Queen of Blades!

Wang Hao stared at the fleet of more than forty magnificent red warships before him, his expression grave. The steady Ilde looked just as serious.

"Truly worthy of a technological civilization that once reached the quasi-Level Four and was upgraded by a Level Six civilization."

More than twenty of the warships carried only a single cannon, but each could deal 200 damage and inflict it continuously. Another dozen, around eight hundred meters in diameter and shaped like crescents, could unleash energy orbs that dealt 800 damage.

The remaining six warships were about three thousand meters long. They looked as though they could only launch a few hundred drones, but in reality, each carried a powerful cannon capable of wiping the ground clean—and dealing as much as 1,000 damage...

There was no denying it: this was the trickiest enemy fleet the Star Origin had ever encountered.

They had just exchanged fire head-on. The Star Origin's shields had plunged from 40,000 to 22,000, losing nearly 20,000 shield points in an instant!

If this had been the old Star Origin, that one exchange would probably have destroyed it.

It could convert around fifteen percent of incoming enemy attacks into shield points, but that still wasn't much.

"But the enemy's cannons take a while to charge. And... their shields don't seem very strong..."

After glancing at the energy distribution report on the Tal'darim fleet, Wang Hao suddenly smiled.

Ilde immediately understood what he meant. The Eight-Gate Ship Cannon and the fully charged main cannon struck an enemy carrier directly. Its shields shattered after taking just six cannon blasts.

The main cannon's follow-up strike blew the carrier apart. At the same time, Captain Feng Xiao's talent activated aboard the distant Hyperion.

The Star Origin's shield value, which had been around 20,000, suddenly increased by 4,000, climbing back to around 30,000.

Ignoring the attacks from the enemy's fighters, the Eight-Gate Ship Cannon immediately turned and opened fire on the more than twenty warships capable of dealing continuous damage.

Those thousand-meter-long warships had even weaker defenses. Their shields and armor totaled only 600. Faced with cannons that dealt 100 damage every few seconds, they could only keep maneuvering and retreating.

Even so, during one instance when Ilde was operating the cannons through the ship's automated controls, a triple-damage hit triggered and completely destroyed one of the warships.

As time passed, the shields of the other warships grew fainter and fainter.

One warship after another began to lose its shields. During this time, the main cannon fired seven times, successfully destroying three carriers and half of the crescent-shaped gunships.

Normally, the enemy fleet should have retreated by now. But this blood-red fleet, steeped in oppression, showed no intention of withdrawing.

Two days later...

Beams of light pierced the starry sea. Violent explosions and waves of energy obliterated many nearby asteroids, while the wreckage of numerous warships drifted through space.

Despite the fierce exchange of fire, the Star Origin kept its shields locked at around 15,000, occasionally restoring them to more than 20,000.

The once-powerful Tal'darim fleet, which had radiated such overwhelming pressure, was now badly damaged. Nearly half its warships had been destroyed.

"Damn, they're tough. I didn't expect them to have technology that could restore their shields so quickly."

Wang Hao was getting a headache. Not long ago, he had thought he'd completely drained the fleet's shields and was ready to finish them off.

But the shields of the remaining warships had suddenly been replenished by some kind of technology.

Judging by the looks of it, though, the fleet was now running short of the energy needed for that technology. Several more warships had been destroyed in a row, and the shields hadn't recovered again.

Then he'd just have to keep attacking!

While the Star Origin was making its final push against the Tal'darim, the Raiders fleet where Feng Xiao was stationed was also running into trouble.

The Raiders began with more than forty warships. Their operations differed somewhat from the game, but the overall situation was much the same.

For instance, after rescuing a certain woman doctor and tens of thousands of refugees, they skipped some missions Feng Xiao knew well. Instead, they took the Ghosts they already had and went to rescue a group of researchers.

They also meant to stop the Queen of Blades from stealing classified intelligence at the site.

"Mr. Feng, are you sure this will be all right?"

Mark and Raynor looked at Feng Xiao, who seemed completely unruffled.

After earning a degree of trust over the past two days, Feng Xiao waved a hand. "Don't worry. I can handle the Queen of Blades. You just go attack the Zerg base."

At Divine Sense Level 10, he could handle the Queen of Blades as she was now without a problem. He wouldn't even fear the Queen of Blades after her ascension and evolution on Zerus.

Of course, until he figured out what role Amon played in the real world, he had to make sure the Queen of Blades stayed alive.

Otherwise, that Level Six civilization would definitely interfere in the Koprulu Sector. He'd have to give up this stable source of Star Points for a while.

The two-hundred-meter-diameter command center—the Terran main base—descended toward the planet's surface.

Dozens of barracks, each large enough to house five hundred soldiers, also headed toward areas of the planet's surface untouched by the Zerg.

"Buildings can actually fly..."

Feng Xiao couldn't help laughing. Honestly, this tech tree was downright bizarre. These buildings came equipped with plenty of multifunctional, fully automated production lines.

They could produce almost every kind of ground weapon and armored vehicle, making them exceptionally useful for logistics.

But the fact that they could fly was hard to wrap his head around.

Wouldn't it make more sense to install all the production lines on an industrial ship? It would be highly mobile, have some firepower, and offer plenty of capacity.

Mark walked over. "Mr. Feng, the shuttle is waiting."

"No need."

Then, as Raynor, Mark, Tychus, and several other key members of the Raiders watched in astonishment, golden light flared around Feng Xiao.

He shot out of the Hyperion and streaked toward the planet's surface at incredible speed.

Mark glanced at the radar data, growing more and more astonished.

Point eight Mach...

Were Ghosts really this powerful?

Even the Empire's strongest Ghosts didn't seem able to fly, did they?

Looking back at the Raiders, who had landed and begun setting up the base, Feng Xiao released his powerful Divine Sense. In just a moment, he found his target.

Some of his Divine Sense clung to his body, forming a powerful shield, while the rest quickly gathered into a translucent spear.

"Combining martial and magical arts is way more fun. Being just a mage would be so boring."

He nodded with satisfaction. The next moment, Feng Xiao vanished!

A city in the distance--

Floating in the air, she was covered in fearsome yet intricately formed armor etched with glowing purple patterns. Eight sharp bone spurs were joined to a human face in a bizarre combination.

Yet somehow, it looked incredibly cool.

The Queen of Blades! Kerrigan!

Rumble!

Several thick bolts of lightning streaked across the area. Buildings hundreds of meters tall collapsed, and the bone spurs sliced through even alloy as though it were tofu.

But the massive alloy structure she was primarily targeting managed to hold out against her attacks.

As if sensing something, Kerrigan looked toward the area where the Raiders had landed. Her eyes flickered with emotion.

Then, her powerful psionic presence entered the Raiders' comms channel, and she spoke coldly. "Jim, you shouldn't have come here!"

Raynor froze for a moment, then replied calmly, "Darlin', I have to stop you..."

"I'm the Queen of Blades. No one can stop me from killing Mengsk. Not even you!"

Raynor smiled calmly. "Then I hope you have time to deal with me before that, Sarah."

Kerrigan paused. Then the Zerg's uniquely keen instincts made her dodge in an instant.

A flash of golden light streaked through the space where she had just been. The ground cracked for dozens of meters, and her expression turned grave. She slowly looked toward the source of the attack.

A young human man in a black combat suit, with tousled hair, floated in the air, surrounded by a halo of golden light.

The strange golden weapon in his hand trembled now and then.

An intense sense of danger washed over her.

Feng Xiao didn't waste words. With a thought, he uprooted nearby buildings and turned them into dozens of chunks of rubble, hurling them at Kerrigan.

At the same time, he raised his spear and charged toward her at high speed.

Kerrigan reacted swiftly. She shouted as lightning erupted around her. The dozens of boulders shattered, and her bone spurs clashed violently with the spear.

A powerful shock wave burst outward. Feng Xiao was sent flying more than ten meters back, while Kerrigan was hurled nearly a hundred meters away!

Feng Xiao smiled faintly. "As expected of the Queen of Blades..."

Kerrigan's expression was extremely grave.

Since when had Jim found such a powerful psionic?