The silence of the deep night was broken.
A faint rumble came from afar.
At the highest point of the outpost above the ground, the soldier before the searchlight instinctively raised his rifle and looked ahead along the beam. Yet through the wind and sand, the desolate land shrouded in night was utterly empty.
Only countless specks of dust trembled violently beneath the light, rising with soft rustles, quivering and convulsing in mournful wails before scattering into the air...
"What is that?"
The guard picked up his radio. "B98, this is A1. Any abnormalities? Over."
"It's the g-ground shaking, an earthquake!"
Chaotic shouts came through the radio channel. "Watch underground, there's something under—"
Boom!
An undercurrent tore through the earth's crust. Terrifying pressure erupted from beneath the ground, and amid a piercing roar, a rift abruptly blossomed across the land.
Shrill alarms and flashing red lights spread.
The panicked guard looked up toward the end of the searchlight and froze.
"Fuck—"
It was blood.
A dense crimson mist, like bloodied water, burst from beneath the earth as though a high-pressure pipeline had ruptured, pouring forth in a geyser!
And rising with it were countless black specks.
Wings beating, soaring.
Insects.
Innumerable insects sprayed from the fissures, gathering into dark clouds. The overlapping buzz of their wings formed a dizzying drone.
The bizarre flying insects, each as large as washbasins, beat their wings and flew hungrily toward every living thing.
Among them, enormous birds screeched miserably, spreading their arms and plunging eagerly downward, their bodies covered in tumors and cysts.
Dark clouds filled the sky!
And it was not limited to this place, nor was it limited to the front line.
When the Minister of Growth gave the order to march, the Minister of Heavenly Works rang the Earth-Shaking Bell within