Ch.457Apex (3)

“Survivors?”

“77 squad members, 11 researchers confirmed. The rest are still…”

Jacob clenched his wet fist at the devastating news.

‘Damn it!’

Everyone Jacob brought had worn high-grade enhancement suits, but they weren’t fully equipped as if going to war.

Their only job was to safely travel to the deep-sea base. Unless Outspacers attacked, there was no need for top-tier equipment.

But because of that, they lost over 100 squad members. The hundred-meter-high wave that capsized Aqua State had swallowed Jacob’s subordinates as well.

Jacob and the survivors had immediately jumped into the transport ship when they saw the wave, barely surviving.

Their transport ship was a multipurpose vessel developed to support allies in various environments. Thanks to that they survived, but it wasn’t a situation to be happy about.

Most of the researchers who came with them had died.

‘Only 11 left…’

These weren’t ordinary researchers. All the dead were deeply involved in developing anti-Outspacer weapons.

He had brought them to accelerate development, but now the entire project was on the verge of collapse.

‘Why did this happen… no, more importantly, the parasite!’

It was too late to question why this happened. What mattered now was how to handle the problems that would follow.

‘In this situation, we must secure the parasite at all costs!’

With the project ruined, securing the new parasite was the only way to salvage something.

With Outspacer invasions happening throughout Megacorp territories, the value of parasite samples had skyrocketed. If they sold samples to other Houses, they could secure a fortune in credits.

“Jacob sir, shall we return to the ship?”

“No. There’s something we need to do first.”

Jacob activated the transport ship’s detection system. A hologram displayed the sinking Aqua State and scattered vessels swept away by the waves.

“From now on, all squad members will search for the rescue ship. Use the exploration vessels loaded on the transport, replace your enhancement suit modules, use whatever means necessary. You must find it. Understood?”

“Yes sir!”

“Researchers stay here and request support from the battleship.”

“Understood.”

Jacob synchronized the detection system data with his enhancement suit, gathered his equipment, and went outside.

His enhancement suit was designed for space activities. With a jetpack attached, it was perfectly suitable for underwater operations.

Outside the transport ship, he moved toward the signal of a nearby vessel in the dark water. Other squad members followed to join the search.

“Jacob sir, we’re receiving distress signals. What should we do?”

“Didn’t you hear my orders? Focus only on finding the rescue ship, nothing else.”

“Y-yes sir! Understood!”

He ignored all rescue requests from survivors. The rescue ship was still sinking in real time. He couldn’t waste time on expendable resources that could be easily replaced.

‘…Tsk, where is the rescue ship anyway? It should be nearby.’

According to the detection system, there was an elongated oval structure nearby. He had already confirmed it wasn’t debris from Aqua State. Since no large creatures of this size inhabited NOX-02, the only candidate was the rescue ship.

‘I need to go deeper.’

Just then, the map displayed inside his helmet suddenly disappeared.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong with this?”

He heard his subordinates’ confused voices simultaneously. It wasn’t just his problem; everyone had the same experience.

‘Is there a problem with the detection system?’

All their helmets were synchronized with the transport ship’s detection system. The disappearance of the map meant there was a problem in the data transmission process.

Jacob tried to contact the transport ship to check, but the signal wouldn’t go through.

“Can anyone contact the transport ship?”

“Sorry sir. The exploration vessel’s communications are dead too.”

“It seems there’s a problem with the communication network.”

Apparently, only those relatively close to Jacob still had functioning communications.

“Someone go to the transport ship and…”

Just as he was about to tell them to check, static came from the communicator inside his helmet.

“Jo, el, *static*, help, me…”

“Joel?”

“Please, help, *static*, it’s, Joel.”

At the mention of Joel, Jacob’s eyes widened. The communication was coming from the rescue ship they had been searching for.

“Joel? Where are you now?”

“Below, be, low. Help, me, *static*.”

“Jacob sir, what is this?”

Instead of explaining, Jacob activated his jetpack. His body quickly descended into the deep sea where the communication had come from. His confused subordinates followed him.

How far down had they gone?

By the time they needed to activate shields to withstand the high water pressure, the outline of a large object appeared beyond the headlight’s beam. Though mostly shrouded in darkness, it was unmistakably Egerton’s rescue ship.

“Over, *static*, here.”

Indeed, the communication was coming from there.

“Squad members with exploration vessels, prepare plasma cutters.”

“Yes sir.”

Following the order, an exploration vessel approached the sinking metal hulk. The vessel’s cutter activated, emitting a green light.

As he watched from a distance, the exploration vessel’s lights suddenly went out.

“?!”

“What the-?”

The watching squad members hurriedly illuminated the area with their headlights. There was only a trace where the exploration vessel had damaged the hull, but nothing else was visible.

“What happened? Where’s the exploration vessel?”

“Um, we can’t contact the exploration vessel.”

“If you can’t contact them, shouldn’t you go check in person?!”

“Y-yes, I’ll check immediately!”

Three squad members approached the rescue ship after Jacob’s angry command.

When they reached where the exploration vessel had disappeared, one of them discovered something.

It was the plasma cutter that had been attached to the exploration vessel. It was severely damaged, as if torn off by some powerful force.

“Jacob sir, look at this.”

He held up the plasma cutter debris.

But everyone else’s attention was focused elsewhere.

“Behind you!”

“What?”

When he turned around, he realized what his comrades were looking at.

There were eyes in the darkness concealing the rescue ship’s hull. Eyes larger than the missing exploration vessel, burning bright like flames.

The moment he met that gaze, he couldn’t move. It wasn’t simply because he was terrified. Some invisible force was binding him.

“W-what is that?!”

“I c-can’t move my body?!”

And this mysterious phenomenon affected everyone present.

The chaotic noise filling their helmets quickly subsided.

While everyone was frozen in place, the rescue ship shrouded in darkness began to glow.

More precisely, it was the object wrapped around the hull that emitted light.

Until now they thought only the rescue ship was there, but that wasn’t the case. Tentacles like thick cylinders were wrapped around the ship’s exterior. Like lights turning on one by one in a dark corridor, large eyes attached to the tentacles lit up in sequence.

“Caught them all. *static*, caught them all.”

Joel’s voice was heard again.

The moment he heard that voice repeating like a recording, Jacob realized he had made a grave mistake.

The one sending the communication wasn’t Joel. Perhaps even the claim about bringing parasite samples here was a lie. This happened because of his greed to acquire samples.

Of course, it was too late for regrets now.

The tentacles, cutting through the water, easily crushed the knights who stood there.

–

Beep

“Hmm?”

Neo Third Gateway City’s Interstellar Movement Monitoring Team.

Over dozens of personnel sat before computers monitoring movement within the star system.

One of them tilted his head at a signal marked on the holographic map.

“Unidentified energy signal from NOX-02? Hey, how many ships got permission to enter NOX-02 today?”

“Hmm? Just one, I think? Jacob sir’s flagship.”

“Really? Then what’s this?”

“What is it?”

Another Cult member approached his colleague, curious about what was happening.

“About 30 minutes ago, an energy reaction signal appeared and disappeared in less than a minute.”

“Could it be an error? I heard sometimes planetary volcanic activity can cause energy reaction signals.”

“As far as I know, that’s never happened on NOX-02. And this energy level is equivalent to a fleet’s movement. Such an enormous amount of energy disappeared unnaturally.”

“Hmm, that is strange.”

The Cult member scratched the horns on his head while looking at the hologram and nodded.

“I think we should report this up the chain.”

“I agree.”

“We should also inform the defense fleet just in case…”

Beep

Just then, an alert sounded from the computer.

“Huh?”

The two checked the hologram casually at first, then their eyes widened.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep

“What is this?”

“Wh-what’s happening?”

And shortly after, the same alerts began sounding from other computers as well.

“I-I need to report this immediately! L-look at this!”

“Got it!”

“Defense team contact! Where’s the person in charge of the defense team?!”

“Damn it! This is the monitoring team! This is the monitoring team! Gateway City, respond…”

The Cult member’s colleague jumped up from his seat and ran outside. Other stations were also in chaos due to the sudden anomaly.

The Cult member stared blankly at the hologram floating above his colleague’s empty seat.

Countless unidentified signals were marked on the map showing a scaled-down version of the star system.

And those signals were increasing by the minute.

“…It has begun.”

The Outspacer attacks that had been quiet for the past few days.

That nightmare had resumed.