The Sky-Shield!

Everyone looked troubled.

But there was no avoiding it.

Let alone the tissue in the outer layer of the Star-Bearing Vine's main body.

It was countless times tougher than the rotted, crumbling wreckage of the warship.

The armed robots' handheld light weapons simply couldn't penetrate it.

What worried them more was this:

If they attacked the tissue directly, would they attract the attention of the Star-Bearing Vine's main body?

The odds were very, very low.

But they couldn't afford to ignore the possibility.

Still.

Faced with the situation, Zhou Tai made a prompt decision.

He stopped maintaining the full size of the armed robot legion.

First, he cut its numbers in half.

This greatly eased the pressure on the passage.

With enough room, the cables were no longer so crowded. Even as they continued the exploration and suffered damage here and there, both the number of incidents and their frequency dropped considerably.

Of course, this approach.

More than halved their speed of exploration.

But as long as they could keep making steady progress.

What did it matter if they went a little slower and took a little longer?

And so.

Under Zhou Tai's seasoned command.

June 18.

After several days of exploration and expansion.

The armed robot legion finally reached the outside of the third node compartment!

By then.

Fewer than fifty armed robots remained intact!

But it had all been worth it.

As they carefully opened the last section of hull blocking the third node compartment.

A shield appeared before them, floating in midair and still radiating a faint glow despite the passage of time!

It was a kite-shaped shield over one and a half meters tall, jet-black all over, with dark gold patterns.

Its design was simple and stately, yet undeniably lavish.

Even through the images relayed by