Finding the Cores came first. Fighting would come later.
The five infiltration teams were already inside.
But instead of charging straight into combat, they were deliberately creating noise, smashing walls, shouting, clashing steel against stone and bone, and using provoke skills.
It was a calculated chaos.
They weren’t trying to fight yet. They were bait.
Their purpose was to pull the hive’s attention so the scouts could slip through undetected. While the Brood focused on the loudest intruders, the real work was being done in silence.
And it paid off.
“Found it!” came a voice over the comms.
A few seconds later, another scout chimed in. “Found another one!”
Two scouts, one a Master-rank and the other a Champion-rank, had each located a Node Core.
Renald didn’t hesitate. “Two Node Cores confirmed! Alpha, Beta, I’m sending routes now. Cut through and destroy them!”
“Roger that,” came Alpha team’s leader.
“Understood,” said Beta’s Champion calmly.
Team Alpha and Team Beta surged forward.
The paths Renald had sent were optimal routes, mapped from the limited scan data and refined through the scouts’ feedback. They wouldn’t be easy, but they were the most direct.
The Champions led the charge.
Their blades shimmered with Purification, a skill maintained by their support casters trailing behind. Without it, their weapons would’ve been infected and eroded by the Brood’s flesh, its corrosive essence eating away at metal.
Normally, the hive would have created and unleashed wave after wave of flesh-cyborg monsters by now.
But Isaac’s interference had crippled its mana pool, forcing it to conserve energy.
The result was fewer flesh-cyborg monsters.
A third report came in. “Third Node Core located!”
“Gamma, move!” Renald barked. “Same procedure. Full engagement.”
Team Gamma immediately broke formation and followed a descending route that spiraled deep into the western sector of the hive. With three Node Cores now confirmed and targeted, only one Core remained.
The Command team took a deep breathe. Team Alpha, Team Beta, and Team Gamma had each a Champion rank awakener leading them.
As soon as they were finished with their job, they would go for the last Core.
The Central Core.
Everyone knew the Guardian Machina would be waiting there.
Suddenly, Emily’s voice cut through the comms. Her tone was sharp, and urgent. “I’ve located the Central Core! But something is wrong here!”
Renald straightened. “No one will attack the Central Core yet. Focus on the Node Cores first. We will engage the Guardian only when the Brood is destabilized.”
He paused, then asked, “Emily, what exactly did you find?”
“There’s another mana signature in the hive,” she said. “It’s moving quickly toward the third Node Core. I measured it. It’s on par with the Guardian Machina protecting the Central Core.”
A stunned silence followed.
On par with the Guardian Machina?
That shouldn’t have been possible. The Metavore Brood, even at the Greater stage, only had one Central Core, and with it, one Guardian Machina.
Having two would break every known pattern.
“How the hell does it have two Guardians?” Vax muttered.
Renald didn’t answer at first. Then he spoke quietly, almost to himself. “Those damned Nagas. Is this what they planted?”
If the Metavore Brood had been raised by the Nagas—those secretive manipulators of mana and monsters—it made sense.
They could have tampered with its development, broken the natural limit, and given it a second Guardian.
No one on the team questioned Emily’s reading. Her scouting skill had been personally vetted by the Sword Empress and the Evil Sword. If she said the signature was real, it was real.
Then, another voice cut in—harsh, panicked. “Command! We need reinforcements! We’ve made contact with—!”
It was Gamma Team’s leader. His voice cut off mid-sentence.
Static followed.
Renald’s expression darkened. He immediately opened the channel again. “Gamma, respond! Gamma, do you read?”
Nothing.
The comms stayed silent.
“They’ve been hit,” Isaac said grimly.
Team Alpha and Beta were already locked in their own fights, dealing with the defenders around the Node Cores. They couldn’t spare a single member.
Gamma had just begun their battle at the third Node Core and were already under pressure.
Team Delta and Epsilon had fewer combatants, and neither had a Champion-rank awakener. They weren’t capable of acting as a reinforcement.
“Gamma’s leader is Champion-rank,” Vax said, “and they still went dark. Whatever hit them—”
“It the second Guardian,” Emily interrupted. “I’m sure of it.”
Celia stepped forward. “I can teleport into their position, and try to extract the injured.”
Renald shook his head. “No. If you open a portal and the monsters follow through, we’ll lose the Command post. We can’t risk that.”
He hesitated, weighing their dwindling options. Sending another infiltration team was off the table. Calling back Alpha or Beta would ruin their current operations. The timing had to be perfect, and splitting their forces now would be a disaster.
“Damn it,” he muttered.
Then Emily spoke again. “I’ll go.”
Everyone turned toward her voice on the comms.
“I can reach them faster than anyone,” she said. “I’m already in the deeper layer. My spirits are scouting the nearby passageways, and I can phase through most walls. If I move now, I might get there before the Guardian finishes them.”
Renald hesitated. “If that thing catches you—”
“It won’t,” Emily said.
Her voice was calm. Steady.
“This is what I’m best at.”
There was a beat of silence.
Then Renald nodded, even if she couldn’t see it. “All right. Go. But don’t engage directly. Prioritize survival.”
“I will.”
Then she was gone, vanishing into the pulsing tunnel ahead of her. Tirra soared after her, ghost wings spread wide, the link between them keeping her in constant contact with her spirits and the command team.
The operation had changed. The infiltration was no longer a controlled sequence, it was a race.
Three Node Cores were under siege.
The Central Core was guarded, by a powerful Machina, and another Machina had taken ambushed their teams.
And now, a scout was running headlong into a fight that no one expected.
Renald looked at the display in front of him. The lines representing Gamma were still dark.
He didn’t say it out loud.
But he was beginning to think they were already too late.