“Well, you see, the level of danger of this mission will be higher than the previous one. If we have a few more days to prepare, I wouldn’t mind issuing that order after sending some probes, but we don’t have time for that,” Felix appeared on the hologram while showing a complicated expression. “The data that the Russians sent seems to be accurate, but even with that, there is no time to come up with plans and countermeasures for every situation. You all will have to call a lot of the shots there once you arrive.”

  “What does the first in command have to say about this?” Shon asked while furrowing his eyebrows.

  “He is fine either way.” Felix shrugged his shoulders.

  That was really annoying… There was a limit to how reserved a person could be, and at such times, he had to pass confidence to the soldiers instead of saying such crap.

  “Even if the battle plan isn’t perfect, we will follow it, and I will make decisions if the situation calls for it,” Francis declared after he opened his eyes. “The assault team is willing to participate in this mission.”

  “I called you all because this is a special mission, and participation isn’t mandatory,” Felix added while looking around. “I wasn’t planning to send less than five people, but the assault team is willing to go, and they fill the minimum requirements.”

  “... I am not entirely satisfied with these conditions, but we are willing to participate,” Shon said after a long sigh. “Even if it is a risk, we can benefit a lot from it.”

  That was true. The cores that the research team was able to add to the battle suits were that good, and the more abilities that they have, the more chances the soldiers of the dreadnought will have to complete future missions.

  “Count me in,” Dylan added.

  In the first place, Dylan was willing to participate no matter what since he wanted to put his skills to be tested and because he could tell that things would get more complicated from now on… Claire was dead set on becoming a soldier, too. So, at least, he wanted to help her have an easier time once she joined the soldiers’ team. Amanda will probably be pissed once she hears about the mission, but that was something between her and Felix.

  “All right, the mission will start in thirteen hours. I want everyone ready to depart at twelve,” Felix declared and then showed the image of where they were supposed to land on W2 and look for the Russian soldiers. “Due to the conditions of the planet, position, and rotation axis, you all will have sixteen hours to land. Look for the survivors, gather some samples of the lifeforms, and then return. Don’t get too relaxed just because you have more time to operate. That is all.”

  Everyone began to leave the room, and then Dylan did the same. While he did well in the previous mission, he didn’t think that he would be called to join under such conditions… he had imagined that he would be part of the support teams, and his first call had been just a coincidence to test him.

  Either way, Dylan wondered what he should do… informing Claire and Amanda might cause more problems than help, and he needed to rest until the time of the mission. In the end, once he reached his room, Dylan just sent them the messages explaining the mission to some extent and then also said that he needed to concentrate and that they shouldn’t bother him. It worked like a charm.

  ‘Based on what might happen during this mission, I might have to consider upgrading my weapons the next time,’ Dylan thought while he was looking at the ceiling of his room. ‘I don’t think that they are doing much research when it comes to developing weapons for soldiers. They are focusing more on the battle suits, but I guess the chance will come, eventually.’

  Dylan wondered about what kind of planet will be the next one? They could only obtain intel once they were about to go, so he couldn’t help but be curious. Still, soon he decided to forget about it since it would only make him think too much and slow his judgment if something even more unexpected were to be waiting for him.

  Before long, Dylan fell asleep and only woke up when it was dinner time. Once he went to have his meal, he found Amanda there.

  “Wow, she is steaming…” Dylan thought and chuckled.

  Although she had her complaints, Amanda didn’t voice them, since it wasn’t Dylan’s fault that he was called for the mission. It was hard to tell if Felix talked with her and explained the details, but some things were pretty obvious. Amanda was more well-rounded, while Dylan was really good when it comes to fighting. It won’t surprise anyone if he joins the assault team most of the time in the future.

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  “Don’t do anything too harsh…” Amanda said once Dylan got up after finishing his meal.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Dylan nodded and then turned to leave. “I will try to bring some souvenirs.

  Amanda sighed… he sure looked relaxed, but she already knew that it was for the best. It would only be worse if he got nervous before such a mission.

  A few hours later, Dylan and the other participants of the mission were in the briefing room learning about the location that they were heading and what they were going to face… even Dylan showed a serious expression when he saw images of the lifeforms in that world.

  The lifeforms of that world had eight legs and two arms. They were quite big as well, being four meters long and two meters tall. It looked like they had the mix of a giant’s lower body of a giant and a fat worm, but they also had a thick upper body of a snake. Which was weird since they had two arms there… That being said, the really weird part was the fact that the head of the snakes, they could see a quiet human-like face.

  “I decided to call them snake worms… you can make fun of my naming sense,” Felix said while showing a serious expression. “Those creatures can apparently spit acid spheres that can damage the battle suits quite a bit. Three shots on the same spot, and then you can consider yourself exposed.”

  Even if that doesn’t kill the user of that armor, you can be assured that they will be affected by the atmosphere of the current planet and there is no telling what they might bring back to the dreadnought if they manage to endure that atmosphere. They might end up finding themselves quarantined to avoid spreading unknown viruses. Spaceships like the Dreadnaught were the perfect places for a virus to spread, even if they had all the countermeasures against it.

  As if that wasn’t enough, the creatures also carried weapons with them. Sword and shield, spear, and bows… they might not be a very advanced species, but they should be way stronger than humans.

  As for the terrain of the planet, it was at least mountainous in the area that they were heading to. Maybe that was why the survivors endured until now… or maybe they didn’t consider that the area was surrounded by those creatures.

  “In the last few days, we confirmed that when creatures are killed in a certain area close to the ether wells, it increases their output,” Felix said. “We are trying to create a tool that will help you all gather that ether, but for the time being, bringing the corpses to any wells that you might find will be as effective. After that, you can just use the storage mode to get the ether.”

  Felix decided to call the spots rich in ether where they could drain that energy ether wells. They couldn’t see any wells, but that was just a minor detail. Dylan wondered when they would make progress in analyzing the big core that they bought, but it seemed that he would have to wait.

  “Although you are going to a mountainous area, it is also a place filled with vegetation and trees. Once you land, you need to make sure to hide the pods since, based on our calculations, you will land in an area free of enemies that are fifty kilometers away from your target destination,” Felix added. “The ideal would be to stay together and operate as a single team, but Francis is free to change that if necessary. That is all.”

  The group began to move to the lockers, and Dylan confirmed that his adjustments had been completed. Natalia worked quite fast in that week since everyone had their battle suits upgraded, but only a few of them had a small green core on their back and above the waist. That was the speed core that they developed by using what they learned from the alien lizards from before.

  Dylan Ulrich - Assault Mode

  Health: 100%

  Attack Power: 10

  Armor: 05

  Adaptability: 07

  Movement Speed: 20 (Speed core: + 02)

  Ether Stored: 500 g

  Weapon: Dual Daggers (100%), Katana (100%)

  Sub Weapon: Blazing Pistol (20), Freezing Pistol (20)

  Once Dylan wore off his battle suit, he could tell that he had gotten a bit stronger. He also could feel some energy flowing from it and enhancing his body… It was a pretty addicting feeling. Still, he took a deep breath to keep his mind on the game and then headed toward the pods in the next room. According to the mission, they had to rescue ten people. Each pod had enough room for ten, so two of them would be enough.

  Once everything was ready, the entrance of the hangar opened, and then they saw a massive green planet relatively close to the Dreadnought. It was amazing, but they couldn’t find many sources of water at first glance. If it weren’t for that, they might have been able to colonize the place. They will have to do something about the high levels of carbon dioxide as well since the reports said that they were insanely high… making the environment feel quite stuffy, and the trees grow insanely high.

  Once the preparations had been finished, the pods were launched, and they began to fly to that planet. Dylan was on the pod with the three members of the sabotage team and one of the assault team… neither of them looked that friendly looking, or perhaps Dylan was just thinking too much, and they were concentrating on the mission.

  After just twenty minutes, the pods began to cross the stratosphere of that planet, and then things started to get bumpy. The group was already expecting something like that to happen, so they didn’t mind it. However, when the group began to cross some clouds and the pod was about to use the reverse thrusters, something happened.

  Out of nowhere, and before they could see where it came from, a beam of light crossed the sky and then hit the upper part of the pod. In the next moment, the pod began to spin violently, and the group tried to hold themselves in order to collide with each other.

  Somehow, the pod activated the emergency landing and then stopped spinning after throwing several blasts of fire around and then also making a massive parachute appear. That decreased their falling speed tremendously, but they still knocked out a tree when they landed on a random spot. The sudden impact made them fall on their butts and grunt in pain… but that was just the minor of their problems.