Sky-cracking Rider

The barrage of rockets that rained down from the sky turned the ground into a sea of fire, with lethal shrapnel flying in all directions. The elite soldiers of the "Undying Pigeon" legion, who had been relentlessly pursuing Chen Fei, almost plunged into the fiery hell, roaring with rage.

Several offensive spells soared into the sky, but the high mobility of the "Sky Falcon" left all these attacks falling short.

The Heavenly Sovereigns wielded a certain degree of flying ability, but within the atmosphere, without the right equipment, they could do nothing but watch helplessly as the specially constructed combat aircraft zoomed by.

Especially the Legion Commander Valenya, who led from the front, was so furious that he felt like he was about to burst, swinging his longsword on the ground and venting his impotent anger.

"Minante, it's too quiet, at least throw down a thermobaric bomb, or a cloud bomb would do!"

Chen Fei complained through the unencrypted public communication channel to Minante that the attack was incredibly weak, like a little girl baaing, not even causing a single enemy casualty.

"Huh? Are you insane?"

Minante was shocked; these were the words of a brutal and ruthless person.

For just these few people, was it necessary to resort to thermobaric bombs and cloud bombs?

Weren't they afraid of overkill?

They might as well have suggested dropping a "Dragon Slayer Missile" and put an end to everything for everyone.

That's exactly what Chen Fei was thinking—his hands weren't limited to just one "Dragon Slayer Missile."

But at the moment, the space series alchemy storage artifact holding the "Dragon Slayer Missiles" was being delivered by the female metallic giant dragon, Yilan, and was about to arrive soon.

The temperature plummeted suddenly, and the sea of fire belching out rolling heat waves turned into a few wisps of blue smoke in an instant. The scorched earth quickly got covered with a layer of white frost, and the layer of frost visibly thickened at an observable rate.

The spellcasters among the pursuers cast a water system spell to freeze, quickly putting out the fierce flames.

An eager figure, surrounded by a green wind battle qi flame, rushed through the low-temperature frozen zone, holding a great sword in both hands, and slashed fiercely at Chen Fei, who was clad in the "Dragon King" assault heavy armor.

The coordination among the Earth Order and Heavenly Order experts of the "Undying Pigeon" legion steadily improved, with less and less interference among themselves, and a growing understanding.

For Chen Fei, this was not good news.

Particularly since, once a Heavenly Sovereign fully unleashed their rule domain, he'd have no play left, so he must create as much distance as possible.

"Minante, your firepower is too weak, release all your ammo," Chen Fei urged without forgetting to press the incoming support, Minante, to fully commit.

Most aerial combat cases typically ended within two or three exchanges, and dogfights were rare. There was no need to conserve ammunition. Even if one intended to drag out the battle, it would depend on whether there were enough reserves of mobility energy and how many fault-free flying hours were left. Moreover, landing while loaded with ammo carried certain risks, so naturally, the best course of action was to drop everything and head home.

Minante's actions were typical of someone who hadn't seen enough real combat. In contrast, Chen Fei had struggled to survive through blood and fire, gaining broader experience that daily training flight hours could never provide.

A hundred hours of training flight couldn't compare to the first minute of actual combat.

After Chen Fei's merciless rebuke, Minante felt somewhat humiliated but retorted irritably, "Stop yapping, who's flying here, you or me?"

Despite the retort, actions ultimately spoke louder than words, as he altered his course and opened fire toward the ground without regard for Chen Fei's presence within the kill radius.

A dense barrage enveloped the sky as it rained down.

A faint light screen suddenly unfurled, and inside, hundreds of fireballs and boulders rose defiantly to meet the aerial attack, yet the pursuers' advance inevitably slowed down, increasing the distance between them and Chen Fei.

Explosions resounded incessantly in mid-air, even forming a fire cloud, but many attacks still fell down, striking against the light screen and stirring ripples.

An indestructible blue-white particle beam penetrated the defensive magic without any hindrance, only to break into countless points of light and dissipate in the air—a Heavenly Sovereign had unleashed his Rule Domain and forcibly neutralized the attack of the "Sky Falcon's" particle beam.

However, his Rule Domain extended over the others as well, causing significant interference with its strong exclusivity. War Professionals could still manage somewhat, with their Battle Qi Flame merely suppressed to some degree, but other spellcasters couldn't even successfully cast Earth Order spells.

At and above the Earth Order rank, ability users were actually better suited to fighting alone. Unless there was an appropriate tactic or a compatible elemental pairing, it was difficult for them to work smoothly together. For instance, one using fire spells while the other cast ice spells would render their efforts void upon combining—sometimes, one plus one did not equal two and could even be less than two or even zero.

Therefore, there was more internal conflict than the presumed augmentation of combat power.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit! Order the 'Sky Falcon' squad to take off immediately, right now, and shoot that 'Radiant Tiger' bastard down for me."

The Legion Commander of the "Undying Pigeon" legion, Valenya, issued the command, marking undoubtedly the unluckiest day for him—a mere B-ranked supernatural power user was slipperier than an oil-slick eel, and he, a venerable Legion Commander, had been made a fool of. Once he caught the brat, dismembering would be the very least he'd do. He had initially planned to spare the opponent's life, but now it seemed only death would quell his raging fury.

Most land combat legions owned not just ground forces but also a sizable contingent of aerial combat capabilities, like the small assembled combat aircraft "Sky Falcon" that made up the land aviation combat squads, as well as various classes and purposes of Light Wing Ships.

However, large-scale Constructed Aircraft like the Main Force Lightwing Ships were mostly assigned to independently organized large-scale combat fleets, and it was rare for a land combat legion to possess them, primarily due to logistical reasons. The daily operational costs of maintaining a Main Force Lightwing Ship were not trivial, with the expense of a few such ships being comparable to that of a fully staffed land combat legion.

Perhaps plagued by misfortune, during Chen Fei's disruption within the "Undying Pigeon" legion's base camp, railgun weapons blindly spewed metal bullets, accidentally destroying numerous constructed aircraft. Now, only two "Sky Falcons" had managed to take off intact, and without hesitation, Minante made his choice.

"The 'Undying Pigeon' legion's 'Sky Falcons' have taken off, 'Rookie,' I'll lure them away, you take care!"

Having Minante alone pilot the "Sky Falcon" to draw away the two "Sky Falcons" from the "Undying Pigeon" legion was the limit of what he could manage alone. Any more would be beyond his capability.

If the two "Sky Falcons" from the opposing side were to target Chen Fei, desperately fleeing on the ground, and bombard him with impunity like Minante did, it would not just be about escaping—he would probably struggle even to survive.

The natural suppressive advantage of air superiority over ground personnel was not lost on Minante, and Chen Fei was equally aware. Taking advantage of altitude and mobility to bully ground personnel was something they had often done.

"Then I'll leave it to you!"

As Minante continuously harassed pursuers, Chen Fei succeeded in widening the distance to over a thousand meters. Had it not been for the Psychic Series ability user on the other side who had a firm lock on him, he would have already made his escape.

Facing his highly skilled pursuers once more, Chen Fei remained utterly calm.

His confidence stemmed from the female Metallic Giant Dragon Yilan, who was expected to arrive within two minutes—with their combined forces and an ample supply of equipment and material, they should have no trouble ensuring their safety and escape, even if they could not defeat those Earth Order giants and Heavenly Sovereigns.

The two "Sky Falcons" of the "Undying Pigeon" legion had barely approached when Minante effortlessly hit them with a few long-distance bursts and then easily, smoothly made his escape, even the ground commander Valenya failed to notice anything amiss. As a land combat commander, he had limited understanding of aerial combat tactics and was unaware of the trade-offs involved.

With the air cover gone, the distance between Chen Fei and his pursuers shrank again. The situation seemed increasingly perilous, even on the brink of danger, but the former was playing a game of timing, counting on Yilan's arrival with her Space System Alchemy Storage Device—even if victory came in the final second.

500 meters!

300 meters!

200 meters!

The two were almost within reach.

A malevolent wind blew as a massive figure descended from the sky like a meteorite.

Boom!~