The Full-Scale Invasion
To think the Fleet Commander of the Ark would step out personally.
The eyes behind Jester's mask narrowed with interest.
The Fleet Commander of Ark 86, Lin Xiaolin.
She was a legend and a hero to humanity, having held back the wave-like onslaughts of the Harvester, a Named-grade singularity belonging to the Astral faction, for several years.
"What is the information regarding the Harvester?"
Finally revealing herself, Lin Xiaolin tossed the question at Jester and pulled a cigarette from her pocket, placing it between her lips.
As she held the cigarette in her mouth, the Original ECHO beside her approached with practiced familiarity and lit it with a tsss sound.
"It is very expensive information, you know?"
"I'll make sure the price is right."
"...Understood, Fleet Commander."
Jester intentionally paused for a beat, watching Lin Xiaolin leisurely exhale a cloud of smoke.
It was clear that if she tried any foolish tricks against the person in front of her, she wouldn't even have bones left to pick up.
After a short breath, Jester slowly spoke.
"The Harvester has discovered a very interesting prey."
"......And?"
"It is a Named Grade Anomaly. One of the Harvester's subordinates, Aurum, has already begun to move, and the Harvester's Ultra Large-scale Mobile Aircraft Carrier, the Crown Ark, has stopped absorbing energy and is showing signs of surfacing."
"A clash between the Astral and an Anomaly. Is there any reason that should be bad for us?"
There wasn't a hint of interest in Lin Xiaolin's voice.
However, Jester knew very well that the information they possessed was crucial to her.
"Surely the Fleet Commander is aware that the Astral grows its power by absorbing the essence of anomalies, right?"
"......"
"This case is on a different level, Fleet Commander. It is a Named Grade Anomaly. If the Harvester fully absorbs its essence, it will become far stronger than it is now, and its influence will grow uncontrollably."
"Wǒ cào."
As soon as Jester finished speaking, a short, rough curse—one never heard from her before—burst out.
Lin Xiaolin then exhaled a deep cloud of smoke.
Being a clever person, she immediately understood the implications of Jester's words.
And she realized that for the safety of Ark 86, she had to stop it by any means necessary.
"The location of the Anomaly?"
At Lin Xiaolin's question, Jester remained silent instead of answering.
It was a silent pressure, indicating that further information would require a high fee.
In response to Jester's behavior, Lin Xiaolin flicked the ash from her cigarette and spoke to the adjutant beside her.
"Give them what we brought."
"......"
At the Commander's order, the one who appeared to be an Original ECHO handed a small box to Jester.
Raven, who opened it on Jester's behalf, widened her eyes in disbelief and spoke to Jester.
"Je-Jester. It's an Arc Reactor. Though it's a miniature one..."
"...This should be sufficient as payment for the information."
At Raven's words, Jester spoke with a satisfied smile.
"The Anomaly is staying in Hongwei-7. It's not a wanderer... it seems the medium is located there. However, the latter part is unconfirmed information."
"Hongwei-7?"
At Lin Xiaolin's low murmur, the adjutant ECHO guarding her side spoke quietly.
"It is an administrative district of a city called Hongwei with a population of 300,000. Records show it was a place where the headquarters of Ark 69 was briefly stationed, and it was completely destroyed during the battle with the Crawler Queen."
"Is that so? Which means..."
Lin Xiaolin's eyes gleamed coldly.
Ark 69 was in a position not far from Ark 74, which she had visited recently.
As far as she knew, a Quasi-Named Grade entity of the zombies called the Carapace Lord had established a territory there.
And now, a Named Grade Anomaly was spotted nearby?
...What is the reason?
The fact that such beings were gathered in one place clearly meant there was something there.
Drawing various scenarios in her head, Lin Xiaolin turned her gaze back to Jester.
"Why are you giving this information to us?"
"Well, it's nothing grand. It's just that for Wanderers like us to make a living, the human Arks that the Fleet Commander protects must exist."
Jester shrugged, hiding her expression behind the mask, and continued.
"Besides, if the Harvester completely takes over this area, we won't survive either."
"......"
Instead of answering, Lin Xiaolin took a deep drag of her cigarette.
White smoke billowed from between her lips, scattering vainly in the sandy wind.
"This was a rather pleasant meeting, ECHO."
"Thank you, Fleet Commander."
As Lin Xiaolin turned away, her face twisted like a demon.
What a fucking shitty situation.
The Harvester absorbing a Named-grade Anomaly?
That was the worst-case scenario for Ark 86.
She had to stop it by any means. Yet, she couldn't simply send the main force of Ark 86 to Hongwei-7.
I must also consider the possibility that the information is fake.
The Black Crow Merchant Guild.
They were irredeemable scum who traded not only with humans but also with the Astral.
In a situation where the Harvester could raid the main base at any moment, moving troops hastily based solely on their word was practically suicide.
But she couldn't just ignore information obtained by giving away a precious Arc Reactor.
"I'll have to send the Pathfinder squad."
"Shall I issue the departure order immediately?"
"No, stand by for now. I have to deal with a nuisance first."
Returning inside the Ark, Lin Xiaolin crushed the cigarette under her foot.
Then, with eyes colder than ice, she looked up at the towering building in the center of the Ark.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Thump!
Pomen lifted the old TV, which served as Podic's medium, and moved it to the safest inner area of the defensive platform, Bastion.
"...Huh?"
"It appeared!"
As soon as the TV was fixed in a specific position, Podic slowly crawled out from the TV, just like a scene from the movie The Ring.
Podic glanced back and forth between me and the ECHOs, then began to stay quietly without straying far from Bastion.
"U-Um, Commander."
At that sight, B-707, a mass-produced ECHO in charge of Bastion's security, approached me with a pale face.
"Yeah?"
"That Anomaly... is it going to stay here?"
"Hmm, probably?"
At my answer, B-707's face turned stark white.
I felt slightly sorry, but it couldn't be helped. I couldn't leave Podic, who was being targeted by the Astral, alone.
Still, she's not a bad kid, so maybe they can get along?
If it seemed too difficult, I planned to think of another way then.
But they say humans are animals of adaptation, right? It seemed the ECHOs didn't deviate much from that category.
"...Podic?"
[Po-oh?]
"Gasp?! It, it answered. Did you hear that? It reacted to me!"
"She's not an idiot, so isn't that obvious?"
"But still, it's an Anomaly."
While we were establishing a temporary defensive line in Hongwei-7, the relationship between the mass-produced ECHO B-707 and Podic grew noticeably closer.
At first, B-707 seemed terrified by Podic's massive height and strange behavior, but after seeing that she didn't harm them and instead silently wiped out the zombies that occasionally appeared around them, B-707 eventually even joined her on reconnaissance missions.
Even...
"Do you want to try this?"
[Po—]
They even shared the concentrated nutrients provided as rations without hesitation.
"Oh! She's eating it! She's eating it!"
B-707 let out a surprised voice as Podic sniffed it for a moment and then greedily took the nutrient.
Well... at a glance, it looked like someone feeding a giant pet.
Still, it was a relief that they got along without fearing each other.
"Alright. The temporary defensive line is mostly set... For now, Cerberus is staying here, right?"
"That is correct, Commander."
"And Lena, you're staying here for a few days too?"
Lena nodded at my words.
"Yes. The dismantling of the Skiff-class assault boat isn't finished, and it seems only I can restore the communication facilities to connect with the Ark's Central AI, the Wanderer."
"...It's taking a while."
"There are a vast number of Silver Dust particles scattered by the Astral on the surface. These are micro-scale communication interference particles that float in the air and abnormally scatter electromagnetic waves to disrupt communication."
"......"
"To solve this, we need to establish optical-based communication that doesn't use air as a medium, but this communication system is extremely vulnerable to terrain, with less than 5% connectivity to the shielded Ark. Therefore, we must momentarily secure pulse communication that is much stronger than the dust noise to establish the network, but..."
"......"
I didn't understand a single word.
As I made a blank face at Lena's continuing explanation, Arva, who was listening beside me, interrupted Lena.
"It means it will take quite some time to establish pulse communication."
"...I see."
"Furthermore, to establish the communication network, we need a stable power facility capable of producing strong energy."
At those words, I glanced at the Money Compass menu but decided against it.
According to Lena, having about two Arc Reactors currently in the Ark would make it possible to establish a communication network between Hongwei-7 and the Ark.
It felt like a waste to buy items that were already in the Ark using Cash.
Moreover, it was surprising that two Arc Reactors were needed just to cover that distance.
Tsk, but I guess it's an unavoidable investment.
Hongwei-7 was our first external outpost, and we absolutely had to protect it.
To mine the abundant mineral resources of the northern mountains later, securing a stable communication network was essential.
After staying in Hongwei-7 for a few days, we planned to leave the Cerberus squad and Lena behind, return to the Ark to reorganize, and then come back to Hongwei-7 with the Arc Reactors.
However...
Beeeeeep! Beeeeeep!
While we were packing our bags to return to the Ark, Bastion began to emit a loud warning sound.
[Po-oooooo!]
Following that, Podic also let out a strange roar while looking toward the western sky.
"Multiple high-energy reactions approaching! The scale is much larger than before!"
Along with Lena's urgent shout, massive red dots, incomparably larger than before, were approaching Hongwei-7 on Bastion's screen.
And at the lead...
"It's... It's a Troller-class Mobile Aircraft Carrier!!"
A massive Mobile Aircraft Carrier, easily over 120 meters in length, was approaching in all its glory.
Compared to our world, it was a monstrous size, falling into the category of a large destroyer or even a light cruiser.
Then, hatches opened on the surface of that giant hull, and Astral mechanical drones began to pour out without a pause.