Elsewhere, the Alliance noticed the shift in the Grantz formation.
The official livestream looked down from right above Base 4.
“Grantz seems to have no intentions of abandoning Base 4. It’s hard to judge whether that was the right choice. No one can know how many bases will be overcome by the insects–”
The host’s voice suddenly cut off. He didn’t even have time to explain the situation before the official livestream switched perspectives.
The camera was now focused on some point in the air, closely following Ye Muo’s trajectory.
Before the audience could react, the camera swooped down to show the insects swarming below.
The king insect was sequestered within the swarm. It’s spent much of its long life living near Alliance territory, but this was its first time encountering the Grantz.
Its instincts and experiences told it that humans removed from their hard metal shells were like deshelled mussels: soft, harmless and delicious.
As a result, it naturally viewed Ye Muo as its prey.
The king insect excitedly lifted its upper body from the ground and opened its forelimbs wide. Its mouthpiece gaped open, revealing dense rows of jagged teeth.
Inciting even more fevered screeching from the swarm.
[Ahhhh! I can’t take the holographic mode anymore!]
[Geez, put up a warning next time! If things go on like this even Level A psychics are going to have aftereffects.]
[What is Grantz doing? Why haven’t they retreated yet?? Was that Xavier of Grantz who just flashed through the air?? Was he using a mech???]
[What’s going on with Xavier?]
Ye Muo adjusted his posture to correct his landing point.
Five more seconds. He silently counted down.
The official livestream continued to zoom in despite the barrage of complaints. Opportunities to capture footage of king insects at close range were rare.
King insects tended to lead reclusive lifestyles after choosing a suitable site and building their hive. Even if they came out, they would remain within a perimeter that had been cleared by the swarm, making it hard to set up surveillance equipment. Most footage of them were captured at a significant distance at the cost of visual clarity.
Only during migration could people get a better look at them.
With the help of an assortment of expensive equipment, of course. And only under the premise that said equipment wasn’t destroyed by other insects.
  Holographic footage was out of the question! This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
After a while, should the swarm occupy the planet, they would dispose of these pieces of equipment. The Alliance already had backup machines on the way to prolong this as much as possible.
Ye Muo drew his sword in midair. Two seconds.
The king insect remained in that aggressive posture. It too was calculating Ye Muo’s landing spot.
The official livestream could care less about the other Grantz fleets at this point. It was too busy capturing every time the king insect so much as twitched.
The camera drifted from the king insect’s dangerous forelimbs to its undulating mouthpiece.
The king insect’s head suddenly snapped down as Ye Muo appeared in frame.
Ye Muo stomped down hard on the king insect’s head, forcing it to lower its head. The official livestream was so close that viewers flinched even if they were not watching in holographic mode. The rise and fall of Ye Muo’s chest with every breath and even individual strands of his hair were visible.
A hush fell over the stream, including the host who was in the middle of a sentence.
When the king insect was almost folded in two, Ye Muo pierced a certain point on its back with his sword.
He knew from the moment his blade sunk in that this wasn’t the right spot. This king insect’s ‘heart’ was not here.
The king insect swung its head wildly due to the pain, causing the insects around it to back away. More insects in the distance were alerted and turned back to assist their king.
Ye Muo’s expression didn’t change as he tightly gripped his sword. When the king insect thrashed again, he allowed it to toss him into the air, where he took aim and pierced its head as he came down.
The king insect immediately stopped moving, forever frozen in a grotesque posture.
The other insects started going berserk due to its death and swarmed Ye Muo.
The main ship descended in altitude towards his location.
Ye Muo skillfully leapt into the air, cutting a path through the insects with his sword. When the main warship was at its lowest point, he jumped high up and landed on top of the ship.
It took the others quite some time to react.
[Wait, is this how Grantz deals with the insects too? They’re not just doing this to mecha?!]
[Five seconds. I was keeping count. My bad for complaining you didn’t score any points in Round 1, Xavier. I wasn’t familiar with your game.]
[Was…was that the king insect? If it was just an ordinary insect, I remember someone from Boston could dispatch them in a few seconds.]
[Forget about it. That was definitely the king insect. Its obvious from its size compared to the others ones. Not to mention how they give it a clear berth.]
The main ship immediately ascended after Ye Muo was on board.
Ye Muo rose to his feet and surveyed the swarm below. This king insect seemed to be on the weaker side. Its weakpoint wasn’t even hidden in a particularly obscure location.
The other warships of the fleet had already descended to a suitable altitude. Grantz soldiers leapt out as the hatches opened.
They formed a solid line of defense for the Grantz base behind them.
Ye Muo continued to scan the disturbed swarm for any signs of a second king insect.
……
Base 4 command centre.
Gu Yixiao spoke suddenly, “Has the number of enemies decreased?”
The scene displayed on screen didn’t seem much different from before.
Someone immediately got to work analyzing the footage. They concluded after a few minutes, “No, sir.”
Gu Yixiao remained silent. A short-haired girl to his left raised her hand. “Camera 4, at 3:42. There was an extra mothership in the air that’s missing now.”
She shared her screen with Gu Yixiao.
Gu Yixiao spoke after confirming her findings, “Contact His Highness Xavier and remind them to be vigilant. There may be an ambush happening.”
A staff member responded immediately, “Understood. Establishing communication now.”
……
Ye Muo was still monitoring the swarm when he received word from Gu Yixiao. He was picking out and eliminating any troublesome specimens.
“Enemies…”
Ye Muo blinked in thought before releasing his psychic power.
He rarely did this due to his limited amount of control. Having to wrangle so much psychic power would only slow down his response time, and he would have to find Norton to help if he couldn’t recall them on his own. It was too embarrassing even for him.
Still, now wasn’t the time to be concerned about such things.
A vast current of psychic power swiftly enveloped the entire planet.
Vast amounts of information poured into Ye Muo’s mind. He saw injured soldiers, countless insects hidden in every crevice…
His train of thought couldn’t help but derail due to information overload.
If Father was here, he could probably take care of these insects in an instant. I hope no one else gets hurt. So there really is a second king insect hidden all the way over there. No wonder I didn’t find it yet…
Ye Muo soon refocused on his target.
It was easy to locate the mothership due to its size.
He turned in a certain direction a few seconds later. As soon as the thought came to mind and before he even realized it, Ye Muo’s psychic power took over control of the main ship and directed it towards the mothership.
The adjutant and the other people on board had no objections. They were here to be of service to Ye Muo, after all.
The main ship paused once it rose to a certain altitude.
Ye Muo started intently at an empty spot in the air. “
You guys aren’t my match. It’s not too late to go our separate ways yet.”
Nothing happened.
A few seconds later, Ye Muo moved to throw out his sword.
A loud clang rang out. Simultaneously, the mothership decloaked and dispatched several mecha from its hull. The mecha flew to intercept Ye Muo from various directions.
Ye Muo ran to the edge of the main ship. The hatch door opened and someone tossed him another sword. The moment he caught it, he twisted and slashed mercilessly at an incoming mech, eliminating it in a single strike.
[Damn. It’s like watching the king insect get slaughtered all over again.]
[This is nothing like that. He’s being careful to just disable the mech enough to disqualify it. I doubt the pilot is even bleeding unless they’re super unlucky on landing.]
[Xavier’s certainly grown since he first encountered Kernan. Did Bert give him remedial lessons after Round 1?]
[I can’t believe the cutting edge mothership I’ve been following is already being put into service. It’s able to fool most of the detection equipment on the market right now. Although experiments have shown that these motherships can’t escape the senses of insects, they passed every other test with flying colours. How did Xavier even find it?]
[Xavier’s still too soft. This isn’t a game. I knew he was too young to be participating. He’s lacking in every aspect aside from strength. It would have been better to train him for a few more years.]
[? This is the resource tournament. Strength is the only thing anyone needs. I think anyone who can fight is qualified. No matter how biased you are, you have to admit Xavier will be one of the superstar contestants of this year.]
The other mecha soon stopped actively attacking Ye Muo. They surrounded the mothership and watched from a distance.
The motherships quickly turned to leave.
Ye Muo hesitated for a moment over whether to give chase.
The adjutant spoke to him over the earpiece, “The distance is already too great, Your Highness. Our warship won’t be able to catch up.”
“Let them go for now, Your Highness. Our task is to stop the insects and form a line of defense.”
The last part struck a chord with Ye Muo.
He gave that mothership in the distance one last glance before breathing an inexplicable sigh of relief. He still didn’t enjoy fighting with others. “Let’s go.”
“I know where the other king insect is.”
The main ship left the battlefield and the rest of the fleet behind as it headed towards a more remote location.
“It was able to build a simple nest already in so little time.”
Ye Muo was unable to retract his psychic power for now. Too much random information was flooding his mind.
He mentally filtered out any objects smaller than a mothership before clenching his sword and getting down on one knee. There was a bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes for once.
He had to kill them all.
When its hunting instinct was activated, even a soft, docile-looking cub could become dangerous.Â
