Demi-human Girls Completion Manual Chapter 1816 - 167: Epic Encounter (Part 3)

"Bigger?"

Hearing that, Valentina also suddenly stopped in her tracks, a chill flashing through her heart as she abruptly understood why the troops around them were no longer following.

"Vrrrm vrrrm vrrrm..."

Right at that moment, an ethereal Cardinal hum came from out over the sea, whipping up layer upon layer of waves.

"No, no, no... the Nali people mounted that kind of thing on their warships, and we’ve just run out of the residential zone—now they’ve got no scruples, so of course they..."

"RUMBLE!!"

The next second, the entire sky suddenly became blindingly bright. Out over the distant sea, countless massive beams of light shot straight up, then angled down, streaking toward Valentina’s group far below.

"Move!!"

Valentina instantly realized what was happening. In the split second before anyone behind her could react, the wings on her back snapped open, a sonic boom cracked the air, and she flashed forward like lightning, blasting all the nearby troops away from where they had been standing.

Sure enough, in the next instant, those beams swept across several streets, melting through every structure in that entire zone.

"Cough, cough!!"

In the hazy smoke and dust, the Wutong Tree group erupted in coughs and screams. Gina, who was covered head to toe in ash, hurriedly pushed herself up with the Ice Prince Sword in her hand—she had just summoned the Ice Prince Sword to wrap everyone in a layer of Ice Armor, and only that kept anyone from being crushed to death in Valentina’s desperate relocation.

She stared blankly in that direction for a moment, then spoke to Valentina in a grave tone,

"The Nali people have improved Cardinal tech too, only they didn’t go the intelligent Cardinal route like we did. They turned the stuff into straight-up war weapons..."

Yes, even though Gina carried the orthodox Angel Cardinal legacy from David, the Humans who had gotten their hands on the damaged Cardinal schematics over these years were no fools either. They founded schools, recruited talent, and developed an entire Cardinal tech tree, pushing the original technology up another tier.

Gina spread her fingers, rapid calculations running through her mind,

"With that particle output, even at absolute minimum estimates, you’d need at least standard 4,000 tons of displacement on a Nali Navy hull—that means only a heavy cruiser can mount it. The Nali Royal Guard has seven heavies, so that means..."

Valentina didn’t really understand the numbers, but she still got what Gina was driving at,

"So there are still six more strikes like that coming?"

"More than that, it’s a firing loop. On system time, six shots make up one full cycle. Disregarding energy reserves, the Particle Cannon fired on the first volley will have finished cooling right about then..."

"...Then I’ll go wipe out the ships close to shore first."

"I’ll send the flagship units to support you. They’re already networked and can be remote-controlled."

"No. Keep them here to protect you all. I’ll just go and..."

Just as Valentina and Gina were hashing out their next moves, several reeking masses suddenly descended from the illusory Gaps in the sky, dropping like some grotesque birthing. At a glance, they were greasy, ball-shaped clots of filth laced with a thick aura of Death and Chaos.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!"

Seconds later, those chaotic sludge-masses slammed down into the Saint Nali districts. One or two even hit the residential areas, but most of them crashed down right around this uninvited group.

"Awooo!!"

The moment those rot-reeking meat balls hit, they shook the ground like a quake, making all of Saint Nali shudder. Valentina and Gina clamped their hands over their noses to resist the acrid stench, only to find it pointless—the foul, filthy stink forced its way in no matter what.

And those giant spheres coated in yellow grease were more like eggs in truth. A horrific presence quickly seeped out from inside as corpse after corpse, utterly devoid of life, crawled free. Their Ranks were far above ordinary Humans, and they staggered to their feet, shambling toward the Wutong Tree group.

"Are those Chaos forces from up there sent to help Elizabeth?"

Gina was somewhat incredulous, but Valentina merely lifted her hand. The Moon Princess Sword flashed into existence, and a pure, crescent arc of Moonlight instantly carved through half a block, bisecting a nearby corpse that had yet to stand.

"Awooo!!"

To their horror, Valentina’s strike did nothing at all. Instead, the bisected body split into two separate entities, each regrowing into a powerful individual exactly like the original.

"These things are Undying?"

"Thump, thump, thump!"

Out over the distant sea, the charging whine of the Particle Cannon rose again, pressing down on everyone’s hearts like a death warrant.

This was bad. Wolves ahead, tigers behind, nowhere to advance or retreat...

Valentina gritted her teeth, hesitating for a moment, but in the end she still chose to stick with the original plan,

"Gina, I’m leaving this side to you. Avoid direct engagement and hold out until I get back. I’ll head out to sea and deal with those ships first."

"All right."

"Awooo!!"

The corpses in front were already charging this way in a mad rush. Isabella and Ossie immediately went up with blades drawn, but even Ossie’s Phoenix Feather Robe couldn’t do a thing to them, let alone Isabella.

One slap sent Ossie flapping her wings wildly as she was knocked out of the air, and several other Grey Bird Species were simply snatched down in mid-flight by lunging corpses. That sight made Valentina, who had just been about to leave, suddenly stop in her tracks again.