AEKMEM chapter 81

Everyone looked up at the fierce, majestic, flame-engulfed black dragon in the sky.

The soldiers of the Second Army Corps were excited to see their commander arrive.

Although only Chu Heng had arrived, his main army wouldn’t arrive by starship so quickly.

However, Chu Heng’s arrival was enough.

The black dragon swooped down, its flames transforming into hundreds of thousands of firebirds that attacked the Zerg army.

The sky was filled with firebirds—a magnificent yet perilous sight.

The firebirds crashed into the Zerg, igniting them. Hundreds of thousands of Zerg cried out in terror amidst the flames, but they were instantly reduced to ashes.

The negligible live-streaming aerial sphere was caught in the blast wave and reduced to dust. Viewers of the live stream only caught a brief glimpse of the black dragon and the sky full of firebirds before the stream went blank.

However, at that moment, no one on the battlefield cared.

—The Queen Zerg escaped!

The Zerg Queen, already somewhat intimidated by An Qiao’s attack form, sensed deadly danger when Chu Heng’s black dragon beast form appeared in the sky, engulfed in flames. Having fought Chu Heng to mutual injury before, she frantically ordered her Zerg guards to self-destruct to block An Qiao. Then, she used her innate spatial talent to escape.

Although a wisp of the Demon King’s soul possessed it and could usually influence its rationality, there were still moments when it couldn’t suppress its own instincts, such as right now when it sensed extreme danger. Dealing with An Qiao alone was overwhelming enough; adding Chu Heng, who had fought it to mutual injury, would be suicide.

Therefore, even though the demonic soul within it was frantically trying to kill its enemy, An Qiao—the Zerg Queen, who was inherently cautious and cowardly—suppressed the demonic soul’s consciousness and fled swiftly at the crucial moment.

The soldiers of the Second Legion were initially stunned, then overwhelmed with joy.

Without the Zerg queen’s mental control, the Zerg army would be in chaos and lack the fearless, self-destructive ruthlessness it possessed when she was present. This would make them much easier to deal with.

The black dragon swooped down toward An Qiao, transforming into a handsome man just before reaching the ground.

Chu Heng was disappointed that the Zerg queen had fled in fear upon seeing his black dragon beast form.

However, traveling by black dragon was faster than by starship. He worried that An Qiao would struggle against the Queen alone, so he rushed over impatiently.

Fortunately, An Qiao didn’t seem to be seriously injured.

However, some injuries are not visible.

Wasn’t An Qiao trying to hide his elf form? If nothing unexpected had happened, why had he switched back to his elf form now?

Chu Heng’s worried heart hadn’t settled. He was about to ask An Qiao if he was injured anywhere.

An Qiao said with a hint of regret, “Why did you switch back to human form so quickly?”

Chu Heng: “… ”

He forgot that Qiao Qiao was obsessed with his black dragon beast form. Others were plush toy lovers; Qiao Qiao was a dragon lover!

Although this black dragon beast form was him too, he still felt a little jealous.

Besides, how could he get close to An Qiao if he didn’t switch back to human form?

Chu Heng stepped forward and hugged An Qiao tightly. His tone was somewhat resentful and clingy. “Qiao Qiao didn’t even say he missed me.”

As he spoke, he pinched An Qiao’s elf ear lightly as “revenge.”

An Qiao: “… ”

In front of so many people, hugging and cuddling, even pinching the elf’s ears—it’s so unladylike!

The elf king, whose idol image weighs eight tons, was about to say something.

Chu Heng released his hand and lowered his deep rose-colored eyes to gaze at him. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No.” An Qiao felt warmth in his heart and shook his head.

After pausing, he looked at Chu Heng and added, “Luckily, you arrived in time.”

Considering how hard Chu Heng had worked to come, An Qiao wanted to say something nice to make him happy.

**

Recognizing the gravity of the situation, An Qiao and Chu Heng swiftly returned to work after exchanging only a few words.

They did not immediately pursue the Queen because she had already used her spatial abilities to escape a considerable distance, making her unattainable in the short term.

Furthermore, although the Queen had escaped, the Red and Blue Stars were sealed off, preventing her from leaving for the time being. The spatial portal she used to enter was different from the one she would need to use to leave, and opening a new portal would not be easy.

Currently, the Queen was likely heading toward a dark stone deposit near another spatial portal.

However, without the help of her Zerg subordinates and their power links, the Queen could not quickly absorb the dark stone to advance her rank.

The Queen and her Zerg subordinates were essentially symbiotic. The Queen’s strength determined the strength of her subordinates. Her presence provides the Zerg with cohesion. A portion of the power gained by Zerg subordinates from consuming resources is fed back to the Queen through a special internal Zerg link, strengthening her.

Furthermore, the Queen also grows stronger by consuming powerful Zerg subordinates.

However, the Queen requires enormous resources and immense power to grow stronger.

Right now, An Qiao and Chu Heng’s most important task is to eliminate part of the Zerg army. This will reduce pressure on the Second Legion’s soldiers and minimize casualties. Once the other contingent of soldiers arrives and joins forces, the Second Legion can crush the Zerg army and then assassinate the Zerg Queen.

The most crucial task is still to eliminate the Zerg Queen.

It’s understandable that the Zerg Queen fled out of fear, but it’s strange that she left alone. She is afraid of death and is usually accompanied by a considerable number of powerful Zerg guards. Her departure alone seems inexplicable.

With Chu Heng’s addition, the Second Legion is now even more powerful. In contrast, the Zerg army appears chaotic and lacks morale without the Queen’s control.

An Qiao’s Sword of Light and Chu Heng’s fire-based abilities slashed through the Zerg with incredible speed, rapidly reducing their numbers in their wake. Furthermore, the Second Legion suffered relatively few casualties thanks to An Qiao’s light-attribute healing abilities.

However, it was unlikely that they could unleash a second attack like An Qiao’s initial one, which unleashed hundreds of thousands of light arrows, or one like Chu Heng’s, which incinerated hundreds of thousands of Zerg in one fell swoop. They needed to conserve their strength to focus on eliminating the Zerg Queen.

Shortly afterward, another contingent of the Second Legion arrived to join them.

Following the trail of the Zerg Queen displayed on the “Zerg Queen Detector,” An Qiao and Chu Heng temporarily placed their adjutant, Jiang Qi, in command and pursued it.

**

News that Crown Princess An Qiao was an elf quickly spread throughout the empire.

Everyone was shocked and disbelieving.

Elves had previously appeared on Water Blue Star, and with the advent of live broadcasting, almost everyone in the empire knew that an elf had appeared.

However, the elf hadn’t revealed its face at that time, so no one had seen what it looked like. They only knew that, although its face hadn’t been revealed, it was extremely beautiful—dazzling, aloof, and mysterious, with an imposing aura.

Almost everyone dreams of finding an elf or catching a glimpse of one. Getting an autograph and a photo would be even better!

However, because elves are so powerful and mysterious, no one connects An Qiao with them.

In the public’s mind, An Qiao is a failed “elf person,” pale and frail, seemingly about to collapse in the wind—a max-level parasitic vine with only a pretty face.

Almost everyone believes that this “useless” person was lucky enough to be chosen by the brain system and matched with Crown Prince Chu Heng. This allowed him to become his Crown Princess and climb the social ladder by marrying Chu Heng, the empire’s strongest beastman.

Many openly and subtly mocked An Qiao while others self-righteously believed he was unworthy of the crown prince. These negative comments later almost disappeared from the Star Network under the forceful intervention of Chu Heng.

Who would have imagined that An Qiao, whom everyone considered a “parasitic vine,” was actually the elf they had been searching for?

A beautiful and powerful elf!

An Qiao’s livestream videos from the battlefield went viral, driving the empire’s people into a frenzy.

How could there be such a beautiful, powerful elf? The elf on the battlefield was stunningly beautiful and terrifyingly powerful. He was so dazzling and captivating!

They must have been blind to think that An Qiao was merely a parasitic vine clinging to Prince Chu Heng.

The appearance of Prince Chu Heng’s black dragon form at the end of the livestream was thrilling.

Although it exuded an oppressive aura, looking ferocious and dangerous and inspiring fear, it was incredibly powerful!

It was incredibly powerful!

Especially when the black dragon, engulfed in flames, looked down from the sky, its blood-red, vertical pupils piercing the clouds and the sky full of firebirds. The dragon stared at the silver-haired elf on the ground with a gaze that seemed to stretch back an eternity. The scene was simply breathtaking and utterly captivating!

The people of the Empire were also closely following the battle on Red and Blue Star.

They had confidence in Chu Heng, the Second Army Marshal who had once defeated the Zerg.

Now, with the addition of An Qiao—a powerful, healing elf with terrifying strength—the people of the Empire held even higher hopes for this battle.

However, despite their confidence, they couldn’t help but worry about the battle’s uncertain outcome, especially against such a powerful nemesis as the Zerg.

They prayed that An Qiao, Chu Heng, and the valiant soldiers of the Second Army would all return safely.

**

Compared to the forces deployed in the previous battle, this one was relatively small-scale.

The Zerg Queen had not originally intended to start a major war at this time. She only wanted to devour the darkstone on Red-Blue Star to advance in rank. After reaching a height no previous Zerg Queen had achieved by breaking through the 3S peak, she would lead a massive invasion of the human empire.

However, a wisp of the Demon King’s remnant soul possesses her and manipulates her with hatred and a desire for revenge against An Qiao in the Human Empire. This makes her eager to invade Red and Blue Star.

This Zerg Queen is the most talented and strongest in the history of the Zerg race.

In the past, Zerg queens who seemed weak in comparison could easily crush the human empire. With her power, conquering the entire Human Empire and devouring all of its planets’ resources would be easy!

Therefore, not long ago, it led its Zerg army in an ambitious invasion of human planets, hoping to devour as many resources quickly as possible in order to reach the 3S-class peak. At that time, it was unaware of the dark stone on Red and Blue Stars, nor did it know that this dark stone held immense energy capable of helping it advance to the next level. It was only after the Demon King’s soul possessed it that it discovered this.

Hoping to advance rapidly by absorbing resources during this invasion, the Zerg queen hadn’t anticipated the emergence of the most powerful beastmen in human history within the human empire. Equal in strength but even more ruthless and fearless, they attacked with a ferocious, self-destructive style that left the queen trembling in fear.

She could not win. Although the Zerg army had a slight advantage in battle, it was not significant, and excessive Zerg losses affected her as well, albeit only slightly.

Frustrated, the Zerg queen retreated, realising that continuing the fight would offer little benefit.

She planned to absorb resources slowly to advance, and then invade the human empire again in a few years. Before retreating, she feigned weakness, pretending to be severely wounded.

Based on its memories of humanity, it knew that humans were prone to infighting, power struggles and self-righteousness.

It hoped that, during this time, the humans would defeat the powerful and annoying leader, or at least strip them of their power and right to lead the army.

It hoped that humanity would be unprepared for the Zerg army’s reinvasion in a few years’ time. In the past, Zerg invasions of human empires had taken decades because previous Zerg queens were not as powerful, and the army did not recover quickly after sustaining damage in battle. Now, however, with its most powerful queen, the Zerg army can recover its strength and numbers more quickly.

The queen had also cunningly instructed her subordinates to administer a rare poison from a newly mutated species within her race to several humans of considerable status. This poison was potent enough to allow her to control humans through mental power, though it would take time to infiltrate and control them.

She planned for these humans to coordinate an attack when she invaded the human empire again in a few years. Ideally, during this period, these humans would gradually eliminate individuals who posed a threat to the insectoid race.

However, not long after the retreat, a remnant of a demon king’s soul possessed her.

The Demon King’s soul was consumed by hatred, craving for the dark stones that had tempted it and a desire for power and advancement. It decided to invade the Red and Blue Star, which possessed dark stone deposits, as quickly as possible.

However, it miscalculated once again!

Besides that powerful and detestable human, another terrifyingly strong elf appeared!

That’s right — an elf!

Several previous Zerg Queens had been defeated by elves and had only escaped by sheer luck.

The fastest way for a Zerg Queen to ascend to power is to devour the previous one, absorbing her memories along with her power.

The Zerg Queens’ fear of elves is passed down through the generations.

However, the Demon King’s remnant soul carried a deep, bone-engraved hatred for this elf, influencing it and pushing it to desperately want to kill the elf.

The Zerg Queen quickly fled to the vicinity of another spatial portal.

—It hadn’t lost yet, hadn’t completely miscalculated!

**

In the twilight, a breathtakingly beautiful, silver-haired elf arrived, riding a black dragon.

“Not good! The Zerg Queen is summoning the insectoids through the spatial portal!

—To be precise, while absorbing energy from the Dark Stone, the Zerg Queen screeched and used her mental power in a special way to summon the Zerg through the spatial portal.

A small number of Zerg had already been summoned.

Chu Heng hadn’t expected that, while previous Zerg Queens couldn’t control the Zerg race remotely, this one could summon them through a spatial portal from a distance thanks to its unprecedented power.

Seeing An Qiao and Chu Heng arrive so quickly, the Zerg Queen tried to escape again.

—It wasn’t strong enough to resist yet!

However, Chu Heng and An Qiao stopped it in time.

An Qiao, riding a black dragon, held a silver-white bow and arrow formed from light magic in mid-air. He fired an arrow whose tip carried terrifying light magic, forming a semi-transparent, invisible barrier that blocked the Zerg Queen’s escape.

Meanwhile, Chu Heng unleashed a massive flap of his wings in his black dragon form, conjuring a wall of scorching flames that blocked the Zerg Queen’s retreat.

While Chu Heng and An Qiao might not have been able to stop the Zerg Queen’s strong spatial abilities and elusive nature alone, together they were more than capable of holding her back.

Unable to move forward or backward, the Zerg Queen roared with anger, impatience and fear.

At that moment, Chu Heng and An Qiao landed, flanking the Zerg Queen on both sides. Chu Heng had also switched back to his human form.

Unable to escape, the Zerg Queen could only control the summoned Zerg to self-destruct, using this as cover and protection while attempting to escape.

Just then:

‘Watch out!’ Chu Heng’s pupils dilated suddenly as he shouting in panic.

No one expected that the Zerg Queen, normally cautious and afraid of death, who had just been desperately trying to flee, would—under the influence of the Demon King remnant soul’s deep hatred—suddenly charge madly at An Qiao and actually self-destruct!

The Zerg Queen’s self-destruction was terrifyingly powerful.

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