Ch.150150. Hive Mind Uses Teleportation.

Anyway, back to the battlefield.

[Hahahahahahaha───!!! Die, all of you die!]

Temari’s kill team, tasked with protecting residential zone X-72 from the onslaught of monsters, was successfully holding the line while Temari herself rampaged at the very front, reveling in the slaughter.

While Temari knocked down the notably large and powerful monsters one after another, the 4-meter reconnaissance Warrior-Suits gathered intelligence, allowing the 7-meter sniper Warrior-Suits to pick off commander-type monsters.

Meanwhile, the massive 18-meter Warrior-Suits with their heavy firepower and thick armor used their overwhelming presence, hemispherical high-output barrier fields, and sheer mass to draw attention, giving the combat androids free rein to mow down monsters with unhindered firepower.

This battle doctrine, established through hundreds of years of engagement, was proving highly effective at grinding down the monsters, and at the very front of this battle line, Temari was…

[■■■■■■■───!!!!]

She was letting out unintelligible screams that her language transmission device could no longer properly convey, while moving relentlessly across the front line, butchering monsters.

She crushed the head of a tank-like monster with her right arm—modified from an industrial mechanical arm—then sprayed her gamma energy shotgun to turn countless monsters into honeycomb. Sometimes she would hold creatures down with her right arm and fire the shotgun at point-blank range, producing chunks of meat.

Her innate combat instincts and the faint psychic energy emanating from her soul allowed her to act calculatingly even while rampaging, as she gave her all to kill as many monsters as possible.

Just as she stomped on a medium-sized monster with her foot, blasted an approaching monster with her shotgun, and then used her arm to tear the stomped monster in half—at that very moment.

[Warning, warning. High energy reaction detected. Superior monster approaching. Warning, warning. High energy───]

As the interface alerting her to the detection of a superior monster’s psychic energy appeared before her eyes, she could also intuitively sense something approaching through her own faint psychic abilities.

The overwhelming psychic aptitude that could be felt even with her minuscule psychic ability, the subtle changes occurring in the surrounding environment merely from its approach, and the monsters that suddenly began growing stronger bit by bit.

Excited by the evidence that a formidable opponent was approaching, the battle-crazed Temari grabbed an approaching mid-level monster with her arm as she prepared for combat, and at that exact moment!

“There you aaaare───!!!!”

Temari hurled the mid-level monster she had grabbed toward the direction where the radar had confirmed the approach, using it like a thrown weapon. After witnessing what happened next, her expression hardened.

The monster she had thrown was called a Metal Rhino.

With a rhinoceros-like appearance and thick armor plating, it weighed well over 60 tons, and at the time it was thrown, it had deployed both psychic shields and biological barrier fields to reduce impact.

───Slice.

SPLOOOOOSH!!!

And yet this Metal Rhino was split in half with a flash of light, spraying blood forcefully as it collapsed to the ground, and through the gap, the entity Temari had detected revealed itself.

The being stood there, shrouded in a black aura.

Its height was just under 3 meters in human units, and its overall appearance was quite similar to a person wearing thin armor that fit perfectly to the body, much like the monster known as a Hive Commander.

Even the weapon it wielded was a great sword-type biological weapon made from monster biomaterial—the most commonly used weapon by Hive Commanders. However, this being had decisive physical differences from Hive Commanders.

First, it lacked the dragon wings and tail that symbolized Hive Commanders.

It had neither the flexible wings that allowed flight without psychic powers, nor the tail that could be used like a third hand or arm. Moreover, its head structure had no horns, but rather…

Yes, it closely resembled a human wearing a mask that completely covered its head.

This smooth black mask, which completely sealed off the mouth—one of the most formidable weapons in a monster’s arsenal—had a large white X engraved on its face, and the being’s body was also closer to human than monster.

A coat-like membrane reinforced with black carapace, secured with leather belts and straps. Claws that were extremely small for a monster, not hindering sword swings at all.

And decisively, the carapace-material gaiters and boots that looked as if it were wearing shoes.

This appearance, which unlike typical monsters seemed to carry echoes of civilization, was enough to make Temari pause momentarily.

But that was the limit of Temari’s patience.

After going through a simple, straightforward thought process—strong enemy->long fight->fighting is fun->fight!—Temari drew her shotgun and aimed without the slightest hesitation───

───Slice.

[“…Huh?”]

What she witnessed next was the monster disappearing with a powerful gust of wind and the fragments of her shotgun, which had been vertically sliced in half in an instant.

[“What the, where───”]

As the startled Temari hurriedly tried to activate her sensors and check her radar, she spotted the monster that had somehow climbed onto her shoulder and was raising its sword above her head.

And with a slice───!

A cutting sound so clear and refreshing that it was hard to believe metal was being cut entered her audio sensors, and her field of vision suddenly dropped.

Or more precisely…

[“Ah, so this is where I en───”]

───KABOOOOOOM!!!

With her torso—where most of the critical components were concentrated—split in half, internal explosions occurred, and Temari’s unremarkable life came to an end.

The monster gazed briefly at the pile of scrap metal that had been the Latinxo, then moved on while quietly thinking to itself.

Indeed, for the sake of thrill, it would need to reduce its specs a bit more.

※ ※ ※

Yes. As everyone has probably figured out, the name of the being currently downgrading its physical specs is none other than Hive Mind.

More precisely, it was closer to him directly possessing and controlling a monster’s body out of boredom, seeking some entertainment.

Having grown quite tired of the repetitive task of devouring psychic beings with divine attributes from alien civilizations, he had come to the front lines to blow off steam and relax by personally racking up kills.

Of course, since what he currently wanted was merely thrill, the body he was using now had limitations on output and resources, roughly equivalent to a level 1-2 humanoid monster.

Physical abilities at the level of an average grade 2 humanoid monster with psychic output at about the same level, and the equipment he was currently wearing—the great sword and bio-suit—were certainly not top-tier like Theresia’s Golden Zero or Theo’s Valkyrie Suit.

Ah, but the coat was made from adamantium processed to be extremely thin to look like an actual leather membrane, with ordinary grade 1 Hive Commander carapace layered on top, and he had put some effort into the great sword.

This sword, like Seri’s monster-weapon Anitheus, was a superior grade—specifically, a grade 1 monster custom-made exclusively for use as a sword, a monster-weapon.

But while Anitheus was a versatile all-purpose monster-weapon capable of shape-shifting and various psychic-assisted functions, the great sword he was currently using was single-purpose.

It was a first-class item with all resources focused on the most essential functions of a sword—durability and cutting power—so much so that he was seriously considering giving it to Sea as a gift later.

Plasma blade? Laser cutter? Such trivial techniques had no place in this sword.

By maximizing the psychic conductivity of the blade and making its edge extremely thin, even a 2-year-old child could slice through adamantium like tofu with this sword, and if even a small amount of psychic energy was channeled into it, any solid object that touched the blade would split without the slightest resistance.

And while the extremely thin blade edge, made for such cutting power, was prone to damage, it regenerated at an incredibly fast rate, though this could be sufficiently protected with psychic energy.

Combined with the psychic blade projection function installed to widen the attack range, this sword could literally split a mountain in half—and Hive Mind, who had lowered his physical abilities to that of a grade 3 humanoid monster, began advancing with it in one hand.

Toward the kill team fighting his monsters that he had thrown ahead as a delaying tactic.