Beastmaster of the Ages

”I’d believe you if you told me this formation was infinitum class!”

”Dammit, the rex mundi probably didn’t expect it to be so powerful!”

”Stop saying nonsense and keep charging! Don’t be scared! While this formation manifests a lot of undying monsters, they don’t hit that hard. As long as we can shake them off, we’ll be able to reach their main camp!”

After the short wave of confusion, many ships of the Exterminatus Army managed to get back into order. A few of their ether-class ships locked on to the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb and began bombarding it, forcing Tianming to flee into the sea of flames. Even the Whitedragon Silvermoon wouldn’t hold up against a constant barrage by multiple ships!

”Ignore those monsters and keep descending!”

The Exterminatus Army had found the right strategy to proceed, though it was much easier said than done. The flameyellow fiends could appear in any location within the Flameyellow Guard Formation whenever they wished. Even if the enemy ships broke out of one encirclement, a new one could immediately be established.

Tianming watched the battle from his ship, noting that the most intense fight was taking place between the two infinitum-class ships. Behind the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb were Infinitum Regal Clans’ ships, such as the sanctlighters from the Sacred Westlight Province, the Central Shuntian Clan, and Eastpole Skyshaker Family. Their divine astralships were closing in on Tianming’s ship, and not only that, at least five elite cosmic cartographers had managed to cling to the surface of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb. They took out weapons similar to Starbreakers and began damaging the defensive formation of the ship. If they made it in, Tianming would be forced to surrender. That was the disadvantage he faced as a result of his age. If it weren’t for the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb, he wouldn’t be able to take part in a war of this scale at all. The Exterminatus Army was far bigger and better managed than the Star Hunters ever were.

”Even so, they may be able to apply pressure on us, but they’ll have to do better than this to take us out!” Tianming grit his teeth. Within the Silverdragon Palace inside the ship were Moran and her forty-nine sisters. With Ji Ji’s help, nova source poured into their bodies, filling every albus within them to the brim to power the intricate divine celestial patterns inscribed upon them. The firmament ocean wonder and evernight whale wonder manifested from them, flowing out of the Ninedragon Imperial Tomb in an instant and sending the aging elites on the ship flying. Once they had been flung off into the sea of flames, there was no way they would be able to keep up with the ship. The battle began to intensify once more.

”As long as we can hold on, we’ll only lose the nova source we use, while they lose ships and fighters. It’s stacked in our favor!” That was the basis of their calm, despite how difficult the fight was. The more calm they were able to remain, the more anxious their enemy would become. ”Their vigor and morale will only continue falling with time. Their frustration will continue to build the longer it takes them to break through the formation!”

Tianming and the rest were right to have taken the bet by siphoning away Gladeus’s nova source. Gladeus itself would have stood no chance against the Exterminatus Army, but the ether-class Sun and the Gladean Ruins could! Tianming could imagine how the enemy troops were arguing among themselves within their ships at their inability to make progress.

”The Star Hunters said that there were only ninety thousand of these monsters! There must be a million here now!”

”Even the Ebonfiend’s being held back.”

”We’re completely stuck. What do we do? Do we retreat and regroup?”

”We can’t let this go on. This formation is far too powerful, at least three times more than Gladeus’s Hellstar Formation!”

”If it were up to me, I’d retreat before we sustain heavier losses! Then we’d wait for more reinforcements from Ebonia, perhaps ten thousand more divine astralships, before charging in again.”

”Ten thousand more? Do you want to lose your home? Aren’t you worried about Yi Daiyan sweeping your home bases clean?”

”She’s the first rex mundi. Is she going to commit treason against the Infinitum Bodhimanda as well?”

”Hehe... there’s no saying who’ll betray the Infinitum Bodhimanda.”

It was clear that the Exterminatus Army was completely flabbergasted at the Flameyellow Guard Formation. Their dreams of conquering the Sun had been completely crushed!

”If that’s all you guys have in store, it’s our turn to show our hand.” Tianming was beyond annoyed by their constant pestering.

”Hold on! We still have time!” Xiaodao said. The fact that he was able to wait in Gladeus for such a long time before showing his true power was a sign of his patience. A trump card should only be used when it was absolutely necessary! Without him, Tianming and Wudi would have used the celestial tome long ago.

The messy battle continued. It seemed that the Exterminatus Army finally couldn’t hold it in after experiencing all that the Sun had to offer. Every ship got a new order from Shenxi Xingtian. ”All astral gods, exit your divine astralships and fight to break out of the encirclement!”

While the ships were powerful, they were still being held back. The reason the ships even carried that many fighters in them in the first place was because they were only at their most powerful when the fighters were also out there to fight. There wouldn’t be a need to deploy all three million astral gods otherwise, only ten thousand pilots. The true might of the Exterminatus Army would only show itself once the astral gods emerged from hiding. Among the troops were a million ebons, who brought with them tens of millions of nova wildbeasts in their fauna worldstones!

Xiaodao noted that they were finally going all out. ”The reason they didn’t let their troops out at first was that they were worried about excessive losses. If they could’ve broken through the formation in their ships alone, that would’ve been the optimal choice.”

Contrary to the ebons’ expectations, the invading ships were in a complete slog within the formation, constantly taking more and more damage. As such, Shenxi Xingtian decided to risk the safety of the troops in this all-out assault. Ships alone couldn’t win wars. They still needed elite fighters!

The Ninedragon Imperial Tomb came out of the sea of flames. Tianming looked behind him and saw tens of thousands of powerful elites emerging from the ships that were tailing him. Cultivators looked tiny from afar, but the bigger lifebound beasts and warbeasts could match the size of the flameyellow fiends. Finally, the true face of the army had shown itself. Wherever Tianming’s eye could see, he saw nova wildbeasts. They roared and swam about in the sea of flames around their divine astralships, charging at the flameyellow fiends and unleashing explosions of abilities within the astralguard formation. With that, the flameyellow fiends no longer had a numerical advantage, being completely outnumbered by the beasts.

While the fiends were smaller than astralships, they were larger than many of the beasts. As such, the ships had many smaller troops that could disperse the attacks of the flameyellow fiends. Needless to say, the weaker beasts easily perished to the flames of the Flameyellow Guard Formation. Quite a few of them embarrassingly turned to ash with a whimper, though that didn’t render the escorts around the astralships any less effective. The beasts were ordered by the ebons to swarm the flameyellow fiends at the cost of their lives, finally allowing the Exterminatus Army to progress.

”So, they’re finally willing to come out and die, eh?” Tianming retreated behind the flameyellow fiends with a sly smile. This was what Xiaodao had him wait for.

”My good disciple, keep holding off on the celestial tome for now. Let’s try using the Flameyellow Pillars against them first,” Xiaodao said using the transmission stone.

”Dammit!” His master was really trying his patience with this one. Tianming was at the edge of busting it out, but Xiaodao had him refrain even longer!