Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Bunker Under Siege
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Familiar faces gathered one after another.
“Nothing happened to you guys?”
“How’s it outside?”
“There were tons of aliens. You didn’t have to fight?”
Questions flew from all directions.
Being holed up in the bunker didn’t mean they were completely in the dark about the outside situation.
They could check the real-time battle status using their own panels.
Still, it seemed they couldn’t access our specific intel.
“Claws came at us, but I never got a chance to step in. They handled everything from range with abilities or Flying Jacks.”
“Oh, that? I tried it yesterday too.”
“Good thing you’re not hurt.”
Sahim clapped me on the shoulder and led me further inside.
The bunker, briefly abuzz with our arrival, quieted down again.
Everyone was laser-focused on the outside battle, calm aside from the occasional murmurs.
*Definitely different.*
For regular civilians, this would’ve been enough to send the whole group into a panic.
Even I wondered if my past self could’ve kept a cool head.
“How’s it looking? Any changes?”
“On the fifth drop now. Situation’s not bad.”
Barton replied.
He was checking his panel with one hand while shaping his frost ability into various forms with the other, honing his powers.
“The academy’s defense systems are seriously tough.”
“But there are so damn many aliens, who knows. Oh, where’d those Cross kids go?”
“No idea. We saw them huddling up as we came down, but they didn’t head to the bunker with us.”
“Hmm...”
Maybe they had something else to handle.
I mulled it over briefly, then checked my own panel.
Sure enough, there was a message.
*Salmon Lab’s fine.*
Right now, the Salmon Lab was one of the safest spots on Terra.
It was bristling with border guards, plus mass-deployed prototype military weapons and combat mechs.
And since I’d given them a heads-up in advance, they’d be on high alert.
*Even in the worst case, they’ll be okay.*
Core personnel would make it through even if shit really hit the fan.
The defense systems were built for tech protection originally, but they felt rock-solid in a crisis like this.
But apparently, they were the ones worried about me.
I couldn’t help a smirk at the P.S. tacked on at the end.
*-Delivering gifts for the president’s safety. ✦‿✦*
*Emoticons at his age...*
The guy had to be over a hundred. How was he so chill?
I fired back a reply.
*-Thanks a ton! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و*
Then I checked the next message.
This one was from Naphael.
*He’s gotta be swamped right now.*
Word was he was off making waves far away.
Digging deeper into the Elohim Church had turned into a world tour, apparently.
But the message I peeked at was a bit of a shock.
*So that’s how it is...*
The puzzle finally clicked.
If what it said was true, the Elohim Church was behind this whole planetary assault.
*I’d suspected as much...*
I’d pieced it together from how things had unfolded around me.
The Elohim Church understood at least some of how aliens targeted humans.
Considering the Human Alliance was still in the dark on that front, it was astonishing.
In the setting, it made sense for them to have that knowledge, but from my perspective, it felt like a gut punch.
If they hadn’t botched that kidnapping attempt on me, things might’ve played out exactly like the original.
*Doesn’t change anything knowing now.*
It wouldn’t affect future shifts, and it wasn’t urgent right this second.
Just irked me that my minor glitches and lore gaps were filling in all twisted under the surface.
I kept monitoring the situation.
By the eighth and ninth drops, the battle ramped up for real.
And the moment the tenth drop kicked off, the alien horde’s main force finally showed.
Guooooooh!
The most eye-catching was that whale lookalike.
This beast, roaring into view, had a battleship-sized body packed with transport capacity for hordes of aliens.
It could fly through space, backed by heavy barriers and regeneration, making it a key assault player.
Individual name: Whale Ship.
Usually just called Ships, they blocked the front lines right away, tanking the fleet’s barrages with their bodies.
At the same time, they spewed aliens from below like birthing litters.
Thanks to the Ships’ sacrifice, more aliens reached the ground safely.
*Swarming like crazy...*
The sky looked pitch-black from the sheer mass of them.
I’d seen it plenty in Real Time Alien Tactics lectures, but feeling it happen right overhead hit different.
Ground combat intensified.
Dozens of aliens swarmed at once, shredding auto-turrets to scraps.
Explosions would take out clusters of the clinging ones too.
But against the endless rain of aliens, that damage barely registered.
That’s when the main defense systems unleashed their full firepower.
‘Plasma Flare,’ incinerating everything in range.
‘Gravity Bomber,’ collapsing targets with crushing gravity.
‘Hydro Energy Shredder,’ pulverizing anything in a straight line.
They prioritized ground-shaking weapons last to protect the main building at all costs.
The aftershocks were insane.
Sustained fire spiked the temperature, triggering wild convection currents.
Hundreds-of-meters-per-second winds swept away Claw packs, while radiant heat melted alien flesh, fusing it to the ground.
Burrrrrr!
The tremors didn’t let up.
Relentless vibrations rattled the bunker nonstop.
A firepower clash that felt like the world ending.
Yet even in that barrage, the alien numbers didn’t seem to thin much.
“...We might actually get breached like this?”
Rune Shin said, her face tinged with faint tension.
I agreed.
No matter how solid the academy’s prep was, it hadn’t been geared for a full-scale orbital assault.
Especially not one laser-focused on the academy.
“...We should gear up for combat too.”
“How?”
Sahim asked.
Our options were limited.
If we had to fight, it’d be after all other forces were wiped—too late by then.
“Grab some armor suits at least. They’re right by the dorms; quick in-and-out.”
“Teachers won’t let us out.”
“Who cares about the teachers in this mess.”
The headmaster might object, but he was MIA anyway.
I moved first.
If things matched the original this closely, we’d end up fighting regardless.
Might as well prep the basics.
“You again? Leonard.”
“Mind stepping aside? Just a sec out and back.”
“No dice. You cadets are top priority. No one’s passing till every last one of us drops. Got it?”
He blocked the path the second I stepped up.
No point explaining; his face said he wasn’t hearing it.
Forcing past wasn’t viable either.
Behind the teacher, guarding the door, was a superhuman.
Forced retirement to the academy from accumulated injuries, sure, but still a superhuman.
He carried a core weapon.
*Never even spotted him usually.*
The academy had five resident supers normally.
They stayed hidden for emergencies.
I’d glimpsed one from afar before, but this was my first up-close encounter.
He stood firm, clearly aligned with the teacher.
“We don’t wanna throw ourselves into danger either. But in the end, we’ve gotta protect ourselves.”
“So what?”
“Bring us the training armor suits from the dorms. One per cadet.”
“Hmm...”
“Not a big ask. We’ll stay put if you do.”
Not a bad deal for him.
Armor suits were basic defense gear.
Even backup supers were organic; one friendly-fire shot could end them.
Same with alien fights.
Having a suit would make survival odds way better.
“Damn, and the headmaster’s gone.”
“Dragging it out just makes it worse. Even he’d approve.”
“...Hold up.”
The teacher pressed his ear, communicating with someone.
From what I overheard, it sounded positive.
*He has no choice.*
Moving forces in a pinch wasn’t simple, but their prime directive was protecting cadets.
Hard to ignore that.
“These aren’t training models—they’re the emergency reinforced armor suits.”
Reinforced Armor Suits.
Score—better than expected.
Still mass-produced, but not far off from the spec-ops gear outside.
Obviously superior to training ones.
“Nice. Sizes?”
“Figure it out yourselves. Can’t size ’em for you.”
Fair point.
Mismatched sizes meant sticking with personal training suits.
I hauled incoming crates inside, urging cadets to suit up.
Then a few first-years from the opposite side approached.
“We get some too?”
“Obviously.”
New faces.
We lived split from the main building’s center, so minimal contact with first-years.
Plus, our second-years were so famous, they faded into the background.
Still, no ignoring them.
I handed out suits to the first-years personally.
Found fits for their builds, taught controls for the clumsy ones, or roped in other cadets to help.
After about thirty minutes, everyone but me and a few others was geared.
*Now the holdouts...*
Around twenty refusing.
No clue their confidence, but not my problem.
Except one.
“...You want me to wear this?”
Merdi had always hated armor suits.
Anything bulky ruining her look, especially full-body ones like these—she avoided them.
Worn a handful of times for mandatory classes to dodge expulsion.
And a few practical tests, that was it.
“Please.”
“You ask so nicely, what can I do?”
“Wear it, and I’ll give you the Santinow Heart from Sahim. You know, the one on display in my room.”
Santinow Heart.
A gem Sahim gifted early on as a “present.”
Meant to sell it for cash, but now it was decor since things improved.
A must-have for a gem nut like Merdi.
“...For real?”
Predictably, Merdi’s ears twitched at the offer.
I nodded, shoving a training suit her way.
She pondered hard, then decided.
“Nah. Don’t need it.”
Shockingly, refusal.
But she took the training suit from my hands.
Then added,
“I’ll claim that next time I model for you, so keep it safe.”
“...Deal.”
“One scratch, and you’re dead.”
Had she turned over a new leaf?
She was being agreeable today.
As she turned to change, Merdi glanced back and shot me a side-eye.
Feeling guilty for no reason, I showed empty palms in surrender.
*
Three hours into the assault.
Outnumbered after all, huh.
The aliens’ focused barrage was crumbling the dome.
Troops plugged breaches for last stands, while aliens that pierced inside trashed dorm buildings.
“Is this it...?”
The holes widened.
Turrets that fired moments ago were gummed up with alien fluids, silenced.
Soldiers guarding us screamed their last, dying one by one.
“They might reach us here.”
“Fight here?”
“Better. Outer walls are solid; seal the entrance, we hold.”
The teacher whispered the emergency evac route to me alone.
But I didn’t tell the other cadets.
*This spot’s best for a fight.*
Scattering would just rack up casualties, I figured.
Teacher agreed, no objections.
“Why not pull the soldiers inside?”
“They’ve got their own evac spots.”
“You believe that?”
“It’s real. Solid as this place. Where d’you think the other admins and staff went?”
The dome was moments from total collapse.
Everyone checked their gear, tense.
“Huh? What’s that?”
Then, from an unexpected angle, a fireball streaked in, torching some aliens clinging to the dome.