On the aircraft, the people looking out the window witnessed Yang Buchen’s powerful collision.

All kinds of emotions churned within their hearts.

This is what the Fogfolk are like. Ross’s gaze fell upon the distant battle, inwardly pondering the gap between the Fogfolk and the people of this land.

“So this must be why the gods sealed off the seas.“

……

Several giant birds with shimmering silver-blue feathers were approaching. Yang Zicang stood atop the massive carpet, its surface undulating gently with each evasive maneuver.

{President Buchen, don’t hesitate to ask for resource swaps if needed; I still have over ten thousand time points here. }

“Alright.“

Thwip!

The spear shuddered through the air, leaving streaks of light like rainbows piercing the void.

With a miserable shriek, this Sea Wing Beast, crowned with long, curly white hair, plummeted toward the coastline shrouded in rolling fog below.

Yang Zicang turned to look at the giant birds with a silvery-blue sheen that were converging on them rapidly.

Suddenly, another piercing cry tore through the sky.

Then, three completely pitch-black mutated demon birds shot out of the mist. Their wings were covered in metallic-looking scales, gleaming with a cold, sharp reflection under the setting sun.

{Be careful, President Buchen, the Major General said those scaly Blood Beasts are called ‘Blackwing King Eagles’. They are incredibly dangerous. }

These three giant birds exuded a dense killing intent, rocketing straight up like small fighter jets.

“I was hoping to learn a bit more about these so-called ‘Blood Beasts’… seems I’ll have to wait. “

BOOM! BOOM! Two streaks of black light, like colossal thorns, slammed into the giant carpet, making its surface bulge upward. Carrying an overwhelming aura of bloodline energy, they made it hard for the Musing Night to track their real-time trajectory.

｛Deploy!｝

{The pilot says that the piercing force they emit is as strong as steel; lots of cities have been destroyed by these birds. The common people are terrified of seeing them. }

｛White Shadow Mind Dragon!｝

Energy surged behind Yang Zicang. The phantom of the White Shadow Mind Dragon appeared, pierced straight through the giant carpet, and dived downward, charging towards the three beasts of solid black mutant plumage.

However, the Shadow Thought Dragon immediately summoned the psychic form of the Black Feather King Eagle, and its surging body suddenly lost momentum, plummeting toward the shoreline below. But as soon as the mutant beast’s psychic form came into contact with the blood-filled aura in the air, it began to tremble violently, almost as if showing signs of coming to life.

At the same time, the five silver-blue Sea Wing Beasts in the distance had also rushed closer.

About thirty meters outside the huge blanket, the two leading beasts suddenly accelerated, letting out a sonic boom as they charged.

The other three pursued the aircraft, while the distant five-propeller plane visibly accelerated sharply, its wings tilting as it rushed into the clouds above the coast.

“Ah! ” Inside the plane, Xue Qi covered her eyes with her hands, too afraid to look at the beastly figures charging alongside the aircraft. They seemed to possess some intelligence, relentlessly biting at the plane as they opened their immense beaks and fired two energy spheres, like missiles, hurtling toward them.

He Yishu had already pressed both palms against the window.

Bang!

A faint, hexagonal massive force field flickered and brightened for a moment amidst the vibrations. Li Senrui was at the rear, taking precautions.

Hailib Koni unbuckled her seatbelt again and, amid the turbulence, walked to a person-height box covered in fabric at the back of her seat, opened the door, and gripped the machine gun inside with one hand.

“Ah, that’s… ” Li Senrui was somewhat stunned, his eyes locked on the weapon that was only now revealed.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

Hailikoni steadied the machine gun’s recoil firmly, sending a dense stream of bullets tearing outward, which were immediately dragged into band-like lines by the high-speed aircraft and collided violently with a flying beast.

…….

Yang Zicang spread the five fingers of his right hand slightly while making a gesture; the enormous carpet beneath his feet trembled gently at his motion and gracefully carved an elegant arc through the air, narrowly evading the razor-sharp claws of two blue-feathered, aberrant avian monsters.

Suddenly his senses detected something minuscule—now materializing within the breadth of the Silent Night’s shrouding aura.

Among the dozens of bullets whirling through the sky, several soon penetrated within his controllable range. Three stripped, brass-jacketed bullet casings, having lost their headway, abruptly burst into streaks of crimson shimmering with dense, orange-tinted arcs of arcane lightning.

Like being reborn with brand-new vigor, those tumbling casings let out a sharp howl, simultaneously veering course midair to accelerate relentlessly toward the avian fiends!

Fwump-thump-pum!

Three harrowing screeches tore through the high expanses of the sky. The mutated birds clad in azure feathers swiftly wizened in desperate midair, eyes spurting blood, before plunging meteor-like to the ground.

-｛February. The Flute’s Caliber is appraising the glorious overture currently given life within me.｝

｛I’ve obtained a thrust of measured impetus, 627.3 N.｝

The two immense blue-plumed birds, caught shifting direction for another rampant strike across the heavens, witnessed this scene in sheer dread. Beholding it they felt their very organs shatter; with cries swathed in despair—anguished and terrified—they instantly keened and plummeted round, fleeing lost toward receding distance—escaping into the far skies.

……

Deep within the forest, several mountains away. A man with dull, textured shoulder boards, adorned with three diagonally aligned lion’s claw insignias, craned his gaunt neck, gazing into the distant, empty sky.

“Five of them, just like that? “

Click… click click…

Faint signals of a telegraph emanated from a temporary camp tent, camouflaged by a net of mottled foliage.

A private second class rushed out and ran to the lieutenant. The gaunt man snatched a piece of paper from his hand, glanced at it, and furrowed his brow.

It bore but a few decoded words.

—By any means necessary, detain the Fogfolk designated with the codename “Flying Carpet. “

The man’s pupils contracted.

“A codename, is it… Even at a time like this, a new fogperson deemed worthy of a number has appeared. “

Another telegraph arrived: URGENT – Target suspected of possessing the ability to control the trajectory of airborne objects.

He looked up at the sky.

“No wonder our losses are so severe today. “

That the intel arrived only now was a foregone conclusion—the Fogfolk must have caught wind of their operations and intervened in the nick of time.

This was the most troublesome scenario.

A perfectly laid plan, but a leak to the Fogfolk could shatter it all. For who knew how those eternally bored fogpeople might choose to stick their hands into the mix.

Like a man drained of all vitality, a gaunt figure walked toward the far end of the camp, where a bulge covered by a tattered camouflage net lay hidden. Three soldiers stood guarding it, never leaving their post—two held rifles, and one carried a mesh sack on his back. Inside the sack were shells with brass casings and tips made of hard rhombus-shaped crystal stones.

“『Snake Kiss』”I urge caution, Lieutenant! ” One of them snapped a salute.

The man gave a grunt, reached out, and peeled back the camouflage net.

Beneath it lay a pitch-black, ice-cold heavy cannon, its barrel long and sleek, like a beast in ambush gleaming with chill light.

“Lieutenant, are you planning to use it right now? “

“Yes, adjust the angle. “

“Roger that. But sir, once this round is fired, we’ll be completely exposed. Should this mission be called off? “

The one who asked was the logistics officer. The man nodded.

“After this shot, we leave immediately. Quickly aim it at those things in the sky. And this time, I will personally activate it. “

So saying, the lieutenant codenamed Snake Kiss faintly emanated chilly rays. They swirled together, distorting into wispy heat tremors covering his body. Within those tremors vaguely appeared endless tiny, unassuming ivy that grew and shattered, as well as flickering distortions of shallow spirit gazes writhing and swimming about, then diving solidly inside, only turning back down to become radiating electrical-dispersed outlines sculpted melting-horsed real.

The soldier hauling the crystal shells knelt on one knee, propping by the long cannon, scanning the horizon through binoculars. At once, he spoke in quick sequences taming me head:

“Elevation forty-five degrees, azimuth twelve grids southeast by east, lock target at an altitude between eighteen hundred and two thousand meters. “

Clank, clank, clank. The gun mount was being adjusted by one man while another operated the rotating base.

The gaunt lieutenant, with two faint rings of light glowing around his pupils, pressed his hand onto the ever-rising cannon barrel.

……

In the sky, Yang Zicang, having killed several giant birds, swiftly pursued the plane on his flying carpet.

{President Buchen, you’re truly amazing. }

Li Senrui was incredibly impressed.

{If only you were in our city, those awful bastards wouldn’t have been able to cause those tragedies back home. }

“It’s nothing. How are things on your end? I mean the plane.“

{Not bad. Miss Haili is awesome—she almost took down a seabird! Too bad those wild things are smart; they got away with just a scratch. }

In his perception feed, Yang Zicang witnessed that scene as well.

“Get ready to open the door. I’ll catch up to you soon. Remember to open it fully only when I arrive.“

{Got it. }

Inside the cabin, hearing that they could prepare to open the door at any time, Hailikoni let out a sigh of relief.

The flying carpet rapidly accelerated toward the plane waiting at a steady speed. Through the vertical oval porthole on the hatch, Hailikoni could already see the large rug and the silhouette of the young man atop it. She waved her hand.

Outside, Yang Zicang waved back and pointed toward the hatch.

Suddenly, an indescribably imposing aura materialized beneath the massive carpet.

A blazing projectile, carrying terrifying force, shot straight into the clouds.

Yang Zicang barely registered what had happened before instinct kicked in, and he tried to redirect the object by manipulating his abilities—only to find he couldn’t even override its momentum!

“Grid suppression!“

Boom!

The flying carpet heaved violently! A spreading web of bloodline power instantly swathed the carpet in a temporary cocoon.

The carpet’s surface abruptly buckled into a cramped, crooked shape, and those on it were hurled high into the air!

In that fleeting moment of separation, Yang Zicang grasped wildly several times but failed to seize the mana-stream of the carpet. Now untethered from its steady posture, the carpet wove into a distorting snake-like mass of energy and plunged to the ground in a chaotic freefall.

“Koni!” Aris! Haili Koni slammed open the cabin door, and the gale nearly yanked her halfway through the opening.

With swift precision, He Yishu crushed an Ability Sphere, yanked the nearly-falling woman back inside, and—levering the balance and speed granted by the sphere—charged to the doorway. With a loud bang, he pulled the cabin door shut.

Xue Qi glued her face to the porthole. “Buchen!“

She saw Yang Buchen and the trampled wad of the great carpet as they plunged, falling and separate, toward the vast gray ground below.

“Is he going to die?!” Haili Koni’s voice trembled with panic.

Major General Ross sat in morose silence. Only then did he speak with a flat, hardened tone.

“Fogfolk don’t die from falls. Come back and sit down, Connie. “

The sun had never been this blinding.

As he fell, Yang Zicang finally understood the control range of the giant carpet.

He just never expected it would be under these circumstances.

Beyond seventy or eighty meters, his control over the Flying Carpet would grow increasingly difficult. But even as it fell, it drifted towards him.