About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

The shield guards' expressions were less optimistic. Unlike previous battles, this frozen ground made it impossible to deploy a defense as before. Even the most crucial "hypothetical shield" maneuver for the shield guards became extremely difficult, as their feet struggled to gain stable support from the ground.

"Hmm... our opponent is a force of numbers. If possible, we'd better not drag out the battle too long. Generally, there are high-level sea monsters like 'generals' near the sea monster swarms. Our goal isn't to stop those monsters in the wasteland, but to behead their 'generals'. This will at least ensure that these monsters lose their ability to learn and hide. The rest of the battle will be left to the army to deal with - how do you do it?"

Orson thought for a moment and made a decision. Since this so-called "front line" could hardly stop the enemy, then he would change the goal to "decapitation". It should be no problem to leave the mess to the army.

Orson looked at the inner guard beside him, who nodded to show that he could accept it. After all, the biggest threat of the sea monsters was their unpredictable attacks. As long as their leader was killed, these guys would be just another Originium worm riot.

"Okay, then let's change our formation a little bit—"

"Orson! The data detection on the instrument suddenly became garbled. It needs to be repaired now."

The voice from the Yeti Squad interrupted Orson. A member of the Yeti Squad handed the PAD in his hand to Orson. The data that were originally normal now turned into meaningless garbled numbers.

"But at this moment...wait a minute"

Orson was about to complain when he suddenly realized something and immediately squatted down, placing one hand on the cold ice.

"Although this will give me a headache, there's nothing I can do about it now—frequency perception, maximum power."

Orson complained quietly, then activated his Originium skills and gathered them in his palm.

The huge waves spread to the bottom of the frozen soil and expanded outward like a super-large sonar.

Then--

Reflected silhouette, reflected silhouette, reflected silhouette—

Countless outlines representing "creatures" were reflected from beneath the ice, directly outlining the location of these things.

Because the information fed back was too dense and constantly moving, Orson didn't even understand for a moment what he had discovered.

The moment his brain reconnected, Orson immediately got up from the ground.

"Everyone retreat—those things have awakened, and they're crawling upwards from beneath us!"

"—!!"

Orson's voice was not deafening, and it could even be said to be easily lost in the blizzard in the wilderness, but at least at this moment, everyone heard the words of this chimera.

“BOOM!!!” “BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!”

A silent explosion sounded from the frozen ground beneath everyone's feet, followed by a series of ice-breaking sounds. The frozen ground beneath everyone's feet, like the top floor of a building after an earthquake, continued to crack and fall downwards.

"Well--!"

Even the inner guards, who had lost most of their emotions, were still startled by the horror before them. The frozen ground, calm a moment before, had instantly become a battlefield beyond their comprehension. Those strange-looking "sea monsters," with pale white markings, emerged from beneath everyone's feet.

"These things have really mastered sneak attacks... Everyone, disperse for now! Form groups of two or three to look after each other, and prioritize retreating across the shattered ice!"

While the internal guard was still trying to comprehend what he was witnessing, Orson had already issued an order.

The shield guards and snow monster team on the ground at least have the ability to fight against many enemies at once, but if they fall into the water, there is a high probability that they will be torn apart before they can even release their Originium skills. In this case, the necessary action is to temporarily avoid the first round of sneak attacks.

"—!"

The inner guard was once again shocked by what he saw, but this time it was not because the sea monsters emerged from the seemingly indestructible permafrost, but because the shield guards and the snow monster team executed Orson's orders without any hesitation.

Although this is only a small team of about a hundred people, their reaction ability is already comparable to that of a small team of a single person.

In other words, everyone present trusted the young man unconditionally and believed from the bottom of their hearts that his orders were correct and accurate, so they would carry out his orders.

"The shield guards will slow down a bit. Let the snow monster troops keep as much distance as possible to maintain attack range. Froststar, please use your Originium skills to help the shield guards delay the sea monsters as much as possible. Tallulah, get ready. These creatures possess learned intelligence, so your first strike must maximize its effectiveness. Otherwise, they will misjudge your full power output and slow down their movement. Senior Patriot, I'll leave those aerial tasks to you!"

Orson did not disappoint everyone's trust. He immediately issued extremely detailed orders within a few minutes of encountering the emergency. With the help of Orson's Originium skills that were like a human radio, the team that was originally attacked by the sea monster had now reorganized and was retreating, blocking and counterattacking in an orderly manner.

"brake!!"

The spear easily pierced through several monsters in the air. The Patriot blasted the sea monsters into pieces like a rail gun, and looked at Orson not far away with a somewhat relieved expression. He was fighting with the sea monsters and issuing orders as a command tower, directing everyone to fight in an orderly manner.

In fact, Patriot has been wanting to train a successor for a long time. After all, he only has 5,60 to years left to live. Patriot has always hoped to have a successor who can be trusted with military combat.

In this mood, the Patriots actually trained Tallulah and Froststar successively, but judging from the results, the command ability of these two people was not very good.

Froststar and Tallulah are more like "strikers" who like to rush to the front rather than "generals" who give orders. No matter what enemy they face or what tactics they use, these two people rely on their Originium skills to go all in.

In fact, before the Reunion Movement encountered Orson, if Black Snake hadn't forcibly shut down Tallulah a few times, the Reunion Movement probably wouldn't have lasted long enough for Black Snake to adapt to Tallulah's body and take over, and would have been wiped out by the patrol team in the North...

Because of this, when the Patriot saw that Orson was now able to command the troops calmly in times of crisis with the demeanor of a general, and that his soldiers were able to carry out their orders perfectly, even the Patriot showed an expression of satisfaction like an old father.

No, after a while I can really become a 'father', right? My father-in-law is also a father!

Thinking back to when I first met Orson, he was still a completely green boy who had never even touched a weapon. Now, so much time has passed, and although Orson's height has not changed at all, he now possesses a leadership aura that is completely inconsistent with his appearance.

Although there is still a long way to go before he can command a real army, the patriot has no doubt about it. After all, this young man has actually "commanded" an "army" that belongs only to him without knowing it, without any national boundaries or positions.

“######——!”

At the end of the distant blizzard, the incomprehensible wails of humans interrupted the patriot's thoughts. Behind the almost endless wave of sea monsters, a twisted creature that looked somewhat like an anemone slowly emerged in front of everyone.

"Has it appeared? The core of this group of guys!"

Orson used his knight sword to cut off several sea monsters that rushed towards him, and set his sights on the monster. At the same time, he placed his palm on the blade of the knight sword, ready to spill blood for [ensemble]

“###!”

The 'nerve center' suddenly emitted a distorted roar, and all the sea monsters trembled.

——Forcibly deprive these sea monsters of their sensory nerves? Although this will greatly reduce their attack capabilities, I will not be able to control them.

"What's wrong, Orson!"

Orson instantly understood the purpose of the central sea monster. It seemed that this was not the way to go.

Tallulah asked Orson what the thing had done. After Orson told Tallulah that "the only way is to get close to it and kill it", the latter pondered for a few seconds and then looked at Orson.

[I see. Then I do have a plan—]

Black Snake's voice suddenly appeared, and for some reason, his tone was full of joy.

"Wait, wait a minute..."

Before Black Snake finished her words, Orson, who had rich experience, already vaguely knew what she was going to do.

And before they knew it, the Patriot Frost Star had also come over.

【First, bring me your knight sword】

Because the situation was urgent, Black Snake temporarily borrowed Tallulah's body. She stretched out her fair hand and grasped the hilt of the Knight Sword. Energy hotter than "Tuning" instantly poured into the Knight Sword, even emitting an indigo-blue incandescent light.

Then, Froststar, create a platform capable of supporting the Patriot.

Frost Star rubbed out a place on the ground for easy stepping.

【Finally, Bodracasti——】

"I, I suddenly remembered that the armored vehicle was not turned off... RUA!"

Orson, who knew very well what was going to happen, wanted to run away, but the Patriot grabbed him by the neck and hung him on the spear like a mother cat with her child.

"Isn't this plan a bit too arbitrary? Old Black Snake, you're plotting against me!!"

Orson, who was on a disposable low-Earth orbit transport vehicle, let out a wail, and was then launched directly by the Patriot holding the knight's sword, and turned into light in the blizzard.

"..."

—Are all those people in the Reunion Movement... monsters...?!

The inner guard stopped fighting and was so shocked by what he saw that he was speechless.

--------

The [Defense of the Sea Si in the Northern Wasteland of Ursus] was a resounding success. With the assistance of several leaders of the Security Force Integration Movement and the elite members of the Shield Guard Yeti Squad, the sea monsters were completely stopped with almost no casualties.

Except for a young man, he sacrificed himself and exchanged one for one with the opponent's central limit... It's so touching.

05. Originium

Terra, Colombia—

“Wow… I, what’s wrong with my eyes—I can’t see. Is there anyone here? Is there anyone here!?”

"Ahem... Damn... What's going on..."

“Ahhh!! Don’t touch me, this, this kind of thing—this kind of thing—!!”

"Help, help, help)"

In a temporary building in the Colombian territory, an entire room was filled with camp beds. These simple beds were filled with various Colombians. Although these people were of different genders and ages, they all had painful expressions and kept making various wailing and screaming sounds.

"Calm down! This is a crystal of Ore Disease infection, don't touch it! Cheer up, see? I have it on me too, this thing won't kill you so quickly!"

"It's okay. Mineralogy can be controlled and alleviated by going to bed early, getting up early, exercising more, and eating less greasy food."

In the gaps between the camp beds, people in uniforms of different colors were moving around the room. They were constantly comforting those who were screaming because they were confused about their current situation, trying to stabilize the mental state of these infected people.

At first glance, most people in the room were wearing blue-based clothes, of course there were also a few people wearing red and black clothes.

That's right, most of the people busy in this temporary "infirmary" are employees from the private pharmaceutical company [Rhodes Island] and the security company [Reunion Movement].

Among these people, a young man was squatting next to a woman. He reached out and gently stroked the woman's forehead, calming her down like hypnosis even though she had been screaming.

"……it is good"

After confirming that the other party had calmed down and fallen into a sleep due to extreme exhaustion, the boy nodded, then stood up, left the temporary infirmary, and came to the large landship - [Rhode Island] anchored not far away.

Orson met many people along the way, most of whom were responsible for transporting medical supplies or equipment to the temporary treatment room on the Colombian border. Even when people met this "mascot", they did not come over to say hello as usual, but just nodded and returned to their busy work.

Orson made his way all the way to the medical room deep inside Rhodes Island, and after passing through several isolation doors, he arrived at a special ward.

"Ah... Orson, you're finally here~"

As Orson walked into the ward, a familiar girl's voice came out, as if it could no longer be suppressed.

"Sorry, I was just helping to treat the wounded over there, so I was temporarily delayed for some time, Tina."

Orson nodded and apologized to the white-haired girl lying on the hospital bed in front of him. She was wearing a nun's uniform, but not an orthodox nun's uniform. He took out a tightly wrapped piece of debris from his pocket.

The white-haired nun called "Tina" by Orson, whose real name is "Laurentina", is the "incredible weird story" operator girl in Rhodes Island - Ghost Shark.

"That fragment...! I can sense something is stored within it."

Ghost Shark originally wanted to "tease" Orson and see if she could trick him into becoming her own pillow, but her attention was drawn to him after Orson took out the fragment.

The "fragment" in Orson's hand was what he obtained from the wreckage of the central sea monster a few days ago on the northern ice front of Ursus after he transformed into light.

During this period, Orson and Skadi have been hunting sea monsters everywhere. On the one hand, it is to prevent the tragedy like the one in the city-state of Paral from happening again, and on the other hand, it is because they want to use this method to collect "sea monster fragments".

Previously in Paral, the ghost shark had developed a certain "resonance" with the slain Deep Sea Lord, and in that incomplete resonance, the ghost shark had once glimpsed the true purpose of these crazy people.

In order to understand what this group of people are thinking, the specific location and effects of the "Land of the End", and other answers to questions such as, Orson and his team began hunting sea monsters, while constantly collecting fragments that may resonate with the ghost shark.

Most of the time, whether it was Orson or Skadi, the fragments they could get were useless residues that couldn't even resonate.

But even so, the two of them were occasionally able to collect some memory fragments that had slipped through the net, and in the last war in Ursus, Orson even collected a fragment that looked very intact and even larger.

In other words, the sea monster commander who ambushed Orson and his group on the ice field, the guy who no longer looked like a human, was actually the last bishop of the Deep Sea Church.

"I can feel it... Orson, this is probably the last fragment, I can feel it."

The ghost shark stared at the deep-sea fragment in Orson's hand with trance-like eyes. Reason told the ghost shark that this was the last and most critical piece to piece together the broken map.

In fact, during this period, it was not just Orson who was running around looking for fragments. Almost everyone was involved in their own wars and disputes.

This kind of "conquest" did not appear at the beginning. The abnormality of the Originium worms, the strange frequency of natural disasters, and even the slight changes in the natural climate - these phenomena can actually be vaguely felt that something on this land is changing.

However, for most people who may have never encountered a natural disaster in their lives, such a "battle" suddenly appears in front of them, and by the time they come to their senses, they have already been swallowed up and cannot extricate themselves.

Although most of the attacks by the sea monsters were destroyed by Orson before they were fully formed, ordinary "attacks" that had nothing to do with the sea monsters were happening every moment, and were becoming more and more frequent, making it impossible to ignore them.

More and more countries' border territories were destroyed by sudden outbreaks of infected creatures. At the same time, natural disasters became more frequent and more powerful.

Even in a border city-state in Colombia, the reactor engine of the city's underground propulsion power center had not been started and maintained for too long, and it was unable to even escape when the natural disaster came.

This natural disaster in Colombia was almost the first time for local residents to witness the devastation of the disaster with their own eyes - of course, for many people, it was also the last time.

These increasingly serious incidents gradually sounded the alarm in people's minds, but even so, many towns were still attacked by natural disasters or infected creatures.

[The End is Near] - I don’t know when it started, but a group of people started saying this phrase.

"Wow—"

The isolation door in the ward opened again, and Dr. Kal'tsit, the chief executive of the Rhode Island Medical Department, walked into the ward. Judging from the marks on his cheeks from the mask, he must have just finished an operation and rushed in.

"How's the situation in Columbia, Kelsey?"

Because the rescue work in Columbia was mainly led by Kal'tsit, Orson immediately asked about the current situation in the Columbia emergency area.