"This has to be the first proper city we are meant to liberate." Ava exclaimed with a sigh.

Until now they had gone off lightly, but with a General tier queen lying in wait, the danger jumped exponentially.

Michael nodded calmly. What he was most concerned about was the queen itself. Every swarm they had defeated so far had been the result of a calculated ambush, targeting the queen and eliminating her before she even realized what was happening. Without her, the swarm was vulnerable.

However, unlike the Elite queens they had faced until now, the General queen will certainly possess a fully functional body. Making her far more dangerous and difficult to eliminate.

Sneaking towards her would become times deadlier, not to mention that she would be able to change her position on a whip.

"Now nobody can argue that it's time to burn them!" Richard proclaimed in excitement. "Even if we desired the city, it is simply inevitable!"

Grandmaster Alice frowned. Usually she would have dismissed his words as nonsense. Yet seeing the large swarm containing hundreds of millions of Ro'trahs, she failed to imagine how else they could kill them.

"That won't work." Michael shattered their hopes, as he threw the body of Ro'trah he had picked off from the ground toward Richard.

With an arched eyebrow, the Peak Master examined the small corpse.

The body was slightly larger than the typical ones, roughly the size of a human's finger. Two razor-sharp claws protruded from its back, and its maw still dripped with blood.

"Notice how its shell is more red than usual?" Michael pointed out. "That's a sign the troublemaker has evolved to withstand high temperatures. In simpler terms, burning them is out of the question unless you can generate heat on par with the sun."

Since in his prior life the Ro'trah were the aliens that caused Michael the most headaches, he had learned everything he could about them. The red shell was one of the rarest evolutionary paths, and it was also one of the most troublesome.

"Maybe we shouldn't push our luck?" Evelyn advised. "It's clear that even with the Grandmasters in our unit, it's going to be a hard battle."

"We have no choice." Victoria shook her head.

"Until now we have been creating a funnel in Neptune's dark side. I suspect that the Lords are planning to use the road we carve to launch a campaign against the main alien queen."

Of course she hadn't arrived at that conclusion alone, as Michael had masterfully led her in the right direction. Otherwise, she wouldn't have enough information to plan accordingly.

"But if we leave even one settlement standing, it could disturb our efforts to take back the planet." Victoria continued.

Anyone could imagine an army marching through the planet's dark side only to be weakened by a leftover hive containing a General.

"It appears that this time we will be infiltrating the city together." Michael sighed.

Until now he was mostly the one doing the infiltrating work, since he was able to stack concealment techniques over one another. But since he was only a Peak Expert, he wouldn't be able to swiftly assassinate the enemy General.

The eyes of the soldiers began to burn with determination. Despite choosing to stop obeying the commands of the Lords, their mission as soldiers was still to get rid of the aliens. And for that they were more than willing to lay their lives on the line.

[Should we remain here?]

Cyberfang tilted its head to the side. A valid question, considering the mecha tigers they had used for transport were simply too big to remain undetected.

"Affirmative. I trust that with the little conscience you have, the task of leading the other tigers wouldn't be misplaced." Michael patted the metal beast on the head.

ROAR!

Cyberfang roared in pride. As planned, the mechas stayed close to the city, keeping watch. If things went sideways with the General, the humans would signal the tigers with a flare, calling for backup.

With a plan in mind, the unit approached the city stealthily. The Grandmasters were at the front, using their sharpening senses to detect potential dangers.

Bzzzz!

It didn't take long before the ear-piercing buzzing reached the ears of the soldiers.

"Boss, you really are a different breed." Richard whispered in admiration. "The noise is already beginning to drive me insane. I can't fathom how you have endured being sent to invade the enemy ranks so many times."

"Do you only now realize how amazing my Michael is?" Ava puffed her chest in pride.

Richard chuckled darkly. "Or maybe he is simply insane?"

SHHH!

Before getting closer, Alice threw a threatening look at the soldiers behind her. Any chatter now would risk giving away their position to the enemy.

"Sorry." Ava blushed from embarrassment.

"Not sorry." Richard smiled widely, keeping his mouth shut.

BZZZZ!

Stealthily entering the city, the buzzing of the aliens intensified. Inside, the surroundings were pitch black, with a giant shadow cast from the millions of creatures overhead.

The soldiers paced from one building to the next, keeping extra caution to keep quiet.

Even after checking several houses, there wasn't any sign of the enemy queen.

"...!"

Getting a bad feeling, Michael took a glimpse at Natalia once they approached a still-working lamp.

'Fuck!' He cursed bitterly. The woman looked pale, her body drenched in sweat as she barely took breaths.

They had taken too long! Every technique had a limit on how much it could be used, and it seemed that Natalia was nearing her limit. The concealment technique was soon going to run out!

Alerting the Grandmasters about the situation, they paused, caught in a debate. Should they withdraw and play it safe, or take the risk and push forward, hoping luck would be on their side?

After a brief consideration, they made the choice to retreat and come back later.

Thud!

However, before they could leave the city, a distant sound reached their ears. A noise that didn't come from the flying creatures overhead but something more sinister.

Michael's eyes narrowed in realization.

In a bizarre twist of fate, it was the queen who found them first.

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