The war was shockingly violent!
The Gateway's entrance was very narrow, a natural landscape for defense. That was why they were able to hold the line so far.
From the narrow entrance, swarms of the unknown lifeforms would emerge from time to time. They never came in large numbers, they never seemed to stop coming either. From the beginning, the number of unknown lifeforms that had emerged from the entrance had never diminished, showing no signs of exhaustion from the other side. This was a constant worry for everyone around, afraid of what would happen in the long run.
Their own forces were weakening as the days passed by. Heavy casualties would follow every time enemies were successfully terminated. However, no one backed down. Everyone knew that the narrow Gateway was the only reason they were still alive, and not consumed by the unknown lifeforms.
There was nothing else to do but fight on. Ye Yin looked terribly grim. He could not find a way out of their predicament.
Jenny Ye looked at Ye Yin's grim expression beneath his long hair, sympathizing his situation. She consoled him softly, "Look at you, you look so gloomy that it's going to rain soon. Don't worry too much. Here, drink this." She passed a thermos over to Ye Yin.
Ye Yin saw that it was Jenny, and his eyes flickered warmly. He agreed and took the thermos from Jenny, finishing all the soup in it.
Jenny Ye watched lovingly as Ye Yin drank his soup with concentration, but her heart ached for him. This man whom she loved, he was shouldering to much unwanted burden! Beneath his handsome but cold exterior was a heart that was only human.
"What're you thinking?" Ye Yin asked suddenly. Now that the soup was finished, he watched her closely.
Jenny blushed slightly. She pulled the thermos out of his hands and feigned nonchalance as she said, "Nothing much. Yin, don't give yourself too much pressure! You're doing your best, no one will blame you."
Ye Yin said nothing, only watching Jenny Ye quietly.
"What is it?" Jenny Ye saw that Ye Yin was in a faze. She shook her tiny hand before his eyes a few times, saying with mock anger, "What are you thinking? How could your mind go wandering while talking to me?"
"Oh. I'm thinking, I will definitely bring you home! Definitely!" Ye Yin said this with unyielding resolution.
Anyone could see that the war was not favoring the Ye Family. Their combat forces continued to diminish. Almost every round of battle would end in deaths on their side. Seeing their own die before them continuously was a heavy blow to their morale. One could frequently hear people sobbing in the middle of the night. They were at their lowest point in spirit.
Nonetheless, the immediate problem presented to them was a practical one - energy cells! The free space zone did not have production factories for energy cells. Their energy cells were running out. Once they used them up, all the mechs and starships would turn into useless metal bulks, and the war would be over.
Dozens of unknown lifeforms emerged again from the Gateway's entrance.
The mechs that were guarding the entrance immediately went forward to fight them.
30 mechs formed a standard combat squad. Five mechs accelerated abruptly, leaving formation and heading towards the unknown lifeforms. When they were close enough, they suddenly split up and headed off into five different directions.
The creatures immediately pursued the five mechs like they were hunting their favourite prey, splitting off into five groups. The decoy mechs were all flown by the best mech pilots. They traced five beautiful arches across the starry sky like the stamen of a flower. Then, they each flew past a group of five mechs, and the creatures plunged straight into the surrounding formation of the five mechs.
The suspenseful close range battle began!
The strength of the Ye Family's mech pilots were thus fully demonstrated. Mechs and creatures rushed towards each other like medieval knights in a joust. When the moment of impact arrived, however, the mech pilots of the Ye Family could always execute the appropriate evasion moves and deliver the fatal blow to these unknown lifeforms.
However, the creatures were also terribly capable of retaliating. Despite bearing audience to similar fights for numerous times, Ye Chong still find them shocking. The creatures could move their heads deftly, and their strong teeth would always leave deep bite marks on mechs.
These creatures, which they had called crustalades, had very strong exoskeletons. The purplish black shell plates on them shone with a metallic glimmer. They had six pairs of wings. Their bodies were flat and short, measuring about three meters long. Their heads could move around flexibly, and their teeth were strong enough to bite through certain kinds of metal. The crustalades were very sensitive to metals. According to research, their hard armor plates had a high metal content. Hence, their armor plates were very strong, and well suited for self defense. Their shell plates would change, and even evolve significantly, according to the types of metal ingested.
Crustalades would fly up to Mach 12, about the same as the Ye Family's mechs in the main battle force. Since the creatures could also fly well, they were difficult opponents to fight against.
Now, most if not all of the creatures that came out of the Gateway entrance were this type of lifeform. The ones that Ye Chong and his group had encountered were never seen again.
The Ye Family's mechs lacked long range weapons, so they were forced to fight at close range.
Ye Chong pondered on their situation. Of the Three Aristocratic Families, the Xue Lai Clan must be best equipped to fight against these crustalades.
Rui Bing sat quietly beside Ye Chong. She would accompany him and watch the battle on the holographic screen every day. She did not say anything, but only sat quietly with him. Her snow white training garb looked as graceful on her as before. Her eyes were calm and resolute.
"What? The Three Families are ready for an alliance?" Ye Pang gasped in surprise.
Ye Luo noded. "Yes. I just got the news. Looks like the other Families have also suffered heavily, so they are hoping to form an alliance now. Oh, by the way, Ye Yin has agreed."
Ye Pang stroked his chin as he mused, "An Alliance of the Three Families. It's not a bad idea. To think that we, the Three Families, long time enemies with each other, will agree to an alliance in the face of a disaster. Hehe, it sure is interesting." He thought of something then, and asked, "What about the Gateway?"
"Seal the entrance. Ye Yin has decided to seal the entrance," Ye Luo replied.
Space around the Gateway entrance was extremely unstable. It was engulfed in a light yellow nebula. Within the nebula were strong electromagnetic radiations that covered a wide spectrum. The magnetic fields in the nebula were also constantly realigning. This made the area dangerous. Even the tough lifeforms were cautious of the space around the entrance.
300 energy cells were bundled together. They now floated before the Gateway entrance.
All of Ye Family's starships had pulled away, giving a wide berth.
Everyone onboard Darvill focused on the holographic screen.
Dozens of crustalades emerged threateningly from the Gateway entrance. They noticed the energy cells immediately and flew towards them.
Just then, a red beam shot at the energy cells!
The holographic screen lit up, and everyone had to shade their eyes for the moment. When their vision cleared up, the Gateway entrance was no longer on the holographic screen. Instead, they were looking at an endless stretch of light yellow nebula.
The massive starship fleet carried the hopes of its passengers, heading towards the Xue Lai Clan's Gateway entrance as fast as it could.
Ye Pang looked at the dense presence of starships from his window and smiled. "We'll probably never see something like this again. Isn't it magnificent?" After the rendezvous, the starships from all the Three Aristocratic Families were huddled together without order. Darvill was now right beside one of the Xi Feng Tribe's starships.
"I want to return to my Tribe," Feng Su looked at Ye Chong and pronounced her every word clearly. Every combat personnel was precious in their situation.
Ye Chong thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Alright."
Feng Su looked around and nodded to the people around her. "I wish you all the best! Farewell!" Everyone watched silently as Feng Su left. Given the circumstances, whatever personal conflicts they had with her were relatively insignificant. Besides, Ye Chong had never really developed a grudge against her.
The Three Aces from the Three Aristocratic Families gathered together.
"Hehe, fate is truly mysterious. To think that we would actually fight side by side!" Huang Jiming smiled warmly.
Ye Yin ignored him and turned to Siva. "Why don't you explain the situation here."
In the operations room, two humans and one mech discussed their predicament. It was an uncanny sight.
Siva's bionic eyes flashed intermittently. "Our initial battles were successful. The crustalades could not harm us. However, once we enter the Gateway, we suffer heavily."
An image appeared on the holographic screen in the operations room. The massive being in the image caused the two humans to inhale sharply.
"This is a new kind of unknown lifeform. We call them mollusc bristleworms. They looked like large caterpillars, but covered with sharp spikes on them. Each spike was about seven to eight meters long, and many crustalades were hanging from it.
Siva's electronic voice reverberated in the operations room. "The interesting thing about these mollusc bristleworms is they could absorb energy weapon attacks, the mechanism for this is unknown. They move slowly, reaching up to Mach 6. Their bodies are covered with pores that could spew out a grayish green gas. This gas has been shown to weaken metal structures. After computations, we've determined that the massive being in the image is formed by about six thousand five hundred mollusc bristleworms."
The number was enough to trigger another sharp inhale from the two listeners. Six thousand five hundred mollusc bristleworms with slight variations in colour intensity formed a massive dragon-like colourful being. It was a terrifying beast.
"We have ascertained that the entire Gateway had only these six thousand and five hundred mollusc bristleworms. We have killed most of the crustalades. The rest of the crustalades can also be handled by our side. Your forces must deal with these mollusc bristleworms. Be aware that we have energy to only supply one final attack!"
Siva's electronic voice never wavered.