Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 258: Hope Star Capture Battle
"We must figure out why all unmanned machines disintegrate as soon as they get close to Satan. Without solving this problem, we will have no way to proceed."

"Try using a gravitational field; perhaps we can explore the reason by binding it."

"Then you'll need a super gravity binder that can influence the Milky Way..."

"..."

Within the vast intellectual sphere, countless scholars are debating.

Satan, a name of an evil deity originating from ancient Earth, signifies the source of all evil in ancient texts. Scholars bestow this name upon the strange, gigantic serpent traversing space, revealing the importance they place on it.

Scholars have made many attempts to explore why unmanned machines would suddenly break apart, but they have been unable to come to a conclusion.

Admittedly, their weapons are powerful, but if they cannot reach their target, no matter how powerful they are, they cannot be used.

"Perhaps we should send psionic warriors to investigate?"

Someone suggested.

Prior to this, scholars had explored Satan's secrets using unmanned machines, but had never dispatched psionic warriors.

Although combat methods relying on flesh and blood have been phased out in this interstellar age, just as there are still a group of agile special forces armed with crossbows, daggers, and silenced pistols on the battlefield amidst the roar of artillery shells, different roles naturally exist on different battlefields.

Warriors who have undergone the most advanced genetic modifications and have been nurtured with powerful psionic abilities since childhood are the perfect weapons in the eyes of all generals.

Their numbers are extremely small, often consisting of only one in trillions of interstellar humans—the elite of the elite, all exceptional warriors honed to the extreme. Even in the Second Republic, with its population measured in trillions, the total number of psionic warriors usually only stays around one million.

It's important to know that the Second Republic's star sectors have expanded to more than 500,000. Each sector often spans hundreds of light-years and contains thousands of administrative planets. However, these psionic warriors are rare, with an average of only two per sector and one per thousand administrative planets.

Such precious psionic warriors should naturally be used on the battlefields where they are most needed.

However, the academic conference quickly rejected the proposal.

The reason is simple: if the psionic warriors were to personally investigate, they couldn't simply follow the light; they would have to personally approach, or even climb onto, the colossal creature. However, at near-light speed, the giant serpent's flow of time was actually extremely slow at that moment.

Although two galactic years have passed since the giant serpent appeared, and humanity has attempted to explore it dozens of times, for the giant serpent that travels at near the speed of light, it is as if it has only been a few minutes since it set off.

If psionic warriors are indeed dispatched, the academic conference may not see them return for decades, or even centuries.

So……

The president of the 7th Ring World Society stared at the Milky Way star map model in front of him.

"Let's set the location at Hope Star."

The deep voice suppressed everything.

……

Hope Star, the first exoplanet colonized by humankind, is located in a star system named after the famous colony ship "The Faraway".

Unlike the destroyed Earth and Mars, Hope Star, though it too has endured war, ultimately survived. Today, Hope Star has become a scenic planet primarily for tourism. While the number of residents is small, the number of interstellar tourists visiting Hope Star each year remains consistently high.

However, in the past two years, a piece of news has spread, making the entire planet uneasy: the "Star-Eating Beast" is about to arrive in the star system where Hope Star is located.

Unlike the name "Satan" given by scholars, the public prefers to call this star-devouring monster the "Star-Eating Beast," and judging from its direction of travel, the Star-Eating Beast's destination is Hope Star.

The local authorities on Hope Planet have repeatedly requested the Second Republic to exterminate the Star-Eating Beasts in order to protect Hope Planet, but it is clear that the Second Republic is far more interested in studying the Star-Eating Beasts than in protecting a remote and uninhabited little planet.

In the year 20151 of the Galactic Calendar, two years after the discovery of the Star Eater, the Second Republic made its decision.

"...All inhabitants of Hope Star will evacuate the Faraway Star System... The Faraway Star System will be used as the location for capturing the Star-Eating Beast Satan..."

If the Second Republic's assessment is correct, then the Star-Eating Beast named Satan traveled to this star system 11 light-years from our solar system to prey on the star of the Faraway Star System. Therefore, the Second Republic could use the Faraway Star System's star and its powerful gravitational well to set a gravitational trap, binding the Star-Eating Beast and allowing it to escape, ultimately capturing it within this star system.

In the Second Republic's view, exchanging a small galaxy for a sample that is unique in the entire Milky Way is a perfectly worthwhile idea.

With nine years to go before the arrival of the Star Eaters, the Second Republic will have ample time to establish defenses here.

"9 years?"

Tiloan, who was once again included in this plan to help capture the Star-Eating Beast, looked into the dark and silent depths of space. Although he could not see anything, everyone knew that an unprecedented space behemoth was coming from there.

……

The first thing to be set up was the first line of gravity defense.

The first gravitational barrier has been deployed on the outer edge of the Faraway Galaxy. This barrier will initially reduce the target's speed, bringing it down from near-light speed. Theoretically, if the effect is perfect, it could reduce the target to 93% of the speed of light.
The subsequent gravitational defenses followed the same principle: first, slow down this stellar-sized behemoth, then use weapons to surround and attack it; if successful, they could capture the Star-Eating Beast in one go.

Traps and ambushes are just like the methods hunters used to deal with their prey in ancient times.

"But what if the capture fails?"

In response to questions from some scholars, the president of the association calmly stated.

"Then we've completed the second test, understanding the target's attack patterns and behaviors?"

From the perspective of academic conferences, they were able to achieve satisfactory results no matter what. And so, time flew by, and nine years passed in the blink of an eye.

……

"One hour until the Star-Eating Beast arrives... 50 minutes... 40 minutes..."

On the fully armed spaceship, the ship's AI was periodically reminding the crew of the time, while Tiloan gazed at the vast expanse of space before him.

Unlike his previous remote command, where he could ensure his own safety, Tiloan was no longer testing weapon power but engaging the behemoth in close combat. Only within these layers of gravity traps could he understand why all the unmanned machines instantly disintegrated; otherwise, their speed was too great to detect anything.

However, the danger of getting so close to the Star-Eating Beast is unimaginable.

Tiloan kept recalling the previous tests, trying to find clues, but apart from the flash that always appeared each time, no one knew what had happened.

"General Tyloan, please rest assured, we will protect your safety."

Beside Tiloan, four exceptionally tall psionic warriors spoke silently. Powerful psionic energy surged within them, and complex psionic circuits flickered across their bare torsos, enhancing their psionic abilities.

These psionic warriors underwent special modifications even before they were born. To accommodate these complex psionic circuits, every muscle and every structure, from bones to skin, was specially adjusted to fit these circuits.

After being born in artificial wombs, they undergo twenty-four standard surgical modifications to completely imprint psionic circuits into their bodies. Even if you disassemble their corpses, the psionic circuits will be clearly visible on their bones. And this is just the beginning. Afterward, they will undergo a series of trials. It often takes more than a hundred years for a qualified psionic warrior to be fully formed. The attrition rate is so high that, apart from a few people in the Second Republic, no one knows the true number.

By past standards, Tiloan wouldn't even be qualified to receive close protection from psionic warriors. Even a general of high rank would have hundreds of personnel within a sector, and only in this exceptional situation did the Second Republic specifically assign four psionic warriors to protect Tiloan, ready to use short-range teleportation to ensure his safe departure should the situation deteriorate.

This small Faraway Star System is now filled with countless unmanned machines and more than a dozen command ships.

Normally, there might not be a single psionic warrior in a whole star sector, but here they are everywhere. Each command ship has more than two hundred generals, assistants, and psionic warriors in total.

These are not just ordinary soldiers; each and every one of them is an elite trained with a great deal of resources.

Behind these two hundred-plus people, the resources consumed by each of them are enough to allow millions of interstellar humans to live comfortably for a lifetime. It is only through the massive investment of resources that these two hundred-plus people came to be.

It's easy to imagine that the Second Republic really went all out for this capture operation.

"The target has entered the first line of gravity defense within ten million kilometers. Please prepare for action..."

Just like the initial encounter, in the data transmitted back by the subspace probe, billions of kilometers away, that enormous light was streaking across space at an unimaginable speed. That speed, almost like the speed of light, was impossible to see, and the probe only had constantly updated data.

One million kilometers...

100,000 kilometers...

The target successfully entered the gravity defense line.

An invisible force of gravity was slowly dragging the target, slowing its speed, but the speed was still unimaginably fast. As if there was no delay, the light directly broke through the first line of gravity.

The second line of gravity defense...

The third line of gravity defense...

The fourth line of gravity defense...

……

The tenth line of gravity defense...

……

The twentieth line of gravity defense...

It wasn't until the target approached the vicinity of the star that its speed decreased significantly. It was no longer shrouded in a blurry light, but the outline of its head and body could be vaguely seen.

Just as the legend says, it was indeed an enormous serpent with chilling vertical pupils and a massive body that was difficult to see in its entirety even from space, and it was flying towards the star.

As the speed decreased, the detector was finally able to function normally.

body shape...

Body structure...

spectrum……

Thermal energy distribution...

gravitational field……

After 11 galactic years, much of this fundamental data, which should have been detected long ago, was only truly known to the Second Republic after being firmly blocked by the gravitational barrier. This alone completes the first step of information gathering, which had been skipped at one point.

"Unify direction, attack!"

Following Tiloan's command, countless unmanned machines launched an attack on the colossal beast...

(End of this chapter)