Everything on Sado Island was proceeding smoothly.
The BETA had nearly been swept clean, and humanity was urgently investigating the Hive to gather more intelligence.
That way, in future attacks against the BETA, they would have better countermeasures.
Know yourself and know your enemy. Only then could the odds of victory improve.
Kouzuki Yuuko watched as more BETA intelligence appeared inside the computer of the XG-70b Susano-O Mark II. Her expression grew increasingly relaxed, and she even showed a faint smile.
Dru, who was desperately helping, was using her ability to try to dig out even more intelligence. She was working so hard that sweat covered her entire body.
"Deputy Commander Kouzuki, live footage from the Cheorwon H20 Hive is being patched in!"
The incoming communication made her expression turn serious. She stared at one of the windows. The footage would be connected there.
A few seconds later, static appeared, then gradually became clear.
The image showed the H20 Hive. From the launch port at the top of the Hive, TSFs suddenly flew out.
Two groups emerged. One group had eight machines, while the other had three. Both sides were moving away from the Hive, and they were also climbing higher.
Under normal circumstances, climbing higher was extremely dangerous. It was practically suicide, because it invited laser irradiation.
At present, there was only one possible reason for such behavior: an explosion.
A massive explosion was about to occur, forcing them to take such an action.
Sure enough, she immediately received a report from the unit there. The machine that had single-handedly inserted into the BETA Hive had activated its self-destruct function.
One second after that information reached her, the Hive's launch port and the surrounding tunnels leading to the surface began to shine in the footage.
Once the light reached a certain intensity, the ground bulged and swelled. Finally, intense flames poured out of those glowing openings, instantly forming a huge fireball that swallowed the entire BETA Hive.
The sight was like a volcanic eruption. She could see many flaming "volcanic rocks" being blasted outward and scattering in every direction.
A closer look showed that those were actually BETA.
Because it was not a true volcanic eruption, it only erupted once before quickly calming down, revealing a half-collapsed Hive.
After a few breaths, BETA began running out from the tunnels leading to the surface.
However, their behavior was baffling.
"Is this like a swarm of bees after the queen has been killed, left without a leader?"
Yuuko could not help murmuring.
No. The camera pulled back. Some of the BETA still seemed to be moving with a certain purpose.
They appeared to be heading toward the direction of the closest Hive.
This smaller group consisted mainly of large BETA: Fortress-class, Destroyer-class, Grappler-class, and Heavy Laser-class.
The remaining smaller individuals, such as Soldier-class, Tank-class, and Laser-class, seemed to be wandering aimlessly.
Then, all of the BETA suddenly faced the Hive and charged toward it.
Had the Brain-class not been killed?
In other words, was the command entity of this BETA Hive still alive?
At that moment, a Heavy Laser-class suddenly fired its laser toward the Hive's launch port, making Yuuko freeze.
Clearly, he had come out in his machine again and had happened to be targeted.
But something was different this time.
This laser irradiation did not look as if it had been blocked by an energy shield. Instead, it seemed to be reflected away.
It was like light striking an irregular, uneven mirror, then being reflected and refracted, scattering into countless fine beams.
What kind of defensive technology was that?
She was extremely curious.
But when the Heavy Laser-class stopped firing, that curious expression froze instantly.
"Yuuko, w-what is that?"
Jinguuji Marimo asked in a slightly hoarse voice.
It seemed to have the shape of a TSF, but no matter how they looked at it, the material forming its outer surface resembled a BETA shell or Hive construction material. They could even see tendonlike structures that resembled muscle.
Before Yuuko could answer, beams released from its eyes struck the nearest Heavy Laser-class and sliced it apart.
Its eyes were not designed like recessed ports. They were crystals, seemingly spherical crystals, similar to the eyeballs of Laser-class BETA.
If humans developed laser weapons, there would have to be some kind of emitter. That meant it was not human technology at all.
But that was not the end of it. The protruding armor on the shoulders of the suspected TSF-shaped creature suddenly split open like upside-down mouths, then fired out a mass of threads.
In an instant, more than a thousand BETA were pierced. Then they suddenly turned around and attacked their own kind, striking the BETA that had not been pierced by the threads.
"Marimo, isolate the footage of those fired threads and slow it down!"
"Understood!"
Once the footage was slowed to the maximum and the computer helped enhance the image quality, they finally managed to barely make out what the threads were.
"Yuuko, that can't be..."
"We can't be certain."
They could not jump to conclusions and declare that it was similar to the Fortress-class's function, but cold sweat had already begun forming on Yuuko's face.
Her pupils contracted.
A new change appeared. It raised one hand and spread its five fingers. A hole opened in its palm like a kaleidoscope.
Bang!
It had likely fired something. The target was the Fortress-class BETA closest to it.
The Fortress-class seemed to be struck by something like a paintball. No, it was similar to the powder-dispersing warheads humanity used to weaken BETA lasers.
After striking the Fortress-class, that powder... no, it should be called mist, spread over most of the Fortress-class's body.
Then, the Fortress-class visibly began to melt, dissolving like a candle.
At that moment, Yuuko's face gradually turned ashen.
This mistlike corrosive attack was essentially the same type of substance as the dissolving fluid injected by a Fortress-class's stinger attack.
Only this had been strengthened and turned into a mistlike corrosion attack, upgraded from a liquid attack to a gaseous one. It seemed to use the same property with far higher efficiency.
In less than ten seconds, the Fortress-class's body had melted away until only the Mohs-hardness-fifteen shell remained partially undissolved.
If that hit a TSF, the entire machine would absolutely dissolve within ten seconds.
"Stop. Please, don't show anything else."
Marimo's voice carried a faint tremor, because its chest armor had suddenly opened, much like the firing port of the XG-70b Susano-O Mark II's charged particle cannon.
After it opened, what was revealed inside was a crystal sphere. It was a crystal so dark it seemed black to the extreme, and no matter how one looked at it, it resembled the laser-firing eyeball of a Laser-class BETA.
The difference was that this sphere was even darker in color, giving the illusion that a tiny black hole had been embedded there.
Then the black sphere began to glow.
An even more terrifying scene followed. Its body began to swell slightly, like a person taking a deep breath and expanding their lungs, making them appear a little larger.
That sign made the scene even more chilling. It further proved that this thing might be a new species.
When the light rapidly brightened to a standard white, more than a hundred beams shot out, every one of them striking a BETA.
Before they could recover, another hundred-plus beams fired. Then another volley followed, one after another.
In only half a minute, most of the Soldier-class, Tank-class, and Grappler-class BETA, whose bodies lacked sturdy shell protection over most areas, had been punched full of holes.
Soldier-class and Tank-class were nearly killed in a single hit. Grappler-class were larger and required several additional shots before their functions ceased.
In that short half minute, thousands were killed.
"The beams are thinner, but stronger than a Laser-class's output. They still don't reach Heavy Laser-class levels, but it can fire continuously."
As Yuuko murmured this, her face turned even more ashen.
Her pupils shrank. The thing was about to fire beams again, but this time there was a change.
No. It couldn't be. It couldn't be that.
The next second, a beam more than five times larger than a Heavy Laser-class beam fired out and struck a relatively distant Fortress-class BETA.
The irradiation continued. As the creature turned, the giant beam swept sideways, cutting straight through the Fortress-class BETA swarm.
At the same time, the BETA it had controlled earlier attacked the companions beside them, then continued spreading outward to attack even more BETA.
It seemed those threads could stretch even farther.
This function did not look as immediately threatening as the beams or corrosion shot, but in Yuuko's eyes, it was the most terrifying ability of all.
Could it also control TSFs?
Or humans?
Most fatally, it proved that this thing was commanding the BETA's actions.
It might be a command entity capable of responding to battlefield conditions and creating countermeasures. A command entity that could move together with a Legion.
It might even be a command entity that combined every BETA-type function into a single body.
(End of Chapter)
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