Wormhole

After personally carrying the last deeply unconscious Revolutionary Army soldier into the Gateway, Augustus gathered the last twenty or so Marshal Guard's guards around him to prepare for departure.

"On your marks, lads! The Vulture are fully fueled, enough to get us out of the Milky Way Galaxy," Augustus joked, trying to boost morale.

A burst of laughter erupted around them; if they could, these people would truly be willing to follow Augustus to the ends of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The departing Revolutionary Army left Augustus with the best vehicles and weapons, including some Electromagnetic Grenade, rocket launchers, AGR Gauss assault rifles, and their matching AGG-12 grenade launchers. The Goliath Combat Robot's missiles could help Augustus deal with the aerial Mutalisk, but these equipment were not suitable for mobile units to carry.

Augustus mounted his gold and red Vulture with practiced ease, feeling as if it were a docile horse. He turned to observe what kind of transportation the Taldarin Protoss would use, only to suddenly realize that he hadn't even noticed how the Taldarin had arranged those conical gold and blue chariots on the teleportation platform.

The chariots were shaped like arrowheads and spearheads, their gleaming metal shells inlaid with crystals and gems. They were roughly the size of a human single-seat Vulture Motorcycle, complete with a seat and a control panel resembling a steering wheel.

The Protoss chariot hovered in mid-air, radiating a dreamlike, crystal-like luster. Augustus hear any engine roar; he was certain it was because the Protoss's power system was completely different from the human's.

When fighting alongside the Protoss, Augustus noticed that they rarely used human-like chariots, but that didn't mean the Protoss didn't. The larger Dragoon like the Taldarin rode in four-man chariots, driven by a loyal high- Akilae Tribe High Templar.

There were only four or five chariots, while the remaining twenty-odd High Templar rode on golden-blue butterfly-shaped discs suspended a dozen feet (over three meters) in the air.

More precisely, Protoss often hone their skills and willpower through ascetic-like walking, but when they need transportation, they usually warp directly to their destination using spacetime distortion technology, though sometimes they also use butterfly-shaped flight discs.

These parallel discs hovering in the air are similar to human two-wheeled hovercars, but the Protoss are more stable and can even be used as a kind of high-speed single-person flying vehicle.

On the disc, you will likely see some female Protoss warriors dressed in golden robes over armor. They are spearmen of the Velari Tribe, wielding spears rather than Psionics blades. The Velari Tribe is the one that produces Protoss Preservers, and Velari Spearmen are the tribe's signature unit.

In the ancient Protoss era, the Protoss tribes still used weapons such as spears, stone weights, and longswords, a tradition that can still be seen among the Protoss who value heritage.

The robes of the powerful Velari Spearmen shimmered with gold in the Char sunlight, their soft silk garments adorned with rhomboid psychic crystals, and their long, braided nerve bundles were embellished with beautiful ornaments. Their taut legs were bare, their greyish-white skin far more delicate and supple than that of ordinary Protoss males.

It must be said that, setting aside their less-than-human features, these agile Protoss warriors are quite charming.

The Protoss Templar Knights, piloting their flight disks, hovered in the air, awaiting orders from the Taldarin. Dozens of shuttles, still surviving the pursuit of the Mutalisk and Scourge, were now being secretly escorted by the High Archon as he commanded them to ascend into the sky.

"Let's go." Augustus greeted Taldarin on the chariot, then said to Tychus and Raynor on either side of him, "Stay close to my brothers. The Char Wasteland is fraught with danger and peril."

"We have to go around, around the location of the Psi Emitter and the lava lake," he said.

"The longer we stay on the plains, the greater the risk. Why don't we just cross this volcanic plain?" Taldarin's chariot drove up to Augustus.

"Better safe than sorry, Consul." Augustus closed his Power Armor helmet and started his Vulture.

"Your expressions are always strange, but I always agree with cautious language." Taldarin always seemed stiff and awkward when communicating with humans, as if he were the kind of old stubborn and bookish nerd that Tychus described.

"The Auriga Tribe once built ships and arks on the vast ocean where Aiur raged with storms, and only the cautious and wise Auriga helmsmen were able to steer their ships across the seas." He tried to explain the meaning of Augustus's words in his own way.

"Only the most meticulous and responsible shipbuilders can construct colossal ships capable of withstanding giant waves. The greatest Mothership and aircraft carriers in Aeon of Strife all had outstanding commanders."

"That's the idea." Raynor gave Taldarin a thumbs-up. "In short, it's always better to be cautious."

As Augustus spoke, his Vulture roared and sped across the Gateway platform for hundreds of yards, leaping into the air like a fighter jet taking off before finally landing on the ground much later with the help of the thrusters.

A fierce wind howled past Augustus as this small squad of over sixty human Revolutionary Army and Protoss Expeditionary Force raced across the flat lands of the Burning Lands for over ten miles.

Along the way, large numbers of Zerg would attack them from time to time, and they would even lay an ambush according to Augustus's route. But Augustus always led his caravan over the Zerg. In the most dangerous moments, he even had to drive his Vulture over the heads of the Zerg.

Aside from having virtually no defense, the fragmentation grenades carried by the Vulture were quite effective against the Zerg, especially since the Protoss ' firepower was also quite formidable. Whenever a large swarm of Zerg rushed towards the convoy, a High Templar on a flying disc would unleash a Psionic Storm to eliminate all the Zerg.

In just over an hour, Augustus led the caravan out of the Burning Lands and headed towards the location Zeratul had described. That location wasn't far from the Burning Lands; it lay between the Bone Trench, the Obsidian Lowlands, and an exceptionally vast lava lake. The main lava nest near that lava lake was where Zeratul was located.

This probably explains why the Zerg, with the aid of Psi Emitter, could completely ignore the Revolutionary Army's Psi Disrupter. The Overmind's Psionics level was terrifying; as a creature, it had reached a height that no one else could match.

Augustus shook off another swarm of roaring Gorandell Brood Hydralisk, watching their thermal signatures fade into the distance on the Vulture's display. A dozen or Mutalisk Vulture-like Leviathan Swarm circled in the sky; these cunning creatures possessed more brightly colored thorns and spikes than other groups, a trait likely indicating their venomous nature.

Under the intimidation of dozens of high-ranking Protoss High Templar, the Leviathan Mutalisk that had been monitoring Augustus from the air dared not approach, at most only lowering their altitude and throwing a few jumping Glaive Wurm at the speeding Vulture and Protoss vehicles.

"The Bone Trench is just ahead. Satellite images show that it contains a large number of Zerg Spires and Scourge Nests. We have to take another route around it."

Augustus stopped before the entrance to a massive canyon, a canyon primarily composed of black volcanic rock and granite. The canyon was so vast that, viewed from the air, it resembled a grotesque scar on the Char gray-white landscape, large enough to launch and land interstellar warships.

After slowing down, the Vulture behind him stopped beside Augustus, and the Protoss chariots and flying disks also came to a stop.

"Go around? I'm afraid it will take us another four or five hours. God, we won't get there before dark." Raynor looked at the blazing golden sun in the sky. If it weren't for the protection of his Power Armor and combat suit, he would have died of dehydration long ago.

"What I fear most is that things might go wrong if we drag this out. I have no problem running a longer distance, but who knows what other troubles might arise after we cross this point," Tychus said.

As they were talking, the soft, scorching ash on the ground more than two hundred yards away from them suddenly caved in, and holes appeared beneath the ash layer. Immediately afterwards, more than thirty Zergling and Hydralisk pounced on them.

The orange carapace and spiked edges indicate that they belong to the Garm Brood, Cerebrate Sars, must harbor resentment towards Augustus and the Protoss who killed and drove it away.

Augustus picked up an AGR-14 assault rifle and loaded a Ripper A standard grenade into the grenade launcher underneath. This grenade was something Swann had taken from Moria's weapons manufacturing plant, but its power was quite astonishing.

If the Zergling are close enough together, a single shot can take them down; with enough luck, you might even wipe out a dozen or more Zerg at once.

Raynor threw several delayed-detonation Electromagnetic Grenade in that direction, while Tychus set up a Whisper Persuader Heavy Machine Gun on his Vulture seat and pulled a volley of U-235 bullets from the ammunition box in the back of the Vulture.

Faraday picked up a railgun and began firing. Each 25mm bullet could rip open the skull of a running Zergling, shattering its entire head.

Several mutated Zergling with thicker carapaces leaped over the barrage and pounced on Augustus. Their intelligence and ferocity surpassed that of ordinary Zergling, suggesting that the Cerebrate Sars was personally controlling these Zergling through a mental link.

A High Templar piloted a flying disc and blocked Augustus's path. Blue Psionics lightning balls swirled between his lizard-like claws, and with a flick of his wrist, a powerful Psionics pulse scorched two Zergling, leaving them charred black and collapsing to the ground.

The remaining Zergling pounced straight at him, its extremely powerful hind legs propelling it high into the air, attempting to leap over the head of the High Templar.

The High Templar ignited Psionics blade on his right arm and thrust it upwards without hindrance into the Zergling's abdomen. The Zergling had leaped high into the air, was immediately cleaved in two by its own momentum, much like a cod in front of a cutting machine.

"Cool! When can we use lightsabers?" Although it wasn't the first time Raynor had seen Protoss Templar Knights kill Zerg so cleanly, it still couldn't stop him from praising them incessantly.

Raynor remembered what his father, Tres Raynor, had once told him, "A warrior fights to survive, a gladiator fights to fight."

In the Protoss Empire's social system, Templar Knights are born professional soldiers, warriors until death, and they have long since extended war and slaughter into an art form of aesthetics.

"When John grows up, as his godfather, I will definitely give him a single-molecule Psionics blade," Augustus.

"They already have that kind of thing? I've heard the Umojan have been researching this weapon, but that's about it." Tychus calmly stuffed the ammunition belt back into the ammunition box.

"It will happen sooner or later." Augustus checked the time and pondered which path he should take next.

Just then, a plume of black smoke suddenly appeared nearby, and a Dark Templar dressed in a purple robe and wielding a bright green Warp Blade appeared beside them.

"Marshal Augustus." The Dark Templar approached Augustus, the massive Hydralisk skull on his right shoulder clanging against his armor, and addressed the High Templar was watching him warily.

"Homage to Adun, my brothers, may his shadow protect you as you find your way home in the void."

"I will not associate with the traitors of the Khala. Put away your hypocrisy, Dark Templar, it disgusts me." This was the first time the High Templar protecting Augustus had ever seen a real Dark Templar in reality. His gray-blue skin was wrinkled from physical discomfort, like a human getting goosebumps.

"But we still respect the Templar Knights," the Dark Templar said, bowing.

"We don't need your respect. Stay away from me." The High Templar took a few steps back. Augustus could even sense that the other party was afraid. Even when facing a number of Zerg that was hundreds of times larger than his own, this High Templar had not flinched at all.

"Raszagal did a good job teaching. Back then, we were the ones who taught Raszagal your stealth abilities; she was a good student." Taldarin stepped down from his chariot.

"You've come to meet us, haven't you?" he said. "Let the leader of the Dark Templar speak to me."

"High Priest Zeratul is closely monitoring the Overmind's hive." The Dark Templar looked up at the sky, where a long, skeletal spaceship, gracefully rotating in the air, emerged from its concealed state.

This is an elegant spaceship radiating a vibrant green light that symbolizes life. It is engraved with shell-like spiral patterns, seemingly a perfect fusion of nature and technology, and is surrounded by a vast amount of void energy.

"An ancient Xel'Naga spaceship? But not the one we gave to Raszagal," Taldarin said.

"Warp us onto the ship, Dark Templar."

"This is very likely a trap," the High Templar shouted.

"I believe Raszagal is probably the only one among us who doesn't have any prejudice against the Dark Templar," Taldarin said.

"What did you find there?"

"A wormhole." The Dark Templar's words were usually sharp and direct, like a blade slashing through the air, but now he seemed hesitant.

"The Overmind used its Psionics power to create a stable wormhole directly in Char; this is simply unheard of."

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