Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Awakening World Tree
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Remoras lured enemy attacks while dodging them. They constantly poured acid onto the cannons and engines, drawing fire meant for Treegalaon straight toward themselves.
While the Remoras fought valiantly and perished, Treegalaon safely closed in on the enemy cruisers amid the reduced firepower. Even if hit by enemy cannons in the process, Treegalaon—now evolved through the enemy's own genes—approached without significant damage.
It tore apart the fragile organics whole. A massive hole gaped open in the enemy cruiser.
Hiraks waiting inside Treegalaon assaulted the crew. It didn't matter if the Hiraks lost. In the meantime, Treegalaon methodically devoured the cruiser.
The consumed cruiser was converted into organic matter, which was used to regenerate Remoras and Hiraks.
The battle unfolded one-sidedly. Perhaps the outcome had been foreseen ever since that first vanguard captain so carefully packaged the organic matter and fed it right into its mouth.
Even though it had nearly burst its belly despite the meticulous packaging, that was all in the past now. No need to dwell on bygones.
Besides, the main course had gone down easy. Did Treegalaon's wooden hull develop laser resistance around cruiser thickness? Stealing and using others' tech was always far quicker than developing it from scratch.
But I couldn't get complacent. After all, I was the galaxy's foremost pacifist. I'd only devour up to these fanatics for whom peace was impossible—then proceed with peaceful exchanges.
Crunch..., crunch...
While munching on the remnants of the knight order, I dispatched a Remora swarm as scouts. We'd successfully crushed what seemed to be their main fleet, but during this battle, the enemy had surely been producing more ships nonstop. There had to be reinforcements in the rear.
The Remora swarm would gauge the size of those enemy fleets and, as a bonus, map out the star systems in this region. If they spotted a habitable planet teeming with those trees in the process, we'd head straight there to claim it.
I advanced the Treegalaon swarm very slowly. They lacked the tech for warping to other star systems, so we had to rely on hyperlane routes. Picking the wrong fork and running into an enemy fleet from the other side would be a disaster.
Not long after the Remoras fanned out to scour every surrounding star system,
we detected one planet about three star systems away from the holy site star system.
A reddish planet like Mars, orbited by artificial satellites made of wood. Most of the surface appeared barren wasteland, but from orbit, a massive tree of observable size stood out, with vegetation activated around it.
The standout feature was the enormous stalk growing from the surface all the way to orbit. Were they shipping planetary resources or population into space through these roots? A truly plant-like trait.
Anyway, anyone could see this was a habitable world.
Billions, perhaps tens of billions of individuals likely resided here.
And those citizens might be entirely innocent.
Hihirak's killer had been the first vanguard captain, Nualala. The order to attack the legion might have come from the knight order's leader.
The plants on that planet could just be excited colonists from a new world—a tiny speck in the galaxy at large.
But regrettably, I wasn't a judge. I wasn't the type to weigh guilt and mete out punishments accordingly.
I was the legion, living for "my" happiness. That was the essence of life.
And for my happiness, the knight order had to be eradicated. No room for doubt about my hive mind. No seeds left for vengeful individuals to harm the legion later.
So I judged simply: What profited me most with this planet?
Once the Treegalaon swarm reached planetary orbit, I issued the conquest order.
At the command, the Treegalaon swarm plunged into the atmosphere and began descent.
Treegalaons wrapped their skins in insulating organic matter like a heat shield to protect their bodies during reentry, surrendering to the planet's gravity as they hurtled toward the surface.
The air compressing ahead of Treegalaon spewed tremendous heat. The roar of piercing the atmosphere and the blazing flames ahead overwhelmed sight and hearing, but Treegalaon—incapable of fear—charged on undeterred.
Their meteor-like fiery descent from planetary skies was clearly visible even from space. No way those on the surface missed it.
Surface defenses opened fire immediately. Laser batteries formed a curtain of light to intercept the descending Treegalaons.
But the knight order's strongest firepower—the cruiser laser batteries harnessing Alhamra's light—had failed to pierce Treegalaon's hull. No chance these anti-air guns from some frontier planet, not even the capital, could do it.
As they neared the surface, Treegalaons braked using space whale anti-gravity genes, then unleashed their gutful of troops to begin planetary conquest.
The speed sufficient for space travel had dropped to atmospheric flight levels, but it was still far too fast for any ordinary planetary lifeform.
Even slowed from hyperlane hyperspeeds for galactic traversal, these supersonic behemoths were a handful. Space was empty dominion, but the thick atmosphere resisted full speed—yet it overwhelmed ground-crawling plants.
The knight order's citizens, witnessing Treegalaon soaring at high altitude with maw agape for the first time, felt trauma take root.
Endless Hiraks and Remoras poured from its colossal mouth, only for it to shear and snap massive plant stalks in its flight path.
Cut midway, the stratospheric stalks lost power and toppled sideways, crushing kin beneath their mass.
"Going smoothly. The Remora swarm's found another planet too—next up, we head there."
Unlike the machine-based Telluris Assimilator, everything here from citizens to structures was organic. The harvest was exceptional.
The death throes of plants sacrificed mercilessly to Treegalaon and Hirak swarms echoed across the planet. So many thought-waves tangled together it was hard to discern words.
Like the clamor from a zombie apocalypse flick. Or maybe, in such utter despair, they lacked even the bandwidth for that.
In such desperate straits, the Bahilila citizens turned to their god.
In a galaxy where stars could be plucked from the sky and proven science outnumbered unverified faiths, most religions had waned. Ancient doctrines clashed endlessly with emerging facts.
Even in the Deneb Federation, aside from vestiges of old faiths in small pockets, new converts were exceedingly rare.
Yet the galaxy harbored nations with faith as their cornerstone.
They didn't believe in an omniscient, omnipotent true god as on Earth.
They believed in an omnipotent god, if not omniscient.
In their common sense, their god granted them all they desired.
The ground trembled.
Rumble rumble rumble——
Plants. Creatures with cell walls and chlorophyll, performing photosynthesis.
They drew water through roots or elsewhere for the process.
Plants weren't suited to drifting through space. They needed ground suited to support their bodies and proper conditions for growth.
The planet hosting the knight order was just such a world.
On this reddish wasteland planet, Bahilila citizens had transplanted a branch from the capital's tree to create their home.
They devotedly built vast irrigation networks, fertilized it, and awaited roots in this new world.
The result: a tree so colossal its form was visible from orbit, after immense resources and time. It altered soil for other plants, shared stellar light, and underpinned all Bahilila life and industry—their mother. The World Tree.
The World Tree awoke.
Literally: it uprooted from the soil and rose right there.