Thanks for the invitation. I am a parasite in Terra.

"Strange, the radio is out of order?"

"Let me see, damn, my radio isn't working either."

"Tsk, you stay here and I'll go in and report."

"Ah."

The soldier at the door checked his protective clothing again, then quickly walked into the fuel compartment.

As he went deeper, he found that the surrounding environment became darker and darker.

and....

"Clap."

The sound of the hard soles of the boots stepping on the metal floor began to echo throughout the cabin.

what happened?

The silence was strange and strange.

I clearly saw a lot of engineers rushing into the cabin a few minutes ago.

How come now, not to mention the searchlight for troubleshooting, there is not even any body to be seen.

Where are those people running?

went?

The soldier was a little confused. As he looked at the cabin which became darker and darker as he went forward, he raised the flashlight at his waist, and the faint light barely illuminated a way forward for him.

He took a step forward and followed the memorized route, heading towards the main fuel tank step by step.

until--

Paji.

The wet and sticky touch on the soles of his feet quickly drew his gaze away from the surrounding walls.

He suddenly lowered his head and raised the flashlight to illuminate his feet.

"*Ursus swear*, what the hell is this?"

At the soles of the feet, dark red sticky lumps are spread all over the floor like rampantly growing plants, and make a disgusting "smacking" sound when the shoes are stepped on.

"Damn it. Also, I remember this place should be the main fuel bunker. Where is the Originium storage facility?"

The soldier muttered to himself, avoided the disgusting objects under his feet, and began to search around with a flashlight.

until.....

"Pfft."

"?!"

Hearing a strange sound at his hand, he turned his head suddenly and raised the flashlight.

"Pfft!"

The huge scarlet flesh and blood was attached to the huge tank-like structure at hand with a crystal clear membrane!

"Is this... an egg?"

The soldier stood there in a daze, looking at the magnificent life form before him. The egg-like structure was beating continuously, making a thumping sound like a heart.

"*Ursus swears*....What...is this??!"

"what--"

------------------

[Due to this situation, our ship is temporarily unable to maintain its original speed.]

"We understand the situation. Our ship will maintain the original speed and continue to perform the mission."

At this moment, in the bridge of the battleship that was moving forward at the original speed, the captain cut off the communication and held his forehead with a headache.

"Damn it, why do I always have a bad feeling..."

"Captain! Our ship is about to enter a strange terrain!"

"Huh? Weird terrain, soldier. Watch your words. The basic textbooks of the empire include knowledge on how to identify landforms. Don't tell me you've forgotten all of it."

"But, sir! The area ahead seems to be made up of a bloody red swamp!"

Chapter 104: Scarlet Land

Thirty-five minutes after the high-speed battleship belonging to the Ursus Army Group underwent maintenance.

Now, another army group is driving high-speed warships to maintain the original speed.

Inside the bridge, the captain and other military commanders ordered the ship to slow down, while sending out a reconnaissance force to investigate the strange, scarlet-covered "landscape" in front of them.

"how is the situation?"

[Reporting to the commander, according to the detection of the instrument, no traces of Originium pollution have been found for the time being... No, it is better to say that since setting foot in this area, almost no values ​​related to Originium dust can be detected. The values ​​displayed on the instrument have all dropped to... 0%]

"How is that possible? How could there be a place in the wild where the Originium dust content is zero? At most, the Originium content will be lower than the infection threshold. Are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"

The commander at the side asked in disbelief.

[Report, we have replaced four or five detection devices, and all the results obtained indicate that there is absolutely no Originium contamination level nearby.]

"How is it possible... This situation can only occur in a specially designed dust-free laboratory. How can we achieve the same dust purity as in a dust-free laboratory in the wild where natural disasters occur frequently and the activation degree of landmark precipitation is extremely unstable?"

The legion commander stared at the scarlet swamp area outside the porthole in confusion.

"Wait a minute, could it be because of that strange terrain?"

"Scout team, I need you to take a few photos of the red landform under our feet."

[clear. ]

Using short-range communication waves, the camera equipment carried by the reconnaissance team quickly transmitted detailed photos back to the center of the bridge.

"Is this... red fungus? No, it looks more like the secretion produced by a large number of insects gathering together."

Just when the legion commander wanted to continue asking something, he was interrupted by the captain next to him.

"Okay, Commander. You are no longer a scholar obsessed with research, but a soldier of the Empire, a reconnaissance unit. Have you finished checking whether the area can support the passage of high-speed warships?"

[Report to the commander, according to our preliminary survey, the soil under this terrain meets the ideal conditions for passage. We estimate that the Empire's warships can pass through at a constant speed!]

"Very good, let's do the research on our return trip, Commander, then notify all departments--"

"Report! Radar detected a large object approaching at high speed!"

The captain's order was interrupted by the operator's scream.

"What? How big?!"

"Report, report, preliminary estimation is that it is at least the size of a high-speed battleship... It is... It is attacking our ship at a speed of 5... 50 knots!!"

"What?! Fifty knots?"

The surrounding military members were so surprised that they stood up from their chairs.

"Fifty knots? What is the limit of the high-speed warships built by the Terran nations?"

“I remember

....Thirty-five knots? The record was set by the specially designed high-speed battleship built by Columbia, but that was the limit achieved by sacrificing some armor and firepower."

Another officer stroked his chin, recalling.

"But fifty knots is too much! How did you do that?!"

"Okay, gentlemen, there's no point in discussing this. If we continue at this speed, the enemy will hit us in a few minutes. Position the main guns! Get ready to engage!"

"Don't worry. Although we don't know where that battleship came from, since they were able to accelerate to this extent, it means that their armor is definitely not enough to withstand the baptism of our ship's main guns!"

The captain raised his hand to end the discussion of the officers, but after giving the order, he stroked his beard again, as if he was thinking about something.

"Strange, that direction... is the direction of the army group that stopped for maintenance. Did this thing bypass them directly? Otherwise, it is impossible for us not to receive any information."

However, almost the next second, the captain's doubts were interrupted by the messenger beside him.

"Report! That fast-moving unidentified warship has the identification signal of the Ursus Army Group on it!!"

"Huh?! That group warship that stopped for maintenance? How is that possible? The Empire's warships can only reach a maximum speed of 33 knots! And... sending a communication! What are they doing?!"

"Communication in progress... connected?"

"Put the communication in. What happened to those guys?"

The captain supported his hands on the table and watched the communication being connected on the big screen in front of him.

It was pitch black...

It's just that....there was a faint sound coming from the loudspeaker.

[Run...fast...]

[Don’t… go near… red…]

Crack! Communication lost.

"What the hell did they say?"

The captain stood up, his brows furrowed.

"Then... Captain... do you still want to prepare the main guns?"

The messenger at the side asked with a hesitant look.

"...Continue to calibrate the main gun direction, and start filling."

The captain narrowed his eyes, vaguely feeling a sense of unease.

"Yes!"

"Report - the enemy is approaching! Estimated contact with our ship in 170 seconds... The target is within sight!"

puff.

puff.

Rumble, rumble————

Rumble, rumble————

"?"

Everyone on the bridge looked at the floor shaking slightly, and the liquid even spilled out of the cup on the table.

The earth...is shaking?

"This noise doesn't sound like something that a high-speed warship would make. It's more like... something crawling?"

The conductor felt the shaking of the floor and was somewhat acutely aware of this.

"Report! The target can be directly observed through the port window!"

The communicator pointed to the porthole on the left and shouted as he looked at the large amount of dust rising in the distance.

Hearing this, the captain stood up, picked up the telescope he carried with him and moved closer, trying to see what was running in the dust!

That is definitely not an imperial battleship!

The line of sight was shortened, and the other party was approaching at high speed, making what the captain could perceive clearer and clearer.

The outline beneath the smoke and dust grew larger and larger, until he saw——

"leg?"

He rubbed his eyes and then looked at the scene outside the ship.

A huge creature with four long, thin spider-like legs was moving towards them!

At a speed of 50 knots.

Even the earth trembles because of it!

"Damn it! Main guns ready to fire!!!"

Without hesitation, the captain raised his hand and shouted.

As his order was given, the porthole was instantly filled with roar and flames.