"Where did Akashi go?"
Hearing Lin Lan's shocked voice, the Ironblood shipgirls finally realized that Akashi, who had been following them all along, had vanished without anyone noticing.
"She was just beside me a moment ago. When did she disappear?"
Z1 clenched her fists. Although she wasn't particularly close to the cunning little merchant from the Sakura Empire, she had been keeping an eye on Akashi.
Now that Akashi had suddenly gone missing, Z1, who prided herself as the big sister, felt a wave of regret for not watching over her more carefully.
As everyone anxiously looked around for any signs of Akashi, Z2, the little girl with wine-red eyes who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.
"Commander, I saw Akashi sneaking into one of those Battleaxe mechas earlier."
Lin Lan was momentarily stunned by Z2's words.
The Purifier had just erased all the Battleaxe personnel and their mechas.
Although the Purifier claimed to have teleported them out of the Mirror Sea, there was no way to confirm whether that was true.
It didn't take much thought to figure out that Akashi must have been taken along when she secretly climbed into one of those mechas.
"Commander, I don't think there's any need to worry. Our Ironblood's Mirror Sea also has the ability to teleport internal personnel and objects out, just like what the Purifier did just now."
Seeing Lin Lan's grim expression, Prinz Eugen rested a finger on her lips and flashed a reassuring smile.
Agir added, "As long as we destroy the node controlling this Mirror Sea, we should be able to find Akashi once we get out."
Hearing Eugen and Agir's explanations, Lin Lan finally relaxed a little. He decided to focus on destroying the node of this Mirror Sea first.
Once the Mirror Sea was lifted, he would naturally be able to see Akashi again.
However, thinking about Akashi's sneaky behavior, he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger and muttered with a half-annoyed, half-amused tone,
"That green-haired cat… sneaking into someone else's mecha for no reason—what the hell was she thinking?"
Since they now knew Akashi was likely safe for the moment, Lin Lan and the shipgirls proceeded in the direction the Purifier had pointed out.
With the help of his Fire-Repelling Pearl, the flames blocking their path were swiftly pushed aside.
Meanwhile, the collapsed buildings were quickly cleared away by the powerful dragon-like ship rigging of the Ironblood shipgirls.
"Stay back! All Orlan citizens, evacuate this city immediately!"
Just as they were about to reach the outskirts of the city, Lin Lan suddenly heard a crisp female voice faintly echo in his ears.
"Agir, did you hear that?"
Lin Lan stopped in his tracks, puzzled, and turned to ask Agir.
"A voice? Aside from the sounds of fire and collapsing buildings, I didn't hear anything. Commander, what did you hear?"
Agir tilted her head, looking at him curiously.
"I heard…"
Just as Lin Lan was about to explain, an intense sense of icy danger surged from behind him.
"What the—?!"
Instinctively, he twisted his body to the side.
In his hand, an orange-yellow elemental sword of fire instantly materialized, sweeping backward in a defensive arc.
Clang!
A sharp vibration rang through his sword. When he turned around, he saw—
A hand, gripping a dagger, emerging from thin air!
"W-What?!"
A hoarse, disbelieving male voice reached Lin Lan's ears, and in that instant, he understood the attacker's identity.
A Natlan Extremist.
"Protect the Commander!"
Agir reacted faster than Lin Lan.
The moment she shouted, she had already moved at breakneck speed, launching a powerful kick toward the empty space behind the mysterious hand.
Thud!
With a muffled impact, the dagger fell to the ground, leaving behind a trail of blood splattered in the air.
Crash!
A nearby collapsed building groaned as something crashed into it, sending a pile of charred wooden frames tumbling down.
Z1 and Z46 immediately dashed forward. Within moments, they used their Ironblood shark-like rigging to pull out a man from the debris—his chest caved in, eyes wide open, dead.
Lin Lan, still holding his elemental sword of fire, stepped closer with the others to examine the corpse.
The Natlan Extremist, his face masked, was clearly already heavily injured before Agir's finishing blow.
Aside from the fatal damage to his chest, his body was covered in gruesome slashes.
"Commander, we failed to notice the ambush just now. I'm sorry…"
Roon apologized while bending down, gripping the assassin's neck and lifting him up.
With a sickening crack, she crushed his throat before hurling him into the flames.
"It wasn't your fault."
Lin Lan didn't stop her. The assassin had shaken him as well.
It seemed that the Natlan Extremists weren't just skilled in direct combat—there were also assassins among them, adept at stealth attacks.
If he hadn't awakened his Hero's Power earlier—gaining extraordinary elemental perception and a precognitive sense for danger—he might not have avoided the ambush.
"Everyone, stay alert. We don't know what other tricks these Natlan Extremists have. If anything seems off, shoot immediately."
Lin Lan's expression was grave as he gave his orders. The shipgirls all nodded seriously, acknowledging the threat.
Through previous battles, Lin Lan had already determined that the Limiters' raw combat strength wasn't a significant threat to his shipgirls.
However, for him personally, they were extremely dangerous foes.
After all, these Limiters were among their nation's strongest warriors. Even though he possessed the Hero's Power, he lacked real combat experience.
In the Orlan Federation, he still had an auto-activated shield generator for protection. But if he traveled elsewhere, attacks like the one just now would surely happen again.
"Maybe I should start training myself to improve my own combat abilities. Even if I don't plan to fight the Sirens head-on, I shouldn't be a burden to the girls…"
Just as Lin Lan was considering sparring with his shipgirls to gain battle experience, a sharp whistling sound tore through the air.
The next moment, a crescent-shaped arc of orange energy slashed toward them, sweeping across the sky above their heads!
The sheer force of the slash created an immense wind pressure, snuffing out a large portion of the surrounding flames—evidence of its terrifying power.
"It looks like we're close to the node. Let's go check it out!"
Lin Lan immediately commanded, and the group pressed forward toward the outskirts of Huaiwu City.
With another mighty crash, Agir's shipborne dragon once again smashed aside a pile of rubble, finally clearing the way to an open space.
What they saw next made even Lin Lan, who considered himself mentally strong, suck in a cold breath.
Corpses. A countless number of corpses.
The bodies of ordinary civilians covered the ground in layers, some burned beyond recognition, charred black.
But many still bore the expressions of despair they had at the moment of death.
Their hands were bound with ropes—evidence that they had been systematically rounded up and slaughtered.
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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta
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