Published at 12th of June 2026 6:23 am

Chapter 7512 Into Darkness

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Take a look up close.

That was not as simple as it sounded.

"The enemy 'formation anchors' may be positioned right outside of our protective bubble, but the difference is as vast as the difference between heaven and hell." Ves said after a brief pause. "Almost none of our people can withstand the attacks of so many deathborn. They also won't be able to last too long against the dark miasma, especially now that the enemy death energy formation has imbued it with enhanced erosion characteristics."

That latter part made a jaunt into enemy territory a lot more dangerous than before!

The Saint Commander only had a limited amount of options at her disposal.

"Ves, how do you think your Woodsap mechs or Ascended Giants would fare if they leave the protection of our energy fields?"

"Not good." He immediately judged. "In both cases, their resistance mainly comes from their strong vitality. My Woodsap mechs should be able to endure for a few minutes at most. The problem is that every second of exposure will rapidly wear down their energy and possibly their material reserves. They can take a quick peek, but that is all. As for my Ascended Giants, they should be able to endure greater pressure due to the buffer provided by their true bodies, but I am concerned that the deathborn are able to target their souls directly. You should know as well as I do that typical phase lords are strong in body but weak in spirit."

None of the two options sounded ideal. Sending either of them out meant expecting casualties, especially given how the enemy had studied the Larkinsons.

Who knew how many solutions the native aliens and the deathborn had prepared!

"Send me out, Casella." Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson requested on his own accord. "Reconnaissance is one of my main responsibilities. My Saint Kingdom is not as diluted as your Command Field. The opposing energy fields can only suppress its range at most. It will never be able to threaten my ace mech himself. Once I have found what the aliens or deathborn are up to, I can immediately proceed with sabotaging whatever they are doing."

Sending out the ace mechs right away sounded like the right move, but it was exactly because of this reason that the Saint Commander felt more reluctant.

From what she had observed of the enemy, she knew that she was dealing with an intelligent and knowledgeable opponent.

Sending out a single ace mech into a highly disadvantageous environment sounded risky.

What if the Dark Zephyr Mark III got caught in a trap and needed to be rescued?

Should the Larkinsons send out their other ace mechs?

Perhaps they would be next to fall into a trap!

The Hypeh-Tekas System presented so many uncertainties that no one knew the extent of the dangers here. Their enemies clearly made preparations. The question now was whether they were extensive enough to endanger everyone.

The Saint Commander could not afford to deliberate on her decisions for too long.

"We are suffering from a lack of intelligence. The enemy does not, at least not to the same extent. We urgently need to regain parity with our opponents. That said, we will not do so by recklessly sending out our best. Tusa, you and your battle partner must continue to patrol our interior. We need you to remain on guard against sneak attacks. The enemy leader may be trying to feint us in order to attack us at an unexpected angle. That is what I would do if I was in its place."

Saint Tusa clearly did not like this command, but he understood its necessity. "Fine."

The Dark Zephyr Mark III may fare best when venturing behind enemy lines, but his speed made him almost just as valuable in a defensive capacity.

He also served as an excellent patroller and first responder. No covert activities could escape the notice of his Saint Kingdom, and the ace light skirmisher's mobility allowed him to sweep a greater volume of space than other individual units.

"Mr. Shuku." The Saint Commander addressed the elven Terran leader next. "Form 4 squads and send them towards all 4 energy cyclones in order to gather intelligence. Do not get bogged down, and do not take undue risks. Your only mission is to make enough observations so our experts can decipher the enemy's methods. If you can catch sight of any strong or unusual enemy deployments, then that is good, but not essential."

"Understood." The Second Elf succinctly replied. "Maintaining communications inside the dark miasma will be difficult if not impossible. There is a chance that the enemy may eliminate one or several squads without giving the latter enough time to bring back their findings."

"I am aware, but I have already prepared a response. Go now and execute my orders."

None of the Terran mech pilots objected to this sudden and incredibly risky assignment. Their Woodsap mechs were more special than the conventional first-class multipurpose mechs. It made sense for them to undertake greater responsibilities.

Four squads quickly began to fly towards the energy vortices. Each of them seemed small and inconsequential, yet the biomechs all exuded a sense of strength and vitality that contrasted sharply against the ominous background!

The Woodsap mechs had already been topped off beforehand. Each of them operated with close to full reserves. Though that did not necessarily make them invincible, it should at least afford them precious time in hostile territory!

The Rosenstorm did not evade this assignment. Caracalla Shuku was not the sort of leader who was willing to stay in the rear while letting his fellow elves and other Terrans endure all of the danger and hardships.

If he wanted the elves to rise in the Terran Alliance, then he needed to lead by example.

"Five minutes." He instructed. "That is our limit. Regardless of what happens, you must suspend whatever you are doing and return to safety. I do not know whether our mechs will be able to last this long, but we will presume all is lost if you fail to return after the deadline."

After giving a few more quick instructions, the Rosenstorm and a company's worth of precious prototype Woodsap mechs plunged into the dark miasma in four different directions!

The biomechs immediately came under assault!

Their azure energy shields came online and partially weakened the strong flows of negative energies.

Though the protection they offered was very limited, their energy consumption nonetheless skyrocketed, making this a very costly endeavor!

This was another reason why Caracalla Shuku wanted to keep this reconnaissance mission short.

The physical defenses of the Woodsap mechs fared worse. Whatever energies got past the azure energy shield began to make contact with the organic mech frames.

The TE Wood was able to resist the enhanced erosion effect of the activated death energies fairly well.

They hardly showed any signs of damage or exhaustion.

Yet all of this came at a greater price. The Woodsap mech pilots could feel the skyrocketing drain to their machines. Their bonded partners were forced to expend large amounts of wood energy and life energy just to resist the hostile environment!

Normally, this shouldn't have been a problem, because Woodsap mechs were designed to replenish their reserves by siphoning additional energies from E energy radiation or other external sources such as Gaia Trees or the native flora of nearby lifebearing planets.

Unfortunately, none of these sources were available at this time. The hostile energy fields prevented the Woodsap mechs from leveraging one of their greatest advantages!

That meant that each of them were reduced to relying on their own internal resources. This was one of the worst-case scenarios for these Woodsap mechs.

If not for the fact that other mechs would fare worse under the same circumstances, the Saint Commander would have never assigned this mission to the new Terran mechs!

Shortly after the four squads plunged into hostile territory, the prototype Woodsap mechs found themselves blinded by the environment.

The dark miasma blocked or interfered with their sensor systems so well that they were unable to detect any of the friendly mechs or warships they had left behind!

This was extremely dangerous. If not for the fairly strong spiritual sensitivity of the living Woodsap mechs themselves, they would have lost their sense of direction at this time!

Even so, it became a lot more difficult to navigate this dark and murky environment.

"Strange. Where are the deathborn? Our biomechs should have come under heavy assault, yet not a single one has attempted to launch an attack."

"They are close." An elven Woodsap mech pilot said. "I can feel their hunger and desire. They hate the living, and nothing is more alive than our partners."

The implications were concerning.

"The only reason why they are holding back despite their insatiable greed towards life is… because they are being held back by their leaders."

"..."

A minute passed as the squads continued to fly deeper without any developments.

"Wait." Caracalla Shuku frowned. "We should have traveled far enough to approach the eye of one of the energy vortices already, yet we have encountered nothing so far. This is unusual. I am afraid… we are already caught in a trap! Our enemy is tampering with our perception!"

For whatever reason, they hadn't noticed this glaring discrepancy, and that made this whole situation more alarming!

"We need to break whatever net the enemy has cast on us! Form a battle network on my command!"

The Woodsap mechs instantly rearranged their formation until their wood energies began to harmonize with each other!

Even if the squad was fairly small, the prototype biomechs possessed enough vitality to fuel a temporary state of empowerment!

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