My Children Swarm the Cosmos – Chapter 177

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕𝟕: 𝐃𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐲 (3)

Gorgo’s Star 24 systems reduced to 12, half of the original quantity, were newly used as resources to create a Mechanical & Biological Veil.

This was created separately from the living dark nebula that protected the remaining existences in the current Hecartra constellation.

The largest mutant Euryale and the massive mutant Cresecter escorting it became the Chimeraz fleet and the fleet of the Kreion group.

With these Chimeraz fleet and the Phase Assault Troops proceeding together in one direction of closed space, there’s Lopez’s fleet of artificial intelligence including the mothership Fractal.

The Mechanical & Biological Veil that prevented the Ycloquasar from transferring troops inside the ship protected the two fleets like that.

The fleet scale was approximately 540 fleets for the Chimeraz fleet and approximately 470 fleets for the artificial intelligence fleet.

All 265 bio-planets were destroyed, and the remaining 12 Gorgo’s Star were left in the Hecartra constellation. There was also an artificial planet that was used as a powerful Planet Weapon that was left in the Hecartra constellation to protect the survivors.

So the 1010 fleets that were now continuously moving in one direction of closed space were the forces of Kreion and Lopez.

Although they were greatly weakened compared to when they were fighting 25 War Harvesters, this kind of formation was possible since the Ycloquasar only had one War Harvester left anyway.

Kreion and Lopez communicated only through the dark network without holograms.

➖As expected, the expansion speed of space is proportional to our speed.

➖Even those guys can’t create space that doesn’t exist in this universe. They’re expanding existing space with some kind of power, increasing the distance from one point to another by curvature.

➖Redshift is also appearing between our ships. Your veil needs to hold the fleet together by becoming the center of mass. Otherwise, the ships will drift farther and farther apart.

➖Don’t worry about the Mechanical & Biological Veil. It’s the part I’ve invested the most mental power in.

Like that, the Chimeraz fleet and the artificial intelligence fleet moved in one direction for about 20 days.

Fractal and Euryale were able to deploy gravitational fields on their own, so although they were slower than light, they began to move faster than light and eventually even overtook the light of the Hecartra star, reaching the realm of darkness.

Approximately 50 days.

In the past, even the light and faint energy sent from the stars outside closed space had disappeared. Even the light of Hecartra that reached from the rear of the fleet became so distant that all sides were completely dark.

Now, the only thing illuminating this darkness was the faint light emitted by the propulsion engines of each life form and ship.

➖Lopez. Is the fleet’s remaining energy okay?

➖That’s fine, but it’s already been 50 days. This is beyond our expectations. It’ll be outside the range of tolerable error.

➖Be patient.

50 days was by no means a short amount of time.

➖Don’t you think we should go back and find another way before it’s too late?

➖That’s exactly what those guys want. If we succumb to time and become fish trapped in a fishbowl, then it’ll be too late.

Approximately 75 days.

It’s all darkness.

There’s no sound or light.

There’s nothing to see.

There’s no sense of distance or direction. Since no starlight, mass of other celestial bodies, gravity, or sparse matter could be found, it was unknown whether the fleet was consistently moving in the direction it had initially chosen.

The only basis for defining the current location was time.

Approximately 98 days.

The burden that each individual carried in their hearts must have become heavier and heavier and eventually turned into anxiety and fear. No matter how strong Kreion and Lopez were, they were gradually worn down by time.

➖Kreion. Let’s go back.

➖We can’t give up after only 98 days.

➖What if our method is wrong?

➖What if it’s right?

Approximately 202 days.

➖I’ll say it again. Those guys are definitely not gods. They can’t create space that doesn’t exist.

➖I know that. They’re not creating more space right now, but they’re bending existing space to increase the distance.

➖If you know that, can’t you endure it a little longer?

➖But our fleet needs energy. We can’t keep going to the end of closed space, which we don’t even know when it’ll be.

➖Eventually, a critical point will appear in those guys’ space expansion. Just like our energy is finite, theirs is also finite, so there’s definitely an end to this expanding force.

➖But we don’t know when that will be!

➖At the very least, it’s not time to give up yet.

➖Listen. Even if we go back now, it’ll take just as much time and energy as we’ve spent getting here. If we continue blindly like this without knowing when the end will come, we won’t be able to go back even if we want to. If this really doesn’t end, the fleet will just stop defenselessly in the darkness with nothing.

➖We can save the energy we need for future battles, accelerate to sub-light speed, and wait.

➖Then we can keep going forever. But it’ll take a long time even if the entire fleet goes at sub-light speed. . .

Approximately 257 days.

Time was something terrifying that could wear down the mind and break the spirit.

➖Lopez. What are you doing right now?

➖. . .

➖Why are you imitating our species’ wavelength with your brain?

➖I’m going to take the Mechanical & Biological Veil from you.

➖What?

➖I’m going back. We can’t maintain the density if we split the veil in two.

➖How do you expect the Chimeraz fleet to move without the veil? If you take the veil and go back, Ycloquasar troops can be transferred inside the Chimeraz ships.

➖That’s why if you know that it’s dangerous, follow me obediently.

➖Are you serious?

➖I’m not joking. Let’s go back together right now.

➖Stop right there. Otherwise, I’ll destroy your brain.

➖Let’s go back and study to find another way. We can’t figure anything out or know the end like this.

On the 257th day, Lopez truly imitated the Chimeraz’s wavelength. He was in Fractal’s bridge, using the mechanical fluid in his body to develop his own brain.

The imitated waves emitted from his brain began to take away the tiny components of the veil that Kreion controlled one by one.

➖Do you know what you’re doing right now? I can move the veil and the group right now to subdue your artificial intelligence fleet.

➖If you’re going to have a fleet battle, then do it. However, if we use up each other’s forces like that, the chances of us being defeated will be higher when those guys appear later.

➖. . .How disappointing. Are you trying to put me under your control like this again and make me move as you please?

➖It’s not like that. It’s different this time.

➖Where did all your feelings of wanting to be forgiven by me go? Is your sense of mission to protect humanity by any means necessary succumbing so easily to time?

➖I can’t help it no matter how you think of me. What can’t be done can’t be done. There are things in this world that can’t be overcome with just patience or willpower.

➖This is something that can be overcome.

➖No. You’re just afraid of giving up and failing right now. You know that it’s right to go back and research another method, but you’re being stubborn.

Kreion stopped the movement of the Mechanical & Biological Veil.

Accordingly, the Chimeraz fleet stopped, and the artificial intelligence fleet also stopped. Meanwhile, the waves emitted from Lopez’s brain continued to take away the components of the veil.

➖Lopez. You have no right or qualification to do this to me.

➖It’s something I have to do.

➖I also have no sense of camaraderie or friendship towards you. Rather, I might reawaken the slight resentment I’ve had from the past.

➖Don’t.

➖I’m warning you.

Zzeeeeng. . .

Euryale and Lemegeton opened their mouths and released countless Chimeraz flyers.

➖Stop before you break Fractal and destroy your brain.

➖Can you break through Fractal’s shield without any bio-planets? If you release that much firepower, our protective veil will also be greatly damaged.

➖The moment you take away more than 20% of the veil like this, you’ll die.

➖I’ll still do it. We have to go back.

Time, which can create everything, can conversely destroy everything.

Whether it’s a world, a civilization, a fleet, or someone’s relationship.

Kuwakwakwakwa. . .!

The distance between the ships was so close that a loud noise reverberated even in the space of perfect emptiness. Mutant Cresecters breathed out purple flames in a straight line, and Fleetcutters shot out tungsten life forms in succession at close range.

Fractal immediately deployed its shield. Then, the Fleetcutters bypassed the shield with their curving cyan trajectories fired from their bio-magnetic accelerators and persistently struck the exact center of Fractal where the bridge was.

However, Fractal’s bridge, where Lopez was, had a function that could block any attack with its secondary shield and its own gravitational field deployment. So the Shockphonia group stuck to the shield, stretching out their tentacles, and desperately tried to make contact with Fractal’s hull beyond the shield.

➖I’m sorry, but I have to get rid of a few.

Puff puff pew!

The enormous number of sniper cannons attached to Fractal accurately attacked the Shockphonia group attached to the shield.

➖You piece of trash. . . I should’ve killed you that day.

The organic matter resources of the miserable remains of the Shockphonia group were retrieved by the Mechanical & Biological Veil. In the meantime, Fractal received shield support from the surrounding artificial intelligence fleet and quickly displayed its original shield defense capabilities.

It was a more advanced shield than when the Chimeraz invaded the Drake star nation. It was a much more powerful shield that was born after continuing to advance since that day and receiving the new material and technology of The Believer.

Thud! Thud!

Following that, shells were transferred with the improved phase assault technique, and even the Fleetcutters around Fractal began to explode and die.

Of course, the Chimeraz had also evolved more than before, so they could easily defeat the artificial intelligence fleet right now. Fractal’s powerful shield output, which was its pride, could also be easily surpassed by the Chimeraz fleet’s firepower, and Fractal could be blown to pieces.

However, as Lopez said, if the Chimeraz fleet really displayed that much firepower, the surrounding Mechanical & Biological Veil would also be damaged and its density would decrease.

Therefore, there was only one breakthrough that Kreion could choose after much deliberation.

➖You’re going to use up all your energy on that shield output when you’re going to go back?

Even if it was an improved shield, it was still a defensive system of artificial particles combined with new materials and advanced technology. Therefore, it consumed energy to recover the artificial particles, recycle them, and continuously rotate them.

Zzat!

Many Lemegeton warship entities spread their mouths open and aimed at Fractal.

Then, they fired their Organic Accelerator Cannons all at once. The destructive purple beam of light concentrated on and struck one part of the shield that Fractal was deploying.

➖Are you really going to do this?

➖That’s what I want to say. Did it have to come to this?

Fractal input more artificial particles into the part of the shield that was about to be pierced and rotated them more quickly. Accordingly, the energy of the entire artificial intelligence fleet was rapidly consumed.

➖I thought I could join hands with you. I came to know your thoughts and your past, and I rationally understood your actions over time. . . But it was my mistake and error to see you again.

Now, even Euryales were firing their Organic Accelerator Cannons, and Crepitus groups, which were self-destructing, collided with Fractal’s shield.

➖Our beginning was a grudge. But I hoped that the end wouldn’t be a grudge. . . This is all something you brought about.

In the end, as Fractal’s shield was pierced, a Crepitus rushed into the exact center of the hull where Lopez was and self-destructed.

Kwaaang!

Lopez in the bridge fell over from the shaking of the hull.

【Warning! Pressure drop!】

The air inside the bridge leaked out somewhere, and a red warning light turned on.

Lopez stared at the Chimeraz flyers right next to the bridge and muttered.

“I. . . made a defective product. . .”

➖Die, Lopez.

Soon, a group of Crepitus mercilessly charged towards the exact center of Fractal to kill Lopez.

That was the moment.

Puff puff pew!!!

The group of Crepitus charging to kill Lopez suddenly swelled up like balloons and exploded on the spot.

At that moment, Kreion and Lopez looked in the same direction at the same time.

➖We can’t let the consciousness of a being we’re going to harvest be destroyed like that.

A War Harvester was in front of the fleet.

➖Lopez, Kreion. We roughly guessed the relationship of love and hate that you’ve had. We knew that you two would eventually fight like this in front of an insurmountable wall.

The true enemy that they had searched for in the darkness for 257 days.

The Ycloquasar had appeared as if it had been waiting.

A sense of bewilderment appeared on Lopez’s face.

“Damn. . . Why now of all times. . .”

The Ycloquasar’s voice spread through the dark network. It meant that they had interpreted even the dark network and were monitoring their communications.

➖This is perfect. Lopez’s location has been identified, and the shield output has also been weakened. Thanks to that, we have less to do. Kreion.

Beeeeep. . .

A dazzling flash of light and a familiar loud noise that they had heard before seemed to sweep across the Mechanical & Biological Veil and the entire fleet.

When they came to their senses in the dizziness of their ringing heads, the veil that had been protecting their allies until now had completely disappeared into light.

So, more than 1,000 fleets were exposed without defense.

This meant that the Ycloquasar already had a means to deal with the Mechanical & Biological Veil.

➖Lopez is in the largest ship, so Kreion must be in the largest mutant Euryale.

After that, they couldn’t stop it at all.

For about 10 seconds, the Ycloquasar’s Redefiners were transferred into the interiors of their allied ships. The strange, pure white weapons that were transferred inside spread blue lightning, causing explosions to bloom, and fired red beams from somewhere, tearing apart the nearby ships.

Like that, about 700 out of the approximately 1,000 fleets were helplessly shot down.

Meanwhile, the Chimeraz’s Euryale and Lemegeton spewed out bio-barriers, deployed gravitational fields, and barely protected the largest mutant Euryale.

Zeeeng!

Then, without Kreion and Lopez even realizing it, the War Harvester approached close enough for its surface to touch Fractal.

It was a shocking scene.

Kudeudeudeuk!!!!

The smooth surface of the white sphere began to absorb Fractal whole like a fluid.

Then, for some reason, Kreion shouted desperately.

“Lopez. . . We have to escape!”

➖No.

And for some reason, Lopez didn’t escape from the bridge.

“Get out of there right now! At this rate. . .!”

➖Be quiet.

“. . . .”

And then, for some reason, Kreion shut his mouth.

➖That’s right.

The War Harvester absorbed only the part of the bridge where Lopez was and spit out all the other parts of Fractal.

➖At this rate. . .

➖At this rate, it’s a really good exchange.

Lopez entered the interior of the War Harvester along with Fractal’s bridge.

Now, Kreion didn’t know what was happening to him. He might already be dead or harvested.

Then, the Ycloquasar, who had participated in the last communication between the two, said.

➖The Fractal bridge was infected with Chimeraz material.

➖The two of you were putting on a ‘play’ as if you were fighting.

➖We expected that too. That’s why we made that earlier statement as if we were fooled.

➖But Kreion. You must have also expected that your play with Lopez wouldn’t fool us.

➖The two of you weren’t beings that were. . . narrow-minded enough to fight each other like that.

➖So we expected that too. We expected your expectation.

Every word was terrifying.

➖In conclusion, you must have aimed for the self-destruction of the entire Fractal using Lopez as bait.

➖But we spat out the rest of Fractal except for the bridge. . . And now our weapons are immune to Chimeraz infection.

➖You must have also considered the failure of the self-destruction and tried to infect the War Harvester by putting Chimeraz material on the bridge, but we expected that secondary measure too.

➖Anyway, it was an interesting game of chicken after a long time.

At that moment, Kreion’s eyes wavered in the center of his heart.

➖Kreion.

➖Now that we’ve harvested you, it’s over.

Redefiners were transferred into the bodies of some Euryale and Lemegeton groups escorting the largest mutant Euryale.

Then, they exploded.

The largest mutant Euryale was exposed in front of the Ycloquasar without any escort flyers or the Mechanical & Biological Veil.

Following that, the War Harvester exerted enormous gravity and pulled in the mutant Euryale.

Kudeudeuk!!! Kuzijik. . .!

All parts of the mutant Euryale’s body except for its heart were crushed, pushed away, and disassembled. Like that, even the heart entered the smooth surface of the Ycloquasar and was completely absorbed.

However, Kreion wasn’t in the heart of the largest mutant Euryale.

➖What the. . .

Kreion had been in the heart of another ordinary Euryale from the beginning.

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