Ch.437Ruins (1)

VA-04 System.

This system, located relatively close to the Cult Empire among Megacorp territories, is one of the important places for Megacorp. This is because the system contains multiple planets with expensive, high-grade minerals.

The current owner of the system, House Egerton of Prime Capital, manufactures high-performance vessels using minerals mined there. That’s why they paid considerable attention to the system’s defense.

After the death of family head Danver Egerton, the entire house fell into chaos, but VA-04 had maintained a stable state.

At least until exactly one month ago.

“Temporary Food Management Team Leader. How’s your situation?”

In a conference room with flickering lights.

People, all looking gaunt, sat in front of a long table.

The haggard-looking woman slowly opened her mouth in response to the question from the man seated at the head of the table.

“At the current rate, we have 15 days until our food supplies are completely consumed.”

“…Only two weeks left? Can’t we reduce the rations somehow?”

“Even if we did, it would be difficult to extend our time. Especially since someone sitting over there keeps accepting refugees.”

At that, the man sitting opposite the Temporary Food Management Team Leader slammed the table hard.

“Hey! Watch your mouth! There are hundreds of thousands of refugees from the mineral planets! Are you suggesting we abandon them all?”

“Ha, since when did you become so ethical? I know all about how you secretly tried to bring in your house servants and caused trouble.”

“A-ahem!”

“Hey, ‘Temporary’ Team Leader. Why don’t you say that in front of the refugees?”

“What? Temporary?! You! Are you disparaging a position recognized by Prime Capital?!”

People began arguing, as if they had been waiting for this moment, dividing into left and right factions. The quiet conference room instantly filled with shouting and cursing.

The man at the head of the table, Savierre, Temporary General Manager of Egerton Resource Management Center, rubbed his face hard with one hand.

One month ago, an enormous number of Outspacers suddenly appeared and swept through the entire system.

As a result, all space fortresses and ground settlements in the system were destroyed, with only 20% of the defense forces remaining.

The only place left is the Egerton Resource Management Center at the heart of the system.

The Egerton Resource Management Center was designed to supply and accommodate large fleets, benchmarking Cult-style space fortresses. While it has fewer residential areas, it can accommodate far more defensive facilities.

If not for that, it would have fallen to the Outspacers like everywhere else.

But even the fortified Resource Management Center has reached its limit.

Many defensive facilities have been reduced due to the relentless Outspacer attacks.

And that’s not all. There are few people left to operate the defense facilities.

Savierre was originally the Crisis Management Team Leader of the Resource Management Center. He took the temporary position after the previous General Manager died.

With the shortage of fighters, they were now forced to conscript Middle Capital personnel.

Moreover, as mentioned earlier, the food stored in the city was running out.

If reinforcements don’t arrive within two weeks, they’ll all either starve to death or be eaten by Outspacers.

The only fortunate thing was that there had been no offensive for the past two days. Thanks to that, they were able to gather the managers for discussion.

‘Yet these idiots are busy fighting among themselves!’

Savierre glared at the arguing people.

The reason for their fighting is simple. They belong to different factions.

With Danver Egerton’s sudden death, the position of family head remains vacant. A temporary acting head appointed during the civil war with T&C is leading the house, but many oppose this arrangement.

Those in the conference room are divided between supporters of the temporary head and the old faction that supported Danver. That’s why they take every opportunity to undermine each other.

Of course, if they all die here, factions won’t matter at all. Unable to bear it any longer, Savierre slammed the table hard.

“Everyone, quiet!”

“!”

“We only have two weeks of food left and need to find a way to survive, not waste time on useless fighting!”

“Ahem.”

“Reduce rations to 20% for non-combatants regardless of their Capital status. That should help us last a bit longer.”

“What?”

“That will cause significant backlash!”

“What backlash! Do you all want to starve to death here…!”

Before he could finish, the entire conference room shook slightly. Knowing what this tremor meant, Savierre jumped to his feet.

“It’s them! Everyone to your positions!”

“Yes, sir!”

The invaders who had scorched the system had returned.

–

As those in the know are aware, Outspacers are not simple monsters. Despite their barbaric appearance, they move according to a sophisticated control system.

Simply put, imagine organs in a body becoming independent entities and moving on their own.

Some entities become brains that command other entities, while others digest collected prey to create energy for the swarm. That’s how they form one body, one horde.

And it doesn’t end there.

Strong hordes absorb weaker ones to form larger swarms. Even then, detailed role distribution occurs within each horde in the swarm.

And the one who operates the largest swarm in this universe is the queen called the “Empress.”

The Empress’s swarm is so vast that it contains numerous sub-queens and entities that act as middle managers.

“Auge,” who appeared in the VA-04 system, is one such sub-queen.

This being, with numerous visual organs, moves around collecting information needed for the swarm.

Currently, it serves as the eyes of the “Great Queen” who has invaded Megacorp on the Empress’s orders.

「Prey’s resistance weak. Not dangerous.」

「Not interfering with ‘Great Queen.’」

「Need to clean up remaining prey.」

「Won’t take long.」

Auge, a queen species specially designed by the Empress, possesses a unique consciousness transmission system. This allows it to communicate with other higher entities over long distances.

The Auge in VA-04 was using this ability to exchange information.

「Nest’s offensive has weakened.」

「Auflado. Destroy the shell.」

Auflado, a higher entity created by modifying the queen’s royal guard, approached the target.

Attacks poured from the target, the Resource Management Center. However, none of them hit him.

Auflado possessed a stealth ability that confused detection systems. It’s not easy to hit him unless people directly control the fortress’s batteries.

Skillfully avoiding attacks with abilities received from the Empress, he landed on the outer wall of the target. Then, he struck the wall with his four arms equipped with white blades.

Auflado’s blades emit high-temperature plasma through holes on both sides. They can easily neutralize even the strongest defensive facilities.

Indeed, the outer wall that other entities had difficulty destroying was easily damaged. Chunks of the solid alloy wall fell off with each movement of the blades.

When Auflado successfully created a hole in the wall, the lower entities behind him moved.

Despite intense fire killing many entities, the swarm didn’t stop. Upon reaching the target, they crawled into the hole Auflado had made.

They had already breached similar structures multiple times. They knew exactly where to destroy to extract the prey hiding inside the metal shell.

Entities with biological pipes attached to their frontal carapaces stepped forward. These can expel highly acidic digestive fluid externally. The alloy here is less durable than the outer wall, so it can be penetrated with digestive fluid.

Acidic solution fired from thousands of pipes hit the wall. The secondary barrier collapsed easily.

The Outspacers advanced toward the inside with terrifying momentum. Soon, an open space greeted them. It was a place for ships entering the city to wait.

“First quarantine line outer wall breached! Everyone defend the first quarantine line!”

“Re-repeating! First…!”

Sounds incomprehensible to Outspacers echoed from all directions. Docked carriers and ships hurriedly moved.

Entities with spines on their backs shot their spines at ships just beginning to take off. Though called spines, they were the size of small children, essentially spears. Many spacecraft crashed under the rain of spines.

Small lizard-like entities moved in swarms, attacking survivors.

“Damn it! Enemies everywhere!”

“We need reinforcements immediately! First quarantine li—argh!”

Resistance was meaningless against intruders climbing walls and ceilings for surprise attacks. The humans defending the city were eaten before they could even fire a few shots.

The swarm destroyed the defense line while devouring humans and ships.

Before long, they reached the residential area of the city.

Like the yolk hidden inside a hard shell is soft, the humans there were the same. Nutritious prey lay in a defenseless state.

「Confirmed numerous prey.」

「Are they worth collecting?」

Auflado, leading the swarm inside, looked down at the trembling human before his feet.

“I-I heard this device could c-control Outspacers…?”

An unpleasant wavelength was detected from the small tool the human held. Of course, it only caused a very slight sense of crisis.

Auflado crushed him without hesitation.

「No value beyond nutrients.」

「Exterminate them.」

“Kyaaah!”

“Save meeegh!”

The swarms, receiving the order, rushed toward the prey. Auflado, not particularly hungry, left the screaming victims behind and went outside.

「Destroyed the last nest.」

「Return to Great Queen.」

While flying toward Auge who would transport him, Auflado suddenly felt a strange sensation.

A sensation he had never felt before. This sensation, which instantly consumed his entire mind, was on a completely different level from the discomfort given by some human earlier.

And he wasn’t the only one feeling this unfamiliar sensation.

「Something unknown approaches.」

「Identify who it is.」

「Observing ‘Queen’ is dead.」

「Cannot confirm when it died.」

「Queen is important to the swarm. Retreat.」

「Impossible. Cannot retreat.」

「Queen is important to the swarm. Retreat immediately.」

The situation was ominous.

Auflado demanded retreat again, but no answer came. Moreover, the consciousness transmission system that had been connected until just now was cut off.

「All entities stop feeding and come here.」

Auflado called in all entities deployed for the city infiltration. Meanwhile, he focused all sensory organs on the space where Auge had been.

In the black void of space, darker than space itself, something writhed.

The moment he saw it, looking like a dark cloud, Auflado realized what this unpleasant feeling in his mind was.

It was a warning.

The instinctive sense of crisis a prey feels when encountering a predator.

The death that had swallowed Auge was approaching them.