Brolin's lips curled into a cold smile as she stepped forward, vengeance glowing in her eyes. She had not forgotten the plans Rowan ruined, nor the troops and resources she lost because of him. Every memory fueled the fire in her chest until it burned like a raging inferno.
Hidden within the swirling cloud of dust, Rowan observed quietly. Through Babata's detection systems, he monitored every movement of the approaching army.
He understood the difference in numbers. It was a gap as vast as an ocean.
His Myriad Demon Vine had already reached Universe Level Two, yet the enemy was no small threat. Eighty thousand Star Level soldiers had assembled, along with a single Universe Level combatant and seven remaining C2-grade laser cannons.
And beyond that, the fleet's warships carried weapons capable of harming even Universe Level fighters.
Rowan knew he was facing an overwhelming force.
But he was not afraid.
Truthfully, he had predicted this scenario long before arriving alone. If things escalated to this scale, it could turn into an opportunity. A massive one.
The Ninth Princess, after raiding countless others, undoubtedly carried all the realm-ore she looted. That ore would be worth a fortune. It was the real reason Rowan came here alone.
That, and he wanted to sharpen himself.
His combat experience was still lacking. Only battles like this, where countless forces clashed like tides, could temper him properly.
"Begin the slaughter, Myriad Demon Vine."
At that command, hundreds of thick scarlet vines surged outward from his surroundings. They unfurled like a crimson tide, stretching across the battlefield. Their surfaces shimmered with strange patterns, as if hiding an endless well of power.
Seventy-two primary vines, each stretching more than thirty kilometers long, lashed forward like a storm made of living crimson steel.
"Enemy attack!"
The alarm tore through the Royal Martial Corps.
A heartbeat later, the sky darkened with a wave of vines crashing down upon them.
The speed of a Universe Level lifeform was nothing a Star Level soldier could compare to.
The vines covered a thirty-kilometer radius, while Rowan hovered less than ten kilometers away. The soldiers had nowhere to run. The first strike hit before they could even brace themselves.
Thousands died instantly.
Those who wore heavy armor shattered like glass under the vine's impact. Some were reduced to mist before they even registered pain.
Because their formation was so tightly packed, many who could have escaped were trapped by the bodies around them. One strike alone claimed more than ten thousand lives.
Those with warships reacted quickly, summoning their vessels to shield themselves just in time. Even so, Myriad Demon Vine's tremendous strength dented and cracked many of the ships.
But Rowan was not finished.
"Swordfish Formation, activate."
At his command, the Sky Tunneler split into two and merged with the surrounding vines, forming the Swordfish Formation. Rowan's mental power surged. Babata had measured his amplification at one hundred fifty percent.
That meant his spiritual strength already surpassed many Universe Level fighters, even though his spiritual core had not fully broken through.
His talent as a spiritual master was extraordinary, but Babata still did not know the truth. The Mind Stone lodged in Rowan's spiritual sea infused every golden strand of his spiritual power with faint blue light. That was the source of his terrifying amplification.
Inside one of the ships, the Ninth Princess trembled with rage.
"How dare he! Fire all weapons. Kill him!"
She no longer cared whether Rowan was a top-tier genius from Three Axe Mountain. Nothing mattered anymore except destroying the man who had killed thousands of her troops and stolen every spatial ring their corpses left behind. Many of those rings contained valuable ore.
Her fleet roared to life.
C-class warships streaked across the nebula like black sharks. Their hulls gleamed under scattered starlight.
The particle cannons fired, launching brilliant rays of white light that carved glowing tunnels through space. Dust turned into vapor, leaving behind streaking void channels surrounded by shimmering heated particles.
Rowan dodged using the Swordfish Formation, weaving between the beams. Myriad Demon Vine shielded him, its vines exploding into dust when struck, only to regenerate in moments.
Mental attacks bounced off the vine's shimmering surface before it restored itself.
Only the warships, the lone Universe Level fighter, and the C2-grade laser cannons posed actual danger. Everything else was insignificant unless all eight thousand Star Level soldiers attacked at the same time.
"Damn this infernal vine! Increase firepower. Destroy every last strand!" the Ninth Princess commanded.
More ships joined in. Particle beams fell like a storm of white spears, lighting the entire starfield. Myriad Demon Vine's regeneration began to slow as the barrage intensified. Giant fragments of the vine crashed onto the landscape below, shaking the earth like falling mountains.
The vine was too massive, making it the perfect target.
Yet the ships still could not lock onto Rowan's true body hidden deep inside.
The Royal Martial Corps switched to full bombardment.
They knew the vine could regenerate, but everything had a limit. If they hit that limit, the vine would collapse and expose Rowan, who, as a mere Star Level Nine, could be slain by a hundred soldiers working together.
Rowan's expression tightened.
"This can't continue."
He made his decision.
The Swordfish Formation shot forward, slicing toward the flank of the fleet. Hidden at its core was a small shard of glowing metal.
The Crimson Bronze Mother Fragment.
Merged into the formation, it granted terrifying piercing power. Even C-class warships could not stop it.
Brolin saw Rowan approaching and blanched.
"Stop him! Do not let him get away!"
The warships moved to intercept, firing lasers and particle fire in a deadly net. The air vibrated from the intensity.
Rowan ignored the damage Myriad Demon Vine suffered. Instead, he pulled out several dozen Blood Vine fruits and fed them to the massive plant. A surge of energy pulsed through the vine, and its regeneration accelerated once more.
"Cut through."
His eyes flashed red.
The Swordfish Formation spun like a drill. With the Crimson Bronze Mother Fragment at its core, it cut into the first warship like a knife through silk. The hull cracked. Metal screamed. The interior was shredded within seconds.
Inside the Ninth Princess's command ship, her expression twisted.
"How is that possible? C-class hulls cannot be pierced so easily!"
But another explosion answered her.
Another warship fell.
Rowan's voice echoed across the battlefield, carried by spiritual power.
"Brolin. Where are you hiding?"
In the rearmost ship, Brolin's face drained of color. Rowan was coming for her, and she knew it.
She was only Star Level Two. Against Rowan, she might as well have been a child waving a stick.
But she still had sixty thousand soldiers left. Surely Rowan could not cut through all of them.
"All units, surround him," the Ninth Princess roared. "Whoever kills him may choose one treasure from the three hundred and twelve artifacts in my collection."
That declaration electrified the troops.
Realm-lord artifacts were unattainable luxuries for ordinary soldiers. To them, such treasure was a dream worth dying for.
Tens of thousands surged toward Rowan like starving vultures smelling blood.
More than ten thousand spiritual masters unleashed their power at once. A storm of spiritual weapons materialized and shot toward Rowan.
He felt hundreds of piercing mental strikes slam into his spiritual sea. His Void Tower shook violently from the pressure but held firm.
Rowan's expression darkened.
"So you dare use mental attacks against me."
He raised his hand.
"Soul Blade."
The spiritual technique inherited from the Falling Ink Star lineage gathered in his palm, forming thirty invisible blades of pure spiritual power.
They tore forward, slicing through the void.
Screams erupted as heads burst open across the battlefield. More than thirty spiritual masters died instantly, their souls erased.
His Soul Blade was unstoppable against ordinary fighters. Only true geniuses with defensive spiritual techniques could survive it.
That was enough.
The Swordfish Formation shot forward again, drilling into a third warship. Myriad Demon Vine seized it, crushing the hull like paper.
One by one, the warships fell.
And Rowan did not stop.
He would not allow a single one to escape.