Chapter 7332: Stolen Power The Ixith Goliath did not make any immediate moves after getting attacked. It seemed to relish in the shock and fear caused by its initial demonstration of power. Since the Goliath Hive was not in a hurry to put its latest asset to the test, the human defenders did not open fire either. Everyone needed time to process the latest revelations. When all of the analysts across human-occupied space accessed the same set of data and performed their own studies, their conclusions largely resembled each other. Even if they wanted to spin the answers in a direction that was more to their favor, they simply couldn’t do so without denying the obvious evidence. As scientists, they should be fair and impartial in their work. However, their human identities made it difficult for them to maintain this stance. Too much was at stake. If it turned out that the mutated voribugs truly managed to replicate a source of power that was previously exclusive to the human race, then the threat posed by this race had to be reevaluated! The existence of the Ixith Goliath directly threatened the interests of the entire mech community. There was no way that mech pilots and other members of the mech community could remain neutral when confronted by this thief! Even the Terran Alliance which was located on the other side of human-occupied space had to pay more attention to an enemy confronted by one of their rivals. Jovy continued to share more information to Ves. "The characteristics of resonance briefly acting on the Ixith Goliath shares a vague resemblance of the true resonance patterns generated by the captured expert pilots." He said. "There are many differences, but comparisons show that there are still enough similarities to form connections. This is why we have decided to designate this phenomenon as stolen resonance. Whether this means that the expert pilots are still alive but stuck inside the body of Goliath, we cannot say. This is why it is important for us to defeat this new megavoribug without subjecting its body to excessive damage. In the most optimistic scenario, it may be possible for us to rescue the expert pilots." "I don’t think they are alive." The Dark Apostle cynically commented. "The mutated voribugs don’t have a history of cooperating with anyone that is not a part of their race. They also devour everything they have come across. It is difficult to imagine them restraining their hunger for any reason. Instead of borrowing the power of human expert pilots, I think the bugs are much more comfortable with devouring them before using what they have gained to imitate their strength." Ves did not think the poor schmucks were alive either. "I need to get a lot closer to gather more clues, but for now, I think my other self is right. Willpower is generated by a strong sense of self. I don’t think that any of the expert pilots can generate any form of resonance if they are still alive. Even if this is the case, I do not think they would voluntarily resonate with a hostile Goliath for whatever reason. I think the more likely explanation is that the Goliath managed to steal this power with the help of its large Mentalist Crystal." He even speculated that the voribugs may have fed the bodies and souls of the captured expert pilots directly to the Mentalist Crystal! "If this is the case, then securing this crystal as intact as impossible is our highest priority." Jovy said in a business-like tone. "As a liaison, I have no right to command you or your troops, but I can tell you that what I have said represents the will of the entire Red Association. Every faction is interested without exception. If they had a choice, they would have deployed their own key assets on this battlefield, but it is clearly too late for them to do so. Only you, your forces and the remaining Rubarthan ace pilots have a chance to make a large contribution to human civilization." Ves smelled a rich reward. "What can we get if we fulfill your needs?" "We can discuss that later. The reward will be based on the condition of the Mentalist Crystal as well as the carcass. The lower the damage, the better. It is not impossible to grant you a minor favor, but you can only receive it if you do your best to keep enough of the spoils intact to investigate the secret behind stolen resonance." That sounded way too vague and mushy. Ves hated the lack of clear and specific criteria. The Dark Apostle dismissively waved his hand before colliding his armored fists against each other. "Enough talk! The time for action is now! Stolen resonance or not, everything has a limit. I bet that this big guy can’t keep this up forever or under sustained bombardment. Resume your attacks! Keep firing at this bastard!" Though the Dark Apostle was eager to put his new gear to the test, the Level 8 Ixith Goliath was too big and strong. He genuinely feared the possibility of getting defeated in seconds if he dared to confront the city-sized monstrosity by himself! The Dark Apostle at least needed to gain the strength and size of a greater phase lord before he could muster up the courage to confront such an enemy in a duel. For now, he was content to rely on his allies to share the burden. None of the other Ascended Giants disagreed with this decision. They were not stupid either. A scale of 1.5x or 2.5x was not even close enough to fight fairly against an opponent that was at least two orders of magnitude taller than themselves! The mechs, warships and orbital facilities resumed their attacks from a distance, only to achieve the same results. Though the mysterious Ixith Goliath did not generate a resonance shield, it still managed to generate stolen resonance with its own shells, thereby causing their defensive performance to become unnaturally high. Of course, there had to be a limit to this measure. None of the human assets ceased fire this time. They continued to launch attacks with the belief that they could eventually breach the resilient Goliath’s exterior sooner or later. The problem was that the Ixith Goliath was no longer content with remaining stationary. Now that the fight had begun, the monstrously large insect had begun to move in earnest! The Ixith Goliath immediately demonstrated much better mobility than its size suggested. The organs responsible for enabling it to fly in space were made in the highest specifications that the mutated voribug had displayed to this date! Their size, proportions, material composition and organic design were all top-tier, far exceeding that of other Goliaths! What made the Ixith Goliath’s mobility even more powerful was the enhancement brought by stolen resonance. Although the resonance meters did not measure any activity stronger than 30 laveres, what was remarkable was that Ixith Goliath was somehow able to apply the stolen resonance evenly across its entire body! The mutated voribugs actually managed to break a limitation that had prevented humans from designing bigger expert mechs! The reason why nobody designed expert mechs in the scale of juggernauts was because true resonance had a distance limit. It made no sense to design a bigger mech when every part that was located outside this invisible sphere no longer enjoyed the protection of true resonance. Yet it was the alien insects of all entities that managed to solve this problem, and in a big way no less! The size of the Level 8 Goliath far exceeded that of a juggernaut! While there were human battleships with double or triple the length of the Ixith Goliath, their profiles were usually fairly narrow, which meant that the volume of the megavoribug was absolutely greater. How the hell was the Goliath Hive able to apply stolen resonance to all of that biomass?! 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂 Nobody could provide the answer, but that did not stop people from wondering. This impossible observation alone was enough to drive mech designers crazy! Ves and the Dark Apostle were already beginning to receive crazy requests from Gloriana about trying to capture the Ixith Goliath or its Mentalist Crystal intact! As a mech designer who specialized in designing high-ranking mechs, there was no way she would remain unmoved in the face of this phenomenon. Her desire to decipher this novel display of power was far greater than that of Ves! While Ves wanted to unravel this secret as well, he did not want to put his life on the line! The Ixith Goliath did not remain idle during this time. Its movements started off a little jerky, but as it grew more familiar with its formidable capabilities, the Level 8 Goliath’s maneuvers became increasingly more fluid. "This thing is not a mature organism. It... it’s an infant!" While that was not entirely accurate description, many soldiers did have this impression. The judgment displayed by the Ixith Goliath did not match that of a seasoned and experienced combatant. It moved as if it downloaded a lot of theory, but the gap between knowledge and execution still affected its efficiency. However, the dark brown bug was not an ordinary Goliath. Its learning speed exceeded everyone’s expectations. It took minutes to master what most soldiers mastered in months! While Level 7 Goliaths also demonstrated rapid learning speeds, their mental evolution paled in comparison to that of the Ixith Goliath! "The Mentalist Crystal must be responsible for this! The Ixith Goliath cannot be judged according to the standards of the other megavoribugs. Its intelligence is perhaps its greatest weapon!" People also grew concerned whether it had managed to absorb the memories and combat acumen of the captured expert pilots. While the Ixith Goliath had yet to give away clues that confirmed this theory, nobody dared to rule it out at this time. Aside from evading as many incoming attacks as possible, the formidable megavoribug also started to retaliate. It did not choose to move closer. Instead, it began to channel energy to one of the many large organic cannons spread across its exoskeleton. These massive warship-scale guns accummulated energy before opening fire as soon as they aligned to a target designated by the Goliath! Multiple warships and orbital platforms immediately bore the brunt of its aggression! "All of the Ixith Goliath’s attacks have landed!" That was atypical for the voribugs. The race had never excelled in accuracy. Their wild movements, the shoddy tolerances of their organic ranged armaments and their lack of sophisticated fire control systems hindered their ability to reach a high hit rate. However, the brand-new Goliath that the enemy had painstakingly grown inside an Incubator had evidently addressed these flaws. As the Ixith Goliath began to spit out a second salvo of warship-grade plasma bolts and energy beams, it managed to land all of its attacks yet again! "This guy won’t miss!" "Wait, the damage inflicted onto our azure energy shield is greater than expected!" "Stolen resonance! The attacks are empowered by stolen resonance!" Not only was the Ixith Goliath a lot more accurate than its predecessors, it was also able to hit much harder than usual! This was a deadly combination. As the Ixith Goliath launched its third salvo, it abruptly concentrated its attacks on an orbital platform as well as a warship. Both targets received so many resonance-empowered attacks at once that they broke apart in an instant! None of their crew had enough time to evacuate! Many soldiers grew horrified at what just happened. "We can’t let the Ixith Goliath bombard us at its leisure. Our champions need to approach and occupy it at close range. We cannot give it any space to launch any further ranged attacks against our less mobile assets!" In the end, a champion could only be defeated by another champion. The ace mechs and Ascended Giants prepared to enter the fray. No matter what fears and apprehension they might have, they suppressed these feelings as best as possible. Their pride did not allow them to admit defeat!