Chapter 119 – Everyone Has a Dark Side (7)
“Is the effect… nonexistent?!”
Commander Robinson, watching the screen, sighed. They had followed the manual and responded adequately.
The basic strategy for ground defense against monsters was for the fleet to bombard the enemies while the armored units engaged on the ground.
The problem was that the enemies they were facing displayed tactics and movements unlike any adversary they had encountered before.
And those movements brazenly ignored their manual, easily neutralizing their defenses.
A higher being, having pierced through their barrage with high-velocity, high-caliber shells, landed, wings folded, holding a spear.
It was nothing like the horde of beasts that shamelessly charged toward the barrage without any awareness.
These black foes moved quickly and intelligently, effortlessly breaching their lines and demanding close-quarters combat from those who had never imagined such a scenario.
“Blow it up!”
Anticipating the enemy’s approach, the bombs they had planted beforehand detonated with blue flames.
However, before the smoke dissipated, the shockwave was endured by the higher being, supported by its barrier and armor. The spear it thrust out released a crimson energy blast, piercing through and destroying the tank that had held its ground.
“T-this…”
The faces of the soldiers, holding rifles and attempting to resist, hardened. Regardless of their experience level, they sensed death looming.
With movements that ordinary humans couldn’t keep up with, they had no way to stop these beings using the tactics they had fought with until now.
“Here, monster!”
Just as the defense line, held by hundreds, was about to collapse due to a single higher being.
Someone charged in with a clank.
Simultaneously, the swung sword struck the aimed spear.
‘Knight.’
Eve, observing the scene through the eyes of the higher being, recognized the identity.
The person clad in metallic reinforced exoskeleton was not from the rebel alliance.
The one wielding the sword with skilled precision was undoubtedly a local knight.
“Definitely overflowing with power!”
The knight, appearing greatly excited, made proper use of the enhanced exoskeleton’s strength.
Borrowing the power of machines, at least in raw strength, he did not lag behind the higher being. Moreover, unlike the alliance’s soldiers, he had abundant experience.
Fueled by his strength, he gritted his teeth and swung his great sword like a windmill.
‘Indeed, the enemies are evolving.’
Eve quietly admired the sight.
In the end, while trying to dodge the last swing of the sword, which struck his abdomen with the spear, a large-caliber bullet finally shattered the barrier of the higher being, which had reached its limit.
From Eve’s perspective, it was a scene filled with both caution and expectation.
The opponent’s arrogance, having become too complacent from the weakness of his adversary, was something he had recently paid well for. However, if the opponent was stronger than him, he could learn from it soon.
And learning, mimicking, and transforming to make it one’s own was Eve’s specialty.
‘Regardless, we must first achieve our goal. Increasing the disturbances is not a good thing.’
At that moment, Kang Do-yeon, who had become impatient due to Eve’s admiration, intervened.
She had sent the higher beings to create overall chaos while she herself rushed into the strongest defense in the center.
“Fire!”
The problem was that they were well-prepared.
She crossed her wings to block the fired beam cannons.
“Arrogant monster. Do you dare intrude here?”
Targeting the local commanding officer, Colonel Robinson, who held a megaphone-like object to his mouth, he shouted towards her, standing alone.
‘Three stationary beam cannons, six tanks, eight machine guns, three local knights equipped with exoskeletons, and five presumed mages with hundreds of infantry.’
‘Remaining time: just over a minute. If we surpass that time, support will arrive from other regions.’
Kang Do-yeon and Eve quickly finished their calculations in that fleeting moment.
The only fortunate part was that the fleet in orbit, aiming their cannons, couldn’t fire for fear of hitting their own.
‘Sufficient.’
She made her decision and rushed forward.
Naturally, an overwhelming amount of firepower poured down to stop her charge, ignoring the destruction of the surrounding city.
“Ugh, UAAAAH! Stop her!”
As she soared into the sky, the panicked humans fiercely pulled their triggers, desperate.
Borrowing from collective consciousness and maximizing the strength of her entire body, her aerial maneuvers zigzagged between the air and ground, causing a significant portion of the firepower to slice through the emptiness meaninglessly.
“Ah…”
The first casualty was an infantryman shooting from behind cover.
The moment she passed by without particular engagement, he was struck by the barrier and unable to endure the impact, exploding right there.
‘Hmm, nine seconds?’
Eve noted that it took Kang Do-yeon nine seconds to breach several hundred meters, pushing through the fierce firepower suppression.
“Stop her!”
Exoskeleton knights, enhanced by the Star’s Association’s reinforcement magic, suppressing their confusion, spread out their formation and charged towards her, having reached the final defense line in an instant.
The swung swords aimed for her neck, chest, and one leg, all attacking simultaneously.
Just before the swordblade reached her neck.
The knight who swung the sword widened his eyes in shock as his sword was blocked by her black wing.
“I got you…”
As someone shouted that they had caught her.
At that moment, his gaze suddenly flew into the sky.
The last thing the knight saw, his head severed from his body, was the impending decapitation sweeping through his comrades and formations, caught in the blast of the swung wing.
“This insane monster…”
Hundreds of soldiers, firmly holding their positions. And that strong firepower.
In less than 30 seconds, over half were destroyed and perished. It was even more shocking since they hadn’t failed to respond.
Despite having prepared thoroughly, everything was shattered like this.
Robinson, seeing her land before him, stepping on a half-destroyed tank, fell to his knees.
All concepts and common senses he had as a soldier were denied. He was witnessing personal power that transcended the laws for the first time.
“Cough!”
Kang Do-yeon seized him by the collar and simultaneously soared into the sky before the distant support arrived.
The other higher beings also took off at the same time. In a city where merely seven entities had attacked, more than half of the stationed forces were dead or destroyed, and the commander was kidnapped, resulting in the worst outcome.
‘They will definitely prepare countermeasures.’
‘Then that works. It’s strange; while we attempt to resemble them, they strive to resemble us.’
Eve, responding to Kang Do-yeon’s words, let out a small laugh.
From Eve’s perspective, if they misunderstood the strategies of the Legion based on today’s events and prepared thoroughly against them, it would actually be appreciated.
However, the true war that Eve was planning would likely end up becoming a large fleet battle, something familiar to them as well.
*
“…”
“I apologize, Commander.”
“It’s not your fault. Who could have expected it to be this way?”
Liam sighed as he lowered his head while watching the transmitted footage. The atmosphere within the command center was the worst.
The shock that overwhelmed the command officers matched that of those who had fought locally.
“Where on earth…?”
The biggest issue was the nest of the enemies that had vanished without a trace.
The ships currently in orbit were spread out, scanning the entire planet, but since they had missed the movements once, they could not detect any further activity.
Scans weren’t foolproof; they couldn’t see places hidden by terrain.
“When they appeared and when they disappeared, it was like they vanished into places that were impossible to scan, as if aware of the sky.”
“Anyway, I think everyone will believe it. That they’re not just simple space pests. Perhaps a new category may emerge in humanity’s grand lexicon.”
That was the moment Eve’s intentions to deter them proved effective.
The heavily shocked command officers could no longer comfortably expand their territory as before.
They had to establish a defense posture and hurry to find a countermeasure.
“But… we also have to hunt the giant monsters that the locals called mutants…”
“Finding a way to respond to the power of those monsters observed today is the urgent priority. Everyone should focus solely on that. No means or methods should be neglected. The easiest way would be to snipe them with ship cannons, but from the looks of it, they wouldn’t just sit around and take that.”
As was typical of his character, Liam issued his orders cautiously and painstakingly. Given the current information and situation, it was the best decision he could make.
“And… First, we need to inform His Excellency back home about the local situation, right? There’s nothing wrong with seeking support. We must not let our guard down.”
“But doing that…!”
He forced a bitter smile and issued his last order, causing everyone’s faces to harden in shock.
Liam, without a worry in the world, was well aware that his position was shaky due to being monitored by the suspicious dictator.
While he had managed to hold on so far, notifying the higher-ups and requesting support signified a failure of the mission, which would give the dictator grounds to criticize him.
Excluding Liam, all of his subordinates present at the scene didn’t want to lose a capable superior.
“Parhen, tell the commander that we reported as directed.”
“Captain…”
As the meeting adjourned, the ship captains flocked to the female aide who had received orders from Liam.
At the forefront was Aiden.
“Those unidentified monsters are unique, but they can’t defeat a space fleet. In a pinch, we can just blow them all away. But the dictator is a different matter. We can’t oppose him, and this is the only way to protect the commander.”
“You also don’t want the commander to leave, do you? We know about your relationship.”
As the captains mentioned personal matters, her face turned red.
Of course, she shared the same sentiment.
“…Understood.”
In the end, she nodded.
And that evening, it was reported to Liam that the higher-ups received a completely fabricated report.
