Starting from the Planetary Governor

Five years later, the physical condition of the Interstellar Warrior will be mostly mature, and a new Genetic Seed will be generated in their body, ready for harvesting to develop the next recruit; the second seed matures in ten years, but must be retrieved after the warrior's death.

Each Interstellar Warrior can only produce these two seeds in their lifetime. This means that Genetic Seeds are incredibly precious.

Relying solely on the fifty seeds at hand, even in the most ideal situation, it would take a hundred years to rebuild the Battle Group to its peak strength of a thousand warriors.

Furthermore, such an ideal situation is simply impossible. Not to mention, the Battle Group has to pay a Genetic Seed tax, with 5% of newly acquired seeds needing to be surrendered to the Empire.

Moreover, the failure rate of genetic surgeries and the delay in recovering seeds after a warrior's death will also result in losses.

Nevertheless, these considerations are for the future. The rebuilding of the Battle Group has to be a step-by-step process. For now, the immediate task is to complete mission F.2, earn another hundred points, and refresh the reward exchange to see if there are any good things available.

William Alec has always been an optimistic and cheerful person. Having grown up on the lower decks of the Burn Feather as a slave, his positive attitude is quite remarkable.

He is the oldest among the eleven new recruits of the Phoenix, and his friendly and leadership-driven personality makes him well-liked by the other ten battle brothers. He enthusiastically supports his comrades during training and daily life.

His most iconic trait is a bright smile beneath his short golden hair, which invariably infects others.

However, today he couldn't bring himself to smile.

With his combat team and roughly twenty soldiers of the Defense Army, he took to a tunnel where the Defense Army had previously lost half a company. The resistance from the enemy within was exceptionally fierce. Content first released on M_VLEM_PYR.

But under the attack from the Red Angel, these mortals were swiftly annihilated.

They advanced through the tunnel with an unstoppable momentum, leaving behind only the shattered remains of bodies visited by the Blast Bomb Gun.

The further Alec went, the more he felt something was amiss.

The tunnel became increasingly wide, which seemed to imply that they might be heading towards an important stronghold ahead;

An unsettling feeling began to rise around them. It wasn't a scent or sound, just a pure feeling. The Spiritual Energy flowing within him seemed to become somewhat restless.

He cautiously instructed his battle brothers to be more vigilant.

After advancing further, they entered an open area. Here, considerable fortifications had been erected, defended by at least a hundred rebel infantry. Behind them, a tightly closed door loomed.

Alec was almost certain that the unsettling sensation emanated from behind that door. Those involved in the attack could even hear fine, maddening whispers.

The Interstellar Warriors were doing alright; despite having undergone their transformation only recently, their resistance to such sinister phenomena was relatively strong. But the mortal soldiers behind them were not faring as well.

Delays were not an option, so Alec ordered the attack directly.

With four Battle Monks forming the spearhead, they bore the brunt of the concentrated enemy fire, baptizing every enemy position with the Blast Bomb Gun.

The mortal soldiers behind them wouldn't immediately go mad from the whispers alone. Despite discomfort, under orders from the Interstellar Warriors, they could still engage in battle.

After the Interstellar Warriors absorbed the majority of the enemy fire, they followed closely, assisting in the assault, charging together with the warriors close to the enemy's fortifications.

Under their coordinated efforts, the rebels were completely wiped out.

The battle didn't take too long, yet within that brief period, Alec felt that the evil whispers behind the door had grown even stronger.

Alec didn't dare delay further and ordered the door to be blown open. Simultaneously, he sent a communication to Russell:

"We've encountered a Special Event, suspected demonic presence."

Russell quickly replied: "Can you confirm it?"

"It's my suspicion, but it resembles the Chaos Priests' signs of summoning demons that you taught us about during the lessons... just on a smaller scale. According to your teachings, we must completely eliminate them before those filthy traitors complete their evil ritual. I've arranged for the door to be breached, just reporting the situation to you for now."

"You..." Russell hesitated.

His initial reaction upon hearing the news was to have Alec withdraw and rush there himself. Frankly, he was worried that the recruits might face demons prematurely, unable to cope, leading to severe casualties.

New recruits are too precious, losing even one would be unbearable.

But Alec's actions were appropriate. Normally, they had to go in. The previous rebel soldiers' desperate resistance seemed like a delay tactic. Breaking through quickly and resolving the situation promptly was the optimal solution.

As the combat team's leader, Alec made the correct decision, so why stop him?

Just because he was worried about sacrifices? But Interstellar Warriors are destined for endless battles.

They must grow eventually.

Moreover, after careful consideration, Russell believed the danger was controllable. There shouldn't be conditions on Rage Owl Star to completely tear the veil between reality and hell, at most a few Cult priests conducting some evil ritual, potentially summoning a few low-level demons.

Such a challenge, with Alec as a fully-fledged sergeant leading four warriors, should be manageable.

After deliberating, Russell ultimately refrained from ordering Alec to withdraw.

He simply reminded, "Proceed with caution, I'm on my way."

"Yes, Battle Group Leader!"

Alec wasn't aware of his leader's inner conflict; in his mind, he was merely doing what he ought to do.

Nervously, he watched the soldiers of the Planetary Defense Force place the explosives and then triggered the detonation.

With the door breached, he led three battle brothers charging in first through the dust.

Once inside, Alec was shocked by the scene before him.

Six or seven black-robed figures adorned with numerous skull and hand bone decorations, their robes painted with ominous red runes in blood, were surrounding a blood array.

The whispers they heard outside the door emanated from these evil priests, orating spiritual chants.

The central array was a crimson Chaos Octagonal Array, something strictly forbidden by Imperial law, punishable by death without trial upon discovery.

On close inspection, this massive Chaos symbol was actually etched out, forming finger-wide grooves, filled with actual blood.

Suspended above the array's center were twisted corpses, some even of children, infants. Each corpse had been cut for bloodletting, with blood dripping under an evil force into the sinister formation.

At the center of the array, multiple ethereal figures began to appear. Some seemed like the souls of the 'sacrifices' hanging above the formation, miserable and helpless. Others were strong and terrifying, horned creatures with gray-blue figures, likely the demons themselves.

The demons didn't appear to be physically present in this world, yet they reveled in the blood raining down, as they tore into the souls.

Blood, evil priest chanting, miserable souls, demon revelry... a terrifying and extremely evil ritual was laid bare before Alec.

"What blasphemy is this!"

Initially, he indeed felt fear. After all, just over three months ago, he was merely an ordinary person. Despite undergoing transformation and training, witnessing such a scene for the first time, fear was only natural.

There's no need to feel ashamed of fear.

The key is what the second thought is after experiencing fear?

Some people are broken by fear, but clearly not Alec.

Now he felt indignant!

The raised Blast Bomb Gun roared with erupting flames, unleashing his hatred towards the Emperor's enemies!

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