The Martial Unity

The Blood Arc immediately entered reconnaissance and analysis mode as they maintained a safe distance from Planet Amadeus III, unwilling to enter the muck of disorganized human fleets fighting against a very adept and powerful indigenous alien species that could not only fight back, but even emerge victorious in many a case with their tremendous personal might. The data they gathered revealed a truly shocking reality of the target planet. “These creatures are… subterranean,” an analyst murmured as she pointed out to data that featured the homoarachnoids emerging from within the surface of the planet. “They possess the ability to rapidly dig themselves in and out of the bedrock of the planet in a manner that is highly expedient. This must also be the reason for why they the remarkable ability to anchor themselves to the land beneath their legs. It will not be easy to actually take on these creatures on land.”

Arastia could clearly see that. The entirety of the battlefield around Planet Amadeus’s orbit was composed of opportunistic adventurers and mining enterprises that sought to bomb the creatures to oblivion, but were instead entangled by the remarkable web fluid and the great force that the homoarachnoids were able to exert.

They watched from afar as an increasingly larger and larger portion of the ships that orbited the planet began getting entangled in the webs of the strange, humanoid spider-like alien creatures. The spaceships of human civilization weren’t built for tugs of war with terrestrial alien lifeforms that could exert enough force that, along with the force of gravity, could completely pull those creatures down into the planets, leading to massive catastrophic explosions.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM!!!

Ships plummeted into the atmosphere and into the ground of the planet, completely crumbling upon contact as the massive explosions engulfed not just the ship but also the surrounding homo arachnoids of the planet.

They received many SOS calls from desperate adventurers and other fleets that had been caught up in the strange webs of the homoarachnoids that had spun them in powerful prisons, pulling them into the planet for a catastrophic end.

“We must maintain our distance,” the commander of the fleet realized. “Even when we commence the operation, we cannot afford to allow the Blood Arc to draw anywhere near the planet, lest we get entangled in their web fluid that somehow seems to be able to completely defy gravity and atmsophere resistance and latch onto ships despite their energy and spatial fields. These creatures are extremely formidable.”

“We have begun compiling a briefing exercise for the pathwalkers aboard the Blood Arc, Madam President,” one analyst told Arastia. “Once that’s done, we will be able to construct a simple operation that makes use of standard protocols to ensure that we can get our hands on the necessary sample.”

Arastia nodded with a serious expression. “Make sure to be as scrupulous as you possibly can when it comes to tailoring the operation to be as likely to succeed as possible. There are many lives at jeopardy here, including our own. We don’t want anything to go wrong.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Arastia was especially worried about her niece. Of course, she was aware that this could be quite the dangerous operation and had ultimately chosen to get Ria on board anyway, but after seeing how much scope there was for things to completely go sideways, she couldn’t help but regret her decision to commission Ria and Runark.

‘They’ll be fine,’ she convinced herself. ‘Not only is Sayfeel there, but they also have excellent Martial prowess and premium exo-Martial suits that can actually protect them when the time comes.’

And, she was there too. She disliked tooting her own horn, but she was confident in her own pathwalker prowess. She was a hemosapien. And a female at that. And she was at her strongest phase of the cycle, virtually unstoppable among other pathwalkers, save for the very strongest. Even though the sheer numbers and the collective ability of the homoarachnids, based on the preliminary information that they had gathered, she was confident that if push came to shove, she would be able to avert a bad outcome, especially for the people that she loved if push came to shove.

Meanwhile, the pathwalkers aboard the Blood Arc had already been granted access to the data gathered by the reconnaissance and surveillance conducted by the Blood Arc. Large screens in all public spaces featured detailed feeds of everything that they captured, while each of them also received information packages detailing the information that had been confirmed.

The lounge, filled with pathwalkers, was silent. Just some time prior, the air had been relatively calm and relaxed, even if there was an undercurrent of tension and energy for the upcoming mission. Now, however, each and every single pathwalker, whether they were seated in the cafeteria or the pub, found themselves completely absorbed in studying the strange homoarachnoid creatures of Planet Amadeus III.

The light ambient music that played in the background was gone, as was the noise of conversation. The atmosphere in the lounge grew more serious and tense as they beheld the strange situation that had stirred up in orbit around Planet Amadeus III. Each and every single one of them had every interest in understanding exactly what they were up against.

What drew their attention the most was the strange picture of Planet Amadeus III in the distance that looked like a ball with numerous thin fibers shooting out of it across the surface of the planet and into outer space, where they intercepted spaceships and fleets composing of adventurers.

“They seem completely unbothered by the terrestrial disadvantage,” Ria couldn’t help but mutter with a tone of amazement. “The fact that they are able to overwhelm adventurer warships from the surface of the planet despite that lopsided dynamic shows just how powerful they are.”

She sat at the bar with her teammates beside her, engrossed in the screen above and in front of them that featured the gathered data, playing with her drink. “…These creatures are going to be difficult to deal with.” Misha’s normally nonchalant tone was more serious. “If they’re this powerful on the ground, then we’re going to be in a whole world of hurt if we approach this mistakenly.”