Battle

At this moment, above a meteorite several hundred kilometers outside the Thunder Prison Realm.

A massive triangular Mechanical Race spacecraft hovered silently.

Inside the spacecraft, in the control room.

A Mechanical Immortal sat before the main console, the virtual screen before him displaying images from within the Thunder Prison Realm.

"Interesting."

This Mechanical Immortal seemed to have been forged from dark gold metal, with intricate armor patterns covering his body and faint blue light gleaming in his eyes.

He stared at the figure wielding a longblade on the screen, surprise flashing through his gaze.

"One slash cut down several hundred E9 Puppets... I never expected that casually ambushing a human Immortal squad would lead me to encounter such a formidable Realm Lord."

He paused.

"But precisely because of that, this human squad must be completely wiped out."

"Thunder Prison Realm, activate Overload Mode."

He tapped the console several times.

"F9 Mechanical Puppets, all deploy."

"Strangulation... begin!"

Inside the Thunder Prison Realm.

Everyone was frantically slaughtering the remaining E9 Puppets when suddenly—

"Rumble—"

The entire space within the Thunder Prison Realm shook violently.

The curtains of lightning surrounding them abruptly became even more violent. Countless electric serpents writhed wildly across them, letting out piercing roars.

At the same time, the lightning curtains began slowly compressing inward, and the space left for the group continued to shrink.

"What's going on?"

Mad Blade's expression changed.

Shuang Yue's pupils contracted sharply!

"Not good—!"

Before she could finish speaking, dozens of ripples suddenly appeared in the surrounding void.

Pitch-black Mechanical Puppets, each larger than before, stepped out from the prison realm!

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand...

Densely packed black puppets surged forth like a tide. In the blink of an eye, they filled the entire void, numbering at least ten thousand.

"This is..."

You Meng sucked in a breath.

Shuang Yue's expression instantly turned incomparably grave.

"They're F9 Mechanical Puppets! Everyone, gather up!"

Eight figures instantly drew together, forming a defensive formation back-to-back.

"F9-class?"

The smile disappeared from Mad Blade's face.

Spirit Wind said in a low voice.

"F9 Mechanical Puppets are on a completely different level from E9 Puppets—one thousand F9 Mechanical Puppets are enough to hold back an Immortal powerhouse!"

Shuang Yue swept her gaze across the densely packed black puppets surrounding them and slowly said.

"Though I'm not considered weak among Immortals, I can at most contend with three or four thousand of them. As for the rest of you..."

She did not continue.

But everyone understood what she meant—aside from Shuang Yue, everyone present was a Realm Lord War General.

Against F9 Mechanical Puppets, they might be able to cope in a one-on-one fight. But if they were surrounded and attacked, they would absolutely be unable to resist.

Iron Mountain said in a muffled voice.

"Good lord, this Mechanical Immortal is really rich. Ten thousand F9 Mechanical Puppets—how much military merit would that cost?"

You Meng gave a bitter smile.

"Is this really the time to marvel at that?"

Shuang Yue took a deep breath and swiftly made her decision.

"We can't stand our ground against him here. Find an opportunity to break through the Thunder Prison Realm. Focus our attacks on one point and withdraw quickly!"

"Yes, Captain!"

The moment she finished speaking, the countless F9 Mechanical Puppets around them moved.

They surged over like a black tide, their cannons aimed at the group as innumerable energy beams poured down like a rainstorm.

"Attack!"

Shuang Yue swept her shortsword, and in an instant, a vast Law Domain spread outward.

It was the Law Domain of an Immortal powerhouse!

"Rumble—!"

More than a thousand F9 Mechanical Puppets around them were instantly frozen into ice sculptures, their movements locked in the midst of their charge.

"Go!"

Shuang Yue shouted, turning into a streak of light as she charged toward the edge of the Thunder Prison Realm.

The other seven followed close behind, pushing their speed to the limit.

Yet the frozen Mechanical Puppets were stalled for less than two seconds before the ice coating their bodies began to crack.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

One puppet after another broke free of the ice, their dark red eyes lighting up once more as they pursued the group.

They were incredibly fast—more than twice as fast as the E9 Puppets.

"Damn it!"

Mad Blade gritted his teeth.

"Why are these things so fast?!"

Qian Yu glanced back, then looked ahead at the ever-nearing edge of the Thunder Prison Realm.

That Mechanical Immortal should be observing them from somewhere outside the prison realm.

Following the habits of the Mechanical Race, for an ambush of this scale, that Immortal was definitely nearby, personally directing it.

Which meant...

As long as they could rush out of the Thunder Prison Realm, they could find the Mechanical Immortal's location.

Then...

Kill him!

A cold glint flashed in Qian Yu's eyes.

This Mechanical Immortal was clearly no ordinary figure. With over ten thousand F9 Puppets under his command, his wealth had to be immense.

As long as Qian Yu killed him, wouldn't he complete his military merit mission in one stroke?

Just then!

"Boom boom boom boom boom!!!"

Several thousand F9 Mechanical Puppets suddenly surged out ahead, forming an impenetrable web of firepower that sealed off the group's path.

Countless energy rays shot toward them.

"Stop!"

Shuang Yue had no choice but to stop, leading the group to hover in the void.

Ahead, behind, left, right—in every direction—an endless army of Mechanical Puppets had completely surrounded them.

The black puppet army was layered upon layer, like an impregnable wall of steel.

"This is getting a little troublesome."

Shuang'er looked at Qian Yu beside her and could not help complaining.

"Qian Yu, your luck really is terrible. Your first mission, and you run into something like this."

Qian Yu tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Then your luck is great. You ran into something like this, and I'm in the squad."

Shuang'er rolled her eyes.

"At a time like this, can you stop joking? We might very well die here today."

Qian Yu said indifferently.

"We won't."

Shuang Yue calmly observed their surroundings before speaking slowly.

"Don't be so pessimistic. We can still get away if we want to."

It seems... I'll have to burn my Immortal Divine Body.

An Immortal powerhouse could instantly increase their combat strength by nearly a thousandfold by burning their Immortal Divine Body.

Although burning the Divine Body would damage her strength and require a long time to recover from, in their current situation, it was the only option.

With her combat power soaring, she was confident that she could forcefully break out with the squad and escape this place.

She took a deep breath and was just about to speak!

"Captain."

Qian Yu's voice suddenly rang out.

Shuang Yue turned to look at him.

"There's no need to burn your Divine Body."

Shuang Yue froze.

"What did you say?"

Qian Yu swept his gaze over the endless Mechanical Puppets around them, before finally fixing it on a direction beyond the Thunder Prison Realm!

"Leave it to me."

How could he not know what Shuang Yue intended to do? She was certainly planning to burn her Immortal Divine Body, forcibly unleash her strength, and charge out of the Thunder Prison Realm.

But when an Immortal burned their Immortal Divine Body, they were, put simply, burning their own body.

The larger the body, the larger the Divine Body. With Shuang Yue's size, she was not even as tall as him.

She would be severely injured before she could burn for long.

Since she had looked after him for a while, he might as well leave something behind before he departed.