409: Changes

Changes

The Chronos stealthily arrived not too far from the coordinates of the five Conqueror Starships.1

They have turned off their engines and only used a bit of mana to get closer to them as stealthily as possible. 

[ Beep! ]

[ Space Mines detected… ] 

[ Scanning… ] 

Hilda heard Avalon's warning. Every Chronos halted on their tracks as they waited for the A.I. to locate the specific spots where the mines are located. 

This has occurred about five times already so the magicians are already used to it.

They just silently watched Avalon and waited for its confirmation.

[ Space Mines located… ] 

Then, their screens showed the exact coordinates of the space mines within their 5 kilometers. They just have to avoid its range or perhaps isolate it using their magic depending on the situation.

Nevertheless, it is easier for them to move with such impressive scanning abilities.

"Alright, avoid the space mines. Be careful."

Hilda ordered her subordinates. She's one of the captains of the Chronos that were sent to destroy the Conqueror Starship. 

"Thank you again, Avalon…" The young lady whispered.

Her leadership skills were undeniable and everyone acknowledges her abilities. However, she knows that she wouldn't be able to lead them appropriately if not for Avalon's assistance since the beginning. 

Anyway, she's about to monitor the other Chronos to see if they have encountered any problems.

Beep!

As she was preparing to communicate with the other captains, she was then notified that one of the captains is already trying to reach her.

She opened her communication device and found a familiar person.

"Ferdie? Is there a problem?" Hilda asked.

Ferdie Sigma is one of the best Mech Knights Pilots and he's piloting a Knight based on the Lotus Mech called Issyl. 

This Mech is one of the best Mech Knights that has a special feature called Arcanist Phase that would enhance their machines significantly. 

As far as Hilda remembers, all the pilots boarded on his Chronos have Mech Knights with Arcanist Phase installed. In short, they are important pilots or valuable magicians that would play a huge role to destroy the Starships later on. 

"I think it's better to attack them with our Mana Spells first before we use our Positron Cannon… What do you think?" The man asked. 

Their original plan is to get near the Starships and fire their cannons as their surprise attack. 

Then, the Mech Knights would protect the Chronos during the process and would follow up after firing their cannons. 

The reason they decided to do this was to ensure that their barrier or force field would be destroyed first before their Mana Spells were activated. 

"Mana Spells first? What made you change your mind?"

"Ugh… Well, I just read the report about what happened on our planet…"

"Ahh. It's about that. I would like to hear it. Though it might be better if you discuss this with everyone. Is that fine?" Hilda replied. 

The man agreed with her offer as they made a quick conference to discuss their plan again. 

"What's the problem now, Ferdie?" Lewis Vermont, the previous leader of the Fourth Mech Knight division and now a captain of the third Chronos Battleship, asked with a bit of irritation.

Their plans were already set and they only have less than an hour before they'll engage in battle. 

He felt that there is no time to change their tactics now. 

Aside from that, he's also confident that they'll be able to defeat the aliens since their Starships aren't working properly, thanks to the Celestial Blood Net that Ace used to disable them.

"Sir Lewis, let's just listen to Sir Ferdie's suggestion for now. I'm sure he's aware of our situation as well. He might have thought something better." Tetsuo replied. He's one of the 23 survivors after the Omen was destroyed by the Black Sovereign's sacrificial attack.

Right now, he's also a captain of the Chronos and leading a group of elite Mech Pilots.

"That's enough everyone. Let's listen to Sir Ferdie now."

Finally, Hilda interrupted everyone as she leads the conversation. 

"Ehem… Thank you for giving me a chance to explain. So I won't take much of your time. I read the reports about the Khrusams on our planet and we are expecting that we will face them here as well." Ferdie started. 

Everyone nodded at this since they've also read the reports. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be enough to cancel their current plan and create a new one. They felt that the plan was still more reliable.

"I read about the relation of the Death Energy and the Soul Arts. Veda… or perhaps Sir Ace and Avalon, have the same conclusion. After all, Sir Julian Esmeria managed to win their war at Montego using a Forbidden Soul Art… So I think that we can exploit this."

As soon as he reached this, the captains were confused as they asked their questions.

"Does anyone here knows a Forbidden Soul Art?"

"Right, we can't be compared to that legendary magician. Even if we know that soul art, I don't think that we can use it like how he used it against the aliens."

"I agree with that. I learned a bit of Soul Art but I don't think that it is easy to reach Sir Julian's level. He's in a different league."

Lewis and the other captains commented. 

"That's right… However, we have magicians in my team that aren't normal as well. They have advanced to Adept using the Cryptic Link Serum and they have unique Soul Spells that they can use. I think that we can try using them."

Ferdie then explained his plans to the other captains. 

The meeting took just about 15 minutes since they are nearing the starship. Nevertheless, the man managed to get everyone's approval to let his team of Cryptic Mages do the initial attacks.

***

[ The Chronos Fleet made changes on their approach due to the recent report about the effectiveness of Soul Arts. ] 

Avalon reported to Ace at the Command Center. 

"That's fine. It's good that they are learning to adapt. They already know the power of our battleships and the limitation of our magic. They are also aware of the strength of the aliens by now. I'm sure they made a lot of considerations to do this. Just help them as much as you can, Avalon."

[ Affirmative. ] 

Ace knows that the magicians he sent are capable enough to strategize their ambush, so he let them be and allowed them to plan it according to whatever they think the best.

For now, he would rather study the results of the experimentation started by Miss Chamber together with Miya. 

It seems that they have discovered some interesting things from the corpses of the Khrusams. 

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