Chapter 368 - Threats

Everyone within the command center started getting curious about the glowing Black Sovereign.

It looks beautiful but at the same time, they know that it's probably not good for them.

Escanor looked at Ace to see whether he knows what's happening as well but the young man seemed to be confused like them… The alien's actions was also not listen to Avalon's information… The closest one is that they are perhaps activating self-destruction but there's no way that they would do that in their current situation.

As they were guessing the purpose of this action, the Black Sovereign continued lighting up nothing happened after a while.

"This…" 

The bright light lasted a couple of minutes before disappearing without doing any significant changes in the surroundings.

"Are they experimenting on something?"

Escanor asked but he's not expecting to have an answer… It's not like they can see what's happening inside the spaceship.

"You're probably right…"

Ace muttered as he silently hopes that they haven't learned how to access the Cube of Paradox yet…

"No, even if they have access, it will still take time for them to get stronger using that item…"

Ace recalled the time that was spent doing various missions to gain stronger and better rewards.

After all, the item is truly meant to guide the members of Mayan's Royal Family according to the evolved Pathfinder before.

It may even be good that they'll use it like that instead of using it as a source of energy… After all, the Cube has the power to create a barrier around the planet! Although the Magic Array made by the prince helped it from having a self-sustain function, it is still very impressive to have it last that long.

In the meantime, Ace formulated another plan to completely finish off the five damaged Conqueror Starship…

They just managed to destroy the core parts of these spacesh.i.p.s due to their limited Celestial Blood and hadn't really killed anyone within those vessels.

If they left them like that, they might be able to repair themselves after some time since he could guess that the Conveyor Spacecraft has already left them with enough materials to fix their spacecraft… After all, that is the purpose of the multiple Conveyor Spacecraft in their fleet. 

If they managed to join the war on the planet, it would be very huge trouble to the magicians as even just one of them can perhaps invade a nation with any troubles.

***

At Matze Plains, about 10 kilometers away from the site where the Empire has landed, a group of hundred thousand soldiers was gathered.

From these hundred thousand people, about five thousand of them are wearing blue armbands indicating that they are all Combat Magicians or perhaps Adept Mages of various levels…

This is the main force of the State of Kazan as the one led by the Terror Mages of Seiji before was just their fast action units.

Nevertheless, behind these soldiers were lines of various vehicles carrying large-size Mana Artifacts meant for a siege.

They are the best invention of the nation called King Turret… It doesn't just have the power of multiple elemental spells but can be said to be a mini mage tower that could create barriers for the Magicians within its range…

This invention may have been around for three decades already but it had always been powerful… They have even improved it a few times and increased its durability which was its main problem before.

Their army is looking strong and the soldiers felt confident that they can win against the aliens even though the first group was wiped out…

"We are to march on the Bahlam Region where the Aliens have descended! Do not be afraid! The goddess is watching over us!"

The words of the generals were followed by the battle cries of the soldiers.

Aside from the five vice-generals with him, no one is aware of the true plans of their leaders.

Zephon, the general of these massive soldiers, sighed as he rid his battle horse…

That's right… Although there are already vehicles and airsh.i.p.s, the Sage decided to use his favorite horse and accompany the foot soldiers.

Not only was it because he's confident about the power of his Mana Artifacts, but he's also convinced that being with the steed would help him be calm and collected throughout this whole march.

Zephon knows that if the negotiation failed, he would have to ensure that they'll be able to defend themselves and launch an attack effectively using their Turrets…

'Tsk… This is so risky… Although our offers might be good, it is still a question of whether they would be satisfied with it or ask for more. Even if they accepted it, what would happen after they destroyed the other nations, are we going to live with them peacefully?'

The old general has many questions about the decision of the council… He met the leader of the Seiji's Army and knows that he's an ambitious man…

He probably wanted to join the Galactic Force and have free access to the civilization outside their planet.

It is indeed very enticing to such a man who had probably grown tired of this planet. They probably wanted to expand their horizons and be engaged with these aliens…

However, for him, he would rather send away these aliens than negotiating with them. After all, aside from the information they received from Veda and Wallace's broadcast about these aliens, they know nothing about them…

The aliens would probably use this island country as their base of operations before they would try to conquer the mainland…

'I've already sent my family to Guwain… I have nothing more to lose…'

Zephon thought for a while as he leads the soldiers on the ground…

They were followed by fifty more airsh.i.p.s and hundreds of King Turrets as they marched towards the alien spacesh.i.p.s…

Perhaps, their fate would be decided in just a few minutes but none of them seem to be afraid of dying as they marched filled with energy.

***

"Can we really use this spaceship?" Falcon asked the automaton beside him. They are expecting a shabby-looking spaceship with the price they paid but what was in front of them looks even stronger than the first spaceship or Excellence.

The one in front of them has three linear catapults and a lot more armaments…

He glanced at the other information as well to confirm its prowess.

Model Number: WMR-140

Official Name: Blaze

Overall Length: 410 m

Propulsion System: 20 x Thruster ]

[ Main Armament:

- Positron Cannon

- Primary Beam Gun

- Secondary Beam Gun

- Ground Missiles

- 10 Enhanced Turrets ]

[ Magic Armaments:

- 2 Mana Blaster

- 2 Mana Bomb Launcher

- 5 Petrification Caster

- 4 Laser Focus

- 10 Magic Enhanced Turrets ] 

[ Equipment

- Mana Battery - Power Generator

- Space Booster ] 

Though it is still small than the spacesh.i.p.s used by the aliens, the one in front of them seems to be much more capable than the ones that were first launched to outer space. It is much larger and it also has a lot more magic-based damage dealers.

It feels like they really considered the people who will be using the spaceship.

[ This is the one designed by Wallace himself. He said that you guys needed this battleship to fight here on the surface than space, so he decided to remove a few armaments meant for outer space and added more firepower meant on land. ]

The automaton, which is obviously Avalon, answered Falcon's doubts.

Wallace didn't mind spending more on these elite magicians since they will be a huge help later on…

Their increase in their power would also be an increase in his forces.

"This is great… I would like to test them now."

[ Alright. Have you completed reading the manual? ] 

"Of course…"

[ Very well. Follow me. ] 

Falcon and the others followed the automaton. A few of them still can't believe that such an intelligent creation would exist…

Though they already heard about this from the others, seeing it for themselves was still quite different. 

They haven't seen any other humans after entering this territory at all!

This is such a magical place but also quite creepy. Though automatons are very convenient, they have mixed feelings of just letting them be. If they are the owners of these magical machines, they would surely hire someone to look after them.

"Falcon, allow me to be the captain for now…"

Owl, who had been watching everything from the sidelines, volunteered on flying the battleship…

The others smiled wryly at this as they allowed him to feel like a captain even for a while.