The lull period was destined to end fairly soon.

Ever since the remaining Goliaths enacted their kidnapping spree, the remaining expert mechs withdrew from the front.

Lacking easy targets, the enemy Goliaths did not bother to chase after the remaining prey. They had already managed to capture plenty of expert mechs.

Ves paid special attention to a certain mech from the Bluejay Fleet.

He wondered whether the mechers managed to succeed in their experiment to induce a breakthrough with the combination of a high tolerance neural interface, a Pilot Breakthrough Elixir, and the transcendence glow.

In his opinion, such a combination was so powerful that success should be certain as long as the pilot was adequately prepared.

Major Jankowski might not be the best expert candidate that Ves had encountered, but he should definitely possess the qualifications to undergo apotheosis. He just lacked opportunities due to the Bluejay Fleet's irregular combat encounters.

Though he found it a little regrettable that he hadn't been able to pay attention to Major Jankowski and his custom mech in person, he should still be able to call up the data that would tell him whether the experiment fulfilled everyone's expectations.

"Well, he's lucky enough."

Just as he expected, the combination of new methods and technologies enabled him to breakthrough minutes after he had begun to fight.

This early breakthrough turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him. While his forced resonance state allowed him to elevate the performance of his custom mech beyond regular limitations, he exhausted himself shortly afterwards.

This forced him to return to the Tarrasque long before the Goliaths switched assault to capture!

Ves could easily deduce that Major, no, Venerable Jankowski would have been an easy mark for the alien megavoribugs.

Without a proper expert mech, the new RA expert pilot would not be able to outrun or generate any meaningful resistance against a Level 7 Goliath!

Even if his resonance strength was still weak compared to more established expert pilots, he still transformed into a genuine demigod. His willpower became extraordinary and precious for that reason!

Though Simon Jankowski coincidentally managed to avoid the worst fate, the same could not be said for other expert pilots.

These powerful figures along with their quality expert mechs all turned into sustenance for the Level 8 Goliath. Ves and many others frankly did not possess too much concern about the devouring of expert mechs.

What truly made them strong and special was not their high-grade exotics and hypers.

Though expert mechs could easily be distinguished from standard mechs by the inclusion of resonating materials, that alone was not the principal reason why they performed so much more brilliantly on the battlefield.

It was their pilots that truly made the difference.

Therefore, everyone grew concerned when the Incubator devoured more than a dozen expert pilots.

These low-tier and mid-tier expert pilots might not possess willpower that was strong enough to generate reality- defying domain fields, but they were not trivial either.

Who knew what benefits the Level 8 Goliath gained from absorbing these demigods.

"It is probably impossible for the Goliath to derive extraordinary power comparable to that of an ace pilot by devouring all of these scattered expert pilots." Ves made a guess. "Things don't work that way. You can't blindly stack low-quality resources to achieve the same outcome as using a single high-quality resource. Mostly. I do not think the Incubator is remarkable enough to be an exception to the rule. My guess is that the Goliath will gain just enough extraordinary power to support his strengthened body, but not much more."

Organisms, especially intelligent ones, could not grow to the size of cities, continents or moons so quickly without the mental strength to control so much biomass.

It was reasonable to guess that the Incubator eagerly devoured the expert pilots in order to shore up the weak mentality of the unborn Goliath.

While this meant that the suspected Level 8 Goliath would not be able to wield extraordinary power as extravagantly as a high-ranking mech pilot, the unprecedented megavoribug would still be far harder to fight against than a Level 7 Goliath.

Ves had many guesses in his mind, but the lack of data made it difficult to form any definite conclusions.

All they could do was to wait and see the culmination of the enemy's greatest effort in this sun system.

"We are detecting a large amount of anomalous signals! Emissions are dropping! We believe that the Incubator is about ready to give birth!"

"Abandon our heavily damaged orbital facilities! Activate their self destruct programs so that they won't spawn too many voribugs. Signal the evacuation fleet to depart as soon as we transmit the signal."

The elevated activity from the Incubator was becoming increasingly more obvious.

Its organic cannons had fallen silent as the entire organic megaconstruct channeled all of its remaining energies to its core.

All of the intact or damaged flesh across its enormous surface began to wither and deflate.

While it did not shrink like a leaking balloon, the sight still looked eerie.

The Goliath Hive actually chose to sacrifice its battle moon.

To be honest, Ves found it hard to believe that the enemy would go through with this decision.

The defenders of Philaster Crestia III had become so battered that it was questionable whether they could be more useful than speed bump in front of this moon-sized organic calamity.

Yet instead of letting the VOBM push through the crumbling orbital defenses and crash onto the surface of the planet, the Goliath Hive readily threw away this advantage in favor of spawning a super special Goliath!

Ves did not think that the mutated voribugs were irrational to the point of sabotaging their own performance.

This meant that the value of this Goliath exceeded that of the Incubator.

Perhaps its significance was not due to its superior hard power, but instead its combat methods, growth potential or other traits.

Whatever the case, Ves had a growing feeling that the appearance of this new adversary would start a new chapter in the Voribug War.

So long as this alien experiment yielded successful results, the Goliath Hive would definitely pump out more of these super special Goliaths.

Whether they could be defeated by individual senior ace pilots and peak ace pilots remained uncertain.

However, just the fact that the mutated voribugs could produce such a powerful champion in a matter of days or weeks was an incredibly distressing fact!

If all it took to produce these powerhouses was to sacrifice a bunch of Goliaths as well as ordinary expert pilots, then such potent enemies would soon be able to emerge all across the border systems under assault by the Goliath Hive!

The only consolation was that the other 5 hives likely would not copy this method. Their war doctrines were vastly different. They did not have a history of fielding titanic and overly costly megavoribugs.

Even so, the more the Goliath Hive relied on this measure to achieve success, the more territory it would sweep.

Greater territory translated into greater access to resources.

Greater access to resources subsequently led to much more voribugs!

In this way, the mutated voribugs would naturally learn which hive and which set of doctrines produced the most victories.

"Do you think we have a chance?" The Dark Apostle quietly asked.

"I don't have any more information than you, buddy." Ves casually replied. "It would be great if we can rely on the strength of the Riot Mark III. Saint Orfan's problems aside, her strength is still the real deal. If she doesn't come to reinforce us, then we are in for a much tougher fight. I am quite confident in the power of our Withering Sting. In theory, an adversary that is strong in flesh but weak in mind and spirit is the ideal target for this weapon. However, this is a simplistic view of the situation. I am sure that it is far more difficult to inflict effective damage to our

enemy."

"What do you think will give us the most trouble?"

"I can think of at least 3 factors. First is interference from other Goliaths and ordinary voribugs. Their numbers may have diminished by a lot compared to the start, but there are still enough of them left to get in our way."

"We'll have to rely on teamwork to overcome this challenge."

"Second is the sheer size and mass of the suspected Level 8 Goliath. I have no doubt that the Withering Sting can inflict damage onto the enemy, but I am not sure how quickly the corruption can spread. If the Goliath is too big, then it may take hours for the withering curse to spread across the entire body. This is way too much."

This was Ves' primary concern. The high-grade superdimensional spear may be able to penetrate through anything, but what did that matter if its length was a fraction of the height or width of the gigantic insectile foe?

"Third is the combat power of this Goliath. I am quite sure that once this new enemy learns that the Withering Sting is able to inflict somewhat effective damage to it, we will become the focus of its aggression. Can we withstand its onslaught? Can we fend off its attacks?"

"Our superdimensional raiment is much better than that of the other giants, Ves. Have faith in your own work. This new Goliath may be larger, stronger and a little more extraordinary than the ones that have come before, but it won't be easy for it to kill us, especially if it lacks superdimensional weapons of its own."

Underestimating the enemy was dangerous. Ves did not dare to assume that their raiment would offer perfect

protection.

Enough time had passed.

After so much activity, the Incubator no longer conveyed any signs of life.

The only exception was its core, which still generated a lot of emissions!

Suddenly, a faint but piercing wave swept across everyone on the battlefield.

It reminded them of the brief moment when the Devourer Queen briefly extended her awareness to this corner of

the Red Ocean.

The difference between that past incident and the present one was that the latter was weaker!

However, just the fact that the Goliath possessed the strength to evoke such a reaction was enough to confirm a

few conjectures!

Seconds later, the withered remains of the Incubator began to tear as a powerful new entity literally ripped its way

to the surface!

The brand-new Goliath was covered in thick and deep brown exoskeleton. It was already larger than many Level 7 Goliaths stacked together.

While its movements seemed slow, its absolute size meant that this was partially an illusion.

In truth, it demonstrated a level of speed and agility that defied its massive organic structure!

All of the high-quality materials put into its growth did not just focus on covering it with thick and powerful

biological plating.

Its muscular system must also be incredibly formidable. It was both fast and strong, ensuring that the Goliath could pose a certain degree of threat to enemies that made use of superdimensional armor!

As the massive creature continued to emerge from the vestige of the once-formidable organic battle moon, its alien aura grew stronger and more vigorous.

The massive enemy had only just been born, but it projected so much strength that many of the battle-hardened soldiers on the battlefield resisted the urge to fall on their knees!

Strong!

Intimidating!

Alien!

The creature did more than radiate menace. It wordlessly declared its superiority against all of the remaining defenders in the star system!

Its pitiless alien eyes briefly took stock of the surroundings before fixating on the combined group of ace pilots and

Ascended Giants.

Though the group was quite formidable in every respect, numerous of the ace pilots and giants felt that they were not equipped to defeat an opponent of this caliber.

Just the lack of intelligence on this unprecedented new Goliath put them at a heavy disadvantage!