After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 36 - Welcome To Earth (1)

“What~? A giant battleship?” asked Cha Yeon-Joo, who rushed to the Hall of Protection after hearing the emergency meeting alarm, dumbfounded. She chuckled nonsensically and shook her head. “For fuck’s sake. How far are they gonna take this? Huh? It’s write first and think later, is it?”

She cursed as she reacted exactly like Oh Kang-Woo.

“Leave the complaints for later.” Kang-Woo calmed Yeon-Joo down and turned to Layla. “Where is that giant battleship right now?”

Layla pointed up and replied, “It is slowly lowering toward the atmosphere. If it doesn’t change its course, it will likely... appear in east USA.”

“Pardon? Atmosphere?” Kang-Woo tilted his head, confused by Layla’s response. “Didn’t you say it was an abnormal Gate phenomenon? What do you mean by atmosphere...?”

“The identified Gate was opened beyond the atmosphere— in other words, outer space.”

‘The Gate had to open in outer space of all places? You’ve run out of ideas, is it?’

However, the location of the Gate was not important.

“Can we make contact with them?”

Checking whether or not the otherworldly beings were willing to communicate was of the highest priority.

‘Nothing better than ending things without a fight.’

If they possessed enough intelligence to build a giant battleship, they would at least not be mindless monsters like the Parasites. If that were the case, they could be persuaded to go back to where they came from without attacking Earth. There was also the option to welcome them.

‘But that’s out of the question.’

It was far too dangerous to welcome otherworldly beings without knowing what their objective was. They of course could have come here due to unavoidable circumstances; perhaps they had come to Earth in seek of refuge because their world ended, or evacuees who lost their way in space.

‘But so what?’

There was no reason to consider their circumstances. Having lost their home or their way was their problem; Kang-Woo was not moronic enough to welcome a ticking time bomb, drunk on his willingness to be generous.

“No, they refused contact,” Layla replied.

“They refused?”

“Yes. We confirmed that the communication went through, but... they hung up without a word.”

“Then that confirms it.”

The fact that they refused to communicate could only mean one thing.

‘I’ll decimate them so they won’t ever think about going anywhere near Earth.’

***

“Commander. We will soon break through the atmosphere.”

The First Fleet of the Galactic Federation was the most elite fleet that conquered countless planets, resulting in them being nicknamed the Conquest Fleet. At the front of the fleet was a giant battleship known as the Macross, the culmination of all the Galactic Federation’s science and technology, moving toward Earth menacingly.

“What a pathetic civilization this planet houses.”

The white-haired commander clicked his tongue as he looked at a screen showing various places on Earth. He could see cars that were still restricted to the ground and gray buildings with primitive models. The civilization was below average among the planets the fleet had conquered.

‘I was worried when we were sucked into that unknown portal, but...’

They had fortunately found a planet soon after, where they could stock up on necessary resources. Considering the level of the planet’s civilization, it did not seem like a bad idea to colonize the planet as well.

“Tsk... of all times, it had to be when we were in the middle of an important project.”

The commander sighed deeply and shook his head. The project that the Galactic Federation had been working on for a long time was about to be finished, but they were suddenly sucked into an unknown portal and ended up in front of a planet that they did not even know the coordinates to.

‘I’ll colonize this planet as quickly as possible and resume the project.’

The Galactic Federation had poured all of the technology available to them into making an android. Considering the astronomical amount of money invested into the project, they needed to resume it as soon as possible.

“We have broken through the atmosphere.”

“Good.” The commander stood up. “Are the hacking preparations complete?”

“Yes, of course.”

His subordinate nodded confidently. The commander smirked and walked forward, his heart beating from excitement. The feeling of teaching true fear to frogs in a well who simply lived their lives knowing nothing of what was lurking beyond their planet and trampling on those frogs as they struggled beneath his feet— he never got tired of it, no matter how many planets he conquered.

“You have nothing to blame but your weakness.” The commander burst into laughter and stood on a platform. “Commence the hacking.”

“Yes, sir!” the members of the fleet shouted as they typed away on buttons floating in midair like a hologram.

With that, every communication device on Earth was under the control of the Macross.

- Huh? Wh-What’s going on?

- What’s wrong with the screen?

Digital billboards, TVs, computers, smartphones, and every other electronic device with a screen displayed the commander standing on a platform. The commander could see the frogs panicking through various displays on the Macross.

He smiled and declared, “My name is Mike Dopud, commander of the Macross that leads the First Fleet of the Galactic Federation.”

The first step of conquest was to engrave his existence into his enemies’ minds and link it with fear. He would eliminate all thoughts of resistance in their minds with unfathomable power.

“From this moment, this planet will become a colony of the Galactic Federation. Those who obey will become an honorable worker of the Galactic Federation, and those who resist...” The commander’s eyes shone. “Will taste the power of the Galactic Federation’s tactical weapon.”

The commander finished his speech— no, it was closer to a declaration of war.

- Galactic Federation?

- What the hell is he talking about?

The people who heard the declaration of war cursed as they expressed how foolish this was.

‘Well, this is the natural response.’

The commander did not think they would believe him unconditionally. After all, frogs in a well would not know the true power of a conqueror outside the well.

“Well... I did not expect words to be enough anyway.” He smiled nastily and continued, “First, I will erase this city off the map.”

He looked down at New York, the first city the Macross arrived in, and said apathetically, “Ready the Plasma Cann—”

“C-Commander!”

The commander turned toward the voice as he was about to command the obliteration of the city.

A subordinate in charge of the battleship’s front-facing cameras shouted, “Th-There is a boy on the deck!!”

“What?” The commander stared at his subordinate nonsensically. “What in the world are you talking about? Pull up the front-facing camera screen here.”

“Yes, sir!!”

The screen reflecting the city of New York changed to the deck of the Macross. As his subordinate had reported, an arrogant-looking boy with upturned eyes was standing leisurely on the deck. He was comfortably walking on the deck of the Macross without the usual powered suit or jetpack.

“What in the...”

The commander frowned in disbelief. A human couldn't possibly penetrate the Macross’s automatic defense system— no, it was already impossible for them to fly in the sky without any equipment and reach the battleship. The members of the fleet were flustered by the impossible sight.

[Yeah, it makes things so much easier if you come out swinging like this.]

They could see the boy smile. They had no idea what sort of magic he used, but the boy’s voice echoed inside their heads. His voice sounded mischievous, cold, and like that of a starved beast at the same time.

[It’s better than laying out your life story and saying pity-filled shit like “We have no choice to do this to survive...”. Wouldn’t you say so?]

The commander frowned fiercely.

“What of the automatic defense system?”

“H-He’s not being designated as a target!”

“Do you think manual controls are just for show? Switch to manual this instant!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

The subordinate in charge of the front-facing cameras quickly typed on the holographic keyboard.

Whirr, ker-thunk!

The deck opened, revealing the barrel of a laser cannon.

“Fire,” the commander said apathetically.

[I mean, even if you guys were going through some desperate, heartbreaking, or tearjerking circumstances—]

Fwoom—!

A blue laser beam powerful enough to incinerate a mere human swept through the boy.

“Huuu.” The commander turned from the screen to the subordinate in charge of managing the automatic defense system. “What did you do to the defense system for it to not even detect a little brat approaching the ship?”

“Th-That’s...” The subordinate stared at the commander, his expression pale. “Nothing! There is nothing wrong with the automatic defense sys—”

“You talk too much.”

The commander took out his gun and aimed at his subordinate. Just then, the whisper of a voice sounding mischievous, cold, and like that of a starved beast at the same time echoed inside the heads of the fleet.

[I would have killed you regardless.]

The unpleasant and unsettling sound of squelching mucus rang out along with laughter.

“What the...”

The commander turned around. The boy who should have been incinerated by the laser cannon was standing on the deck, completely fine. No, that thing could not even be called a boy. His melted flesh was replaced by black mucus with countless sharp teeth protruding from it. The monstrous lifeform only seen in nightmares smiled.

[Right, you said those who resist will taste the power of your tactical weapon, didn’t you?]

The boy— no, the monstrous lifeform taking the form of a boy slowly raised his arm.

Boom—!

A massive explosion shook the battleship.

“Wh-What’s going on?!”

A subordinate shouted, “S-Something broke through the hull and entered the ship!!”

“What are you waiting for?! Pull up the footage!!”

The screen switched to the ship’s interior cameras, showing an extraordinarily handsome young man and a giant covered in swelling red muscles.

[I have some tactical weapons of my own.]

Unsettling laughter echoed inside the fleet’s heads.