Chapter Ten: The Pursuit of the Giant Tortoise

After watching for a while, Kuang Qiye spoke up, "Young Master, this place is far too dangerous. If any of those cosmic beasts below end up fighting in space, it would be disastrous."

Kuang Qingshan nodded repeatedly, adding, "Yes, yes, Young Master, we should return to the fortress ourselves."

Planet 55963 was only a two-day journey from Soren Fortress. On the second day, as they neared Soren Fortress, the officer in charge of energy detection suddenly shouted, "My god, that giant turtle is chasing us!"

Energy detection was essentially used to monitor for cosmic beasts or other strange phenomena nearby. Cosmic beasts generated an energy field around their bodies in space, and other cosmic anomalies like black holes or star mutations also produced massive amounts of energy. The energy detectors could sense these reactions within a range of several light years, alerting the battlefield to dangers and preventing warships from drifting too close to cosmic beasts or accidentally entering a black hole.

Kuang Qiye was startled and asked, "Are you sure it's that giant turtle?" The officer sitting at the energy monitoring station nodded vigorously, his voice trembling, "Captain, I'm positive. The energy signature from the giant turtle—I detected it once before. The energy reading appearing on the monitor now is identical to what I saw the other day."

Kuang Qiye pressed further, "How can you tell it's chasing us?"

"Captain, the giant turtle is currently heading straight for us."

At these words, Kuang Qiye shouted, "Attention all crew! In three minutes, this ship will proceed at full speed to Soren Fortress. Prepare yourselves within three minutes!"

The giant turtle moved incredibly fast through space. By the time Kuang Chi could see the light of Soren Fortress, its image was already appearing on the monitor.

The giant turtle seemed to have suffered in its battle with the three-headed Karastor beast; its shell was riddled with cracks, and only three of its nine heads protruded from its body. Around it orbited dozens of meteors of various sizes, tightly following the turtle as it sped towards Kuang Chi's warship.

As Kuang Chi's warship approached the fortress, the giant turtle was also closing in. Its speed was simply astonishing.

Everyone aboard the warship turned pale. At this point, anyone who didn't realize the giant turtle was targeting their ship would have to be a fool.

Kuang Qiye, now white-faced, asked Kuang Chi, "Young Master, what do we do?"

Kuang Chi remained the most composed, issuing a direct command to the pilot, "Full speed ahead to Stoa Fortress of the Empire of Jill."

Kuang Qiye was taken aback and protested, "Young Master, how can we do that? That's our enemy's territory. We might not even get close before their fortress cannons blast us to pieces."

Kuang Chi shook his head calmly and pointed ahead, "Look—the combatants have clearly noticed the cosmic beast. The battlefield has withdrawn. We're following right behind the Empire of Jill's warships. If we don't go to Stoa Fortress, should we return to Soren Fortress? That giant turtle is obviously after our ship."

He finished with a cold shout to the pilot, "Did you not hear my order?"

The pilot had no choice but to quickly close in on the Empire of Jill's retreating warships.

The giant turtle was indeed targeting Kuang Chi's warship, ignoring Soren Fortress as it barreled past, sticking closely to Kuang Chi's trajectory towards Stoa Fortress.

As Kuang Chi's warship rushed towards Stoa Fortress, the defenders there quickly realized the situation—the cosmic beast was clearly attracted by Kuang Chi's ship.

Stoa Fortress promptly ordered the Empire of Jill's warships ahead of Kuang Chi to scatter, forbidding them from returning to the fortress.

Kuang Qiye anxiously asked Kuang Chi, "Young Master, what do we do now? Once the warships ahead disperse, we'll be fully exposed to Stoa Fortress's laser cannons."

Kuang Qingshan, meanwhile, interjected, "Young Master, please go to the escape pod."

Kuang Chi pondered for a few seconds before replying, "I'll enter the escape pod and launch myself toward Stoa Fortress."

He had finally realized the problem—according to Xiao Hua, Xiao Hei had once been hunted by the cosmic beast, and now the giant turtle had followed them here. That meant it was still pursuing Xiao Hei, making Kuang Chi its current target. Only by reaching Stoa Fortress could he hope to shake off the pursuing turtle.

As Kuang Chi walked toward the escape pod, he said, "Once I've been launched, you all should flee as far as you can."

The others dared not comply. In this predicament, if anything happened to Kuang Chi, even if they made it back to Kuang War Star, the elders and the clan leader would never forgive them.

Yet Kuang Chi was adamant. Kuang Qingshan and the others finally understood—the giant turtle was after Kuang Chi, since he was the only one who had entered the valley where the turtle dwelled. As for the exact reason, they didn't know, nor did Kuang Chi himself understand why the cosmic beast was hunting Xiao Hei.

Kuang Chi's escape pod shot rapidly out of the warship, heading straight for Stoa Fortress of the Empire of Jill. The Kuang clan's warship, after launching the pod, immediately followed the Empire of Jill's ships toward the outskirts.

Escape pods were meant for emergencies when a warship was about to explode, so their launch speed was incredibly high, designed to escape the blast radius.

Stoa Fortress's main cannon couldn't react in time. Only when Kuang Chi's pod was near the fortress did the automated turrets destroy it, but for someone already merged with the Divine Beast, such a distance was trivial—he landed on the surface of Stoa Fortress in the blink of an eye.

The defenders of Stoa Fortress watched as the giant turtle followed Kuang Chi directly, quickly grasping the situation. Warships began launching from the fortress one after another, while all guns opened fire on the fast-approaching turtle.

The fortress's main cannons were far superior to ordinary warships. Even for a cosmic beast like the giant turtle, a direct hit would be extremely unpleasant. At this moment, Stoa Fortress spared no energy, unleashing all its firepower.

They had to buy time for the retreating warships to escape the fortress. As for energy concerns, faced with the cosmic beast, even a fool knew the fortress's destruction was only a matter of time.

Despite the turtle's enormous size, it was not clumsy. It deftly dodged every main cannon blast, while ignoring the secondary guns entirely, enduring their fire without even attempting to evade.

At this rate, the turtle would reach the fortress in no time. The Empire of Jill's fortress commander proved his resolve. Hundreds of launched warships charged desperately at the giant turtle from all directions.

As they rushed toward the turtle, they launched escape pods and landing craft, hoping to buy precious time for the fortress's personnel to evacuate. The scene was truly heroic.

The explosions of hundreds of warships created shockwaves that were lethal for the escape pods and landing craft. Even if they escaped the ships, their chances of survival were slim.

All warships had activated their self-destruct systems. At the moment they collided with the meteors orbiting the turtle, their energy cores would detonate. The explosion of a fully-charged large warship was nearly as powerful as a fortress's main cannon, though its destructive force was more dispersed. Still, the combined blasts of hundreds of ships left Kuang Chi, hidden on the fortress's surface and watching the scene, utterly shocked. The entire fortress shook violently from the waves of energy.

Apologies for yesterday—Sunday, I was away and couldn't update in time. This chapter is to make up for it. Please forgive me.

And please cast your votes. Thank you.