As time dragged on, the impending nuclear detonation seemed to draw ever closer. Was the bomb set on a timer? “Garcia!”

Gangdi hurled his light-skill, shoving Master Garcia forcefully backward, but he did not pursue.

Master Garcia retreated a few steps, holding his light-saber in a defensive posture. He scoffed, “Are you afraid?”

“What nonsense are you spouting! If you’re going to die, you’ll die with me!” Gangdi roared, stomping his foot down. The alloy ground beneath him seemed to ripple like a wave, and a screeching sound of twisting metal erupted wildly as a powerful shockwave propagated across the ground toward Master Garcia.

“Go die by yourself! I won’t accompany you!” Master Garcia also stomped his foot, launching an opposing shockwave forward.

The two shockwaves collided, and the alloy floor exploded open as if blooming, the metal plates tearing apart like sheets of paper. The jagged, distorted cross-sections split the entire corridor in two.

Master Garcia shifted his footing, vanishing without a trace in an instant.

Gangdi lifted his foot, then settled it down, ultimately choosing not to give chase. He muttered, “Coward, running away just like that. I’ll spare your life today, hmph!”

As his voice faded, he too shifted his stance, using Suo Di to depart, but in the opposite direction from Master Garcia.

Outside Fortress Number One, Qingfeng and Mingyue gathered the assembled personnel.

After the operation, more than ten injured comrades were carried or hauled back to the starting point by their fellow soldiers, but the thirty-odd soldiers who died inside the fortress could not be brought out.

“Everyone who could withdraw from Fortress Number One, aside from Master Garcia, has been evacuated. What do we do now?” After taking the headcount, Mingyue asked Qingfeng.

“Withdraw, Li Xuan!”

The speaker was Master Garcia, who had appeared the moment Mingyue finished speaking.

“Yes,” the others replied.

They swiftly mounted their hoverbikes, while Mu’s contingent boarded the hover support vehicle, forming two columns and speeding away.

On the road.

“Master, what exactly happened? Why must we retreat now?” Qingfeng asked, puzzled. This question had been nagging at him, and since the road was relatively calm, he finally voiced it.

“Inside Fortress Number One, someone activated a nuclear bomb. All phenomena indicate the device originated from the fortress’s nuclear arsenal. This is why I asked you earlier.”

Master Garcia recounted the events. Qingfeng, Mingyue, and the few Quasi-Masters were all extremely surprised; they never imagined that while they were attacking the fortress, a third party had simultaneously breached the nuclear arsenal.

“Did absolutely no one go to the nuclear arsenal?” Master Garcia confirmed again.

“No!” the commanders of several squads replied uniformly.

“That’s strange,” Master Garcia mused. “The time should be about right now. If nothing goes wrong, the bomb should be—”

Before the words were finished, everyone felt as if the world had suddenly brightened, and a searing light shone from behind them, bringing with it a feeling of stark intensity.

The group instinctively squeezed the throttles, pushing their speed to the maximum, desperately surging forward.

The light was followed by the shockwave.

Dust billowed up around them, chasing them quickly from the rear, blowing against them like a sudden, violent gust of wind. Ice chunks and rocks the size of soccer balls and basketballs were swept along by the wind, tumbling across the ground.

Fortunately, everyone’s transport vehicles were military grade, possessing first-rate resistance to shock and wind; they only jostled a few times before maintaining balance.

This was also partly due to the thin atmosphere on Europa, which meant the shockwave generated by the nuclear bomb was not as powerful as it would be on Earth.

Master Garcia glanced back once, then turned forward again. “Although we don't know who struck, at least we completed our mission. Fortress Number One, like this, is clearly finished.”

Static crackled through the headsets, evidence that the electromagnetic pulse from the nuclear explosion was affecting communications.

The group had traveled quite a distance before the effects of the nuclear blast began to gradually subside.

Beep, beep.

The communicator sounded.

Master Garcia activated it, and Randolph’s figure appeared on the palm-sized holographic screen.

“Master Garcia, there you are! You managed to pull off something this massive without a word!” Randolph had an excited expression, his tone brimming with agitation.

Master Garcia knew he was referring to the destruction of Fortress Number One by the nuclear bomb. He shook his head. “That credit isn't ours.”

“It isn’t? What happened? Did the Ancient Legion initiate a self-destruct attack?”

“Probably not. Here is what occurred—” Master Garcia recounted the events once more.

Randolph’s face grew more astonished with every word he heard. When Master Garcia finished, Randolph slapped his thigh. “So there was a third party involved! That complicates things. Master Garcia, do you know there’s more to it than just what you said? When I was congratulating you, I was already suspecting something—how could such a small group have that kind of operational capability? But if there’s a third party, that explains it.”

Seeing Randolph’s expression turn deeply complex, showing a mixture of elation and hidden worry as he spoke, Garcia asked, “What else happened?”

Randolph replied, “Simultaneously with the nuclear explosion at Fortress One, the fleet’s reconnaissance systems detected two other nuclear detonations on Europa, both near the predicted locations of Fortresses Two and Three. We hypothesize that Fortresses Two and Three were blown up along with Fortress One. We initially thought you had performed beyond expectations, but now realizing it was a third party… well, it makes sense. How long have you been deployed since landing? Even if you focused solely on finding Fortresses Two and Three, you might not have located even one by now, let alone detonating them along with Fortress One using nuclear weapons.”

“What? Fortresses Two and Three were also destroyed at the same time? What kind of operational capability does it take to pull off something so coordinated and secretive?” Master Garcia’s expression also turned complicated.

Even in historical records of the Nian Neng Masters, there were accounts of highly successful infiltration operations. While instances of a single Master destroying a base were rare, they did occasionally happen. But to detonate three fortresses simultaneously on the battlefield, so silently—that was seldom seen even in the history of the Nian Neng Temple.

Randolph then asked Master Garcia how much he knew about the mysterious third party.

Master Garcia thought for a moment and replied, “I know nothing about the other two fortresses. But based on what I know of Fortress One, that mysterious third party showed almost no sign of their presence in front of us. Gangdi’s subordinates might have encountered them. Gangdi once dispatched two Ape Quasi-Masters to the nuclear arsenal, but judging by the result of the detonation, those two clearly failed, and might even be dead.”

Hearing this, the surrounding personnel gasped. Their estimation of the third party’s strength immediately skyrocketed. Anyone capable of achieving this feat would, at the very least, have to be a Master-level expert.

At this moment, Yang Ying, whom everyone was thinking about, had already arrived at the bridge of the Primary Vessel—though only his main consciousness. His physical body was still under the control of his clone, piloting a Ghost fighter jet back toward the Primary Vessel.

“Sir, the news that three Ancient Legion fortresses on Europa were destroyed by nuclear bombs has spread. Marshal Alexander’s flagship just notified us of the situation,” Howard reported.

“What is the Ancient Legion’s movement?” Yang Ying asked.

Howard pointed toward the space ahead of the bridge. “The aerial combat outside Jupiter’s moon Callisto is still ongoing, but it shouldn't last much longer. The ground forces on Callisto have already breached Fortress Two. Although the fortress is heavily defended by the Ancient Legion with layers of fortifications, the advance is slow, but taking that fortress is only a matter of time.”

Yang Ying nodded. He was well aware of the ground battle's progress on Callisto; his subordinate clone was currently fighting in front of that fortress piloting a Thor unit.

Meanwhile, inside Fortress Two on the surface of Callisto, the three Thor units had accumulated numerous scars. Clearing the remaining defensive turrets was proving to be no easy task.

For the Thor units, only Uranium Cannons of Level Four or higher could inflict significant damage. Level Three Sodium Cannons caused minor harm, while Level Two and Level One Lock-On Cannons felt like mere itching.

Aside from the three Level Six Fortress Cannons leveled in the initial assault, the defensive turrets outside Fortress Two did not possess any Uranium Cannons above Level Four. There were quite a few Level Three Uranium Cannons, and they were inflicting the primary damage on the Thors, while also being the main targets for the Thors.

Combined with the siege tank forces and the support of the Earth Army artillery units behind them, they managed to hold out until the end.

Throughout this entire ground engagement, the Thor units played the dual role of spearhead and shield, drawing enemy fire while simultaneously guiding allied forces toward the front of Fortress Two.

Most Earth Army soldiers looked at the Thor units with intense reverence as they passed. The officers and non-commissioned officers in command clearly understood that without the Thors today, the battle would not have been this easy, and reaching the fortress gates might not even have been possible.

After the space-facing fortress cannons fell silent, the Earth Army and the Ancient Legion in the space battle reached an equilibrium, neither side having the support of fortress artillery.

On the Ape side, the peak Master Weng Sha’lie also recognized that Callisto was losing too quickly. The situation was unfavorable for them, and the collective demolition of the three major fortresses on Europa shocked all seven fleets of the Ancient Legion.

Originally, if they had merely moved a short distance away from Callisto’s shielding, they could have received fire support from Europa. Now, with all the fortresses on Europa instantly lost, it was undeniably a devastating blow.

After weighing the pros and cons, Weng Sha’lie issued the order to retreat.