Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Cracking the Hive Nest
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"Twenty-eight Whale Ships remaining!"
"Target the Hive Nest. Fire the moment you spot an opening."
The Hive Nest's goal, with its Whale Ships and flyers out front, was to buy just enough time to reactivate the barrier.
I couldn't let that happen.
'Now's the time.' Even as things stood, victory for our side was already a done deal.
The key was how quickly we could destroy the Hive Nest and mop up the remaining Aliens.
The longer our fleet's firepower was tied down by the Hive Nest, the exponentially worse the damage to the planet would get.
If we could hit it before it restored the barrier, we could slash the cleanup time dramatically.
I turned my head.
Roze flinched as our eyes met and quickly looked away, whistling innocently.
Merdi shot her a look of utter disdain.
I wanted to know what was up, but there wasn't time right now.
"Let's go."
"Huh? Me too?"
"No place for a ground-pounder like you. Stay put."
Roze had pointed at herself and stood up, only to wilt under Merdi's scolding.
"Eung...."
"No, come on. We'll find something for you to do."
"Really?" I rose from the captain's chair, watching Roze's eyes sparkle.
"Captain's authority temporarily transferred. To Senior Crewman Frederick."
-Command received. Per protocol, limited command authority granted to Senior Crewman Frederick.
I nodded to Frederick as the AI's voice confirmed it.
"Take care of things."
"Don't worry. Safe travels."
I left him saluting and hurried off the bridge toward the nearest external access hatch.
"We'll time it with the next main gun salvo."
"How long?"
"Four minutes. Move!"
The bridge was the most critical spot, so there were no external hatches nearby at all.
Just one escape pod for emergencies.
Security meant only one passageway led to the bridge anyway—no room for complaints.
We reached the hatch.
Soldiers waiting there handed over the necessary safety gear. "You must wear this."
I nodded and suited up.
Merdi and Roze followed without complaint.
"You two coming along too?"
"Yes, Superhuman."
"You'll just get in the way."
"We must prepare for the worst. Don't mind us."
Of course it made sense for top brass like the captain to have escorts when stepping outside.
Even we Superhumans weren't exempt.
"Handle it yourselves. Two minutes left."
The hatch irised open.
I led the way onto the upper deck.
Magnetic boots in our soles gave just enough stickiness to make walking a bit awkward.
"One minute."
-Get away from me.
Merdi's voice crackled over comms, and twin arcs of intense current surged from her arms, racing across the deck.
The soldiers jolted back in alarm.
It was just a visual deterrent for now—but that'd change soon enough.
"R3D3. Start amplification. Max power."
-Beep! Entering amplification sequence.
I got ready too.
My left arm's seal was fully released already.
The limb, stretched to nearly three meters, pointed forward and began glowing red.
-20 seconds left!
Roze's voice came faintly.
My mind was fully focused.
I'd fired the red cannon at max power on Yumaha once before, but without amplification.
'Hope it holds.'
Anticipating the backlash, I'd prepped healing fluid and gulped it down steadily.
Just one shot anyway.
-10 seconds!
Energy conversion ramped up, and the arm's temperature spiked.
With amplification nearly doubling the output, the heat intensified brutally.
Even with R3D3's cooling and my traits' mitigation, it was grueling.
Grind!!
I clenched my teeth to fight the disorientation from the freakish heat.
And that wasn't the only problem.
As cohesion strengthened, the caged beast inside thrashed wildly to break free.
My arm trembled on its own, throwing off my aim.
'This'll miss.'
The shaking wasn't that bad.
But at 30 kilometers out, it could be fatal.
"Lock it down!"
R3D3 got it instantly, splitting two legs and slamming them into the deck.
My arm locked in place, tremors gone.
Right then, the battleship's main guns fired.
Seeing the impact directly, without the bridge viewport, was even more spectacular.
The distant explosion bloomed like a tidal wave of light, then faded like a mirage.
'Four.'
This volley took out four Whale Ships.
Flyers swarmed in to fill the gap immediately.
-Here we go.
I glanced over.
Merdi stood there, wreathed in electricity.
A terrifying mass of charge writhed above her upraised hand.
'If that drops wrong...' I imagined it hitting the ship.
Inside the barrier, it'd vaporize a frigate like Murdoch-class in one go.
But thankfully, Merdi's target was ahead.
The charge ball floated off her hand, then accelerated viciously toward the main gun strike zone.
It hit—and—
-Boom!
The swollen mass engulfed everything nearby in a frenzy.
Tens of thousands of flyers caught in it charred black and shattered.
Even Whale Ships moving up behind stiffened as their barriers shattered.
A single person's output rivaled a main gun volley.
'Through.' A clear gap yawned where her power had swept.
The Hive Nest behind was weakly reactivating its barrier.
No hesitation—I fired the red cannon.
The pent-up energy blasted out in a ferocious streak.
"Guh!"
I braced against the recoil, eyes locked on the beam.
Seconds stretched into tense silence until impact.
Sensation returned as the red cannon pierced the barrier and slammed dead-center into the Hive Nest.
-Got it!
Perfect hit.
The focused firepower punched through the surface and detonated inside.
The Hive Nest cracked wide and shuddered violently.
-Ah, hot!
Someone touched me and yanked back with a yelp.
I turned to see Merdi rubbing her hand.
-What the hell? Why are you so hot?
"It'll cool off soon."
Her face hardened.
Roze poked me curiously, mimicking Merdi, and her expression matched. -You okay?
"Yeah. Positive."
Only two traits directly managed body temperature.
Others stabilized me too.
With R3D3 venting heat, it felt intense but wasn't dangerous.
I resealed my left arm and stood.
But both eyed me skeptically.
"...I'm telling you, it's fine."
-You could fry an egg on you and call that normal?
-Go get checked first. No body runs this hot without issues.
No convincing them.
I raised both hands in surrender.
"Fine. I'll get scanned later. Let's head in for now."
-Captain. Careful.
Frederick's voice hit comms as something streaked toward the ship.
A massive swarm of spore clusters.
"...That. Get inside, now!"
They'd pegged us as the top threat after our attack.
Desperate in defeat, they were going all-in to take us down too.
With flyers piling on, the ship's defenses were overwhelmed.
-Uwah!
"Hold steady!"
Spores hammered the hull, shaking the ship wildly.
I steadied stumbling Merdi and pulled her inside.
Roze had herded the soldiers ahead.
"Whew, we'll live." Closing the hatch brought some relief.
I headed straight for the bridge, getting constant updates.
-Attack's too fierce. We've pulled the fleet back as far as possible.
"Good call. Hive Nest status?"
-Heavy damage. That hit chained into massive secondary effects. It'll be out of commission for a while even if left alone.
"Let's finish it off now."
-Captain. Sector Command recommends withdrawal.
"Yeah?"
No malice there.
Our achievements were already huge—no need to hog the final glory.
First credit for cracking the Hive Nest would go to Gold Fleet anyway.
'Looks risky, so pull out early and reinforce Antharozia.'
Engines were iffy too.
Red alerts had just cleared, maybe enough to limp longer—but maintenance costs said bail now.
Back on the bridge, I reclaimed captaincy from Frederick and sent the okay.
Then I swung the ship toward Antharozia.
"Approve secondary batteries firing every two minutes. Free fire at each crew's discretion."
Cleanup time.
The space between rift and planet crawled with Alien dust.
To stabilize Antharozia, we had to clear them all.
"And the top scorer gets a special bonus."
Crew hustle ramped up at my words.
I'd never been stingy with rewards.
They smelled the profit in "special bonus."
"Captain. With extra cleanup crew today, mistakes piled up. Generosity's nice, but discipline first, I'd say."
I eyed the red-faced gunners blazing away, then turned to Frederick.
I thought it'd gone well, but he saw way more flaws.
"Vice-captain has a point. But today's the first win on the Styx Front, right?"
"...Vice-captain? You mean me?"
I nodded at his stunned face.
"Yeah. Vice-captain and vice-fleet commander. Who else but Frederick? Can't make you captain too with senior crew duties. How about settling for tastes like today?"
I'd mulled it for days, no better pick.
Superhumans lacked command types, let alone years of specialized ship ops training.
Shia was swamped with external duties anyway.
Frederick was it.
'Guy's solid....'
All bridge crew passed Shia's interviews.
Frederick especially: ironclad responsibility.
Stuffy and stubborn maybe, but he'd never shirk.
"To think you trust me this much after less than a year. Truly grateful."
"You might thank me now, but later you'll gripe about the workload."
"That's for later, isn't it?"
"What? Ha!"
He grinned back.
I couldn't help laughing.
His promotion wasn't just his.
It signaled we'd value Horizon Academy grads more.
Probably why he was thrilled.
Nearly a year since ditching principal duties, he still felt like the trainees' guardian.
"Anyway, let's watch 'em shine."
"You got it. First place is mine."
"Vice-captain joining the kids' rice bowl fight?"
"Got a big family to feed. Money's tight."
"Greedy...."
He unabashedly snatched four secondary turrets and opened fire.
I snorted in disbelief.
His face turned serious as he focused. I shook my head and checked the planet.
"Hm?"
Then the Black Yak Shipyard caught my eye again.
I'd seen it mobbed by flyers earlier, but something about it now felt off.