Chapter 126: An Envoy? Who Here Doesn't Know an Envoy?
The members of the Astral Express crew all nodded, their expressions solemn. The safety of their companions would always take precedence over any trailblazing mission.
Welt pushed up his glasses. His gaze, sharp behind the lenses, swept over the unconscious March 7th and the cracked charm in her palm before finally settling on Dan Heng and Stelle. "However, before we act, we must have a clearer understanding of the recent attack."
He walked to the porthole, his fingers gently tracing the frame. Faint scorch marks, remnants of the shattered shield, marred the metal.
"The Astral Express's defensive systems, after absorbing a large amount of the Trailblaze Power you've brought back from other worlds, have reached a considerably formidable level."
"Pom-Pom can attest to this," Welt continued, his tone grave. "Even against an attack from an ordinary Emanator, our defenses should have been sufficient to hold for a significant period, giving us a chance to either counterattack or retreat."
"That's right, Pom-Pom!" The small, fluffy Conductor nodded vigorously, wringing his paws. "Our fuel reserves were quite ample, precisely to deal with potential high-intensity attacks! But just now… the enemy only used one strike! Just one strike and…"
Pom-Pom's voice was laced with a lingering, visceral fear. "The defense system overloaded, instantly consuming a massive amount of energy we had planned for long-term defense, but it still couldn't hold!"
Welt nodded, taking over from the distressed Conductor. "Not only that. The moment the defense was breached, I attempted to create a miniature black hole within the energy maelstrom, hoping to delay or even capture the invading force. However…"
He spread his hands, his palms seeming to retain the phantom sensation of his power being forcibly torn apart. "My own power was like a mud ox sinking into the sea—easily crushed by the opponent, unable to stir even a single ripple."
He looked around at the assembled crew, his tone more serious than ever before. "This means that the existence that attacked us, the one that forcibly took a part of March 7th… its level is far beyond that of a common Emanator. It seems the waters of Amphoreus are much deeper than we anticipated."
"An Emanator?" Stelle gasped, a cold prickle crawling up her scalp. "Our luck is that bad? We just jumped into this star system, we haven't even touched the planet's atmosphere, and we're already targeted by a being of that level?"
A sudden thought struck her. "Could it be… the local 'guardians' of Amphoreus? Maybe they just don't want outsiders setting foot on their territory, so they're giving us a direct warning to back off?"
Dan Heng's voice was a low murmur. "That possibility cannot be ruled out. But the opponent's target was so clear, aimed directly at March 7th, and they used such a bizarre method…" He paused, his gaze falling on their friend. "It makes me suspect that March's past might have some deep connection to this place that we are not yet aware of."
His words once again pointed to the core mystery of March 7th's forgotten history.
Just then, Black Swan, who had been standing silently in a corner, her face a mask of deep remorse and unease, finally spoke.
Her beautiful eyes were downcast, and her voice was a little hoarse. "Everyone… although you haven't blamed me… I was the one who provided the coordinates for Amphoreus. I brought you all here. If it weren't for me, Miss March wouldn't have…"
She took a deep, steadying breath, lifted her head, and a new resolve hardened her gaze. "Please, let me do something. As a Memokeeper, perhaps I can capture traces of the attacker from the memory fragments remaining in this space!"
Without waiting for a response, Black Swan closed her eyes. Her slender fingers began to gracefully trace patterns in the air. Invisible Memoria rippled out from her like water, attempting to penetrate the memory Veins of the terrifying moment that had just transpired within the carriage.
However, after only a few seconds—
"Ugh—ah!" Black Swan suddenly let out a pained groan. Her body shook violently, as if she'd been struck by an invisible heavy hammer.
She staggered back a step, gasping for air. Her face was instantly ashen, a fine sheen of cold sweat beading on her forehead, and her eyes were wide with horror.
"Miss Black Swan!" Himeko quickly stepped forward to support her.
"I'm… I'm fine…" Black Swan waved a hand with difficulty, her gaze fixed with lingering fear in the direction of her memory recall. Her voice trembled slightly. "That power… it's definitely the imprint left by an Emanator-level existence! And… I think I saw a blurry silhouette as it swept past…"
She tried to calm her breathing, forcing herself to recall the fleeting image. "A… a figure of pink and blue. It was incredibly fast. The moment the shield shattered, the power invaded and then left… it disappeared… heading towards Amphoreus!"
A pink and blue figure. Heading towards Amphoreus.
This confirmed their suspicion: the attacker had indeed taken a part of March towards that planet. It also confirmed its terrifying, Emanator-level strength.
But this only made the problem more difficult. Such a powerful enemy, carrying an essential part of March 7th, had now vanished onto that unknown world. To retrieve what was stolen from the hands of such an existence was tantamount to pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth.
"Emanator… Emanator…" Stelle muttered to herself. The shock in her eyes was gradually being replaced by a mixture of raw anger and a fierce determination that practically screamed, You picked the wrong fight.
She suddenly gritted her teeth and reached into her coat, fumbling for something. "Good! Very good! An Emanator, huh? Bullying my friend, huh? Do you really think we have no connections?"
First, she pulled out a warm, translucent jade token that emitted a faint starlight—the very alliance token gifted to her by the Divine Foresight, General Jing Yuan of the Xianzhou Luofu.
Immediately after, she whipped out her phone. Her fingers flew across the screen, pulling up the chat box of that unfathomably powerful Emanator of Nihility she had fought alongside in Penacony—Acheron.
Stelle's finger hovered over the send button, her eyes burning with a raging fire. "A mere Emanator dares to be so arrogant? I'd like to see which blind idiot dares to provoke my friends! 'Jing Yuan! Acheron! Urgent! Help!'"
"Stelle, wait!" Just as her finger was about to press down, Welt's steady, strong hand closed over her wrist.
He looked at her, his gaze firm. "I understand your feelings, and I believe in the power of General Jing Yuan and Ms. Acheron. However, the opponent is an existence far beyond an ordinary Emanator. Rashly summoning the main force of the Cloud Knights would only lead to the futile sacrifice of ordinary soldiers; they cannot handle enemies of this level."
"What we need is high-end combat power capable of matching or even suppressing the opponent," Welt continued, his analysis calm and pragmatic. "And it needs to be a force that can be precisely deployed and react quickly. Directly using the jade token for large-scale assistance is not the best option."
Welt's words highlighted the helplessness of a conventional army in the face of such a foe.
Stelle's movements paused. She looked at Welt's serious eyes, then at the unconscious March 7th. Finally, she bit her lip, a flicker of unwilling frustration on her face, and temporarily put away her phone and the jade token.
But as she stowed them, her knuckles turned white from her grip. The look in her eyes, a promise that this isn't over, didn't diminish in the slightest.
Just as the atmosphere in the carriage grew heavy with tension, Dan Heng, who had been lost in thought, suddenly looked up. A glimmer of light flashed in his eyes. "Wait… perhaps the situation isn't as… hopeless as we imagined."
Everyone's gaze instantly focused on him.
"Welt's analysis and Black Swan's encounter both confirmed the enemy's power," Dan Heng began slowly, his thoughts gradually becoming clearer. "But do you remember an important function of the chat group? 'World Commissions' or 'Temporary World Quests'."
He looked at Stelle and Welt. "When a group member, or the world a member is in, encounters a major crisis that urgently requires support from other members, the chat group often actively issues quests, providing traversal channels and point rewards."
"But this time, March 7th encountered such a mishap, and we are facing an incredibly powerful enemy… yet the chat group has been completely unresponsive. This is very unusual."
Dan Heng's gaze swept over everyone in the carriage. "What does this mean? Does it mean that, in the chat group's judgment, the part of March that is currently missing… is not facing an imminent, fatal threat?"
"Or," he continued, "that the opportunity and time to find her are not as slim and urgent as we imagined? This is, at the very least… not the worst news. It gives us time to calm down and formulate a more thorough plan."
His words managed to slightly extinguish the anxious flames that had been burning in the carriage, creating a space for calm reflection.
The battle to retrieve what was taken from March 7th had not yet begun, but even the opponent's unknown power could not shake the Astral Express crew's determination to rescue their companion.
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