Chapter 14: The Scourge from Above

The massive insect floated silently above the cosmos, watching as the humans on the ground suddenly unleashed a devastating weapon upon her children. She was naturally furious.

Having devoured the memories of those human officers, she instinctively understood the meaning behind the humans’ recent maneuvers. The openings that had appeared at the base of the mountains, along with the vehicles that had suddenly emerged, were all laden with high-explosive incendiary missiles, dubbed XAB.

The payload of each missile was astounding. A single missile could blanket an area of nearly ten square kilometers.

Seeing the dense array of missile silos on the ground, the massive insect couldn’t help but feel a pang of worry for her children below.

She immediately struck back with overwhelming force. Several minuscule tendrils detached from her main body, aiming directly for those positions, and then slammed down.

Inside the ground command center, the supreme commander, who had been directing the launch, suddenly heard a series of urgent alarms blare through the hall. He instinctively turned towards the source of the warning.

Before he could fully react, the entire command hall flashed with crimson alert lights.

[Radar observation! Dozens of high-speed unidentified flying objects are descending from space, attacking the ground!]

“What?!”

‘High-speed unidentified flying objects? Could they be meteorites from space? Impossible! Before its destruction, the Floating Eye had conducted an ultra-long-range observation, confirming that no large meteorites would breach the atmosphere and threaten the ground within two hundred years. But what are these dozens of sudden objects?’

The supreme commander slammed his hand on the table and rose to his feet. In that very instant, a flash of insight struck him: he suddenly recalled that alongside this swarm of small monsters, there seemed to be a massive one as well…

Following this train of thought, the supreme commander felt an increasing sense of dread.

“Activate ground defense systems! Launch all deployed missiles immediately!”

There was no time for further contemplation. On the battlefield, every second could turn the tide. As the disparity in strength between the two sides was likely far greater than imagined, the supreme commander could only do everything within his power.

Following the orders from command, the ground defense turrets pivoted, commencing a ferocious bombardment according to the radar’s coordinates. The newly deployed missile units on the ground ignited and launched after adjusting their bearings.

Just as five or six missiles shot out, trailing long white plumes, divine power descended!

Enormous fireballs, visible to the naked eye, plummeted directly from outer space! Each one precisely struck the previously exposed missile launch sites.

The already immense impact force triggered violent explosions upon hitting the ground. However, this initial blast was merely a fuse, igniting a chain reaction of surrounding ammunition depots.

The resulting secondary explosions mimicked the mushroom clouds of nuclear blasts, with scorching flames engulfing all nearby structures and facilities. Every military installation and civilian residence was virtually annihilated in an instant by this wave of intense fire.

Yet, this was merely the phenomenon at a single launch point. Due to the utterly insufficient anti-air defenses deployed on the ground to repel such a level of ‘meteorite’ attack, the dozens of projectiles hurled by the massive insect from space all struck their intended targets with pinpoint accuracy.

However, even the massive insect was stunned.

The massive insect knew perfectly well the destructive power of a single detached tendril. But today, the tendril she had thrown instantly incinerated half the planet’s surface into a sea of fire.

The intense glow from the ground made the massive insect, floating in space, feel as if the planet itself had been set ablaze, radiating a fiery red light.

‘It seems half of this food source is nearly burnt up…’

The insect froze in place. Her children might not get a full meal this time.

The intense flames swept away all structures and humans from the surface. All energy was unleashed, transforming into explosions and towering infernos. Human bodies were incinerated to ashes in the planet-spanning conflagration.

The massive insect estimated that only a small portion of the planet remained edible. It was far too risky for her children to venture into the fiery wreckage. Thus, she commanded her children to swiftly devour the remaining half of the planet and then prepare for retreat.

The remaining mess would be handled by her.

The supreme commander stared blankly at the simulated image of the vast sea of fire on the planet’s surface, then slumped into a nearby chair. The space battleships that had been floating above, battling the silver insects, were now either destroyed or in full retreat.

Any warships that attempted to accelerate and break through the planet’s atmosphere to wander into space were casually snatched up by the massive insect and popped into her mouth like snacks as soon as they breached the atmospheric layer.

At this moment, the entire planet resembled the massive insect’s personal breeding and observation tank; no one could escape.

After confirming repeatedly that contact with the Prime Minister had been lost, the supreme commander ascertained that the only remaining command system on the planet capable of operation was the Star System Command Headquarters, deeply hidden underground.

Although the Prime Minister’s residence was also within a safe zone, government officials needed to appear to calm the public’s anxieties and prevent panic. However, the supreme commander never imagined that the attack he had orchestrated would ultimately doom them all.

Applicable ground forces and weapon facilities were now scarce. The only thing capable of impeding the monster swarm’s advance was likely the inferno created by the earlier celestial bombardment.

Images transmitted back by the reconnaissance drones dispatched by the command center revealed that the monster swarm had indeed abandoned their encroachment into the fiery regions, instead turning towards the unburnt areas. Subsequently, a ravenous feast commenced behind those regions’ fragile defenses.

The massive insect watched with satisfaction as her children freely gorged themselves. She sensed that some of her offspring were beginning to enter their second stage of evolution, while those who had already reached this stage earlier had grown even more robust.

Watching the monsters gradually consume the greater part of the planet, the supreme commander’s heart had turned to ash. He believed that once the flames subsided, the monsters would surely come to devour the remaining half of the planet.

The supreme commander glanced at the small, high-energy pistol at his waist, then hesitantly unlatched its safety.

But the next incoming message reignited excitement throughout the command center.

[This is Alliance Military, this is Alliance Military. 489, respond if you hear us. Your reinforcements have arrived.]