Chapter 189

[ No, why…? ]

Gluk let out a baffled voice.

Yotun also examined the city’s appearance while twitching his antennae, but no matter where he looked, there was no sign of the enemy.

The fleet advancing into the city.

The soldiers deployed on the ground were equally perplexed.

“What is this? Why is there nothing here?”

“Hmm?”

As they continued to advance cautiously, the soldiers began to gradually lower their guard as there was no trace of the enemy.

Keeeing- Kong.

The tripod marching alongside also moved its head from side to side, looking around from a higher position, but there was no movement anywhere in the city.

The 8th Main Fleet and soldiers broke through the densely built-up urban area and arrived at the outskirts on the opposite side.

“…!! Halt! Be on guard around you!!”

The ground forces commander shouted.

The imperial soldiers, confirming the holes in various places and the collapsed and destroyed buildings, prepared their defensive positions again.

However, that didn’t last long. The ground forces commander tilted his head, realizing that there was nothing but traces left behind.

The ground forces commander manipulated his equipment on his uniform and called the flagship.

[ What is the matter? ]

“Admiral, the traces of battle remain, but there is no sight of the enemy anywhere.”

“I understand. Maintain your guard and wait.”

[ Yes, Admiral! ]

The ground forces commander saluted sharply and disappeared from the screen.

“Is there no reaction on the radar?”

“Yes, Admiral. There’s nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Hmm…?”

A situation entirely different from expectations.

Yotun’s head moved towards Gluk, whose face occupied part of the screen.

“Gluk, did you not say the enemy’s main force had appeared?”

[ W, well, yes…but what is this…?]

Gluk, appearing to not know what was going on, sweated profusely.

Considering the experiences they had so far, the traces of battle remaining, and the enemy’s presence they had confirmed just moments ago, Yotun, confident that Gluk had not lied, twitched his antennae while contemplating the next move.

‘First, we need information.’

“Deploy four ships for reconnaissance duty and have the ground troops and the remaining fleet search the city thoroughly. Find any information you can about the enemy.”

“Understood, Admiral!”

The communications officer saluted Yotun and cleared his throat.

“The flagship will communicate to the fleet! Assign one ship from each squadron for reconnaissance! The remaining forces will thoroughly search the city for enemy information!”

…

Woooung-

A small engine sound echoed from something inside the vehicle.

While focusing on the hologram screens around, I sprawled out on the bed, stretching my arms.

“Ghheee…”

Stretching my short arms and legs to their fullest.

After stretching all my strength, the tensed body loosened and the blurry mind cleared up again.

“Koo…”

A faint sound coming from the side.

“Hehehe, little mama, good…”

Seoli tightened her arms around Hwa-ryeong nestled in her embrace in her sleep.

“Uuuh…”

Even as Ryeong scrunched her face under Seoli’s embrace, she stayed sound asleep.

Nisia approached them gently and covered the two sleeping children with a thin blanket.

“You two are sleeping well.”

“Yes.”

An involuntary smile rose.

At that moment, a weary voice came from the other side of the bed.

“Haa, I’m envious…”

Muna, with an outstretched hand towards the air, muttered to herself as she looked at the sleeping Seoli and Ryeong.

“Muna, are you okay?”

“Absolutely not fine. I want to sleep. Please put me to bed.”

Muna, with a pleading gaze, looked at me, but my response was already determined.

“No, Muna. You haven’t recovered from using your ability.”

“Uuugh…”

When I cut her off sharply, Muna lowered her head and slouched.

But it was unavoidable.

Unless we had someone versatile like Jason, the vehicle we were riding now, even after Banetta’s modifications, was just a standard military truck.

That meant, if our presence were exposed to the enemy, it would make things dangerously complicated.

Which was why we needed Muna’s ability.

Her ability, ‘Camouflage’, allowed her to blend whoever or whatever she touched into the surroundings, enabling us to move covertly.

Though, there were issues, such as the size limit, high MP consumption, and the need to maintain physical contact during ability use. However, none of these were problems for us right now.

We used a truck tailored to Muna’s ability to address the size limit, and the issue of constant contact was solved by having her sit in the back of the truck with hands on it the entire time.

The only real issue was the high MP consumption, but we had a solution for that.

“Come on, Muna, aren’t you running low on mana by now?”

“Uu… capsules, human rights abuse…”

Muna reluctantly opened her mouth.

As I placed the mana capsule into her mouth, it made a gulping sound, and a blue aura could be seen swirling around Muna’s body.

‘Great, this should last for a while.’

This is the right way to use items.

Items you have accumulated should be used freely when needed.

But this method had one unforeseen downside.

“Uu… black company, farm labor, improvement requested.”

Muna voiced her complaints with a slightly puffed cheek.

In AOE, with limited character emotional expressions and certain game allowances, item play like this caused no issues, but in reality, the person involved couldn’t help but express dissatisfaction.

“Alright, if you hold on just this one more time, I’ll get you the pillow of the heavens.”

Muna’s body twitched at my words.

“I mean the legendary pillow of the heavens—produced in extremely limited quantities, so soft that once you lie down, you fall into a deep, sweet sleep. The greatest masterpiece ever made by humankind.”

She became suddenly more talkative, prompting me to nod with a smile.

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“…Capsule, please.”

“Yes, here.”

“…Uuugh. Pillow of the heavens, pillow of the heavens…”

Muna, muttering to herself while swallowing the mana capsule, rekindled her enthusiasm.

Looks like Muna is convinced, and we don’t need to worry about hiding our bodies anymore.

“So then, Edu, what’s the plan going forward?”

“Hmm. Honestly, there’s not much to plan. We just keep attacking.”

Breach the weakest defense line in the occupied territories of the 4th Interstellar Navigation Fleet and intrude.

Next, hide our presence with Muna’s ability, and use the mobility of the Collection to assault all enemies within the occupied zone.

From an Ustansha perspective, the situation would involve enemies attacking, then disappearing as if they never existed, while an unknown invader armored unit would appear here and there, attacking their territories.

This alone would be disorienting to them, but they have another fatal flaw.

That is the information gap they lack.

“They also have no detailed information about our power or abilities, so their response will inevitably be delayed.”

Reality isn’t an RTS game.

Just because something isn’t immediately visible doesn’t mean the enemy isn’t present, nor are all situations accurately conveyed to the commanders.

Thus, the enemy’s response will inevitably be delayed.

A perfect plan that takes advantage of the information gap to seize control of the battle.

“Indeed… Incredible, Edu!”

Nisia’s eyes shining brightly caused my cheeks to slightly redden.

“Haha, let’s keep moving then.”

“Yes!”

…

The searchlights fired from the imperial fleet’s ships swept the city, driving away the dense darkness.

Keeeing- Kong.

The mechanical sound reverberated on the main road.

The tripods emitted beams of light from their heads, scanning the alleys and spaces between buildings that searchlights couldn’t reach. Soldiers with military lighting devices inspected restricted areas like inside buildings and underground.

The continued search.

[This district is cleared, moving to the next area.]

“This district’s buildings were checked and show no abnormalities.”

Continuous reports flowed through the communication network, with data processed from each ship heading towards the flagship of the 8th Main Fleet that hovered prominently in the city center.

“Admiral, there is a report from the 4th fleet.”

“Any new information?”

“None.”

“Hm.”

Yotun contemplated.

Next to him, Gelang cautiously spoke.

“Teacher, it seems we may have discovered all that we can…”

“It might be so, but it also might not be.”

Yotun’s cautious response.

“Continue searching the remaining areas and report any abnormalities or peculiarities immediately.”

“Understood, Admiral!”

As time passed…

The 8th Main Fleet searched every district of the city.

Thorough reconnaissance confirmed that there was no abnormality, and Yotun, nodding his head, spoke.

“Withdraw all ground forces and reorganize the fleet’s formation. We’re retreating from here.”

“Yes! Admiral!”

The hanger’s doors opened and shuttles headed towards the ground.

Watching them, Yotun lost himself in thought.

‘Exactly, what is happening here?’

Besides the clear battle traces left in the outskirts of the city, the ground forces had found one more clue.

They were the countless wheel and track marks clearly left on the ground.

This proved that the enemy had been there, but at the same time, a new question arose.

The wheel and track marks heading into the city.

Clearly, an enormous amount of enemies had entered the city, but there was no trace of them leaving anywhere.

It was simply impossible for that much weaponry to move without a trace, truly mystifying.

“Admiral!”

An urgent voice broke his contemplation.

Yotun’s gaze shifted towards the communication officer.

“What is it?”

“An allied force in the northern occupied territory is under surprise attack and requests support!”

“Northern occupied territory?”

Definitely a place far away from here if it’s in the northern occupied territory.

“Yes, Admiral. They’re saying they’re being attacked by an enemy large-scale armored unit—”

“Wait, a large-scale armored unit?”

Upon hearing a familiar word, Yotun questioned, and the communications officer nodded.

“Yes! There’s also accompanying footage.”

“Play it.”

“Yes, Admiral!”

Footage appearing on the screen.

“Impossible. Teacher, this is…!”

Gelang, upon seeing the footage, gawked in shock at Yotun, whose antennae trembled.

“What on earth is going on…”

Cutting his sentence short, Yotun watched the live invaders’ armored equipment clearly moving in the footage, which looked exactly like the enemies in the footage that Gluk had sent.