Ch.271Kirsanid Scourge (2)

# Chapter 271: Kirsanid Scourge (2)

Naturally, my sudden announcement caused a wave of bewilderment among the ministers who received the communication.

-“The Scourge is coming! The Scourge is coming!”

-“The footage you are now seeing is not fabricated in any way, but shows the real-time situation currently unfolding in the western region of our Holy Sebelli Empire…”

-“The 4th Fleet Command responsible for the western region has stated that they ‘will do their utmost to ensure the safety of citizens'”

-“Regarding the large-scale chaos occurring on the western front, the central government has…”

Not long after witnessing the situation unfolding in the west.

“Minister Arto is right. Begin civilian evacuation operations in the west immediately.”

The ministers took direct action, initiating evacuation procedures for the numerous civilians scattered throughout the western regions.

But despite my efforts to move as quickly as possible, the Scourge’s offensive was truly terrifying.

Before long, an agricultural planet that hadn’t yet received evacuation orders was surrounded by the Scourge fleet.

And so, all of us, including myself, were forced to witness in real-time the horrific scenes unfolding on that planet.

The handful of ships and orbital defense facilities protecting the planet turned to cosmic dust.

Tens of millions of horrific, grotesquely shaped infection pods raining down on one of the galaxy’s few “paradise” planets.

And from those pods emerged an incalculable number of monsters…

The planet, once a brightly shining green jewel in space, in less than a day.

Was transformed into a “biomass planet” full of disgusting infected matter, as massive biological waves consumed entire continents and oceans.

In the process, countless residents and military personnel.

No, not just animals and plants.

All living beings on that planet were swept away by the biomass wave in an instant, either melting alive or being buried alive.

And watching this, I was internally hurling every curse imaginable at that bastard Seonhwang.

‘You fucking Seonhwang bastard, you should have just cleanly attacked the capital by yourself.’

How could someone who was once human repeatedly commit such vicious acts?

Remembering how confidently he had acted toward me, I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t just come at me honorably for a proper duel.

Of course, if he had done that, I was planning to beat him senseless with the combined power of 20 Ether Dragons + the Annihilation Fleet.

If there was one fortunate thing…

-“Never retreat! We must protect the galaxy from these evil cosmic monsters!”

-“For the galaxy!”

The ISTO Treaty Fleet, which had been cutting maintenance costs like crazy and had become the unwanted stepchild of our empire, was now deployed to the front lines.

As a result, the front line, which had been continuously pushed back due to numerical inferiority, began to somewhat stabilize the situation.

And our Aethernia Annihilation Fleets as well…

-“To all ships, show no mercy and deploy all firepower.”

-“Long live Aethernia, long live the Holy Lady!”

-“We must live to see the Holy Lady stand beside the Emperor, strive for that!”

-“Until all ice planets in the galaxy melt! Until supernovas become black holes!”

…Somehow, there were strange things being said in the communications.

For us, who were already struggling just to maintain the front line, they were faithfully fulfilling their role as a “mobile force” utilizing jump drives.

And even without jump drives.

-BOOM BOOM BOOM!

“It’s, it’s the Precursors! The Precursor fleet has come to help us!”

“Oh my god.”

The powerful performance of the Precursor Empire’s distinctive ships was providing a ray of hope for the troops and fleets struggling to maintain the front line.

In addition, the Prosnack fleet, which I had requested to deploy as soon as the war began…

“All forces advance, our objective is the complete annihilation of the enemy monsters.”

“We must turn these disgusting monsters into well-cooked marine stew!”

At my request, they rushed to the northern border zone and quickly formed a second front in the northwest through the gate.

They began raining fire on the damned Kirsanid Scourge creatures that were swarming in like mad.

—————————————-

Of course, the original plan wasn’t exactly to form a second front.

It was simply to gather at the front line and push them back in a concentrated effort, but…

“T-terrible news, they’re attacking the planet system with the northern warp gate hub!”

“Damn it.”

Our damned Scourge friends were attacking the northern hub planet system of the warp gate network that the Prosnack fleet needed to use.

Although the planet system itself was successfully defended by the 5th Fleet that arrived as reinforcements at the appropriate time…

“Minister, they’ve collapsed the planet system’s warp gates to prevent them from being used by the Scourge.”

“Hmm…”

Due to the intensity of the offensive, based on the judgment of the commander defending that planet system.

Determining there wasn’t enough time for the Prosnack fleet to join the front line, they immediately changed plans to open a second front to reduce the burden on the existing front.

——————————————

And at that point…

-“This is real combat, everyone.”

-“Suddenly I want to go home.”

-“No, I won’t allow it, you can’t go back.”

The ‘I-Pack Fleet’ that had been baited by the information we spread…

No, the ISTO Joint Training Fleet, along with the Sebelli 2nd Fleet in the rear, also entered the front line.

They became another hope for the front line that was being torn apart in real-time.

-BOOM!!!

-“Argh, crazy, crazy monsters are coming!”

-“Shoot, shoot!”

-“Those crazy bastards are shooting at our allies!”

Of course, since this wasn’t what they had signed up for.

Our poor ISTO Joint Training Fleet wasn’t experiencing training that felt like real combat or real combat that felt like training.

They were showing, in the most brutal way possible, what happens to fleets with no real combat experience when thrown into actual combat.

But even if they wanted to retreat now, the monsters before them wouldn’t let them go, and…

“Don’t abandon us!”

“…”

“If you abandon us, all these poor civilians will die!”

“…”

“There are even many of your own species living here!”

“…”

The Sebelli side was desperately clinging to them, making desertion in the face of the enemy impossible from the start.

——————————————

Meanwhile, as the war situation continued its roller coaster of deterioration and stabilization,

“Refer this matter to the ISTO Treaty Committee, and bribe the Galaxy Federation committee members if necessary to prioritize this crisis agenda!”

“Yes, Minister!”

I was busily working in the rear to provide direct assistance to the front line.

But in the midst of all this activity, a diplomatic message arrived at the Foreign Affairs Ministry…

“Minister, we’ve received an unexpected diplomatic message from the Fuxviet Federation.”

“…From Fuxviet?”

Not from an ISTO member nation or Prosnack, but from the Fuxviet Federation, whose territory had been half-destroyed by cosmic monsters.

Despite being extremely busy, I decided to check what it was about.

“What could it be?”

“They’re saying that since they’re also suffering from cosmic monsters, they’re sending a message of encouragement to the Holy Sebelli Empire to stay strong.”

“…That’s it?”

“Yes.”

Well, given that diplomatic messages expressing sympathy—no, encouragement—for our situation were pouring in from all over.

It wasn’t something to single out Fuxviet for, but…

Something felt off.

“Riel, doesn’t this message from Fuxviet somehow feel like they’re mocking us?”

“I think so too.”

It strongly gave the impression that they were trying to provoke us by saying, “Now that you’re experiencing it too, you understand how we feel, right?”

“…By the way, what happened to the successor of the Fuxviet Foreign Minister we met last time, after he retired?”

“Well, he said that after his retirement, he wouldn’t interfere in any Fuxviet-related matters, not even offering advice, and then disappeared.”

Hearing this, I felt a creeping suspicion that this tactless message might be exactly what I feared it was.