Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

Cedro remembered very clearly, the acid would burn and corrode a person's flesh, turning them into a piece of black charcoal, you could even see the blood vessels on it.

A 900-degree flame wouldn't kill a person directly; a worker crawled with difficulty, his whole body twisted, resisting for several minutes before a passing soldier crushed his skull with one foot.

Life Dissolution is a very efficient spell; the living are hit by a green glow, and then chromosomes spray outward, cells can no longer maintain structure, and mortals turn into a puddle of liquid as soon as they are hit. If you look through a microscope, you can even see how the red blood cells dissolve.

Being pierced by ice isn't too frightening; at least they curl up, deceived by the cold and bleeding in their perception, they smile wretchedly bit by bit, then mutter 'Mom, I am so cold' and remove their clothes — that's just the expression of the dead being solidified, always so lifelike.

Cedro took a drag on his cigarette and slowly exhaled smoke.

"Half a year ago, I was still in school."

He raised his hand and connected to the war's local magic network, trying to download a simple [Healing Spell], but the spell's Arcane Glow only showed a cold line: 'Frequency is occupied.'

"(Baizhu slang) A commander who eats in a pigsty."

He cursed, looking up at the scattered corpses of his team in the hall, thinking angrily:

"He screwed us all over!"

At three in the morning, he had just launched a raid on the Clone Center with the members of the assault team.

Originally, they planned to teleport to four hundred meters above ground and perform a high-speed breakthrough from low altitude. At such a low height, the Night Butterfly's sensor wouldn't detect them. This would be a perfect low-altitude penetration, entering the factory from various weak points, placing spell bombs, and teleporting away.

However, somehow the information got leaked.

As soon as they landed, a spacetime jammer was activated around them, followed by a siege by a squad of Mechanical Paladins. They had to enter the facility and use the terrain for urban combat.

The Mechanical Paladins stood eight meters tall, each one a transformed soldier of the Night Butterfly elite, chanting scriptures, blessed by the Night Mother, able to leap forward within shadows. With the blessing of the mech-slaves' scripture, their six-barreled Fire God Cannon was imbued with spirituality; the bullet chain spread in mid-air, bypassing cover and hitting Cedro's colleagues.

This was not an opponent they could handle.

Cedro and his companions fought fiercely, covering the magic engineers in planting bombs. Fortunately, they completed their task, the bombs were detonated, sending the entire Clone Center skywards, the magical flames swallowed two Mechanical Paladins, their engines were affected, and their power reduced.

However, what was the price?

'Little Radish' sacrificed himself; he was a cute little Mage, the joy of the team, capable of comedy and singing opera. He set up a sniper spell on the clock tower, covering his comrades' retreat but was blown apart by mortar shelling from a Night Butterfly Man who was furious after Little Radish killed an enemy commander.

The cook had his right arm chopped off by a Mechanical Paladin; the Chainsaw Sword gutted him. Before dying, he cursed 'Idealist Madman,' while activating the Ocean Scroll on him, summoning the caustic salt sea to drown the enemy. Until he sacrificed, Cedro didn't remember his name. Only his beef pot from last night and the phrase 'I can take a bullet for you, but you can't say my cooking is bad.'

The Summoned Soldier Shuya Carvor was a noble hero. She despised living a carefree life in big cities like those so-called 'Independent Females' and actively responded to the nation's calling. She had been a volunteer, rescued many refugees, and organized fundraisers, and now personally rode a Dual-horned Horse, attracting the attention of enemy mechanics to let the task succeed. Yet she herself, such a good person, was burnt to ashes by a flamethrower.

What about Cedro?

He fought his way through barriers and stealth, killing civilians without hesitation to survive, but as he was about to escape the combat zone, he got hit by a stray shot from an outer-space battleship!

Cedro felt conflicted yet calm.

In this deserted wilderness, not knowing when enemies might arrive — he held a Magic Scroll. If they tried to capture him, he'd use it straightaway.

He carried lots of intelligence on counterattack orders and couldn't be captured.

Moreover, falling into the hands of these Idealist Madmen, he would inevitably have his skull opened, and scanned for information by machines.

Although he was prepared to go down with them, Cedro still felt waves of regret.

——Had I known, I would have followed my family to the Crystal Tower; why enlist, better to stay honestly on Baizhu Star.

It's said Baizhu Star is developing well now, and property prices in his remote area have increased more than tenfold, a large number of Azure Star immigrants filled low-level job positions. Although the quality isn't great, life is quite happy.

Damn the recruitment officer, damn the Crystal Tower, I'll definitely go back with my rifle and Magic Guidebook and kill that recruitment officer; why doesn't he come here to the front?

He raised his head, watching the intertwined beams explode in the sky. Expensive warships occasionally got hit by Thruster-equipped or Meteor Spell and fell like meteors.

He suddenly thought, it seems no matter how far war develops, its essence is still just throwing rocks at each other.

But it seems he doesn't really have the qualification to mock others — compared to those sitting in ships throwing stones, at least he could breathe some natural air in the planetary fortress and had a whole cow yesterday. Meanwhile, they have to use urine and sweat to purify water for brewing coffee, and every meal is mushrooms and carbon dioxide starch.

"Haha, what a rotten world this is."

Cedro chuckled, holding a cigarette:

"Once believed reaching Zeta Rank (6) would make me a dragon among men and a society elite, free from worries for life, yet unknowingly having to brave fires for mortals, diving into danger and death."

This thought is quite counterintuitive; the more effort exerted, the closer to death, better to be an ordinary mortal, staying on Mother Star, letting those 'Earthbound Deities' kill each other."

But thinking of those Night Butterfly Workers and captives he killed so effortlessly, Cedro couldn't laugh anymore.

Because his father was merely a Security Guard for a workshop, and his mother an apprentice worker at a clothing workshop, doing the most basic Enchantment work.

"Damn this war..."

Cedro closed his eyes.

He heard the gunfire never ceased before; although he used to be indifferent to military, now could distinguish the various weapon sounds whistling by.

The Night Butterfly Man's gunfire is complex; if it's a gunpowder weapon, then it's all kinds of whistle-like shrieks, or a railgun, often accompanied by the 'dong' from electromagnetic coil accelerating shots, like a hammer striking down, very fierce, and brutal.

The Magic Rifle shots are all kinds of magic. Beam-type would make 'swish' or 'beam' sounds, and with extreme range, often one person can guard a 10-kilometer trench. Molding-type spells have no sound, making 'whoosh' as they fly.

Among all magic, Wind Blade's sound is the most bizarre. Because of its hypersonic speed, often several seconds pass after a Wind Blade is fired, before a crisp 'whistle' is heard.

Although very fast, almost no one equips Wind Blade magic — because space is truly a vacuum.

It's only due to very long distance, without Observation Magic, impossible to know if one's hit the enemy.

Actually, his job was quite decent because more were deployed on asteroids and in meteor belts, tens of kilometers apart, unable to hear a person's voice, often couldn't change position for tens of days.

The characteristic of magical civilization tends towards ultra-long-range engagements.

While technological civilization's trait is large-scale fleet formations, intense artillery battles.

As a result, this made battles exceptionally brutal, often fighting for a long time without knowing what the opponent even looks like.

But this is only in the early stage.

Once the battle enters a fever pitch, both sides start fighting over bases, fortresses acquisition.

Thus, the fight enters the more terrifying stage, the reason why the Eye of the Galaxy is called a 'meat grinder.'

Orbit landing battle.

This is a complex operation combining urban street battle, airborne operation, open field confrontation, and close-range aerial dogfight.

In Star-level civilizations' fights, firepower is always excessive.

For ground forces, watching for friendly fire is even more imperative than guarding against enemy bombing, as you never know when a Neutron Torpedo might land right in front of you.

Cedro fared slightly better; at least what fell on him was a 450mm caliber solid shell, likely from some destroyer's electromagnetic cannon.

Had it been a magic laser cannon from allies, well, by now he would have met the father of science.

As Cedro comforted himself in this way, he suddenly heard footsteps.

The Night Butterfly Man had arrived!