On Sado Island -
After the charged particle cannon fired again, the destructive power it produced once more surpassed the shock from before.
The previous target had been extremely sturdy, but it had not been large. The visual impact had not been overwhelming enough.
This shot, however, truly pulverized the earth. It blasted away more than seventy percent of the underground Hive, a structure of interlaced rootlike Stabs that extended at least three hundred meters deep and spanned a radius of more than three kilometers.
If one looked down at Sado Island from high altitude, they would see that a long, fan-shaped corner had been carved out of the island, roughly one-fifth of its total area.
Put another way, if the charged particle cannon fired vertically at the island's center from directly above Sado Island, it would likely shatter the entire island and sink it beneath the sea.
That was why those who witnessed the power of that shot could not come back to themselves for a long time.
"Echo Unit beginning entry into the Hive."
"Estimate: more than forty thousand BETA were directly eliminated by the last attack."
"Beginning remaining BETA cleanup operation!"
The voices ringing through the communication channel were all unable to suppress their excitement. Humanity was truly invading a BETA Hive and occupying it.
For the first time, humanity was truly reclaiming territory seized by the BETA.
"Cleanup units, watch out for seawater backflow."
After all, that cannon shot had gouged a corner out of Sado Island and carved out a canyonlike trench extending all the way to the Hive. That would cause seawater to pour in through the Hive's gates and openings.
"Pay attention to the drift-tunnel entrance on this side. Seal it off to prevent seawater backflow!"
They had to enter the interior and investigate BETA intelligence. They could not let the place flood, or the operation would become far more troublesome.
"Possible Hive energy reactor discovered!"
That report made Kouzuki Yuuko's expression turn slightly grave inside the cockpit of the XG-70b Susano-O Mark II.
That so-called energy reactor should be a Brain-class BETA.
There. The video feed came through. The reactor seemed to have had more than half of its mass shaved away by the last shot.
The remaining third still glowed faintly. It looked as if it had not fully died yet, so she immediately issued an order not to destroy it.
The XG-70b Susano-O Mark II would head over and attempt to see whether any data or intelligence could be obtained from that thing.
"Valkyrie Team 1, begin recovery mission immediately! Team 2 will cover Team 1's recovery operation!"
Yuuko followed with another order. By "recovery," she meant locating and securing the G Elements inside the BETA Hive.
The allied forces currently flooding in had more or less received private orders from their respective nations: seize the G Elements.
"Roger!"
After watching the Valkyries set out, Yuuko's lips curved slightly upward.
Although the Valkyries had entered later than the units that had already forced their way in, that did not mean their harvest would be smaller.
G Elements were not something one could simply pick up at will. Without preparation, all they could do was stare helplessly at the delicacy in front of them, as if it were an illusion they could neither eat nor take.
Then, how was that man doing?
He had not come online in the Superdimensional Channel. Judging by the time he went offline, it should have been when he began his single-machine insertion into the Cheorwon Hive, Hive H20.
A single-machine insertion meant facing hundreds of thousands of BETA alone. To focus more completely, he had gone offline directly.
Yuuko connected once more to the orbital forces and asked them to report on the situation at the Cheorwon Hive. The report she received was that, after that machine entered through the launch port, everything had remained unusually quiet.
If they wanted more specific information, there was nothing to be done except send a unit in to observe.
Satellites were not all-powerful, after all. They could not see everything clearly, much less see through the Hive's interior.
Ten minutes later -
"Dr. Kouzuki, this is the latest intelligence. Five minutes ago, a reconnaissance satellite..."
As the report continued, the satellite images transmitted by the orbital forces showed a Shenzhou TSF unit.
This company-sized TSF force seemed to encounter no BETA attacks along the way. It entered the BETA Hive through the tunnel that had been opened to the surface.
"Yuuko, what is going on?"
After the orbital communication ended, Marimo asked her friend, who was her superior on the surface and also one of her closest companions.
"I don't know either."
Yuuko answered while biting her thumbnail. After confirming again that he still had not come online, she could not help feeling a little uneasy.
Five minutes later, another report came in. Soviet forces had also been observed dispatching TSF units toward the BETA Hive.
So what exactly had happened?
Had he...
No. Of course not. He was definitely still alive.
Although he was not currently online in the Superdimensional Channel, one must not forget that the cross-world invitation had been initiated by her. That invitation was still active, which meant he was still in this world.
She simply did not know his exact situation.
...
Hive H20, the Cheorwon Hive. At the junction between the third-level drift tunnel and the Main Shaft, half of Bao-Feng Squadron remained there, observing the situation inside the pit.
The remaining half of Bao-Feng Squadron had been ordered to stay farther away. Once they got close to the Main Shaft, the discomfort in their brains made it easy for one wrong move to send them falling in.
"How many has he killed by now?"
Cui Yifei murmured.
Ever since they began observing, the machine below had not stopped fighting the BETA that surged toward it like a tide, trying to drown it.
Several times, it had truly been swallowed, and Bao-Feng Squadron had almost wanted to intervene.
The reason they were still only watching was partly because their superiors had ordered them not to act rashly. If they alarmed the BETA, the swarm below would surge upward, and Bao-Feng Squadron would undoubtedly be devoured.
The other reason was that if Bao-Feng Squadron interfered, they might become a burden to the other party instead.
The BETA were currently ignoring Bao-Feng Squadron. If their interference caused the BETA to attack them as well, would that absurd machine below have to rescue them?
If he had to rescue them, Bao-Feng Squadron would become nothing but a liability.
And from the current situation, the other side did not need support at all. He was truly absurd.
He could fire beam attacks. The long-handled greatsword he carried was so sharp that even a Fort-class shell could be cut open with ease.
In addition, an invisible defensive field was deployed around him.
What kind of power source could support such enormous energy output?
There was one other thing that confused everyone. A thick cablelike object was attached to the back of that machine. In truth, it was similar to the tentacle tube on a Fortress-class BETA.
A Fortress-class BETA had a bee-like tail, and from that tail there was a pointed spike. Once it locked onto a target, it would fire the spike to pierce through the target.
The spike was connected to the tail by a tentacle, making it look as if the BETA had thrown out a whip that could retract the spike at any time.
So the current scene gave them the impression that this machine had been struck in the back by a Fortress-class attack. However, if it had truly been attacked and damaged, the machine would not still be fighting the BETA.
Then why had it not torn or cut the thing off?
Looking carefully, that tentacle was also connected to a giant glowing object. It felt like some kind of energy device inside the BETA Hive. That led everyone to the same guess: was it absorbing the BETA's energy to recharge that machine?
Was that why it seemed to have unlimited energy and could keep fighting without stopping?
Hm?
There was movement on the opposite side of the pit.
TSFs had appeared at the drift-tunnel entrance across the Main Shaft. They were Soviet TSFs.
After they observed the changes below, one of them plunged straight into the pit and flew downward.
That behavior made Yifei immediately curse them as idiots. At the same time, she prepared to enter combat.
Then something abnormal happened. The machine that had flown down suddenly twisted wildly, then seemed to lose control and smashed downward.
Bang! Boom!
The bang came from the machine below slamming it away with a shield.
The boom was, of course, from it crashing into the hard shell of a Fort-class, deforming on impact before exploding.
What was going on? Why had it lost control?
One possibility was that the dizziness had grown even worse below, causing the pilot to faint outright.
It was clear now. The one the Soviet side had just sent out was a disposable tester, sent to confirm whether the brain-splitting pressure below was even stronger.
Once that was verified, the other side made no further moves. Like Bao-Feng Squadron, they continued watching.
This continued for nearly ten minutes.
"Huh?"
Yifei suddenly froze in astonishment, because at that moment, the dizziness vanished.
It was as if the infrasound attack targeting humans had disappeared.
Bang, bang, bang!
The sudden gunfire made Yifei's expression change. It was the Soviet TSFs on the opposite side opening fire, and they also flew straight down.
Bastards!
Yifei immediately jumped after them.
Naturally, Bao-Feng Squadron followed her down.
(End of Chapter)
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