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"I'm done!" Quick Hare exclaimed. "Huh?! I'm already Level 86?! That was very fast!"
"Because you're part of our party, you gain a portion of the EXP we earn," Maria explained. "So Snape you killed all those bugs, you got a share too."
"T-That's convenient, I guess!" Quick Hare smiled, still trying to maintain her optimistic attitude. "So should we escape and then return to the city?"
"Yes, that's the plan," Arthur said, speaking for the first time in a while. "We'll confront your leader then. I hope you stop being so stubborn about this."
"Arthur, we met her just today," Maria said. "It's natural that she would trust her leader more than us… even though that leader insulted her to her face and threw her into a pit of alien bugs to be devoured."
"I-I'm sorry… It's not that I don't trust you, I just…" Quick Hare sighed.
"It's okay, Quick Hare," Alma said. "I don't know why, but I feel we're somewhat similar, so I understand how you feel. It's as if Maria had come into my life yesterday and told me my grandma was untrustworthy and secretly evil."
"Thanks, Alma," Quick Hare said, nodding with a smile. "I do trust you all, so please, let us uncover the truth together!"
"I don't think Drakogon is quite the same as a grandmother to her…" Maria sighed. "But fair comparison, I suppose. Anyway, let's move. I can already hear a lot of bug legs scuttling toward us. We should greet them with full force."
Maria peered through the tunnel she had dug, spotting an open area within the spaceship, shrouded in darkness and faintly lit by glowing masses of bioluminescent flesh. Eggs containing dozens of young alien larvae were scattered everywhere, tended by a few Hive Drones.
"Hello~"
"Gyaaack?!"
Emeraldine greeted them with her bow, firing a barrage of elemental light arrows that pierced their massive bodies. The arrows exploded inside, causing the drones to burst into acid and flesh across the area.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosions incinerated the eggs, making the underdeveloped larvae screech angrily. Hissing, they attacked from all directions. In their current state, they resembled long, white worms covered in green slime, with small, underdeveloped jaws.
"Eugh, this is really disgusting!" Quick Hare cried. "And I somehow feel bad for the lil' guys…!"
"Don't feel bad for these things, Quick Hare. They're monstrous aliens that eat us!" Vyperion said. "They were going to grow up anyway. It's better to eliminate them as quickly as possible."
The two crushed and blasted the larvae with their laser guns, clearing the area as Maria advanced through the wide corridors with the others by her side.
Hive Drones approached in small groups from every direction, drawn by the larvae's screams, only to be shot by Emeraldine's arrows or impaled by Partner's spears.
"Just how big is this place? Where's the exit?" Lucifer asked, his voice tinged with frustration.
"I can smell fresh air, but it's quite far," Nyx said. "I think half of this place is underground, right?"
"Indeed," Maria nodded. "These spaceships have half their structures dug underground, where the Colony expands and grows."
"Wait, how was it possible for Drakogon to create a Gate teleporting us here?" Nia asked, glancing around. "I thought Gates only led to Dungeons where monsters invade from?"
"Yes…" Maria nodded. "That's the thing. These aliens don't seem to have come through Gates. These spaceships are what's inside them, yet they've assimilated into the world, having existed here for a long time."
"Y-You mean the Gates are where the aliens came from?" Vyperion asked. "But that's not true! They fell from the sky hundreds of years ago… It's recorded in history!"
"History can be easily altered," Jonathan said with a sigh. "Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. We come from a world where a man like your God King rewrote our entire history and hid many truths from the people. We lived a lie our whole lives, unaware of the Tower's existence or its connections to other worlds… or that humans didn't originate from our world but from another."
"Or that only Dragons and Titans are the true original inhabitants of our world," Lucifer added with a sigh. "But since they're nearly extinct, no one knows the hidden truth."
"Your world has many inhabitants who aren't originally from there?" Quick Hare asked, puzzled. "How?"
"There was a time when many people migrated there, drawn by Yggdrasil's diverse regions that suited their original worlds' conditions," Maria explained. "For example, the Mermen from Atlantis favored our oceans, and the Ice Giants from… another world, I suppose, preferred the frozen mountains and snowy landscapes."
"I believe giants originate from Yggdrasil, as children of the Titans," Lucifer said.
"Ah! That makes sense," Maria nodded. "So which tribes don't originate from there?"
"I can't say with complete certainty, but Beastmen and humans definitely come from another Floor of the Tower," Lucifer said with a nod.
"So Mama isn't from Yggdrasil?" Nyx asked.
"She was born there, so she is," Lucifer said. "We're just discussing the origins of the tribes."
"Oh, okay!" Nyx nodded cutely. "Mama, look, a lot of bugs are coming from there!"
"Kraikuuu! Kraikuka! Keketakekau!"
Among them, Maria noticed a peculiar half-humanoid alien wandering about, speaking an unfamiliar language… until Maria focused her abilities to comprehend it.
"Damned vermin! How dare you kill the larvae! You monsters deserve the most painful deaths! The Hive Queen will feast on your brains and your souls!"
"A bug calling me vermin? That's enough."
Maria stepped forward, confronting the towering half-humanoid alien, the first of its kind that Quick Hare and Vyperion had ever seen.
"How were you able to escape?!"
The alien hissed, swinging its massive scythe-like arms, reinforced with layers of hard metallic exoskeleton.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Each blow shattered the ground, unleashing bursts of purple energy. The creature emanated a strange, supernatural aura.
"Well, now, it seems some of you can speak and even use Mana, huh? That's an impressive Mana Aura you've got," Maria said with a smile, swiftly mastering their language after hearing it briefly.
"Y-You speak the Hive Tongue?!" the insect gasped in disbelief. "Impossible!"
CRASH!
The alien swung its scythes toward Maria, channeling its Mana Aura through its natural weapons, only for Maria to catch the attack with her bare hands.
Her skin turned pitch black, her long white hair transformed into black tentacles, and her face vanished, replaced by a single crimson eye.
She had entered her Outer Being Embodiment Form, astonishing the insects. Her Aura exerted such intense pressure that it overwhelmed them.
"Gryaaaaeeek!"
The talking bug screamed in agony, the pressure alone cracking its exoskeleton and shattering its legs as it convulsed in pain.
"I-Impossible! W-What sort of power…?! Gaaack!"
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