Now

“What’s the problem, PC3?”

“Spawn Zone 315349’s forest is on fire, Designation: Honor.”

“That is correct.” Cal pitched his voice to sound flat and toneless.

“This was not in the plan you outlined.”

“Remember what I said about plans changing? Sometimes you’re presented with a better opportunity or it’s a matter of necessity, but the key is to remain flexible enough to take advantage of the situation.”

“Which does this fall under?”

Cal shrugged. “A little bit from column A and a little bit from column B.”

Prime Custodian 3’s holographic projection stared at Cal. The Threnosh’s helmet was retracted, which revealed the chess board pattern of gray tones on their skin.

“Both,” Cal said. “The unexpected response from the mantisors did two things. One,” he held up a finger, “revealed that their numbers exceeded your projections by a significant margin. Two,” he held up a second finger, “placed the team in a combat situation they weren’t ready for. The fire will mix things up.”

“To what end?”

“Not sure yet, depends on what the monsters do next.” Cal shrugged. “They might be driven from the zone. Right into your walls and defenses. They might be driven into the mountains. Or they might be driven underground, into the hive, which is my guess.”

“I have reviewed the engagement. The mantisor numbers were beyond projections. I apologize.”

Cal nodded. “Plus they weren’t supposed to aggro like that. All of your information indicated that their radius was fairly small.”

“Perhaps there was a change.”

“Maybe the team was being too efficient in clearing out the forest. They were almost at seventy percent cleared. This was the first foray into the suspected influence zone of the hive.”

“I disagree. Recorded information from previous expeditions into this spawn zone and the others indicates that invasive organisms do not behave in the manner displayed.”

“Then maybe we stumbled on an even bigger problem,” Cal said.

“Explain.”

“What if this is because you passed your ten year tutorial period? What if everything you knew about how this all worked… changed?”

“One incident does not demand full concern. However, I will take this to the Collective and gather more information. Perhaps others have further observations and experiences that can lend support to your theory.”

“Always got to test out that hypothesis,” Cal sighed. “On an unrelated note… I need more stuff.”

“Clarify.”

“Drones, automated turrets, ammo, an army,” Cal said.

“You have already been assigned the requisite amount for the cycle.”

“Lost most of them last night.”

“Request denied.”

“C’mon, PC3. The team’s going to need all the help they can get if they’re going to knock out this spawn point. I mean, you put this facility in the middle of a bunch of them. The equipment we got wasn’t ever going to be enough to tackle them all,” Cal said. “And if my theory is even close to being right. We, you and me, might be sitting on top of a volcano ready to blow. Easy mode is done. The spires might be months, days, away from turning it up a notch.”

“I only understood a slight majority of your words, but I believe that I have ascertained the general sentiment,” Prime Custodian 3 said. “Unfortunately, resources are strictly allocated. To send you more means that others will be deprived. This is not done by Threnosh.”

“Right, so no help then.”

“There is another way for you to replenish your assets.”

Cal grimaced. “I know, I can buy them from the spires. Except I’m trying to gain Universal Points, not spend them on things you can simply just give to me. Can you truly say that there are places that need the equipment more than us? What impact will taking one drone away from a couple of hundred different places have on them versus how much a couple of hundred drones will help here?”

“It is not the Threnosh way.”

Cal rolled his eyes. Then grinned at Prime Custodian 3. “Part of me admires the way you stick to your guns. Another part of me wonders what it’ll take for you to get off the track. Perhaps a hundred ton locomotive barreling in your direction?”

“I do not understand your words?” A look of confusion briefly crossed Prime Custodian 3’s face. “Do you have anything further to report? Perhaps, how you intend to respond to the forest fire in Spawn Zone 315349?”

“Nope,” Cal grinned. “Going to let it burn itself out. The kill zone you guys built around the wall perimeter is a perfect fire break. The mountains do the same to the north. I’m really hoping that the fire will cook the entire hive or maybe starve the monsters of oxygen… I’m assuming they need oxygen. I mean they had lung-like structures according to your data, but one can never be too sure when it comes to spire bullshit.”

“Adequate,” Prime Custodian 3 said flatly.

“Good talk. Hopefully by this time next week, I’ll be telling you about how we cleared out the spawn point.”

Cal left out the specifics of what he intended beyond that. He didn’t feel too guilty about his plan to seize control of the spawn point. He wasn’t even sure that the Threnosh could understand the concept through a simple verbal explanation.

From what he’d been able to gather they hadn’t even considered farming the spawn points. They had been content to leave it to their walls and defenses. Sure, they’d send in teams to deal with specific troubles, but they hadn’t gone after the boss monsters unless circumstances forced their hands. They didn’t even seem to be aware of the existence of the secret boss, through which they could gain control of the spawn point.

Cal knew he couldn’t just share this with them, not even his ally, Prime Custodian 3. The Threnosh needed to see it in action, see the benefits. He’d drop the entire science project on them at once. Hypothesis, experiment and result all at the same time. He wouldn’t give them a chance to interfere.

“Should I do a presentation?” Cal mused. “A holographic powerpoint sounds kind of cool.”

Cal remained in his office for the rest of the day. He spent it buried in holographic projections. A variety of open files were scattered all over the place, hanging in midair.

One live image was an overhead view of the forest fire as it raged through the spawn point. The high-tech camera pierced through the thick smoke to show the ground level. Automated sensors weren’t picking up any mantisor movement. Likewise, cameras and sensors pointed at the open boundary between the tree line and the mountains were set to alert Cal if any movement was detected. The monsters’ camouflage only worked when they were still. If they moved, he would be notified.

An alert beeped on his PID. He brought it up. Everyone was headed back from their trip to the spire. The team and even the interrogators, the engineer and the fabricator, all had received a significant amount of Universal Points for their roles in the desperate retreat from the mantisors.

Cal was right about direct control of the drones and turrets. He couldn’t wait to remind Tides and Loaming of that fact. The four noncombatants received around one thousand points a piece. The most points received hovered around the five thousand mark. The trio of Caretaker, Shira and Primal gained that amount. Frequency and Kynnro trailed them by around a thousand to fifteen hundred. Such gains were practically unheard of, as far as the Threnosh claimed.

He returned to reviewing the files on the next group of recruits scheduled to arrive in a little over a week. After about five minutes his PID beeped again. The message was from Caretaker. It was a brief overview of the upgrades that each member of the team had just purchased. He had to admit that Caretaker was always on the ball.

He stopped what he was doing to take a look.

He started with the as of yet unofficial field leader, Caretaker. “Should probably make that official,” he mused.

A gesture brought the message from the PID to a projection right in the middle of Cal’s plain metal desk.

Caretaker’s words were terse, written in text, which somehow was being translated for his eyes by the magic of the spires or it was super science based. Or maybe something else entirely. Cal felt his eye twitch. Every time he thought about how this worked his brain started to hurt.

Still, Cal took the brief effort to remind himself that what he was reading wasn’t actually in English.

Caretaker had increased the battery power for his spire exoskeleton. They also increased their predictive combat algorithm’s performance capability by 2%. What that meant? Cal had no clue. The Threnosh didn’t add an explanation.

Shira’s purchase was a 50% increase to their power armor’s internal blood storage capacity and an increase of viability from one day to two. Again, there was no explanation on how that worked.

Knowing how hands-off the spires were in terms of guidance, Cal figured he’d never know the full answer.

Moving on, Primal decided to complete full repairs to their power armor inside the spire.

“Huh? I didn’t know that was possible,” Cal said.

The tiniest and surliest Threnosh he knew had also purchased improvements to the power armor’s internal musculature, which translated to a 2% increase to overall physical strength.

Frequency’s purchase was straightforward enough. They bought a system of deployable speakers. Whether wired or wireless, Caretaker didn’t say.

Kynnro, meanwhile, bought a superior power source, which increased their power armor’s potential output by a whopping 100%.

Cal took a few seconds to type out a message.

Thanks :) Will talk about plans when u get back.

He wondered how the spires would translate that for the Threnosh.

The fire burned for five days before it finally died. It left behind a charred and blackened landscape. Cal felt a little guilty. The forest had truly been an unspoiled natural wonderland. Minus the monsters and mutant animals of course. It would’ve been a great place to camp and hike. To be the first human to explore a forest in an actual alien world. Who wouldn’t want that opportunity? Maybe in a year or two once the place was under proper management. First they had a boss monster to kill and, the team didn’t know it yet, but also a secret boss to kill.

Everything was ready. None of the mantisors had fled into the mountains. A smattering tried to get over the walls. They were dealt with by the automated defense measures. Any monsters that remained had to be inside the hive.

“Alright guys. Commence bombing run.”

Cal watched from high above in the sky as the four spire-made drones crisscrossed over the blasted forest. “Sorry,” he muttered. He was about to tear up the landscape even more.

The hum from the anti-gravity tech was audible the from sleek, menacing-looking drones, like predatory sharks gliding through the ocean. They were larger than the standard Threnosh-made drones, which meant they could be filled with significantly more power, weapons and munitions. This included bombs. More specifically a type of bomb that penetrated the ground before exploding.

The drones had cost Cal quite a lot of Universal Points, but fortunately he hadn’t needed to shell out for the weapons and ammo.

As explosions filled the air he decided that it was worth it.

“That’ll take care of any mantisors that might’ve gone to ground,” Cal said.

“Scanners detect no movement,” Caretaker said over the comms.

“Nice job. Start mining the approach from the mountains.” Cal directed the four temporary drone operators back at their base.

“Acknowledged.” Interrogator Ebbing Tides 2337 said in return.

Cal descended to the ground. “Let’s go,” he said to the team. “We’ve got a bit of a walk to our staging point.”

“Why must we walk? Can you not fly us there?”

“Because we need to give the drones time to drop the mines,” Caretaker said.

The answer seemed to be enough for Primal. They remained silent as they took the lead. The rest of the group fell in line behind, while Cal brought up the rear.

It took a few hours to reach their destination. The fact that they could move in a straight line greatly reduced their travel time. Cal had kept a close eye on the overhead scanners the entire time. There was nothing living around their immediate vicinity and for miles around.

“We have reached the location,” Caretaker said. “Deploy the turrets.” They dropped the turret that they had been carrying on their back.

The others did the same to the ones that they were carrying. Three for Primal. They had a total of eight automated turrets left.

“Operator, you have control,” Caretaker said into their comms.

“Acknowledged.” Engineer Verdant Mechanica 3581’s voice came back. The engineer was responsible for moving the turrets into the front of their position before leaving them to act based on the parameters set in the virtual intelligence. Once they were done they resumed direct control of their assigned spire-made drone. “The turrets will hold position and expend their ammunition.”

“Understood,” Caretaker said. “Frequency, deploy your mobile audio enhancers.”

Cal silently shook his head at the translation provided by the spires’ system.

Eight small disk-shaped objects detached from their recessed berths on Frequency’s power armor. To Cal they resembled wireless speakers, except for the hovering on anti-gravity tech thing. They flew forward to a position behind the automated turrets, some one hundred yards distant.

“There is a dearth of trees and foliage. Will they be sufficiently concealed?”

“Yes, Caretaker. I hid them in the rubble and in the ground,” Frequency said. “They will be difficult to locate.”

“Kynnro, assume your position. You have the next section,” Caretaker said.

“Are we ready?”

“Yes, Honor.”

Cal nodded. “Alright, Primal. Hold on to your lunch.”

“My sustenance is liquid and I have already imbibed it. It sits inside my stomach. How can I hold such a thing?”

“Figure of speech,” Cal sighed.

“Your words do not ma—”

The rest of what Primal was going to say was drowned out by the sudden distance between them and the rest of the team, as Cal suddenly shot up into the air with the massive power armor in a tight telekinetic grip.

“Amazing…” Kynnro spoke with undisguised awe.

“Focus on your task,” Caretaker said. They were in agreement with Kynnro’s assessment, but it was not the time to be distracted.

Cal heard the frantic breathing through his helmet. “You alright in there, Primal.”

There was no response for many seconds. Only the breathing, which was slowly brought back under control.

“I was not prepared for the rate of ascent,” Primal said.

Cal chuckled. The Threnosh’s tone was accusatory. “Sorry about that. I figured you could handle it. Seeing as how you’re nice and snug in that pile of metal.”

“My inertial dampeners were pushed to their limit.”

Cal instantly felt bad. He had forgotten the natural fragility of the Threnosh body. It must’ve been worse with Primal, who was the tiniest Threnosh he had ever seen. “Injuries?”

There was no reply for a few seconds. “Negative. Biological functions are within standard parameters.”

“I’ll be more careful next time.”

“There will be a next time?”

Cal couldn’t help but grin at the hesitation in Primal’s words. The tiniest Threnosh was almost the most hardass-y of them all. At least from the limited sample size. It was funny, in a way, that small man syndrome transcended species.

“Needs must,” Cal mused. “But we’re here.” He took a deep breath before opening his eyes. Heights were a thing for Cal, which was ironic considering he could fly. The bright blue sky around him was amazingly beautiful. It was also scary. His stomach was practically dancing. He subvocalized a command and the transparent face-plate of his helmet darkened until he could barely see out of it. While he was up here, he was going to use the overlay. Much easier to deal with it when what he was looking at resembled a video game.

Nearly a mile up. Good thing his superhuman body could handle the relatively quick ascent and lower oxygen amount. Ditto for Primal and the life support systems in their power armor.

“I await your command to commence bombardment,” Primal said.

“Caretaker, we’re ready to begin. Are you ready?”

Caretaker’s reply came back immediately in Cal’s helmet. “Yes, Honor.”

“One shot, Primal. Let’s see what we can kick out.”

Primal drew back on their spire-made bow, sighted the target and loosed a javelin-sized metal arrow. The missile shook the sky with a loud boom as it descended with blinding speed.

A second later the hive exploded like it was just hit with a bunker buster. Rubble shot up and out in a spray as if a miniature volcano just erupted.

An already fast missile helped along by gravity was a devastating weapon.

“Again?”

“Hold on. Let’s see what comes out first?”

Cal kept his eyes on the image from the powerful satellite view. It cut through the obscuring cloud of debris to ground level. Shapes, movement, dozens, hundreds, suddenly started streaming out of hive. Unfortunately they were spreading out in all directions.

“Caretaker. Get their attention. Drone operators, see if you can lure them back to our preferred path.”

“Acknowledged.” They replied in near unison.

“Primal, another please.”

Primal drew, sighted and loosed. Another explosion of dirt and other organic matter showered the ground and the mantisors.

“Target that mass running to the north.”

The arrow flew and wiped the mantisors from Cal’s view.

“I want you to spread your arrows. Try to spread out the damage to the hive. I don’t want any of them to think they can hide anywhere down there.”

“Acknowledged.” Primal loosed another arrow. Then another.

Meanwhile at ground level the mantisors rushed the first line of defense. The automated turrets spat out projectiles at a rate of a thousand per minute. They mowed down a large swath of the charging monsters. It may have taken a ridiculous amount of rounds to put one down, but that was exactly what the turrets did.

Unfortunately, there were so many monsters that they soon overran the turrets. They were torn apart with scything limbs as the monsters ran past them.

Drones strafed the masses with the same kind of fire. They weaved through the air and barely avoided the mantisor fliers that used wing-assisted leaps in an attempt to rip them from the sky.

“Frequency, engage with your sound attack.” Caretaker’s voice was calm while they took precise shots with their recoilless rifle.

A look of concentration on Frequency’s face was visible through their translucent face-plate.

One hundred yards away the first line of charging mantisors entered the radius of Frequency’s hidden speakers. The eight of them were spread out to cover a rectangular area roughly fifty yards by fifty yards.

The mantisors made it about halfway before they slowed and then fell to the ground. A liquid slurry leaked out of their orifices. Internal organs turned to mush by the deadly vibrations of Frequency’s sound waves.

“Time?” Caretaker turned to Frequency.”

“One minute, thirty seconds of power left.”

“Kynnro, in one minute prepare the next layer.”

“Yes, Caretaker.”

The Threnosh in the sleek power armor stepped forward a dozen paces and took up their position.

“Shira,” Caretaker began.

“On it,” Shira said. They were already moving after Kynnro.

“Drone Operators, keep clear of layer three.” Caretaker did not acknowledge the reply. They resumed firing at the oncoming mantisors. Even though Frequency’s sound field was devastatingly effective, it wasn’t going to last long enough. There were hundreds more of the monsters coming.

“Looks like they’ll be in Kynnro’s layer soon,” Cal said.

Things were going according to plan. Except for the fact that the boss monster still hadn’t made its appearance. They’d killed over a hundred mantisors already. Not counting however many were killed inside the hive from Primal’s arrow barrage. Did they need to actually go into the hive? What happened if the hive was reduced to rubble?

“Primal. Time to use those explosive arrows you bought from the spire.”

There was hesitation in Primal’s voice. “Yes…”

“C’mon man, what’d you buy them for if you aren’t going to use them.”

“… very well. What shall I target?”

“Same thing. Maximum coverage on the hive. Let’s take away all the hiding places.”

Primal loosed a special exploding arrow. Then another and another. Until all five had turned what was left of the hive into a sizable crater.

Cal peered closely through the smoke. The enhanced image didn’t reveal anything different. Just the three expected varieties of mantisors, although the number seemed to be dwindling to a trickle.

“Damn it. This is fine,” Cal muttered. “Primal’s out of arrows. We’re heading back to join the line.” He announced over the comms.

“Acknowledged.”

Cal detected a hint of relief in Caretaker’s voice.

They flew back quickly, but mindful of Primal’s physical tolerances Cal slowed down their rate of descent. As they drew closer to the rest of the team Interrogator Ebbing Tides 2337’s voice chimed in his ears.

“Designation: Honor. I believe two significantly sized groups of mantisors are moving to flank your defensive position.”

“Uh oh. How significant?”

“Fifteen to the left and twenty to the right.”

“Thanks, Tides. Did you get that Caretaker?”

“Yes, Honor. What do you advise?”

“We’ll take care of it,” Cal said. “Primal, I’m dropping you on the left. Then I’ll take care of the right side.”

While Cal changed direction to head off the flanking mantisors the battle at ground level had moved to the third layer of their defense.

Frequency ran out of energy to power their sound field. The mantisors trampled over their dead as they rushed headlong into a widespread cloud of ash.

The emitter on Kynnro’s helmet lit up as a bright, red laser lanced out into the cloud.

Fire bloomed in the wide swath thirty to forty yards in front of Kynnro. The chittering sounds of dozens of mantisors filled the air. Even monsters felt pain.

The handful of mantisors that emerged were on fire. Caretaker ended their misery with precise shots.

Kynnro raised their left arm and sprayed another ash cloud ten yards closer to their position. Their laser ignited the second cloud. Again, fire claimed dozens of mantisors.

So many dead and dying, yet they still came on. Like a tide breaking on the shore.

Ten yards closer.

Kynnro raised their right arm and swept it in an arc from one side to the other. Small, silvery canisters shot out and exploded once they reached the target point. A multitude of tiny reflective particles spread out and covered the space.

Mantisors entered it at the same time that Kynnro used their laser.

The pencil-thin beams reflected off the particles, bouncing from one to another, over and over again. The monsters were caught in the web of burning light. Their carapaces provided little defense as the lasers cut through to their innards.

Yet still more came on.

“Kynnro, fall back. Shira the zone is yours,” Caretaker said.

The black-clad Threnosh rushed forward with undisguised eagerness. Their thirst for blood was about to be slaked.

“Frequency, Kynnro, provide fire support on Shira’s flanks. We must keep the mantisors from getting around them. Remember to keep clear of their zone,” Caretaker said. “Honor, they have reached our penultimate layer of defense. When will their boss appear?”

Cal heard the question over the comms, but he didn’t have the exact answer, so he kept quiet for the moment. Besides he had to drop Primal off. He flew fast until he was directly above the fifteen flanking mantisors. He dived with Primal in his telekinetic grip trailing behind. At the last moment he pulled up and buzzed the mantisors throwing them into disarray.

It was into this confused group that he dropped Primal like the one ton metal wrecking machine that they were.

“Hang on, Caretaker,” Cal said as he zoomed away to deal with the twenty mantisors approaching from the right side of the team’s defensive position. “I’ll be joining you shortly.”

Primal didn’t waste time as soon as their feet hit the ground they went on the attack. The knot of mantisors in front of them got a taste of their twenty-one gun stomach salute. They were shot to shreds.

A small group attacked Primal from behind. The minigun on their shoulder swiveled around to rake them with a sustained burst of projectiles.

The two remaining mantisors were different. They looked significantly bigger, bulkier. Their carapaces were much thicker.

Hidden inside their giant power armor, Primal grinned. The mantisor brute variant that they had been looking forward to fighting this entire time. Perhaps these would prove to be more of a challenge.

The brute on the left and the one in front of Primal rushed in at the same time. A scything forelimb lashed out and Primal blocked it with a raised arm. The limb cut through the first layer of armor and stuck.

Primal’s display flashed red and the damage alert sounded in their ear holes. They ignored it. As the brute tried to pull its forelimb out the second one leapt forward with both forelimbs aimed in a downward slash toward Primal’s chest.

They trusted in the thickness of their armor, but since they were ensconced within the torso they weren’t going to risk it. They blocked the brute’s attack with their bow. The forelimbs sparked off the metal, but the bow held.

Primal pitched forward and pinned the brute to the ground with the end of their bow. They opened up their minigun on the trapped monster. It took several seconds of sustained, practically point-blank fire, but the carapace finally cracked, then failed. The brute died.

The brute on their left finally pried its forelimb out of Primal’s arm. It spun around to their rear and slashed at the back of their legs. The scythe-like forelimbs cut deeply into the armor, but found nothing vital.

Primal swiveled the grenade launcher around and let loose. Their armor could handle the shrapnel. As it turned out so could the brute’s carapace. However, it was momentarily stunned by the concussion waves.

Primal promptly smashed the brute into the ground with a powerful blow of their bow. They kept hitting it until it was pulp.

Their task completed, Primal quickly checked the damage they had received. There was nothing to be concerned about at the moment so they hurried to join the rest of their team.

On the opposite side of the battle Cal wasted no time. He swooped down on the mantisors, briefly noted that there were several of the brute variants, then quickly cut them to pieces with a dozen telekinetically-controlled knife blades. These were an upgrade on the plain old earth steel ones that he had to leave behind. They were made out of the Threnosh’s super metal, stronger, denser, but somehow not significantly heavier.

The mantisors were being destroyed. The boss just had to make an appearance. Cal hurried back to the team. He needed to be present to make sure that a total team wipe wasn’t going to happen. Just in case.

The readings made no sense. There were no active fault lines within a thousand miles of the mountains south of the city of Lumin Algrovan. And the ones responsible for creating the mountains had been dormant for over a hundred thousand years. Yet, somehow the earth shook in a way that was impossible according to science.

It wasn’t the strength of the quake that was exceptional for it was on the bottom half of the scale. It was the fact that the mountains had been shaking nonstop for weeks now. This was in fact an impossibility. The mountains that overlooked the city were not volcanoes. There was no magma activity anywhere beneath them, unless one counted the next layer of their planet, dozens of kilometers down.

Seismologist Elacs Rethcir 9 was the first one to notice the anomaly, so it had fallen on them to head to the site to investigate after remote scans had failed to shed light on the situation. They would come to regret the moment they responded to the alert on their PID.

They had the dubious distinction of being the first to see with their own eyes what emerged as the mountainside exploded in a spray of stone and rock the size of residential facilities and transports.

The monster burst out of the mountain like a rocket. It was dark, like a shadow. Larger than the Threnosh’s largest flying transport. It seemed impossible for something so large to fly so fast.

Seismologist Elacs Rethcir 9’s pilot saved both their lives with the quickness of their reaction. They moved their transport just out of the way of something that lashed out them. Having seen enough the pilot turned the transport around and fled at maximum speed. It would take the seismologist several valuable minutes to convince them to return. At a safer distance, of course. In the time it took to return the monster had reached Lumin Algrovan, which was over eighty kilometers away from the mountains.

The pilot kept them far above the monster as it floated over the city on what appeared to be a direct course to the center. The seismologist’s instruments enabled them to record a variety of readings from the monster while the visual recorders provided a perfect view of the devastation it caused.

The evidence of the monster’s passing was easy to follow. It left a wide area of utterly destroyed structures. The walls and its defensive measures gone. Entire multi-level buildings turned to rubble. Even the roadways were torn up.

As the monster hovered over the city center, the seismologist finally obtained a clear view thanks to the lights from the combat drones that swarmed it with ineffective projectile fire.

The monster’s dorsal surface was black. Its body was rectangular in shape. Its head was indistinguishable from the body. It had a pair of broad, triangular wings on either side. The data coming back from the scans indicated that its entire shape was surprisingly flat. There was a visible glow from the rear portion of its body. A quick look at the energy readings showed a large amount of heat was being expelled from its rear. There was also a distortion to the gravity readings directly underneath it, similar to what could be found with their own flying vehicles.

As they watched a pair of long, tentacles slapped out from somewhere around its head. They were three times the body length and as thick around as a tree trunk. Their size and weight crushed through a nearby building where a group of soldiers had been pouring projectile fire into the monster.

A mixed team of baseline infantry and heavy infantry moved toward the monster on ground level. They fired everything they had into the monster, but it ignored them. As the seismologist zoomed in for a better view. More tentacles, smaller and shorter than the first two, and lacking the spade-like shape on their ends, emerged from near where they estimated the head was located.

Dozens of tentacles shot out. Each wrapped around a Threnosh soldier and dragged them toward its head. What happened to them after they disappeared from view? The seismologist could only speculate.

The monster suddenly stopped and dived straight into the ground. The buildings around it collapsed in its wake as it tore an enormous hole in the ground. The crater left behind continued to grow as even more structures were drawn into it.

A few seconds later Lumin Algrovan went dark. Every light in the city named for it, winked out. Every reading that the seismologist consulted showed the same thing. There was no more power.

The pilot circled the city at a safe distance for several minutes as the seismologist continued to monitor the scans. Nothing. The immensely powerful energy core that powered the city had simply vanished. One moment it was functioning properly, providing power to the entire city. In the next. It was gone.

The monster burst forth with a thunderous eruption of natural ground matter and Threnosh made debris.

“Impossible,” Seismologist Elacs Rethcir 9 said. They felt something they were unfamiliar with. It made their heart beat rapidly. They didn’t know what to make of it. It was as if their heart wanted to escape their chest cavity.

They compared the monster’s initial scans to its current readings. It had grown in size by ten percent and it had done so in less than ten minutes time.