Advanced Cultivation Civilization

 ACC Chapter 47 Admiral Serpent

I found myself standing upon the surface of the city lord's monolithic tower, inundated by the hot sun upon my skin. With the clouds having vanished after depositing their contents, the Sun's rays were particularly scorching.

But there was the soothing breeze, one which was carrying the moisture from the previous rain. And that was the single plus in all the minuses.

"I have never seen a behemoth up close."

"What makes you think that it won't be any other class of warship?"

The couple were the ones chattering while the rest of us were quiet.

"My dear wife, look at this city. The only way to evacuate all this population would be by bringing those behemoths down. Besides, it would be downgrading for an Admiral to take charge of anything less than such a behemoth. Don't you think so?"

"..."

I decided to let my gaze roam somewhere else, tuning out their conversation. I even walked to the edge of the building in the Eastern direction, where the depression that had been a lake before was visible in the distance. Because of the heavy rain, the river's volume had swelled for a moment, making it so that the time to refill the lake had shortened.

"There are still many problems in the city. I don't favor standing here like this." The bald guy spoke. At some point he had made himself at home beside me with his legs dangling off the edge.

"Yet you seem too relaxed to me."

"That's because I am resting. I am so tired that I just wanna fuckin' hit the sack."

"..." I lacked the words to continue the conversation with, so I brought my attention to the other side of me, where Lily was standing. She gave me a tiny smile in response.

"If I am not mistaken, your previous location was in Defiant. What's the situation there?" The bald man certainly wanted the conversation continued.

"It is hectic. They severely lack manpower. You should take this time and the duration of the trip back, as a time to rest because I am sure that we are all going to be put to work. After all, the city itself can't hold all the population being ferried into it, so it's limits are being expanded. But these spirits aren't too pleased, making it so that every inch of land is contested bitterly."

"What do you mean? Are there too many spirits?"

"No. Just that those there have taken to the same methods as those trees you faced before. Creating a large number of cannon fodder."

Bald man and Lily released a collective groan in response.

"By the way, I haven't yet managed to catch your name."

"John Munyo."

"Did you originate from Uganda?" I asked in curiosity.

"My ancestors were part of that state. Though, there have since been many generations since then."

"If you are looking for something like solidarity, give up. Am not interested in any ethnic grouping." John warned with a side eye in my direction.

"Why would I interested in such things? And please, you are the one that decided to invade the private space of myself and my secretary!"

With a snort, my attention turned away from the man, heavily dissatisfied with his attitude.

I walked away from his side with Lily at my heels before an exclamation from one of the others drew our attention towards the blue sky, where a dark dot had appeared and was enlarging with every passing second until all the light from the sky was obscured, creating a large enough shadow that the city was all shrouded by the time the ship came to a halt, just a few kilometers above the domed shield.

I clicked my tongue at the immensity of the ship. The base, which was the only portion within my eyes, had a dark hull with blue flames spewing out of its engines, located at each corner of its triangular shape.

If I was being honest with myself, then this ship was giving me immense pressure. And it wasn't an illusory feeling because of the massive amount of spiritual energy running through it, creating energy fields around it that caused the pressure, even through the city's shield.

"Now, this is something I never want to be targeted by." Commented Lily in obvious awe.

"Unless you reach the peak of the Nascent Soul or ascend beyond, that will never happen."

"Come on, Boss! Of course we will grasp divinity. The both of us."

I nodded towards her with a smile. The Legends Guild was going to be our ticket to that kind of power. By exploring more, I will gain insight into the ways of the world, which will allow me to birth more deity arts.

The bottom of the large ship blurred, with a rectangular screen appearing and blanketing the skies above the city.

The black background only made the lone person in view more prominent.

It was a woman with dull green eyes, her face oval and her red hair had been tied up into a ponytail that was lowered beneath her left shoulder.

Standard Federation uniform covered her upper torso, black, with specks of light, like stars in the void, blinking within it. It was the attire for those soldiers of the space fleet. Medals covered her left chest, with some obscured by her long ponytail.

"Citizens of... Depre city, the Federation has decided to send me to rescue you from the horrors of this land. Rejoice, as I, Admiral Serpent Herbe have arrived!"

Lily sputtered out before she broke into outright laughter at the woman's ostentious introduction.

Cries of jubilation entered my ears from below. The city literally shaking with the voices of the crowd.

"Shuttles are going to descend, with each having the capacity of 50. Board orderly! And once a shuttle has returned to this ship, I require you to stay within it until we get to our destination. Unless of course you are at the Core Formation stage and above, which would require you to be with me here in the brig. Anyway, I wish one of of you goes off the rails and disobeys that request. It has been some time since I have been allowed to murder a human."

And with that ending, the screen sputtered out, leaving behind a speechless crowd, plus all of us up on the monolith.

"That woman... Do you really require her?" asked Lily, with the laughter having been wiped away.

"Just take whatever she said at face value. She will never harm a Federation citizen knowingly... Probably."

"..."

Lily was rendered speechless for a moment before sound of engines entered our ears from below, with four huge cubes rising out from underneath the four roads that met at the monolith. These were the spatially expanded vaults that had been deep down below the city, where many of the citizens had dumped their wealth.

No one was allowed to steal these things. Anyone who tried would be given the death penalty. Though, if anyone tried, I would be the first to intervene.

Within the center of the base of the hull, massive plates pulled back like gates, allowing the four huge vaults, to vanish within on their four engines each.

"What's next?"

Lily's question threw me for a loop as even I lacked the experience of dealing with this kind of situation. Whether to wait in place or anything else, was lost to me. So, I led her towards the City lord, where the others had ready gathered.

"We need to maintain order with those below. We can't have panic and what not!" The city lord's words earned acknowledging nods from all of us.

When we were about to disperse though, a beam of light, a tiny bit wider than a human lit up the grey stone of the building in a corner, originating from the warship above.

Like a screen flickering to life, a person materialized with, shocking us as teleportation without usage of a Nascent Soul's own power was an immense surprise.

"Pick those jaws off the floor. We need to get to work. I have far too many places to be."

Serpent chided as she catwalked towards us, wearing a short skirt with the same colors as her uniform, and exposing her fair legs, to the middle of her thighs to us.

The handsome man audibly gulped, the one who had gazed at me with faint hostility. But what almost caused a peal of laughter out of me were the couple. The woman was staring down her husband, waiting for him to make a mistake... Whatever it was. With the man pointedly trying to not gaze at Serpent.

"Edmond, it looks like life still wants you."

"Serpent. It's nice to finally meet an old comrade."

"And you, Mr. Mumaso, it's a pleasure making your acquaintance. I have always wanted to meet you, but circumstances... Anyway, I believe you have questions. Ask away, but I will only entertain you for 5 minutes." Her gaze shifted from just me, to all of us.

"Why a war ship?"

Shuttles should have sufficed to evacuate people. When I had left, they had been the go-to means, so what had changed? That's what I really wanted to know.