The DarkStar mothership slowly turned around, and hundreds of escort ships flew out, forming a battle formation around the mothership to confront the mercenary fleet, creating a tense standoff.
The combined fleet sent a message demanding that DarkStar immediately cease its capture of the mercenaries, or else the issue would be resolved by force. The three major legions were united and took a hard line. Because they had no territory to protect, they were not as hesitant as interstellar civilizations and were not afraid of retaliation. "Touch our people, and we'll deal with you. Who cares?"
Sarota was somewhat moved. He had originally thought the mercenaries were a disorganized mob, but he never expected that dealing with a small group of mercenaries would attract an entire mercenary fleet.
Sarota had to admit that he had underestimated the mercenary industry.
The combined fleet's ultimatum had only ten minutes, demanding that DarkStar immediately withdraw all its forces, or face immediate confrontation.
His relaxed mindset vanished, and Sarota's expression turned grave. He was naturally not afraid of the combined fleet, after all, the DarkStar mothership was essentially a mobile space station base with numerous capabilities. However, if Head-On Conflict were to break out, the losses would exceed the expectations of this operation.
DarkStar wasn't burdened by honor or reputation. Even if retreating now would be seen as fleeing out of fear of mercenaries, it wouldn't affect them. Sarota was considering something else entirely:
--Is it worth engaging in Head-On Conflict with a fleet for the sake of the Whispering Bead? Or should we forgo this opportunity and plan our next move? Will such a good opportunity come again in the future?
After thinking it over, Sarota's answer was no.
Reuniting these mercenaries with the organization expands the search area significantly. If they were scattered and reassigned to other teams, finding them would be much more difficult—and that's a minor issue. Allowing them to return could lead to unforeseen problems, such as them handing the bead to a new target without DarkStar's knowledge, or dying during a mission and losing the bead somewhere unknown. These possibilities must be considered. Now, all the mercenaries who had come into contact with the Whispering Bead are here, allowing for a complete sweep. There's no better opportunity than this.
At this moment, Sivadi issued a solemn statement to the combined fleet and the DarkStar mothership, his tone earnest.
"On behalf of the Holy Stone Border Defense Army, I issue this warning to you: if war breaks out here, we will consider it a provocation and may very well regard you as enemies, intervening in the conflict."
The announcement had a very obvious effect. Without hesitation, the combined fleet opened fire directly on the DarkStar mothership, showing incredible stubbornness.
The pitch-black universe exploded with dazzling, multicolored light. Battleship fleets charged wildly, carrying out various tactical maneuvers. Laser cannons fired at each other like urinating, and the mercenary fleet and the DarkStar fleet engaged in fierce combat.
Sivadi's face darkened, his anger rising. Did they think he was just ignoring his words?!
"Commander, what do we do now? Which side should we help?"
"Help me my ass, just watch the show!"
Sivadi gritted his teeth.
On one side is a chaotic, evil, and vengeful terrorist organization, and on the other side is a chaotic, neutral, and unscrupulous mercenary group. Helping either side would be a waste of military resources, and he dared not let the fleet move recklessly. If they did, who knew how the Black Raven on the other side would react.
Let's just watch the mercenaries and DarkStar fight like dogs. As for the warning from earlier... let's just treat it as nothing.
Across the chaotic battlefield, the Holy Stone and the Black Raven seemed to be watching from the sidelines, tacitly refraining from intervention. However, they weren't entirely inactive either; their fleets spread out horizontally, forming a defensive line to surround the battlefield and prevent the war from spreading.
Tolerating war between the two sides outside the border is already the bottom line. If DarkStar or the mercenaries push their luck, the fleets of the two civilizations will not hesitate to open fire.
Battle is about to break out!
Compared to sheer strength, the DarkStar mothership was far more powerful than this hastily assembled fleet. The combined fleet had no intention of fighting to the death, and instead dispatched small ships to bypass the battlefield and fly to the planet to pick up Han Xiao and his mercenaries. However, Sarota keenly spotted this and commanded an independent squadron to intercept them, resulting in a stalemate between the two sides.
Mercenaries on the planet are key to the outcome of the battle. Whether they are rescued or captured, the battle ends immediately once a result is determined.
Han Xiao's abandonment plan was originally seen by Sarota as nothing more than digging his own grave and prolonging his life. But now the situation has changed. The meaningless delay has become the key. Abandoning the spaceship to buy time, every extra second increases the losses of DarkStar.
As battle damage reports continued to arrive, the coldness in Sarota's eyes deepened.
What should have been a simple task turned into a difficult and troublesome one. The performance of the Sky Ring ship was the source of the change. If the pilot hadn't delayed for so long, he would have already captured the people and left, and would never have encountered the mercenary fleet. Sarota deeply regretted missing the opportunity.
The battleships clashed in a grand spectacle, the energy emitted so intense that it was as visible as a stellar explosion on the probes. From a distance, the explosions shone like twinkling stars.
From a distance, passing spaceships noticed the anomaly. The war, like a whirlpool, attracted many spaceships to watch from afar, and the scene was quickly recorded.
In the interstellar age, the improvement in communication technology has also improved the real-time nature of news. Distance is no longer a problem. Before long, news of the fierce battle between DarkStar and the mercenaries spread throughout several surrounding star clusters.
After observing for most of the day, Sivadi received an unexpected communication request.
Sizzle...
A pure-blooded Goddora appeared on the screen, his face grim, and said, "I am the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Goddora Civilization, representing the Goddora Civilization in full force, and I hope that the Holy Stone Civilization can immediately intervene in the battle to strike DarkStar."
Sivadi's expression turned serious. He said, "This is a local matter; you have no right to interfere."
"DarkStar is an evil force, rife with bloodshed, and an enemy of civilization. To stand by and watch them commit atrocities is utterly irresponsible!" the Goddora diplomat declared sternly.
"I'm sorry, but I only follow the Marshal's orders," Sivadi said firmly. "I will only intervene in the war if the Marshal gives me a direct order. If you have any questions, you can apply to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
In fact, Sivadi was the commander of the third squadron and had full authority to handle matters of this caliber, but he simply invoked his marshal title, clearly trying to shirk responsibility.
He was well aware of the Goddora's thoughts. DarkStar was Goddora's mortal enemy, and their rare appearance was simply to get the Holy Stone to help them fight DarkStar. However, the Holy Stone and Goddora were not strategic allies and had no obligation to help. Moreover, the political reasons were quite sensitive. As one of the border army commanders, Sivadi would never listen to the demands of other civilizations.
Left with no other option, the Goddora people contacted the higher-ups of the Holy Stone Civilization. However, the Holy Stone's noble institutions were masters at shirking responsibility, making excuses and delaying their stance without issuing any orders. The Goddora people had no choice but to strengthen their wording, stating that if the DarkStar was allowed to escape, they would condemn the Holy Stone at the Shattered Star Ring Civilization Diplomatic Council.
Even so, the Holy Stone continued to stall, its attitude clearly showing that it did not want to provoke DarkStar and did not want to be dragged into the mess.
The Goddora Civilization is just one example. Because the DarkStar appears only a handful of times, more and more forces are paying attention to this matter, silently casting their gazes far away onto this battlefield, the eye of the storm.
Laugh!!
In the dim underground, the high-temperature electrothermal cutting gauntlets flashed red light, piercing through the chest of a DarkStar Warrior as easily as cutting tofu, taking his life.
Han Xiao withdrew his hand, and the DarkStar warrior staggered and fell to the ground, where the corpses of a DarkStar search team lay.
"Get out of here quickly, their reinforcements will be here soon," Melos whispered.
The Ball Vehicle was parked to the side. Han Xiao jumped back and steered the Ball Vehicle away. He opened the panel, and the mission interface had changed.
[Escape with Your Life] Mission Rating: C
Holding out for two days earns a Grade D rating, and each additional twelve hours improves the rating by one level. They have already persevered for two and a half days, and the mission is complete. By now, more than half of the mercenaries have been captured, with only a small number still on the run. In other words, the battle between the mercenary fleet and DarkStar has lasted for more than a day.
If either the Holy Stone or the Black Raven had intervened, DarkStar would have retreated, and the mercenaries would have been saved long ago. However, both civilizations remained bystanders, refusing to help, leading to a stalemate and preventing the joint fleet from rescuing the mercenaries.
"Relying on those mercenaries is really unreliable..." Han Xiao shook his head. Fortunately, he had called for help from Ames, which was an extra layer of insurance. However, she was also unreliable and he didn't know when she would be available to come.
If a player is captured, the mission will fail. Some players are cunning and try to log off to escape their pursuers, but when they log back in, they find that the mission has failed immediately, thus preventing them from cheating.
However, if players are captured by DarkStar, it will cause a lot of trouble. Han Xiao issued a new mission through the faction panel. As long as they are not captured by DarkStar, they can get extra rewards. In this way, even if logging off causes the [Escape with Your Life] mission to fail, they will still have a minimum amount of experience when they are about to be caught.
Fortunately, no players have been captured so far, which is especially frustrating for the DarkStar search team. The sudden disappearance of their prey has left them completely bewildered and confused.
Boom!
Just then, the passage ahead suddenly collapsed, and the Ball Vehicle hurriedly stopped. A new group of pursuers emerged from the hole in the rock wall, and the leader of the pursuers was none other than Ashes.
"Found you. I won't be as careless as last time."
Ashes remained expressionless, his powers reaching their peak, eager to fight, his fighting spirit soaring. He had been eyeing Han Xiao for a long time and had finally caught up.
Upon seeing this, Han Xiao's expression changed slightly.
"It's him again? This is bad..."
Han Daji himself is not afraid of the Ashes; when they fight, it's like two lumps of flesh rubbing against each other, neither able to gain the upper hand. However, the Ashes ' power is too lethal to his companions. Melos is quite powerful, but when he faces the Ashes, he is instantly killed and turned into a pile of dust.
There's no way around it, that superpower is just too abnormal; it's practically a walking scumbag-making machine.
"That guy is dangerous, let's retreat!"
Han Xiao had no desire to engage in a prolonged fight. He pulled the control lever, and the Ball Vehicle crashed through the rock wall on the side with a bang, rolling away with a rumble. He immediately retreated.