**Chapter 254: Tivan's Collection**
The sound of artillery fire rumbled throughout Knowhere.
Inside the Collection Vault, Tivan unhurriedly wiped a crystal bottle clean. He walked to a transparent Window, opened its Window door, and placed the empty crystal bottle inside.
"Hmm, what should I choose as a replacement? That Golden Horn Giant Beast, or the Coiled Star Sheep they found? There are two Coiled Star Sheep, so I'll just kill one!"
Tivan looked at the starlight within the crystal bottle, a hazy look in his eyes, and murmured, "A collection item is only perfect if it's unique!"
After closing the Window door, Tivan held a transparent, slender rod, tapping it as he walked down the center of rows of display racks made of Star Stone.
The rows of racks made of Star Stone shimmered with streaking light. Even among higher civilizations, these Star Stones were rare ore used to build starships, but in The Collector's Treasure Vault, they were merely used as racks to hold collection items.
Each row of racks held transparent Windows, each compartment of which was enchanted with some form of constant Space Spell.
As a race that survived the previous Universe, The Collector Tivan and his kind not only possessed eternal, immortal life, mastering Telepathy and Precognition,
but their attainments in mastering Cosmic Energy and Space-Time were also no less than those of peak Skyfathers.
Each of these Windows enchanted with Space Spells held one of Tivan's precious collection items.
Holding the glass long rod in his hand, Tivan walked among these rows of Star Stone racks, like a noble king inspecting his kingdom.
The transparent exotic metal long rod tapped against the transparent crystal, emitting crisp, tinkling sounds.
Not all of Tivan's collection items were the rare treasures commonly perceived by ordinary people. Some rocks or leaves that seemed worthless to outsiders were also included in this Collection Vault, either because of their unique appearance or their sole existence.
Soon, Tivan found the item he wanted among his many collection items.
The transparent exotic metal long rod shot out a transparent, iridescent light ray, which landed on the lock of a small Window. The crystal of this small Window slowly opened outwards. Inside the small Window, dense figures, like locusts, took flight from a Miniature Continent, flapping their wings and flying towards the open Window. As these small, locust-like things flew closer, their appearance became clearer.
They were a group of humanoid creatures covered in thick metal battlegear, with three pairs of metal wings on their backs.
The three pairs of metal wings on their backs vibrated rapidly. Amidst a dense buzzing sound, the first batch of six-winged metal humanoids was already approaching the Window Entrance.
Tivan had no significant reaction to these metal humans about to escape. He easily waved the transparent long rod in his hand, and a yellow energy wave similar to the Mind Stone instantly enveloped the entire Window.
Above Knowhere, the Ring-Planet Snake coiled in Space looked incredibly tragic. Its earthy yellow snake body had thousands of wounds, its scales flying, and its flesh and blood a bloody mess.
Some wounds were even several kilometers long, not only piercing the Ring-Planet Snake's body but almost cutting it in half at the waist.
The culprit behind this wound on the Ring-Planet Snake, the Kree Fleet's Flagship "Dark Star," slowly retracted the great killer weapon named "Star Annihilation Cannon" into its ventral bay after successfully landing a hit.
Star Annihilation Cannon, as the name suggests, is technology only mastered by Tier 3 Civilizations and above. A single shot can pierce the surface layer of a normal planet, detonate the Planetary Core, and destroy the entire planet.
After taking a hit from the Star Annihilation Cannon, the heavily injured and dying Ring-Planet Snake struggled, destroying two Kree Warships that couldn't retreat in time, before its entire snake body went rigid and it fell silent.
Near the floating snake body, at least dozens of Kree Warship wreckage drifted, which showed how powerful this Ring-Planet Snake was.
Ronan the Accuser stood on the Bridge of the Dark Star, witnessing over a dozen Kree Warships fly to the Ring-Planet Snake's massive snake body. Hundreds of Space Fighters flew out from inside the warships. These Space Fighters flew around the Ring-Planet Snake's corpse, cutting off the valuable parts of the Ring-Planet Snake's corpse: scales, serpent sinew, and the energy body congealed from its flesh and blood after death.
For ordinary civilizations, space beasts often represented terrifying disasters that could destroy an entire civilization. But for higher civilizations that mastered absolute strength, space beasts were a mobile treasure vault.
Although he lost dozens of warships, even if he didn't get the Power Stone, this Ring-Planet Snake alone was enough to compensate for most of his loss.
Not to mention the entirety of Knowhere, this place known as the Southern Galaxy's largest Black Market, and The Collector Tivan.
He hoped the Universe-renowned Collector's Treasure Vault wouldn't disappoint him too much.
Twenty minutes after issuing the Space Fighter Attack Order, Ronan the Accuser contacted the Space Fighter group's cobra commander for the first time.
"Great Accuser, we have destroyed Knowhere's Space Fortress and near-orbit defense satellites. Most of the ground defense laser cannons have been destroyed. Currently, only the area near The Collector Tivan's Main City Zone in Knowhere is still resisting!"
Before Ronan, the holographic figure of the Space Fighter group cobra commander appeared. After saluting Ronan, he reported the Space Fighter group's achievements.
Then he cautiously asked, "Should we activate the Antimatter Bomb to completely destroy Knowhere's resistance!?"
Ronan the Accuser looked at him noncommittally and said indifferently, "Save the fireworks for the end. This Asteroid will be destroyed sooner or later, but before that, I want to see the Power Stone and all of Tivan's collection!"
Saying this, Ronan looked out the porthole at the warships currently dissecting the space beast, adding, "Before they finish dealing with that space beast!"
Without waiting for the Space Fighter group cobra commander to finish, Ronan hung up the communication channel first.
After receiving Ronan the Accuser's order, the dense swarm of Space Fighters howling over Knowhere, covering half the high altitude, began to increase their attack frequency.
Although they couldn't use Antimatter Bombs, over thirty thousand Space Fighters were a massive amount. Even just conventional bombs and onboard laser cannons, fired in rounds at the Energy Shield over the Urban Area below, these howling, diving Space Fighters only needed two rounds to directly shatter Knowhere's last barrier.
"Disperse the attack! First echelon, follow me! Target The Collector Tivan's Palace in the Main City Zone! Everyone else, free attack!"
The black, dense swarm of Space Fighters covering the sky, except for several thousand fighters collectively diving towards The Collector Tivan's Palace, began to lower their height. The laser cannon barrels at the front of the fighters began indiscriminately attacking all movable objects within the Urban Area.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh—
The Kree Space Fighters were equipped with the most advanced scanning systems. Even if these Ravagers and Space Pirates hid dozens of meters underground, they couldn't escape the "eyes" of these Space Fighters! The standard Space Fighter energy laser cannons, in terms of firepower, were comparable to the ship cannon attack of ordinary starships. The sturdy fortresses that Black Market merchants were proud of often couldn't withstand three rounds of concentrated fire from these laser cannons.
At this moment in Knowhere, facing the fierce Kree Space Fighters, everyone was fleeing for their lives.
But without starships, relying only on flying speeder bikes, or even just their legs, the escapees were simply living targets for the high-speed Space Fighters, falling in swathes.
When a thick fighter energy cannon blasted down, ordinary carbon-based life was directly blasted into a pile of sticky liquid. "Splash!"
An alien race that looked very similar to the Thing from the Fantastic Four on Earth curled up its body in a pile of gravel, trying to disguise itself as a rock.
Over a dozen thick energy beams descended from the sky, directly reducing it to a pile of actual gravel.
In the dilapidated Urban Area, Hugh Veda was desperately fleeing with twelve Card Soldiers, dodging the Space Fighters in the sky.
The four Card Soldiers in the center were carrying Star-Lord, and the other two were carrying the rhino head, small-eyed Elder Mandel.
"They're crazy! These Kree are crazy! They're attacking Knowhere, aren't they afraid of provoking all the Space Pirates and Ravagers in the Southern Galaxy?"
The howling wind sound blew past Elder Mandel's ears. Elder Mandel still seemed somewhat unable to believe that the Kree dared to actually attack Knowhere, instead of just intimidating and putting on a show as he originally thought.
How dare they? Knowhere was the largest fencing center in the entire Southern Galaxy, involving the interests of at least tens of thousands of Space Pirates and Ravagers.
Aren't the Kree afraid of retaliation from these Space Pirates?
"Afraid of whom? That's Ronan the Accuser! Which Space Pirate in the entire Milky Way Galaxy dares to provoke the Kree!' Star-Lord, carried by two Card Soldiers, retorted angrily.
"From the looks of the Kree, they want to completely destroy Knowhere. Elder Mandel, all you can do now is prayer. Hope that Big Boss behind us can arrive before Knowhere explodes, otherwise, we'll turn into cosmic dust like this planet!"
"Don't worry! Boss will arrive soon!" Hugh Veda looked back at the two of them and said confidently.
The thirteen Card Soldiers led by Hugh Veda had their black demon battle armor in stealth mode. At the same time, they, including Star-Lord and Elder Mandel, had several stealth talismans pasted on them.
Using the cover of the Urban Terrain, they avoided the Space Fighters flying at low altitude in the sky.
"Stop!" Hugh Veda, who was moving rapidly, suddenly stopped. The twelve Card Soldiers he led also stopped in unison. In a pile of Ruins ahead, the sound of a high-power energy gun firing rang out.
"Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh—"
Behind a wall in the Ruins, the robot that Star-Lord and the others had met before was now aiming the big guy on its back, with a caliber comparable to an energy cannon, at the sky. It targeted a Space Fighter flying at low altitude and unleashed a burst of dense firepower.
The unprepared Space Fighter quickly turned into a fireball with an explosion sound.
However, the coordinates and bearing of the destroyed Space Fighter were simultaneously transmitted to the communication channel of all fighters. In just three breaths of time, over hundreds of fighters howled and dived into this area, using energy laser cannons to plow the entire area.
As for the tall robot, it was directly turned into a pile of scrap metal by the dense firepower.
"With this level of firepower, do you think the boss behind you can hold on? Remember, there are still hundreds of Kree Warships in the sky!"
Elder Mandel, who witnessed all this, couldn't help but swallow.
Hugh Veda gave him a cold gaze: "If I hear you question Boss again, I'll break your legs and leave you here. We don't mind finding another Black Market merchant to cooperate with. Remember, never question Boss!"
Elder Mandel looked at Hugh Veda's serious sapphire-like eyes and had no doubt that this guy would actually do it. He had seen people like Hugh Veda before.
There was a Planet ruled by a Deity. The Fanatics on that Planet looked at him with that same gaze when he questioned that so-called Deity. Later, if the Ravagers' leader, Stakar Ogord, hadn't passed by and saved him, he would have almost died on that Planet.
Elder Mandel, realizing the seriousness of the matters, very decisively shut his mouth. He vaguely guessed that the Big Boss Star-Lord served should be a "Deity"!
In the Main City Zone of Knowhere, the "Deity" that Elder Mandel guessed was currently comfortably squatting with his two beloved generals behind a ruined wall not far from The Collector's Palace, admiring the scene of dense Space Fighters taking turns attacking The Collector's Palace.
Boss Tang squatted there, a cigar dangling from his mouth. Kane and Adam followed suit, the three of them puffing out smoke rings.
Meanwhile, the thousands of fighters in the sky were taking turns diving down and bombing,
completely unaware that there were three "street loafers" watching the show nearby! "Boss, this layer of energy protection looks good!"
Kane looked enviously at the layer of Energy Shield that rose around The Collector's Palace. Although it looked like a thin layer, thousands of Space Fighters had been bombing it for over ten minutes, yet they couldn't break through this membrane.
This was countless times sturdier than the Protective Shield on the Chitauri Starships. If they could get their hands on this technology, they would only be the ones attacking others on the battlefield in the future, and others wouldn't even be able to harm them at all.
"Wait a little longer. I've heard of this Collector Tivan; he's a ruthless character. These fighters won't get anything good out of this. We'll make our move when both sides are injured. Everything inside will be ours!"
Tang Song smoked his cigar, his Divine Sense extending out, feeling the dense fluctuations hidden within the Energy Shield. He slowly exhaled a white smoke ring.
As the Space Fighters in the sky launched another round of bombing against the Energy Shield covering the Palace, a crack suddenly appeared in the seemingly unbreakable Energy Shield from the inside. Dense Six-Winged Figures suddenly flew out of the Palace. These tall figures with six metal wings on their backs were astonishingly fast.
They formed groups of three or four and surrounded this batch of Space Fighters flying at low altitude.
These metal humans flapped their wings with astonishing speed, even exceeding the speed of these supersonic Space Fighters.
The Space Fighters were completely caught off guard and fell into a heavy encirclement.
These six-winged metal humans wielded the longswords in their hands. The metal longswords, covered in a layer of pale white glow, easily pierced through the metal casing of the Space Fighters like a hot knife through butter.
Boss Tang looked at the layer of white light covering these metal longswords and felt it was strangely familiar.
(Thanks to the Butterfly Raiser Boss from Dachang City for the reward, thank you Boss. Because I'm a bastard who updates little, I rarely see rewards anymore, I'm touched.)
Forty-eight hours free, ah...
(End of chapter)