by <unknown>
“I’m really very sincere about joining the Holy Accord, but trust needs to be developed over time…”
Sorokin looked troubled but complained inside.
This plan means you guys are only bearing the minimum risk. Basically, you don’t have to do anything at all. The problem will be solved regardless of whether I’m really dead or not…
Conversely, fighting Black Star was very risky for Holy Accord but much less risky for him, so of course, he favored this plan more.
“Humph, so you’re still forcing us to help you to kill Black Star.” Violet Queen snorted.
Sorokin had nothing to say.
“… We’ll talk about it when the time comes. Let’s see if Black Star responds to the fake information first.”
Oathkeeper purposely glanced at Sorokin with dissatisfaction. He did not say much and left.
Not long later, through secret channels, the intelligence that Sorokin passed by Planet Deere got spread out. At the same time, the Holy Accord organization set up many men on Planet Deere for surveillance.
Time passed day by day, and the information got spread further. As they did not know if Black Star had received the news yet, they could only wait and stare at the surveillance screens all day.
As this involved him personally, Sorokin was most concerned about it. He stared at the screens every second.
After almost ten days, the Holy Accord organization finally got the intelligence that one fleet from the Ancient Star Desert subdivision of the Black Star Army had arrived on Planet Deere and was searching for Sorokin’s information on the planet.
…
“The situation is very clear. Black Star is indeed hunting you closely. You’ve brought us risk!”
In the remote surveillance room, Oathkeeper glared at Sorokin, his tone very displeased.
Sorokin did not reply. He looked extremely frustrated, and his heart sank.
He could not oppose this solid proof; he did not expect Black Star to want to kill him so much that he was hunting him secretly.
So, this guy not only wants my money but even my life!
What an evil man!
F*ck, although I tricked you several times in the past, I’ve already paid the price for that! Black Star, why do you want me dead so much‽
This time, Oathkeeper said with a deep voice, “You really are not willing to fake your death to fool Black Star?”
“No.” Sorokin shook his head without hesitation.
Oathkeeper looked distressed. He walked back and forth, annoyed, as if he was hesitating.
After quite some time, he spoke reluctantly like he had finally made a difficult situation.
“Since that’s the case, we can only eliminate Black Star!”
As soon as he said that, the other Primordial Ones were instantly ‘appalled’ and expressed their strong objection.
“We have no conflict with Black Star. Why should we mess with such a strong enemy just for Sorokin?”
“Wouldn’t fighting Black Star also leak our existence?”
“This guy is just threatening us. Don’t fall for it!”
The elevated emotions of everyone startled Sorokin. He did not dare express his opinion.
“Stop!” Oathkeeper argued with them for a bit. He then raised his voice and said firmly, “There’ll be no next time!”
Then, he glared at Sorokin and coldly said, “Are you satisfied now?”
“Nonsense, I’m not the one forcing you guys to deal with Black Star. This is your decision. I’d rather ignore him.” Sorokin sighed and expressed this was not his fault.
He was originally not planning to threaten the Holy Accord organization to fight Black Star because he would offend them that way. However, he was not the one making the choice.
In his position, he could not change their stubborn opinions and convince the Holy Accord to ignore Black Star. It was like someone who owed loan sharks a lot of money and took refuge in someone else’s home, not only causing them trouble, but also attempting to convince them to put up with the loan sharks’ harassment… Even Sorokin felt that was a little bit shameless.
Oathkeeper snorted and said slowly, “All and all, you brought the trouble, so you’ll have to solve it. Since Black Star is hunting you, you’ll be the bait to lure him into the trap.”
“Alone?” Sorokin asked.
“Of course, three of us will accompany you, both to prevent you from escaping and to help you fight Black Star.” Oathkeeper shook his head. “As for the rest of us, we’ll set up an ambush far away and join the battle when the time is right.”
“Will that even work? Black Star has the King suit and is not afraid of being outnumbered,” Beiger added, displaying his expertise as an actor.
“Don’t worry, Black Star will never expect there to be dozens of us, and that’s our biggest advantage! The trap set up by Sorokin will only have four people. It’s only our first measure but will seem like the whole ambush to Black Star. With Black Star’s strength, he’s unlikely to flee against four people and will definitely try to fight. Therefore, the team with Sorokin’s mission will be to stall Black Star.” Oathkeeper’s tone sounded like this was real.
“Then?”
“Try to create an opportunity, of course! The dozens of us will be accumulating energy. As long as you can temporarily control Black Star and make him not have the time to use the King suit, Sorokin, we’ll charge right in with Beiger’s teleportation spell, attacking him all at the same time, while having those who excel in the soul territory try to heavily damage Black Star’s soul!”
Oathkeeper’s tone was very firm and filled with confidence. Even he almost believed it.
Sorokin analyzed the plan and felt that the success rate was much higher than for him to act alone.
He believed that as long as Black Star did not use the Spacetime Amber to guard against the attacks, even he would most likely not be able to endure the focus fire of dozens of Beyond Grade As.
Although Soul Flame was not in his hands, Oathkeeper could use it all the same. Furthermore, there were not just the two of them who excelled in the soul territory in the Holy Accord organization, which made Sorokin feel there was an even higher chance of succeeding.
“This plan should work. The success rate is probably above seventy percent. The entire galactic society practically sees Black Star as a god, but he definitely has limits no matter how strong he is.”
Sorokin was relieved and expressed his support for the plan.
Seeing that the fish had bitten the bit, knowing the ways of fishing very well, Oathkeeper said with a warning tone and a deep voice, “Don’t be glad so soon. You’d best pray this plan succeeds. Otherwise, if Black Star escapes, he’ll definitely leak our information too. Then, your leverage will be meaningless, and I’ll hold you responsible for it. You can make a guess on what we’ll do to you… Therefore, for your own sake too, you’d better give your all in this mission!”
Hearing this, Sorokin’s expression turned serious, and he nodded firmly.
…
Half a month later, in a certain desolate universe belt of the Ancient Star Desert, a small spaceship hovered. There were only four people in the spaceship—Sorokin, Beiger, and two other Beyond Grade As.
Beiger stood with his arms crossed. He glanced at Sorokin who was beside and said with an unsatisfied tone, “Tsk, I never thought I’d have to fight alongside you one day. Unlucky.”
“Tsk, you think I’m happy to see your face?” Sorokin snorted. He did not want to argue with him. He changed the topic and said, “It’s been so long—will Black Star really come?”
“Who knows? We’ve already sent the coordinates out; it all depends on how strong his love for you is,” Beiger joked.
Sorokin was about to strike back when an unwelcome guest entered the range of his senses. His expression changed immediately.
“Someone’s here.”
The other three sensed it too and became silent. They looked in the directio
n of the presence they felt outside the porthole.
After a while, an asteroid approached extremely quickly. It seemed to have noticed the four of them too. It stopped not far away, and a familiar face appeared.
“It’s Black Star! He’s really here!”
Sorokin’s expression turned grave. He flew out of the cabin and stood opposite Han Xiao. Beiger and the other two followed along.
Han Xiao scanned through the few of them and laughed in the public channel.
“Yoho, I see, you deliberately leaked your coordinates to lure me into a trap, huh? So, the information about your whereabouts some time ago was fake information you made up and spread purposely… Hehe, I don’t know where you got the help from, but Sorokin, oh Sorokin, aren’t you underestimating me too much, daring to attack me with just four people?”
“Black Star, I didn’t expect you to be so persistent in chasing me. You’re too much! Don’t blame me. You left me no choice!”
This was what Sorokin was most irritated by. From the way he looked at it, he was the one who incurred much larger losses, yet Black Star hunted him nonstop. It was too excessive.
“Sorry, I’m not a forgiving person. You’ve plotted against me one too many times. There’ll be quite a number of problems with letting you escape. Therefore, it’s better for you to live inside my Spacetime Amber suite, safe and sound.”
While speaking in the public channel, Han Xiao glanced at Beiger and the other two with mockery in his eyes.
There were only five people there and supposedly two sides, but there were three group chats. One was the public channel, and another was the temporary combat group chat Sorokin, Beiger, and the other two were in.
The third was the ‘actor’ group chat that Han Xiao, Beiger, the other two Beyond Grade As, and all the Holy Accord members ambushing far away were in. Basically, everyone except Sorokin.
“Do it!”
Sorokin did not want to bullsh*t with Han Xiao and attacked right away while also telling Beiger and the other two to attack together.
Seeing how much of a hurry Sorokin was in, everyone was laughing out loud nonstop in the actor group.
“He’s getting impatient…”
“Hahaha, why do I suddenly feel pitiful for him?”
“It’s so tragic. I can hardly watch.”
“You’d better take a few more looks. I’m afraid we’ll never see him again…”
The people joked around. The actor group chat was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
“Stop it. We’re in the middle of a performance. Be serious about it,” Han Xiao said while laughing. He summoned his mechanical army and charged into Sorokin’s attacks.
Beiger and the other two hastily joined the battle. They did their best not to burst into laughter and fought alongside Sorokin as if they were really on his side.
The battle broke up instantly. The energy left by the five of them left scorch marks in space.
The opportunity only existed for the blink of an eye. If they could not annihilate Sorokin instantly, this guy would still have time to leak the information. Now was not the time yet, so the Holy Accord was still performing for Sorokin.
Sorokin thought victory was in his hands and focused entirely on fighting Han Xiao. However, what he did not know was that the teammates he had high hopes in were all actors ready to backstab him any second.
Chapter 1244: Suppressed |
The mechanical army circled around like crows, releasing streams of energy, wrecking the battlefield. Han Xiao himself changed into one of the Black King series gears and fought intensely with four opponents.
The battle looked ferocious, but Sorokin was actually the only one fighting for real. His three teammates only used about sixty percent of their strength, and Han Xiao was slowly accumulating bonuses.
Beiger could clearly feel that the attacks of Han Xiao’s army were several levels weaker than the last time and not as pressurizing as before. He instantly understood that Han Xiao was also holding back.
Han Xiao’s strength had rocketed recently. In order to let Sorokin still have hope, he deliberately decreased the damage output of the army to only slightly stronger than the last time he showed his strength in public, creating a situation where both sides were on par.
He was not worried about Sorokin finding out—the two of them had never fought before, so Sorokin’s judgement of his strength all came from the information on the internet. Since he had never experienced it for himself, he did not have a clear understanding of how strong Han Xiao was. Han Xiao just had to display about the same amount of strength as the information available to the public said he had, and Sorokin would think it was his actual strength.
Sorokin was indeed quite strong. His soul Esper Ability was very tough to deal with, applying all kinds of debuffs on Han Xiao. Han Xiao did not activate [Kunde Rage] and [Thousand Soul Stream] for the time being, so it was not a breeze for him either. Putting other things aside, Han Xiao estimated that this guy’s Energy Rank was above 90,000, undoubtedly in the top tier of the universe.
Sadly, this guy is fragile.
Han Xiao curled his lips in his mind. No matter how incredible the fragile individuals were in terms of combat, they had limits—only tanks had an infinite future.
Sorokin’s body was weaker than the average of those around the same Energy Rank as him, but destroying his physical body would not kill him. With [Immortal Soul], [Spiritual Energy Foundation], and other talents, Sorokin’s soul was the foundation of his life. His soul could live without a physical body.
Furthermore, Sorokin had the [Fleshly Body Reconstruction] ability. He did not have to infest or take over another’s body like Psychics; he could build a new shell for himself with his soul energy any time. To him, physical bodies were just replaceable vessels for his soul; his soul was his original body.
Through the introduction of [Immortal Soul] on the interface, Han Xiao knew that Sorokin was immune to physical attacks when in the soul state, while also having very high resistances, it was very difficult to deal with. Destroying his physical body would only lead to Sorokin entering his ‘second phase’.
For that, the trump card he had prepared was the Mark of The Underworld. The Underworld at its peak had a special restraining effect on all souls; it was the arch enemy of souls.
Han Xiao’ goal was to find an opportunity to destroy Sorokin’s physical body in the blink of an eye, force his soul to be isolated, drag his soul right into the Underworld, and have the experts inside send him up happily.
Meanwhile, Sorokin was also making plans in his mind.
Black Star’s strength is about the same as what I predicted. He’s indeed strong but not as exaggerated as the rumors say. With this level of strength he has, the success rate of this ambush is higher than planned.
Sorokin felt confident.
Remaining in the passive situation was very disadvantageous for him. Although he had found the Holy Accord’s weak spot, his safety was still in their hands. This leverage would only be much more useful once he escaped the Holy Accord’s control, or it would only keep him alive and nothing else… The Holy Accord organization indeed did not want to be exposed, but even if they were exposed, they would only get in trouble while he would almost certainly be dead. The scale was unbalanced, so there was not much room for negotiation.
He felt an opportunity to escape might appear the moment the ambush succeeded. However, as a soul Esper, his mobility was awful, and his odds of escaping were too low.
I shall follow the plan and find a chance to capture Black Star first, then improvise from there.
Sorokin focused his thoughts, pressed between his eyes, and sent another few hundred soul energy attacks right toward Han Xiao.
The five of them were all waiting for a chance.
The battle went back and forth for quite some time when, suddenly, Han Xiao’s movements became stiff as if he had endured too many soul energy attacks.
“Now!”
Before Sorokin spoke, Beiger suddenly yelled in the group chat and took over the heavy responsibility of setting the tempo.
Intense magic energy erupted from all over his body. Control type spells he had been preparing all this time flew out rapidly and all landed on Han Xiao.
The other Beyond Grade As followed instantly and threw out all their control type abilities together.
Ohm!
Energy of all colors and forms tangled around him, seemingly fixing him in midair, unable to move.
Seeing the opportunity, Sorokin followed up right away. With his eyes wide open, energy shockwaves that almost materialized were launched rapidly one after another, penetrating Han Xiao’s body, instantly applying all kinds of debuffs on him.
The next moment, Beiger raised his hand. A teleportation circle appeared on the battlefield, and dozens of Beyond Grade As swarmed out instantly, all holding onto charged attacks prepared long ago, ready to launch them at Han Xiao.
However, at this time, Han Xiao’s body shook. He seemingly used some kind of ability to escape from all the control abilities.
He actually did not do anything; Beiger and the other two secretly deactivated their abilities.
As for Sorokin’s abilities, he gained immunity to the tons of debuffs by activating [Kunde Rage] in advance and was not affected at all.
Even the opportunity was sold by Han Xiao; Beiger only cooperated following the script discussed in the actors group chat and made Sorokin mistakenly think the opportunity had come when it was actually Han Xiao’s signal.
The sudden change happened in a fraction of a second. Before Sorokin could react, Han Xiao immediately used Void Hyperdrive after he was freed and appeared right before Sorokin. He then pressed Sorokin into his wide arms.
“You…”
Shock appeared on Sorokin’s face. It was as if a huge red “DANGER” appeared above his head.
Before he finished his sentence, the dozens of Beyond Grade As attacked the two of them instantly!
The mechanical army also turned to fire at the two of them, this time, at full output!
Han Xiao activated all his explosive abilities directly followed by Virtual Soul to restrain Sorokin. The two of them stood still and watched countless attacks approaching rapidly.