Ch.177177. Uprising

As seen in the previous episode, the Hive Cult had secretly infiltrated the Callisman 77 planetary system, just as they had with other mechanized planets.

Given the Hive Cult’s notorious diversity in form and structure, it’s difficult to make definitive statements about them, but the Hive Cult of Callisman 77 possesses one quite rare characteristic.

“Oh, the Great Father has answered us!”

“All hail the omnipotent Great Father who rules all things! All hail the Minor Father who is His voice!”

That characteristic is the presence of a religious leader who can hear the voice of the Hive Mind—what they call the Great Father—a Minor Father who leads the cult.

The Minor Father, with his six arms, impressive height of 4 meters and 80 centimeters, three heads, and long tail, was originally an ordinary worker.

Then one day, he suddenly began hearing the Great Father’s whispers in his ear. He gained transcendent intelligence and insight, along with his current physical form and the ability to control human minds.

An ordinary person would have recognized their condition with such superintelligence and committed suicide, but he was different.

Already possessing a unique way of thinking compared to others, not only did he undergo this transformation, but he also gained the ability to continuously converse with the Great Father.

As a result, this poorly educated and not particularly sane individual began to believe he was a chosen prophet of a divine being and started the Hive Cult in the underground of Callisman 77-8.

Conveniently, beneath Callisman 77-8 lay vast areas originally intended as factories but forgotten due to administrative issues, and there were many people whose disappearance would go unnoticed.

By kidnapping such people into the underground and giving them “baptism,” the cult rapidly expanded, allowing the Hive Cult of Callisman 77-8 to grow explosively.

The visible effects of this blessed baptism were minimal—just a short tail that could be concealed—making it easy for converts to blend into society, especially with the added mental control.

Gradually spreading throughout the planet, the cult eventually made a covert approach to the planetary governor and successfully assassinated him with a special drug.

And immediately after that…

A Hive Cult follower disguised as a secretary cut off one of his legs, replaced it with a thin prosthetic, and revealed a long, thin tentacle that had been coiled and hidden where his leg should have been.

“Almighty Great Father, save us through your tentacles… Almighty Great Father, save us through your tentacles… Almighty Great Father, save us through your tentacles…”

Continuously reciting this prayer, he brought the pointed tip of the tentacle to the governor’s head. The tentacle opened like a blooming flower into six segments, inserting thread-like filaments that burrowed into the head.

Moving according to instructions the Minor Father claimed to have received from the Great Father, the governor’s suddenly twitching body soon came under the secretary’s control.

This was just the true beginning.

“Communications team! Connect me to communications!”

“Y-yes!”

When he ordered a connection to the communications tower—the only facility capable of interplanetary communication and the central hub of the planetary communications network—the voice of the person in charge soon came through.

[What is it, Governor?]

“An emergency inspection team will be dispatched tomorrow at 10 AM! Prepare to receive them!”

Though he said this using the governor’s corpse, it was obviously a lie.

Following the Minor Father’s order that the first step in planetary conquest must be to cut off both internal and external communications, those being dispatched were not an inspection team but special brother-monsters in disguise.

These brother-monsters, bestowed upon the Minor Father by the Great Father, were sent for sabotage and would surely destroy the communications tower.

And that’s exactly what happened.

KABOOOOOOM!!!

The next day, with an earth-shattering explosion from the direction of the communications tower, the tower collapsed along with its foundation, effectively neutralizing Callisman 77-8’s communications network except for basic radios.

This was the price paid for the governor’s decision to concentrate all functions in a single building to save budget for his own luxuries.

Anyway, as the communications network collapsed, other preparatory operations began one after another.

“The time has come! The Great Father has promised us this galaxy!”

“All hail the merciful and omnipotent Great Father! All hail the loving Minor Father who guides us!”

With the order from the Minor Father—the leader of the Hive Cult on Callisman 77-8—an uprising broke out across the entire planet.

“Kill them, kill!”

“Devour their flesh! Desecrate their corpses!”

“Teach these pitiful ones the truth of the world!”

The main forces in this uprising, or rebellion, consisted primarily of infected workers who could be classified into three main categories.

About half looked no different from humans except for their short tails and enhanced physical abilities. These workers operated improvised weapons and vehicles they had secretly manufactured.

From walkers with surplus parts that could be stolen without consequence, to technicals—transport vehicles mounted with walker machine guns—and even armored vehicles made by welding together dozens of metal plates.

These armored vehicles, along with hastily assembled firearms made from stolen parts, might lack stability but their firepower was not to be underestimated. In a sense, they were the most troublesome enemies.

In contrast, there were those who had undergone such severe mutations that they could not function in public.

Their skin color had deteriorated beyond mere discoloration to the point where monster-like carapaces partially grew on them. Their body structure had changed with curved spines and distorted leg joints, making them suited for quadrupedal movement.

Their fingers and toes had lengthened, with nails sharpened enough to tear through metal, and crucially, they possessed physical abilities comparable to high-tier lesser monsters.

With body structures that had become closer to monsters than humans, they struggled with tool manipulation, had diminished intelligence, and had become cruel and violent in temperament. They excelled at surprise attacks, suddenly emerging from walls or hidden places.

Then there were those rare individuals who manifested psychic abilities when directly mutated by the Minor Father. These individuals served roles similar to priests within the cult.

Unlike other pseudo-religious cults, however, these priests genuinely cared for their followers like children and fought alongside them, creating a different dimension of mental fortitude.

While talk of mental strength, willpower, or effort in disadvantageous situations is usually dismissed as nonsense, morale remains a factor that cannot be ignored.

But no matter how well-equipped these workers were, both materially and mentally, they would be powerless against the heavy weapons, armored machinery, and professional psychic mercenaries of the Planetary Defense Force that managed the planet’s security and fought pirates.

Therefore, to solve this problem, the Minor Father—

“Leave none of them alive! Guard—”

BANG!

“All hail the Great Father!”

—had, on the Great Father’s orders, already spread numerous infected individuals throughout the Planetary Defense Force.

The infection had taken such deep root that entire military units—from company to division size—had been infected by the Hive Cult, with approximately 40% of all forces openly rebelling to join the Hive Cult.

Moreover, circumstances suggested that beyond that 40%, many more soldiers were infected but hiding the fact, and in some companies, only a portion of the unit members were infected.

And amid this atmosphere of distrust among soldiers, there was another decisive factor that allowed them to wage open warfare against the planet—

That was the Walker, possessed by a psychic entity that the Hive Cult’s psychic users had obtained by sacrificing numerous souls to the Hive Mind—the Great Father.