Interstellar Survival: Invasion

"Canyue, we're here to save you," Sarje's voice rang out from the communicator.

I looked back and saw that beyond the encirclement, Sarje was leading a group of Wargods in an attack against the beasts around us. Sounds of battle filled the outer encirclement, attracting the attention of many beasts and alleviating the pressure on us.

It was rather comical that the laborers, Temo, and Dodo were standing far behind the attacking Wargods and bearing witness to the bloody battle.

"You! Why did you return? This is suicide!" I roared into the communicator.

"Nobody wants to retreat like this. They insisted on fighting together until the end. These Wargod soldiers are stubborn. I can't do anything about that," replied Sarje as he swung his blade while panting heavily.

"Even if the Wargods insisted on coming, why did you bring Temo and the others here? Didn't I tell you to protect them?" I said.

Sarje said unyieldingly, "The Wargods are not afraid of death. Do you think us Gandos are afraid of death?" 

I understood that Sarje was giving it all to save me. I was only regretful that the laborers who were unsuitable for combat had also been dragged into this. It was also vexing to see Dodo, a droid incapable of combat, following them back here as well.

"Dodo, run! You must let the others know of what we discovered here!" I shouted into the communicator.

Due to the continuous distractions, I wasn't able to focus on the battle. Suddenly, a black figure rushed me from the side, sending me flying. Even my communicator malfunctioned due to the impact. While in great pain, I saw a spider beast raise one of its legs to bring it right to my forehead.

I instinctively raised my right hand to hit back with my laser gun, but I found to my astonishment that I could no longer feel my right hand. Meanwhile, Zhang Bao'er and Old Du were both in the middle of a bitter struggle for their lives. They didn't even notice my situation, so they wouldn't be able to save me either. 

Suddenly, the Wargod who had saved me once before rushed toward me with his shield raised. With all his strength, he blocked the spider beast's fatal attack. With his shield raised, an opening was created that revealed the lower half of his body. 

Two giant paw worms immediately attacked from two directions, instantly severing the soldier's legs. His sturdy body dropped onto the ground. An expression of intense pain covered his face, but he gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Noticing the helpless soldier, the other beasts swarmed him. Instantly, my savior lost his life right before my eyes. Zhang Bao'er finally noticed me and aimed his gun in my direction to help me.

Down on the ground, I could no longer see how the battle on Sarje's side was unfolding. But from the constant stream of beasts I could see heading in their direction, things also seemed to bode ill for them.

"Canyue, my shield is running out of energy," Old Du roared, and then he was knocked onto the ground. Now, only Zhang Bao'er alone was putting up a last stand with his laser gun.

"Old Du, Canyue, you need to thank me for allowing you to live for five extra minutes," said Zhang Bao'er, who was panting even as he bantered. Clearly, his stamina was running low.

"Looks like there really is no escaping this time," I muttered, finally giving up.

I still hoped to see a miracle. Perhaps Zhang Xingxing and the fleet would suddenly appear in the sky. Alas, apart from the three stars, nothing else could be seen in the sky. As despair started to sink in, a miracle happened. A swoosh rang out from far away as an arrow shot over and pierced through three beasts in front of me. The arrow strung the three corpses together.

"Tt-th-this—" Zhang Bao'er was so emotional his words turned incoherent.

"That's Anxashe's arrow! He’s still alive!" I cried out in excitement.

A deafening howl sounded as the massive body of a buer appeared not far away. It was shining in bright red, and it roared loudly at the beasts surrounding us. The beasts seemed to panic at the appearance of the buer. Even their attacks turned sluggish.

The buer did not let the beasts wait too long. Numerous rolling, black holes constantly appeared all over its hill-sized body. From one of these holes, a massive sphere abruptly shot out, and a long flexible arm trailed behind it. In the blink of an eye, the sphere smashed into the beasts on the ground, instantly killing a few beasts that weren't paying attention.

At the same time, another sphere connected to an arm shot out from a different black hole. It smashed into another group of beasts, instantly killing them as well. And thus, the two spheres hammered down in some sort of rhythm, while the beasts stared blankly in fear. They were completely helpless against the powerful buer.

The same scene persisted for several minutes before the flying beasts made an odd shriek in the sky. The shriek was akin to a signal that instantly caused the beasts to retreat back into their base. Before long, they were all gone, leaving only thousands of corpses strewn across the battlefield. At that moment, Anxashe leaped off the buer's body and rushed toward me. Sarje also rushed over with the other soldiers while Dodo followed suit with the other spectators.

"Anxashe, why did you wait so long before appearing?" complained Zhang Bao'er, lying limp on the ground.

"The buer told me to wait. I think it wanted to see your strength. However, I was observing you in stealth. I knew we would've needed the buer's help to defeat those fellows, so I had held back from doing anything," explained Anxashe.

"What the hell is there to observe? We would have died if you had kept holding back," said Zhang Bao'er.

"He is telling the truth. The buer will only help after acknowledging your strength, just like how it had only agreed to hide here after acknowledging the Divine Empire's strength," said Temo.

"In that case, the buers aren't a product of the beast-breeding program here? Instead, they had come from a different planet?" asked Dodo.

"Yes, this is not their place of birth. The buers originated from an ancient mythological beast. The Divine Empire had placed them here to awe and control the members of the beast army," said Temo.

I was listening to them when I suddenly noticed that I hadn't been able to feel my arm for quite a while.

"Dodo, come take a look. I can't feel my arm," I shouted.

Hearing my shout, Dodo rushed over. The others also focused on me with looks of concern.

"Don't worry. You dislocated your joint and injured some of your soft tissues. It's nothing serious," said Dodo, who immediately snapped my joint back.

The moment my joint popped into position, the pain returned. I had to clench my teeth and force myself to not shout in pain.

"Sarje, how are the casualties?" I asked after a bit.

"We lost three Wargod soldiers," said Sarje sorrowfully.

After making a quick count, Dodo concluded, "We have lost four soldiers in total."

"One of them had died when saving me. We can't just leave their corpses lying around," I said firmly.

"But this is a world of steel. We won't even be able to dig a grave for them," said Dodo.

"I suggest we follow the Gando tradition. We'll cremate them to allow the souls of these brave warriors to ascend to the upper realm," suggested Sarje.

Everyone agreed with Sarje's suggestion. We arranged the remains of the four warriors together. The corpse of the one who had perished saving me was badly damaged, and we could only do our best to restore the damaged bodies before setting them aflame.

We all stood in somber silence, including Temo, who was also appearing respectful. The gap in civilization levels and technological advancement was nothing before the sacred thing known as life. Any form of life was worthy of respect.

After the cremation, Anxashe suggested that we also burn all the beast corpses. We agreed, and this time, the laborers helped. All the corpses were piled together and set into a raging fire. Thick, dark smoke rose high into the sky, covering even the radiance of the three stars.

"Anxashe, that fellow changed color again," said Zhang Bao'er as he pointed at the buer, which had turned black.

This was my first time truly looking at the legendary beast from close range. The buer's body was the size of a hill. Black holes were constantly appearing and disappearing all over its body, and its body somewhat resembled a dumpling. Some sort of overcast echo also seemed to be constantly resounding within its body.

"Not only can it change color, but it can also hide itself. When you were fighting earlier, it had been observing in stealth," said Anxashe.

"I can accept how this big guy can hide, but you can't turn invisible. Where were you earlier?" asked Zhang Bao'er. Evidently, he was still unhappy with Anxashe's delayed assistance.

"Just by standing on the buer's body, we can share its concealment effect," said Anxashe.

Old Du asked, "Anxashe, how did you defeat and subdue the buer? You can even communicate with it through thoughts." That was a question everyone was curious about, including Temo. Everyone's gaze landed on Anxashe, awaiting his answer.

"A buer can never be defeated unless it is a fight between buers. I fought it with all my strength, but I kept feeling as if it wasn't using all its strength. Even so, I was ultimately forced to stop struggling. Surprisingly, the buer had spared me at the last moment," said Anxashe. Listening to his story was like listening to a fairy tale.

"Why had it stopped? Is there anything special about you that had attracted it?" Even Temo was filled with questions.

When you're just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

"Yes. It was able to read my thoughts, so it initiated contact with me. Through our communication, I learned that it had seen a genetic makeup that was similar to mine before. In other words, it had encountered a different Wargod warrior in the past," said Anxashe, shocking all of us.

"Does that mean that your ancestors had once visited the buer's home planet?" asked Temo.

"No. The buer told me that it had met the Wargod on this very planet," said Anxashe, once again shocking everyone, especially the other Wargod soldiers.