Chapter 388: Hollow Remains
The appearance of the Hreh’tar mirrored their twisted essence. Although they were among those creatures that didn’t bear a similar appearance corresponding to their power level, the tentacles they all held were a gruesome reminder of their true nature.
Elites were the weakness among their ranks, with the vast majority of them being of the General tier.
Before, a single General would have proved troublesome for the crew, needing to resort to supreme teamwork to take one down.
However, each one of Michael’s comrades was at least of the Grandmaster realm. That, coupled with the training they had received from their leader, made them capable of holding their own against several Generals simultaneously.
Out of the gathered Hreh’tar, the Overlords were the ones the crew needed to be wary of the most. Usually only Lords would have the capabilities to meet them in battle, with even then some of the weaker cultivators finding themselves not brave enough.
Should they work in unison, the crew wouldn’t have a problem taking down Overlords even if they were just at the Grandmaster realm. They had done so once and could do it again.
Michael reacted faster than anyone on the battlefield could blink. Heaven’s Judgment’s hook shot forward like a missile, embedding itself into the closest Overlord and binding him to the threatening alien.
In a flash, the hook retracted, pulling Michael toward the alien. His pristine shield collided with it, creating a powerful shockwave that forced the creature to stagger back several steps.
Coming face to face with the Overlord didn’t faze Michael. His expression remained stoic as he raised his shield higher.
Once more, Heaven’s Judgment assumed its shotgun form, the double-barreled weapon aimed squarely at the Hreh’tar’s head.
BOOM!
Unable to blink, much less react to the sudden attack, the Overlord’s life was severed in a single flash.
Blood wasn’t able to stain Michael. Heaven’s Judgment took a shield form, protecting him from the creature’s horrendous remains.
Almost simultaneously, his other hand swung with Devil, decapitating several weaker aliens that had been unfortunate enough to draw too close.
It had been a long while since Michael had taken an alien life. Circumstances had forced him to deal with human affairs rather than the threat of foreign invaders. But the sight of the slain innocent workers fueled his rage against the aliens, prompting him to act even more merciless than before.
The crew was a capable bunch. They didn’t need further orders from him. They assumed formation and began their extermination of the Hreh’tar.
In that moment, the other Overlords that had ravaged the area came to a horrifying realization. This wasn’t like the usual human squads sent to draw them out while suffering heavy losses.
No, these ones were an extermination unit, tasked with slaughtering each of them with ruthless efficiency.
One opened its maw to roar, only to have its head chopped off by Devil, guided by Michael’s Psychokinesis. Another was struck by his shield with such brutal force that its life ended on the spot.
While the crew had to be careful about coming into contact with the Hreh’tar, it didn’t diminish their brutality in the slightest... It only made them more precise.
"That felt better than expected." Michael admitted, letting out a long sigh.
Barely twenty minutes had passed since the crew encountered their first alien group, yet there were no more enemies in sight.
"I can see why Livia had such a hard time taking care of them." Victoria exclaimed, the flames dancing around her figure enhanced her appearance.
"Normal soldiers are powerless against Generals, much less Overlords. Thinking about the tragedies we endured back on Triton and Neptune, because we were too weak to stand against such monstrous foes... only to find ourselves killing these creatures with little struggle. It really puts into perspective how far we’ve come."
Ava agreed. "Now that you mention it... it makes me wonder what my fate would have been if I’d never met Michael. I’d still be struggling to make ends meet, hunting Lower and Higher tier aliens. I certainly wouldn’t have quit smoking, and... honestly, I probably would have died."
"For one, I know exactly what would have happened to me." Richard laughed out loud, reminiscing. "I would have rotted away in a jail cell back in Celestia’s city before an Overlord got its hands on me to conduct experiments. Gods... I was only a Master back then. Good thing Boss found me."
Ruby’s eyes narrowed. "At least you would have seen the outside world, while I... would have remained ignorant... Locked away until my end, somewhere in the scattered labs around here."
Claire sighed, throwing Bryce a weary glance. "Maybe I would have lost my grandfather..."
Michael was glad to see that his comrades were visibly relieved to have followed him. That’s why the next words he uttered carried such weight.
"Don’t grow complacent."
His words snapped everyone back to attention.
"This is the greatest mistake a soldier could ever commit. Being able to kill a few aliens doesn’t make us strong... No, we are still weak. Keep in mind, in cosmic terms, we’re but a speck. It’s a truth few can admit but one that needs to be remembered."
Michael gestured to the ashes of the fallen humans they had cremated along the way.
"Up until now we... Humanity has never truly been on the offensive. Every single battle has been about defending our territory, minimizing our losses. It is always aliens challenging us over our rightful control over the solar system. Killing the defenseless civilians, even the children..."
His eyes shone with bottomless hatred.
"Think about it! How could an alien lifeform find its way under one of our most prosperous cities? Until we’re the ones going for them... Slaughtering their kin, conquering their lands, making them experience the full terror of humanity’s power, I will not be content... They will pay in full."
As their leader, Michael had to thread a careful line. He couldn’t allow his comrades to grow too egoistical in their own abilities. That was how soldiers died most often, and he didn’t want to lose any of them, no matter the cost.
A lesser crew wouldn’t have grasped the true meaning of his words, but they had all been chosen by Michael for a reason. They needed only a moment to recognize their mistake, sharpening their senses to the very limit.
Blind overconfidence courted death.
Smiling faintly, Michael nodded in approval as the crew went deeper. Several other alien groups interrupted their path. Just like the ones before, they were quickly neutralized.
Eventually, the tunnel changed shape. It no longer bore its futuristic look. Now it resembled a roughly dug passageway, with jagged walls surrounding the crew from all sides.
Whatever had dug this portion of the tunnel had surely been alien. Perhaps this was the very breach the crew needed to seal.
"I am getting a bad feeling." Michael signaled Cyberfang to turn off the lights. The less attention they drew to themselves, the better.
Gradually, the tunnel opened up, leading to a colossal underground chamber. Numerous corpses littered the floor, treated as nothing more than mere food.
It seemed that Michael and the crew had discovered one of the Hreh’tar’s main breeding grounds.