Chapitre 104: Chapter 104: "Nightmare" and "Eggs"
"Roar—!!"
The earth now echoed with deafening roars from time to time.
From a vantage point nearly ten thousand meters above, the source of this roar was revealed—a "monstrous" beast, over a hundred meters long, with black, hard skin.
Supporting a body of flesh and blood weighing thousands or even tens of thousands of tons, the beast's bones must have been incredibly dense, its muscles extremely powerful, and it possessed an extraordinarily robust heart, circulatory, and respiratory systems.
The Silver Gull, still in stealth mode, was tracking and observing this beast.
Inside the cabin:
"Can this thing run?"
"It probably can."
Even the battle-hardened Hunters felt a bit puzzled upon witnessing the "mobile heat source" up close.
However, despite their curiosity, the Hunters never lost sight of their mission. They transmitted all the recorded footage back to the frontline base, paying particular attention to the details of the beast's appearance and movement.
In addition, the Hunters discussed whether they should venture into the alien city to investigate further.
The beast they were tracking was actually one of several patrolling the outskirts of the city, likely on a mission to guard and patrol the area.
As for the city to the north of the Silver Gull, it was comparable in scale to Minerva, a megacity from the Zero-Three universe (*Doom*), though the architectural style was vastly different.
A distant view of the alien city left the Hunters with an impression of "towers," "colonies," and "viscousness," as the construction materials seemed to be some kind of unknown biotechnology.
At that moment, Brea, who had been analyzing the alien city, spoke up: "If we want to gather more intelligence, we must conduct an on-site investigation.
B-Team hasn't reached their destination yet, but I have reason to believe that the humans of Zero-Six Earth have never set foot inside the alien city. To understand and defeat them, we must be the first to enter."
"Agreed."
"Following your lead."
"Understood."
The Hunters were unanimous in their decision.
Seeing this, Brea marked a location on the map and then used the comms to instruct the pilot: "Take us to the southern side of the alien city."
"You're the boss. Hold on tight."
The pilot responded while tilting the Silver Gull's body, quickly flying toward the southern side of the alien city.
Clank.
Meanwhile, the cabin was filled with the sound of Brea and her comrades adjusting their equipment or checking their weapons.
Once everything was ready, the Silver Gull lowered its landing gear.
Thump-thump.
A brief jolt indicated they had successfully touched down.
Whoosh—!
The instant the side doors opened, strong air currents rushed in.
Thud-thud.
Braving the gusts and heat, Brea led the Hunters out of the cabin from both sides.
After running about ten meters forward, they knelt on one knee, maintaining vigilance and observing their surroundings.
This was the ruins of a former city, with the collapsed buildings providing cover for their landing.
Whoosh—!
Another rush of air indicated the Silver Gull was taking off again, preparing to circle at a safe altitude nearby.
After waiting a while and confirming there were no immediate threats, the Hunters divided into teams of four, maintaining a distance of six to eight meters from each other as they quickly moved northward.
In less than three minutes, they reached the edge of the ruins, where a fissure in the cliff lay before them.
Brea walked cautiously to the edge of the cliff and leaned forward slightly to peer down. She saw orange-red lava flowing thirty meters below at the bottom of the fissure.
Looking ahead, her helmet screen displayed the distance to the other side of the cliff—about fifteen meters.
Brea calculated in her mind, then took a dozen steps back before sprinting forward and leaping across the chasm with ease.
The other Hunters followed suit.
The group continued along the cracked and broken street. After covering another two kilometers, they would reach the nearest tower-like structure.
Boom—boom—!
Suddenly, the ground began to shake more violently, forcing them to slow down and take cover in the nearby building ruins.
A beast was approaching from the east, heading straight toward their position.
At this moment, Brea, along with two teammates, hid in the half-basement of a residential building.
"Huff... huff..."
She tried to control her breathing, gripping her AMWS rifle with a suppressor, and focused intently on the collapsed gap above.
Boom!
Boom!!
Each step the beast took shook the ground, causing Brea to sway and her heart rate to rise.
Boom!!!
Suddenly, a "black wall" descended from above, filling the entire gap in her view. It was likely the beast's right foot.
Roar—
The beast's breath, reminiscent of a ship's horn, made Brea furrow her brow, as if silently pleading, "Please don't stop."
Boom!
Boom...
Fortunately, the beast detected nothing unusual and continued westward, with the tremors from its footsteps gradually diminishing.
"Phew."
Only after confirming that the beast had moved away did Brea let out a sigh of relief.
She wasn't afraid of death, but facing such a colossal creature up close felt like reliving a childhood nightmare, as if she were back in the dream, hiding under the bed, watching as a ghost crept closer to her bedroom.
It was a completely different feeling from observing the beast from the air.
Quickly regaining her composure, Brea and her team resumed their journey, closing the distance between them and the tower-like structure until they finally reached the outer perimeter of the alien city.
They arrived at a corner where thick, viscous liquid flowed.
Without needing a direct order, one of the Hunters took out a test tube-shaped sample collector and gathered some of the viscous liquid, planning to hand it over to the biology department for analysis once they returned to the frontline base.
Brea looked up at the top of the tower, visually inspecting the structure. After her teammate finished collecting the sample, she quietly commanded, "Teams 4 and 5 will stay here to provide cover. The rest, follow me inside this alien building."
"Understood." Her teammates responded silently.
Next.
The eight members of Teams 4 and 5 spread out to guard the entrance of the tower, while Brea and the remaining twelve entered the building.
The interior was a labyrinthine structure resembling an ant nest, but they didn't split up to increase efficiency. This was, after all, enemy territory, and dividing their twenty-person team into two groups was already risky enough.
Soon, they reached a more open area and saw countless "egg-like" objects hanging on the walls, as well as an alien overseeing the area.
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