Only the Two of Them Landed!

Inside the command center, Major Boren scratched his beard vigorously.

This is one of his habits; he likes to scratch whenever he gets anxious.

"What the hell do we do?"

"This task that only earns a thousand military merits is more troublesome than any task that earns tens of thousands of military merits."

In the command room, second lieutenants were constantly going in and out.

Various investigation data were also handed to the vice-captains via a dedicated disposable screen.

Captain Boren couldn't think of a good solution at the moment, and in his frustration, he picked up one of the documents to examine.

Within seconds, the soft screen was forcefully slammed to the ground.

His face was already flushed with anxiety and anger, and he immediately flew into a rage.

"Get the hell out of here!!"

"What use would I be to this planet's terrain data at this point!"

Upon seeing this, the lieutenant who was about to enter the room immediately stopped, looked at the documents he was about to hand over, and then bowed his head and turned to leave.

The lieutenants who were still waiting inside were now in trouble and dared not even breathe.

He only disappeared from the command room after receiving a signal from the first mate, Brody.

"Radar Department, who told you to stop!"

"Where's the Magnetic Pulse Cannon? Keep firing!"

On the other side of the virtual projection, Truman, the Secretary of the Radar Satellite Department, immediately gave orders to the officers behind him.

Soon, several mechanical engineering officers restarted the magnetic cannons and continued firing at the planet's surface.

After giving the orders, Truman cautiously offered a reminder.

"Captain... our magnetic cannons can only strike the surface."

"These black ants can burrow deep into the ground to hide, so... we can't really deal with them!"

"Don't I know? Then tell me what to do! Let the neutron cannons bombard them again!?"

"You think the mission is complete once we've reduced this planet to ashes?"

Although Truman appeared embarrassed by Captain Boren's outburst, he was actually quite used to it.

He knows his own captain well. He doesn't really hold a grudge against you when he scolds you; he's just venting his anger. Even so, he's already much better than most other captains.

After pausing for a moment, he made the suggestion again.

"Captain, isn't there also Landing Operations Department?"

"The individual black ants on this resource planet aren't very strong. If the soldiers follow their usual training, working in groups of three, they should be able to wipe them out without any problems."

"If something goes wrong, will you guarantee me anything?!"

"Let me tell you, if another case of such an abnormally high mortality rate occurs, not only will headquarters stop giving us missions, but the Federation Military District might even send an investigation team!"

Although Captain Boren has a quick temper and likes to yell, he is not bad at making decisions.

Knowing what happened last time, the main reason was that the headquarters of the Arcane Army Group was aware of the special nature of the mission and had already applied for special approval for the mortality rate.

Their fleet was only penalized because they exceeded even the specially approved standards.

This mission is just a small task with a mere thousand military merits. If the mortality rate exceeds the limit for this kind of mission, he might as well resign now.

"I'd rather fail this mission and report back to headquarters to transfer it than take this risk again."

"At worst, we can take a break from our work for a year or two; consider it a vacation for ourselves."

After saying that, he glanced at Vice Captain Brody, asking for his opinion.

Vice-Captain Brody shook his head as well, looking troubled.

I initially thought it was just one or two mutated alien beasts wreaking havoc, and that it would be a matter of firing the neutron cannon a few more times. Who knew the actual mission would be so troublesome?

"Captain... if you really want to take a gamble, you could call in officers of the rank of ensign and above to land and clear out the enemy."

"However, even after clearing the main nest, there are still over 100,000 black ants scattered across the planet, with many gathered underground."

The mission deadline is three days, and there are two days left.

"Maybe... we should just forget about it?"

Sigh!

With a long sigh, seeing that Vice-Captain Thorn was not present, Captain Boren was preparing to take Vice-Captain Brody's advice and submit a report to abandon the project.

It's really not worth taking such a big risk for a mere thousand military merits.

But before he could contact headquarters, Truman from the Radar Department suddenly spoke up in surprise.

"Captain! The Landing Operations Department has initiated the landing operation."

"What!?"

"What is Thorn doing? Who gave him the authority to arrange the landing on his own?!"

"Immediately issue this order: no soldier in the Landing Operations Department is allowed to leave the combat zone. Summon them all back immediately!"

Captain Boren's face grew increasingly grim, his heart filled with disbelief.

It's worth noting that Vice Captain Thorn is usually a conservative type, preferring to do nothing rather than make a mistake.

What's wrong with me today? They dared to make such a decision on their own without even reporting it to him.

"Captain... it seems no crew members have landed."

Truman's voice rang out again, but this time his expression was even more strange and complicated.

This prompted Boren was on the other side of the projector, to unleash another torrent of curses.

Are you fucking kidding me?

"Sometimes I'm logged in, sometimes I'm not!"

"Truman, you don't want to be the radar chief anymore, do you!?"

"Captain, it's true! I've switched the camera to the command center."

"The landing zone was indeed activated, but the soldiers didn't go down."

"It seems... it seems only Minister Lister and Major Thorn... only the two of them landed."

Truman had only just identified his target at this point.

As the "eyes" of the A73 Cruiser, this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre situation.

Major Boren then projected the image onto the giant screen behind him.

This is usually the ship's control instrument area, but now the screen only shows Lister and Thorn, who have just landed.

At this moment, Lister was experiencing his first landing.

The cruiser itself did not land or dock, but hovered outside the planet.

He made a fixed-distance landing using a small teleportation array in the landing zone.

Major Thorn, standing beside him, remained skeptical.

Are you sure you have a way to get rid of these black ants?

"If you can't resolve this, even if you have connections at headquarters, you can forget about keeping your position as minister!"

"I know."

"Anyway, I'll take responsibility if it's not resolved, so you don't need to worry."

Lister went to great lengths to persuade Thorn.

Nothing worked, since the failure of this mission would affect the subsequent missions and military merits of all officers on the warship.

In the end, it was only because of his connection to the "headquarters" of the Arcane Army Group that Major Thorn agreed to take the risk.

He originally logged in by himself, but Thorn was worried, so he came down with him.

Strolling on this resource-rich planet, there's not much scenery to speak of.

Aside from sand and gravel, there are various abandoned machines, with the occasional exposed Black Obsidian Fu Ore.

"Click~ Tap~ Click~!"

The sound of loosening rocks came from nearby, and the approaching, multi-legged sounds of giant black ants could be heard from not far away.

Before long, Lister and his companion were surrounded by more than a dozen giant black ants.

Neither of them took this level of threat seriously, but Major Thorn couldn't help but ask again.

"Tell me, what are you going to do?"

"Don't tell me you're planning to just kill them one by one like this."

Upon hearing this, a smile involuntarily appeared on Lister's face.

Seeing this, Major Thorn felt a sense of foreboding.

His eyes were fixed on Lister, his expression no longer calm, and his confidence was gone.

After a while, a sentence floated into my ear.

"Just kill them like that!"

He ignored Major Thorn's increasingly furious face.

Lister drew the Black Leaf Laceration Blade from his waist, and Killing Intent Wave instantly erupted.

An immense, sharp, and oppressive aura erupted directly from him.

After its Robust Soul and upgraded, the intensity of its Killing Intent Wave now far exceeds that of ordinary souls.

The oppressive aura continued to spread, and the deep-seated fear caused the dozen or so giant black ants around to stop their impending attack and instead begin to tremble incessantly.

At the same time, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble as if it were a massive earthquake.

This was not an earthquake, but rather the strange scene caused by the trembling of countless black ants hiding deep underground.

At that moment, Major Thorn naturally felt this oppressive aura as well.

Even though his rank was three ranks higher than Lister's, he could still feel the terrifying power of that pressure.

The sharpness of that edge, piercing straight into his heart and seemingly reaching the depths of his soul, even instilled a faint sense of fear in him.

The anger that had just surged in his heart dissipated instantly, and he inexplicably became more patient with Lister.

Lister slowly closed his eyes, the blade in his hand hanging idly at his side.

His senses continued to spread throughout his body, reaching a diameter of hundreds of kilometers, so that even the black ants deep underground could not escape his perception.

Until one instant, Lister opened his eyes again.

A violent surge of energy erupted from him!