Battle Between Frigates

For the moment, Shen Wenjie's side could be set aside. The combat strength of his Bronze Halberd was not far off from that of his opponent. Although nearly every exchange of attack and defense was accompanied by the complete destruction of a nearby asteroid, the outcome would clearly not be decided anytime soon.

Thus, the outcome of this battle would ultimately be decided by Song Chao's Azure Sky and that silver-armored starship.

As a veteran second-rank Kindling Captain, Song Chao's Azure Sky naturally had an impressive loadout. Setting aside its blue-quality energy shield, even its ship-mounted main cannon was blue quality.

After a brief charge-up, the main cannon at the bow of the Azure Sky suddenly fired a laser beam three meters in diameter.

Inside the silver starship, Zhu Kang curled his lips into a smile as his hands moved swiftly over the controls. The starship's engines roared at full power, and in the next second, it turned into a silver afterimage and vanished from its original position, easily evading the Azure Sky's attack.

After dodging, he promptly returned fire. The savage main cannon at the silver starship's bow, several meters in diameter, unleashed an equally terrifying attack.

Song Chao's eyes narrowed slightly. Judging from the speed the opposing starship had just displayed, the quality of its engine component was certainly no lower than blue, and was very likely purple.

His heart sank, because that meant it would be difficult for him to hit the other side.

It also meant that the enemy held the initiative on the battlefield, placing the Azure Sky at an inherent disadvantage.

Song Chao steered the Azure Sky into narrowly evading the incoming attack, his mind rapidly searching for a solution. If this continued, defeat would be inevitable.

Yet the silver-armored warship on the other side seemed to have activated some special component, or perhaps its main cannon's cooldown was simply exceptionally short. The first shot had barely passed when the second came roaring in.

This time, Song Chao failed to evade it.

Boom!

Another violent tremor shook the ship, leaving the Azure Sky's energy shield at only half strength.

Inside the silver starship, a sinister smile appeared on Zhu Kang's face. The main cannon equipped on his vessel had a trait: every shot had a 30% chance to trigger a double strike.

That trait had just activated. Seeing the energy shield on the opposing frigate's surface grow increasingly dim, Zhu Kang became even more smug.

He could already imagine the opposing frigate surrendering in a low voice after its energy shield was destroyed.

He pushed the control lever forward, and the silver starship steadily closed in on Song Chao's Azure Sky. At the same time, the four secondary cannons aboard the ship began firing without pause.

Aboard the Azure Sky, Song Chao's expression relaxed slightly. Seeing that the enemy's main cannon did require charging, the pressure on him immediately eased considerably.

At the same time, he activated a white special component aboard the Azure Sky known as the "Shield Repair Sphere." As light radiated from it, the shield value, which had fallen below 50%, began to slowly rise. Twenty seconds later, it had actually recovered to 68%.

The quality of this "Shield Repair Sphere" component was rather ordinary, but its attributes were quite good. It could repair a Kindling Starship's damaged shield value, though not by much. Even after he had upgraded it all the way to lv29, it could only restore 20%.

This component, which was rarely useful under normal circumstances, proved invaluable now. Restoring the shield value to 68% greatly relieved the Azure Sky's predicament.

Across from him, Zhu Kang saw the Azure Sky's energy shield regain much of its brilliance. He immediately thought of a special ship-mounted component capable of restoring shields, and a fierce glint flashed in his eyes. Components that restored shields were not common; they could even be called rare.

Naturally, he coveted a component that could play such a huge role at a critical moment.

However, he also knew that if he wanted to obtain it, he first had to completely defeat the title-hidden frigate before him. Only as the victor would he have a chance to forcibly take that special component from the other party.

At this thought, Zhu Kang grew more anxious.

It seemed that the other side had already begun mining the Titanium Crystal in Skyreach Mining's mining zone. If he could not end the battle quickly, then once they finished mining the Titanium Crystal and took it away, he would truly be throwing away the watermelon to pick up sesame seeds.

Under his increasingly frequent attacks, the opposing frigate gradually became flustered. Aside from the first few attacks it had evaded, two out of every three subsequent shots landed.

As time passed, the energy shield on the opposing frigate's surface dimmed to the extreme once more. When his vessel completed another main cannon charge, he impatiently fired again. At the same time, the silver starship he piloted inadvertently surged forward another short distance.

As a Kindling Captain with considerable combat experience, Zhu Kang did possess the most basic vigilance. This could be seen from the fact that from the start, he had never ceased attacking with his main and secondary cannons, constantly suppressing the Azure Sky with overwhelming firepower and giving it not the slightest chance to turn the tables.

What he had not expected was that this tiny distance the Silver Edge advanced would become the greatest opportunity in the enemy's eyes.

Inside the Azure Sky's cockpit, Song Chao, who had waited for a long time, precisely seized the opportunity. He immediately activated another special component aboard the Azure Sky.

Supermagnetic Tractor Beam Generator

The silver starship, which had just entered the Supermagnetic Tractor Beam's effective range, was precisely caught by a beam fired from the Azure Sky. The beam carried an immensely powerful pulling force. The moment the two made contact, the silver starship was firmly bound by it. No matter how Zhu Kang drove the starship's engines, he could not break free.

For a moment, Zhu Kang panicked. The engine component equipped on his vessel was an extremely rare purple engine, yet it could not break free from this tractor beam.

In other words, the component that had fired this tractor beam was at least a purple component.

Inside the silver starship, Zhu Kang quickly calmed down after his brief panic. So what if it was a purple-quality special tractor component? His attack was about to completely shatter the enemy's energy shield, while the Silver Edge possessed a blue-quality energy shield component. Even if it could not evade, it could not possibly be heavily damaged in a single blow.

But at that moment, another situation unfavorable to him appeared.

The energy shield on the opposing starship's surface, which had clearly been utterly dim before, unexpectedly regained some of its glow. As a result, the enemy successfully withstood the shot the Silver Edge had just fired.

Inside the Azure Sky, Song Chao smiled faintly.

His "Shield Repair Sphere" component was not limited to a single repair. This component gained one repair opportunity every 24 hours and could accumulate up to two uses.

It was not over yet. After preserving the Azure Sky's energy shield, Song Chao activated the starship's third special component.

The purple-quality "Knull's Armor-Piercing Quiver" component, already upgraded to lv29.

This component had no other effect. Once activated, it granted the starship's main cannon a 50% armor-piercing effect for ten minutes.

With this armor-piercing effect, the Azure Sky's damage against the silver-armored starship would increase drastically.

The only pity was that, because Song Chao himself still possessed a white Kindling Seed, the components aboard the Azure Sky could only be upgraded to lv29. Otherwise, given the quality of "Knull's Armor-Piercing Quiver," its attributes would undoubtedly be even more powerful upon reaching the third rank (lv30–lv39).

Several minutes later, the tractor beam's duration ended. However, by then, the Silver Edge's energy shield had less than 10% remaining, while the effect of the Azure Sky's "Knull's Armor-Piercing Quiver" component had yet to disappear.