NOVEL NEXT Chapter 72: Cannon Fodder
This world is known as N.E.R.H No. 925874/632/8, one of Rachel's rank 13 worlds.
It was once a Rank 11 civilization, but Rachel invaded and took it over. She usually targets worlds up to Rank 11, as Rank 12 and 13 are too hard to crack, and she can't steal their universal law, so conquering them costs far more than it yields.
N.E.R.G No. 925874/632/8 is not an ordinary world. It serves as a regional headquarters for Rachel.
The main Rachel prefers to focus on long-term planning, leaving most of the control to her regional branches.
Almost all matters related to incarnations are handled by them, with the main Rachel only managing regional headquarters.
This world is protected by thousands of Rank 11 and tens of thousands of Rank 10 worlds, and it is itself at Rank 13.
It is well hidden, and its surroundings are usually silent.
But today, everything has changed!
The Anti-Rachel alliance has detected this world and encircled it.
Now, more than twenty Rank 12 beings and one Rank 13 being are here; they are getting ready to launch an attack.
Setting up a Battle formation is a difficult task in the endless space.
A battle formation must include many universal laws, including at least one universal law related to time.
Time only exists in worlds, not in endless space. Chaos energy assaults everything, even time.
Time water will disappear in the endless space very quickly.
To move forward in the endless space, one must carry their own time water; otherwise, they can't advance. If someone enters the endless space without it, they will freeze forever as soon as they run out of the natural time water in their body.
There are other ways to move in the endless space besides time water. One can use time-related universal laws or complete laws to travel through time. Dyer has no problem moving in the endless space because his complete law can naturally produce 'time water.'
In theory, one would freeze in time if they entered the endless space without preparations, but high-ranking beings always find a way, so it's not an issue in practice.
However, in these battles, the battle formation must also provide time water for lower-ranking beings, who will be used as cannon fodder.
The time in the universe is governed by one universal law of time, permanently active. It is controlled by 'office,' and only they own it.
'Office' is the reason why the time is consistent. Without them, time would be extremely erratic; maybe one second here in this world would be a sextillion years in that world.
Because of 'Office,' the default time everywhere is consistent.
Of course, if one wants to change the default, one can do it.
But nobody does it, at least in their headquarters, because it can significantly limit communication with other civilizations.
In the long run, it's a terrible idea.
Speeding up time in a whole world would increase the cost. It just won't make sense.
Creating a Battle formation in the endless space will be hard. To do that, one has to resist the corrosion of chaos and overrule the universal law of time with a more specialized one.
Office allows one to regulate time in a world, but to do it in the endless space, one must overrule the universal law of time.
That's why even most Rank 13 civilizations can't create a battle formation. However, the Anti-Rachel alliance had many civilizations, so they had the means.
A Battle formation is essential for large-scale wars. It prevents the enemy from freezing time and escaping with their world; it prevents the cannon fodders from dying by the chaos energy; it prevents the space trash from leaking out.
To break free, the defenders have to destroy or overrule the formation.
But overruling a formation requires overruling all of its universal laws. This formation is a very specialized one. Rachel can only escape by revealing her trump card universal laws. That would be a victory for anti-Rachel. Information is more precious than a Rank 12 world.
Rachel can also use much realization energy to suppress the formation temporarily.
But its cost is too much, and no matter how much energy she puts in, anti-Rachel puts more into preventing the formation's universal laws from being suppressed.
...
Lin Ming was leading this battle personally.
Everyone was amazed by it.
He is the strongest fighter of the Anti-Rachel alliance, so his presence boosted morale immensely.
He won't join the fight unless Rachel's main body shows up to save her headquarters.
He is the chief of all forces here, appointed by the four bosses of the shared mind.
"Attack," he ordered telepathically.
The plan and formations were ready, so they only waited for the signal.
Anti-Rachel unleashed its cannon fodder army. Anyone below Rank 10 is cannon fodder, used to wear out the enemy.
Hundreds of millions of Rank 9 and countless lower ranks attacked from all sides.
Rachel's headquarters was defended by thousands of Rank 11 worlds and tens of thousands of Rank 10 worlds, each with many low-grade warriors.
Before the invaders arrived, the worlds opened their doors and sent out their defenders.
Worlds themselves also attacked with powerful weapons, killing hundreds of Rank 9 invaders with each strike.
This is good for Anti-Rachel.
Rank 9 and below are useless.
Some Rank 9s have the talent and potential to discover new complete laws, but they would never be used in such battles.
Rank 9s here were all old and hopeless ones who would die of old age anyway. Why not use them as cannon fodder and drain the enemy?
After a few hours, most of the cannon foders died! Then, the second wave! Hundreds of millions more Rank 9 and countless lower ranks came again and attacked.
The Anti-Rachel alliance had plenty of cannon fodder. They were a collection of countless civilizations, each with a duty to contribute.
They could contribute complete laws, energy, or cannon fodder. Most chose the latter. By removing old and hopeless, they made room for new talent and filled their contribution spot. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
The second wave of cannon fodders also died in a few hours. The third wave came; also, hundreds of millions Rank 9, innumerable lower ranks. The fourth, the fifth, the hundredth, the thousandth wave!
Hundreds of billions of Rank 9s died in this battle so far!
Many worlds were severely damaged and on the brink of destruction. Many had no energy to fight or defend.
Even Rank 9 attacks could destroy worlds with enough hits.
"The next round," Lin Ming ordered.
The plan was to send a thousand rounds of cannon fodder, but a thousand obviously wasn't enough.
The dead cannon fodders were weak, so no one cared.
In wars, personal stories don't matter. Many of the killed were good and righteous people. They were parents, ancestors, leaders, teachers – they all had long stories to tell.
But they were weak.
Weakness is a sin.
In this war, the high-ranks didn't care about casualties, as if watching microbes fight.
It went on until the 3611th round.
Almost a trillion Rank 9 and an incomprehensible number of lower ranks died.
By now, Rachel's cannon fodders long died, and all rank 10 and 11 worlds were also destroyed.
"Start the second phase!" Lin Ming ordered.
The Rank 13 world didn't help the Rank 11 and Rank 10 worlds at all.
Anti-Rachel didn't send cannon fodder this time. They weren't wasteful; they knew their cannon fodder couldn't damage universal laws.
The only way was to overrule them or suppress them with Realization energy.
Destroying a universal law is impossible.
Even if a universal law's civilization gets destroyed, the office would control it; the law itself would be fine.
Rank 12 beings appeared. Only they could do this part.
Each was from a different civilization; all were bosses and leaders. T
hey were from civilizations looted the most by Rachel, so they volunteered for this round.
If they died, their complete law could still be used by their civilizations.
They did this by registering their civilization as the owner.
As bosses, they could use universal law, and if they died, their civilization could choose a successor.
Because the owner is their civilization, unless the civilization is destroyed, it will not use the universal law.
They all came ready with huge energy reserves.
All 20 of them formed a 20-edged suppression formation and started inputting energy.
The Rank 13 world had two universal laws. But against twenty Rank 12 bosses, who controlled 20 universal laws together, it was suppressed.
The world started to break apart, and a chain reaction began.
A Rank 13 world has a huge amount of energy. Many civilizations struggle to organize it and waste a lot.
Not everyone can code like Rachel.
She is a coding master who can do anything with energy. Some of her incarnations are not good, but the main Rachel is the best coder in Rank 13.
The chain reaction was abnormal. Some Rank 12s noticed and frowned, but Lin Ming ignored them and told them to continue.
The chain reaction continued until the critical moment when a blast beyond the understanding of anyone below Rank 12 happened!
Boom!
Everything near it was wiped out at a speed much faster than light. All Rank 12s died instantly, unable to resist at all. The formation was totally destroyed.
The blast spread, even without time water. It was so strong that it pushed space and moved forward, without time.
Many nearby worlds were ruined, and space debris flew around at high speed.
This is a disaster!
Space junks are hazardous and could destroy all the worlds in the universe.
One piece of debris hit a world, destroying it and making more debris; then, more debris hit more worlds, causing even more debris.
No one could have guessed Rachel would do this.
One reason is that space debris is terrible for Rachel, too.
It was a suicidal act. With this, the Anti-Rachel had to be more careful.
Because even if they destroyed Rachel, if she decided to take everyone with her, she could blow up her worlds.
Something that big can destroy most of the universe!
It was a warning from Rachel.
...
Lin Ming appeared far away, unharmed.
Even his silk clothes were intact.
As a Rank 13, who controlled over 1000 universal laws, he had many ways to escape or even stop the blast completely. But he didn't.
No one would suspect he had any role in this because he swore an oath with a 'trade' as a witness!
That is a Rank 14 civilization; no one ever suspects that another Rank 14 civilization helped him avoid the oath.
Even if they knew, they wouldn't dare to say it. A conflict between two Rank 14 civilizations is too scary; no one could get involved.
He watched the incredible light of the blast far away, a slight smile on his lips; then he teleported away.
He had to go to the headquarters of Anti-Rachel and tell the bosses Personally.