Chapter 154: Ships, Mechs, Me, and Explosions

The little pests ran around the cannon platforms running like headless chickens as they dragged some half-melted compatriots from the wreckage.

The four major anti-ship defences had been destroyed, but there were still a lot more, but they were standard size and not massively gigantic ones that possessed extreme power. The remaining could be dealt with by the ship's standard evasion and shielding measures.

(“ Hold yourself back? ”)

I say that my attack of mine was pretty spectacular. They were quite big booms, and remember how much they sparkled? Simply beautiful!

I was laughing to myself, my heart so full of joy and excitement. Since I was invisible, I stuck on the back of one of the ships–aka hanging on the side–so I could be carried to my destination. I did perhaps may’ve used too much energy, though, but I tried to be positive.

My energies are being refilled quickly; that’s good.

I had already decided to vanish from the limelight to allow the assault fleet to begin its operation. There were lives to save, and I would likely get in the way of that if I kept bombarding the planet, and with my shots, some might assume I was out of energy, which was a thought I was perfectly happy with people accepting as fact.

Though there was an issue and a good fact that people didn’t know who did the big boom, Nina didn’t give any heads up this time, so no evidence of her involvement. I figured the only ones who would know would be Craftalot and his gang.

(“ If you say so ”)

That I do.

(“ You seem less angry ”)

Oh, I am still very angry. I laughed as my utter disgust and hatred resulted in a cold chuckle. I am just also very excited, so fun, so much destruction.

(“ They said you were getting saner ”)

I do feel saner. Becoming a Spiritual Being was great for my mental health.

(“ Congrats, that was all your own doing ”)

It took a long journey to reach it.

While Espr and I were having our little back and forth, I did get a message from Nina asking about my status. I told her I was fine and would stay quiet until we had reached the planets.

The space fighters were still zooming past, the guns on the ships were shooting at the hostile ships, but due to the formation, it was hard when they flew between our ships.

A few fighters that were severely damaged but last minute crashed into the fleet. Metal was carved out of ships; some broke through the shielding and either destroyed or damaged the ships. There were over ten thousand different ships in the assault fleet. The smaller ones that had been kept inside the biggest ships were being ejected and sent out on their own.

From the wreckage of ships, people were latching onto other ships and were driving small space transportation vehicles; everyone’s gear had breathable air, as it was expected the mission would be partly in space and that planets wouldn’t be completely breathable.

Espr, when we are on the ground, let me know if any Spiritual Being trouble appears.

(“ It should be easier for you to detect now, but I can do ”)

Thank you. There were still a lot of abilities I hadn’t perfectly grasped yet. Spending pretty much all my time in a restricted state didn’t help in learning those abilities, but I wasn’t going to not hang out with family after I got back.

The assault fleet finally neared the planets, and like rockets, a few ships shot down towards the planets’ surfaces. Heating up as their hulls shone with a red light. There were a few different ways ships could land, and we had a few that were designed for the missile approach.

I let go of Nina’s ship as her decent-sized vessel launched three pods towards Lisbs and one towards Asta. While the ship itself pulled back to assist in the space defence. Only a few people remained on the ship, manning the guns and piloting the ship.

Lights of gunfire and various skills lit the surface. The gunfire from the warships that were bombarding the planet was already doing a good job at a light show, but so many more colours appeared when the individuals came down.

A series of mechs launched from the largest military vessels, and in response, an even larger number erupted out of the ground on the planets. The square containment units' lids exploded off the top, revealing the mech that was hidden beneath the ground. It appeared to be a facility underneath the ground that stretched far underneath the planet’s surface.

Oh?

I scanned the mechs that appeared, many fitted with large weapons, designed for a combination of close and ranged combat. However, there were some key differences in design, and a large portion seemed to be very unsuitable for human use.

Robots… That is…

I watched as the two forces made contact on various points across Asta and Neo, a smaller force that had landed on Lisb to rescue the largest section of prisoners. It seemed they were pretty confident that the largest group was on Lisb, but there were believed to be groups trapped on the other two planets as well.

Well, as they say, let the war begin.

(“ Who? ”)

I don’t know; I just made it up.

Swarms of drones launched from pods, and armies of other robots more human-sized emerged from various compartments. From when they opened and the light entered, yeah, they had a very large storage facility. From how it looked, it did appear it was primarily for storage but had the ability to be launched in case of an attack.

All the robots combined with Dominous Hood's own forces meant we were actually outnumbered, but without the robots, the assault fleet would have multiple times the number of Dominous Hood forces.

Explosions of colours and large elemental constructs of tornadoes and blizzards started cycling the planet’s surface as power mages activated their abilities.

Dominous Hood always had a way with surprise. The large number of robotic enemies was something I doubt anyone expected. Automated weapons had always been a little hit or miss, but since they had a robot with Thomas that one time, this shouldn’t be that surprising. The robot in question was surprisingly intelligent. I was still on the fence about whether it was something they developed from scratch or had an artefact as a base, as there were some intelligent dungeon artefacts that had been built into things.

The vast differences in the robots, from small personal engagement robots to the large swarm of drones and the mechs of various sizes, were impressive, but they also led me to wonder what they were planning. Dominous Hood obviously didn’t create all these robots during the time since the leak happened, and from what I could see, there were a lot more machines coming up from the hatches. So they must’ve been planning on using them for something.

Maybe war was their plan from the beginning.

(“ You think these ‘goons’ as you like to call them, were planning for universal domination? ”)

Espoiramissa’s voice laughed in my head, not because they thought I was wrong, but likely because they knew it wouldn’t be possible. I could see some Dungeon Planets, if they cared to maintain the current status quo, doing something to assist, though perhaps Espr was thinking of another reason why.

Honestly, they were likely planning a hundred different things and seeing what stuck. I said with a shrug. From the light that broke into parts of the base, I could see various different rooms for engineering and experimentation, but there were plenty of places my [Star Mapping] hadn’t reached.

I did agree with Espoiramissa that I didn’t believe they would ever succeed with universal war, perhaps a planet, by taking control of it from the inside, which they had been doing a decent job at across the board.

No matter how many people they assassinated or how many places they sabotaged, their numbers were still smaller, and in a world where desperate people would be willing to do anything to gain power—heck, even without that—I didn’t believe they could do it without more tricks.

Well, that could be the reason they hadn’t yet, since they weren’t prepared…

(“ Would you like that outcome? They were ready for war? ”)

No, it's better that they are all in one spot; it's easier to kill them all.

(“ Then don’t worry about it ”)

Haha, that’s fair.

For the moment, I was firing [Light Arrows] from across space as my own personal orbital bombardment. Targeting Dominous Hood members all over the place. The attacks were nothing special; I was mostly focusing on staying accurate while tracking people across the multiple battlefields.

Orbital Weapon Ceella reporting for duty.

I had fully slotted myself into a supporting role for the moment. I did plan on getting on the ground once I had found my targets, but none of them had shown their faces yet. I was looking for Thomas and his friends, who had attacked me all those years ago. I only knew of Thomas, but Espr would help find the related members with me.

Hmm… Stay safe, Lila… Constantly in my vision, thanks to [Star Mapping], I watched as Lila landed on, thankfully, the least defended planet to begin combat.