When the light flickered over there, it was quickly obscured by the dense ink-colored darkness, vanishing from sight — clearly, a clash with the Ink Clan was underway.
Cross-referencing with the information in his jade slip, Yang Kai immediately recognized them as the two squads in need of rescue.
Seeing this, Yang Kai felt a small measure of relief — Dawn's side hadn't arrived too late after all — and promptly ordered the Dawn to rush to their aid at full speed.
In the next instant, the Dawn's propulsion formation hummed to life, and its speed surged as it shot toward the distant battlefield.
Far off, the Ink Clan appeared to have noticed the Dawn's approach as well, and promptly dispatched a contingent to intercept. There were truly a staggering number of Ink Clan forces besieging those two human warships — several hundred at the very least, with no shortage of Lord-level powerhouses among them. No wonder the squads couldn't hold their own; each squad consisted of barely a dozen people. The fact that they'd managed to hold out this long against such overwhelming numbers was remarkable in itself.
Right now, both warships were battered beyond recognition, their hulls covered in scars from energy bombardment. Without reinforcements, they wouldn't last another hour before being completely blown apart — and once that happened, the members of both squads would be fully exposed to the Ink Clan army, with no hope of survival.
The Ink Clan contingent that had peeled off to intercept numbered roughly a hundred. At its head was a massively built Ink Clan Lord who wielded a colossal axe, radiating a fearsome presence. Before he even arrived, he hurled his axe from a distance toward the Dawn with tremendous force.
Where the axe's edge passed, space itself shattered. The violent force ignored the spatial barrier entirely and slammed into the Dawn.
With a thunderous boom, the Dawn shuddered slightly, its momentum momentarily slowed — but Dawn's side had long since activated the protective formation, and a transparent barrier enveloped the ship. The axe's force merely dented the barrier downward without dealing a scratch to the Dawn itself.
The Ink Clan Lord's expression flickered with surprise. He hadn't expected a human warship to possess such formidable defenses; his full-powered strike had accomplished nothing. This was clearly no ordinary human warship.
Before he could dwell on it, a figure shot out from the warship. The figure moved with extraordinary speed, wielding a long spear, and charged directly at him.
The Ink Clan Lord roared with savage fury, gripping his axe in one hand as he surged past his own Ink Clan ranks to meet the human head-on.
In the blink of an eye, one massive and one small figure collided in the void. Yang Kai's expression was cold, his spear thrusting like a coiling dragon.
The towering Ink Clan Lord suddenly felt an irresistible force crash into him, forcing his body to stagger backward. His massive hand gripping the axe trembled ever so slightly.
This shock was no small matter. For an Ink Clan of his towering stature, strength was never lacking — at the same rank, humans simply could not compete with them in raw power.
Yet today, an exception had appeared.
A surge of wild rage erupted within him, accompanied by an inexplicable sense of humiliation. His axe became a tempest as he cleaved downward at the diminutive human.
But what filled his vision was a sky full of spear shadows!
Clink, clink, clink — sparks flew in all directions. In the span of a single breath, the artifacts in both their hands had collided countless times. The fury in the Ink Clan Lord's eyes was extinguished, replaced by deep, bone-chilling horror.
That human had already shot past him without looking back. Immediately, the agonized screams of numerous Ink Clan erupted from behind him.
The Ink Clan Lord's hand gripping the axe was trembling violently — the consequence of colliding with an enemy whose strength far surpassed his own. But that was not the reason for his horror.
He stood rooted in place, his aura locked tight around his body, not daring to move even slightly.
But the Dawn was hurtling straight toward him, and now staying still was no longer an option.
The moment he shifted his body, his aura loosened — and deep in his consciousness, he heard a series of hissing sounds. With each hiss, massive blooms of ink-black blood erupted across his towering frame. In an instant, the Ink Clan Lord's aura plummeted by three thousand zhang.
In that single moment of exchanging blows with the human powerhouse, the other's spear had not only blocked every one of his attacks but had also carved countless wounds across his body.
When he had been suppressing everything with all his might, the injuries hadn't shown on the surface. Now that he could no longer suppress them, the wounds erupted all at once.
Who was that person? In all his years of fighting against humans, he had never encountered such a terrifying opponent. Based on the aura the other had displayed moments ago, he was indeed a Seventh Order Open Heaven cultivator — the same rank as his own Lord title. Yet the gap between their true strength was as vast as heaven and earth!
Had he not experienced it firsthand, he would never have believed it.
There was no time to dwell on it. The Dawn warship was already barreling toward him. At full strength, he wouldn't have feared a single human warship, but in his current state, he was a spent force — how could he possibly withstand its charge? He let out a piercing shriek and moved to dodge to the side.
But in that very instant, a thunderous boom erupted from the Dawn, and a lance-like attack shot forth from the ship's prow, transforming into a streak of light that pierced straight through the Ink Clan Lord's torso, obliterating half his body.
He was remarkably tenacious even in death. Knowing his demise was certain, he still raised his axe one final time and smashed it against the Dawn. But blocked by the protective formation, the blow accomplished nothing.