Insufficient Time Remaining for Sustained Defense

"Mutated Creature energy signals detected. Spacetime Energy Plunder Index: 98%. Trans-Spacetime Energy Fluctuations detected!" The Shipboard AI's alarm crackled with static. "The Trans-Spacetime Crystal Core Fragments inside them can strengthen their Spacetime Manipulation Ability and grant them self-repair capabilities!" A mutated Crystal Wall Race member with Energy Wings on its back locked onto the Starry Sky-IV first. It swung its Twin Spacetime Blades, sending a silver Spacetime Rift and a pale-blue Spacetime Acceleration Wave toward the ship at the same time. Chu Yunyi activated the Star Core Shield. The rift struck the shield, forming Spacetime Wrinkles, while the acceleration wave made the shield consume energy five times faster. "Shield Energy at 75%. Estimated sustained defense time: less than ten minutes!"

More troublesome still, the mutated Crystal Wall Race had mastered "Spacetime Cluster Tactics." Hundreds of Crystal Wall Race members formed a diamond-shaped battle formation. The ten Mutants at its center, fused with Trans-Spacetime Crystal Core Fragments, released a Spacetime Disturbance Field, while the surrounding Crystal Wall Race members fired Spacetime Rifts in sync, creating a "Spacetime Destruction Net" that covered a hundred kilometers. The Starry Sky-IV was grazed by the edge of the net. The Mechanical Arm on the ship's left side instantly fell into "spacetime stasis" and stopped moving, while short-circuit sparks flickered through its internal wiring due to the spacetime disturbance.

Chu Yunyi activated the "Star Core Pulse Purification System." Golden pulse waves spread from inside the ship, temporarily lifting the Mechanical Arm's spacetime stasis, but the mutated Crystal Wall Race's formation was already closing in again. He had no choice but to activate the "Spacetime Stabilizing Anchor," fixing the ship at its current Spacetime Coordinates, while also releasing the "Star Core Decoy Swarm." Fifty decoy craft imitated the Starry Sky-IV's Energy Signal and scattered in different directions,