Chapter 694: A World Without a Plane Lord

The universe before them was completely filled by warships.

The moment the Tentacle Tree Civilization’s main fleet disengaged from jump status, the outer space around the home planet seemed entirely covered by a silver-gray steel ocean. This was not some writer’s or poet’s exaggerated description, but a pure depiction of reality.

The fleet formation extended from the front ranks all the way to the edge of vision, with densely packed hulls interlocking so tightly that the gaps were almost negligible. From afar, it looked as if someone had forcibly moved an endless metal continent into the universe.

All ship prows faced the plane barrier fissure.

And in the instant they arrived, every gun barrel had already finished charging.

Blue-white radiance flickered deep within each main cannon. Tens of billions of energy nodes overlapped, forming a brilliant light belt that stretched across the starry sky in the dark void.

The oppressive pressure was almost suffocating.

The border army commanders had no intention of negotiating. The instant after the main fleet completed its jump, they opened fire with full force. Boom!!!

Countless energy beams tore through the void simultaneously.

Electromagnetic shells, plasma torrents, and high-energy lasers wove together into a storm of destruction spanning tens of thousands of kilometers, madly pouring toward the plane fissure.

And this was only the beginning.

Space behind the fleet continued to distort as superweapon light cannons fired one after another, guided directly to the front lines by the spatial jump system. Each light cannon was as thick as a destructive spear piercing the universe, compressing terrifying energy capable of tearing open a planet’s crust.

They roared out from the jump windows, mixing with conventional firepower and smashing head-on toward the Black Giant Legion!

The Black Giant Legion’s response was even simpler and more violent.

They had no so-called “formations” or “tactics.” Under Jie Ming’s command, they simply charged forward.

Tens of billions of Black Giants spread out completely beneath the plane fissure. Their massive bodies of black liquid metal reflected no light under the stellar glow. From a distance, the charging Black Giant Legion resembled a world-devouring apocalyptic tsunami.

At the very front of the wave were uniformly Level 6 Black Giants.

Behind them were vast numbers of Level 5 individuals stretching to the horizon.

Further back, the plane fissure continued to spew forth new legions.

The first round of firepower slammed into the black wave.

Then… nothing happened.

At this scale, the Black Giants’ energy absorption talent had undergone a qualitative change. Any particles in vacuum were forcibly drained of most of their energy. Only a few superweapon light cannons managed to cause visible injuries.

One Level 6 Black Giant had a corner of its shoulder blown off by a direct hit, sending large splashes of black liquid metal flying and leaving long trails in the void. The Black Giant merely glanced at the wound, then opened its maw wide. “Roar!!!”

The furious roar exploded outward, accompanied by its body suddenly accelerating!

The massive form hurtled into the fleet like an out-of-control meteor. Using its already-healing shoulder, it smashed through the enemy’s shield and rammed straight into a main warship.

The several-kilometer-long vessel snapped in the middle. The moment explosion flames ignited, they were instantly devoured by the energy absorption field on the Black Giant’s body surface.

With this spark of fire as the signal, more Black Giants surged into the fleet.

Fists.

Bodies.

Fangs.

This was their entire method of combat.

Yet it was more than enough.

A single punch sent out elemental shockwaves that flipped surrounding warships like paper.

The giant maw on the chest bit down, and thick alloy armor proved as fragile as thin shells before obsidian-like fangs.

Joint shields were utterly useless; their energy was madly drained by the liquid metal covering the Black Giants’ bodies, causing the shield generators to overload and burn out. The entire battlefield was rapidly collapsing.

The Black Giants were not completely unharmed. Under such dense firepower, some attacks inevitably struck the same spot. Some unlucky Black Giants were subjected to continuous focused fire.

Finally, after one Level 5 Black Giant endured dozens of superweapon light cannons in succession, the liquid metal on its chest cracked open with an unhealable fissure. The crack rapidly widened, and then—

Boom!!!

Its entire body exploded from within!

The power of the explosion far surpassed that of an ordinary warship’s self-destruct.

Because what the Black Giant released in its self-explosion was all the energy it had accumulated and absorbed throughout its life.

A dark red shockwave swept across hundreds of kilometers, engulfing dozens of warships in a destructive torrent as flames swallowed the fleet.

Yet in the final instant before the Black Giant fully detonated, a faint golden light flashed.

Its consciousness core and residual life imprint were instantly enveloped by that golden light and vanished.

Infernal Sulfur Plane, Resurrection Altar.

The Dao Soldier system of the Incense Fire Divine Dao began to operate.

In truth, the first to invade this world had not been the Black Giant Legion or the Nest, but the Incense Fire Divine Dao itself.

Even before Jie Ming tore open the plane fissure, the rules of the Incense Fire Divine Dao had already seeped into the Tentacle Tree Civilization’s plane along the crack. Wherever the Incense Fire rules spread, the Dao Soldier system could take effect.

All Black Giants on the verge of death would be forcibly teleported back to the altar before true death.

The returned Black Giants would repair their injuries and reshape their bodies under the vast energy support of the Infernal Sulfur Plane before being sent back into battle. Thus, despite the fierce fighting, the Black Giants showed no sign of attrition.

The front lines fought.

The rear resurrected.

Resurrected Black Giants were reorganized into the offensive sequence and charged across the fissure into the battlefield once more.

What the enemy viewed as “casualties” was, to them, merely one step in the cycle of troop replenishment.

During combat, the enemy’s attacks and warship wreckage were absorbed by the Black Giants, allowing them to evolve rapidly. The total mass and combat power of the entire legion rose continuously with each cycle of attack and defense.

The whole legion operated like a perpetual motion machine that burned ever brighter.

At the edge of the battlefield, a figure even more unsettling than the black tide itself appeared.

It was the Nest.

Its current size had already swollen dozens of times compared to when it first entered the battlefield.

The azure gelatinous body flickered in and out of existence in the void. Its ability to integrate strange rules allowed it to constantly switch between “physical” and “rule state.” Whenever superweapon light cannons fired from the rear jump windows, the Nest would suddenly manifest and block them head-on with its massive blue body. Boom!!!

The light cannon struck the gelatinous surface, yet the mountain-destroying energy was completely absorbed and converted the instant it made contact.

Afterward, the Nest’s size expanded once more.

After blocking the attack, it would even casually swallow nearby floating warship wreckage.

Whether exploding energy clouds or broken, twisted metal fragments, all of it was its “food.”

The rapid growth in volume and mass had even begun forming its own micro gravitational field.

Floating debris and energy embers around it were slowly drawn in and silently merged into the gelatinous interior.

It was like a deep-sea giant whale leisurely cruising through the battlefield, while the warship remnants were merely the krill it fed upon.

Yet that faintly appearing and disappearing figure became a nightmare for every being witnessing the scene!

Behind the battlefield.

Jie Ming floated quietly in the void, his golden vertical eye at the brow slowly scanning the entire battlefield.

Under the enhancement of the Incense Fire Divine Dao system, his perception covered the whole war zone. Casualty data from both sides refreshed in real time within his spiritual sea. The result… was naturally without suspense.

The Black Giant Legion’s losses were almost negligible.

There were indeed occasional unlucky individuals who perished.

For example, when dozens of superweapons struck the same weak point simultaneously, the powerful energy disturbance could cause slight delays in the Dao Soldier system, ultimately leading to irreversible damage to the core.

But such losses were so minor they did not even register as a fraction of the legion.

In contrast, the Tentacle Tree fleet’s casualty rate had already exceeded thirty percent in a short time.

A thirty percent war loss rate was enough to push any civilization’s army to the brink of collapse.

Yet they continued to hold desperately, even launching repeated countercharges. They truly were elite troops.

At that moment, several teleportation array lights lit up beside Jie Ming. Black Giant Priests emerged, escorting several high-ranking Tentacle Tree officers and technical officials.

These captives were far higher in rank than the previous batch from the border fleet.

The tree bark patterns on their trunks were more complex, and the tips of their tentacles emitted a deep silver-gray luster.

The Tentacle Tree with the highest military rank still had lingering bewilderment in its crystal eyes from the moment of capture.

Clearly, it could not understand why its flagship had been breached yet it was still alive and standing before the enemy.

Jie Ming raised his hand. Spiritual power directly probed into the opponent’s consciousness.

After reaching the Dao Integration Realm, soul reading of this level was no different from flipping through an open book.

Defense deployments, superweapon coordinates, command chain structure, hidden fleet positions…

A vast amount of intelligence was fully extracted in mere seconds.

Jie Ming slowly withdrew his spiritual power. The last trace of concern in his heart vanished completely.

There was no information regarding “plane origin fusion technology” in these memories.

Although the Tentacle Tree Civilization was a Level 6 technological civilization, their technology had not yet reached the level of arbitrarily modifying plane laws. This meant their capabilities regarding plane origin were almost nonexistent.

It also meant…

This plane had no Plane Lord!

The inability to connect to the plane origin meant no one could merge with it in desperation and drag the entire world into mutual destruction with the enemy. This was actually the most typical characteristic of technological-side civilizations.

Their ability to spawn troops was not inferior to wizard civilizations—the previous main fleet salvo had proven that. However, in the domain of utilizing plane laws, pure technological civilizations were at a clear disadvantage. Often, only upon reaching Level 7 civilization did they gain access to plane origin.

In other words, the current Tentacle Tree Civilization could utilize the plane’s resources with extreme efficiency but could not turn the world itself into a weapon.

Previously, Jie Ming had deliberately controlled the intensity of the offensive.

What he feared most was that the enemy still had this final move.

In the war history of wizard civilizations, cases of Plane Lords driven to desperation dragging their entire world into self-destruction were not uncommon.

Destruction at that level was enough to erase both the invading legion and the rear base from the endless chaotic void.

But now… since there was no need to hold back for the opponent, there was no longer any concern.

Jie Ming slowly turned, his gaze sweeping over the Tentacle Tree fleet that was still stubbornly resisting ahead.

Their defensive line had completely begun to collapse. More and more gaps were torn open by the Black Giants.

The black tide seeped through those cracks, gradually segmenting and encircling the entire fleet.

Some warships had already broken formation on their own, attempting to flee the battlefield.

But most that had just turned were overtaken by the faster Black Giants and torn in half bare-handed.

Jie Ming’s expression remained calm.

Then, his voice transmitted directly into the spiritual sea of every Black Giant Priest.

“Transmit the order.”

“Except for a small number of warships, annihilate the rest of the fleet!”

He paused briefly, his gaze turning toward the warship shadows fleeing in panic.

“As for those that escaped, do not pursue them. Let them return to deliver the message.”

“At the very least, allow the commanders of the next defensive line to know in advance exactly what kind of existence they are facing!”