52: close combat

"Fire!"

As the order was given, the micro-reactors on the robots accelerated, the energy bars in the blue barrels lit up segment by segment, and red lasers poured out in an instant!

Pew-pew—!

The members of the "Wind and Waves" Pirate Group, currently in the middle of a revelry, never expected anyone to bypass the nine spatial defense stations; caught completely off guard, over half were hit head-on.

The light energy converted into heat the moment it made contact, and the scorching high temperature vaporized everything in its path.

Only a small fraction of the Transcendents ranked B or higher reacted in time and dodged to the side.

But the rain of lasers covered almost the entire area, and even though they tried their best to twist their bodies to evade, they couldn't avoid being grazed by the lasers.

"Ah...!"

"Enemy attack!"

For a time, screams echoed incessantly, and even those who escaped the initial onslaught were mostly severely injured.

They were stunned by such a sudden turn of events, completely caught without any psychological preparation.

"Damn it, where did these guys come from! Fire Snakes!"

Finn, sitting in the main seat, roared angrily and waved his hand, releasing four elemental giant snakes, each over thirty meters long and burning with raging flames.

"Hiss—!"

They whipped their tails violently and charged toward the swarm of robots in the sky.

The flames they carried seemed ready to burn the very air to nothingness.

Among the hovering robots, a dozen or so saw this and unhesitatingly met them head-on.

Like warriors with no fear of death, they dove straight into the raging flames spewed by the Fire Snakes.

"Hahaha, they're finished! To think they'd dare charge straight into my babies' flames—that's a high temperature capable of melting even G6-grade alloy!"

A hint of joy appeared in Finn's eyes.

"Looks like a bunch of idiots. Damn it, what are those little brats doing? How did these things get in! Once I finish off this pile of junk, I'm going to skin them alive."

Tarian cursed as he put on his combat suit, lightning flickering in his hands.

But just then, there was a sudden flicker at the edge of the sea of fire, and robots shimmering with ice-blue light burst out from within, completely unscathed.

There wasn't even a scorch mark on them; bone-chilling cold surged from the kinetic longswords in their hands as they instantly split into four groups and slashed fiercely down at the stunned Fire Snakes!

The execution capabilities of mechanical life were fully displayed at this moment!

The four kinetic longswords scattered the flames almost simultaneously in the truest sense, slicing straight into the bodies of the Fire Snakes.

Sizzle...!

Amidst the piercing sound, clouds of mist swirled, large swathes of flames were extinguished, and the thirty-meter-long Fire Snakes instantly withered down to only ten meters in length, retreating with strange shrieks.

"Not good, they have high-temperature resistant materials and ice-attribute enchantments! Tarian, quickly notify the masters of 'Gale'!"

Finn, who had been composed just a moment ago, saw his expression change drastically in an instant.

His Transcendent ability was fire-based, and the fact that the opponent had created robots specifically designed to counter it meant they were absolutely prepared!

Damn it, how dare they violate the regulations of the Four Great Pirate Groups and attack a leased planet...

Beside him, Tarian also realized the gravity of the situation and hurriedly took out his communicator.

But the next moment, his expression sank sharply.

"The signal has been jammed..."

"Impossible... Who could do this? Wait... Could it be the Statue of Liberty... But didn't that great person say that there was..."

A flash of suspicion and doubt crossed both their eyes.

But the robot army in the sky wouldn't be idle. Aside from the dozen or so specialized robots pinning down the four Fire Snakes, the rest switched to full-firepower mode, with dense rows of cannons extending from their shoulders, arms, and abdomens.

In an instant, countless micro-missiles and particle cannons began a saturation bombardment.

"Old Tarian, I'm being countered by them. You take the brothers and hold them off; I'm going to the starport to notify the fleet to come and support!"

"Alright, I'll do my best!"

After all, the two were leaders of a Pirate Group who had experienced many storms; seeing the opponent's ruthless actions, they quickly made their decision.

Finn flew to avoid the bombardment zone and clenched his right hand sharply; the two Fire Snakes exploded on the spot, and the powerful kinetic energy pushed away the surrounding robots.

He took the opportunity to recall the remaining two Fire Snakes and, without looking back, turned and sped away.

"Heh... damn it, if you want my life, I don't care if you're official or not, I'm going to make you pay!"

Tarian, covering the retreat, had a flash of fierce light in his eyes as he hurled the lightning orb he had been charging for a long time into the air.

"Destroy it."

Asroth, who was in charge of command, ordered coldly.

Immediately, the dozens of robots at the front switched to laser cannons again, locking onto the position of the lightning orb and firing rapidly.

Boom!

The moment the two energies made contact, the lightning orb exploded, and arcs of electricity spread and leaped between the various robots.

Many of the combat robots seemed to fall into an overload state, wobbled in the air a few times, and then plummeted.

The full-force strike of an A-Class Transcendent had achieved remarkable results in an instant.

"Where did you ignorant things come from? Taste my power!"

Tarian couldn't help but feel a bit encouraged. To be able to shoot down so many at once, these robots' power was far weaker than the active-duty equipment of the Free Star Alliance; it clearly couldn't be the work of the Statue of Liberty.

Although he didn't know how the opponent had jammed the communications on this planet, as long as he held out until Finn led the fleet to arrive, he could easily suppress them.

However, just as he was preparing to move forward to expand his advantage, a dozen or so robots with electricity flowing all over their bodies flew out quickly.

They seemed completely unaffected by the previous attack, and instead, their bodies were filled with energy that was practically overflowing.

Tarian thought of Finn's earlier encounter, and his expression changed instantly. He tentatively fired three arcs of electricity, but after hitting the opponents' surfaces, they were directly absorbed.

The next moment, several even more powerful bolts of lightning shot out.

"Damn it, it really is like this! Since when did Transcendent power enchantments become so common!"

Tarian narrowly avoided the attack, and looking at the robots surrounding him again, he immediately felt a headache coming on.

As far as he knew, even the Four Great Pirate Groups here didn't have much equipment with Transcendent enchantments. And now, someone had actually gone out of their way to build so many targeted Transcendent robots just for him, a mere A-Class Transcendent.

For a moment, he didn't know whether to be angry or honored.

"I can only try to find a way to stall for time."

Tarian gritted his teeth and bit the bullet, rushing forward.

On the other side, after a large number of combat robots were shot down, the continuous artillery barrage finally stopped.

The survivors of the "Wind and Waves" Pirate Group, who had been fleeing in all directions, finally caught their breath and one after another pulled out robot suits from their spatial storage devices, beginning their counterattack.

"Go to hell!"

A pirate who had reached B-Class angrily raised his laser sword and thrust it toward a fallen robot.

Under the augmentation of Transcendent power, this sword easily pierced through the outer shield and the surface alloy, driving straight into the cockpit door on the chest. The light in the robot's eyes flickered a few times before dimming.

"It's over!"

A sinister grin appeared on the pirate's face, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

This sword must have killed the pilot inside; he immediately withdrew his laser sword, preparing to rush toward another enemy.

But the moment he turned around, the eyes of the robot that had been pierced through suddenly lit up; its left hand fired three consecutive particle cannon shots that shattered his shield, and its right hand extended a kinetic longsword, slashing down fiercely.

The caught-off-guard pirate only had time to turn around before he was slashed in two.

Blood flowed all over the ground along the gap in the robot.

Even in death, his eyes were wide open, as if he had seen something unbelievable.