Story Reader / Main Story / 16 Evernight Beat / Story
Another gate inside the CPF was blown apart. Before the dust settles, Constructs in their protective goggles breach the broken door, their weapons firing, and the smoke clears to reveal Hans' team standing.
Hetero-Sapiens on the left, down.
Flammable canisters on the right, secured.
Area secured, Chief Commander.
We spotted bullet holes from shotgun rounds and signs of explosions on the walls. These marks are accompanied by fallen Hetero-Sapiens, more often than not.
It's not us, and it couldn't have been the Scavengers. Record it and confirm the data.
Roger.
How's Simon's team doing?
Simon's team is trying to secure the location inside the tower that connects to all inside teams.
Whichever Construct shows a sign of infection, he can immediately connect and help stabilize them with the commandant.
With his help, all Constructs inside the tower have yet to show any sign of infection. All anomalies regarding the Inver-Devices are resolved the moment they arise.
He's playing the role of an emergency firefighter pretty well.
Right.
Hans nods, setting up the bit domain node he just turned on in the room he is in.
And the third bit domain node has been deployed.
The triangulated coordinates are located not far below Hans' team. Based on the previous exploration, you have all confirmed that is where the advanced Hetero-Hive Mother is hiding.
Hans grips the trigger for the Longinus Arsenal in his hand tightly. He looks at the floor beneath his feet as if his gaze can penetrate the heavy platform, observing the fight that is about to happen there.
The dire situation on the surface and the threat inside the Pulia Forest Park Ruins have shown Hans that the advanced Hetero-Hive Mother cannot leave this area alive.
If Gray Raven cannot defeat it by the end of the fight, he must pull this trigger and annihilate all the enemies inside this forest, whether they succeed in retrieving the samples or not.
Hans puts the trigger back inside his coat and leads his team out of the room.
Instead of waiting for Gray Raven's results, there are still missions only he can complete as the Chief Commander in a situation like this.
As you lead Gray Raven inside the vast space ahead, you find the Hetero-Hive Mother suspended in mid-air.
It is even bigger, more complete than the test subject you saw before. Your terminals keep warning you that this is the target of your mission, the advanced Hetero-Hive mother.
Crimson umbilical cords extend from around you, connecting to the Hive Mother, some of them hanging helplessly like withered roots. This is the queen of the Hive, the central processor of all the data received outside.
Commandant, the enemy is making a huge impact on our Inver-Devices.
Roger!
You step forward and fire at the Hive Mother. The bullet grazes its tough exterior, leaving no marks but a crisp echo.
But your action has awoken the previous dormant Hive Mother. You can hear curses coming out of its body.
C-cannot...
C-cannot harm... Cannot...
The Hive Mother is mumbling gibberish like the one did in the sewers, which confirms the connection between that one and the one before you—the Ascendant's aid.
Immediately, its tentacles strike at you with unfathomable speed.
Copy.
Lucia rushes before you, her red katana unsheathed, severing the tentacle reaching for you.
The thruster behind her buzzes. Even with the exoskeleton and its temperature regulator, you can still feel the temperature around you dropping.
A freezing breeze emits from Lucia's thruster, and the Hetero-Hive Mother's movement is visibly slowing down.
That state only lasts but a second. As Lucia raises her blade and thrusts at the gap in the Hetero-Hive Mother's shell, it suddenly bursts with immense strength and dodges, putting some distance between them.
The evading Hetero-Hive Mother suddenly freezes mid-air, multiple pink electromagnetic walls holding it firmly in place.
Enemy pinned down.
You fire again at the Hetero-Hive Mother. This time it does not pay your bullets no attention like the first time and instead shifts its body when they are about to hit.
Like the first time, however, the bullet hits its shell and ricochets to the side, leaving a mark on the wall of the CPF.
—!
Commandant, I'm ready.
Roger.
With your command, Lee presses the button on the machines nearby.
Ever since you fired your first bullet, Lee has been sneaking to the side and trying to repair those devices.
While the rest of you tried to draw the Hetero-Hive Mother's attention, buying him time.
The mechanical devices buzz, and the Punishing Virus concentration in the area begins to decrease.
The rhythmic contraction of the Hetero-Hive Mother's shell sped up as a reaction to the change.
Every push inward stresses its exterior immensely, giving it a seizure.
But this is not a phenomenon you know about regarding the Hetero-Hive Mother when the Punishing Virus concentration lowers.
Your doubt lingers but a moment. The window of opportunity the Gray Ravens have created must be seized, so you hold down the trigger on your gun, aiming not at the shells, but the countless umbilical cords above it.
They snap, one after another, these wires that upload information from the outside.
The broken ends of the cords start to wilt and pale. The scarlet liquid cannot hold its own weight and spills from the broken cords, dripping over the Hetero-Hive Mother before flowing to the ground.
You notice a hint of black liquid within the redness, coming not from the broken umbilical cords but the pulsating, retracting shells of the Hetero-Hive Mother.
No... no...
Lucia leaps forward, encompassing the Hetero-Hive Mother with her unbroken, tidal-like strikes.
Within the glistening reflections, the Hetero-Hive Mother curls up on the ground in a strange position, its shells trembling from the blade and its retraction, as if they are going to be peeled away from the pressure.
Still, it is lowering its center of gravity, making sure the part underneath the shells does not get hit by Lucia.
Gray Raven has carried out your plan, removing the Hive Mother from its nutrients, ceasing its access to the outside world, and pinning it down. It is just a matter of time before you defeat it and retrieve the samples.
Despite the scale of victory tipping your way, you still cannot shake the uneasiness ever since you entered the Pulia Forest Park Ruins.
Accessing information about the outside world through the Hetero-Sapiens...
Collecting more Punishing Virus than it needs as nutrients...
Rhythmic retraction and the strange liquid...
And its posture, seemingly protecting something underneath.
All the dissonance you have been feeling weaves together around the Hetero-Hive Mother.
?!
By the time you realize that, it is too late.
The Hetero-Hive Mother's body soars up, pulled by the remaining umbilical cords still attached. Lucia's strikes leave a few frightening scars on its shells.
They retract and push continuously, revealing the strange, red structure underneath it.
Black liquid keeps dripping down the red structure. The seizure is getting more intense, but the Hetero-Hive Mother no longer cares about the pain it is feeling.
The revealed red structure bulges outward from the pressure, the shape hidden inside its translucent skin getting clearer and clearer.
Your guess is only half correct.
There is indeed more than one enemy from the very beginning. The Hetero-Hive Mother has been hiding something else.
"Children," ready to be born.
If Hetero-Creatures have the concept of childbirth, that is.
Two figures break through the edge of the red structure, black liquid spilling around them.
With the last drop of liquid emptied, the two figures drop to the ground.
After it has seemingly given birth, the weakened Hetero-Hive Mother is hung mid-air by the remaining umbilical cords, its tentacles swaying in the air from gravity.
My... my children...
Everyone grabs hold of their weapons instinctively. The tremendous pressure makes it difficult to breathe.
If the Hetero-Sapiens were imitating humans after the Red Tide devoured them, similar to the projections, then the two before you have transcended imitation. They are crafted and polished, the perfect human-like products.
Their hollow eyes sweep the Gray Ravens, but you do not feel them focusing on you at all.
Their gaze pierces through the crowd and extends toward the species you belong to—humanity.
...Este no es nuestro final. (This is not our final destination.)
Rest, my friend.
For some reason, their voices feel oddly familiar to you, as if they were not the ones who were speaking, but someone else.
The man and woman's speech is so far removed from the stuttering of the Hetero-Sapiens. It is clear that they have gathered enough knowledge from the countless Hetero-Sapiens out there in the park.
It has taken them but a dozen seconds from birth to fluent speeches. But their blank expressions tell you that they are still mimicking phrases others have said instead of presenting their own ideas through language.
The urgent situation makes it difficult to think about who they are mimicking.
The enemies raise their hands, and a strange gush of wind blows past you.
Hetero-Creatures seem to have evolved to a new height at that moment.
