Chapter 455: Chapter 455: Purple Phantom Butterfly

"Wait a minute. I’m curious—what level is your scanning device, exactly?"

Hopka looked at Long Ming, his curiosity piqued.

It wasn’t that he disbelieved Long Ming’s warning. On the contrary, he had complete faith in it.

But Hopka was also puzzled. The scanners on the Azure Blue and his own Mechanical God were top-notch, yet they couldn’t hold a candle to Long Ming’s.

"That’s not important."

Long Ming didn’t answer Hopka.

’He couldn’t just tell him he was relying on intuition, could he? They’d think he was some kind of freak.’

"Fine," Hopka said calmly. "So what’s the plan?"

Long Ming’s expression shifted, and he declared...

"I’m going outside to take a look!"

"Let’s go. I’m with you," Hopka said without a moment’s hesitation.

The two immediately left the bridge.

「A few moments later.」

CLANK!

An access hatch on the top of the Azure Blue slid open.

Long Ming and Hopka climbed out and stared into the dark expanse of space.

Hopka scanned their surroundings for a good while but saw nothing. The scanners weren’t showing any anomalies either. "I’m not seeing anything unusual," he asked, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Could this be a false alarm?"

But Long Ming’s brow was furrowed. He couldn’t see anything either, but the sense of foreboding was only growing stronger.

Suddenly, his heart seized.

Long Ming roared into the comms channel.

"Fakadon, hard to starboard! Evasive maneuvers!"

Hearing Long Ming’s shout, Fakadon instinctively threw the Azure Blue into a hard turn.

WHOOSH!

A terrifying purple Pollock Beam shot out from behind without any warning, scraping against the Azure Blue’s Energy Barrier.

A shower of light particles scattered in all directions.

VMMMM—

The entire Azure Blue shuddered violently.

Long Ming and Hopka looked back into space, horrified.

A colossal creature materialized before them. It was a kilometer long and shaped like a butterfly. Black, swirling patterns marked its purple carapace, and its enormous wings were covered in vortex-like markings. A pair of scythe-like blades served as its forelimbs. It was a Type IV King-rank Purple Phantom Butterfly.

"Dammit, it’s a Type IV King-rank bug!" Hopka said, his voice grim.

"How strong is it?" Long Ming asked, his eye twitching.

"Barring the exceedingly rare mutated variants, King-ranks are the strongest there are!"

Hopka’s expression was grim.

Just then, the Purple Phantom Butterfly opened its maw and let out a peculiar cry. The surrounding swarms were instantly roused, converging on the Azure Blue in a frenzy.

「On the bridge.」

Piercing alarms blared nonstop.

The scanners showed innumerable red dots descending upon the Azure Blue.

"Colonel, the surrounding swarms are converging on our position!"

"The Purple Phantom Butterfly is coming right for us!"

"What are your orders?"

...

the operators yelled in panic.

"Keep turning to starboard and break through! Open all missile ports and give them everything we’ve got!" Fakadon roared at the crew.

"Yes, sir!"

The operators immediately complied.

Rows of launch ports opened along the Azure Blue’s massive hull.

FWOOSH! FWOOSH!

A rain of missiles shot toward the Purple Phantom Butterfly.

The Purple Phantom Butterfly ignored the incoming missiles, simply raising its AT Barrier to meet the barrage head-on.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Countless explosions lit up the void.

The Purple Phantom Butterfly emerged from the explosions completely unscathed.

It flapped its enormous wings. The swirling patterns upon them began to glow, and a dense volley of Pollock Beams rained down on the Azure Blue.

Although Fakadon did his best to evade...

...the ship was still struck by the dense volley of beams.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Azure Blue’s Energy Barrier instantly began to flicker and fail.

Long Ming watched in shock. ’The Azure Blue’s Energy Barrier is about to collapse!’

"Captain, the Energy Barrier is about to shatter!" Fakadon yelled, his voice laced with panic.

"Dammit! I’ll hold it off! You all get out of here!"

Hopka immediately took control of the Jailbreaker and charged toward the attacking Purple Phantom Butterfly.

"No! That’s a suicide mission!"

Long Ming saw what he was doing and tried to stop him, but it was too late. Hopka had already launched.

"Don’t do it! Captain, come back!"

Fakadon and the others cried out in desperation as they watched Hopka charge out.

’A mission like that is a one-way trip.’

But Hopka didn’t even look back as he spoke.

"Fakadon, I promised my big brother I’d take care of you. But I failed. Woperi is already dead. I can’t let anything happen to the rest of you."

"Captain, that wasn’t your fault."

"Just follow your orders!"

Colonel Hopka, having cast aside all thoughts of his own survival, gave the command in a tone that permitted no argument.

"Yes, sir!"

Fakadon and the others could only grit their teeth and obey.

The Azure Blue immediately accelerated, attempting to break through the blockade.

Hopka, meanwhile, charged up his Shoulder Cannons and fired a powerful blast at the Purple Phantom Butterfly.

The dazzling beam struck the Purple Phantom Butterfly’s AT Barrier.

The beam burst, scattering in all directions.

The AT Barrier merely rippled slightly.

Long Ming watched in astonishment. ’The Jailbreaker may be a standard-issue model, but it’s still a fourth-generation mech. How could its attack be so ineffective?’

The Purple Phantom Butterfly turned its attention to the nuisance, Hopka. The Pollock energy signature throughout its body skyrocketed. The vortex patterns on its massive wings seemed to come alive, opening into countless purple, insectoid eyes.

A dense cluster of eyes locked onto Colonel Hopka.

Hopka felt a primal sense of danger, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

A sky full of purple beams streaked through space like rain.

His nerves stretched taut, Hopka pushed the Jailbreaker to its limits, dodging the incoming beams.

One advantage of a Mechanical God was its incredible agility, making it easy to evade attacks.

However, just when Hopka thought he had evaded the attack...

...the trailing purple Pollock Beams suddenly refracted, changing their trajectory without warning.

"Shit!"

Hopka’s face fell.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Beam after beam slammed into Hopka’s mech, erupting in a series of explosions.

"Captain!"

...

Fakadon and the others cried out in anguish.

Having dealt with Hopka, the Purple Phantom Butterfly immediately flapped its wings and charged toward the Azure Blue.

Long Ming’s mouth twitched.

’Hopka couldn’t even hold it off for a second. We’re really done for this time!’

Just then, the Purple Phantom Butterfly opened its massive maw and began to charge a powerful Pollock Beam.

「On the bridge.」

Piercing alarms blared nonstop.

A series of black warning boxes popped up on the screens.

"WARNING: AZURE BLUE IS TARGET-LOCKED!"

...

"Colonel, we’re target-locked!"

"Evasive maneuvers! Now!"

"It’s no use! We can’t break the lock!"

"Dammit!"

Fakadon slammed his fist on the console in fury.

Just as Fakadon and the crew were at their wits’ end, Hopka, piloting the battered Jailbreaker, suddenly shot in front of the Azure Blue, preparing to block the attack with his own mech.

"Captain, no!"

Fakadon and the others screamed in terror.

"Get out of here! Push the engines to maximum!"

Hopka yelled through gritted teeth.

FWOOSH!

The Purple Phantom Butterfly then unleashed a brilliant Pollock Beam at the Azure Blue.

"Captain!"

Fakadon and the others screamed, their eyes red with tears.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.