The hangar was located on the second floor, next door. Blade followed Master Yan Shan's first squad out of the hangar, moving through several narrow corridors, ascending and descending several stairwells, rushing toward the passage connecting Zone One and Zone Two.

For a fortress, designed as a military structure, being built like a labyrinth was the bare minimum requirement. Without a layout map of the fortress, simply finding the correct path would be exceedingly difficult.

The elites in the shock troop detachment were at least at the level of a First-Tier Psionicist, and using their movement techniques, they zipped through space as if merely walking. A corridor spanning several meters vanished in a flash. Combat robots or Ape soldiers encountered along the way felt nothing more than a gust of wind passing by, immediately followed by their bodies being cleaved in two.

Soon, the group arrived at an open area and halted, everyone stopping in their tracks.

Before them stretched a bridge, wide and long, surrounded everywhere by a fiery red hue. Looking down, they could see a river of rolling magma flowing sluggishly a hundred meters below the bridge. The intensely hot, glowing lava seemed almost within reach, and they could almost hear the sound of the air being scorched by the heat.

In the middle of the bridge, dozens of Lizardmen, clad in dark crimson, completely blocked the path. Sparks shot out with every breath they exhaled, their bulbous eyes gleaming and darting around to observe the approaching group.

Saying 'dozens' was a conservative estimate; individuals of this species stretched in an unbroken line from the center of the bridge all the way to the entrance of Zone One, disappearing into the gateway. Behind that gate, shadowy figures hinted at how many more lizards or other ancient behemoths were waiting.

"Be careful. These lizards possess both fire and poison attributes, and they are incredibly fast—much harder to deal with than White Elephants or White Rhinos."

The moment Master Yan Shouyi finished speaking, the lizards in the center of the bridge spewed forth raging fire, sending dozens of searing pillars of flame sweeping toward the group.

Everyone swiftly drew their lightsabers and held them before them. The pillars of fire seemed drawn to the blades, rushing toward the lightsabers, sinking into them without reappearing, as if completely absorbed.

Absorbing energy attacks and reflecting ranged attacks were just basic functions of the lightsaber. Whether the energy was high or low temperature, or even electricity, any attack without physical substance could be blocked by the blade.

However, area-of-effect attacks like flame required the Psionicist to use their mental energy to gather and guide the flames directly onto the saber edge for absorption. Merely holding the saber in front of oneself could only absorb the fire where the blade touched; flames that missed the saber could still strike the wielder.

Thus, how to guide the enemy's energy attacks, and how to make one's own energy attacks bypass the enemy's blade, were crucial indicators of a Psionicist's true strength.

While parrying the flames, Blade had the mental capacity to consider things beyond the immediate fight. These lizards were uniformly dark red, favoring high temperatures, and breathing poisonous fire. If they had wings, they would be almost identical to the ancient dragons of Western legend. Blade wondered if this was a coincidence or if these creatures were engineered with reference to those myths.

The lizards’ flames were mixed with toxic smoke, and due to prolonged habitation near the Sulfur River, they carried a potent corrosive quality. However, poison and corrosion relied on chemical reactions involving matter in a molecular state. Under the extreme heat of the lightsabers, molecular bonds were destroyed, reducing the matter to a plasma state where atomic nuclei and electrons were separated. Naturally, the toxicity and corrosiveness could not be maintained.

Seeing their fire attack fail, the lizard swarm shrieked, revealing their sharp teeth, and simultaneously darted forward, their limbs moving with blurring speed toward the group.

"Move out!"

Master Yan Shouyi roared, his silver lightsaber flashing once. He transformed into a silver streak, charging forward. While a Master-level spell could clear the entire bridge surface in one go, using magic consumed far more energy than swordsmanship. With a force of fewer than a hundred personnel attacking an entire fortress, Psionic energy needed to be conserved whenever possible.

The silver streak plunged into the lizard mass. Any lizard it passed through was instantly sliced into fragments, with severed limbs and broken pieces flying everywhere. Blade saw this and followed suit.

Among the first squad, aside from Master Yan Shouyi, Blade possessed the highest cultivation. Blade wielded a silver lightsaber as well, striking precisely where aimed. Wherever the saber swept, lizards fell in droves. These creatures were clearly not simple beasts; their movements and sixth senses were acutely sharp. Blade even noticed that some lizards clearly sensed his blade, but their physical limitations prevented a timely reaction.

These lizards even possessed some form of psychic power. Although this power was chaotic, almost purely instinctual without any true intelligence, it was still far superior to the mid-tier cannon fodder like the White Rhinos and White Elephants.

Blade killed about a dozen lizards, Master Yan Shouyi over thirty, and the other Psionicists accounted for many more. The bridge deck was almost cleared, but the expected calamity still occurred: all manner of colossal beasts poured continuously from the entrance to Zone One.

Besides the dark red lizards, there were also the giant centipedes that Yang Ying had encountered in Titan's Light. Just as Blade finished off his twentieth lizard, a rumbling sound echoed from behind the main gate, and four-wheeled centipede units rolled onto the bridge in ranks, crushing forward toward the group, one after another, followed by more...

Master Yan Shouyi immediately charged forward, cleaving the foremost two centipedes in half with a single strike, shattering their wheel mechanisms. Blade and several other Quasi-Masters followed, striking the centipedes directly with their lightsabers.

These centipedes seemed to be of the same tier as the lizards, possessing rudimentary psychic strength, slightly larger in size, armored with hard carapaces, and possessing incredible vitality—they could survive even when sliced in half. When the centipede wheels disintegrated, their rear halves lost control and thrashed violently, spraying corrosive blood everywhere. The front halves, propelled by their rows of legs, charged rapidly toward the group, their momentum—combined with a weight of several dozen tons—being enough to send an ordinary truck flying.

As the acid rain descended, the Psionicists spun their lightsabers into whirling shields, enveloping their entire bodies. The acid rain surrounding them evaporated instantly; they were completely impervious.

"Master! Even without their heads, these things are still spraying acid. What should we do?" A High-Tier Psionicist, splashed by the overwhelming acid spray, immediately ripped off the tainted fabric of his clothes and tossed it aside while shouting his question.

Master Yan Shouyi saw that even a First-Tier Psionicist was threatened by this acid rain and commanded, "Alright, let's use our psychic power to throw them into the magma!"

Saying this, a surge of majestic psychic power erupted from him. A row of centipedes was gathered by this power and hurled off the bridge, plummeting into the magma river a hundred meters below. They thrashed wildly for a moment before sinking.

The other Psionicists also began using their powers, pushing the thrashing rear halves and the charging front halves of the remaining centipedes off the bridge and into the lava river.

However, subsequent waves of centipedes, lizards, and other behemoths continued to pour onto the bridge relentlessly.

"This can't go on. The enemy clearly intends to use these cannon fodder units to exhaust our strength. We must cross this bridge as quickly as possible," one Quasi-Master remarked.

"Is there any way to instantly incapacitate their movement?" another Quasi-Master inquired.

"Incapacitate movement?" Hearing the question, Blade felt a surge of inspiration and shouted, "Yes, there is!"

He had volunteered to join the assault on the fortress; now that they were committed, they were all in the same boat, needing to cooperate. The Terran Mercenary Corps had developed sufficiently by now to possess the means to protect itself. Some secrets that would eventually have to be revealed no longer needed to be hidden.

"Great Vortex," Blade pointed toward the mass of centipedes inside the Zone One gate. A ring of crimson light suddenly illuminated the ground, forming a circular disk that spread outward.

From within the red disk, countless chains suddenly sprang forth, binding the centipedes.

"Now! Hurry and cross!" Blade roared, taking the lead and charging into the beast swarm. Simultaneously, a burst of psychic energy erupted, blasting the remaining centipedes and lizards beside him off the bridge.

The immobilization effect of the Great Vortex was effective on all living organisms. Against an opponent of similar cultivation, the locking time was estimated to be twelve seconds. These behemoths’ psychic strength scores were below one thousand, weaker than apprentices, meaning they could potentially be held for several minutes.

"Keep up!"

Master Yan Shouyi saw Blade advance, waved his hand to those behind him, and followed.

The behemoths on the bridge were cleared, and those inside the gate were immobilized. The beasts behind could only approach by climbing over the immobilized creatures or by using the walls.

Blade and the Psionicists moved quickly. By the time they entered the Zone One gate, the rear hordes had not yet reacted; the beasts behind, seeing the ones in front suddenly frozen, were pushing and shoving each other.

After examining the fortress layout map, Blade had committed its details to memory and knew the location of the Main Control Room very clearly. Entering the gate, he fixed his bearing and unleashed another Great Vortex, immobilizing several massive beasts in a wide corridor. Since there were so many beasts, they almost entirely filled the space, forcing everyone to tread across their backs to advance.

The Great Vortex moved forward, freezing targets as it went. A total of ten Great Vortices were used, and the group finally rushed past the main beast cluster into an empty corridor.

The entire path behind them was now blocked by the immobilized behemoths. It seemed unlikely that the un-immobilized beasts could catch up within several minutes.

"Well done, Colonel Blade," Master Yan Shouyi praised.

"No need for formalities." Blade's psychic energy was significantly depleted. He took a couple of deep breaths to recover.

Master Yan Shouyi nodded. "Let's hurry; we must keep moving. The Main Control Room is not far from us now."

The group continued forward, crossing one level of stairs and navigating several junctions, until they reached a narrow corridor. Suddenly, a series of energy beams shot toward them.

Master Yan Shouyi blocked the beams with his lightsaber, and the group immediately dodged.

Across the corridor stood a group of Ape soldiers who had discarded their beam rifles and drawn their lightsabers. Leading them was Emperor Gang.