It wasn’t only the surface that had been reduced to ruins.
The ground beneath, which I checked with my supersenses, was the same.
[Is this what you meant when you said the star was dead?]
It hardly seemed necessary to ask, but I asked Sof to confirm.
[If you examine the dark energy flowing through a star, you can tell what state it is in. You can immediately know whether a terraforming facility has ever operated there, and whether the facility is still running. This star is one where the terraforming facility has stopped.]
[So there are no other terraforming facilities besides this one.]
[There may be other facilities, but if there are, they must all have been destroyed.]
That was no different from there being none.
[Just because the terraforming facility was destroyed doesn’t mean it’s completely over, does it? We can breathe right now, and the temperature isn’t bad. If things go well, it seems like this state could last for hundreds of years or more.]
Seeing as the temperature was being maintained even after the terraforming facility had been destroyed, it seemed unlikely that temperature would be a problem going forward.
If oxygen could no longer be produced, that would be a major problem, but the oxygen currently in the atmosphere alone would allow millions of people to breathe for thousands of years.
If it were tens of millions, then hundreds of years.
On top of that, if we brought phytoplankton or plants from Earth and cultivated them, that time would increase by far.
In that case, this star was in a much better situation than “Paradise.”
Paradise would have difficulty lasting even a few decades more.
Sof did not agree with me.
[Well, that would depend on what this star’s terraforming facility was creating and maintaining.]
Certainly, it was difficult to make a conclusion just like this.
However, I couldn’t guarantee that we would be able to find that out now.
[I don’t know if we can get information from the control device.]
I had no idea if we could extract information from ruins smashed to pieces like that.
Even getting there would not be easy.
The control device was at the center of the ruins, in the deepest location.
The fact that the interior of the ruins had been smashed apart was a problem, but an even bigger problem was what was inside the ruins.
The underground ruins were better described as a monsters’ home than as ruins.
Dozens of monsters were coiled up beneath the ruins.
The place where the monsters had appeared was not near the ruins.
The destroyed ruins themselves were the monsters’ lair.
Boooooooom!
An unpleasant sound came from the destroyed ruins.
The people frowned and covered their ears.
“What is that sound? It’s horrible. It sounds like a broken siren…”
The Chinese, who did not know what the sound was, merely grimaced, but Magreta and I were different.
We had heard that sound on Trappist.
“There’s a control entity in the ruins.”
I nodded at Magreta’s words.
“Like the ruined city, these ruins must have become the control entity’s nest.”
Because it was not a large city like that time, the scale of the nest was smaller.
But I could sense every monster we had seen so far.
Scouts, magic monsters, defensive-type monsters, and even humanoid monsters.
“If we can hear the control entity’s sound now, that means it noticed we’ve come, right?”
“Looks like we don’t have to worry about breaking through. They’ve come out to greet us.”
At the same time as I spoke, I saw something move in the ruined remains.
Human-sized silhouettes visible through the dust.
“People?”
When Captain Li Wei, who was at the front, furrowed his brow, Secretary Li behind him shouted loudly.
“They’re the people who went to explore the ruins! It seems they were all still alive!”
As the dust cleared, we could see those walking out.
They were Chinese with exhausted expressions, dressed in worn-out clothes.
“They all look worn out. We’ll bring them over.”
“Everyone, stop!”
Seeing that, some of the people tried to run over, but the captain blocked them.
“I heard monsters started appearing from around here. And yet they were hiding here instead of coming back? Secretary Li! Doesn’t something seem strange?”
“Ah! Don’t tell me…”
At the captain’s words, Secretary Li looked at me with an expression of sudden realization.
When everyone looked at me, I told them the truth.
“They aren’t people. They’re monsters imitating humans. They’re the same as the ones Secretary Li saw on Trappist.”
At my words, the people stared at the approaching humanoid monsters with bewildered faces, and Secretary Li asked me with a gloomy expression.
“Could the monsters perhaps make people we know look exactly the same too?”
Secretary Li had seen humanoid monsters before.
The reason he had not recognized those monsters was because they resembled people he knew.
[They cannot make them exactly the same. If you examine them closely, they are a little different. Still, if it was someone whose face you merely knew, you could be deceived.]
I relayed Sof’s words exactly as they were.
“They can probably make them similar. But if you look closely, you should be able to tell them apart.”
At my words, he looked once more at the approaching people(?).
“I see. They certainly aren’t the same.”
As Secretary Li sighed while looking at the humanoid monsters, Captain Li Wei, who had been watching, asked me.
“You’re saying those are monsters too?”
“Yes.”
After hearing my answer, he raised his spear high.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
At those words, the people moved quickly.
“Do as we trained. I will fight them head-on, so all of you support me!”
“Yes, sir!”
At his following words, the people formed a formation.
They placed the captain at the very front and formed a triangular formation.
It was a formation I knew.
Not a formation I had seen on Trappist, but one I had seen in martial arts films or historical novels.
‘Was it called a wedge formation?’
Seeing how the people moved, it seemed they had been trained properly.
“Everyone, advance! Crush the enemy!”
Together with the captain at the front, the soldiers holding spears charged toward the approaching humanoid monsters.
Seeing that, I clicked my tongue, and Secretary Li, who had been standing awkwardly, asked me.
“Aren’t you going to help?”
“Those guys are enough for those things. I need to wait for the ones that come after.”
“You mean…”
“This is only the beginning.”
The other monsters were hiding beneath the ground.
The monsters were crouched as if they would leap out the moment an order was given.
Most likely, the control entity had sent those humanoid monsters because it did not want to damage its prey.
I had to keep an eye on those monsters.
Just as I said, those humanoid monsters could be dealt with well enough by the Chinese who had stepped forward.
If there had been no energy users, it might have been difficult, but there were two users among them.
Of course, one of them had not revealed that he was a user, but if things became dangerous, he would have no choice but to act.
On top of that, Magreta was here.
Right now, the end of the whip she held was following the charging Chinese.
As the people ran toward them, the humanoid monsters’ movements and appearances changed.
The monsters that had been swaying limply became several times faster.
“Kraaaak!”
There was one monster that lunged while baring sharp teeth, and another that attacked while stretching its fingers like awls.
“Get a hold of yourselves and thrust your spears!”
At the captain’s shout, the soldiers thrust their spears.
Puaaaak!
White blood shot into the sky.
“They really are monsters!”
“Die!”
“Fall back! Be careful, its whole body stretches all over the place!”
Amid the mixture of shouts and screams, the monsters were rapidly dealt with.
As expected, the humanoid monsters were no match for the Chinese soldiers.
The captain at the front cut through the monsters’ bodies with his spear, and the other soldiers thrust their spears to prevent the monsters from approaching.
The other user who had been hiding also secretly used his ability to kill monsters, and when the two of them could not block everything, Magreta stepped in.
Her whip bound the legs of the rampaging monsters.
White blood and red blood sprayed up, and the monsters’ limbs flew into the sky.
It was an impressive sight.
A sight I had not seen in a long time.
As expected, when it came to fights, brawls between weaklings were the most entertaining to watch.
[This is what they call popcorn-worthy, right?]
Sof seemed to be thinking something similar to me.
A little while later, the battle ended.
“Waaaah!”
The captain and the soldiers who had defeated the monsters cheered loudly.
No one had died or been seriously wounded in the fight against the monsters, so it was worth cheering over.
Since they did not know just how weak the enemies they had defeated were, they could even feel proud.
Secretary Li, who knew the situation, let out a sigh.
Magreta shook her head as well, but I did not mock those who were rejoicing.
It was not the time to mock them.
The exhibition match was over, so now it was time for the main event to begin.
The monsters that had been hiding began to move.
Dudududu.
The entire ruins shook, and dust billowed thickly into the air.
It could not even be compared to when the humanoid monsters appeared.
Dust filled the ruins, and behind that dust, several enormous silhouettes rose up.
A dreadful aura surged from the ruins.
It was the distorted energy possessed by the Akzar monsters.
It was the aura that had ruined the Chinese hiding underground, and for the Chinese here, it was a shock they were experiencing for the first time.
“Ah… Ah… Monsters…”
The people’s faces turned pale.
Their spears trembled, and the solid formation grew tangled.
“Get a hold of yourselves! Those things are just the same monsters!”
Captain Li Wei shouted again, but this time, it did not work.
“But those are different.”
“H-how are we supposed to beat that…”
Even at the captain’s scolding, the soldiers retreated.
Among them, there was even someone who fled with a terrified face.
Only one person ran away, but that alone made fighting impossible.
Captain Li Wei alone tried to fight, but there was nothing he could do by himself.
In any case, even if everyone had been in perfect condition, there was nothing they could do.
It was time for me to step forward.
I took my spear and advanced.
[Sof, please take care of the shield.]
The first thing I did was ask Sof for a protective barrier.
Along with Sof’s spell, a translucent barrier formed around the Chinese.
Next, I pointed behind me and spoke to Magreta.
“Take care of the one running away.”
Where I pointed, there was a soldier fleeing with all his might.
He was running so fast his feet were hardly visible.
The man sprinting as if he were about to set a new world record in the hundred-meter dash was another energy user.
A soldier who had been hiding the fact that he had become a user all this time.
Since he had used his power in a way different from what I had expected when the dangerous moment arrived, we had to catch him.
“You just want me to hold him?”
Magreta asked again as she looked at the soldier, who was growing smaller and smaller.
“If he makes things annoying, you can kill him.”
“I’ll hold him. We want to know why he deceived us, don’t we?”
I certainly was curious.
Besides, there was no reason for Magreta to be put in danger by someone who had only just become a user.
When I nodded, Magreta launched herself toward the fleeing soldier.
She did not run like the soldier.
She launched herself by shortening the length of the whip she had driven into a distant point.
The whip pulled taut, and she quickly grew distant.
I had trapped the soldiers inside the shield, and sent Magreta elsewhere, so now there was nothing left to get in the way of the fight.
Monsters were rushing out from the ruins, but my opponent was not those monsters.
“Don’t just hide and send out your subordinates. Come out.”
Ignoring the charging monsters, I drove my spear into the ground.
At the same time, I cast a spell.
[Rise. Collapse. Shatter. Earthwake.]
Along with the incantation, the ground moved.
Kwakwakwakwang.
The ground beneath the monsters surged up, and another monster’s body was buried in the earth.
Monsters were flung in every direction, and the ruins collapsed.
My magic did not only change the surface.
It took effect underground as well, and the monsters’ nest was thrown into chaos.
Boooooooom!
The control entity began to rise to the surface.