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Chapter 292: The Giant From Space
2023-10-23 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
An energy vortex spun open in the boundless space, and an afterimage wreathed in light and lightning shot out from within.
As the teleportation vortex swirled shut behind him, Orin Vale had already flown past the outer edge of a planet.
Although an interstellar jump was nothing new for Orin Vale, this time he wasn't using his own ability, but rather the Mother Box he had seized from Apokolips.
After some recent research, he seemed to have finally figured out how to open the Mother Box's basic function, the "Boom Tube." This long-distance trip was the perfect opportunity to test out the Boom Tube, as it was, after all, the most traditional method of interstellar travel in the DC Universe.
The first practical attempt seemed to work well.
"Fear Spectrum energy reaction detected from the current galaxy. Planetary coordinates locked," Pal reported, cross-referencing with its database. "Planet designation: Axolor. Native intelligent lifeforms detected, with signs of civilization. Estimated civilization level: three to four."
This civilization level was roughly on par with Earth's—not much stronger, that is, if you didn't count Earth's unconventional, god-like beings whose personal power was off the charts.
Orin Vale accelerated, his trajectory of light drawing a straight line across space. Within minutes, he had approached Axolor's atmosphere, following the coordinates to the source.
He located the source of the anomalous energy at a glance.
It wasn't that his senses were particularly sharp, but... well, when a peculiar creature dozens of meters tall is on a rampage in an artificial city, it's hard to miss.
It was a massive, mountain-like creature, as if it had emerged from the abyss. Huge tentacles grew from its irregularly shaped head, resembling curved dragon horns that extended from its crown down past the front of its body. Its burly body seemed to be made of steel plate; the firepower of mortals hitting it was like getting a warm-water massage. Powerful lower limbs supported its body, its sharp claws digging deep into the ground.
The monster had broken in from outside the city and had now swept through half of it. It was unstoppable; the artillery fire and troops of the native Axolorians were completely useless against it. The local interception force was nearly wiped out, with only a single, teetering flying mothership remaining.
"Captain, all squadrons have been eliminated... it's... it's just us left!"
An Axolorian on the bridge said mournfully.
The captain's face was like steel, showing not a trace of emotion.
"We continue the fight," he said coldly.
"But Captain... we've lost all our combat squadrons. The weapon systems are offline, the power system can't be restored, we can't fly for much longer, and we have no weapons..."
"We still have a weapon, don't we?" the captain interrupted.
He turned, facing the crew with a resolute profile that seemed carved from stone.
"This warship is the weapon."
Everyone was stunned.
"Y-You mean..."
"The engine of this warship was designed with this planet's most advanced reconstruction system. A violent collision can trigger an explosion of astonishing yield, even more powerful than the ship-mounted main cannon."
The silence lasted for about a second.
"Yes, Captain."
They were soldiers, the guardians of this planet. To fight to the last man, to the last breath—this was the duty of every one of them, just as their predecessors and their ancestors had done before them.
It was because of this that this planet, this civilization, had endured to this day, and would continue on, unceasing.
"Correcting angle... compensating power..."
"Forcibly overriding AI corrections. Switching to manual control. Dive limiters disengaged."
"..."
In just a moment, the warship, belching black smoke, had turned into a blade piercing the vast sky. Its turbines, pushed to their limit, let out a beast-like roar. The warship thundered as it dived, all remaining energy converted into propulsive force, launching into its final charge amidst the engine's roar.
The center of gravity shifted. Blood rushed to their heads. Their hearing was almost completely drowned out by the roar.
"It has been an honor to stand with you," the captain said softly, though no one could hear him anymore.
As the massive monster looked up, the warship was already in its face.
What followed was a grand display of fireworks that seemed to tear through the heavens.
"You just love to make things difficult for me, don't you?"
Orin Vale just happened to pass by at that very millisecond. As he landed, the steel warship had already crashed into the monster. The armor plates buckled, from the hull all the way to the cockpit. In his perception of slowed time, the shockwave crushed the engine core inch by inch, triggering the violent reaction of an explosion.
The process of the explosion was underway, and at normal speed, it would engulf the entire warship in an instant.
Orin Vale thought for a moment. His body, which had just flown in from interstellar travel, rapidly shrank to human size, and trailing lightning, he plunged into the warship.
He crashed his body directly through the outer armor, starting from the area closest to the engine's detonation point. He grabbed two crew members, one in each hand, and with a flicker of his body, flew out of the ship with them. He casually tossed them into the air, then waved his hand to conjure an energy shield, enveloping them like a balloon.
Like a bolt of lightning, he zipped back and forth between the various sections of the massive vessel. With each trip, he brought out a few people, casually tossing them into an energy bubble before turning around and rushing back into the warship.
By the time he swept his way to the bridge, the blazing flame and impact from the explosion had just begun to corrode the bridge's walls.
Orin Vale strode like a meteor right through the super-high temperature flames and into the bridge. He circled more than halfway around it, packing up the crew members along the way into a single energy bubble.
Then, dragging the massive, transparent bubble with his left hand, he used his right to uproot the captain—who was frozen in place with a look of grim resolve—along with the seat beneath him. He hoisted it up, and with a shift of his feet, he practically scraped past the scorching flames engulfing the bridge, breaking out of the warship and landing on the ground.
The entire crew of the warship only saw a blur. One second they were on the ship, facing death with resolve; the next, they had been inexplicably teleported off the warship and onto the ground.
A few of them even seemed to feel a scorching wave of heat, as if in an illusion, but it vanished in an instant, blown away by a sudden, rushing gust of cold wind.
The captain sat upright in his broken, uprooted chair, looking around at the surrounding city street with a face of utter bewilderment.
Then, a deafening explosion drowned out everything.
It was the sound of their warship's explosion. The warship had indeed crashed into the monster and triggered the terrifying explosion they had anticipated. Everyone instinctively raised their arms to shield their faces, only to realize with a start that even the flame and impact from the engulfing explosion were being blocked by something invisible.
A transparent energy barrier rippled before them as the flames washed over it, yet it completely blocked out the destructive high temperature.
The captain opened his mouth, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Clearly, in that hair-raising instant when he crashed the warship into the monster, something had manifested—he felt that might be the most fitting description.
Because moving everyone off that ship in such a brief moment was something that couldn't be explained by any common sense he knew.
It was, simply... a miracle.
"Captain!"
Just then, he heard someone shout.
"Look! That thing is still there!"
Everyone's gaze turned in unison toward the massive creature.
And then they all saw a scene that plunged them into despair.
The monster, that terrifying, nigh-indestructible thing, was somehow still standing, even after taking their self-sacrificing strike—a direct hit from the mothership engine's explosion.
It emerged from the flames like an immortal demon god. It let out a low roar, seeming to be enraged by the recent attack, yet its body was completely unscathed.
Everyone's hearts sank to rock bottom.
They did not fear death; every one of them held the conviction to fight to the last moment with the resolve to die. But even so, at this moment, they all felt fear.
Because in this moment, they truly felt that they were facing an opponent that was impossible to defeat.
What they feared most wasn't bloodshed and sacrifice, but that even their sacrifice would be meaningless.
However, in that very moment.
An intense, searing light—a warm radiance that felt strangely familiar to every one of them, as if it was the same one that had enveloped them in that fleeting moment between life and death—suddenly erupted.
A dazzling pillar of light shot toward the sky, and swirling particles within the radiance transformed into a humanoid form. A brilliant electric arc burst forth, and from that waterfall-like stream of light, a shining heavy punch was thrown.
A punch of extreme speed, thrown so fast that the brilliant aura around its body hadn't even had time to dissipate.
BOOM!!!
A typhoon-like shockwave threatened to overturn the atmosphere. The terrifying blast surged into the sky, tearing apart the air like a whirlwind meat grinder. Anything caught in that storm's vortex would be ground to ash.
Just like the monster that had been struck head-on.
One punch, and the giant beast was smashed to smithereens. Even its ashes were scattered into nothingness by the gale.
The captain was momentarily speechless, choked with emotion.
It was one-shotted, just like that?
Wha—
(end of chapter )
2023-10-23 Author: Rowing Without Oars 233
An energy vortex spun open in the boundless space, and an afterimage wreathed in light and lightning shot out from within.
As the teleportation vortex swirled shut behind him, Orin Vale had already flown past the outer edge of a planet.
Although an interstellar jump was nothing new for Orin Vale, this time he wasn't using his own ability, but rather the Mother Box he had seized from Apokolips.
After some recent research, he seemed to have finally figured out how to open the Mother Box's basic function, the "Boom Tube." This long-distance trip was the perfect opportunity to test out the Boom Tube, as it was, after all, the most traditional method of interstellar travel in the DC Universe.
The first practical attempt seemed to work well.
"Fear Spectrum energy reaction detected from the current galaxy. Planetary coordinates locked," Pal reported, cross-referencing with its database. "Planet designation: Axolor. Native intelligent lifeforms detected, with signs of civilization. Estimated civilization level: three to four."
This civilization level was roughly on par with Earth's—not much stronger, that is, if you didn't count Earth's unconventional, god-like beings whose personal power was off the charts.
Orin Vale accelerated, his trajectory of light drawing a straight line across space. Within minutes, he had approached Axolor's atmosphere, following the coordinates to the source.
He located the source of the anomalous energy at a glance.
It wasn't that his senses were particularly sharp, but... well, when a peculiar creature dozens of meters tall is on a rampage in an artificial city, it's hard to miss.
It was a massive, mountain-like creature, as if it had emerged from the abyss. Huge tentacles grew from its irregularly shaped head, resembling curved dragon horns that extended from its crown down past the front of its body. Its burly body seemed to be made of steel plate; the firepower of mortals hitting it was like getting a warm-water massage. Powerful lower limbs supported its body, its sharp claws digging deep into the ground.
The monster had broken in from outside the city and had now swept through half of it. It was unstoppable; the artillery fire and troops of the native Axolorians were completely useless against it. The local interception force was nearly wiped out, with only a single, teetering flying mothership remaining.
"Captain, all squadrons have been eliminated... it's... it's just us left!"
An Axolorian on the bridge said mournfully.
The captain's face was like steel, showing not a trace of emotion.
"We continue the fight," he said coldly.
"But Captain... we've lost all our combat squadrons. The weapon systems are offline, the power system can't be restored, we can't fly for much longer, and we have no weapons..."
"We still have a weapon, don't we?" the captain interrupted.
He turned, facing the crew with a resolute profile that seemed carved from stone.
"This warship is the weapon."
Everyone was stunned.
"Y-You mean..."
"The engine of this warship was designed with this planet's most advanced reconstruction system. A violent collision can trigger an explosion of astonishing yield, even more powerful than the ship-mounted main cannon."
The silence lasted for about a second.
"Yes, Captain."
They were soldiers, the guardians of this planet. To fight to the last man, to the last breath—this was the duty of every one of them, just as their predecessors and their ancestors had done before them.
It was because of this that this planet, this civilization, had endured to this day, and would continue on, unceasing.
"Correcting angle... compensating power..."
"Forcibly overriding AI corrections. Switching to manual control. Dive limiters disengaged."
"..."
In just a moment, the warship, belching black smoke, had turned into a blade piercing the vast sky. Its turbines, pushed to their limit, let out a beast-like roar. The warship thundered as it dived, all remaining energy converted into propulsive force, launching into its final charge amidst the engine's roar.
The center of gravity shifted. Blood rushed to their heads. Their hearing was almost completely drowned out by the roar.
"It has been an honor to stand with you," the captain said softly, though no one could hear him anymore.
As the massive monster looked up, the warship was already in its face.
What followed was a grand display of fireworks that seemed to tear through the heavens.
"You just love to make things difficult for me, don't you?"
Orin Vale just happened to pass by at that very millisecond. As he landed, the steel warship had already crashed into the monster. The armor plates buckled, from the hull all the way to the cockpit. In his perception of slowed time, the shockwave crushed the engine core inch by inch, triggering the violent reaction of an explosion.
The process of the explosion was underway, and at normal speed, it would engulf the entire warship in an instant.
Orin Vale thought for a moment. His body, which had just flown in from interstellar travel, rapidly shrank to human size, and trailing lightning, he plunged into the warship.
He crashed his body directly through the outer armor, starting from the area closest to the engine's detonation point. He grabbed two crew members, one in each hand, and with a flicker of his body, flew out of the ship with them. He casually tossed them into the air, then waved his hand to conjure an energy shield, enveloping them like a balloon.
Like a bolt of lightning, he zipped back and forth between the various sections of the massive vessel. With each trip, he brought out a few people, casually tossing them into an energy bubble before turning around and rushing back into the warship.
By the time he swept his way to the bridge, the blazing flame and impact from the explosion had just begun to corrode the bridge's walls.
Orin Vale strode like a meteor right through the super-high temperature flames and into the bridge. He circled more than halfway around it, packing up the crew members along the way into a single energy bubble.
Then, dragging the massive, transparent bubble with his left hand, he used his right to uproot the captain—who was frozen in place with a look of grim resolve—along with the seat beneath him. He hoisted it up, and with a shift of his feet, he practically scraped past the scorching flames engulfing the bridge, breaking out of the warship and landing on the ground.
The entire crew of the warship only saw a blur. One second they were on the ship, facing death with resolve; the next, they had been inexplicably teleported off the warship and onto the ground.
A few of them even seemed to feel a scorching wave of heat, as if in an illusion, but it vanished in an instant, blown away by a sudden, rushing gust of cold wind.
The captain sat upright in his broken, uprooted chair, looking around at the surrounding city street with a face of utter bewilderment.
Then, a deafening explosion drowned out everything.
It was the sound of their warship's explosion. The warship had indeed crashed into the monster and triggered the terrifying explosion they had anticipated. Everyone instinctively raised their arms to shield their faces, only to realize with a start that even the flame and impact from the engulfing explosion were being blocked by something invisible.
A transparent energy barrier rippled before them as the flames washed over it, yet it completely blocked out the destructive high temperature.
The captain opened his mouth, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Clearly, in that hair-raising instant when he crashed the warship into the monster, something had manifested—he felt that might be the most fitting description.
Because moving everyone off that ship in such a brief moment was something that couldn't be explained by any common sense he knew.
It was, simply... a miracle.
"Captain!"
Just then, he heard someone shout.
"Look! That thing is still there!"
Everyone's gaze turned in unison toward the massive creature.
And then they all saw a scene that plunged them into despair.
The monster, that terrifying, nigh-indestructible thing, was somehow still standing, even after taking their self-sacrificing strike—a direct hit from the mothership engine's explosion.
It emerged from the flames like an immortal demon god. It let out a low roar, seeming to be enraged by the recent attack, yet its body was completely unscathed.
Everyone's hearts sank to rock bottom.
They did not fear death; every one of them held the conviction to fight to the last moment with the resolve to die. But even so, at this moment, they all felt fear.
Because in this moment, they truly felt that they were facing an opponent that was impossible to defeat.
What they feared most wasn't bloodshed and sacrifice, but that even their sacrifice would be meaningless.
However, in that very moment.
An intense, searing light—a warm radiance that felt strangely familiar to every one of them, as if it was the same one that had enveloped them in that fleeting moment between life and death—suddenly erupted.
A dazzling pillar of light shot toward the sky, and swirling particles within the radiance transformed into a humanoid form. A brilliant electric arc burst forth, and from that waterfall-like stream of light, a shining heavy punch was thrown.
A punch of extreme speed, thrown so fast that the brilliant aura around its body hadn't even had time to dissipate.
BOOM!!!
A typhoon-like shockwave threatened to overturn the atmosphere. The terrifying blast surged into the sky, tearing apart the air like a whirlwind meat grinder. Anything caught in that storm's vortex would be ground to ash.
Just like the monster that had been struck head-on.
One punch, and the giant beast was smashed to smithereens. Even its ashes were scattered into nothingness by the gale.
The captain was momentarily speechless, choked with emotion.
It was one-shotted, just like that?
Wha—
(end of chapter )
