Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 636

Chapter 634, Alfonzo retreats

144 hours of continuous fighting, the number of enemies killed by Gu Hang and the Space Marines has surpassed 300,000.

On average, each man has destroyed nearly a thousand enemy units.

Furthermore, a significant number of these were not minor foes.

The Skitarii on the Ark of the Machine, forced to resort to massing their forces, attempted to block the passage to the power chamber. While

their quality was subpar, their sheer numbers completely blocked the passage leading to the power chamber.

But what good was it?

Having more men was pointless, and it actually made things easier for Gu Hang.

There was no need to worry about precision strikes, nor was there the need to calculate how much effort to use against high-quality units, fearing either a missed kill or an overstrike, ultimately expending too much energy while aiming for a kill.

Without the Kingdom of God to provide backup, and predictably, the battle on Alfonzo I would be a protracted one, Gu Hang had to conserve every ounce of his strength.

However, encountering such a large group of hordes was a rare opportunity, one that didn’t require much consideration.

Keeping the power to a minimum, just enough to eliminate the minor troops, while maximizing the range, the lightning swept down, perfectly enveloping the densely packed enemy areas.

In an instant, no fewer than thirty thousand people were wiped out within a vast area.

Only a handful of them survived Gu Hang’s assault. The sudden annihilation of their comrades was still a terrifying sight. More crucially, their coordinated efforts were completely disrupted. The minor troops they had been using as stepping stones and cannon fodder were completely wiped out. The few high-level units that survived were caught off guard and faced the onslaught of the Space Marines.

It was unclear whether these so-called high-level units had the combat power of Space Marines. Furthermore, they were facing a siege of Space Marines many times their number on each local battlefield, leaving them with no chance of resistance.

Thus, after a flash of lightning, the passages that had once been crowded with enemies became smooth paths, allowing them to fight their way out without a hitch.

After this, the Skitarii’s command structure ceased its attempts to crowd in troops.

It was pointless.

No matter how large the Ark Mechanicus was, the combat space within was relatively small, and the number of troops that could be deployed simultaneously was limited. In such a limited space, simply stacking up miscellaneous troops was pointless; it only increased the enemy’s firepower’s lethality, while providing little blocking power, resulting in wasted lives.

The Skitarii then began to find other solutions, resorting to high-end combat forces to block the attack.

But the results weren’t much different.

In the entire Alfonzo I era, with hundreds of millions of troops, how many high-level units could they possibly find that could rival the Space Marines?

There were some, but most were too large to be deployed everywhere. Smaller, more powerful terraforms existed, but they were far too rare.

More importantly, even if such troops were deployed, hoping to stop the Space Marines, they would often provoke Gu Hang’s attack again. No unit could withstand the thunderbolts he summoned, and they were all shattered.

And stopping Gu Hang?

No way.

There was truly no way.

They hadn’t tried. The two Magi of the Main Devotion on the Ark, along with over twenty Archbishops, launched a surprise attack on Gu Hang.

They first assembled high-level military units, forming an ambush, blocking the Space Marines outside an engine room and impeding their advance. When Gu Hang unleashed his psychic power, they swooped in and launched a surprise attack.

However, their attack ultimately failed.

The combined might of so many of the Mechanicus’s top talents posed considerable trouble to Gu Hang, further straining his already limited psychic energy reserves. However

, despite the cost, Gu Hang ultimately slew them. The escape of a few Archbishops was merely a result of Gu Hang prioritizing the two Magi of the Main Devotion, sparing a few others.

With this devastating blow, Alfonzo I not only lost his last remaining top-tier combatant, but also the highest-ranking officials in charge.

Were these high-ranking officials simply seeking their own deaths?

Obviously not.

They simply had no other options.

It was clear that Gu Hang, with this wave of Space Marines, was stirring up trouble within Alfonzo I, with the ultimate goal of destroying this great mechanical ark from within. The higher-ups had a chance to escape from the ship, but if they still wanted to save their own ships and make a final desperate stand, they had no choice but to unite and fight.

Alas, they lost.

But this wasn’t the biggest challenge Gu Hang encountered during his operation.

The biggest crisis came after the destruction of the higher-ups, when the remaining ruling bishops of the dimension decided to cut off their own limbs in order to survive.

It was a ruthless move. They had preemptively placed powerful bombs in and around a power chamber. As Gu Hang and his Space Marines approached, they detonated them.

Self-destruction wasn’t the goal; the most important goal was to eliminate Gu Hang and his Space Marines through the explosion and the subsequent detonation of the power chamber.

Even if they couldn’t, a single explosion wouldn’t be enough to destroy them. The bombs planted nearby would rip the energy chamber, along with the entire surrounding area, from the Ark Mechanicus’s mechanical structure.

They would rather blow a massive hole in their own Ark Mechanicus, sacrificing a portion of their ‘body’ to isolate Gu Hang and his group.

They succeeded.

But it was pointless.

The problem still lay with Gu Hang. The Space Marines, protected by psychic energy, had moved them to a relatively safe structure before the explosion, allowing them to survive the dangerous energy chamber detonation. Then, they collectively teleported from the wreckage back into the Ark Mechanicus.

The remaining Mechanicus leaders within the Ark Mechanicus were completely speechless.

Under the shadow of the Warp, even their own psychic-forged tools were useless. This Gu Hang… was too much. Not only could he call down thunder, possessing immense power, but he could also teleport hundreds of Space Marines with him. The Warp shadow seemed like a piece of paper, offering no limiting effect at all!

But even Gu Hang wasn’t having it easy.

Every encounter drained his own strength. Although he had carefully used his psychic energy from the outset, knowing that he would have to fight a long battle and that replenishment would be difficult, the relentless battles continued, one after another. No matter how powerful Gu Hang was, no matter how carefully he used his power, he would inevitably reach the brink of exhaustion.

Fortunately, however, the effect he had achieved was sufficient.

After Gu Hang led the Space Marines in destroying another key area, the entire ship finally collapsed.

Life support systems were destroyed, the ship disintegrated, and the chain reaction caused internal explosions to occur again and again within the ship.

The surviving high-ranking members of the Alfonzo Cult had abandoned the Ark some time ago and fled in small boats.

Quite a few followed them.

But ultimately, of the hundreds of millions within the Ark, only a small minority would ultimately escape. Ultimately

, the vast majority would be buried with the massive Ark.

The last craft to escape was the one carrying Gu Hang and the two hundred surviving Shadow Warriors. The

remaining craft were destroyed as much as possible to prevent the escape of those remaining. Gu Hang and the others who had

escaped on the craft were in a tough spot.

Previously, they were trapped within the Ark, and the Mechanicus fleet outside couldn’t do anything to them. They couldn’t fire at their own Ark, and that was pointless.

But now, realizing that Gu Hang and his companions had escaped in a small craft within the Ark, they naturally wouldn’t let them go.

A barrage of fire descended upon them

, instantly putting their situation in jeopardy.

But in the end, they successfully returned home.

Two key factors contributed. One was Gu Hang’s psychic abilities, which played a significant role. Even at the end of his strength, he struggled to deflect enemy fire, but he was able to maintain perfect control over a small ship, maintaining maximum stealth and elusive targeting. He also managed to make the ship’s trajectory elusive and difficult to detect, making it extremely difficult to hit.

Another factor, of course, was the arrival of the Alliance’s main fleet.

They had received Gu Hang’s orders long in advance and proactively launched the attack.

What could Alfonzo’s fleet do?

The flagship, Alfonzo I, the most crucial vessel in the entire standoff, was in an irreversible state of disintegration. While not yet completely destroyed, it was beyond saving.

According to the few high-ranking officials who escaped from Alfonzo I’s command, their leader, the Great Sage Varüc, was eliminated by Gu Hang.

With the loss of both their flagship and their leader, the entire fleet was in disarray, and their fighting spirit was even weaker.

These infected Mechanicus members weren’t like the regular Zerg, with no morale to speak of. They were still prone to panic and internal dissension.

Furthermore, even though they possessed strong Zerg traits, Gu Hang had already dealt with Varuk, the current supreme leader. Varuk was arguably the highest-level node creature, and his capture would have thrown both the lower-level nodes and the vast majority of the heavily infected into chaos.

Under these circumstances, Alfonzo’s fleet showed no interest in engaging the main Alliance fleet head-on. After a brief gesture, they retreated.

This allowed Gu Hang to successfully return to his starship.

After a quick meeting with Ye Lishia, Gu Hang retreated to his quiet chamber and sat still.

He didn’t rush to return his mental will to the Storm Kingdom, but instead rested for half a month to recuperate from his injuries.

The previous battle had strained him too much, and without rest, he wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

Furthermore, it would take time for all the hundreds of millions of infected and transformed creatures on that ship to perish. The mechanical ark was enormous. After its collapse, some of the debris and wreckage might still hold many survivors. Perhaps they were lucky enough to stumble upon a wreck with an independent life-support system, barely surviving, or perhaps they had brought space-survival equipment with them, so they wouldn’t die immediately. Perhaps many of them would even reach the rescue ships of the Alfonzo fleet.

But in any case, those who survived, those who could be rescued, would ultimately be a minority. The rest would die en masse within the next few days, a dozen days, or even a month.

Gu Hang didn’t need to rush.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Just as Gu Hang was about to conclude his recuperation and return his mind to the Storm God Realm, movement erupted in the real universe.

The Alfonzo fleet had withdrawn.

So how could we let you escape?

Ye Lishia received the order, and the Alliance fleet launched in pursuit.

They wouldn’t push too hard, just following behind, watching closely.

The formal attack would have to wait until Gu Hang had completely eliminated the Warp Shadow.

Gu Hang himself returned to his kingdom of God.

Just as he had imagined, the shadow of the warp had clearly faded.

(End of this chapter)