Chapter 170: Capturing the Dreadnought by Strategy

Ailu's performance left everyone in shock. How powerful can a human body truly become? This was a question many wished to ask, and in that moment, Ailu demonstrated to the world through her actions that a powerful human being could dismantle a warship with their bare hands.

The Moon-Wheel warship lost all power and plummeted from the sky. Ailu reverse-gripped her White Oath and drove it deep into the warship's armor to anchor herself, plunging downward along with the vessel. The sight of a warship hundreds of meters long falling from the sky was truly magnificent.

Xie Liu took two steps forward and gave Ailu a thumbs-up. Seeing this from afar, Ailu wore a faint smile at the corners of her lips—until that smile froze entirely on her face.

In the distance, the Eagle-class warship suddenly veered, and all of its turrets instantly locked onto the Moon-Wheel warship where Ailu was. Energy surged, and in the next second, all the turrets spewed multi-colored beams of light, unleashing a murderous onslaught toward the warship.

"Watch out!" Xie Liu shouted in horror and fury. Everything happened too fast, completely beyond anyone's expectation. The entire Moon-Wheel warship was engulfed in blinding beams; Hagen had left Ailu with not a single glimmer of survival!

A look of shock also appeared on Ailu's face. Before her eyes was a vast sheet of radiance that eclipsed the entire sky, turning the pitch-black night into blinding daylight. Clenching her pearly whites, Ailu swept her Black Pact backward. She shattered a gap in the oncoming curtain of light and dove through it by the narrowest of margins. The Moon-Wheel warship beneath her, however, was not so fortunate. Struck by a dense barrage of beams, the surface of the vessel exploded instantly. Burning armor was shredded by the shockwave and sent flying in all directions. Failing to dodge in time, Ailu was struck in the back by a piece of scorching hot metal shrapnel that pierced straight into her flesh.

"Ah!" Ailu let out a miserable scream, a mouthful of hot blood erupting from her lips as she tumbled downward. Following her descent, the turrets on the Eagle-class warship rotated, tracking the falling Ailu, determined not to give her the slightest chance of escape.

"Ugh..." Ailu groaned softly. A burning wave of pain radiated from her back, and it was clear she was heavily injured. Twisting her body mid-air, she desperately grabbed the White Oath blade still embedded in the Moon-Wheel warship, leaving her delicate body hanging suspended in mid-air. "To use the firepower of an entire capital warship against just one person—you people really have no shame."

Ailu managed a bitter smile, yet her right emerald eye held not a shred of fear, even though the enemy's turrets were already locked onto her.

"Come on then, I'm not afraid of you." Ailu's solitary figure hung over the wreckage of the Moon-Wheel warship. She raised her head and gazed at the three-kilometer-long giant warship before her, where hundreds of turrets were slowly rotating to take aim at her.

Behind her burned the remains of the Moon-Wheel warship; before her stood a dense array of gun turrets glowing with countless lights. Ailu stared coldly at everything before her, finally letting out a helpless sigh. "It seems I'm really going to die here."

At that thought, Ailu raised the Black Pact in her left hand. Even in death, she would not tarnish the reputation of a legendary special operative. "Come on, you cowards who only know how to hide behind machines, and let's see if you can truly destroy me."

The shockwave from the explosion behind her whipped up her silver hair, revealing the black ribbon covering her left eye. Ailu bit her blood-stained lips, her breathtaking face etched with utter resolve.

A flicker of pity crossed Hagen's eyes. The opponent was a commendable enemy; yet, worthy of respect or not, she remained an enemy. "Fire!" Hagen gave the final command. The target had already fallen alongside the burning Moon-Wheel warship, meaning her chances of survival were already slim to none. Even so, Hagen issued the order to fire without leaving his opponent a single opening—a precaution born from his many years of experience.

"Open fire!" The adjutant echoed Hagen's order, and hundreds of ship-mounted cannons on the Eagle-class warship lit up in unison.

"It's over." Ailu's emerald right eye reflected the myriad colors of the incoming artillery fire. There was no fear—only a trace of melancholy. "I never expected that I, Ailu, would actually die here."

Just as she had steeled herself to embrace death, a sharp, furious roar echoed from below.

"Ailu!" Xie Liu's angry shout pierced the firmament, reaching Ailu amidst the countless barrages of gunfire. Ailu was momentarily stunned, looking down to see Xie Liu sweeping past like a gust of wind, arriving before her in the blink of an eye.

"You!" Ailu stared in astonishment at Xie Liu right before her. Just a moment ago, his speed had been so fast that even she could barely catch a glimpse of it!

The moment Xie Liu appeared before Ailu, his fingers pressed against the hilt of his retreating blade. Reaching out with his left hand, he wrapped his arm around her slender waist and pulled her body close to his.

"Careful!" Before Ailu could fully react, she caught sight of the searing beams blasting in from the distance and cried out in alarm. Xie Liu let out a cold snort, spinning around abruptly and slashing his blade through the air. A streak of black sword light instantly sliced clean through the approaching beams.

In a single instant, the glowing beams directly in front of them were wiped out by Xie Liu's single slash, leaving not a trace behind!

"This!" Ailu's right eye widened in shock, and she instinctively looked up at Xie Liu's face. The man was staring coldly at the distant warship, his purple pupils swirling with shifting lights that flickered between silver and nothingness.

"Lord Hagen, you want her dead, but I disagree." Carrying Ailu, Xie Liu retreated at lightning speed. The maneuvering belt at his waist ejected two steel wires that snagged the fractured cliffs on either side, propelling them backward even faster.

"Dead-Eye!" Hagen watched helplessly as Xie Liu retreated with Ailu, his eyes blazing with fury as he pointed at his subordinates and cursed, "Take him down! Spare no expense!"

"But what about Director Vladimir..." someone voiced a doubt. Before the sentence could finish, Hagen slammed his fist onto the table and roared, "If he dares to try and stop me again, I'll shoot him down right along with them! Attack!"

...

"Hold onto me tightly." Wrapping his arm around Ailu's slender waist, Xie Liu descended from the air. Catching sight of the Eagle-class vessel still turning its cannons above, a cold smile crept onto his lips.

"Hagen, you're the one who started this, so don't blame me." With that, Xie Liu once again fired the maneuvering device at his waist, hooking onto a remaining node of the burning Moon-Wheel warship's wreckage. He then carried Ailu onto the surface of the debris, plummeting downward together toward the ground.

"What are you trying to do?" Ailu asked weakly. By now, her back had lost all sensation, and her injuries were evidently severe.

Without answering immediately, Xie Liu landed on the burning armor plates with Ailu in his arms, pried open a metal panel, and exposed the circuitry beneath.

"Hagen's biggest mistake was attacking his own Moon-Wheel warship." Xie Liu pried open the wiring and glanced at the gun turret still aiming in their direction, a cold smile playing on his lips. "According to Alliance regulations, every capital ship has a unique combat signal, but all its subordinate vessels share the exact same combat frequency as the flagship. The Eagle is no exception, and neither was the Moon-Wheel."

Xie Liu pulled a laser pistol from his inner pocket, then extracted two wires from the exposed circuitry and wrapped them tightly around the firearm. "In other words, as long as I use the exact same frequency, their defensive shield matrix will be completely useless against me."

Xie Liu raised the pistol, aiming it directly at the massive warship hovering before them. "By channeling the remaining energy from the Moon-Wheel warship to trigger my laser pistol, I can bypass their shield matrix entirely."

"But what good will that actually do?" Ailu asked weakly. Hearing this, Xie Liu smiled faintly. "Well asked. A single pistol cannot threaten a warship on its own. But everyone has forgotten that there is currently a geomagnetic deviation in effect. What do you think will happen if I punch a hole right through their shields?"

With that, Xie Liu pulled the trigger. Accompanied by the shrill sound of electromagnetic disruption piercing the air, the beam fired by Xie Liu pierced cleanly through the Eagle's defensive shield.

"Report, ship shields have been breached." The crew members aboard the Eagle-class warship quickly detected the anomaly and reported it to Hagen. Hagen, however, merely sneered, "Dead-Eye is too naive. Even if he used the Moon-Wheel's signal to pierce the shields, what can a single laser pistol possibly achieve?"

"All hands prepare for the next round of attacks," Hagen commanded. But the very next moment, the alarms on the bridge began to blare frantically.

"What's going on?" Hagen looked around in alarm, feeling the deck beneath his feet destabilize so violently that he nearly lost his footing and fell.

"Report, Director! We've been affected by magnetic deflection, and the warship is currently out of control," the operator ahead shouted anxiously. "A breach just appeared in our shield matrix, and the magnetic interference entered directly through that hole! We're trying to patch it up now."

Even as he spoke, all the gun turrets powered down, their glowing barrels fading into darkness. The Eagle-class warship seemed to have lost all power as it began to tumble downward from the sky.

"How long will it take to reboot?" Hagen grabbed the handrail in front of him, frowning deeply as he watched his warship descend, a surge of anger welling up within him. "I let my guard down; I completely forgot about the magnetic deflection."

"Rebooting will take three minutes, Director. We might crash before then. Requesting permission to engage the anti-impact matrix."

Hagen nodded, approving the activation of the matrix, but his gaze remained locked tightly on Xie Liu, who was fleeing with Ailu.

"They won't get away," Hagen muttered in a deep voice. At the same time, the distant Phoenix-class warship made its move. A wave-like radiance projected from the Phoenix-class, enveloping the Eagle-class warship within it and halting its descent.

"Director Hagen, Director Vladimir is requesting a communication link."

Vladimir's visage materialized once again. Wearing a gloomy expression, he spoke in a low voice, "Hagen, you just broke the agreement between us. I told you, you are not to lay a hand on Dead-Eye."

Hagen gritted his teeth. "Vladimir, Dead-Eye's actions constitute a severe act of treason. I have every right to eliminate him."

"I don't care about any of that. My only concern is ensuring Dead-Eye's safety. Since you've made your move, don't blame me for being discourteous. I have already ordered the Starchaser to lock onto you. If you intend to press the attack any further, prepare to taste a Doomsday weapon." Vladimir's tone was flat. Hagen's pupils contracted slightly as he fumed in rage, "Does he dare attack a Director?"

"Yes, they wouldn't dare. But under my orders, they certainly would. Even though you are the Military Director, you do not have the authority to command four major capital ships," Vladimir said evenly, though every word struck like a hammer against Hagen's chest.

"Whereas I am fully authorized to mobilize a Starchaser-class warship. After all, that is my ship—do not forget that."