A chime echoed across the battlefield. It was a strange, melodic tone like a bell made of light.
The Guardian froze mid-swing.
Emily’s eyes widened. She knew that sound.
“[Voice of the Seraphim],” she muttered. A skill that stunned all enemies in a fifty-meter radius. Only one person in their party could use it.
Footsteps echoed behind the monster.
“Good job holding the line until now,” said a calm, familiar voice. But Emily could feel the suppressed anger in the voice.
Alice stepped into the chamber.
Free from the skill effect, the Guardian Machina immediately jumped back.
Its instincts screamed at it to flee. The living flesh at its core recoiled, its awareness warning of a threat.
That woman was dangerous.
Alice didn’t look at the monster. Her gaze was fixed on Emily, more precisely, on the blood staining her clothes, the cuts along her limbs, and the damage across her torso.
Emily swallowed hard. There was a fury building in Alice’s eyes that made the temperature in the room rise.
“…Alice,” Emily forced a smile, voice trembling, “can you heal me?”
“I’ll do it when I have enough mana,” Alice replied. She wasn’t out of mana. She just didn’t want Emily to join the battle again.
Alice turned to the others. “Take care of the Gamma team members. Keep them alive.”
Liara, the Delta team leader, hesitated. “W-Will you be okay fighting it alone?”
Alice turned her head slightly and met the monster’s eyes.
It flinched.
“It won’t be a problem,” she answered.
Liara and the others got moving fast. No one questioned her after that.
The Guardian finally shook off the fear. It let out a distorted roar and charged at Alice.
Alice’s body glowed.
She activated [Heart of the Eternal Sun]. A pale, golden aura enveloped her. For the next sixty seconds, every fire and light ability she used wouldn’t consume mana.
The Guardian accelerated. It could feel her aura spike, but her power still didn’t seem overwhelming. She was strong, but not impossibly so.
It raised its blade.
And then, everything changed.
Alice activated [Solar Dominion] and [Daybreak Incarnate] in quick succession.
Golden flames burst outward, a searing wave of pressure slamming into the monster. The light clung to its skin, burned its circuits, and suppressed its regeneration. Its health began to drop. So did its mana.
Before it could react, Alice appeared in front of it.
The warhammer rose.
Then came down.
The impact shattered several tunnel walls behind the Guardian. The monster was flung through rock, steel, and reinforced barriers. Consciousness flickered out mid-flight.
By the time it came to, it was buried in rubble.
It groaned. Its circuits sparked. Its memories were hazy. A woman… with a hammer…
It tried to get up.
Then the earthquakes began.
Thump.
The earth trembled.
Thump.
Again.
The heat in the chamber skyrocketed. Stone melted. Air twisted.
Thump.
It realized the quakes weren’t natural. They were coming from footsteps. Each time the woman took a step, shockwaves rippled through the floor.
The flames parted.
She walked through them.
The monster stared in horror. Her crimson eyes were locked onto it. She dragged the hammer behind her, flames curling along the ground.
Each step she took burned deeper into its fear.
It understood now. There was no fighting her, no victory, no escape.
Only death.
’Fight!’
A voice echoed within the Guardian’s mind.
The Hive.
’Even if you have to die,’ the voice commanded, ’protect the Hive!’
The Guardian shuddered.
Its systems stabilized. The Hive’s command overrode its instincts. Fear dulled, and its limbs moved again. The war protocols activated.
The Guardian roared. It launched three spears of corrupted metal from its arm, aiming for Alice’s head, chest, and abdomen.
Alice didn’t dodge.
Her warhammer rose and spun. It deflected all three spears mid-air. Sparks flew. The hammer glowed brighter with each movement.
The Guardian charged. Its circuits pumped with Hive support, enhancing speed and strength.
It slammed its sword down.
Alice met it head-on.
The moment steel touched golden flame, the weapon cracked. Her aura surged, heat rippling outward in a burst that evaporated the blood and gore around them.
The Guardian stepped back, blade broken, its armor melting.
But Alice wasn’t done.
She raised her hammer again.
The ground fractured beneath her. With a roar, she struck down.
The monster’s torso caved in. A deep crater formed under its body. Smoke billowed out as fire wrapped around its limbs and ate into the inner core.
The Hive tried to issue more commands, but the Guardian could no longer move. Its limbs refused to respond.
A final thought surfaced in its mind.
This is the end.
It tried to explode its entire body, but Alice struck down faster.
She turned it into a paste of flesh and crumbled metal.
Then, she lowered the hammer and turned around.
Emily was still sitting, clutching her ribs, eyes wide.
“…You really didn’t hold back at all, huh?” Emily said, trying to lighten the mood.
Alice didn’t smile.
She walked over, crouched beside her, and placed a hand near Emily’s wound.
“I’ll heal you now,” Alice said, and this time, she did.
Warm, golden light spread from her palm. The glow wrapped around Emily’s body, closing the open gashes, knitting bone back into place, and dulling the pain that had gripped her chest.
The skill didn’t stop there. Alice’s healing touched four more injured allies nearby, cleansing their wounds and restoring their energy.
Emily let out a small breath of relief. “Thanks…”
Alice stood and moved to the other wounded team members. One by one, she healed those in need, taking short breaks to recover her mana.
There was no unnecessary talk. The battles were still going on around them.
“Team Gamma, Team Delta, you can take short break,” Isaac’s voice came through the comms.
The awakeners looked at each other, and smiled.
Members of Gamma Team gathered, some sitting, others still alert. They looked at Alice with a mix of awe and gratitude. A few approached Emily as well, offering thanks for her efforts during the fight.
“You were amazing out there,” one of them said.
“We didn’t think you could hold it that long.”
“C-can I get your autograph?”
Emily waved them off, her cheeks flushing slightly. “I just stalled. Barely, at that.”
But the praise kept coming, and though she tried to stay humble, the attention made her a embarrassed.
Alice wasn’t paying attention to any of it. Her eyes were locked on the remains of the Guardian Machina.
She studied the wreckage silently.
’I was careless,’ she thought.
When she had seen Emily bleeding, her clothes torn, her body bruised and bloody, something in her had snapped.
Her control had slipped.
’I should’ve fought while holding back.’
A measured fight would’ve allowed her to react if the enemy had a hidden card. But in that moment, she hadn’t cared. Her dragon instincts had surged forward, demanding retaliation, not strategy.
’I went all out.’
The overwhelming aura, the uncontested force. That had been her in full power.
Normally, she kept her instincts under strict control.
Her dragon blood and its innate aggression were never allowed to dictate her choices. But today, they had. Because Emily had been hurt.
’I need to do something about this,’ she thought, eyes narrowing. ’Today it worked in my favor. But next time… it might not.’
…
With the outer Guardian Machina destroyed, the rest of the operation moved quickly.
The third Node Core was taken out shortly after. The team had more than enough firepower, even from the start. But now, with reinforcements from Team Eta and Team Omega entering the hive, their strength had doubled.
Isaac coordinated everything, issuing commands across the teams with a calm, analytical voice. His direction kept the operation smooth.
Every squad converged on the central node.
Another Guardian Machina was waiting there, and it was just as powerful as the one Alice had faced. But this time, Vale took the front. His abilities, sharp and brutal, shredded through the machine’s defenses. It didn’t last long.
Without the Core Nodes acting as relay points, the hive began to collapse. The Metavore had overgrown its original capacity. It was too large now, too distributed. Without a proper Core system, it couldn’t function the way a hive should.
But that didn’t mean it stopped fighting.
The Metavore adapted. It used leftover flesh and scrap machinery to create twisted flesh-cyborgs. It laid traps, triggered structural collapses, and unleashed ambushes through newly formed tunnels.
The awakeners responded fast. For the next two hours, they worked nonstop, clearing every chamber and tunnel. No one rested. They couldn’t afford to.
Finally, after the last enemy fell, the healers with purification-type abilities stepped forward. They cleansed the remaining energy from the exhausted awakeners and prepped them for exit.
Then came the final phase.
Mages with fire-based spells took position across the hive. Fireballs, flame waves, heat bursts—every skill capable of destruction was used to burn the remains of the hive from the inside out.
Purification users followed behind them, ensuring no trace of the hive mind’s presence remained.
The reason was simple. A Metavore’s ability to reproduce a hive even from a single contaminated organism was the nightmare scenario.
Leave one trace behind, and the infestation could restart from scratch.
There would be no spoils from this hunt. That was standard protocol. Everything was to be burned, destroyed, or purified.
At least, that was the official plan.
Emily stood alone near one of the destroyed chambers, watching the flames in the distance. Her hand brushed against the Soulbind Pendant on her neck.
She made sure no one was looking.
Then she raised her hand.
A faint shimmer appeared, and two forms disappeared into the pendant’s storage: the corpse of the Guardian Sentinel and the remains of her now-dead champion-rank lizard summon.
’Alice can take care of the Metavore with her abilities, so there is no need to worry it corrupting anything else, and….’
’I’ll make the Guardian Sentinel my new spirit summon,’ she thought, a small smile forming.
It would take some work, but with the items Isaac gave her, she could bind it. Although its mechanical body were turned into a pulp, Alice only needed its soul.
’And Alice can help revive my champion-rank summon,’ she added mentally. Alice had already told her about her new skills on the way to the mission.
So while everyone else considered the operation a standard hive extermination—necessary, dangerous, and rewardless—Emily didn’t agree.
This time, the raid hadn’t been a total loss.
Emily, and by extension, Isaac, had just earned a powerful new spirit for their arsenal.
“Good work out there,” said Renald, the leader of Command Team before Isaac took over.
The infiltration teams looked at Isaac, Emily, Alice, and Vale instead of thanking for the praise.
These four had handled over 70% of today’s operation. They were the reason the mission succeeded.
Renald turned to Isaac.