Chapter 89

Heavy footsteps echo down the corridor.

At the forefront walks a large man, with a group of men following behind him. They were the group who had a run-in with Edu earlier—Duralu and his subordinates.

“Did the battalion commander call for you?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Hmm…”

Exchanging words, Duralu continues walking. In front of the underground command room, the battalion commander’s quarters, his footsteps come to a halt.

A group approaches from the distance, fully wrapped in cloth, their sand-colored cloaks trailing behind them. At the center stands a masked man, someone that even Duralu knows well.

“Eh? Bronze? What are you doing here?”

“Duralu? What brings you here?”

Their questions overlap simultaneously.

“My call is from the battalion commander.”

“The battalion commander summoned me as well.”

Their answers coincide once again. Nonetheless, confirming they were summoned for the same reason, Duralu’s shoulders rise slightly, and Bronze nods.

Duralu and Bronze gaze at the door, while the Amalgams, dressed in reinforced suits and standing beside the door, gesture for them to hand over their weapons. As Duralu and Bronze relinquish their carried weapons, their subordinates follow suit.

With all weapons recovered, the Amalgams open the door.

“Alright, let’s go in.”

Duralu leads the way into the room. His subordinates follow behind, but Bronze stands there, staring intently at the Amalgam, as if suspecting something amiss.

A suspicious glare.

Duralu raises his voice toward Bronze.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“…Ah, nothing.”

Only when Duralu urges does Bronze and his subordinates enter the room. As soon as everyone enters, the door slams shut with a thud.

The quiet underground command room.

With no sight of the battalion commander, who always lounged smugly in his chair, Duralu raises his voice.

“Battalion commander! We’ve arrived!”

The voice echoes through the command room, but no answer comes back.

At that moment, Bronze’s eyes widen, and murmurs escape his lips.

“Smell of blood…!”

In an instant, Bronze dashes and grabs Duralu’s shoulder.

“Duralu! It’s a trap!!”

“Eh, a trap?”

Duralu’s voice is slow and confused. Watching their reaction, a young voice echoes from inside the command room.

“Heh, you’re pretty sharp.”

From behind the chair where the battalion commander usually lounged, something suddenly shoots out to the side.

Her silver hair shines even in the dim lighting, and her round cheeks add a certain charm. Her delicate features are so cute and beautiful that they promise future growth.

Her attire was similar to their military uniforms, but hers was much cleaner and more refined compared to what their commander used to wear.

This difference creates a sense of disharmony, as if a completely unrelated person had been placed into this scene, capturing everyone’s attention.

“A child…?”

“How did a brat get here-”

“Are you curious?”

The voice of Edu cuts their words off.

Clap, Edu claps her hands.

From behind the stacks of boxes and broken equipment, humanoid figures emerge.

Fully armed marionettes dart toward Duralu and Bronze like lightning.

“Tch…”

Reflexively, Bronze moves his hand toward his waist but stops as they had already surrendered all of their weapons.

“…So the trap started here.”

Bronze mutters to himself with a bitter smile.

By the time he finishes, the marionettes have already surrounded them, aiming their weapons.

“Eh, eh?”

Bronze remains silent, his eyes cold as he stares at Edu.

“You both came after receiving contact from the battalion commander, right?”

The girl smirks.

“In that case, you’ve arrived accurately. I’m the battalion commander now.”

With full confidence in her voice.

At those words, Duralu’s expression darkens.

“Eh? What kind of nonsense is this? Our battalion commander is Mr. Adamant, and no one else!”

“Ah, Mr. Adamant, sure, I remember him.”

As Edu says this, she rummages through her pockets.

Something she pulls out slips through her fingers and falls to the ground with a small thud.

“…”

An awkward silence fills the room. The young girl’s cheeks turn red with embarrassment.

But behind the chair, Nisia retrieves what Edu dropped and throws it toward the two.

It lands at Duralu’s feet.

His eyes widen as he recognizes it.

“This, this is…!”

“Yes, the late battalion commander’s belongings.”

“This brat!! What did you do to our brother!!”

An outraged, harsh voice.

Conversely, Edu’s tone turns cold.

“Marionettes.”

[ Acknowledged. ]

Bang—

Before they could react, the gunshot rings out.

A trail of red trickles down Duralu’s forehead, and his massive body collapses.

“AAAAAAHHH!?”

“Battalion commander!”

“Alright then, is there anyone else with complaints?”

A chilling question.

No one steps forward after seeing Duralu perish like a bug for raising his voice at the wrong moment.

“…What do you want?”

Bronze speaks first, representing the hesitant subordinates.

“A simple question—pledge allegiance to the new battalion commander, or…,”

Edu points her finger at Duralu.

“Hold onto your loyalty to the previous battalion commander until the end.”

“…”

A simple choice: surrender or die.

Despite the crude logic of power, Bronze smirks and raises his hand.

“Surrender. From now on, you’re our battalion commander.”

Regardless of what happened or how it happened, the girl before them had taken down their previous battalion commander and claimed his seat. Despite her small, fragile appearance—contrasting with the previous, overtly strong battalion commander—this frailty restrains Bronze’s movements.

An entity whose strength doesn’t show on the outside is often the most dangerous, a lesson Bronze had learned from years of experience.

“Quick to understand. Could you call the other commanders over, please?”

“Other commanders?”

Bronze’s question earns him a smirk from Edu.

“Yes, it would be foolish to leave independent decision-makers after seizing an organization.”

Bronze nods in agreement.

“Indeed. Despite appearances, you seem skilled in these matters. We’ll follow the battalion commander’s orders.”

…

“Emergency! Emergency!”

A voice echoes across the fortress.

The searchlights, which had been off, turn on simultaneously, casting beams of light toward the sky and the ground.

The Fallen rush to the damaged artillery and trenches, preparing weapons and readying themselves for battle. Their faces brimmed with fierce determination, but it didn’t last long.

The Fallen, who had always been calm and composed, now emerge, looking up at the sky with a baffled expression.

“What the hell…?”

But before the sound reaches any comrades, the colossal noise from a large engine engulfs the fortress.

A massive golden object, a cruiser, descends straight into the fortress from the sky.

The sudden appearance of this large, alien-like entity throws all the Fallen in the fortress into confusion.

“Shouldn’t we attack?”

“Don’t act rashly! We don’t know what’s going on yet!”

Even the fierce and violent Fallen hesitate due to the majestic and oppressive aura.

“Where are the battalion commanders?”

“They went underground when the battalion commander called them earlier!”

“Damn! Is someone checking the communication?”

Voices filled with anxiety echo across the fortress.

Meanwhile, the cruiser’s arsenal opens above the fortress.

Armed soldiers in armored suits descend toward the ground, shuttle crafts following behind.

“I’ll go check! Don’t fire or provoke until I come back! Understood?”

After warning everyone, one Fallen squeezes every last bit of energy out of himself and rushes toward the underground.

After running for a long while, the underground command room door is strangely open.

Though this raises a question in the Fallen’s mind, only for a moment.

Seeing no sign of the Amalgams who normally guarded the door, the Fallen throws away his weapon and runs inside.

“Battalion commander! A serious problem has occurred! The aliens—”

But he doesn’t finish his sentence.

The sight inside the fortress’s underground command room was completely unfamiliar to him.

A child he had never seen before was seated in the battalion commander’s chair. Around the child stood fully armed humanoid robots. Oddly, several commanders bowed their heads to the child.

“…Eh?”

The disoriented voice of the Fallen.

Conversely, a smirk rises on the child’s face upon recognizing him.

“Ah, it looks like you’ve arrived. Shall we head out soon?”

“““Yes, battalion commander.”””

The commanders answer simultaneously and rise as if it were natural.

Seeing this, the Fallen understands.

The owner of the fortress has changed.

Quickly dropping to the ground and stepping aside, the Fallen watches as Edu’s group heads toward the surface.

– You have cleared the high-difficulty area ‘Fortress 33’. As a reward, ‘Skill Mastery’ has been unlocked.

– You have cleared the high-difficulty area ‘Fortress 33′. As a reward, all growth-related stats receive a +15 bonus.

…

In the depths of an abyss.

In a space where the only illumination is a dimly glowing red sensor, an unceasing artificial noise echoes.

Amid a collection of countless devices, a towering steel heart stands, with at its center, the High Processor Unit continuously issuing commands.

[ Directive: A059 surface warship fleet to T2-A5 sector. Ground perimeter surveillance and reconnaissance requested. ]

[ Acknowledged. A059 surface warship fleet moving to T2-A5 sector. Ground perimeter surveillance and reconnaissance initiated. ]

An endless stream of large and small pieces of information pours in from numerous circuits.

All this information is collected and combined to create a foundation for the Invaders’ victory.

Always prompt and unwavering commands.

However, deep within the High Processor Unit’s thought circuits, in the circuits kept as backup, a single recurring question arises.

– Why? Was the power insufficient?

– Is the risk of an exceptional situation surpassing our expectations?

The root of every thought—the exceptional situation.

The day before, contact with the bot squad was lost, and upon verification, an armored platoon and two assault squads were sent. They too never returned.

Compared to the grand army under its command, the losses are minor and the scope of the incident localized.

But the fact that the root cause of the problem is still unknown and the issues derived from it continue to tie the High Processor Unit down.

When attempting to make a decision, uncertainty gets in the way.

When searching for alternative methods, the risks of the unknown remain.

When trying to ignore, potential variables still linger.

A long deliberation.

But even the High Processor Unit has realized that it’s now time to make a decision.

The final decision made.

The High Processor Unit’s thoughts depart from this place and return to where they originally came from.

Awakening from slumber, like emerging from an alien blue sea, the High Processor Unit opens its eyes.

A faint globe body with the marking “K1” hovers.

Another faint globe approaches with the marking “N2.”

[ K1, welcome back. Is the plan proceeding smoothly? ]

[ N2, temporary return. Need assistance from everyone. ]

Many other floating globes gather around K1.

[ Please state your request. ]

[ Exception situation confirmed. High possibility of encountering an adversarial stationary organism possessing bugs. ]

Bugs.

The worst obstacle in their plan to devour all dimensions.

These sudden calamities always bring the worst scenarios when they appear.

Unimaginable powerhouses emerging from minor races, technology advancing exponentially, intervention from imperfect so-called gods and more.

The culprits responsible for bitter defeats when victory seemed certain.

Knowing the terror of such better than anyone, the globes’ colors change to red and purple, symbolizing unease and fear.

[ Are you sure you fully grasp the exceptional situation? ]

[ Negative. All dispatched troops for information gathering were lost after the first encounter. ]

[ Understood. Presume the object presents an extremely high risk. Recommend using the response plan from N■53 dimension. ]

As the words flow, information streams into N2.

——————————————————–

N■53 Dimension Report

A dimension where magic and mythical creatures exist, with sightings of various stationary organisms with strong but inferior forces.

Investigation complete. No valuable technology or peculiarities found. Initiate processing of all stationary organisms.

Plan underway.

30% completion of stationary organism processing.

Exception situation occurs.

Plans disrupted after the emergence of a bug, known as “Hero.” Temporary retreat after losing 20% of forces.

Response.

Engage in a war of attrition to confirm the bug’s abilities.

Bug Record – ■■■ ■■■■

Female entity, excellent in single and mass elimination. High attachment to stationary organisms. Low mobility.

Exploit her attachment with stationary organisms and implement situation control by giving up 10% more forces.

Once the situation matures, deceive with false information, move faster than the bug, and initiate thorough extermination of stationary organisms.

Plan underway.

67% completion of stationary organism processing.

Additional information.

Confirmed a significant drop in the bug’s combat strength after losing entities labeled “Parents” and “Younger Sister.”

100% completion of stationary organism extermination.

Remaining bug self-destructs.

Plan complete.

——————————————————–

[ Understood, will attempt. ]

K1’s consciousness returns to the High Processor Unit.

Commands are issued without delay.

[ Directive: Adjust the operation timing of E005 Train Corps. Target should be humans, not the Fangju. ]

[ Acknowledged. Confirm readjustment of E005 Train Corps operation timing. Targeting humans, immediate operation commencement. ]