A desperate call for help. Every Cloud Knight understood the crushing weight those words carried.
When such a signal went out, it meant the unit had reached the brink of total annihilation. Either an overwhelmingly powerful enemy had appeared, or the opposing forces had swollen to numbers that could swallow the entire team whole.
"The relief force has already set out at full speed. I only hope they can hold their ground until the reinforcements arrive."
"What exactly happened?" Kanzaki asked. His voice remained deep and steady, refusing to let even a trace of unease slip through.
General Sha Feng answered without delay, delivering a concise summary of the crisis.
The reason behind it was not especially complicated. The enemy's numbers had exploded at a terrifying rate.
Jingliu's expedition team had simply been cursed with the worst possible luck.
Several major Borisin hunting packs, each led by their Great War Chiefs, had been locked in a savage internal struggle for the position of supreme war leader. The resulting chaos had their wolf packs ripping into one another without mercy.
Six massive Beastship fleets had been clashing in the middle of that infighting when they happened to sweep straight past the battlefield where the expedition team was stationed.
The moment the Borisin learned that Xianzhou forces were present, and that those forces were actively hunting Abominations of Abundance, they immediately dropped their internal feuds.
A rapid investigation revealed the overwhelming disparity in numbers. With startling speed, they chose to set aside their differences and turn their full fury against their common enemy.
As Kanzaki absorbed the complete report, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. Countless thoughts surged through his mind like lightning.
The bloodthirsty Borisin had called off their internal war so quickly. There was no doubt it had everything to do with him.
The previous war leader of the Borisin had fallen by his hand.
In other words, the current turmoil tearing through the Borisin ranks was a direct result of his actions and those of the Xianzhou Cloud Knights under his command.
They had already been mortal enemies. The death of their leader had only poured fuel on the flames, driving their rage to new and terrifying heights.
Because of that, the six Borisin Beastship fleets had completely sealed off Sipusa Star, where the expedition team was located. The encirclement was airtight, trapping the Cloud Knights with no easy path of escape.
The combined strength of six full fleets far exceeded the threshold for what anyone would call a mere large-scale battle.
Fortunately, the Xianzhou expedition team had already finished their previous engagement and was in the cleanup phase when the new threat struck. They had reacted with impressive speed, seizing a strategically vital position on Sipusa Star. The location offered a natural anti-air barrier and was easy to defend while being nearly impossible to assault from the ground.
For the time being, the wolf packs' overwhelming numbers could not force a breakthrough.
Everything, however, depended on the expedition team's supplies holding out. Three days earlier they had reported that their current resources would last approximately another sixty-nine days.
On paper the number sounded substantial. Yet under continuous high-intensity combat, the rate at which war resources were consumed would skyrocket far beyond any initial estimate.
Even if the Cloud Knights stayed purely on the defensive, their consumption would vastly exceed expectations.
Given the Borisin's infamous bloodlust and madness, the Cloud Knights might find themselves without usable weapons in as little as seven days. The mere thought of having to face Abominations of Abundance in close-quarters combat sent a chill down the spine.
But that was not even the worst of it.
What was truly terrifying was that such a massive gathering of Borisin forces would inevitably draw even more hunting packs toward Sipusa Star.
The Borisin were currently locked in a relatively small-scale internal conflict. Any larger mobilization would send ripples through their delicate internal politics.
It was almost certain that more Borisin would soon converge on the planet.
"General, what is the scale of the relief force?" Kanzaki asked again.
"Twenty million elite troops, led by five Valiant Guards."
This scale of deployment also surpassed the standard threshold for a large-scale patrol force.
Upon hearing the number, Xueyi and Hanya, who stood behind Kanzaki, allowed themselves a small breath of relief.
Yet Kanzaki's eyes narrowed slightly. "General, your subordinate requests the use of a Divine Wind ship."
Both women's expressions shifted at once.
Divine Wind ships were the fastest small warships in the Xianzhou Yaoqing's fleet, and their numbers were extremely limited.
"Approved," General Sha Feng replied without hesitation.
He knew exactly what Kanzaki was thinking. And Kanzaki, in turn, understood why the general had chosen to deliver this information to him personally.
"Thank you, General." Kanzaki offered a respectful fist-cupped salute before turning to leave.
Xueyi and Hanya exchanged a quick glance, then hurried after him without a word.
Their destination was clear: the besieged battlefield, to provide immediate support.
The Divine Wind ship tore through the void at maximum velocity. Inside the vessel there were only three people: Kanzaki and the two sisters.
"Kanzaki, are you worried about additional unforeseen complications?" Xueyi asked.
Kanzaki kept his gaze fixed on the endless star sea beyond the viewport, his expression calm yet focused.
"For the Borisin, besides their individual strength, what else can rapidly elevate their prestige?"
The sisters paused for a heartbeat, then their eyes lit with understanding.
"Military achievements."
Exactly.
That was the piece that tied everything together.
No wonder Kanzaki had decided to set out without the slightest hesitation. No wonder General Sha Feng had approved the request so readily.
With their war leader now dead, the various Great War Chiefs of the Borisin clans refused to bow to one another. While their strengths might differ slightly, none held a decisive edge.
No matter how fiercely they fought among themselves, they would avoid true life-and-death battles that left their forces decimated. After all, what good was becoming war leader if you commanded nothing but ghosts?
True prestige could not be gained through bloodline suppression alone.
But hunting down a hated mortal enemy? That was an entirely different matter.
The Cloud Knights measured military merit by the number of enemies slain, and the Borisin followed the same brutal logic.
Upon learning that millions of Cloud Knights were stationed on a single planet, how could those ambitious Great War Chiefs possibly remain idle?
They might not come in person if the distance proved too great.
Yet one thing was certain: they would dispatch wave after wave of their wolf packs to claim the Cloud Knights as valuable prey.
This was precisely why Jingliu's expedition team had been so unfortunate.
They had been engaged in what should have been a medium-scale operation, only to encounter a force so overwhelming that even a single Valiant Guard leading an army might struggle to contain it.
The fact that the general had immediately dispatched five Valiant Guards to lead the relief force showed that he had already weighed every factor.
Kanzaki understood the situation perfectly the moment he heard the report. He could clearly see the hidden crisis lurking beneath the surface.
The primary objective of the five Valiant Guards and their twenty million troops was not merely to rescue the trapped expedition team. Their sheer numbers meant they could never arrive in time to prevent disaster.
Their true mission was to annihilate every Borisin who had dared raise a claw against the Cloud Knights and every pack that had come to hunt them.
Only Kanzaki, aboard the lightning-fast Divine Wind ship, could cross the vast star sea in the shortest possible time and reach the battlefield.
A single Cloud Knight Vanguard was an army unto himself.
And the uncrowned Sword Master of the Cloud Knights could single-handedly slaughter hundreds of millions of Abominations of Abundance.
Having already slain the Borisin war leader, Kanzaki possessed exactly that kind of power.
This was General Sha Feng's real intention in informing him personally. Those seemingly simple words had carried the implicit request for swift, decisive aid.
The Divine Wind ship sliced through the silent expanse of space like a ghost, warping forward at incredible speed.
Yet even the fastest vessel could not defy the tyranny of distance.
At that very moment, the millions of Cloud Knights trapped on Sipusa Star were running out of the one thing they needed most: time.
They had to hold on.
They had to endure until reinforcements arrived.