Modern Cultivation : The Strongest Couple Bonded by Vampire System-Chapter 634: Soul Insect
The man studied him for a breath, then nodded once.
"Governor Rannor Veyl," he introduced. "Administrator of Halcyon-9 and acting governor of this sector."
His gaze moved to Mingyue, then back to Alex.
"I don’t care who you are. If you’re here you follow my orders. If you’re here to make trouble, I throw you out."
Mingyue’s eyes turned cold, but Alex lifted a hand slightly, stopping her.
Alex’s tone stayed calm.
"General Kael send us here to help. We want to join the army going down."
Rannor let out a breath and looked back at the planet display.
"You picked a good time. The Hive is spreading faster than our estimate
We have cultivators, mechs, guns, orbital cannons, none of it enough to clean them up.
These soul insect pest is as annoying as usual."
They could destroy the whole planet, but against soul insect this is not enough.
Not only they’re strong, the queen have capability to jump between the insect princess.
Yet every single insect could evolve into a princess.
This make extinguishing them to be very hard task, and now almost impossible.
Now that they already spread trough all planet on the system the only way to make sure is by destroying the whole system.
But the empire don’t want to do it as the resource here is still have decent value.
They want to keep it the mine operating as long as possible.
Alex looked at the planet feed. He saw heat signatures moving like swarms.
"Where should we go?" Alex asked.
Rannor pointed at the map and tapped a blinking mark near the planet’s night side.
"Surface Zone Cinder-12. There’s a squad holding the place. You join them."
"Who leads it?"
"Captain Jorren Hale," Rannor replied.
He threw Alex a small metal tag with a rune seal on it. "This will let other recognize you."
Alex caught it and nodded once. "We’re going now."
Rannor looked at him for a second, then spoke.
"Since general Kael recomend you, I hope you could get good result."
Alex didn’t answer. He turned and walked straight to the launch bay.
The shuttle was already waiting. It was a narrow craft with two seats and a cargo rack full of sealed ammo boxes.
Alex and Mingyue climbed in. They also took the ammo into their storage rings.
The hatch sealed.
A countdown started on the screen, then the shuttle shot out of the mining station like a bullet.
The planet show up on the window.
From orbit, the surface had streaks of fire and moving shadows.
Some areas still held city lights, but it’s only matter of time till they got involved.
The shuttle entered atmosphere.
Heat crawled across the hull. Formation lines flashed.
The craft shook, then stabilized, dropping toward a landing zone marked by burning flares.
BAM!!!
The moment it touched ground, the hatch slammed open.
Hot air rushed in, carrying the smell of smoke and metal.
Alex stepped out first.
He saw them immediately.
Thousands of insects.
They poured over broken concrete and twisted pipes like black water.
Their bodies were plated in dark chitin.
Their heads were like mantis skulls, with two curved blades where arms should be.
Some had extra limbs, like they were still evolving.
Some had swollen sacs on their backs that vibrate with faint light.
They moved fast.
"Tk-tk-tk-tk-tk...".
Their jaw clicked together, letting out a sharp sound that made the hair on the neck stand up.
Mingyue stepped out beside him.
Alex pulled a gun from his storage ring.
It was a Human Federation weapon, created with special formation, with energy cartridges.
It had rune lines engraved into the barrel to stabilize recoil and increase penetration.
He checked the magazine once, then raised it.
"Let’s go MingYue."
The insects surged.
Alex fired.
BANG!!!
The first shot punched through a mantis head and blew it apart.
BANG!!!
The second tore a hole through a chest plate and sent black blood spraying onto the ground.
Mingyue lifted her hand.
Ice formed in mid-air and shot forward as a row of sharp spikes.
It pierced through the front line and pinned several insects to the ground, but the ones behind climbed over.
Alex fired again and kept walking.
Two shots per target. Head, chest. Head, chest.
He never miss.
He didn’t try to clear all of them.
Only kill enough to make a path.
Behind them, the shuttle’s engine still hummed.
Alex turned his head slightly and spoke a command into the shuttle’s control rune.
The hatch slammed shut by itself.
A red light blinked once.
Alex and Mingyue fastened their pace.
They moved fast, weaving through broken structures, using walls and wreckage to block lines of attack.
A heartbeat later, the shuttle exploded.
BOOM!!!
A ball of fire rose behind them.
Metal fragments flew.
Several insects were torn apart and thrown into the air.
Alex didn’t look back, he keep moving.
Mingyue stayed close, her space energy flickering in short bursts to shift their position just enough to avoid being surrounded.
They fired while running.
Shots ripped through chitin, while ice turn the insect into ice cube.
A few insects jumped high, trying to land on them from above, but Mingyue’s space cut twisted their trajectory and slammed them into the ground.
A signal pinged on Alex’s transponder.
A direction arrow appeared.
He followed it, cutting through a ruined street that led toward the sound of heavier fighting.
BRRRTTT!!!!
BOOM! BAM!!!
When they turned the last corner, Alex saw the squad’s perimeter.
A line of barricades, with Auto-turrets firing nonstop.
Cultivators standing on top, swinging blades and using talismans.
And right in front of them, a wave of insects so thick it looked like a black.
Captain Jorren stood in the center, armor, face smeared with blood, shouting orders.
Then the swarm split.
Something larger pushed through from the back, its body as large as six wheeler track, blade-arms dragging sparks off the ground.
"The goliath Mantis is coming! Prepare yourself."
The cultivator gathered in formation.
The array udnerneat them lit up.
Qi gathered in the air than turned solid, creating a knight at the same size with the goliath mantis.
