"Gods…" Evelyn mumbled in dejection.

She had heard about Celestia's fall in great detail on the way there. Yet, no words could have prepared her for what she was about to witness next.

They were still far from the city itself, yet a horrible stench of death reached her nostrils.

"I hoped that you were overreacting when you were recalling your experiences." She admitted somberly.

Soon after, the dreadful battlefield appeared over the horizon. The destruction that had been caused by the Overlord was simply astronomical. The scale of lost human lives was times worse than what had happened on Triton.

"According to Alice's words, we are to meet with a scout team of another city." Michael spoke, trying to distract his crew from their dark thoughts.

Under normal circumstances it would have been hard to locate other soldiers due to the blizzard. However, with Cyberfang's scan, they were quickly able to pick up several presences not far from them.

"We are the scouts sent from Vespera." The leader of the squad spoke with skepticism in his tone. There was always the chance he was speaking to disguised aliens.

"We are from Azure City. Glad to see that you made the trip." Evelyn was the one to greet them. With her being of the highest realm, Michael judged it would be for the best if people thought she was the one leading them.

"Good to see that they have sent a Grandmaster like myself." The man nodded in approval, going for a handshake. "My name is Stephen. I hope our cooperation will go smoothly."

"Likewise, it makes me sick that those aliens are toying with human lives."

The two scout teams quickly exchanged pleasant greetings, getting familiar with each other's battle styles. Working together meant putting their lives in the hands of complete strangers, so they needed to assess who was the most dependable, the one with a clear mind, and the ones that could hold them back.

"Michael, Middle Expert." Michael introduced himself to one of the Masters.

The man with a scar going over his eyes sneered.

"A mere Expert dares look me in the eye? Had it not been for the war, I would have struck you on the spot."

While the soldiers of Vespera City seemed to mind their manners, one of the Masters in their ranks was an exception. The man didn't shy from showing his disdain towards anyone below the Master realm.

'So, we've identified the weak link.' Michael coldly analyzed. 'If I had to decide who to save and who to leave behind, the choice has become much simpler.'

"Please excuse Karson. He is old-fashioned in many ways. But at least he is able to hold his own in a battle." Stephen apologized, sending a threatening look towards Karson.

'Don't you fucking dare cause trouble.' Was the meaning of the look, which Karson instantly picked up.

Rolling his eyes, the Master faked an apology in an attempt to get the Grandmaster off his back.

Michael heaved a sigh. 'It's only one Master, hopefully he won't hinder us in any way.'

After they got familiar with one another, they began their mission. Since the troops from Vespera had come with a mechanical tiger of their own, it was easier to travel.

The tigers slowly moved towards Celestia with Claire not too far behind. Considering that they could face several Generals at the same time, she had brought her mecha.

"Cyberfang is definitely cuter." Victoria proclaimed in pride, gazing at Vespera's inferior beast.

[You are going to make me blush.]

Surprisingly, the tiger's AI decided to crack a joke.

"Okay, that was kind of cute." Ava giggled.

At the same time, Michael felt a chill run down his spine. Self-awareness was the first sign of an AI uprising coming. While he knew that the tiger wouldn't turn on them due to the mythic technique Bypasser, he was reminded of unpleasant memories.

Making sure to remain undetected, they moved much slower than normal. Several hours later the scout teams came to a complete stop.

"Before we decide on our next actions, we need to know the situation." Stephen suggested handing special binoculars to everyone.

Deep frowns appeared over the soldiers' faces as they observed the state of the city. It was impossible to count the number of human corpses that littered the streets.

Even worse, many of the dead had horrifying expressions permanently etched on their faces. Limbs facing at weird angles, parts of flesh missing.

"They have been tortured…"

Instantly the tension worsened. Michael shifted his focus from the city to his crew. He was making sure that they didn't get any funny ideas.

The time for slaughter hadn't come yet.

Relieved that they stayed in place, he focused on the city again.

"Where is the Overlord?" Stephen mumbled, frantically searching for the biggest threat.

"Don't."

Michael commanded coldly.

"An Overlord is beyond us. Even gazing at it could alert it of our presence. Don't make an effort to find it if you value your life."

"..."

Fortunately, no one dared to argue. Even Karson kept his mouth shut. Nobody was willing to risk angering an enemy akin to a god just to prove Michael wrong.

"The east flank has the least number of active Generals. We should be able to sneak past them and enter Celestia." Evelyn proposed.

Their mission was to gather data. Observing from outside would give them little gains, but infiltrating the city? Now that could prove crucial to understanding how to bring down the Overlord.

The soldiers hesitated. They didn't feel safe entering such a dangerous location, yet with the General tier portal still open, it would become even harder to infiltrate the more time passed.

It was now or never.

Michael was of a similar opinion. His eyes didn't stop searching for blind spots that they could exploit.

Even though he had killed countless aliens in his past life, that didn't mean he could pinpoint the weakness of each alien there was. Not to mention that without sufficient proof no one was going to believe him.

Given how focused he was on getting into the city, what he uncovered with Perfect Vision caught him off guard.

"Is something wrong?" Ava instantly picked up the change in his mood.

"I see people."

"WHAT?!"

With wide eyes, the soldiers focused on the place he was pointing at. Indeed, a group of survivors was sneaking around the city.

"How could you be so certain they are real people? I bet that they are just Generals in disguise!" Karson refuted the idea.

"...I just know." Michael exclaimed, glancing at the system notification.

[Quest: Rescue the survivors]

[Difficulty: Hard]

[Task: Rescue the humans that have managed to survive amidst the threats in Celestia. Make haste, their time is quickly running out!]

[Time limit: 7 Days]

[Reward: Epic cybernetic, 200 Skill Points]

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