Ch.158158. Travelers.

Amidst the complex political situation of the universe.

Naturally, despite these complicated circumstances, there are still plenty of regions and powers in the galaxy that continue to operate much as they always have.

The autonomous planets of the Human Federation far removed from border territories, interstellar alien civilizations without nearby threats, and so on.

And among these powers, surprisingly, the Mercenary Guild was also included.

While it caused quite a stir when Guild Master and founder Theresia led her direct fleet to participate during the 8th Day of Destruction invasion, the Mercenary Guild itself has actually remained uninvolved in most conflicts until now.

Some mercenaries have been hired by forces like the Federation Army to fight monsters, but in reality, most of the requests mercenaries handle have little to do with such conflicts.

And among the latter type of requests, there are countless mercenary groups that focus primarily on “unexplored territory exploration”—

One such mid-tier mercenary group known as the “Travelers” was considered almost industry-leading when it came to unexplored territory exploration missions.

Like most exploration-specialized mercenary groups, the “Travelers” operated as a small elite force, and their numbers weren’t particularly large.

At most, they had a 1km-class escort ship as their flagship, along with 6 destroyer-class vessels and about 100 carrier-based aircraft. That’s it.

Their personnel numbered exactly around 10,000—even by mid-tier mercenary standards, they maintained only what was necessary for ship operations.

Moreover, with significant limitations on the escort-class ship’s warp capabilities, their range of movement was necessarily restricted without using warp gates, which might seem slightly odd for an exploration-specialized mercenary group.

However, anyone would understand why the “Travelers” maintained such a small scale after hearing what comes next.

The 1km-class escort-sized ship they traveled in was actually a legacy of an ancient civilization that existed before the Human Federation and was reportedly annihilated by monsters.

Despite matching the firepower of flagship-class vessels many dozens of times larger, it could overcome overwhelming class differences thanks to its maneuverability derived from the free and fast warp capabilities of its special engine.

Additionally, the hull’s outer wall possessed a space-blocking property that prevented external impacts from being transmitted inside, and the ship’s durability was remarkably robust, befitting its status as a relic and artifact of an ancient civilization.

Decisively, it could use gravity control devices to charge at tremendous speeds (though straining the hull), or launch special warheads or assault ships.

This vessel, perfect as a protagonist’s machine in some movie series, with such impressive capabilities, was the “Travelers'” flagship, “Cradle of the Traveler.”

In any case, based on this overwhelmingly capable ship, the Travelers had explored over 40 ruins and experienced nine major incidents worthy of film adaptation—which actually did become a nine-part movie series—making them veterans among veterans.

And now, these veteran mercenaries were leading their fleet toward ancient civilization ruins discovered just a few months ago, located in an awkward position neither central nor peripheral to human territory.

These ruins were discovered by the Mercenary Guild’s official survey team, with exploration rights sold through an internal auction, and the “Travelers” won those rights for roughly the price of 20 used carrier aircraft.

Typically, ruins contain numerous valuable items, and just as the ship the “Travelers” now use is an artifact from ruins, one can obtain priceless treasures—which might make that price seem somewhat low.

But such thinking ignores the risks while only considering the returns.

As sensible people would expect, the interiors of ruins are mostly comparable to hellscapes.

To withstand the passage of time, they must be extremely sturdy structures, and such robust buildings are typically the mansions of the ultra-wealthy, research facilities, or military installations.

Since ancient civilizations weren’t fools, they installed various traps and security robots in these important facilities, and these security measures are dangerous whether functioning or malfunctioning.

For example, the output control device of an intruder alarm siren might malfunction and operate as a sonic weapon, or an unstable teleportation trap might go haywire and teleport only half of a person’s front side.

Meanwhile, properly functioning security measures are no less dangerous than broken ones—the most commonly encountered ancient robotic units can tear apart mid-tier mercenaries with one hand.

There’s a reason these places are called hellscapes—amateur personnel who enter tend to die.

Even among the “Travelers,” who have explored more ruins than any other single group in the galaxy, only about 100 people—just 1% of their personnel—actually enter ruins. Considering that everyone except the three high-tier mercenaries—including the mercenary captain and core executives—are mid-tier mercenaries, this is understandable.

In any case, this group composed of considerable high-level personnel was now approaching a bumpy asteroid orbiting in an uninhabited planetary system.

After arriving near the asteroid, which clearly contained ruins as evidenced by artificial structures attached to its surface, an assault shuttle carrying the survey team launched from the “Cradle of the Traveler” and rapidly approached the asteroid.

Forty close-combat specialized mid-tier mercenaries, forty ranged combat specialized mid-tier mercenaries, seventeen mercenaries specialized in various support abilities, and three high-tier mercenary executives.

The spacecraft carrying exactly 100 people approached the surface of the considerably large asteroid and attached itself to what appeared to be an entrance using a gravity generator mounted on its front. Then, mercenaries wearing powered suits equipped with miniature versions of the shuttle’s gravity generators stepped out and landed on the asteroid’s surface.

Despite standing at different angles, everyone remained attached to the surface thanks to their special equipment, while the door breaching team approached a firmly closed 5-meter-high metal door.

As those armed with psychic barrier-generating shields and plasma shotguns surrounded the door, a psychic user tore it open with telekinesis. After the door breaching team confirmed that the interior was a long, empty corridor, the mercenaries entered.

[……..Phew.]

And the mercenary captain, who entered along with them—holding a staff-shaped psychic amplifier that was a type of artifact—exhaled something that even he couldn’t tell was relief or a sigh when he saw that gravity was still functioning in a specific direction inside.

While gravity systems still operating in ruins suggested a high possibility that internal defense systems were also functioning, having gravity meant they wouldn’t have to worry about various contingencies arising from zero-gravity conditions.

There was some reassurance in knowing they wouldn’t have to fight enemies suddenly appearing from unexpected places, but at the same time, realizing that there were still powered facilities inside, they moved with considerable caution.

Psychic users would scan, then mechanical devices would scan again, and they would only advance if no problems were found. If anything was detected, they wouldn’t move until its identity was determined.

While this might seem excessively paranoid to casual observers, the mercenaries who had entered these ruins didn’t think so at all.

This was especially true for the mercenary captain, who had once lost all his comrades except himself to an unidentified alien virus that had infected an ancient civilization’s research facility, transforming it into a moving monster, back when he was a mid-tier mercenary.

Anyway, as these cautious and prudent mercenaries advanced.

A psychic user mercenary who was scanning the vicinity with psychic abilities suddenly widened his eyes and informed the other mercenaries of the scan results through psychic communication.

[Multiple life signatures exist 500 meters ahead in the right corridor. Analysis indicates they’re a wild bat swarm… roughly 50 individuals, with no mid-tier or higher specimens.]

The wild bats he mentioned were originally monster corps reconnaissance bio-drones, but now they frequently appeared in a feral state, having broken free from control for some reason.

They could hibernate in space, falling into a suspended state and drifting for about 100 years, and if given sufficient nutrients, they could lay eggs and multiply on their own, making them monsters commonly found in asteroids like this.

Of course, except for the rare few that evolved into mid-tier specimens, wild bats were, objectively speaking, not particularly strong monsters.

[…….Exterminate them.]

Thus, after a moment’s consideration, the mercenary captain gave the order to exterminate these monsters, and two mercenaries who preferred close combat approached with axes.

Needless to say, those monsters were torn apart by the axes, leaving only traces behind.