Chapter 7338: The Growth of a Powerhouse

The Ixith Goliath made a strong impression ever since it first showed up. It was clearly the crown jewel that the Goliath Hive invested a lot of time and resources into nurturing.

The Level 8 Goliath operated on a very different level from the other mutated voribugs that had shown up at this point.

Its existence completely eschewed the standard doctrine of the mutated voribug race, which was to rely on large amounts of inferior cannon fodder to overwhelm opposing forces.

The Incubator-born Goliath therefore represented more than just an outlier or an anomaly. It stood for a brand-new power system that may very well become a common fixture within the Goliath Hive!

Since the Ixith Goliath developed in the opposite direction from all of the other Goliaths, the existence of this special strain diversified the unit roster of the mutated voribug race.

Its birth directly elevated the threat posed by the space insects!

Its existence vastly increased the defensive pressure of red humanity.

Not only did they have to conduct a lot of R&D into developing more effective swarm-clearing weapons, they also had to field enough champions to counter any future Level 8 Goliaths that appeared in the future.

Fortunately, the Level 8 Goliath may have been a lot stronger than all of the other Goliaths that showed up in the past, but its design still had flaws.

The current performance of the Ixith Goliath emphasized this fact in front of everyone.

Previously, it demonstrated both might and control.

It possessed immense physical endowments, but that alone was not enough to elevate it into a big threat.

There were plenty of phase lords that could reach a similar size and scale, yet their combat effectiveness never reached this kind of level.

What made the Ixith Goliath different from most other enemies of this scale was its rationality and control.

Whether it was the external control from the true master of the voribug race or the extraordinary effects of the Mentalist Crystal, the Ixith Goliath not only demonstrated a lot of self-control, but also knew how to utilize its resources in an efficient manner!

The Level 8 Goliath did not display the most supreme skill, but that was mainly due to its novelty and lack of experience.

For a newborn entity of a brand-new megavoribug strain, the Ixith Goliath already displayed a remarkable amount of control and direction!

Yet due to the sabotage conducted by Ves, the Goliath was no longer able to leverage its entire body as effectively as before!

Its recently reattached limb had not only rebelled against its origin, but also turned into an invasion vector!

Under the leadership of dozens of desperate Minor Demons, the power of darkness and withering started to spread across the enormous Goliath’s true body.

Even if the Ixith Goliath’s stolen resonance successfully contained the spread of these corrupting forces, it still needed to dedicate a significant amount of attention and resources to maintaining its condition!

This caused the massive creature to experience increasingly more obvious problems.

Its reaction speed had dropped. Its movements became less coordinated. Its wounds regenerated at a slower rate. Its flesh grew more fragile. It no longer performed the most optimal moves under its present circumstances.

The soldiers clearly noticed these trends as they began to achieve more success in their actions.

“The Goliath has weakened!”

“Let us increase the pressure!”

“Do not waste this opportunity! We need to build upon our advantages!”

Ves’ move had opened up a vulnerability that everyone was eager to exploit!

Fighting against a completely healthy and coordinated Ixith Goliath had proven to be an immensely difficult endeavor. Few people saw hope of gaining victory under those circumstances.

Now, the story was different.

Even if the Ixith Goliath still retained much of its stolen resonance, it no longer possessed the air of invincibility.

The human soldiers saw hope of defeating it with one attack at a time!

So what if it was big?

So what if its flesh could continually regenerate?

As long as they generated a ‘regeneration deficit’, they could ultimately force the Ixith Goliath to expend all of its vitality!

The giants might not be too clear about the details, but the Rubarthan ace pilots intuitively figured out the Level 8 Goliath’s ailments by scanning its massive body with their Saint Kingdoms.

They bravely took the lead in attacking the Ixith Goliath, not hesitating to take more risks!

The ace mechs significantly increased their aggression not just because the Ixith Goliath was not able to fend them off as well as before, but also because their Saint Kingdoms worsened its condition.

The Level 8 Goliath’s main source of resistance against the internal invasion was its stolen resonance.

By suppressing the massive insect’s willpower with their Saint Kingdoms, the ace mechs directly made it easier for the Minor Demons and the withering curse to spread across the Goliath’s enormous biomass!

Several minutes went by. The Ixith Goliath could no longer go on the offensive anymore. It focused on defense as much as possible, but could only prevent particularly threatening enemies such as the ace mechs and the Dark Apostle from digging deep into its body.

It still possessed a lot of claws and its organic plasma cannons also kept a lot of units at a distance, yet it was clearly on a downward trajectory.

Even if the defending forces only made incremental progress so far, the Ixith Goliath had no ability to turn the situation around!

“This Goliath is not as scary as I thought it would be. I didn’t know it would turn out this weak.”

“Pah! It is only weak because we managed to decipher its body and deploy an effective counter. If not for that, we would have suffered a lot more losses!”

“Do not grow complacent! Who knows what trump cards it still holds. This Level 8 Goliath still possesses a lot of healthy biomass!”

Despite their good fortune, the ascendant human forces failed to secure a decisive advantage.

So many attacks struck the Ixith Goliath, yet aside from damaging its exoskeleton and burning away at the flesh that was close to the exterior, its true foundation remained virtually untouched.

In other words, the human forces only managed to drain some of its buffer!

Until its enormous buffer began to run out, the Ixith Goliath still possessed enough strength to turn the tide of the battle.

The Dark Apostle was having the time of his life, though!

He had fought long enough to understand the Ixith Goliath’s moves. His combat literacy was not low, so he became increasingly better at predicting and evading the massive insect’s attacks.

This was especially the case now that its efficiency and coordination had dropped!

As the Ixith Goliath’s problems worsened, its performance dropped even further.

This in turn allowed combat assets such as the Dark Apostle much more opportunities to inflict serious damage!

In fact, out of all of the forces resisting the powerful Goliath, the Dark Apostle had clearly become their leader!

This was due to the effectiveness of the Withering Sting.

Every strike not only cut through a lot of tough transphasic exoskeleton, thereby opening up new weak points, but also allowed the withering curse to spread across new vectors.

The curse began to impose an increasingly more severe drain of the Level 8 Goliath’s vitality.

This was the root of its power!

The loss of vitality affected almost everything.

The Goliath grew weaker and more brittle over time, allowing both external and internal enemies to achieve greater results.

If nothing changed, the Ixith Goliath would truly get exhausted to death at this rate!

At this stage, the Ixith Goliath’s escalating problems already made it unable to fend off the increasingly more skilled Dark Apostle.

The latter did not even need the protection of the ace mechs or the Ascended Giants in order to do his job.

Of course, that was no reason to become complacent.

The Divine Harpoon and several Ur-Titans with battered raiments had already withdrawn from the fight in order to form a reserve.

They remained on guard and prepared to act with haste as soon as an emergency occurred.

The Divine Harpoon clearly did not believe that their good fortune would last until the end of this battle.

“I do not believe the Ixith Goliath has reached its limit already.” The strategos prudently told his subordinates. “There is still a lot we do not know about this Goliath strain. Once an accident occurs, we need to be ready to contain the damage. If necessary, we will need to create an opportunity for our polemarchos to retreat to safety.”

Only truly calm and experienced leaders could hold themselves and their subordinates back.

They were not misled by any temporary advantages. Even if the giant insect had gradually turned into a giant punching bag, the Divine Harpoon still believed that the latest pride of the Goliath Hive possessed a lot of hidden depth.

It was a pity that Ves and the Dark Apostle had overlooked this reality.

It couldn’t be helped.

The Dark Apostle had become fully invested in the fight. The rush of battle caused his phasewater-infused blood to flow faster through his veins.

With every minute spent on this titanic clash, the Ascended Giant felt as if his body, mind and will was undergoing a gradual sublimation.

Actual battle not only accelerated the growth of mech pilots, but also phase lords of every race!

The Dark Apostle happened to benefit more than his peers. Due to his many abnormalities, he possessed a much stronger foundation than his peers, but always suffered a deficiency in age and experience.

Now that he was fighting against a genuinely powerful enemy, he was rapidly making up for a number of his shortcomings!

There was nothing he could do about his limited age, but he could still acquire precious combat experience against a formidable opponent!

Even if the Dark Apostle was unable to convert these gains into immediate boosts of strength, his gains were not trivial in the slightest.

All of it served as the capital for his future growth!

A true powerhouse could never grow without undergoing sufficient struggle!

The Dark Apostle previously relied on his good gear and superior foundations alone as the source of his confidence, but he himself had to admit that there were limits to this dependence.

He could not continually beg Ves for help if he wanted to become an unparalleled strongman in his own right.

This was especially the case when he suffered a clear disadvantage against ace pilots and ace mechs.

Having fought against a Goliath who possessed the power of stolen resonance, the Dark Apostle now had a much better idea how much he fell behind compared to a genuine ace pilot.

The resonance strength of a saint was much stronger and more condensed!

Ace pilots defied the laws of reality much more blatantly, allowing them to patch up their weaknesses and enhance their strengths a lot better.

The Dark Apostle had no confidence in his ability to defeat any of the ace mechs that were currently fighting by his side!

Even if he did not pay much attention to them at the moment, he was still able to gauge their general combat power.

Their mobility, their Saint Kingdoms and their Rubarthan high technologies all granted them advantages that were difficult if not impossible to overcome together.

The Dark Apostle may have gained a lot of confidence when fighting against the Ixith Goliath, but that was only because his other self managed to figure out and exploit its weaknesses.

Ace mechs did not possess such vulnerabilities!

As one of the pillars of the large and prosperous human race, ace mechs possessed a level of refinement that far surpassed any other high-level assets.

Only phase lords equipped with Saint Piercer arms could pose a legitimate threat against these units, and that was only if the ace mechs were being careless on the battlefield!

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