Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

“Of course there’s another way. Look, my army can move around day and night, can’t it?” Alice replied with a light laugh, casually implying that ‘this guy controls the puppets using the power of that scythe.’ “But that’s a secret, and I can’t just tell you that.”

“…I’m sorry, I was being presumptuous.” Akame lowered her head apologetically, but her two little ears perked up, not missing a single word Alice had just said. Not only her, but Brand, who was still on top of the mobile armored vehicle, probably also heard their conversation—although he was far away, Alice could easily distinguish the heartbeat of such a large living person within her temporary position.

“It’s alright. After all, we’re allies working together, so sharing intelligence is necessary and only natural.” Alice waved her hand—she could feel herself escaping the sudden, awkward, and ambiguous atmosphere from before—and then her gaze shifted to the knife in Akame’s hand. Taking advantage of the conversation, she continued, “I heard that Miss Akame, your knife is a one-hit kill, and anyone hit by it will surely die? Is that true?”

“It’s true.” Akame nodded, looking smug.

"Can those insects also be killed with a single blow?"

“This… I’m afraid it won’t work.” Her smug expression immediately dimmed. “The cursed poison on my knife isn’t very effective against those insects. I tried it with the sample Brand brought back earlier, and it should have worked, but…” She shook her head sadly, and her bright red eyes became dull.

"My knife probably won't be very effective against those insects..."

[So you really can only be my bodyguard, huh? Because your knife isn't good at cutting insects, but it's probably somewhat effective at cutting people? Damn, maybe I should just slap this guy to death? And give her a 'disappearance amidst the chaos' kind of ending?]

Alice has a head as big as a bucket.

She knew that Akame was most likely just saying it casually, without thinking. It was just a slight change in atmosphere, and in reality, it was unlikely to cause any strange consequences—but Alice's personality was such that she had to be 90% sure of everything, and she wouldn't feel at ease until she was absolutely certain. This personality trait helped her a lot at the right time, but at the wrong time... it also added an equal amount of trouble for her.

For example, in the past, and in the present.

Just before she was about to make a decision that would be detrimental to the future, a group of uninvited guests suddenly interrupted her.

The bugs have arrived.

..............................

"They are sentinels in the swarm."

As the alarm sounded and the advancing legion immediately switched to a state of combat readiness and defense, Alice, carrying the Shadow Scythe, went to the top of the command vehicle. With a casual flick of her wrist, an extra-large telescope dangled from the vehicle's overhead mounting area. Using basic optical effects, it revealed subtle color variations in the distance, which, when magnified, revealed a swarm of insects moving about.

“There are about a hundred of them. They’re not very big and they’re in a different form than the sample you provided, Brand.” The girl picked up her pen and quickly completed a sketch of a Zerg on the drawing board next to her. It was an arthropod that was quite similar to the warrior Zerg of the Arachnids. It had four pointed legs and two pincers, but compared to those pathetic creatures outside, these insects were slightly shorter and much faster and more ferocious.

They were currently located about six kilometers from Alice's puppet army, downwind and in a poorly concealed area. It was an ideal ambush position, and Alice clearly didn't intend to let these readily available experimental subjects slip through her fingers—she gave a gesture, and a group of puppets equipped with long-range firepower, along with field equipment such as mortars and rocket launchers, broke away from their formation and quickly took cover on higher ground, waiting for the opportune moment to ambush them.

“After the first round of bombardment, some insects will definitely escape. My puppet army will split into two teams to flank them from the side—most should be dealt with, but some unexpected situations cannot be ruled out,” Alice said softly, her gaze fixed on the assassins of the night raid.

The latter immediately understood.

“Leave those unexpected events to me.” Brand summoned his full-body heavy armor Teigu called ‘Demon Possession.’ After switching its attached weapon to spear mode, he looked at Alice. “My Teigu has a completely airtight effect, so it’s immune to infection. Akame and Sheele can stay here and wait… Is that alright?”

“I have no objection to this decision,” Alice nodded, calculating the time needed for the swarm's advance as she replied. “This is the first battle, and I’m not sure if our marching intelligence has been leaked, but it’s always valuable to be cautious and remain concealed. So I don’t want any Zerg that could tip us off, and I think you all feel the same way?”

“A wise decision, Miss Alice,” Brand replied, a slightly distorted, muffled voice emanating from within his heavy armor. “As previously agreed, we will cooperate fully—Hill is quite mobile, and she will make her move when the time is right.”

“…Very good.” Alice nodded slightly. In the time it took for this conversation to continue, the insects advanced another considerable distance. And the ambush zone was almost there.

Chapter 45 Making trouble is bad

These insects... are definitely much better than those worthless bugs on Korendadu.

Undoubtedly, the first round of shelling had achieved some success. When those crimson fire meteors streaked across the sky and slammed heavily onto the ground in the shelling zone, scorching flames and sharp shell fragments flew in all directions. In just the first contact, the insects lost three-fifths of their fighting strength!

Alice chose a wooded area for her ambush. She was positioned in a low-lying area, downwind. The indirect fire capability of the long-range artillery would come in handy. No matter how much it mutated, the chitinous shell, which had previously only been able to withstand old-fashioned bullets, was no match for real explosives. The moment the shells fell, flesh and bone proved once again that they could not overcome the strength of pure steel.

When energy is insufficient, the structure itself has its limits.

Their shells were pierced, their flesh was burned, and large pieces of their blood and flesh collapsed.

In the context of the current world's imperial armies, a loss of 60% in an instant would be enough to crush even the most skilled and valiant legions. Even if they managed to retain some semblance of organization, this sudden air attack would be enough to throw the army into chaos—the same applies to the insectoids on Korendadu; a powerful air raid is enough to rout a swarm of hundreds of thousands, while an orbital bombardment would achieve even greater results.

—In the outer starry world, even without using any offensive or support magic, Alice was able to lead a group of hastily recruited soldiers to easily annihilate a swarm of insects that outnumbered her own forces by relying on her command skills, while suffering almost no losses herself.

However, those were Arachnids, not the mutated insectoids here—Alice clearly observed the changes on the battlefield through remote optical information gathering. She saw very carefully and clearly, even able to see the subtle changes in the insects struggling in the flames of war.

She clearly saw that even before the first round of shelling ended, the carapaces of the insects that hadn't died immediately thickened and darkened in color, and their segments quickly adjusted to a size and length suitable for shock and impact resistance. By the time the second round of shelling landed, the damage was significantly reduced!

The first round of shelling killed sixty insects.

The second round of shelling killed fewer than sixteen!

The insects even took advantage of the lull in the shelling to split their ranks. Most of them shrieked and rushed towards the direction of the shelling, as if they would not stop until they killed all the attackers. A small number of them turned around and ran away. Some burrowed into the ground, while others split into several routes and ran away!

[Biological weapon, autonomous mutation type.]

[Are you planning to bring intelligence about the attack back to command center?]

[That won't do. At most, I can only tolerate the Zerg obtaining information like "a powerful enemy has invaded, and a squad has been destroyed." Before the first formal large-scale engagement begins, I cannot allow my side to leak too many secrets.]

"Has it begun?" Brand asked from the side. "How's the outcome?"

“Yes, it has already begun,” Alice nodded gently in response.

She lowered her eyes slightly, and with a gentle wave of her outstretched hand, the artillery barrage continued to maintain its firepower to ensure that the burrowing insects would meet a gruesome end. She then made another gesture, and another puppet unit was immediately mobilized.

It was a force of about three hundred wielding silken golems, armed with bolt-action rifles (a type of heavy rifle with explosive charges inside the bullets, similar to a sniper rifle loaded with explosive rounds but with a relatively shorter range). They quickly advanced to the forefront of the battle line, shielding the artillery units from the front. They were ready to unleash a barrage of bullets as soon as the insects entered their range. Meanwhile, two other teams of wielding lightly armed silken golems were flanking from both sides, prepared to attack from either flank!

“The insects are more resilient than expected, but they still suffered heavy losses,” Alice said softly, answering Brand’s question.

“My sentry told me that several insects are trying to escape from the rear. There’s no doubt they’re trying to transmit intelligence from here. I’m not sure how they’re transmitting information—optical, auditory, pheromones…it’s all possible. So I want to eliminate the threat as much as possible. Erase all traces.”

She looked at Brand and whispered her hope that he would complete the task he had previously undertaken. And the latter did not disappoint her. The tall and strong man simply nodded, and his armor covered all the excess seams on his body. As he left, he glanced at Akame and Hill, and the color of his armor quickly faded, becoming completely uniform with the surrounding scenery like a chameleon, and soon disappeared without a trace.

“Color disguise, I’ve never heard of the Imperial Arm ‘Possessed by Evil Spirits’ having this function before.” Alice raised an eyebrow slightly, a faint light flashing in her eyes. She seemed to casually reach out and stir the air slightly.

—A faint message wave, which only she could sense, quietly emanated from several circles.

[This is truly remarkable concealment of presence. No heat source is revealed, and conventional detection methods like ultrasound and weak electromagnetic waves are ineffective… This is indeed a heavily armored assassin; I've certainly seen it for myself.]

But unfortunately, I still have a way to deal with it.

“That’s Tyrande.” Alice flicked her fingers lightly as she heard Akame’s voice explaining. The girl seemed to consider her a true ally, and immediately offered an explanation when she saw that Alice looked somewhat confused.

"The Possessed Body is forged from the essence and core materials of the Tyrande Dragon, a dragon species. It has similar abilities to the legendary Tyrande Dragon, which is now extinct. It can conceal its form and can also autonomously mutate into various different forms depending on the environment, maintaining a certain level of combat power in any environment."

"Just like those bugs?" Alice asked casually.

“Just like those insects,” Akame replied. “But Brand is stronger.”

[But he's only one person, while the number of insects... is huge. But if this stuff can be mass-produced... damn, are biological weapons really that powerful? Where do they get so much energy to maintain their phenotypic transformations? Could these insects actually be a bunch of Dittos!?]

This is absolutely outrageous!

Alice's mind raced with thoughts as she organized her words, preparing to speak. But then, she sensed a subtle shift in the atmosphere around her—she saw Akame and Hill suddenly draw their weapons, assuming a battle stance and blocking her path. And sure enough, the insects had appeared in her field of vision!

"Watch out!" Akame drew her longsword and stood in front of Alice. "These insects are dangerous and infectious. We absolutely cannot let them get close!"

"We must keep our distance from them!"

“They can’t get through.” Alice shook her head, casually pushed her aside, and then dramatically brandished the scythe called ‘Shadow Scythe.’ Then she gave her own instructions.

"Fire," Alice said.

As she spoke, the flames from the gun barrels filled the first rank of the silken golems—she saw bursts of dark green blood erupt from the swarm of insects that charged out of the mountains, the first few instantly blasted to smithereens upon contact. However, the remaining few easily pierced through the barrage, charging forward another several dozen meters!

The explosive projectiles pierced through their bodies, which had just been specially designed to withstand impact and possessed extremely robust structures. They then slammed heavily into the ground behind them, causing an explosion. All that remained on the insects were penetrating wounds, some of which were already slowly healing. However, these mere penetrating wounds were not fatal!

[Secondary mutation... After being hit by explosive projectiles, the survivors intentionally reduced their body strength and density, thus making the bullets have excessive penetrating power, failing to trigger an explosion and instead passing directly through their bodies?]

[But will your previous responses to the mutations caused by high temperatures and shockwaves still be effective?]

Alice thought to herself, and casually made another gesture. About half of the suspended puppets in the first row stopped using their bolters and switched to the general-purpose machine guns and incendiary bomb launchers they carried on their backs. They were just waiting for her command to form a net of combined firepower!

The girl observed the charging insects.

Their numbers were small; after being weakened by two artillery bombardments and a salvo, they were actually reduced to less than ten. However, they were extremely fast and were less than a hundred meters away from the first rank of the front line.

A hundred meters, even for ordinary people on Earth, only takes ten or eleven or twelve seconds.

However, for the insect, this might only be a brief moment of three or four seconds.

Alice could clearly feel Akame's muscles tense, her heart racing, and her blood flowing faster than ever before. Akame's hands and feet were already in position, ready to unleash her power and forcibly pull Alice away from their position. And she wasn't alone; Hill on the other side was prepared in the same way.

Clearly, the Night Raid assassins knew far more about the insects than they had shared with Alice. They were obviously terrified of the swarm, so much so that even with the upper hand, they had no intention of engaging in direct combat and were always ready to pack up and run. And clearly, Alice wasn't going to give them the chance to demonstrate their skill of 'running away in disgrace from the insect swarm'.

She snapped her fingers, and the silken golems she had previously sent out to flank the insects launched a barrage of projectiles from the side, significantly slowing the insects' advance. Then, a devastating barrage followed.

Arrowheads, general-purpose 5mm machine gun rounds, and high-temperature incendiary rounds—this combined barrage relentlessly swept away the remaining insects. They may not have given up, but as the saying goes, even insects have their limits. Accompanied by a series of bizarre screams, even the insects that charged the furthest could not get within fifty meters of the first line of fire. And the silken golems maintained their firepower for a full five seconds after the last insect was shot down before ceasing fire.

The land at the very front has been completely destroyed.

The swarm was wiped out, with no survivors. Brand returned to the formation two minutes later, covered in insect blood, after disinfecting himself under the flamethrower. Meanwhile, none of his own String Golems were damaged; the only thing he lost was ammunition.

Only ammunition.

And ten times the number of insects, whose morale would never waver and who would absolutely obey commands—the suspended silk puppets.

In this era, it wouldn't be difficult for such a force to eliminate ten or twenty thousand Imperial soldiers with this level of firepower. Yet, this large, elite, and wealthy army nearly allowed a mere hundred or so scout bugs to close in on their lines!

Therefore, after this victory, there was no cheering, no celebration, only Alice's slightly furrowed brow.

She realized that something seemed amiss.

................................................

That witch... what she said might be true.

While Alice and the insects were having their first brief encounter, in the central and rear areas of Anningdao's territory, the cult leader version of Cheng Xiao, with a strangely handsome face, had just completed a sermon—he had successfully developed thousands of believers and incorporated them into Anningdao's system.

He found it surprisingly easy to recruit followers in the territory claimed by the Way of Tranquility. Even just a few random words from him would quickly ignite the fervor of the common people—he had witnessed several refined, well-mannered, and learned gentlemen weep with joy at his mere glance, their prayers nearly tearing their throats apart. And the poor, with just a gesture from him, would surge like madmen in the direction he desired, tearing apart a marble statue he deemed an eyesore with their frail hands!

They've gone mad, and I'm the one holding the reins around the necks of these mad dogs.

However, what existed in his heart was not the satisfaction of wielding power, but the fear of the person behind this power—he knew very well who his power came from, and he also knew how easy it would be for the witch to deal with him.

Alice had only been gone for a day, and the group of Night Raid assassins had already come to him three times. Each time they had a different reasonable excuse, and each time he casually declined—he knew what they wanted, and he knew what he should do.

"I have only one request of you: don't get in my way. Otherwise, you can stay in the city, go out preaching, or even do nothing at all—sleep all day in the temple or indulge in debauchery—it's all up to you. But you must remember, don't get in my way."

—That's what the witch told him before she left. And Cheng Xiao had no doubt that she was determined to do what she said.

He was terrified, but at the same time, he decided to do something for the followers of the Path of Peace. The witch needed faith as the legion's driving force, and she didn't care how many deaths would result from extracting that faith. So... if there were enough believers, wouldn't that mean no one would die of heart failure while praying?

Thinking this way, Cheng Xiao did just that. And now it seems... the results are remarkable.

Just as he was thinking about what to include in his next sermon, a neatly dressed middle-aged priest quickly walked up to him.

“Your Majesty, those guests have once again requested an audience with you.” The priest’s voice was urgent, but his words were clear. “What do you mean?”

"No." Cheng Xiao answered without hesitation. "I have many important things to do. If there's a next time, don't bother coming to me. Just refuse them."

“But they said there’s some important information that you’ll definitely be interested in,” the priest said, adding immediately when he saw that Cheng Xiao didn’t immediately send him away. “Information related to Ms. Alice.”

..........................................

I did the word count... damn it, I'll need at least two double updates a day before the end of the month! _(:з」∠)_