The engines of the pods started, and then the groups departed from the dreadnought. Although only the top and lower parts of the pods were made of metal and machines, and the rest were made of glass, no one felt the pressure of the speed while they crossed the vastness of space… they also didn’t have to worry about gravity, so the trip was weirdly comfortable.
Dylan turned to the side and saw the dreadnought spinning and still moving. That had been his home for eighteen years, and he had never been far away from it, and now there is a chance that he might not return.
“The last analysis of the landing point just arrived, and it seems that nothing had changed in the last hour,” Felix’s voice echoed from the battle suits again. “Your trajectory is also fine, so you will land really close to the points you all need to be. Just keep your cool and work together, and the mission will be a success.”
The group in the pod took a deep breath to calm down once the transmission ended. They were quite nervous, and they couldn’t help but imagine bad things happening as soon as they landed. Some of them had ten years of experience, but nothing that much practical.
“Have you ever met that guy in person?” Dylan asked while he looked at Amanda.
“No… the second-in-command works in many fields. He doesn’t just work on commanding the operations of the soldiers.” Amanda furrowed her eyebrows while wondering about scolding Dylan for being disrespectful. “He is also pretty active in the science and weapons development department… he is always busy.”
“He looks fairly young,” Dylan added, wondering how someone in their twenties would have such an important job.
“Indeed… he might have developed some medicines that slowdowns aging for himself alone, at least that is what the rumors say, since he looks exactly the same since I joined the soldiers’ ranks,” Amanda shrugged.
It wasn’t time to talk that much, but since the other members were nervous, Amanda decided to talk with Dylan for a while. Aside from her and Dylan, it was also hard to tell how Sabrina felt, but the other four sure were tense. Still, they had to shut up once they were five minutes away from the planet, and they were starting to feel a bit of turbulence thanks to its magnetic and gravitational fields.
The other pods looked fine, but everyone couldn’t help but already keep their hands on their weapons. When the pods began to cross the atmosphere of that planet, the turbulence got even more severe, but Felix didn’t warn them of anything.
Eventually, the turbulence decreased, and so did the falling speed of the pods. When Dylan looked around, he blinked several times since he could see a lot of red and orange around. Orange clouds and deserts, a red sky, and brown, red city below them.
The engines of the pods began to thrust in reverse, and then the pods began to slow down, and the gravity stopped working like it was before, but Amanda warned them of that, so they prepared for it. Eventually, the brown-red city became much larger, and then the pods began to land in the middle. It looked like the place had been abandoned a long time ago, but there were still piles of rubble and trash burning.
‘How is this even possible? It is surprising enough that there was a civilization less than a light year away from Earth, but… it was the same in Aurora.’
The battle suits entered in their combat mode, and then it covered and protected the heads of everyone before the pods opened.
Dylan Ulrich - Assault Mode
Health: 100%
Attack Power: 05
Armor: 05
Adaptability: 07
Movement Speed: 20
Ether Stored: 500 g
Weapon: Dual Daggers (100%), Katana (100%)
Sub Weapon: Blazing Pistol (20), Freezing Pistol (20)
Dylan was able to see that information once the helmet was put on and showed everything that was connected to the battle suit. It could even read the condition of his weapons and how much damage he could take.
In any case, Dylan recovered his focus and then left the pod with his Blazing Pistol in hand and one of his daggers. The area around was exactly like the images that were shown in the hologram, a city in ruins that was still being damaged, and flames were consuming the few things that were still standing.
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The others assumed their position with their guns, like Amanda was confirming the position and situation of the other groups. So far, they didn’t find any of the creatures that Felix had mentioned, but they couldn’t drop their guard.
“All right, I established communications with them,” Amanda declared. “They are entering position now. The assault team will look for enemies on the perimeter, and the sabotage team will also look around to set traps and recognize the terrain. The transportation team and I should head to our destinations. we aren’t too far away, but keep your guard up.”
Amanda received the coordinates of the place that they needed to go, and it looked like she also had a map with her, so she didn’t hesitate to lead the group. Soon, they reached the space between four craters and some piles of rubble, and then Amanda looked to the side and saw the transportation team heading in the opposite direction.
“Attention, extraction team, we have found signs of movements in the area that you are heading to,” Felix’s voice echoed inside the helmets of the members of the group. “Most likely, it seems that some lifeforms approached the area between now and the last time the probes sent us any information. We can only find three signs of lifeforms. Deal with them and start the extraction of mana.”
Dylan could tell that Francis and his team were more prepared for combat. They probably had more experience since some of them had more than twenty years of experience, but they couldn’t walk such a distance to help them. Those seven members of the support team were also trained soldiers.
Amanda nodded and accepted her orders. After she looked at every one on her team, she hoped that she would have something motivational to say, but nothing came to mind. Fortunately, she didn’t show her tension either.
“Let’s go. We are almost there,” Amanda declared, and then she equipped her dual pistols as well. “You two and you two will keep an eye on the sides while we move. Sabrina and I will deal with the front. Dylan will alert us if enemies approach from behind.”
Everyone nodded, but Dylan couldn’t help but frown since everyone was only ready to use their guns. Most of the recruits prefer guns as well, and that was why he assumed that the soldiers would use melee weapons more… since they knew that they could run out of ammo really quickly.
‘We can recharge the weapons with ten grams of concentrated mana, but we also need one gram per minute while using the combat suits,’ Dylan thought while he walked, keeping an eye on the back of their formation. “Focusing on using guns will make us vulnerable later.”
Much to everyone’s surprise, the group soon found the lifeforms that Felix had mentioned even before they could find their destination. That made Dylan understand that the monsters could track them as well…
The creatures were like oversized lizards that had six legs and could move quite quickly. At least thirty meters per second, that was probably why Dylan heard some groans of fear. Fifteen years of peace didn’t help the soldiers of the front lines of the dreadnought…
The skin of the monsters was reddish brown, just like the whole city. It also looked pretty thick since the monsters were three meters long and one meter tall. Moreover, they didn’t have any eyes, but they had two months.
Amanda and Sabrina began to use their guns, and after a few misses, they managed to land a few bullets on the sides of a single monster, making a brown liquid gush from its side. The other four attacked the two other enemies that were approaching from the sides, but their aim wasn’t that good since their hands weren’t steady. Dylan thought that he would have to help them, but he was stopped.
“Soldier Ulrich, keep an eye on the back of the team,” Felix suddenly said. “Enemies were approaching from that direction.”
Dylan clicked his tongue since that didn’t make any sense, but soon he obtained a vision of them… they were coming from the direction the sabotage team landed. That couldn’t be a good sign. The pods had been sealed once they left, and they could even endure many bullets of cannons, but if the monsters damage the engines even a bit, it would be a serious problem.
In any case, Dylan didn’t have time to think about that. Dylan changed his Blazing Pistol for the Freezing Pistol when he could see three enemies coming toward him. The enemies were smart enough to understand that the others were busy, so they only had to get rid of Dylan, and then they would have the chance to attack the others. They were smart, but not that much.
Dylan aimed at them when they were sixty meters away, but they kept coming in a straight line even after a full second. Dylan chose the one on the right side and fired, only to see the creature suddenly jumping to the side and dodging the bullet. Their reaction speed was insane.
At the same time that one jumped, the others did the same, but toward Dylan. They knew that he couldn’t stop their momentum, but it wasn’t like he wanted, anyway. He quickly aimed the pistol, since he knew what the enemies were targeting, and hit their heads. The bullets froze a small area of their foreheads, the second was hit two times, and its head cracked like a statue of ice, but the second hit Dylan like a truck and pushed him backward for several meters. Still, he pierced the frozen creature with one of his daggers and killed it.
The third creature tried to approach again, but it got wary after Dylan killed two of its allies, and the others also dealt with their targets. In the end, the monster ran away once the others turned to face it.
“Dylan, why didn’t you alert us?” Amanda raised one eyebrow and asked once she saw the monster in front of him. “How is your condition?”
“I am fine, Captain. You were busy fighting, so neither of you needed to split your focus further,” Dylan replied while checking his monitor.
Dylan Ulrich - Assault Mode
Health: 72%
Attack Power: 05
Armor: 05
Adaptability: 07
Movement Speed: 20
Ether Stored: 495 g
Weapon: Dual Daggers (100%), Katana (100%)
Sub Weapon: Blazing Pistol (20), Freezing Pistol (16)
“... You made the right decision. You must have been informed by the second in command as well, and his orders are absolute,” Amanda said, and despite her words, she didn’t look very pleased. “Let’s get going.”
The group soon found a massive crater ahead and several hills of a mix of some sort of concrete, and it was hard to say since it was red and brown, added with several layers of distorted metal. Dylan assumed that they had found the extraction point of ether that once had been a power plant… he couldn’t understand how come they built that in the middle of the city, though.
“Change to search mode and look for points where we can drain the ether efficiently, but inform me beforehand,” Amanda ordered.
