“We have our orders,” Francis said once he made up his mind. “We will focus on sniping the enemies while we retreat a little. Even if they try to dodge our ranged attacks, we should be able to damage the source of energy and, at the very least, slow it down. We will work together now.”

  Everyone regrouped in the same spot and then entered a crescent moon formation to make sure that the sides and the front would be protected and no enemy would approach without being noticed.

  After a couple of minutes, they noticed in the distance something approaching. Dylan took pride in being someone that couldn’t be fazed by most things, but he couldn’t help but feel goosebumps while looking at that creature. It resembled a bit the weird lizards that they faced since it had three arms on each side that helped it move, but those were gigantic… like twenty meters long.

  Despite that, the creature didn’t look much like the other monsters. It looked like a hive that was always pulsing. Now and then, the creature would open its mouth, and then another alien lizard would come out from it. Thanks to it, they realized the source of the problems of the whole mission was that thing.

  “Initiating analysis…” Felix said once he was able to see the creature through everyone’s monitors. “It seems that the monster is a lot different from the Omega alien. It is made of flesh despite having such a large source of energy… most likely, the creature has some sort of organ that feeds on the ether of this world.”

  At least Felix wasn’t insane enough to ask them to kill it and scavenge the organ… since the creature was over one hundred meters long, they would have to pierce dozens of meters of flash before they could cause any real lethal damage.

  In any case, the alien lizards were calmly following the pace of the giant monster as if they were certain that they could win against anything as long as they followed it.

  The group had to wait for a while longer before the enemies could enter their range. That was really troublesome since they had to retreat even more in order to have a clear path toward the pods if anything went wrong, like they are unable to do anything against the monsters. That also meant that they had only half an hour before the monsters reached the pods.

  Eventually, the massive creature was five hundred meters away, and the alien lizards took notice of the temporary assault team and dashed toward them. The first group had at least fifty of them, so things were bound to get tense.

  “Wait until the last moment before shooting. We are going to use their bodies to slow down the monster,” Francis ordered, while grabbing his sword.

  If Dylan had more experience using a katana, he probably would have done the same, and it would be a lot more efficient that way. Still, it was a lesson that he had to learn sooner or later.

  The group went completely silent when the monsters were one hundred meters away, and then tension rose when the creatures got close enough to jump while trying to smash them with their numbers and weight. Still, Francis swung his sword and split in half two of the first creatures that tried that. That was the power of someone who had improved their battle suit and body a few times already.

  In any case, while Francis was swinging his sword left and right a bit ahead of the group, the others began to bombard the enemies with their pistols. The blazing pistol was quite efficient when used at point-blank range, so Dylan killed a lot of them. The explosions also slowed them down, so the members of the team barely got hit by them.

  The members of the original assault team had nerves of steel. Thanks to it, their aim was great, and the group managed to kill those monsters almost in the blink of an eye. Still, there was no time to celebrate. The second wave of enemies was coming, and they had to create a barricade of bodies before they retreated, and so they did it.

  Dylan couldn’t help but be amazed when he saw ten monsters with their bodies split in two. Even though he fights at close range, there is no doubt that Francis will be the MVP of the mission.

  In any case, the enemies kept coming in groups of fifty, even though they had more than five hundred of them on their side. On their third attempt, the group ran out of bullets, and they were forced to recharge using the ether stored in their battle suits. Dylan had some left on the Freezing Pistol, but that one wasn’t good at stopping the enemies at close range.

  Regardless, around that time, the massive monster finally reached one of the barricades of corpses that the group had left behind. However, much to their shock… the massive creature just ate the bodies and got rid of them just like that.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The whole group didn’t know how to react to that. They didn’t expect those alien lifeforms would act considering human standards, but even so, that only made them realize the dire situation that they were in even more. They won’t just be killed, they will be eaten.

  “Oh? This data will be useful…” Felix suddenly said. “Can you keep watching the monster do that a few times? I feel like we can make use of that kind of ability, but the data needs to be completed.”

  They didn’t know what was worse… the possibility of being eaten or of continuing work for someone like that.

  After ten minutes, Dylan switched weapons and equipped his two knives. He was out of bullets, so he didn’t have any other choice. At the same time, he stepped forward a bit when the next group of enemies showed up, and he couldn’t afford to let the enemies push him backward too much in case he was hit.

  “Soldier Ulrich, you should equip the katana,” Felix said once the group began to move, and it seemed that he was only talking to him this time. “Considering the current level of your battle suits and your own abilities, using the two daggers won’t do it.”

  “I don’t have enough experience using that kind of weapon,” Dylan said, and he looked around and confirmed that Felix cut the communication with the others. They were just retreating without imagining what was happening.

  “I will send a video of how your father used the weapon. You should be able to copy him at least,” Felix said, and then a small video began to play on Dylan’s monitor.

  It has been so long, and thanks to it, Dylan thought that he wouldn’t recognize his father. He actually didn’t since he only saw him from a few meters away through the monitor of another person.

  Dylan thought that he would see his father doing something fancy, but that wasn’t the case. He just swung his katana with all his might, and then a three-horned boar-like an animal that had flames on its back was killed after having its head being split… the creature charged at his father, but that attack stopped all the momentum.

  “I didn’t learn anything from it,” Dylan said once the video ended.

  “Well, I guess that is a pity, since you are out of time,” Felix said, and then the connection ended.

  After a long sigh, Dylan tried to recall what he saw. His father didn’t look particularly strong or fast since he was probably wearing one of the first versions of the battle suit, so that was a matter of technique… still, he only saw him swinging the katana with all his might downwards.

  “A full step forward with my dominant leg, then swing down the katana with all my might until it almost reaches my left leg. Keep the motion going until I am almost using only my right leg to support myself…” Dylan thought. “It is a simple move, but father could use all the muscles of his body to increase its attack… that was probably why it stopped the monster. To maximize the attack, I have to do all that in a single moment and in a single motion as well.”

  It was a complex technique now that he could understand it… without training the right muscles and then practicing that many times up to perfection, it was hard to imagine that someone could copy his father. Still, when he looked over his shoulder, Dylan saw more enemies coming, and he didn’t have any better option.

  After visualizing himself using the same technique many times, Dylan saw the enemies approaching, and Francis called everyone to stop and ready themselves. Dylan took a deep breath and closed his eyes once to see the scene again, and then he opened his eyes.

  Just like before, dozens of creatures tried to surround them, and more than half of the team had changed to melee weapons. Dylan ignored all that and just focused his eyes on the enemy approaching him. When the beast jumped and approached, Dylan repeated the same movements almost close to perfection… but he did a bit too soon… his sword didn’t hit the enemy first. The enemy’s head hit the tip of the katana, and the momentum made the weapon pierce its flesh like a hot knife in butter. Dylan also didn’t feel much of the pressure of the charge so that he could try again soon. The creature began to shake on the ground.

  “Let’s try again…” Dylan thought when he pulled his sword and saw another lizard alien.

  After he focused his senses again, Dylan noticed that the sword was almost weightless once he raised the weapon. Thanks to that, he didn’t have to worry about being too slow… he waited patiently until the next enemy entered his range and then swung down the weapon. The katana not only split the head of the creature with ease, but it also sent its body downward and stopped the charge completely.

  ‘One more before I forget this feeling…’ Dylan thought.

  The third test subject soon showed up, and Dylan managed to pull it off again. For someone as calm as him, doing the same thing over and over again was easy… still, once he confirmed that the group of enemies had been killed, he relaxed a bit and felt his back and arms almost killing him. The muscular pain was the real deal, the battle suit couldn’t help with that at is with its actual level.

  “Dylan.. that was…” Amanda said, stunned.

  “Father’s technique, right?” Dylan frowned when he saw a lot of people surprised while looking at him. “The second in command showed me a video of the same, and I tried to copy it. It puts a bit too much strain on the back and arms, though.”

  The others managed to pull it off and defeat the enemies by working in pairs. One would ease the melee weapon and then take a break for a moment, and their closest ally would take their turn. Still, just like Francis, Dylan managed to kill some of the monsters by himself. That being said, Francis was a lot faster and killed ten of those creatures.

  “Attention, members of the temporary assault team,” Felix suddenly said. “We are going to use an experimental weapon on the giant monster in order to kill it, and we advise you all to run away from it as fast as possible.”