Chapter 1: Do You Admit Your Guilt? I Admit You’re a Fool!
Episode 137 – The Tip of the Iceberg (5)
“Ugh…”
The commander, Liam, and everyone else was shocked to the point of rolling on the floor.
Liam, scrambling to his feet, looked in horror at the ship colliding with the command ship and passing by.
“A… spaceship?”
He muttered in disbelief.
A long, outstretched body floating in the sky, along with a dark crimson barrier enveloping it, certainly resembled a spaceship. However, the protruding, fluttering tentacles and wriggling exoskeleton created a jarring dissonance in his perception.
Moreover, the bizarre giant creature ignored the command ship and charged at a similar-sized escort ship. The two ships’ barriers canceled each other out, and the creature impaled the escort ship with its sharp end, beginning to wrap it with its tentacles. It looked like a squid biting into its prey.
“Ha.”
The sight of the escort ship crumpling and exploding in real-time flashed before Liam’s eyes.
“W-what the hell… this is… a dream…”
“Pull yourself together, Amy. This isn’t a dream. Get up right now! Return to your duties!”
Liam, now fully upright, urged his still-dazed subordinates.
“This is a fleet battle. I can’t believe it, but we have to engage those things in a fleet battle. Change formation immediately!”
“But Commander! I-I don’t think this counts as a fleet battle…!”
“…First, we need to create some distance.”
He gritted his teeth at the subordinate’s shout.
In a stealthy state, hundreds of enemy ships descended upon them, distracted by a small number of enemies.
Those massive monsters raining down like a storm began to literally devour dozens of ships.
Even just hearing the desperate screams filling the communications channels from all directions was gut-wrenching.
“Create distance and respond with fire. Hurry!”
Barely managing to think, Liam made the best choice.
The biggest command ship he was aboard struggled to twist its body and escape along with nearby ships.
‘Those things aren’t without firepower either. How, where, who…’
He couldn’t help but sigh as he saw the strange creatures firing beams that resembled those of their allies from their bodies.
In an instant, half of the entire fleet’s power evaporated with this surprise attack. In Liam’s narrowed gaze, the few remaining flagship vessels, including the Sai Seker, could be seen crashing while impaling three enemy ships.
“Commander…”
“Once we’ve formed up, don’t hesitate to unleash all firepower. This is our last chance. If not, we all die here.”
He ordered what would likely be his final attack. Though heavily damaged, he was convinced that if they didn’t eliminate the enemy based on their firepower advantage here and now, they would inevitably lose next time.
“Hmm, they recognize their strengths and leverage them effectively.”
“Reina. I’m hungry right now…”
“I know.”
Reina, utilizing a defense spell created by overlapping magic circles, blocked the fire from the rebel alliance fleet directed at her.
At the same time, she cradled the exhausted Kang Do-yeon in one arm.
Kang Do-yeon had expended too much energy holding off the fleet’s fire from the front. She needed to return to the nest immediately to replenish nutrients and energy.
“But now, it won’t be a significant constraint.”
Reina jumped onto one of the ships with Kang Do-yeon.
Simultaneously, tentacles that rose from the ship began to connect to Kang Do-yeon’s body. Through the tentacles, the ship’s energy and nutrients flowed into her.
“Recover. We’ll handle the remaining enemies.”
Although she said “we,” Reina had no intention of personally stepping in.
This battlefield was solely the place for the Legion’s fleet to prove its power and debut. The protagonists had to remain the fleet.
‘Charge.’
Reina barely navigated the surrounding legion ships out and made a straight charge toward the enemy fleet that had finally begun to form up next to them.
For this moment, it was a textbook fleet battle, exchanging fire from a distance.
Both the human side and the Legion side unleashed everything they could, firing beams and missiles to chip away at the enemy’s barriers.
‘Charge, keep charging.’
The notable difference was that the Legion had no intention of maintaining a front line or formation.
While spewing firepower, the Legion ships began accelerating towards enemy territory.
Reina couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the enhanced Legion fleet, maximized in armor and barriers through the magic of the Stars Association. The center of that magic was not the large or super-large species but the ships themselves.
In Reina’s mind, the stage of the wars fought until now had merely shifted to the skies.
“Ugh, uaaah…”
And here was where the winner would be decided.
To face a fleet battle for the first time and against a giant monster, the sheer horror exerted by the opponent was enough to shatter any resolve.
The terrified humans began to waver, while the Legion had plenty of experience in exploiting that fear.
As they grappled with whether to retreat or not, their formations began to crumble. Ultimately, Liam decided to retreat all units to the cosmic expanse.
‘Do they think they can escape into space?’
Reina directed the ships to pursue.
Leave not a single life, that was Eve’s order.
Until now, space had solely been their domain.
Experiencing space for the first time, Reina grinned at the gradually cooling and darkening surroundings. Her own body needed a barrier, but the ships did not.
These ships, forged with the essence of the Legion, had become the strongest beings capable of withstanding extreme outer space without requiring barriers, chasing after the human fleet.
*
“Madness… they keep coming!”
“Fire! Keep firing!”
The flagship Sai Seker, although aged and modified multiple times like the other ships of the rebel alliance, was still a large ship capable of warp travel with thousands of crew working aboard, information extracted from a recent prisoner’s testimony revealed.
That ship was now filled with screams, shouts, and gunfire.
“Ugh…”
‘And it’s also the ship that dared to bombard our nest with bunker buster bombs.’
Eve, with her mask on, muttered as she slashed a crew member armed with a gun.
Eve was both furious and delighted at the same time. She finally had the chance to tear apart the enemies who had brazenly delivered a searing blow to them.
‘Kill them all.’
At Eve’s command, many medium-sized Legionnaires rushed down the corridors, baring their teeth and claws at the resisting humans.
The infiltrating forces were carefully selected species capable of moving nimbly within the ship, such as lizards, four-legged carnivores, and spiders.
‘Not a bad strategy, right?’
‘For the inadequately defended ones, we are the absolute worst enemy.’
I nodded in agreement with Eve’s words, longing for praise.
One of the strategies we devised to attack enemies in our own way was to deploy forces directly into the interiors of enemy ships.
This was especially a method used for dealing with large vessels like this flagship.
Right now, three ship bodies were embedded into the Sai Seker, and we began pouring out our troops, including us two.
“Ahh!”
“Endless! Up! In the vent above… ugh!”
The crew members attempted to resist by shooting guns and boarding heavy equipment, but that was all.
From the perspective of the collective consciousness, all I could hear were the panic-stricken shouts and desperate screams of the enemies.
Compared to the ground, the interior of the ship was practically unprotected.
Moreover, due to the nature of the Legionnaires, who were all acting under Eve’s control, once they were spotted, escaping was impossible.
‘But there must be some areas they’ve thoroughly prepared for.’
Eve showed me another scene.
In contrast to other places being indiscriminately slaughtered, this spot had tightly fortified personnel, equipped, steadily taking on the charging Legionnaires one by one.
In my eyes, I saw someone standing in uniform among them. Dark skin, scars, a tough expression, and so on.
Cross-referencing that with testimonies obtained from prisoners, this individual must be the captain of the Sai Seker, Eden.
‘Originally, our kind’s goal is to destroy power rooms or arsenals inside the ship, but I must first take his arrogant head.’
In other words, he was someone we could call Eve’s nemesis. He wasn’t aware of it, but the angered Eve moved in that direction.
“Captain! Escape now…”
“It’s impossible. And so, you’ve finally shown up? Higher being.”
Eden recognized us, emerging before them, leading the Legionnaires. Well, to his eyes, Eve might not be recognizable, but I would undoubtedly appear as a monster.
However, despite his confident, overbearing voice, his eyes were shaking. They likely lacked data on us.
Both Eve and I did not respond particularly, simply holding our swords.
“What do you want? What is your purpose?! Is it merely to eat and kill humans? To breed?! Is your aim to cover this world with your nests?!”
Eden shouted, eyes bulging as if on his last desperate attempt.
He looked as if he had already resigned himself to death.
‘Well, you understand our purpose. But now, I won’t stop in this world.’
And Eve silently mocked at his words.
[Survival is the goal.]
However, I didn’t fully agree with Eve’s words right now. Though I didn’t let it show, as the Legion’s brake, my sole purpose was always our safety.
“Honestly, why should we care about your purposes? You will die here today. Fire!”
Just then, as Eden shouted, his command was followed by erupting bullets and beams flying toward us.
Both Eve and I resonated our barriers.
And alongside the Legionnaires, we dashed forward, breaking through their firepower.
Eve raised her sword and swung it down.
The slashing blow, which could be defended against with formancy, was something they did not possess.
The attack that could cleave through both people and ships split through to the rear wall and caused an explosion.
