Chapter 167
Chapter 167
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: The Hive Nest's Fall
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BOOM!!
The ground split open with a massive crack, revealing the interior riddled with tunnels like an ant hill.
The fissure spread further and further, stretching hundreds of meters until it reached the end.
Once it got that far, the crack began to widen on its own.
It didn't stop at the top—it raced downward too, and the smaller chunk slowly tilted.
Small in comparison to the whole, sure, but in reality, it was the size of a towering mountain.
The sight of that colossal mass shifting was a natural disaster in itself.
As the tilt steepened, the Aliens scurried about in panic, but there was nothing they could do.
Soon, the fully severed chunk plummeted down alongside them.
"It's falling."
I watched the scene unfold calmly.
Even that fragment of the shattered Hive Nest was so enormous that it distorted all sense of scale.
Naturally, the hatching ground colony below, forced to take the full brunt of it, stood no chance.
The barrier held for only a moment under the unimaginable weight before shattering, and the debris from the crumbling Hive Nest buried the interior completely.
An enormous cloud of dust billowed up, blanketing the ground entirely.
I could even see fragments from the delayed collapse swallowing Aliens that were frantically fleeing.
In one fell swoop, 20% of the hatching ground colony was wiped out.
"Urgh..."
I forced my unresponsive body to rise.
As I took a step, the piled-up Alien corpses cushioned my foot.
And it wasn't just here—everywhere my eyes could reach was filled with corpses dead from all sorts of causes.
"Still some left, huh."
Did this sight not instill any fear in them?
Aliens suddenly leaped out from somewhere and charged again.
Judging by their appearance, they were mere Grade 2 small fry.
They were suddenly engulfed in lightning and tumbled over on the spot.
"Huff! Huff!"
Merdi lowered her outstretched hand, breathing raggedly.
Her face had turned deathly pale.
She didn't look good at all.
But even in that state, she reflexively unleashed her ability whenever she spotted something moving.
"You're pushing too hard again."
I approached her as she tried to raise her hand once more and grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing? Let go."
"Enough with the overexertion."
She had been in a brutal struggle for hours, unleashing what could only be described as tremendous power nonstop.
The fact that she could still do this much was impressive, but she had reached her limit.
Yet Merdi scowled at me for trying to stop her and scolded me instead. "You stay put. You really gonna move in that condition? Trying to get yourself killed?"
She wasn't saying it without reason.
I'd taken on over 40 variant Dreadnights alone during this time.
Plus all the relatively high-threat individuals that could endanger Merdi.
There wasn't a single uninjured spot on my body.
"These aren't fatal wounds."
"Are you seriously an idiot?"
She scanned me up and down with a look of utter disbelief at my response.
A deep gash in my left abdomen, a chunk of flesh torn from my thigh, and a outright hole punched through my right calf.
And this was after things had improved somewhat.
I pinched one nostril shut with my hand and blew hard.
A clump of dried blood popped out.
I inhaled the now-clear air and grinned.
"Wounds like these? I'd have to try to die from them."
"...Fine. Do whatever you want! Die for all I care!"
Merdi yanked her arm away irritably.
She whipped her head around, so I couldn't see her face, but she was definitely grinding her teeth.
I handed her a syringe filled with healing solution and stretched my body.
"Give yourself the shot. No need to move anymore anyway. We're at the limit, so just wait it out."
"Good job."
Merdi snatched the syringe and muttered.
At that moment, the ground shook again.
A stronger vibration than before.
Roze had removed another core, causing the Hive Nest's power to plummet dramatically—it was screaming in agony. -Altitude dropping. Beep!
"Looks like it's really hit the limit."
The barrier protecting the Hive Nest was long gone.
The allied fleet seemed to be leaving the cleanup to us; they'd left minimal forces behind and shifted positions to defend the new fissure.
They were probably worried we'd take friendly fire if they attacked recklessly.
As we held out a bit longer, a figure burst out of the ground in the distance, kicking up a huge racket.
It immediately began clearing out the surrounding Aliens.
"Doesn't that thing ever get tired?"
"Stamina's her one unbeatable trait."
She'd slowed a bit from the start, but she was still nimble.
No visible wounds either.
I called out loudly to Roze, who had finished off the Aliens and was about to dig another tunnel.
"Roze! That's enough!"
"...Got it!!"
Roze waved back and hurried over.
The Alien head that had served as her foothold crumpled like Styrofoam midway.
"But how do we escape?"
"Not on our own power... no way."
The Hive Nest had lost nearly 70% of its power.
It had long since run out of strength to maintain its massive frame and was slowly falling.
The descent was accelerating even now.
If we stayed, we'd crash into the surface along with the Hive Nest.
"Communications jam still in effect?"
-Affirmative, Master!
"Probably the smog, right? Too much piled up to clear it."
The most effective thermobaric rounds had stopped firing long ago—they'd been expended.
They were lobbing whatever else they had now, but the smog dispersed by the smog tail during that time was so thick it had only worked back then.
That was why communications were down.
"If we can't, we'll have to hitch a ride on Merdi to escape!"
"You want me to carry you two? Am I crazy?"
Right now, only Merdi had a functional jetpack.
The remaining charge could barely handle three people.
Getting attacked in that state would be dicey, though. "So you're ditching us?"
"That's..." Roze trailed off dejectedly, and Merdi clamped her mouth shut.
She looked troubled.
"Don't worry. They'll come rescue us anyway."
"Who?"
"The squad members. Even if the barrier kept them out before, that's not an issue now."
"Oh, right!"
Roze clapped her hands.
The reason we'd been isolated was the intact barrier.
But that obstacle was gone long ago.
Whether they hadn't attempted a rescue because they couldn't assess our situation or not, they'd make contact soon enough.
My prediction was spot on.
Just as the Hive Nest's altitude dropped to a dangerously low level, an assault shuttle pierced the smog and descended.
"Captain!"
The squad members, having pinpointed our location, leaped down.
"What took you so long."
"Whew! You three took care of all this? Terrifying."
They looked stunned at the Alien corpses strewn everywhere. "Had to play around a bit since you guys were late."
"Tell me about it. Here, take this first."
"Blood packs?"
"Plenty."
They swapped my jetpack and immediately administered a blood pack transfusion.
Then they handed me water, which I chugged down.
The replenished fluids brought a surge of vitality.
"What've you been up to?"
"We were busy with the Beholder too. Did some whale hunting ourselves."
"You guys hogged all the fun."
"Not on your level, though. Who else takes down a Hive Nest with just three? Pffft!"
Her headshake came with genuine admiration.
"Just you two? Where's the rest?"
"Only 2nd Squad. 1st is mopping up the hatching grounds. That's what you ordered, right, Captain?"
"Good work."
I looked up as she gestured overhead.
Someone on the assault shuttle was unleashing their ability, taking out approaching flyers.
"Alright, let's go."
I fired my jetpack and ascended.
The Aliens that arrived too late bared their teeth at the spot we'd just vacated.
But ground-bound weaklings like them could do no more than that. 'We really did it.'
I landed on the assault shuttle but didn't go inside right away, instead gazing down for a while.
The Hive Nest, still receding even as I paused, soon met the ground and shattered completely.
The moment the Hive Nest and hatching ground colony were both destroyed.
*
After that, things went smoothly.
Under the fleet's concentrated defense, the fissure closed without issue, and the wrecked hatching ground colony put up no real fight.
All that remained was purging the Aliens that had infiltrated across the planet.
A drawn-out task, but no immediate threat, so we could breathe easy.
"Your assistance was crucial, Captain. But how could you be so reckless?"
"I judged it the optimal move."
"Even so. It was no different from walking into the jaws of death... Well, you pulled it off, so no more complaints, but my heart nearly stopped."
Major General Lungen spoke half-jokingly, but with utter sincerity.
He looked genuinely relieved.
And understandably so—we three who'd struck the Hive Nest were the focal point for the Styx frontline superhumans.
Not officially recognized yet, but our influence was close enough that losing us there would've been a massive headache.
"I agree with Major General Lungen."
"As do I." The other commanders at the meeting chimed in.
When two-star generals fixed me with the same look, there was no arguing back.
"Heard your injuries were severe. How's the body holding up?"
"Must be misinformation. I'm perfectly fine."
"Not that your body's unusually tough or anything?"
"Whining over this much wouldn't cut it as a superhuman. You're praising me for my contributions, I get it—appreciated, but enough already. No need for more."
"Ahem, if you say so..." Our achievements this time were impressive enough to warrant that reaction from the commanders.
We'd not only taken out the biggest headache—the Beholder—with zero losses, but dealt massive damage to the hatching ground colony alongside the Hive Nest.
In essence, three superhumans had done the job of a full regular fleet.
It turned a battle expected to incur heavy casualties into an overwhelming victory.
And by nearly perfectly blunting the surprise assault, we'd eased the follow-up burdens too. 'It was kinda easy.'
The most unexpected part was handling the Beholder.
I'd thought that would be the hardest.
If it'd actively blocked the fleet's bombardment, the fight would've been far tougher.
But it got complacent and gave us distance.
Maybe overconfident from gobbling up Merdi's lightning first, but it was a clear blunder.
Of course, underlying that was how Merdi's ability exceeded expectations.
'I'd been underestimating her.'
The prowess of Roze and Merdi as depicted in the original work was like this.
They snatched improbable victories in the far more precarious Triple Link region than now.
Maybe because I'd always been with them, grown accustomed, I'd been capping their potential.
"What's the plan going forward, Captain?"
"We'll stick around about a week to handle the hatching grounds, then head back to Oceano."
"Just a week?"
I nodded.
The commanders seemed to think it too short.
But inwardly, I felt even a week was long.
'I found a new way to detect hatching grounds—no need to linger that much.'
The method I'd devised hunting the Beholder worked on others too.
Like Aliens or cores buried underground.
Cores in particular gave strong reactions, hard to miss.
By orbiting quickly during detection range and pinpointing strong signals, I could map them all in a day.
"Yes."
"Hmm, if you're confident, there must be reason. I'll inform Commander Rivel as such."
"Much appreciated. I'll draw up a precise schedule and send it over."
"Commander Rivel will await your contact."
The commanders showed considerable consideration toward me.
Previously, only Commander Rivel had been friendly.
'Things might change a bit.'
These people before me were the top commanders on the Styx front after Rivel.
I'd figured they'd resent me.
Why? Because Rivel had forced an unqualified me into the command meeting.
Quite a few viewed ops meetings as their exclusive domain, so my worry was valid.
But their attitude today suggested that even if they'd grumbled inwardly before, they wouldn't be uncooperative now.
"Captain, heard the news?"
As we wrapped up the key agenda and were about to adjourn, Major General Lungen suddenly asked.
"What news?"
"The summit. Apparently on Earth this time."
"Oh, the Superhuman Summit."
I understood what he meant.