Sudden Mutation

Rumble—rumble—!!

As the tremors intensifying across the ground, the enormous flesh tumor surging from the collapsed breach finally revealed its nauseating true form in full.

It was not a mere flesh tumor, but a "core" formed from interwoven flesh and bone.

Its surface was covered in constantly writhing fleshy tentacles and ruptured pustules. Viscous fluid rolled onto the ground like "lava," corroding the soil and steel wreckage.

With every twitch of its tentacles, remaining corpses and living creatures were swept inside, instantly drained dry. Their bones turned to "ashes," while their flesh rapidly fused with its body.

The Imperial Martial Soldiers immediately realized that this was the "Brain" behind the mutation.

It was not a pure "life-form," but a horrifying existence formed from countless dead and alien energies.

"Suppress it with fire! Open fire at will!"

The squad leader gave the order.

The six Imperial Martial Soldiers immediately leaped from the jungle where they had been concealed. The Optical Camouflage of their Titan Armor vanished as six Boltguns and the auxiliary weapons mounted on their shoulder armor fired at once.

Bang! Bang—bang!

Bolt Rounds streaked through the air with red-orange trails, slamming heavily into the Brain's walls of flesh.

The explosions tore apart its flesh, spraying foul-smelling slurry everywhere.

Yet the Brain showed no signs of pain.

It merely trembled, as though those attacks had added a little seasoning to its "hatching" process.

The next instant—

Hiss—hummm—!!

A low, eerie psychic wave spread outward, nearly instantly engulfing the entire peninsula.

The innocent civilians on the island had still been fleeing in terror, but now, as though they had lost their wills, their eyes rolled white and their movements stiffened. One after another, they were drawn toward the Brain by that force.

The families of research personnel, stationed civilians, and even