At the same time, inside the observation car of the Astral Express, Himeko wore a troubled expression as she faced the numerous allies of the anti-Irontomb coalition.
This time, it wasn't the Irontomb that was causing her distress, but another piece of news brought by the coalition forces.
Himeko looked at her old acquaintance, Jing Yuan, with a hint of disbelief.
"General Jing Yuan, is the Xianzhou really planning to do this?"
Jing Yuan nodded, his expression equally solemn.
"That's right, Lady Himeko. The Marshal has already issued the order. The primary target for the Yaoqing and the Luofu this time will be the Ender Dragon."
"Then what about the Irontomb?"
Jing Yuan gave a wry smile and spread his hands helplessly. "Compared to the Ender Dragon, the Irontomb… is perhaps not even worth mentioning."
Beside them, Aventurine, representing the IPC, also nodded in agreement.
"Lady Himeko, the Strategic Investment Department is also making the Ender Dragon our number one priority. After all, what it represents is [Finality]."
After hearing both of them, Himeko couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.
She never thought that before they could even deal with the still-unhatched Lord Ravager, the Irontomb, a brand-new Aeon would show up.
What about the kids still in Amphoreus?
"Everyone, I'll have to cut in here."
Just as Himeko was agonizing over their next move, Herta, who was sitting beside her, suddenly tapped her staff lightly on the ground. Her gaze swept over the faces of the many coalition representatives across from her.
"Of all the people present, I doubt anyone knows more than me, Screwllum, and Chadwick, right?"
Jing Yuan and the others looked at Herta with some confusion, not understanding what she was trying to say.
Herta raised a finger to the brim of her hat and spoke seriously to the group. "Although the Ender Dragon is an Aeon of [Finality], its eyes are only on Fu Zhu. As long as we don't make any rash moves, it won't attack us either. The problem we need to solve right now is still the Irontomb."
Although the crowd was somewhat reluctant to believe Herta's words, reality forced them to accept it.
After all, the entire coalition fleet was currently less than a few light-years away from the Ender Dragon—a distance they could cross in an instant, let alone a mighty being like the Ender Dragon.
Yet despite this negligible distance, the Ender Dragon had not launched any attacks against them. It didn't even seem to care about the drones they sent out for reconnaissance, only occasionally swatting down one that got too close.
"Furthermore…"
A faint smile played on Herta's lips as she lowered the brim of her hat, revealing an even crueler reality to the group.
"Besides Fu Zhu, no one, not even other Aeons, can inflict any damage upon the Ender Dragon. Do you understand? This is fate. The Ender Dragon has come for Fu Zhu."
After hearing this, Jing Yuan couldn't help but frown and retort, "Since it has its sights set on Fu Zhu, do you mean to suggest, Lady Herta, that we should just stand by and do nothing for him?"
Herta's eyes lowered as she asked in return.
"To put it bluntly, what can you do about it?"
Jing Yuan fell silent. If what Herta said was true, then they were indeed powerless.
Seeing the silence from the crowd, Herta sighed lightly. "What we can do now is deal with the Irontomb and contain the other Lord Ravagers, to relieve some of the pressure on Fu Zhu."
Feixiao nodded, pinching his chin as he muttered to himself, "Zephyro, Celenova, Asat Pramad, Archforger… these are the known Lord Ravagers. Four against three… and we were lucky Phantylia was sealed elsewhere by Fu Zhu, otherwise we'd really be feeling the pressure."
Aventurine suddenly spoke up. "[Diamond] is also willing to lend a hand, General Feixiao. This time, it's four on four."
"That would be excellent."
[Diamond] preparing to enter the fray was one of the few pieces of good news they had right now.
But the current situation in Amphoreus still had everyone frowning, simply because they still couldn't contact any of the Nameless inside.
Just as the room fell into a heavy silence, the sound of footsteps echoed from an adjacent car. The door slid open, and Fu Zhu walked in. Seeing the large group gathered in the observation car, he raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Huh? Everyone's here?"
"Fu Zhu (Little Friend, Sir)!" ×N
The moment Fu Zhu appeared, a variety of different smiles broke out on the faces of everyone present, and various forms of address rang out in unison from within the car.
Himeko and Herta were the first to rush to his side. The two of them carefully inspected Fu Zhu from head to toe, and only after confirming he had no injuries did they breathe a sigh of relief.
Herta, too, wore a relaxed expression as she nudged her brow at Fu Zhu and asked, "What good news did you bring back for us this time?"
"No good news."
Fu Zhu held out his left hand, which was holding Demiurge. "But I brought back a new 'friend' for you guys."
"A friend?"
Everyone in the room looked at the "Rubik's Cube" lying in Fu Zhu's left hand. Perhaps it was shy, but being stared at by so many people, Demiurge desperately contracted its body, nearly shrinking into a tightly sealed cube.
Fu Zhu gestured for everyone to sit down first, then laid out Lygus's entire plan. Afterward, he handed the Data Shard in his hand to Herta.
"Herta, I suspect that Demiurge is the Irontomb's 'brain' that Lygus claimed to have personally removed. However, I don't have time to verify this. I'll have to trouble you, Screwllum, and Chadwick with it."
Herta nodded. "Simple."
After Fu Zhu finished explaining things, Jing Yuan spoke up.
"Fu Zhu, how do you plan to deal with that Ender Dragon?"
"How to deal with it? After I'm done with the Irontomb, I'll go kill it. What's the big deal? You guys just don't provoke it, leave it to me."
When it came to any other opponent he had never seen before, Fu Zhu might still be a little hesitant. But if the opponent was the Ender Dragon, he wasn't the least bit flustered.
He had killed over a thousand of them, at the very least. He had even seen all sorts of modded Ender Dragons. There was nothing to worry about.
Hearing this, Jing Yuan nodded. Fu Zhu's words had put him at ease. Since Fu Zhu had said so, he could now focus on dealing with the other Lord Ravagers.
Himeko then asked Fu Zhu, "Fu Zhu, are you planning to go back to Amphoreus again?"
"Yeah, that's a given. Stelle and the others are still inside. But this time, I don't plan on returning to the 'past.' I'll go directly to the 'present' to find them."
"But before that, I need to go see Little March 7th and confirm something."
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tl: sorry for the late update on the English localization for the Lords of Annihilation