The void battle had been going well enough.
Kasgar might have gotten his position through connections, but he clearly had a keen eye for command.
He had seized the gap while the enemy warships' laser weapons were charging, gaining air superiority and swiftly destroying large numbers of enemy vessels, securing victory in the void battle.
By all rights, the battle should have ended there.
But of all things!
Kasgar, like a Hunter Lord who had not had his fill, insisted on personally boarding a worthy Xenos Warship!
As the Xenos Warship that everyone had boarded drew closer and closer to the Portal on the scanner, the fleet commander's heart tightened further and further.
Under normal circumstances, if they feared an enemy ship might escape, they only needed to destroy its engines.
But the structure of these Crystalline Aliens' warships appeared exceptionally strange. Even after their ships completed scans of the enemy vessel using information from the boarding party, they still could not locate the precise position of its engines.
Emperor above!
Why did they have to board it?!
Wouldn't it have been better to simply blast it to pieces with Lances and Macro Cannons?
Was boarding really such a fun, Cooooool thing to do?!
As fleet commander, he utterly loathed such barbaric behavior as boarding actions.
"Sir."
"Kasgar's way of thinking and behavior may indeed be somewhat unconventional, but his actions always prove critical."
"Just like when he ordered the retreat and told us to wait for the right opportunity. That was how we got the chance to ambush the Xenos Warship."
The fleet commander recognized the speaker.
Corleon.
A young woman with extraordinary talent for piloting ships, she had stepped forward to persuade him as the apprentice of this Lunar-class Cruiser's captain.
"I hope so."
He could only smile bitterly.
"This way!"
"Follow me!"
Kasgar advanced slowly with the boarding shield in his hands, blasting every Crystalline Alien that dared block his path into charred husks.
Though the massive shield in his hands was heavy, Kasgar's brisk steps showed no sign of being slowed by it.
As a customized Space Marine enhancement that had consumed greater resources, Kasgar did not understand what exactly had been changed about him. But in basic aspects such as reaction speed and strength, he had already far surpassed ordinary Space Marines.
The power of numbers.
And boarding was indeed a fun, Coooooool thing to do!
"Almost there. Beyond this door is the central area of the Xenos Warship."
"Tavitz, prepare the Melt-Explosive Charges."
"Yes."
Kasgar's Tactical Squad stopped before an enormous, thick crystal door.
Unlike the jagged crystals elsewhere in the warship, this crystal door was exceptionally smooth. It also seemed to emit a faint glow, softly illuminating the deck.
According to their previous scans and the reports from the other boarding team members, every other area of the Xenos Warship had already been explored, yet they had failed to find either its engines or command room.
This was the core area of the Dropship Xenos Vessel, and the only region that remained unexplored.
Even Kasgar's prized Mechanical Spider had failed to find an entrance here.
And by process of elimination, this could only be their final target.
The Melt-Explosive Charges had been placed and would detonate in ten seconds.
Ten!
Nine!
Seeing that the massive charge had been attached to the door, everyone hurriedly retreated to find cover.
One!
With a muffled explosion, Kasgar calmly raised his great shield and slowly entered the final chamber.
The structure here differed from the rest of the warship.
The towering dome was made from an exceptionally pure, transparent material, cut with the neat, splendid precision of gemstones and diamonds.
And rather than crystals of every color, the walls surrounding this circular chamber displayed everything taking place outside in space.
As if every obstruction had become transparent, it brought everything in the outer void into view.
Gunships streaking past, and cruisers attempting to stop them from advancing through the Portal with their rams—
Everything was visible.
At that moment, the enormous Dalit Warp Gate, radiating a shimmering curtain of light, continued to draw closer before their eyes.
They had to hurry.
Kasgar thought to himself.
Within this final chamber, aside from the crystal door they had just blown apart, there were no other entrances or exits.
The empty circular hall appeared to have a radius of several hundred meters, and at its exact center floated an especially massive crystal.
Like the Crystalline Aliens, it was a construct composed of countless transparent and translucent crystals. Its size, however, made the ones they had encountered before seem insignificant.
The Crystalline Constructs, more than ten meters tall, remained attached to the very center of the chamber, pulsing faintly.
It did not seem to have changed at all due to the arrival of uninvited guests like Kasgar.
"Fire at the core together."
Kasgar gave the order calmly.
These aliens were even more troublesome than he had imagined.
Judging from the current situation, the warship appeared to be directly controlled by this giant crystal, leaving them no external interface whatsoever.
Seizing control without damaging the structure was practically impossible.
But since they had come all this way, they could not return empty-handed.
Kasgar tried drawing his Explosive Gun alongside the other two and firing at the crystal's core.
Bzz!
Bzzzzzz!
Several blazing beams shot out from three points and converged on the core of the massive crystal.
Yet they only left several tiny blackened marks upon its crystal shell.
As the controller of the warship, its defenses seemed far stronger than those of the Crystalline Aliens.
Kasgar and the others' attacks had failed to penetrate its defenses.
And as the Ignition beams produced little effect, the crystal seemed to realize something and began continuously changing the shape of its body.
Then, in the next instant, the center of the enormous thing, scorched by the rays of the Ignition pistol, aimed at them.
"Dodge!!!"
Aqua's shout from behind them filled the entire hall in an instant.
Whoosh!
As though those crystal walls did not exist at all, an enormous beam struck the Tactical Squad's original position, carving a dazzling trail through the void.
That laser... was exactly the same as the laser cannon fire launched by those Xenos Warships!
Damn it!
Kasgar, who had nearly failed to dodge in time, felt a wave of lingering fear.
This thing was not merely their command and control system. It was also the Xenos Warship's laser weapon!
"Is everyone all right?"
Kasgar anxiously looked around.
Perhaps because this Tactical Squad was packed with hidden talent, both Tavitz and Lucius were experts.
Though their reactions could not compare to Kasgar's or Aqua the Sword Saint's, they had still barely avoided that powerful strike.
"Captain, what do we do now?"
Tavitz rose to his feet and asked.
"Wait for the right moment."
"When it fired the laser just now, it seemed to expose its core."
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