Intergalactic conquest with an AI-Chapter 416: The enemy within. {4}

"System! Take us straight into the heart of the infected zone! Once you lock onto the central nest, open fire with everything we’ve got! use high-caliber rounds to blast a path wide enough for the battalion to land safely!"

Lyra shouted, her voice sounding sharp and full of command as she made her way toward the rear hatch of the transport ship. Her soldiers, fully equipped and ready, waited behind her in tense silence.

[Primary target has been located. Initiating suppression bombardment now.]

The moment the scanners pinpointed the massive entrance to the infected nest, an ominous hole surrounded by twisting black tendrils and pulsing flesh, the entire fleet sprang into action.

Lyra’s command ship and the smaller escort transports unleashed a storm of ammunition, their mounted cannons thundering as explosive rounds rained down on the nest.

Simultaneously, the hatches of the transport ships hissed open. From within, rows of Aegis units, clad in dark armor with glowing red visors, leapt out one after another. Each soldier activated their descent thrusters just before hitting the ground, landing smoothly in tight formations.

[Warning: Large numbers of hostiles are emerging from within the nest. They’re advancing fast.]

"Hold your ground and repel the enemy! Don’t let a single one through!" Lyra’s voice rang through the field. Thanks to her upgraded command device, another of Cleo’s custom-built tools, this one made every unit within a two-kilometer radius able to hear her loud and clear.

The device wasn’t as powerful as Cleo’s planetary-scale systems, but it was more than enough for battlefield coordination.

On her order, the grounded Aegis companies opened fire in synchronized bursts. Laser and plasma rounds tore through the initial wave of infected charging out of the nest. At first, the battle seemed manageable. But that quickly changed.

With a thunderous crash, a Mauler Juggernaut covered in thick armor plating and armed with twin arm cannons was finally deployed by one of the transport ships. Its arrival sent vibrations through the battlefield and boosted the morale of the Blood Legion troops.

[Warning: High-level mutations detected. Hostile entities are approaching rapidly from outside the nest perimeter. Estimated contact: one minute and counting.

"Damn it... the real monster wasn’t even home. It was out on a walk." Lyra muttered bitterly. Then, she snapped into action.

"Company One and Company Two, maintain suppressive fire on the normal infected! Companies Three to Five, form up on me! we’re intercepting the boss-level mutation! And you, big guy, get moving!" she shouted out while pointing at the Mauler Juggernaut, whose cannon arms began to glow as its reactor charged.

As the final countdown ticked away, silence fell into an unnatural, suffocating quiet. Every soldier, every machine, stood ready. Then it came.

From the mist and debris on the far edge of the battlefield, the enemy swarm appeared. Thousands of infected, all grotesquely mutated and faster than anything the Legion had faced so far, came flooding toward them like a tidal wave of flesh and bone.

The Aegis units responded instantly.

Without hesitation, they opened fire. Plasma bolts lit up the air, ripping through the oncoming swarm with deadly accuracy. Each shot hit its mark, but the infected had grown tougher with thicker skin, armored limbs, and regenerative tissue, making them harder to kill. The shots that would have once vaporized a target now only slowed them down.

The infected smashed into the Aegis lines, clawing and shrieking. Shields flickered and cracked under the pressure, and even with disciplined fire, several Blood Legion soldiers fell. The cost of holding the line was rising by the second.

But just when it seemed like the tide might turn, Lyra descended like a crimson comet.

Falling from the sky with her rings whirling in a spiral of death, she landed in the middle of the swarm. Her crimson energy rings spun outward like circular saws, slicing apart dozens of infected in an instant.

The rings grew in number as they fed off the enemy’s blood, dancing around her like deadly spirits, expanding and contracting with each enemy slain. Behind the front lines, a booming sound erupted from the Mauler Juggernaut that had joined the fight.

Its cannons roared, blasting apart clusters of infected in spectacular explosions. The battlefield trembled under the power of the Blood Legion’s elite war machine.

And Lyra, with her cape flowing behind her and her eyes glowing with blood-colored light, stood at the center of it all, almost like a lone figure of defiance surrounded by death and fire.

The only reason Lyra was still standing amid the chaos was the unshakable presence of the imperial bot maid, who stood by her side like a tireless sentinel. With a laser rifle in each hand, the maid moved with mechanical precision, each pull of the trigger resulting in a clean headshot.

It was as if the laws of probability bent to her will. There’s an old saying that lightning never strikes the same place twice but fortunately for Lyra, the maid’s lasers did.

Even when the infected got dangerously close, the bot maid didn’t flinch. She simply responded with powerful, bone-crushing kicks.

Despite her petite and elegant appearance styled to resemble a gentle servant, her slim legs housed the same hardened exoskeleton found in the deadly Tyrant Units. Each kick she delivered sent enemies flying like rag dolls, and the weaker infected were torn apart instantly, their bodies pierced clean through by her razor-sharp foot actuators.

[Warning: Orbital bombardment incoming.]

"Wha—?!" Lyra barely had time to react.

Suddenly, from high above the atmosphere, enormous artillery shells began to rain down from orbit. The sky lit up with terrifying flashes, and the ground shook violently as blast after blast hammered the battlefield.

The terrifying part? The shells weren’t targeting the infected horde.

They were targeting the Blood Legion.

Each explosion landed with horrifying precision among Lyra’s forces, not even bothering with the infected swarm. Someone up there wanted them dead badly.

"My Lady!!" the imperial maid shouted, her voice sharp with worry as she darted toward Lyra with terrifying speed. Without hesitation, she threw her arms around Lyra’s body, pulling her into a tight embrace.

In that same moment, the bot maid activated her full energy shield at maximum output.

And then the battlefield exploded. A colossal artillery shell struck the exact spot they stood on. The explosion turned the land into fire and ash, and the shockwave hurled them both through the air like ragdolls.

The bombardment lasted several agonizing minutes. By the time it ended, the battlefield was completely unrecognizable. Craters scarred the land like open wounds. The Blood Legion had been decimated, reduced to shattered armor and scorched metal. Even the massive infected nest had been obliterated... erased from existence by the merciless barrage.

All that remained was death and silence.

Not long after the sky cleared, unfamiliar fighter squadrons with bluish hulls descended from above, silently flying over the ruined battlefield like carrion birds. They weren’t there to help. They were searching... hunting. Scanning for something or someone.

It wasn’t until midnight that Lyra finally stirred.

"Cough... ahh... cuf, cuf... where... where am I...?" she whispered weakly, blinking against the darkness. As she tried to sit up, searing pain shot through her chest and limbs. Her entire body screamed in protest.

"Please, don’t move yet, my lady," said a gentle voice beside her.

Lyra turned her head slightly and saw her imperial maid kneeling beside her. The bot maid’s usually pristine uniform was torn and dirty, and parts of her artificial body were exposed. freewёbnoνel-com

Where her skin had once looked human, patches of shimmering metal and flickering golden circuits now glowed through the gaps, casting a dim light on the debris-covered ground.

"You’ve sustained multiple injuries," the maid continued calmly. "Fragments from the orbital shelling pierced your body in several places. Several muscles were torn, and many internal organs were bruised. However... none of your vital systems were destroyed. You’re going to survive."

As she spoke, the maid gently removed Lyra’s bloodied bandages and replaced them with fresh ones, applying a thick layer of medi-gel to aid her recovery. Her hands were careful, almost loving, despite the mechanical strength hidden beneath them.

Lyra winced from the pain, but her eyes wandered, noting how exposed the maid’s body was beneath the ruined uniform. "Are... you okay?" she asked, her voice sounding soft but worried. "Are you... also injured?"

The maid didn’t stop her work. She smiled politely; her voice remained as warm as ever. "I do not suffer from injuries, my lady."

Lyra narrowed her eyes. "That’s not what I meant. Are you... damaged?"

This time, the maid paused for a moment, then nodded slightly. "According to my internal diagnostics, my primary power core was completely drained when I deployed my full shielding capacity to protect you."

"My secondary core is still functioning, but it’s damaged and leaking energy slowly. I’ve rerouted systems to maintain only the essential functions... so that I can keep guarding you."

She said it so matter-of-factly, as if sacrificing herself was the most natural thing in the world.

"...You saved me..." Lyra whispered, her voice being barely audible.

"I am your maid, your bodyguard, and your shadow. My existence is for your protection, my lady," the maid replied with a small bow, still scanning Lyra’s vitals as if the previous bombardment had never happened.

Lyra stared at the imperial bot maid with a puzzled expression slowly forming on her bruised and dirt-covered face. Something about the way the maid gently adjusted her bandages... the soft tone in her voice... the way she had wrapped her arms around her just moments before the explosion hit... it was all so strange. Strange because it felt familiar.

This content is taken from fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com