Death… And Me

Chapter 4383: More

"Senior Harksha, take the controls," Rean said as he left the front of the airplane.

Harksha nodded and immediately took over the controls. Even without one of her arms, manipulating the airplane wasn’t an issue. She simply used her Godly Energy to move the controls as if her hand were still there. "Leave it to me. Focus on your job."

The others quickly stepped aside, opening enough room for Rean to carry the sealed core of the Energy Being to the airplane’s modification compartment. Even now, countless strange runes continued to circulate inside it. They no longer reacted to the surrounding Godly Energy thanks to the sealing talismans, but the intricate patterns remained active within the core itself.

"This is definitely very different from ordinary Godly Creature Crystals," Rean commented as he carefully examined it from every angle. "Well... let’s see if this idea actually works."

Without wasting another second, he pulled out several sets of prepared runes and immediately began assembling another Godly Energy Separation Array. Since the core was several times larger than an ordinary Godly Crystal, he first had to modify the compartment designed to hold the energy source. Fortunately, most of the necessary runes were already stored inside his Spatial Ring, allowing him to make the adjustments without much difficulty.

[Rean, you’ll have to remove the sealing talismans first,] Sister Orb reminded him. [As long as they’re attached, they’ll block us from extracting the Godly Energy from the core.]

Rean narrowed his eyes.

The talismans weren’t merely preventing the Godly Energy from flowing. They were also the only reason the core remained completely motionless. The moment he removed them, there would be nothing stopping it from trying to escape again.

Then an idea crossed his mind.

"Celis, give me a hand."

Celis immediately stepped forward. Several thick roots extended from his body, surrounding the core inside the compartment and firmly locking it in place.

"What now?"

"Drain it," Rean answered without hesitation. "Leave only enough energy for it to barely remain active. Not enough to even lift itself off the ground."

Celis didn’t need to be told twice.

His roots immediately began absorbing the Godly Energy from the core by force. Without its connection to the surrounding energy and with the sealing talismans still suppressing it, the core had no way to resist Celis’s innate ability. Besides, after unleashing that enormous barrage of lasers earlier, very little energy remained inside it to begin with.

It only took a short while.

"Done," Celis reported while keeping his roots tightly wrapped around the core. "Should I continue holding it?"

"Yes," Rean replied with a nod. "But expose at least half of its surface. The runes need direct contact with the core."

[Rean,] Sister Orb answered after checking the setup, [that should be enough. Just increase the absorption output of the runes connected to the compartment. Also... warn Celis. He’ll probably feel part of his own Godly Energy being drained through the roots. It shouldn’t be much since only a few roots are touching the core, but it certainly won’t feel pleasant. Let’s work quickly on the rest of the modifications.]

’I’m listening too,’ Celis joined through their soul connection. ’Just go ahead. We brought plenty of Godly Crystals. Whatever little I lose, I’ll recover in no time.’

Receiving both confirmations, Rean immediately resumed his work.

His hands moved nonstop, rapidly inputting commands into the airplane’s control terminal while simultaneously modifying runes with the crafting equipment. Every adjustment to the new Godly Pressure Disguise Array also had to be synchronized with the airplane’s original concealment system. Otherwise, even if the temporary array successfully reproduced the guardian’s Godly Pressure, it would never blend properly with the vessel’s own disguise.

"Everyone," Kentucky suddenly called out.

Unlike the others, his attention remained fixed on the Godly Pressure Detection Array. One after another, new readings appeared across the radar. "It looks like there are indeed many more guardians."

Roan stepped beside Harksha and studied the radar himself. "We need more time."

"I know," Harksha replied while checking the same display. Without hesitation, she banked the airplane away from the approaching guardians. "I’ll try to keep them at a distance."

Rean ignored the conversation entirely.

Whether he knew how many guardians were approaching or not made no difference. His hands never slowed down. The only thing that mattered was finishing the modifications before they were caught.

[Don’t forget the energy penetration runes,] Sister Orb reminded him. [Raise the flow efficiency to at least eighty percent.]

Rean silently adjusted the runes again, making several rapid corrections before continuing with the final connections. Rean and Sister Orb really knew how to make the best of each other’s abilities.

Meanwhile, Roan carefully observed the radar.

More and more red dots continued appearing across the display. Every one of them registered Godly Pressure equivalent to a Godly Predator. However, after witnessing the first guardian’s true strength, everyone already knew those readings were deceptive. If they truly represented more guardians, each one was likely far stronger than even ordinary Godly Horrors.

Roan’s eyes narrowed.

He finally looked toward Harksha. "Turn thirteen degrees left and head straight through those hills."

Harksha frowned. "That’ll take us directly toward the group coming from there."

"We have to," Roan answered calmly. "We’re being surrounded. If we don’t break the encirclement now, we won’t have another chance."

"Surrounded?" Harksha looked at the radar again.

From what she could tell, the guardians were only approaching from three general directions, all on roughly the same side. The opposite direction appeared much safer. "Are you hallucinating?"

"Just do it," Roan said without the slightest impatience in his voice. "If you wait until you can see the trap yourself, it’ll already be too late."

The others exchanged uncertain glances.

Still, Roan had already proven several times that his judgment on the battlefield far surpassed everyone else’s, including Harksha’s. None of them believed he would take such a risk without good reason.

"Tch..." She still hated the way he spoke to her. Even so, she had long realized he treated absolutely everyone that way.

"If this gets us killed," she muttered while changing course, "I’ll make sure to kill you before those things kill me."

The airplane immediately turned thirteen degrees to the left before descending toward the chain of hills Roan had pointed out.

"Reduce our speed," Roan instructed again.

Harksha’s expression became even more complicated.

Slowing down sounded like an even worse decision, but at this point, she had already committed herself.

Roan continued following the radar until, satisfied with what he saw, he turned around and headed toward the rear fuel compartment.

’Hey, idiot,’ he said through their soul connection. ’I’m pushing it.’

Rean smiled bitterly without lifting his eyes from the runes. ’As long as you buy me enough time.’

Roan gave a slight nod before retrieving one of the Godly Predator Crystals they had.

The moment Harksha and the others felt the tremendous Godly Pressure coming from the crystal, they couldn’t help staring.

Even among Zone Gods, such treasures were incredibly valuable.

Then—

*Zush!*

Roan threw it directly into the airplane’s fuel compartment.

The internal arrays immediately flared to life, greedily drawing the enormous amount of Godly Energy contained inside the Godly Predator Crystal.

The Celestial Thrusters trembled violently under the overwhelming influx of power. They usually worked on Celestial Energy, so it was definitely a lot more than the Thrusters were used to doing.

Fortunately, they endured.

At almost the same moment, seven red dots finally emerged over the hills directly ahead of them.

The guardians.

Each one looked exactly like the first: spheres of condensed Godly Energy surrounded by countless ancient runes constantly revolving around their cores.

Without hesitation, every guardian began charging hundreds of golden lasers.

Even the reinforced Light-Bending Array Plates wouldn’t be able to redirect such an overwhelming barrage for very long. The arrays would overheat and eventually fail.

Then Roan spoke again.

"Activate Overcharge Mode."

Harksha had never used the function before. She didn’t even know the airplane possessed such an option. Still, after a quick glance across the controls, she found it.

There wasn’t time to hesitate. She activated it immediately.

"Hold onto something," Roan warned.

Celis instantly extended several roots throughout the cabin, securing Rean and all the delicate equipment in place while everyone else grabbed onto their seats or whatever they could reach.

*Zuvash!*

Without warning, the airplane exploded forward.

Its speed instantly surpassed every previous limit, accelerating to nearly three times its normal maximum velocity within only a few seconds.

*Ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu, ziu...*

A deadly web of lasers erupted from every direction.

Fortunately, the airplane’s sudden burst of speed caused the overwhelming majority of them to miss completely. The few that remained on course were intercepted by the reinforced Light-Bending Plates and violently redirected away from the fuselage.

Before anyone could even process what had happened, the airplane had already pierced straight through the formation of guardians and vanished into the distance.

The laser barrage continued chasing them from behind.

Harksha, however, never allowed the airplane to fly in a straight line. She constantly adjusted its course, weaving through the sky while dodging every attack she possibly could. Too bad the airplane couldn’t make any sharp turns. "This thing really does have terrible maneuverability..."

Rean hadn’t exaggerated.

His airplane had never been designed for combat.