Ch.110110. Balbar

Psychicknite, a crystallized form of psychic energy, is one of the most strategically important resources in cosmic civilization.

While it’s used to create psychic-enhancing implants that develop asymmetric military power in the form of S-rank psychic users, humanity and various alien species primarily use Psychicknite as fuel for their spaceships.

The interstellar navigation engines used in spacecraft traversing this universe are psychic engines that vastly surpass the output of hundreds of plasma engines combined. Psychicknite is the only resource capable of sustaining such tremendous output.

Additionally, large Psychicknite crystals serve as both core components and fuel for planet-destroying weapons commonly known as “Planet Busters,” making the demand for Psychicknite explosively high across virtually all interstellar civilizations.

However, despite this overwhelming demand, Psychicknite remains an extremely rare substance even when searching throughout our entire galaxy.

Psychicknite forms when psychic particles drifting through space condense over tens to hundreds of thousands of years on planets or moons with specific environmental conditions. These special environments yield minimal condensation even when artificially created, and it’s considered miraculous if more than 1 ton can be collected from an entire Psychicknite-containing planet or moon.

That said, just 1 kilogram is efficient enough to power an Independent-class battleship for over 10 years. Occasionally, comets composed entirely of Psychicknite or planets and moons with crystal-like Psychicknite formations on their surfaces are discovered, so the supply isn’t completely non-existent.

However, more than 99% of mined and artificially produced Psychicknite is used as ship fuel, so ordinary interstellar civilizations merely treat it as premium fuel, but…

The Monster Fleet, which doesn’t use Psychicknite as fuel, can utilize it entirely for weapons—especially for moon-sized organic ships’ armaments and various other equipment production.

Even for the Monster Fleet, Psychicknite isn’t easily obtained. Therefore, when the Hive Mind confirms information about civilian cargo ships transporting large quantities of Psychicknite, it dispatches forces to plunder it.

Of course, even with such an important objective, it might seem excessive to deploy a renowned “Knight” from across the universe, but 50 tons of Psychicknite justifies that level of commitment.

[Seri. Come to think of it, since this is nano-tech stuff, it’s basically money laundering, right?]

‘True? But surveillance on Psychicknite is so thorough that this roundabout approach is necessary.’

Thus, the two… no, three dispatched have now decided to retrieve this Psychicknite directly.

‘Come, Ironbreaker!’

And what was prepared for this retrieval—or more precisely, she—was Ironbreaker.

[Did you call me?]

‘Yes, move this for me.’

In the past, Ironbreaker took the form of a horse, serving as Seri’s legs and mount, but she too underwent changes over approximately 8,000 years.

During the 5th millennium, after suffering severe soul injuries while exterminating a psychic-specialized alien species resembling ■toro, she was directly healed by the Hive Mind. Through this process, everything from her soul to her body was reshaped and reborn.

Her horse-like body transformed into a lump of flesh about the size of a carrier aircraft that could freely change its form and properties like slime. Additionally, reinforcing her damaged soul resulted in her becoming a semi-psychic being.

Her physical body is merely a tactile interface to interact with the physical world, while her true self resides in her soul. A semi-psychic being is similar to the Hive Mind before it became the Hive God, but with more weight placed on the soul aspect.

With abilities gained from becoming a semi-psychic being, Ironbreaker can freely move her body between the psychic dimension and reality. She typically serves as Seri’s transportation in the form of a carrier-class Hive Ship or reverts to her horse appearance to assist Seri in combat.

And now, she has opened a passage connecting to the psychic dimension through the cargo hold wall, transformed into a carrier aircraft to transport the Psychicknite, and is using her tentacles to collect the well-packaged 50 tons of Psychicknite into her body.

Since 50 tons is quite a substantial amount, this inevitably takes time, so meanwhile, Seri was tinkering with the spaceship’s engine.

Crunch!

‘…Good, found it.’

After cutting through various metal parts, Seri discovered a test tube containing Psychicknite connected to dozens of power supply pipes. She pulled it out with her bare hands and returned to Ironbreaker.

[You’re back, Seri?]

‘Yes, Ironbreaker. Please take this too.’

[Got it~.]

After entrusting the extracted Psychicknite to Ironbreaker, she skillfully wrapped it in psychic energy and placed it in her internal storage.

[All done! I’ll go ahead and deliver this to the God.]

‘Yes, please do.’

After Ironbreaker’s innocent reply and her disappearance through the passage in the wall, Seri used Anitheus’s power to instantly teleport to the upper section of the cargo ship she was currently aboard.

What entered her vision then was, naturally—the sight of ships that had been utterly defeated and were now being processed for disposal.

The escort ships not only had all their weapons destroyed by carrier aircraft or destroyer-class Hive Ships, but dozens of Hive Ships were also swarming them, dismantling and devouring the vessels.

Some Hive Ships had gone hunting for escape vessels. The small escape vessels of this era are typically the size of public transit buses, making them easy for even carrier-class ships to swallow in one gulp.

And the largest, the flagship of the small invasion fleet assigned as her personal army—an interstellar Hive Ship—had completely opened its enormous maw and was slowly engulfing a 1km-long spaceship.

Whenever she witnessed this “local resupply,” Seri somehow felt refreshed and was leisurely observing her surroundings with a satisfied expression when suddenly…

‘…Hmm?’

The space right in front of her distorted, and from within, along with a familiar psychic wavelength, appeared a humanoid monster in white combat gear—Theo.

“Theo? Why are you here?”

She was puzzled by his visit, as she should normally be fighting against the main force of one of the four major Lokist clans that had invaded a resource mining planet. Theo calmly stated his business.

“Um… by order of the Hive Mind.”

“The Hive Mind? Sent you directly?”

Normally, a telepathic message through psychic connection would suffice, so why send Theo directly with an expensive personal space-jump device?

Something was definitely up.

When Seri directly asked Theo for the reason, his answer was beyond her imagination.

“The Hive Mind orders you to return quickly and repel the Balvar Empire’s army currently attacking Planet 85.”

“The Balvar are attacking Planet 85?!!”

Seri was momentarily shocked that Planet 85 (the 85th most important planet), one of the few open-pit Psychicknite mines in territory spanning a third of our galaxy, was being invaded by those infuriating Balvar. But immediately after, she had a question.

“But for something of this level, couldn’t the Hive Mind handle it personally?”

Indeed. In the process of expanding the swarm to a cosmic—specifically galactic—scale, the Hive Mind’s psychic abilities had already reached a level difficult to explain in conventional terms.

There was even a record of teleporting a single monster to the Balvar’s main military training planet as an interface with the physical realm, then using that monster as a medium to activate spatial psychic powers that shattered the planet to pieces.

How could an invasion force from these weaklings, whose only planetary weapon was a single 100km-class mobile battleship used merely for defending their homeworld, be too much for the Hive Mind to handle directly?

With this question in mind, Seri asked, and Theo provided a reason that she immediately understood.

“The Hive Mind is busy fighting the five remaining Balvar ‘gods’ in the psychic dimension. Even relaying this message to me was barely possible.”

“Those things? But weren’t there dozens before, and they weren’t getting cut down?”

“Perhaps with their reduced numbers, their emotions have become more concentrated, making them stronger than before…”

“…I see.”

Considering the characteristics of ‘god’-type psychic beings who draw power from emotions and souls, this was entirely plausible. Having fully grasped the situation, Seri said to Theo:

“Then let’s depart immediately. You’ll take me there, right?”

“Yes. I will inform Ironbreaker of your location.”

As Theo extended his hand and Seri took it, their vision contracted and then expanded again in an instant—

“This is the place. Good luck.”

“Thanks, you too.”

Having arrived directly above the physical location of the Balvar invasion fleet’s flagship, the two exchanged these final greetings before parting ways—and immediately entered into extended combat.