Combustion

Three Drone were destroyed. The Riken Race pilot gasped in shock; if his tentacles had been longer, his vehicle would probably have been turned into a fireball as well.

A standard formation consists of ten fighter jets. He commanded the remaining jets to immediately lock onto the target and prepare to attack.

This is a medium-sized Space Octopus, over 80 meters long, with tentacles reaching 50 meters in length, which is why it can destroy three fighter jets in one strike.

Once locked on, it did not panic. Instead, it wiggled its arms and legs and quickly crawled along the rock face, its agile body like a rolling jelly.

Most of the fighter jet's attacks were dodged, with only a small portion hitting it. However, compared to the 80-meter-long Space Octopus, the fighter jet's energy weapons were considered small-caliber.

With just these few fighter jets, it would take a much longer attack to cripple this Space Octopus.

But there was clearly not much time now. Just as the fighter jets locked onto the Space Octopus and focused on attacking them, three Mature Form suddenly pounced out from the rock wall in their path.

These three Mature Form specimens are relatively small, only about 20 meters long. They have just been classified from Larval Form to Mature Form and have not even been equipped with Electromagnetic Cannon.

But this also makes them more agile.

Unable to evade the sudden attack, the three fighter jets were struck and, under the control of the Mature Form, crashed into friendly forces nearby.

The Riken Race pilot was once again lucky enough not to be selected as a target. He quickly increased the altitude of his vehicle; what were those Drone wingmen compared to his own life?

But at this moment, the 80-meter-long Mature Form that had been running away just moments before turned back, its 50-meter-long tentacles crackling with electricity, exerting maximum force as it swept down from a great distance.

The fighter jet, which had just taken off, was struck head-on. Its advantage of being more robust and larger than the Drone prevented it from being blown apart on the spot, but the huge impact still deformed its outer shell and sent it crashing to the ground at an even faster speed than before.

"Boom!" The moment the fighter jet touched the ground, it was severely damaged again and, unable to withstand the pressure, exploded into a fireball.

The remaining three Drone also met their end; two were directly destroyed by friendly drones controlled by the Mature Form, and the remaining one was blown apart in mid-air by the 80-meter-tall Mature Form while it was gaining altitude.

After eliminating the opponent's Mature Form squad, they fled far away and disappeared into the mountains again, waiting for their next prey.

Such scenes are common in this complex terrain; aircraft that were almost undamaged suddenly suffer a surge in casualties. By the time the Riken Race commanders realized what was happening, the fighter force had already lost more than 20,000 aircraft.

However, the loss of Mature Form Swarm was minimal.

The remaining aircraft quickly increased their altitude, but instead of moving away, they surrounded the large mountainous area to prevent the Space Octopus from escaping.

On the main battlefield, the Swarm forces had completely lost their ability to retaliate; all their Electromagnetic Cannon were silenced, leaving them to endure wave after wave of artillery fire.

However, the purple patches were far more tenacious than the Riken Race had imagined. No matter how they attacked, they could not completely stop the purple patches from repairing and growing.

"Damn it! What the hell is this thing?!"

"Conventional firepower is useless!"

We must find another way.

"Maybe that will work."

You mean...?

A few minutes later, several Gunboat flew out of the warship and headed towards the battlefield below.

At an altitude of 10,000 meters, cylindrical metal objects, each two meters tall and 1.2 meters in diameter, were thrown from the Gunboat, with more than a hundred being thrown down in total.

The metal cylinder fell rapidly, and moments later, it exploded with a bang less than 100 meters above the purple patch.

This is the latest weapon developed by the Riken Race. After it explodes, even in the airless space, it can burn for more than thirty seconds thanks to its special advanced oxidizer.

During this period, it can rapidly heat an area to over ten thousand degrees Celsius, causing terrifying burns in a short time. Simultaneously, the oxidizing agents and other components after combustion produce a chemical toxin with a potency comparable to high-intensity radiation; it is not only highly adhesive but also non-degradable.

If used on Life Star, it would be enough to render the entire area barren for centuries.

Therefore, although the theory of this weapon existed long ago, the development of it was always explicitly prohibited by the Riken Race.

It wasn't until the Expedition Fleet was defeated and fled back, facing the threat of alien races, that the development of these forbidden weapons resumed and gradually entered the practical application stage.

This interception fleet carried some trial-use weapons in order to observe their performance in actual combat.

The Combustion Barrel were quite impressive; hundreds of Combustion Barrel exploded one after another, like hundreds of small suns igniting, before gradually going out after flashing for a moment.

But the places they had just illuminated have already been left with indelible scars.

The purplish-gray patches turned dark brown, and a thick, viscous sap-like substance oozed from them. These unknown toxins effectively inhibited the growth of the Creep.

"Look, those patches have been suppressed!"

"It looks like it's working well."

"Unfortunately, this was just an experimental weapon, and we didn't bring many with us."

"Throw them all out, eliminate as many as you can, and we'll think of another way to deal with the rest."

Seeing that it was effective, hundreds of Gunboat flew out of their cabins one after another, and in a short while, more shining little suns were lit up.

Even if these are just experimental weapons and each warship doesn't carry many, there are currently two thousand warships on site, so the total number is quite considerable.

If Life Star were to experience a concentrated explosion of this size of Combustion Barrel in a short period of time, it could potentially cause the extinction of some species with demanding environmental requirements. However, Laze Planet, an uninhabited planet located on the outermost edge of its star system, obviously doesn't require much of a concern.

The eruption of thousands upon thousands of Combustion Barrel greatly delayed the repair and growth of the Creep, but only delayed it.

Several hours later, while the Riken Race focused their efforts on bombing areas not treated by the Combustion Barrel, the areas affected by the toxins were instead thriving.

The Creep is the essence of all the gene fragments collected by Rowan, and it is the pinnacle of Rowan's talent and skill. With its rich genetic characteristics, it can cope with various situations and crises, and can perform well at any time.

The tens of thousands of degrees Celsius generated when the Combustion Barrel explodes is nothing to the Creep. After all, the Atomic Furnace is also an external component of the Creep. Its inner wall cells, which can generate a strong magnetic field, can withstand the hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius during the fusion reaction.

The Creep can easily withstand the scorching heat of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius by simply mutating the surface cells.

What truly inhibits the growth of the Creep is the chemical toxins left over from combustion. These substances are as unpalatable to the Creep as "excrement," which is the main reason why they have been "hesitant" to grow.