Chapter 196

“Kyaahaaa!”

“Shaaah!”

A flock of cryptids, wailing, rushed through a long tunnel shrouded in darkness.

The steady vibration-inducing procession of monsters abruptly came to a halt, and the bulky organism at the end of the passage, as if taking this as a signal, began to move.

The creature had a flat, semi-circular body encased in thick, rocky armor, presenting an appearance as coarse as stone.

Its elongated trumpet-like siphon unfurled from its coiled position, and a spherical object shot up towards the cave’s ceiling.

Puhhhooo!

An explosion erupted upon impact with the ceiling.

The spheres kept being fired into the interior of the tunnel, followed by more explosions, leading to the onset of tremors and subsequent collapse.

In the blink of an eye, the passage was closed off.

The same action was repeated in other passages, and those connecting to the surface were sealed off.

…

The moth-like lower-rank cryptid commander, Pheromone, silently stared at the collapsed passages.

Its experience and thoughts flowed through the collective consciousness into the deepest recesses of the cave.

…

Floating in the air, the Brain slowly woke up, unfolding its interlocked hands like rising from slumber.

The smooth progress of the sealing operation.

As Brain monitored the situation transmitted through the collective consciousness, memories of the past surfaced in its mind.

It was after an unexpected enemy’s appearance dismantled the operation the Queen had planned.

“Kuh! Did you let THAT escape? You stupid fools!!”

Bang! Grr!

“Why did you follow mindlessly into an ambush and get wiped out!! How did you get THIS far…!!”

The Queen kicked the lifeless body repeatedly in a fit of uncontrollable rage.

This meaningless action continued until the Beater’s shape was utterly unrecognizable.

“Hmph… Really, nothing is going right…”

Only when the Queen finally stopped kicking did she turn her gaze towards us.

“Hey, you incompetent bunch. From now on, don’t move without thinking and keep contact if something happens. Got it?”

A reprimand aimed at the bowed Brains.

But since these words were merely murmured, there was no response.

Ah, dammit…

The Queen closed her eyes.

Only then did her voice resonate clearly through the collective consciousness.

“In the future, don’t make rash moves. If something happens, avoid combat first and then report. Got it?”

Positive emotions confirmed the response from him and the other Brains.

After receiving these instructions from Queen the night before, the Brain assigned here faithfully followed the guidelines and orders given to him.

Though it seemed questionable at first, when they followed the Queen’s directives and persisted in trying to combine the swarms with weapons, it began generating meaningful results.

Then, an unknown intruder appeared.

A pure white mass flying in the sky.

Assuming it not to be a threatening opponent, they attempted to eliminate it using the force stationed outside, but this turned out to be a miscalculation.

“!!!”

The swarm quickly dwindled under the enemy’s assault.

Before the casualties got worse, the swarm was hastily recalled and all passages that the intruder could enter through were sealed off.

Preparations had been made beforehand, so the work was carried out efficiently.

Though there were losses in troops, the key entities specially instructed by Queen remained intact, so it wasn’t a major setback.

Now all they had to do was bide their time here while waiting for Queen’s orders.

Relieved by this thought, Brain sighed.

…

Squeak squeak.

Drip, drip-drip.

The faint sounds echoing in the cave slowly grew louder until holes were punched through the empty cave, accompanied by crackling noises.

A small harvester cryptid with an insect-like carapace, poking its head through a hole the size of its own body, inspected the surroundings.

With antennae moving, the harvester was subsequently joined by dozens of others. Shortly after, a small, rolled-up girl tumbled and rolled in through the hole, entering the cave.

Stopping with a soft thud, the girl with silvery hair stood up.

“Hwee, I’m dizzy…”

As Edu swayed, saying these words, Harvester quickly moved to steady her.

Just before she fell, Harvester’s supporting arm helped Edu find her balance.

“Ouch, thanks.”

Edu patted the Harvester’s head, expressing gratitude.

Its antennae twitched before it passively accepted the caress.

During this moment, a small drone flew into the cave’s crevice, followed by Seoli who slid in like on a slide, reduced to the size of a elementary school student.

The little drone’s light was the only light in the pitch-black space.

“Hee hee. Mama Small, mud-play is fun.”

Smiling brightly, Seoli spoke in a unusually small voice, and soon after, Ryong, gliding in silently.

Unlike her child-like appearance, Ryong had grown to about the size of an elementary school child akin to Seoli.

Ryong nervously eyed the room before spotting me and approaching, tightly hugging my body.

“I’m fine, Ryong. I’ll protect you.”

I said, patting Ryong’s head gently.

Ryong’s anxious expression disappeared, her cheeks slightly turning red.

“…”

Ryong hid behind me.

Even though our size difference made it hard to fully hide her, Ryong seemed to find comfort there.

I gave her a small smile while checking the surroundings.

The mixture of the underground’s damp air and the cryptid’s signature stench confirmed that this was one of their tunnels.

“Hmm, as expected, we’ve succeeded.”

The mud-play I had planned with Seoli.

The aim was infiltrating the cryptid lair, sneaking up on them when they thought they’d blocked all entrances.

To accomplish this task, we had access to a bunch of expert tunnel-diggers.

“Shh-”

The harvesters, quietly waiting with their antennae moving.

Though they can’t be counted on for battle power, these critters as the worker-class excelled at digging tunnels.

We used the digging ability of the harvesters combined with my tactical smaller size for discreet infiltration.

Operation named: Quiet Step.

“Then, let’s keep heading down. Let’s move while avoiding any enemies.”

“Sure, Mama!”

Seoli accidentally made a bit too loud a noise.

I placated Seoli, who panicked and covered her mouth, and the harvesters resumed their task as instructed.

Scritch scritch.

The harvesters used their legs to scrape at the walls.

Their companions removed the debris produced from the digging.

In a flash, a small hole formed beside the passage.

We rolled down the created hole, leading to yet another quiet passage.

Repeating this process, we headed deeper.

After passing several floors, we arrived at a comparatively wide passage.

“Krurul?”

We encountered a cryptid roaming the passage.

A beater, with a canine-like body covered in insectoid carapace.

“Reinforced humanoid summoning! Baby! Girl! Guy!”

As mana drained out to create our summons, the Beater’s mouth opened wide.

“Kyaahaaaaa!!”

The silence was shattered by the wailing cry.

Exactly a beat later, Guy’s punch sent the beater flying into pieces.

“Kyaahaaaaa!!”

The cries echoed from above the cave.

“Kieeeee!!”

Sharp exclamations thundered from below.

“Tch, looks like they’ve noticed us.”

Still, we’d managed to infiltrate pretty deep.

I observed the surrounding terrain.

“About 4 meters…? Can’t use the armor here.”

Having decided, I issued immediate action.

“Humanoid summon! Marionettes! Armament: KUSAS-12 and 12 gauge shotguns! Infantry set!”

Fully armed marionette troops emerged beside the three summon creatures.

And a marionette to carry me.

As I was about to mount the marionette that had approached me, Seoli tapped my shoulder and pointed downwards.

“Mom Small, down there. Ziingziing’s there.”

“Is Ziingziing down there?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. So, Seoli, do you want to return to your original size?”

“Sure!”

Seoli raised her hand towards Ryong.

Her body glowing with light, Ryong’s body transformed back into that of a child, while Seoli’s returned to an attractive adult figure.

Ryong’s shoulders visibly slumped.

“Haha, all done!”

“Uh-huh, both of you must stick close to me!”

“…”

Ryong responded by clinging to my back instead of speaking.

Though the sight of a marionette carrying me who in turn carried Ryong was surreal, I accepted it, given how adorable her slightly peeking face was.

“Ryong, you need to hold on tightly, alright?”

Ryong nodded.

All checks passed; I proceeded to issue orders.

“Baby! Girl! Guy! Move forward and clear the way! Marionettes, split into two units! One unit to guard the rear, the other to cover the three of us!”

[Confirmed.]

The summons separated into two groups.

I tapped the marionette carrying me and pointed in the direction Seoli had indicated.

“Alright, let’s go too! Seoli!”

“Sure!!”

Our group followed the three summoners and the armed marionettes through winding tunnels deep inside.

As we entered, a strangely spacious cavern came into view.

“Kuuhhrrr”

“Kyaahaaaa!”

The cries of the monsters echoed through the cavern.

The swarm of medium and small cryptids filling the room, and the floating Brain at the center, came into view.

The parched hands pointed at us.

At this signal, all cryptids in the room lunged forward simultaneously.

The fully-automatic shotguns of the marionettes aimed at them.

Every gun’s barrel erupted in flames, sending out shotgun rounds.

BANG BANG BANG!

“Bigly!”

“Kyaak!”

As allies get swept away in the enemy’s front ranks.

Their comrades, wounded with various colors of blood, were trampled while moving forward.

BANG BANG BANG!

The continuous barrage of fire couldn’t stop the enemies from approaching.

While marionettes exchanged their empty magazines, the enemies picked up their pace.

“Kyaahaaa!”

The creatures opened their sharp-toothed mouths while raising their offensive weapons.

The summons responded to this action, charging forth and attacking the swarm.

Baby suppressed the enemies with a wall of bullets from both hands.

Girl skillfully evaded the enemy’s attacks, delivering relentless kicks and punches to the exposed vulnerabilities.

Guy used his massive arm like a mace, literally sweeping up the enemy.

During this, the reloaded marionettes’ automatic shotguns spat fire again.

With a small number but elite skills, our allies pushed back the cryptids.

…

The Brain, which had maintained its distance, began to slowly move its five interlocked hands, pointing them upwards.

BOOM.

The large sound and tremors emanating from the ceiling continued.

BOOM BOOM.

The tremors spread as cracks appeared on the smoothly carved ceiling.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The cracks widened further, as sand and debris poured through.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The interval between the sounds became incredibly rapid, and at the moment when spider-web-like cracks spread across the ceiling,

KA-BOOM!

A silver fist emerged as the ceiling collapsed.

In contrast to the regular cryptids, this was an alien arm, entirely blanketed with machinery.

Drip, drip.

A foreboding noise rang out.

“Everyone, retreat! Fall back!”

As I issued the commands simultaneously, the summons quickly moved back.

During this, a large crack appeared, as the ceiling of the cavern reached its limits and began to collapse.

KA-BOOM!

“Everyone! Close your eyes. Pinch your nose and close your mouths tightly!”

A large wave of dust and debris swept towards us.

Guy shielded or shattered large debris, protecting us, while Baby, already nearby, covered Ryong’s ears, and Girl Seoli’s, blocking out the noise.

I also had the armed marionette cover my ears.

As the dust slowly settled, a large shadow in the center of the cavern gradually revealed itself.

“Hmm.”

A height of around 16 meters, with a face resembling a dinosaur covered in steel plates.

At the center of its six arms were massive hands, encased in mechanical devices like gloves, above which were mounted two large-caliber cannons, and underneath them, two relatively smaller arms protruding like knives.

“Thinking about the unusually wide space created despite the narrowness of the passages, I guess that was the plan huh?”

“Kuuoooohhh!!”

The deep roar.

A grade-9 hazardous cryptid, the Predator revealed its hostility towards us.

“Hmm, but did you know? If you use that size, I can too.”

The raised hand.

Called the name of the steel knight to counter the monster.

“Summon armor, Excalibur!”

[!– Swiper container –]