dazzling silver light.

Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly slammed her staff down.

A spatial fluctuation enveloped the entire battlefield.

"Notification: You are subject to spatial constraints. Spatial displacement is unavailable within this space. All spatial skills have their attack and effect suppression reduced by 70%. The Robust Soul' effect has been activated, the judgment rank has been increased, the spatial constraints have been lifted, and the spatial suppression has been disabled."

Compared to the spatial constraints imposed on Lister and his group, Kazan on the opposite side was completely unable to move, truly imprisoned.

Ailan's figure flashed and he was already in front of Kazan.

His face was full of mockery, then he raised his hand and punched hard into the chest that was stuck there.

As a mage, his fist techniques were not particularly fierce, but the tiny spatial crystal oscillators on Ailan's fist were shattered and were sensed by Lister's Killing Intent Wave.

This is less a martial art and more a spatial attack.

"Beep~ Beep~ Beep~!"

The gravity Twist device on Kazan's chest emitted a rapid alarm.

"Boom!"

Unfortunately, it was too late.

An invisible spatial rift exploded instantly in Kazan's chest, piercing through him with a single punch!

At that moment, Kazan frowned and his pupils contracted slightly.

Although it is merely a mechanical life form, its facial expressions and reactions are already indistinguishable from those of a human.

The other four guard robots are currently engaged in combat with other Quasi-Hegemon.

Lister was not left behind either; one of the 17th-tier robots had already engaged him in combat.

This robot is the most unique of the six.

As soon as they clashed, he pretended to fight, but didn't rush to draw his sword.

At a certain moment, the robot in front of him suddenly changed its aura.

A smile involuntarily appeared on Lister's face as he lowered his voice.

"Haven't seen you for a long time."

As he spoke, his fighting style changed accordingly, and his moves became faster and faster.

If the players were present, they would surely recognize the fighting techniques he was using— Master-Level Fighting Technique derived from alchemy.

"You noticed? Your perception is quite good!"

The robot opposite immediately became ruthless in its attacks, swinging its arm with a reverse blade during the fight— Master-Level Fighting Technique also based on alchemical technology.

During the battle, her flowing green hair stood out prominently.

"I noticed it from the beginning; I didn't expect you to have already returned to the Galactic Federation."

"Kavin's situation was so sudden; I only arrived yesterday."

"Not just him, you're the same."

"I didn't realize I misjudged him; no, I was just too narrow-minded!"

"Martial arts are no weaker than other professions, and your talent is no less than Kavin's!"

Indeed, the one who feigned an confrontation with Lister was none other than Hoffman!

He observed it during his initial systematic scan.

[Target detected: Leviathan's S-shaped doll (Descent state)]

[Level: Lv180]

[Overall Rating: S]

"Let's talk later."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Hoffman's actions changed.

With a swift elbow strike, Lister responded in kind, delivering the same elbow strike.

After colliding with each other, the two smoothly disengaged from the fight.

Hoffman was now facing Ailan, and his robotic arm immediately transformed into a honeycomb transmitter.

The next moment, countless miniature alchemical warheads rained down.