2026-08-18 23:23:02
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Ch.111 The Core
The heat inside the core cavern was oppressive, pressing against the environmental seals of their Vanguard combat suits like a physical weight. Thick clouds of luminous, toxic spores drifted through the point-eight gravity, catching the erratic blue flashes of the colossal intelligence suspended above them.The Hive Mind did not possess eyes, but as Cyrus stepped onto the sweeping biological bridge that led toward the center of the chamber, he felt the heavy pressure of being watched.His eighty-nine percent resonance helped him maintain tactical focus despite the overwhelming scale of the alien architecture. He ignored the throbbing ache in his fused ribs and the dead, immobilized weight of his left arm, keeping the normalized Keres grav-glaive raised in his right hand."The primary arterial cluster," Thorne said, his voice steady over the comms. He pointed toward the base of the cavern, where a massive bundle of pulsing, cable-like veins anchored the suspended brain to the Leviathan
Ch.110 The Artery
The central artery sloped downward, pulling them deeper into the Leviathan.There was no ambient light to guide them, only the sickly red bioluminescence radiating from the incubation pods lining the walls. Inside each translucent sac, the dark silhouettes of dormant Carvers and Praetorians hung suspended in amber fluid.Cyrus kept his breathing steady, pacing his steps in the point-eight gravity. His eighty-nine percent resonance helped him maintain tactical focus despite the exhaustion dragging at his limbs. The dull, persistent ache in his fused ribs flared with every movement, and the dead weight of his immobilized left arm threw off his natural gait. He compensated by keeping the normalized Keres grav-glaive raised in his right hand, ready to strike at a moment's notice.They walked for a long time, though time was difficult to track inside the belly of the megastructure."The atmospheric toxicity is increasing," Rael reported softly over the comms, his voice carrying the slight
Ch.109 The Leviathan
The stealth corvette drifted toward the megastructure like a speck of dust approaching a mountain.Sergeant Rael had cut the primary drives completely, maneuvering the ship using only short, cold-gas thruster bursts to avoid triggering any thermal alarms. Through the cockpit viewport, the true scale of the Othari destination became difficult to comprehend. It filled the entire visual field, blotting out the faint, distant glow of the Milky Way behind them.Up close, the surface wasn't a static hull. It was alive.Thick ridges of bone-white chitin formed shifting tectonic plates over layers of dark, fibrous tissue. Rivers of bioluminescent fluid pulsed sluggishly through translucent veins the size of Vanguard dreadnoughts."We are entering its shadow," Rael murmured, his eyes fixed on the passive sensors. "I'm picking up thousands of bio-forms clinging to the outer carapace. Carvers, Praetorians, and things I don't recognize. They're dormant. Hooked into the structure like ticks on a h
Ch.108 The Dark
Sergeant Rael didn’t waste time. As soon as the navigational download completed, he pulled the decryption spike from the pulsing biological vein. The node shuddered slightly, glowing with an unhealthy, bioluminescent pallor in the dark of the monitoring hub.Rael drew a compact thermite charge from his tactical webbing. He slapped the adhesive backing directly onto the center of the alien biomass, right over the repurposed Vanguard servers, and armed the detonator with a quick twist of his thumb."Three minutes," Rael reported over the comms."Move out," Thorne ordered.They didn't run. Moving recklessly in zero gravity was a death sentence. Cyrus paced his strides, relying on the rhythmic locking and unlocking of his magnetic boots to pull himself back down the dark corridor. His left arm remained firmly bound to his chest, the dead weight of it pulling at his balance. He gripped the normalized Keres grav-glaive in his right hand, keeping the blade clear of the narrow bulkheads.They
Ch.107 Origin Point
The vibration carried down through the ferrocrete pillars before the creature ever showed itself.Cyrus tracked the tremor through the soles of his magnetic boots. In the vacuum of the dead station, there was no sound to give the enemy away, only the rhythmic, physical thud of heavy claws piercing metal, transmitted directly through the outpost’s skeleton."Check your fields of fire," Thorne’s voice crackled softly over the encrypted local comms. "Remember your recoil. Don't tear yourselves off the deck."Above them, the heavy steel access hatch buckled inward.It didn't burst open. It was slowly, methodically torn apart. Four long, multi-jointed limbs reached through the shredded metal, ending in hardened, scythe-like hooks designed specifically to puncture starship armor.The creature pulled itself through the opening, moving with fluid ease in the zero-gravity environment. It was roughly the size of a Praetorian, but entirely different in design. Its carapace was pale and elongated
Ch.106 Echo-Seven
The stealth corvette was a sliver of radar-absorbent geometry resting in the dim amber light of Hangar Nine. It bore no Vanguard insignia, no transponder codes, and no registry numbers. It was a ghost ship, designed by the Intelligence Directorate for the sole purpose of moving through hostile space unnoticed.Cyrus walked up the boarding ramp, his mag-boots clanking heavily against the deck plates. His balance was skewed. With his left arm immobilized against his chest and the heavy armor plating removed from that side, his center of gravity sat too far to the right. He compensated by keeping his functional hand locked around the normalized carbon-osmium shaft of the Keres grav-glaive, using it almost like a walking staff to steady his uneven stride.Sergeant Rael was already in the cockpit, running the pre-flight diagnostics in the glow of the instrument panels. Director Thorne followed Cyrus up the ramp, sealing the primary airlock behind them."Pre-launch checks are green," Rael r
You may also like
Jade the Conqueror
The Supreme writer 16.2K viewsSoul Avatar
Japhel16.3K viewsRise of the Useless Son-in-Law
Twilight35.0K viewsI Shall Eat The Heavens
Daoist Of Lies31.9K viewsThe Last Hero's Wasterland Sanctuary
Neil Swann316 viewsMagic Was Dead Until I Returned
Logan232 viewsBorn Between Humans & Beasts
FrankintheHouse92 viewsTHE TRANSMIGRATED LORD: RISE OF THE NEW KINGDOM
Midnight blues242 views