Chapter 135 – Tip of the Iceberg (3)
“Approximately two centuries ago, created in Verenia, one of the forces of the Alliance, it should have been decommissioned by now: a 6th generation Autus-class escort ship.”
Eve, examining the escort ship through Kang Do-yeon’s eyes, instantly recognized the detailed identity of the ship, even though its appearance had changed due to various improvements.
The information provided by researcher Pyles, who had infected and infiltrated the Alliance, contained detailed data on ships throughout history.
The rebel alliance, which was once part of the Alliance and still deeply intertwined with it, could not be free from that information.
“I’ll send you the ship’s blueprints to your brain now. Even a ship hundreds of meters long is ultimately just like a living organism. If you accurately destroy its heart, you can stop that massive vessel with just a little crack.”
“I understand. Now, show me.”
Kang Do-yeon unfolded the blueprints of the Autus-class escort ship in her mind, given to her by Eve. Her eyes, gleaming behind the mask, overlapped the blueprints with the currently appearing ship.
Thanks to that, she could see very clearly.
Where everything was located on the ship and what role each component played.
Among them was the main power unit of the ship located at its core. If that place were destroyed, the massive ship would fall like a beast with its heart shattered.
She revealed her form as she dispelled her invisibility and spread her wings.
The ship’s response was slightly delayed, as it was only looking at the ground covered by legionnaires coming at it in waves.
“Destroy it.”
Eve’s command echoed.
Kang Do-yeon resonated the power source throughout her body to the limit, raising her formancy.
As the crimson barrier surrounding her body thickened and hardened, she expelled tremendous force through the gaps in her external armor, breaking the sound barrier in an instant and accelerating towards the ship.
The attacks hastily fired from the ship in defense were initially designed to shoot down the enemy’s UAVs. Compared to her small body, they barely grazed her.
Though she was quite far away, Kang Do-yeon rushed towards the ship at a speed that tore through the air in an instant.
“Ahhh!”
“Outer defensive shield of the ship lost!”
The blue energy shield of the ship, formed with formancy, collided head-on with Kang Do-yeon’s crimson barrier.
And the ship’s shield shattered like a glass window struck by a rock, bursting apart with a shockwave that obliterated the surrounding clouds.
Originally designed and built for a fleet battle against opponents of the same class, the shield’s size and durability were prioritized to defend against enemy bombardments coming from all sides, making it inevitably vulnerable to a sudden point breach.
“What the hell…”
One hurried soldier, seeing her fly straight towards them, muttered in disbelief.
Having broken the shield, Kang Do-yeon folded her wings and simultaneously rotated her body. With her body transformed into a tremendous drill flying at high speed, she obliterated the thick outer wall of the ship in a massive explosion, heading straight for the core without losing any velocity.
Those unfortunate enough to be nearby were crushed to death by the shockwave and resulting wind pressure before the explosion could even reach them.
“This doesn’t make any sense! How, how could this happen…!”
The captain, rolling on the floor of the shaken command center with his fellow subordinates, realized the absurd situation as he screamed.
One by one, the systems in the control room began to shut down.
The engines stopped running, communications were cut off, and the weapons systems went offline. This meant that the central power had been lost in a single strike.
“C-Captain! The power room has been severely damaged… The ship is going down!”
“The ship’s body has been split in half due to the power room’s massive explosion!”
They had to roll on the floor once again.
The core power unit of the ship that Kang Do-yeon penetrated exploded a moment later, causing the massive ship’s body to split in half and begin its descent.
“Hotline. Is the hotline still operational?”
“Y-Yes, Captain. Quickly evacuate…”
“Connect it now. We must inform them, at all costs.”
The captain, lying on the ceiling of the overturned ship, grabbed the communicator directly linked to the main fleet.
‘Perhaps we have stepped into the wrong place.’
Through the communicator, the captain saw a single black dot, hovering majestically in the blue sky, which had completely destroyed the ship.
As he felt himself getting closer to the ground, the captain instinctively felt fear.
The fear of the black wing that had been unknown to him as a ship’s captain, one that the locals dreaded.
“I recommend… retreat.”
Ultimately, just before colliding with the ground, the last message delivered by the captain was a massive retreat order.
And thus, the ship, which had boldly appeared to save the city in crisis, became scrap metal and merged with the earth.
*
“This is the last communication from Captain Scott of the Naria.”
“…”
“Unfortunately, the Naria, which should have been on watch in that area, was completely destroyed in an instant, leaving us with little detailed information.”
Commander Liam was receiving reports from the flagship floating in the universe.
However, the conference room, which had been actively discussing countermeasures against the suddenly appeared monsters, was now filled with a suffocating silence.
To be honest, Liam was the only one currently keeping his wits about him.
“Up to now, the losses we’ve suffered here include three escort ships, around 1,500 allied soldiers, countless equipment, and should I even mention the local casualties?”
He muttered blankly, touching the hologram to open one of the videos that had been interrupted.
The footage sent by the destroyed Naria captured the figure of a being with four black wings floating in the air.
“I had never imagined such a small vessel could take down an Autus-class escort ship in one go. Moreover, it precisely struck the central power unit as if it had aimed for it. This is likely true for you as well, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Captain. Those monstrous creatures are definitely…”
“They are evolving.”
Liam saw through the essence of the matter.
From local testimonies to direct observations, it was clear.
Their enemy was evolving. At an astonishingly quick pace and in extraordinarily optimized forms. The principle behind it was something they couldn’t even begin to guess.
It was beyond their understanding to think that some of those monsters could be masquerading as humans and mingling with the Alliance.
“That local mage named Austin said it clearly. They were able to learn our magic from the start. What did he say? They still haven’t found the advanced gate-related technology that went missing?”
“That’s right. High-level mages have a rough idea, but it is not perfect, and since the technology was kept extremely confidential, if all related personnel were killed, it would take time to fully restore it…”
“Then what about them? How did they manage to elude our watch and procure tens of thousands of their kind from somewhere?”
Liam’s predictions came extremely close to the truth. The problem was that realizing it at this point wouldn’t change anything.
“That can’t be! Even if they possessed everything from the Ardos Academy, the only coordinates they could know are those of REDRIUM. We discovered this place by sheer luck, having passed through worlds filled with poison, cold, and heat. Unless they fly through space like you do and obtain new land coordinates, that’s certain. Furthermore, even if they killed all the monsters in that desolate land, what they could gain from there would be nothing but the lifeless soil.”
“So, the probability is high that those tens of thousands they brought are all they have?”
“But could it really be that they all fled there…? Honestly, I can’t understand it.”
Austin, linked to the screen, jumped in denial of Liam’s words.
Knowing that their legion consumes all life around and expands their nests, from a logical standpoint, it was nonsensical for them to thrive in the harsh land of REDRIUM.
“We will help.”
“No, that’s not necessary. After all, the most troublesome thing right now is the higher species we’ve classified as our command targets and that angel with black wings. Just her. Instead, you better prepare what you promised. Only then will our main body continue to send supply support.”
Liam, who smiled faintly, rejected Austin’s offer to help.
After all, regular legionnaires were nothing more than ants on the ground from the perspective of the ship.
“Since a pile of their kind has been observed, monitoring the entire planet is no longer meaningful. Issue a concentration order to the entire fleet. If we eliminate the creatures swarming the ground, they will surely show themselves.”
He issued a mobilization command to the entire fleet to his officers.
To be honest, it was an excessive show of force to face just a few enemies. But since the adversary was a mad creature that could incapacitate a ship single-handedly, he wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario of being taken out one by one.
“Amy, inform the main body of the current situation and request support if necessary. Now, let’s discuss how to take down that angel.”
After instructing his aide to report, Liam moved on to a more serious discussion.
The most important thing was how to capture an unfamiliar type of enemy while minimizing losses.
The entire fleet was already on the move towards the designated destination.
“It seems we no longer have that strange means that initially targeted our ship, so let’s devise a strategy to bind their mobility using UAVs.”
He analyzed the enemy’s characteristics based on the information gathered and developed new tactics accordingly.
However, what he had overlooked was that most of his tactics now relied entirely on the information obtained.
Of course, considering all unknown and unforeseen situations was unreasonable, but the growth and evolution of the legion, which disregarded any means and methods, required vivid imagination beyond the realm of prediction and preparation, and that was fatal.
