Chapter 60: Crisis

Thanks to the enhanced firepower of the energy pulse guns, even though these Void Demons possessed physical strength far exceeding those of the same rank and formidable combat prowess, they could still be dispatched with a single shot under the tier-one energy level fire. This significantly increased the speed at which Song Chi and the ten Fire Sunflower Puppet Soldiers cleared out the Void Demons.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Amidst streams of energy pulse rays, one tier-zero Void Demon after another was struck down. Their corpses plunged from high above, crashing into the semi-circular light barrier of the Psionic Defensive Grand Array, before sliding down to pile up all around the Heavens Market.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

Hearing the intense corrosive sound emanating from the protective light barrier, Song Chi furrowed his brows deeply. This was caused by the black blood within the Void Demons dripping onto the light barrier. The black blood flowing through these Void Demons was intensely scorching and highly corrosive, severely depleting the shield value of the Psionic Defensive Grand Array.

Faced with this situation, Song Chi could not find a countermeasure for the time being.

To repel these Void Demons, he had to slaughter them in large numbers; yet as long as he attacked, this highly corrosive blood was unavoidable. This was an irreconcilable contradiction in itself.

20878/40000

Glancing at the defense value of the Psionic Grand Array and seeing it was about to fall below the milestone of twenty thousand points, Song Chi felt an escalating wave of anxiety within his heart.

Having successfully advanced to tier one and equipped with an orange-quality energy shield component, the combat power of the Sky Dome was indeed astonishing. Facing the encirclement of dozens of tier-one and hundreds of tier-zero Void Demons simultaneously, it could conversely eliminate well over three hundred Void Demons.

Yet as the saying goes, strength also has its limits.

After persisting for nearly half an hour in the encirclement of hundreds of Void Demons, no matter how powerful the Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator was, its glow had now dimmed to the extreme, and its shield value had plummeted below 10%, looking as though it was about to suffer complete overload.

Even so, Song Chi could not allow it to retreat back into the Market. Once the Sky Dome retreated into the Market, lacking its attraction, the remaining exterior Void Demons—still numbering over five hundred—would immediately turn their sights upon the Heavens Market.

And the Psionic Grand Array, with its shield value on the verge of dropping below twenty thousand points, could by no means withstand the simultaneous attacks of this massive horde of demons.

"Damn it, I have to figure something out. If this continues, I'm afraid the Sky Dome will sink right here."

Song Chi roared inwardly, his mental processing power pushed to its absolute limit, yet he still could not find a countermeasure. The trump cards in his hand had basically all been deployed—could he just conjure a solution out of thin air?

To make matters worse, due to the continuous, excessive expenditure of his mental focus for over half an hour, Song Chi's own physical stance was now somewhat unstable.

He had to remotely pilot the Sky Dome for attacks and evasions, command the group of Fire Sunflower Puppet Soldiers to assault, wield his energy pulse gun to aim time and again himself, and now desperately ponder further countermeasures. All these tasks required him to operate and consider them single-handedly; a simple division of focus was entirely inadequate.

Enduring the faint, stinging pain emerging from the depths of his mind, Song Chi gritted his teeth and persisted. At this moment, he deeply yearned for the limit-breaking state he had accidentally entered previously. If he could briefly enter a state of triple-tasking, he certainly would not be in such a flustered scramble right now.

Unfortunately, the previous two instances were merely a matter of luck, a fortuitous entry into the limit-breaking state rather than a technique he had truly mastered. The half-hour of high mental concentration beforehand had failed to help him recapture that feeling of breaking the limits, which could only be described as a profound regret.

Pausing slightly with the energy pulse gun he held aloft, Song Chi pulled two energy grenades from behind him. Before his last exploration of the alien domain, he had purchased a total of five; he had used three when trading with the Brain-Eaters' superwave master-brain oddity, leaving only the two in his hand.

Spotting a location where more than twenty tier-zero and tier-one Void Demons were clustered, he hurled one of the energy grenades with all his might.

The energy grenade traced a straight line through the void, landing precisely in the midst of the cluster of over twenty Void Demons.

Boom!

Following a violent explosion of the tier-one energy level, more than half of the twenty-odd Void Demons on the spot collapsed instantly. Aside from a few tier-zero demons on the outer periphery and three tier-one demons that narrowly survived, this single energy grenade directly blew up fifteen tier-zero Void Demons.

After a brief moment of modest elation, a succession of bad news quickly followed.

Outside the Market, the Sky Dome's energy shield suffered a complete overload. The attacks from the surrounding Void Demons began to land directly on the airship's hull, causing damage to the Sky Dome's armor and, consequently, the hull itself.

Inside the Market, the shield value of the Psionic Grand Array officially dropped below twenty thousand, and under the corrosion of the Void Demons' searing black blood, the rate of decline in the shield value became even more terrifying.

Song Chi's heart sank to the bottom. If this continued, before these Void Demons could be repelled, the Psionic Grand Array would inevitably shatter first, and by then the entire Market would be completely overrun.

Although he was the master of the Heavens Market and could wield the law power of this Market secret realm, it was restricted strictly to internal use and could not be employed for external combat whatsoever.

Once the Psionic Grand Array shattered, the balance of the entire secret realm would inevitably be broken, throwing the laws of the secret realm space into disarray. Trying to manipulate it to deal with the Void Demons that rushed into the Market would then be utterly impossible.

This was virtually a dead end—a dead end that could no longer be defended no matter what.

At this juncture, thoughts that had never arisen before began to surface in Song Chi's mind. He knew he had to consider an escape route for himself; if the Heavens Market could not be saved, he could not possibly remain here to be buried along with it.

The Morning Star Principality was vast, the Firekind Human Civilization was equally vast, and the Shattered Star Sea was boundless. There were still countless wonders waiting for him to personally experience, witness, and pursue.

Having managed to reach this magnificent star-sea era, he still wanted to live for two hundred, three hundred, six hundred, or even a thousand years. How could he be content to die in obscurity within this desolate void?

A myriad of thoughts surged through Song Chi's mind. Finally, he recalled the Sky Dome; if the Heavens Market was destined to be destroyed here and now, he naturally would not allow the Sky Dome to sink along with it.

Without the Heavens Market, the only thing he could rely on in the future would be the Sky Dome.

As long as the Sky Dome remained, relying on the orange-quality "Dark Matter Energy Shield Generator" and the purple-quality "Brainwave Remote Control System" mounted upon it, he had the confidence to carve out a domain of his own, at least avoiding total obscurity.

Thinking of this, Song Chi shifted his intent. High above, the Sky Dome—having received the brainwave signal—swiveled its hull and plowed its way straight back into the interior of the Market.

Observing the reaction of the external Void Demons, as expected, the moment the Sky Dome retreated into the Market, their targets instantly shifted entirely to the Heavens Market.

Hum, hum, hum!

The protective light barrier of the Psionic Grand Array trembled violently. Amidst layers of ripples, the shield value plummeted at an indescribable rate.