Chapter 189
Translator: uly
Chapter: 189
Chapter Title: Felling the Space Crawler
'Close...? No, not that close.'
Even from over a kilometer away, it felt like it was right up in my face.
How should I describe this sense of distance?
But before I could fully process the unease, its mouth cracked open, revealing a glowing white orb inside.
'Cannon fire!'
During the escape, the superhumans' core weapons had already depleted their energy.
At this range, if it hit, I might survive, but everyone else would die.
"Get out of here, now!"
I sprinted forward as fast as I could, yelling.
I was angling to minimize damage to the rear.
But before I could even take proper stride, the Space Crawler's head swiveled.
The cannon blast veered off course.
Roze had smashed into its face, forcing it to turn.
It was like a fly batting a person's face with its wings, but I didn't have time to be amazed—I urged them on again.
"Move it! Assault ships incoming!"
Some were badly injured, but I couldn't tell them to be careful.
The reason? Aliens.
The Aliens had taken collateral damage from the Space Crawler too, but unlike the humans clustered at the outpost, Aliens swarmed everywhere around.
"Lemon!!"
That's when a chill ran down my spine.
I instinctively assumed a stance and countered something.
And in that instant, my senses went black.
"Gah...!!"
As my breath cleared and I came to, I realized I was embedded in the ground.
What had attacked me?
I saw something slipping into the Space Crawler's mouth and realized it was its tongue.
'Anyone seeing that would think I'd been hit by a spaceship.'
It must have decided against the cannon blast because of Roze's interference.
I yanked my body free from the ground and pushed forward.
'Yeah, come at me.'
My barrier was still intact.
It had just been too sudden for me to defend properly.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I saw its shriveled tongue shoot out from its mouth like a piston.
Thwack! Boom!!
It was like a scene from a video had been cut out.
All I saw was the tongue launching at the start and the end result.
It was so fast I had no time to track its path or counter as I wanted.
In the end, I was slammed into a wall again.
'No, would seeing it all change anything?'
The Space Crawler's tongue was incredibly blunt.
For a body ten kilometers long, it was a ridiculously small organ, but even its rounded tip was big enough to blanket a rural house with ease.
'Still, if I see it a few more times...'
Fueled by stubbornness, I kept trying, but the results didn't change.
Every time it flicked its tongue despite Roze's interference, I ended up embedded in the dirt or a wall.
Frustrated, Roze yelled.
"Use your feet, you idiot!"
"Ah..."
Hearing that snapped me out of it.
Why had I been standing there taking it?
No need to fight this opponent with a handicap.
'Am I really an idiot?'
Aliens like the Space Crawler—huge, slow, perfect targets—were meant for battleships.
Conversely, mid-to-small ones like Reds or Beholders were fast with special abilities, so superhumans handled them, not ships.
And here I was, doing something stupid against this thing.
I spotted its tongue retracting again and bolted.
Zigzagging, recalling the old saying: three left, three right.
Boom!!
The tongue missed, smashing somewhere else.
The unlucky Aliens caught in it were pulverized into paste.
Once, twice, and on the third, bad luck—I took a direct hit.
"Ungh!"
I stood, swallowing the blood that had flooded my nose.
Seemed like the inner lining had burst.
After taking that brutal tongue lashing over and over, some impact was inevitable.
Of course, if my barrier had broken, it wouldn't be just "impact," but the double barrier from my horns and core was holding strong.
'Everyone out?'
While its attacks focused on me, one assault ship had descended for rescue.
The relatively unharmed soldiers laid down covering fire, and the ship added support barrages, letting everyone board safely.
A few Aliens latched onto the rising ship, but its thick hull armor didn't dent easily.
In the end, acceleration and turret fire shook off the remaining threats.
'Finally, some relief.'
The incoming tongue sailed past again.
From experience, I'd realized its reaction speed wasn't great.
A little extra speed and it couldn't keep up.
Probably because it had no eyes.
It had a mouth, but no eyes, ears, nose, or anything else.
'Vital organs are critical weak points too.'
Its mouth was huge, but the tongue was atrophied and small for a reason.
I let my left arm hang loose.
As its retracted tongue lashed out and grazed me, I fired a makeshift Red Cannon.
Rooooarrr!!
Flesh exploded from the middle of its tongue.
It yanked back in pain, thrashing, so I ordered R3D3 to sever it completely.
Hundreds of meters of tongue flopped onto the ground, writhing.
As expected, unlike its hide, the tongue was extremely fragile.
Without its tongue, the Space Crawler seemed to lose all will to fight.
It retracted its stumps into its mouth and clamped shut, going completely still.
Roze punched it a few more times before giving up and plopping down on its head.
"Not tired?"
"No matter how much I hit it, it won't budge."
Its face was pockmarked like it'd been bombed.
The hide was shredded and flipped up in places, bleeding everywhere.
She must have been exhausted, but against something her size, Roze surely would have won.
"Given up?"
"No way."
I activated my jetpack to fly up, but it was busted, so I tossed it aside and scaled the Space Crawler's face to reach Roze.
Then I splayed my right hand flat on the surface.
"It's preparing something. Probably a last-ditch effort."
I could feel energy surging inside the Space Crawler.
So violently it was impossible to ignore.
"Think you can do that thing from last time?"
"Huh? What thing?"
Roze tilted her head until I mimed it with my hand, then nodded vigorously.
"Oh, that!"
"Possible?"
"...Yeah, I can, but it's not ready for real combat yet. Needs more training."
"Don't worry about prep time. It's not moving anyway. Think of it as a punching bag."
"Punching bag?"
"Yeah, aim for around there... no. I'll guide you—follow me."
Hard to explain, so I took the lead.
I stopped right under its thick, short foreleg.
Energy flows were concentrated there.
'It's trying to force a flight, but no dice.'
A Space Crawler's true power shines drifting through space.
Falling to the ground was a massive blunder.
Plus, how many superhumans were carving into its flesh?
A few and it could shrug them off with parasites or berserking, but three division commander levels?
At this rate, death was certain, so it was prepping a desperate counter.
"Wow, a punching bag like this would be amazing."
Roze tapped its flank and muttered.
The Space Crawler would have been pissed if it heard.
"Got a place to keep it if we salvage?"
"Wouldn't Lemon hook me up?"
Her giggling choked me up.
Even I couldn't swing that.
"No joking—hurry. Too late and we're screwed."
"Hard?"
"Considering its size... about 400 meters deep."
"Hmm, got it!"
Roze bounced to test her footing, took a deep breath, and assumed position.
A faint red glow slowly rose from her body.
I'd seen it before, but this time it was noticeably dimmer.
It looked beautiful, but she hated it.
It signaled failure.
Roze could activate her internal energy.
She called it boosting it, but if she couldn't control the boosted energy, it leaked out as this glow.
Full control meant no glow, less strain, longer duration.
But suddenly, the glow intensified.
Failed control?
No.
The glow across her body was converging on her right hand—her fist.
"Huuuuh!"
Struggling to control it, sweat beaded and dripped from Roze's face.
Yet she kept her focus to the end.
The moment the glow concentrated solely in her fist, her radiant punch pierced the Space Crawler.
Yes.
Pierced was the right word.
Gurgle!
Seconds later, the Space Crawler's body jerked in place.
Then its mouth cracked open, unleashing a torrent of blood that soaked the wasteland.
"These bastards are going berserk all of a sudden!"
"What the—suddenly?"
The changes didn't stop there.
Parasitic Aliens suddenly poured out of its body.
We'd killed tens of thousands already, but this outflow seemed even more.
They didn't charge the superhumans except those in the way.
They just scattered in all directions like escaping the body.
Superhumans who tried blocking them but missed shouted in confusion.
"Is it dead?"
"No way it's dead already. It was lively just now."
"Division Commander! What did you do?"
Merdi had stopped too.
She'd been torching the tail alone, but noticing no reaction, she joined Tana and headed my way.
"Haaah..."
"Good work. You one-shot this monster."
I helped a slumped Roze to her feet.
That punch was even stronger than I'd thought.
A truly terrifying blow.
She'd followed my instructions perfectly.
If the Space Crawler had been at full strength, that one hit wouldn't have ended it.
But it'd gathered all its energy for a desperate move, and Roze's strike hit the critical weakness.
Energy backlash shredded its vital organs in secondary damage—it couldn't hold on.
"How'd you do it?"
"Hehe."
Roze grinned at Merdi's question, flashed a V-sign, and gave a quick explanation.
Tana rushed over, grabbed her, and bounced excitedly.
"Amazing! A Space Crawler carcass this intact will be hard to find again!"
"Expensive?"
"You bet. Process the muscle and nerves right, you could make 100,000 bio-armor suits. And the hide!"
"100,000? Wow...!"
"Leave it to me. Then..."
"Examiner, talk rewards with me."
I stepped in with a grin.
The Golden Fleet and temporary superhuman unit's operating costs came from my pocket.
We caught it in joint ops with the defense fleet, but our contribution was bigger—50% share at least.
Handing off salvage like this was part of the reward.
Can't let her take it all.
"I'll approve your official license right away."
"You'd get that anyway once you're fully staffed. No rush."
"Think of the two escapees. How tough will the union be?"
"We'll catch them and patch up."
"Won't last if we don't process this quick. I'll call in the best for the job."
"Haha, you know the Lachesis migrants settled on Rafflesia Planet? They've mastered this stuff living in war zones forever."
Alien carcass processing paid well but was shunned for contamination risks and harsh conditions.
Naturally, down-on-their-luck folks like Lachesis migrants took it up.
Even post-migration, they had old jobs or new ones, but plenty would come running if I called.
"...Ugh, my vice captain's gotten too cocky."
"Gotta be this bold as superhuman unit commander, right?"
The talk flowed like that, but we settled on handing it off appropriately.
Just had to show we wouldn't be pushed around.
"Oh, and."
"What now?"
Tana's face naturally scrunched at my "and" to cap it off.
I smiled at her.
"You'll help with the rest, right?"
What I meant was obvious.
Now it was time to hunt the two escaped Space Crawlers.