Chapter 424
Passing through the beam, Van felt his mech suit become almost weightless.
He shot forward with a nervous gulp.
His heart pounded harder with every passing second.
He was diving straight into the heart of enemy territory.
What awaited him inside?
...
Actually...
He already knew.
Aberrants.
The only question was...
How many?
He had no idea how many remained aboard the mothership after the deployment.
All he knew was that he had to infiltrate the vessel, locate its control center, and destroy it from within.
His ability...
It had to be capable of something like that.
Hopefully...
He wouldn’t stumble upon an Aberrant powerful enough to leave him bedridden for months...
Only to wake up and receive an even worse beating from Ray afterward.
Thinking about Ray...
Van couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
’...I hope he doesn’t get too mad at me for this.’
He swallowed once more.
A moment later, he completely emerged from the crimson beam.
For an instant...
It almost felt as though he had left Alcatraz entirely...
And stepped onto another world.
He instinctively shut his eyes.
CLINK!
His boots landed atop a metallic platform.
’Huh?’
Van slowly opened his eyes.
His pupils immediately contracted.
’Th-This... what the hell...?’
’Wasn’t that beam supposed to be a laser?’
The scene before him was utter chaos.
Hundreds...
No...
Thousands of Aberrants filled the colossal chamber.
Every one of them stood perfectly still.
Their eyes remained tightly shut.
Almost as though they were asleep.
The metallic floor vibrated beneath their enormous bodies.
Gigantic gravity elevators continuously descended from the ceiling.
Each platform was large enough to transport dozens of Aberrants at once.
Far below...
Massive armored blast doors slowly separated.
Sunlight poured into the chamber.
The moment deployment began...
The elevators descended.
Wave after wave of Aberrants dropped toward Alcatraz like living meteors.
The one fortunate thing...
Their eyes remained closed.
For now.
That meant Van still had both his breathing room...
And his head attached to his shoulders.
Carefully...
Quietly...
He stepped off the platform.
Every movement was measured.
He couldn’t afford to trigger whatever security systems this ship possessed.
Without wasting another second, Van tapped the side of his mech suit.
A dozen tiny mechanical spiders detached themselves before silently scattering across the chamber.
Each squeezed beneath the gigantic blast door sealing the chamber’s exit.
Van scanned the room one final time.
There was no obvious mechanism capable of stopping the deployment.
Earlier...
While fighting outside...
He hadn’t realized this many Aberrants still remained aboard the mothership.
Then why were they only deploying now?
’Could it be...’
’The others are eliminating them much faster than expected?’
Letting out a quiet sigh, Van turned toward the massive blast door blocking his path.
Without another thought...
He slowly approached it.
Placing his palm against the scanner embedded beside the entrance.
’People always say Aberrant technology surpasses ours...’
’But... how?’
...
His eyes glowed a brilliant blue.
The scanner flickered violently.
Its lights briefly died.
Then—
It returned to normal.
SHHHHK!
The enormous blast door slid open.
Van slipped through immediately.
The entrance sealed itself behind him.
Beyond it stretched an impossibly long metallic corridor.
Dozens of massive passageways branched off in every direction.
Each hallway was enormous...
Wide enough for entire groups of Aberrants to march side by side.
Deep claw marks scarred the metallic walls.
’I need to reach the control room...’
’But where the hell is it?’
He paused.
Switching his vision to the live feeds transmitted by his mechanical spiders.
One spider had wandered into what appeared to be a training barracks.
Over a dozen Aberrants were sparring inside.
Another had entered the chamber housing the primary beam cannons responsible for bombarding Alcatraz.
’Perfect...’
’I’ll disable those fir—’
Van froze.
His eyes narrowed as another feed appeared before him.
The feed revealed an Aberrant overseeing the chamber.
Judging by the single spine protruding from its back...
It was a One-Spined Aberrant.
Van swallowed nervously.
His fists tightened inside the mech suit.
’I knew what I signed up for the moment I entered this ship.’
’For everyone’s sake...’
’I have to disable those cannons.’
His resolve hardened.
Without another moment of hesitation, Van sprinted toward the corridor leading to the cannon control room.
...
Barely two minutes later...
He arrived outside the massive blast door.
His eyes darted cautiously from one corner to another.
No movement.
No alarms.
Just silence.
Van slowly placed one palm against the access scanner.
His eyes glowed a brilliant blue.
At the same time, his other arm transformed.
Metal shifted and folded over itself.
WHIRRR!
An energy cannon formed around his forearm.
Already charged.
Already aimed.
Thanks to his mechanical spider...
He knew exactly where the Aberrant was standing.
SHHHHK!
The blast door slid open.
Van fired instantly.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Three condensed energy shells erupted from the cannon in rapid succession.
The Aberrant never even had the chance to react.
Each projectile slammed into its exposed back.
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
Its rocky armor shattered apart.
By the time the creature managed to turn around—
Van was already inside.
His arm cannon instantly reshaped itself.
Twin energy blades extended from both wrists.
He launched upward.
The first blade carved several inches into the Aberrant’s neck.
Before it could recover—
The second blade plunged directly into the shattered wound on its back.
Van gritted his teeth.
Then dragged the blade downward with all his strength.
Blue blood erupted everywhere.
The creature staggered.
Before collapsing heavily onto the metallic floor.
THUD!
Silence returned.
Van remained frozen for a moment.
Panting heavily inside the mech suit.
A shaky smile slowly appeared across his face.
"I..."
"I actually did it?"
"I... I killed an Aber..."
He immediately shook his head.
"No."
"I only won because I caught it by surprise."
"And because I was faster."
"If it had seen me coming..."
"...that would’ve been a completely different fight."
Taking a deep breath, Van forced himself to calm down.
His gaze shifted toward the countless control panels spread throughout the chamber.
Hundreds of keyboards.
Countless holographic displays.
’Good thing I chose the lightweight mech...’
’If I’d gone with a heavier combat model...’
’I’d never have moved fast enough.’
Walking up to the main console, Van placed both hands upon it.
His eyes glowed once more.
Blue light raced across the alien interface.
Within seconds...
He located the systems controlling the primary beam cannons.
One by one...
Every cannon shut down.
Then...
Van smiled.
He encrypted the entire system behind a security code that only he knew.
Even if another Aberrant replaced the one he had just killed...
Restarting the cannons wouldn’t be so simple.
Finally...
He let out a long sigh.
Mission accomplished.
For now.
Just then—
Another report arrived from one of his mechanical spiders.
Van immediately switched to its vision.
His expression changed.
The spider had located the mothership’s central control chamber.
But...
For some reason...
It couldn’t get inside.
___
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