Ch.170170. The Trial of Valiana

The Valiana Federation, the unified government ruling the Valiana star system, began with 20 drifting pioneer fleets.

During humanity’s expansion era, the 20th generation pioneer fleet that departed from Earth was caught in a psychic storm—one that truly occurred without Hive Mind intervention—and suffered severe damage.

Of the total 100 ships, 28 were destroyed, 31 suffered moderate or greater damage, and 7 disappeared completely.

And these 7 missing ships became the beginning of the Valiana Federation.

Transported somewhere by the mysterious psychic storm, they drifted with their half-destroyed vessels until miraculously crash-landing on a planet habitable for humans, where they settled in this star system.

Very fortunately, the resources they possessed were sufficient to colonize this place.

Although they had nearly sunk due to the psychic storm, being migration fleet vessels, they were rich in technicians, scientists, and various equipment including heavy machinery and labor robots.

Additionally, all of them had undergone life extension procedures, living nearly 300 years with aging slowed tenfold, and they could readily provide these procedures to their descendants. Fortunately, the planet they crash-landed on had an environment exactly at Earth’s level.

Consequently, they quickly established a civilization, formed a nation, and took control of the entire planet. They were planning to expand outward only after terraforming the entire star system, but…

Around that time, there were those who prevented this attempt—monsters that came from nearby star systems.

Since they were essentially one unified nation, they had no reason to fight among themselves, and with no hostile aliens—or any intelligent life forms besides humans—in the vicinity, the Federation had virtually no military.

All they had were police forces armed with outdated laser weapons for suppression, and their weapons technology remained stagnant, thousands of years behind.

In what can only be described as a moment of absolute crisis, they were saved by the Human Federation.

The Human Federation dispatched troops to repel the monsters attacking the Valiana Federation and requested them to join the Federation, which they gladly accepted.

However, separately concluding that they should never again tremble at monster invasions, the Valiana Federation established the Valiana Planetary Defense Force at astronomical cost.

Of course, throwing money around doesn’t immediately create an army, but sustained and substantial investment can.

They imported military doctrine, invited retired soldiers as instructors, used money to coopt military corporations from other galaxies, and crucially, received help from Nano-Tech.

Through the military creation package sold by Nano-Defense, a defense subsidiary of Nano-Tech, they created something from nothing—a planetary defense force with armament levels surpassing even the Federation Army.

This planetary defense force consists of three classifications of infantry.

First, heavy armored infantry. Most are stationed at specific points for defense duties or are treated as small light armored vehicles in large-scale military operations.

They wear powered suits with armor so thick that personal infantry weapons cannot penetrate them, and carry weapons that are almost artillery rather than heavy weapons.

These infantry possess firepower and defensive capabilities worthy of being classified as light tanks or light armored vehicles.

Next are the mechanized infantry, who are typically equipped with average powered suits and heavy weapons, and operate in armored personnel carriers for offensive missions.

Their operation and role aren’t much different from the mechanized infantry of the third millennium.

The final infantry type in the Valiana Planetary Defense Force is the shock infantry, who could be considered ordinary infantry.

They’re advertised as being equipped with light, highly mobile powered suits and diverse weapons, but in reality, they’re treated as just regular riflemen.

However, each squad is issued anti-tank weapons or mortars, making them incomparable to the 21st century Republic of Korea Army.

And now, Sergeant Ray Chang, squad leader of the 1st Squad, 5th Platoon, 71st Shock Infantry Company…

“You bastards! Run!!!”

…was fleeing down a mountain with her 11 squad members, running from ‘it’ that was pursuing them.

※ ※ ※

In truth, these shock infantry weren’t always this terrified and incoherent.

The 71st Shock Infantry Company, to which the 1st Squad belonged, had the mission of defending a valley from monsters attacking through mountainous terrain, with the assistance of a Battle Android Company, and they were performing admirably.

The 4-meter tall, bulky humanoid battle androids, unlike their smooth appearance resembling human infantry from a famous RTS game, possessed combat capabilities justifying their classification as equivalent to a platoon.

They provided merciless firepower with shortened laser machine guns mounted on both arms, plasma cannons on their shoulders, multiple missile pods, and protected the shock infantry with their psychic shields.

The 2-meter small battle androids assisting these humanoid battle androids carried weapons but were primarily responsible for ammunition transport and emergency repairs.

In reality, while half the firepower against the monsters might come from the humanoid battle androids, the other half came from the shock infantry.

Of the 12 platoon members, 3 riflemen all carried high-powered laser assault rifles with shortened plasma rifles attached under the barrel as personal weapons, while 2 grenadiers carried grenade launchers instead of plasma rifles.

Additionally, 2 machine gunners used laser machine guns, 1 designated marksman used a full-length plasma rifle, and the mortar and anti-tank weapon operators need no explanation.

Furthermore, the squad leader and assistant squad leader carried heavily modified personal weapons as a kind of privilege, making it impossible for mere low-level Warrior-type monsters—close-combat specialists that rely on numbers—to withstand.

Of course, unlike typical Warrior-type monsters resembling cats, mammals, insects, or reptiles, these were humanoid, resembling goats or mountain goats, making them quite fast, but they were still just close-combat foot soldiers.

Without overwhelming numbers—barely reaching 1,000 low-level monsters—their superficial attacks could be suppressed with infantry firepower alone.

Thus, initially hunting monsters smoothly, they suddenly noticed something strange happening around them.

‘Wait… was there a flowering vine here before?’

The vegetation had grown more lush than when they first established their position, and the powered suit interface warned that the air purification equipment was operating due to increased harmful substances in the air.

‘Could these monsters be terraforming?’

Feeling uneasy, Sergeant Chang made this speculation while scanning the surroundings with the scope of her plasma multi-purpose auto-rifle.

“…a bull’s head?”

By sheer chance, she spotted a rather large bull-headed monster in the distance, leading a horde of thousands of goat monsters charging toward them.

With a human body and a bull’s head, ochre-colored skin like cowhide, reverse-jointed cow legs with hooves, and magnificent large horns, it wore simple armor and carried weapons made of carapace.

This monster, reminiscent of the Minotaur from ancient Earth mythology, appeared to be about 3.5 meters tall based on size comparison with the goat humanoids.

‘Those… could they be mid-level monsters?’

As this thought crossed her mind and she was about to switch communication channels to report directly to the platoon leader…

[[[BUOOOOOOOOO!!!]]]

The sound of at least dozens of cattle bellowing came from beyond, and simultaneously, a vast number of goat and mountain goat humanoid monsters began charging, raising dust clouds.

“Retreat, retreat!”

Naturally, an attack of at least 10,000 units—with dozens of mid-level monsters mixed in—couldn’t be handled by just one shock infantry company and one battle android company.

[To point 7-17! I repeat, to point 7-17!]

Following the company commander’s immediate decision, these hundreds of people began to retreat hastily—

“You bastards! Run!!!”

And thus, we return to the present moment.