Chapter 165
Chapter 165
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: Thundercloud Judgment
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Merdi relentlessly scattered lightning bolts.
As if she had no limits whatsoever.
Every Alien bursting from the Hive Nest was affected by her power.
But brilliance always draws eyes.
The ones dormant deep within began emerging, zeroing in on her.
‘Dreadknights!’ Fly-like humanoids burst through the storm of lightning.
The black swords in their hands gleamed with a sinister light.
I stepped in to stop Merdi as she tried to aim at them.
“Leave them to me.”
The moment I leaned forward, a sword thrust at my throat.
I twisted my torso to deflect the attack while explosively kicking upward with my leg.
The Dreadknight sensed the danger and overlapped four of its remaining arms to block, but it was flung back the instant it did—smashing its own head with its hands.
A golden opportunity.
But the ones charging in after wouldn’t let me finish it off that easily.
Fresh pressure came from both sides.
I folded the leg I’d raised for the kick, shoving the off-balance foe’s forearm to the right and tangling its movements.
Then I yanked the sword swinging in from the left by its blade.
‘Three—no, five.’ My senses picked up two more approaching behind the lead three.
‘This one first.’
The Dreadknight that had closed in suddenly attacked with all its remaining arms.
Our weapons were locked, so it had five arms to my one right arm.
A grossly unfair fight.
But I had backup.
“Fire.”
-Beep! At this range, there was no missing. Indiscriminate fire rained down.
It couldn’t shatter the barrier, but it had to hesitate.
In that gap, I grabbed the back of its neck with my right hand, shoving with my left.
The sword it held stabbed toward its own face, startling it—but its strength couldn’t overcome mine.
I lifted the bastard with a hole blown in the back of its skull and used it as a shield.
Just then, a sword swung at me cleaved through its corpse, slicing the body in half down to the spine in one go.
“……!”
Sharper than expected.
It had nearly grazed my arm.
Even if it had, it would’ve just scratched the barrier, but that was outside my calculations this early.
‘Faster.’
I hurled the upper body still in my grip and pursued.
As the soulless bastards swatted it away, crimson cannon grapeshot erupted at minimum output across the front.
This was leagues beyond R3D3’s.
The barriers of those bathed in crimson cannonfire suffered severe partial ruptures.
They realized their state and tried to flap their wings, but it was too late.
Now wedged between them, I finished off the pair.
‘Two left. Or more?’
A true Hive Nest.
Dreadknights were just the beginning—high-risk grade Aliens started appearing everywhere.
Considering even a single Dreadknight matched a subpar superhuman, charging in with just three of us was insane.
‘They’re not standardized, so they look all different, but the danger level’s about the same.’
I wouldn’t have even attempted it without Roze and Merdi.
I finished off the remaining two Dreadknights and fell back.
Looking at it now, I wasn’t slacking either.
Physically, I matched the blessed talents of pure physical superhumans.
And ability-wise, I was versatile.
At this point, I could confidently call myself vice-captain level.
“Coming at us thick.”
“Bugs are still just bugs, no matter how many.”
Every time she opened her mouth to speak, static crackled.
Fair enough—right now, she looked like a thunder god who could fry every bug in the world in an instant.
“Stay back a bit.”
“Huh?”
“I’m about to go all out.”
“Here?” Merdi shot me a smile at my doubt, then turned.
And just as she’d said, her ability exploded in power.
Even just venting it was enough to kill the surrounding Aliens outright.
‘This strong already?’
I jumped back in shock, watching the spectacle from a distance.
Even the high-risk Aliens approaching her hesitated.
Rumble!
The manifested ability wasn’t used for direct attacks.
It surged above her head, gathering and slowly expanding to cover the sky overhead.
Like a cloud.
Once formed, the cloud rapidly grew.
A flyer targeting us from above misjudged its expansion and touched it—turning into a charred lump that plummeted instantly.
Unhindered, the cloud grew to blanket a 1km radius completely.
Merdi glanced at me as if to say “watch closely,” then slowly lowered her arm.
Boom!!
The thunder god’s judgment began.
Deafening thunder roared as merciless bolts rained down endlessly.
Direct hits exploded Alien flesh; near misses still killed.
Bolts that missed everything shattered the Hive Nest’s ground, sweeping the interior.
Naturally, those queued up to emerge were wiped out too.
‘When did she reach this level…….’
This wasn’t just ability usage.
It required precise grasp of her power’s nature and control pushed to the extreme.
She’d shown something similar before, but that was basic application—this was fundamentally different.
The stronger the ability, the harder this realm was to attain.
Especially for Merdi, who canonically held the world’s most powerful ability.
Even without focusing on control early in the Academy, she’d grown to this.
“Seriously impressive.”
“You just now realizing how amazing I am?”
“I knew you were.” Just not to this extent.
Rumble!
Then the ground shook.
The Hive Nest tilted slightly amid intense vibrations.
From Merdi’s lightning storm?
‘No.’
The reason became clear soon enough.
Roze burst from the ground far off, shouting.
“I smashed one!”
“Already, in this short time?”
Even taking the shortest path, that was fast.
I worried she might be hurt, but aside from slightly labored breaths, she was fine.
“Yeah! Where next?”
“For now……watch your back!”
Dreadknights poured from the hole she’d made.
As if seeking revenge for the destroyed core, they charged madly.
Roze’s response was calm.
She inhaled deeply, lowered her stance, and blocked four Dreadknights’ attacks on the spot.
The agressors, charging boldly, took heavy fists and scattered in all directions.
‘Did that break?’
None died, but none were unscathed.
Barriers shattered on impact, dents forming where hit; the one that parried with its sword lost the blade and its hand.
“Thanks!” Roze glanced back, waved, then launched toward the spot I’d marked.
She punched through the outer wall and vanished in seconds.
“……So brutish.”
Merdi grumbled, somehow deflated.
The lightning storm had left nothing alive in its wake.
Some high-risk Aliens with barriers or resistances survived, but they didn’t look great.
Fresh Aliens from outside the radius swarmed again. “Not tired, right?”
“Who’s tired?”
Merdi snorted and manifested her ability once more.
No different from the start, despite unleashing that much.
‘Good pace.’
I scanned the situation while protecting the wide-area lightning spreader.
Our intrusion into the Hive Nest had warped the battlefield flow.
Aliens now guarded inward more than out, splitting their forces—the fleet fired more freely.
‘If this were a hatchery instead of a Hive Nest, it’d be way tougher.’
A Hive Nest was a cluster of multiple hatcheries.
Dozens of cores at minimum across its 10km span.
They’d shrunk for flight, shortening the path to cores.
Boom!!
The ground shook again.
Not Roze this time.
Shock from the main battery salvo.
The Hive Nest’s barrier held firm but was definitely weaker than at first. “If it keeps like this…….”
Just as I dared to hope, lightning struck at me.
The exact same nature as Merdi’s ability.
“Finally showed up, huh.”
I dodged without panic and looked up.
A Beholder had revealed itself.
“You dare steal what’s mine?”
Merdi ground her teeth in a sharp voice.
It had clearly used Merdi’s ability to attack me.
Hidden away, it had absorbed plenty—electricity rippled richly along its tentacles.
“Don’t get cocky. Be careful.”
“You think I’d lose to my own power?”
Her arrogant tone carried convincing force.
Kirrrk!
The Beholder mocked with a sound, writhing its tentacles flashily.
Lightning at the tips compressed, then shot at Merdi.
Literal bolt speed.
Too far for me to intervene.
“You asked for it…….”
But no need to worry.
The Beholder’s attack did zero damage to Merdi.
Didn’t even scratch the barrier.
The lightning it fired hung captured right in front of her outstretched hand.
“……Took back control?”
“Told you. It’s mine.”
“Even so, that’s……!”
It defied my common sense.
No matter the control mastery, it was power that had left her grasp.
Reclaiming fast lightning in an instant?
‘A bit much.’
Of course, possible because the Beholder didn’t alter absorbed energy.
It spat it back pure.
All it did was direct it.
‘If so, then……?’
I watched the Beholder’s futile efforts a few more times.
Merdi and the Beholder traded lightning like a juggling act.
“……It’ll work. Merdi!”
“Busy. Don’t talk.”
“Get close to it.”
“What’re you saying?”
“No need to just catch what it throws.”
Merdi whipped around to me.
Her blinking eyes showed surprise.
I stepped ahead, nodding for her to follow, opening the path.
“What’s this? You suddenly smart?”
“Always have been.”
“Less talk, lead on. That one’s mine now.”
The Aliens thinned by the storm were starting to multiply again.
Despite that beating.
‘Moths to a flame.’ Aliens lacked survival instinct.
Hive Mind dictated all.
As long as it ordered, they’d swarm to wear Merdi down a second faster.
Kieeeek!
Sensing our approach, the Beholder splayed its upper body, baring teeth.
It thrashed wildly, as if dumping all its devoured lightning.
But Merdi’s defense improved over time.
Now snatching bolts from over ten meters in open air.
“Keep feeding it back!”
“I am!”
I stomped an Alien’s head charging me and leaped skyward.
Jetpack assist closed a hundred meters in one bound.
The Beholder half-flipped, trying to check me with tentacles.
‘Not fully healed yet. That’s why it hid?’
Up close, I saw its body wasn’t normal.
Far off, I hadn’t noticed—the flesh bore wounds everywhere.
‘No way it’d recover those in under a day.’
Not even a full day.
Even with Hive Nest aid, 30% body loss and rags for skin couldn’t fully heal.
Without the tentacles’ regen, it would’ve taken days more.