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Lord of the Truth (Web Novel) - Chapter 2364: Exploring Power 1
Chapter 2364: Exploring Power 1
This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl
Middle Sector 102—Bzzzznnn—
The Rapid Support Vessel surged forward with explosive acceleration, tearing through space as it headed directly toward the third planetary ring without showing the slightest intention of slowing down.
"That’s far enough!!"
At that very moment, a figure suddenly appeared before the ring, blocking its path. Thick black veins spread across his face and crawled over his eyes, while the Negative Karma surrounding him had become so overwhelmingly dense that it resembled black paste coating the surrounding space itself.
The man’s eyes widened with barely restrained madness the instant he personally witnessed what had become of the three outer planetary rings...
Every defensive line throughout those rings had collapsed.
Flames billowed endlessly from numerous planets.
Immense fields of shattered debris drifted in every direction.
Hostile flying creatures—World Cataclysms and Nexus States—were pouring into those planets without pause, assaulting every defensive installation they encountered while methodically eliminating every possibility that the inhabitants might later launch attacks against them from the rear.
And naturally...
Their task was astonishingly easy.
The planets of the Curse Galaxy were not populated by conscious civilizations devoted to protecting their homeland.
They were nothing more than one enormous farm where children and virgins were harvested without end for demonic rituals, while entire planetary populations were periodically sacrificed to activate various arrays.
Thus, when the elite soldiers of the Doubled Centennial Cradle Empire descended upon every planet to eliminate the Damned One’s followers, they encountered absolutely no resistance from the inhabitants themselves.
Instead...
...they were greeted with open arms.
Nor did they receive any meaningful resistance from the planetary spirits.
The fiercest opposition they encountered amounted to little more than winds barely strong enough to deserve the name of a gentle spring breeze.
It was painfully obvious that the planetary spirits were resisting the Galaxy Spirit’s orders to oppose the invading forces.
One could even go a step further...
...and conclude that the Galaxy Spirit itself had never issued those orders in the first place.
"AAAAAAAH!!"
The newly arrived man thrust one arm forward with a furious roar.
Behind him—
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several of the galaxy’s own warships immediately entered the battlefield, emerging from the deeper regions of the galaxy one after another to reinforce the collapsing defensive line.
After centuries spent exhausting the galaxy’s military forces within Sector 101, however, only a few hundred fleets remained throughout the entire galaxy.
Most of the surviving vessels had sustained damage of one kind or another and were still undergoing repairs.
As a result...
...the galaxy’s defensive posture had become anything but ideal.
Bzzzzz—
Facing the approaching enemy fleets, the Rapid Support Vessel immediately activated its Instant Space Portal ability and disappeared into the gateway without slowing for even a moment.
It did not reappear until it had already reached the fifth planetary ring—
directly behind the newly arrived commander...
...and behind every reinforcement that had accompanied him.
"What?!"
The man covered in black veins shouted the instant he sensed the vessel’s new location, his expression twisting with disbelief.
Grinding his teeth for a brief moment, he thrust his arm forward once more and barked,
"Advance! Exterminate our enemies!!"
As for himself...
He immediately spun around and charged after the Rapid Support Vessel alone without wasting another second.
Ever since this raid had begun, the Rapid Support Vessels had become everyone’s worst nightmare.
Their sudden movements...
Their impossible points of appearance...
Every jump they performed drove another dagger deep into the heart of the galaxy’s defensive network.
The methodical advance itself had only managed to reach the third outer planetary ring so far.
Nine planets had already been completely destroyed, while another one hundred seventy were simultaneously under attack across the entirety of the galaxy’s outer frontier.
Naturally...
A systematic invasion and cleansing operation on such a massive scale would require an enormous amount of time.
But...
At this very moment, Rapid Support Vessels were simultaneously attacking the fifteenth ring...
...the twentieth...
...the thirteenth...
Indeed, nearly every planetary ring contained one or two of those vessels busily sabotaging defensive arrays while preparing the battlefield for the advancing invasion.
And every single time they were finally cornered...
...they simply activated that terrifying ability...
...and disappeared without leaving their pursuers any opportunity whatsoever.
"Stop."
Just as the black-veined man prepared to launch himself toward the Rapid Support Vessel in an attempt to destroy it personally, a calm voice suddenly echoed from directly behind him...
Whoosh!
The man immediately retreated to what he judged to be a safe distance before spinning around in full readiness, every instinct in his body screaming at him to prepare for the unexpected.
The instant his eyes landed upon the newcomer, they flew wide open.
"...Hedrick?!"
Whooosh!
At that very moment, Hedrick stepped out from what appeared to be a massive wound torn directly into the fabric of space itself. His long hair was neatly tied behind his head so that not a single strand would fall across his crimson eye, which remained fixed unblinkingly upon his opponent from the very first instant. A long sword rested quietly in his right hand, its tip hanging beside his thigh without the slightest tremor.
"How...?" The black-veined young man instinctively retreated another step, disbelief overwhelming every feature on his face. "Weren’t you fighting three of the First Row Scions on the other side of the galaxy just a minute ago?!"
"How long was I supposed to keep killing them?" Hedrick slowly began walking forward, every step calm, deliberate, and completely devoid of urgency. "There wasn’t a single intact piece left of them, so I search for the next victim."
"Y-You’re lying!!" The black-veined young man continued retreating one cautious step after another while his mind worked faster than ever before, desperately searching for an explanation that could make sense of what he was seeing.
He himself was an Eight-Star Royal Soul Master.
Yet at this very moment...
...his entire body was trembling with fear.
Every one of Hedrick’s opponents had been First Row Scions.
Two of them possessed seven stars.
The third possessed eight.
They had all departed together as a single strike force, entrusted with completely cleansing one entire corner of the galaxy before advancing toward the next quadrant.
Nor had they traveled alone.
Dozens of Second Row Scions had accompanied them as support.
And yet...
Every single one of them...
...was dead?
"You’re lying!!"
The young man roared once again before instantly manifesting an array above the palm of his hand, pouring immense power into it without holding anything back.
"Tear Apart Existence!!"
In that instant, the space stretching between himself and Hedrick began trembling beneath a terrifying force.
Then—
Craaack!
—the very fabric of existence started splitting apart.
"...."
Hedrick did not move.
He did not dodge.
He did not even bother raising a protective barrier.
He simply stood there with his thick beard unmoving, his focused crimson eye calmly locked upon his opponent, patiently waiting for the incoming attack with an almost unsettling composure.
"AAAAAH!!"
The Eight-Star Royal Soul Master grew even more disturbed beneath that unwavering gaze.
He instinctively poured even greater power into the array.
"Seal of Slow Fall!!"
This time, what emerged was a purely spiritual attack that raced side by side with the collapsing wave of torn existence as both assaults surged toward Hedrick simultaneously.
Either one of those attacks alone would unquestionably kill a Guardian if it struck directly.
After all, these were not merely attacks launched by an ordinary Eight-Star Royal Soul Master.
They were further amplified by the Miserable World’s array itself, granting them the strength of hundreds of millions of souls and pushing their destructive power to an entirely different level.
Faced with that overwhelming torrent of destruction, Hedrick slowly closed his eye.
"Hmm... I’ve been wondering where the limits of my new strength truly lie, but I never had the courage to test them while facing three different opponents at once." A faint smile gradually appeared upon his face, one born not of arrogance but of genuine curiosity. "I suppose I’m still thinking within the limits of my former strength. That way of thinking will only reduce what I’m capable of accomplishing. My own mind will end up creating new limits for me... limits that don’t actually exist."
The smile lingering upon his face deepened ever so slightly.
"This test should be enough."
Without the slightest hesitation, he calmly returned his sword to his spatial ring before raising both arms wide, as though preparing to welcome a beloved woman rushing directly into his embrace instead of two catastrophic attacks capable of erasing almost any Guardian from existence.
"Come."
"Show me... what I can do."
KRRRRRR!
