My Children Swarm the Cosmos – Chapter 33.2

A blinding white light lit up the battlefield, as if it would cause afterimages. The red hues of the surrounding air, felt from the red sky, also lost their color to white. An energy burst from a nuclear explosion had been fired from the muzzle.

A tremendous shock wave spread in all directions, causing a violent gust of wind. Not only the Elite pack, but even Gats, the escort captain who symbolized strength, lost their balance and fell from the shock wave. Cresecters flying in the sky fell unconscious, and chimeraz rampaging on the ground nearby rolled on the ground. As if that wasn’t enough, humanoids, drones, tanks, and war machines started to malfunction.

𝘚𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩 . . .

Under the direct path of the energy beam, the ground vaporized into plasma, burning fiercely.

“. . . Target elimination failed. Preparing to reactivate Carmine System.”

What was even more surprising was that Kreion had hidden himself underground in the Skeletunnel in the meantime.

‘𝘗𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯.’

━𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧.

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘮. . . 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘮. . .

At that moment, Phlegeth showed up from the hill, stomping the ground with its huge front legs.

‘𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.’

━𝐀𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.

Right after Phlegeth’s jaw joint opened grotesquely, crimson flames engulfed the huge multi-legged tank.

“Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!”

The flames turned bluish and purple, and like the multi-legged tank had done, it vaporized everything in the path of the beam.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa . . .!!!!!!”

In the meantime, the huge multi-legged tank even had its own shield function. It withstood Phlegeth’s firepower with its shield and remained intact.

Upon confirming its defensive power, Kreion emerged from the ground and ran silently. Gats followed Kreion.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa . . .!!!!”

Phlegeth continued to spew rippling purple flames. The huge multi-legged tank continued to receive the flames with its shield deployed.

━𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐞-𝐧𝐢𝐦. 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?

‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴.’

━𝐘𝐞𝐬.

‘𝘐𝘯 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩’𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴.’

It was a charge based on conviction.

“Kahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa . . .!!”

━𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲!

Remaining distance, approximately 100 meters.

Kreion and Gats ran at maximum speed.

“Kughuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa . . .!!!”

━𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫!

Remaining distance, approximately 60 meters.

There was no time to heal the wings that had been hit by plasma buckshot earlier.

“Heueueueueu . . . ! Kururururu . . . Greuk . . .”

━𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 . . . !

Remaining distance, approximately 30 meters.

The huge multi-legged tank’s muzzle was aimed directly at Kreion.

Just then, Gats shot a blade from his right wrist.

𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨!

A sharp, thorn-like blade pierced one of the multi-legged tank’s four legs. Immediately after, a tentacle connected to the blade from his right wrist was pulled taut.

“Kuaaaaaaaa!!!!”

Gats let out a beastly cry as he pulled his right arm. With the recoil from pulling a fixed object and the thrusters attached to his body, Gats charged forward as if he had been shot, ahead of Kreion.

Then the muzzle flashed again and the surrounding air rippled.

“Gats!”

𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨 . . . !!

Gats, who had charged to the barrel, used the blade of his left arm to pierce through the armor and fix himself to the multi-legged tank. Then, he swung the tentacles that grew from his wing bones and used the blades at their ends to cut off one of the multi-legged tank’s four legs.

𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!

The multi-legged tank momentarily lost its balance and fell over. Gats quickly jumped back just before being crushed by the multi-legged tank. And just in time, Kreion jumped in and landed on top of the barrel.

He put his palms together to create a sword bigger than his body.

𝘒𝘸𝘢 𝘫𝘪𝘫𝘪𝘫𝘪𝘫𝘪𝘫𝘪!!!

He diagonally slashed the upper body of the multi-legged tank.

The multi-legged tank, which had been gathering energy until just a moment ago, made an unstable mechanical sound.

‘𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘥𝘦 . . . !’

𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬! 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!

At that moment, Gats’ harpoon pierced Kreion’s left shoulder.

𝘗𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘳!!!!

Kreion was pulled by Gats’ harpoon and managed to escape the multi-legged tank’s explosion.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Duo Brinicle.

An experienced private, he was assigned as the captain of the command flagship and commander of the Darwin Foundation pursuit fleet.

“So it’s 12 to 14 now?”

“Yes. 12 Lemegetons versus 6 allied battleships, 3 escort ships, 2 assault ships, 2 multipurpose cruisers, and 1 command flagship.”

Brinicle stared at the holographic situation board in the modified cockpit.

“Five of our battleships have been bitten. By those monster ships.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Then it’s fair to say that the overall strength of this naval battle is 12 to 9. We’re at a disadvantage. What’s the situation on the ground?”

“The first frontline landing point was breached, and the second and third landing points have been captured. Support requests are constant.”

“It was a mistake to think that those bugs wouldn’t be able to shoot down nuclear missiles. We’ve used up almost all of our nuclear missiles for naval combat in return.”

Missiles were powerful but slow-moving weapons.

“Even if we turn the ship cannons used in naval combat to the ground and bombard them from orbit, it doesn’t seem like we’ll win. We can’t send out more soldiers since the enemy ships are engaging in melee combat.”

Where had all that fierce fighting and our overwhelming offensive gone? Now, only defeat filled the bridge.

“What about the assault ships based on the ground? Can we send support from here?”

“The frontline has been pushed back to the assault ships due to the ground forces’ retreat. The sky is already blocked by enemy aircraft.”

The planet itself was an endless nest of bugs. The troops who had already set foot in that hell seemed unable to escape.

“. . . I guess escape is impossible.”

Even at this very moment, their forces were dwindling in orbit and on the ground. Of course, an enormous number of enemies were dying in the process, but the problem was that their forces were finite and the enemy’s forces were infinite.

“Damn failed bio-weapons . . .”

Someone had to make a decision at this point.

Even if it was the worst-case scenario.

“Mission failed. The chimeraz of Planet 4 and Kreion cannot be annihilated with our current forces.”

Before it was too late.

“I will have all of the remaining fleet forces on Planet 5 join the main force. And retreat.”

‘𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘦. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰.’

“We must return safely with the experience and information we gained from this battle. Only then can we plan for the future. Apoptology will be waiting for us.”

“Commander . . .”

So retreating before it was too late was the right choice.

“C-Commander . . . !”

But they didn’t know.

That the option of ‘retreat’ had disappeared from them a while ago.

“Enemy aircraft are being launched from the 4th planet colony into orbit! Their number is estimated to be at least 2,000!”

“The allied battleships bitten by the Lemegetons are accelerating towards the main command flagship . . . !”

“Wha, all of a sudden?”

“Wait! That’s the light I saw 20 seconds ago . . . !”

𝘒𝘶𝘬𝘶𝘯𝘨!

Five battleships, approaching faster than the naked eye could see, pushed the command flagship down towards the planet.

And the eggs of the Cresecter swarm, launched from countless Cresecter nests on the ground, hatched in orbit, dotting it with red one-eyed patterns.

At the same moment, Nazar looked up at the ceiling from the middle level of the colony.

“Drop it . . .”

The fiber-optic-like tissues in the wide iris of the large eyeball flashed ominously.

𝘒𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘨𝘶 . . .

The command flagship, physically crushed by the five battleships, soon revealed its lower deck from beyond the clouds of Planet 4.

The lower deck gradually became hot from friction with the air.

𝘒𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘨𝘶 . . . !!!!

The command flagship tried to ascend into space by spewing blue engine flames, but the power of the five battleships and the Lemegetons was too much to overcome.

𝘒𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶𝘶!!!

𝘒𝘶𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢!!!!

And so, the command flagship crash-landed on Planet 4.

The dust from the overturned earth had not yet settled, but chimeraz gathered north of the crash-landed command flagship and formed orderly ranks.

It was Ludwig’s pack.

A chimeraz pack also gathered south of the command flagship. They were a pack covered in burn scars as if they had been scorched by fire, and they growled as if they couldn’t contain their murderous intent, gathering haphazardly without any ranks.

It was Phlegeth’s pack.

Then, another pack gathered to the west of the command flagship. A chimeraz group made up of only wriggling Hydras and Cresecters in the sky waited silently.

It was Nazar’s pack.

Finally, Kreion and Gats’ Elite pack appeared from the east of the command flagship.

“Nazar-nim has brought down the enemy leader.”

The smell of the explosion and the stench of blood vibrated with the wind.

The vivid red sky seemed polluted by the pungent smoke, and the clouds were scattered with unsightly holes here and there.

The colony was bleeding, the nests were wounded, and the black earth where Xenotera had been laid was reddened and dented.

Corpses, bullet casings, parts, and metal scraps from the war were strewn about like garbage.

The situation where each pack of leaders gathered around the command flagship.

All the corps here were waiting for Kreion’s orders.

He spoke coldly.

“Kill them.”

With that one order, all the chimeraz on the field simultaneously stomped on the ground.

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