11 Hours Ago – At the very edge of the solar system.
On the launchpads of the intergalactic vessel, more than 2,000 armored warriors stood shoulder to shoulder in front of a single man that was sitting on a chair, seemingly asleep.
This man had long hair and an emaciated figure that could barely full up the pitch-black armor he had on yet even without doing anything, an unfathomable pressure was being exerted on the 2,000 Profound Realm warriors in front of him.
Behind these Profound realm warriors was an entire army more than 15 times their size. Each of them wore the same futuristic body armor that tightly wrapped around their well-toned bodies.
Human males and females, some beastmen and women along with many other humanoid species made the ranks of these soldiers, some more ruthless looking than the others.
Yet not a single one of them made any sound whatsoever, which made the atmosphere in this hanger excruciatingly oppressive. That's because all of their eyes were focused on the gigantic screen in the air that hovered above their heads.
On the screen was a real-time map of the battle currently taking place just outside the hanger doors to the left.
There were three different colors on the screen.
Blue, which represented the allied or friendly forces. They numbered in the tens of thousands but every now and then a blue dot would disappear.
Red dots represented the enemy forces which in this situation were the insect tribes. There were far more red dots on the screen than blue. For each Blue dot there were over a thousand Red ones.
And then there were the Black dots. These were the fewest in numbers, ranging just over a thousand in total.
At the very back of the hanger, there was a group of youngsters peeking in through one of the many windows.
All of them were wearing the same dark grey suits that had the word "cadet" in big white letters pasted above their chests.
"Woah, I have only heard of sorties like this," one of the youngsters, a humanoid female with a reptilian tail commented lightly.
One of the others next to her, an innocent-looking human boy nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah, I heard all the other squads were told to be on standby as well."
A muscular boy with red skin and combed back hair who had his back against the window scoffed upon hearing that.
"Please, do you have any idea how many squads there are in total on the ship? This is a galactic level ship you know! Anyone that can meet the qualifications to join a squad is creme of the crop, the very best we have to offer. If we combined all the squads on the ship it would make for more than a million such warriors. Why the hell would all of them be ordered to standby all at once?" he remarked confidently.
The human boy opened his mouth to contest, "But my brother said-" when the girl's tail whipped around and slapped the red-skinned boy on the face, making him fall down.
"Dumbass, if you ever took a class you would know why the situation is so serious!" she mumbled without even looking towards him.
"Madaline you whore!" he retorted while jumping back to his feet ready to fight but the girl named Madaline simply gestured towards the screen in front.
"Do you know what those black dots are?" she asked in low voice.
The boy was ready to throw hands but froze when he saw that he was the only one looking for trouble.
"W-What? What are they?"
"Gate keepers," she replied with a deep frown, "They are the Hive's guards. A Black mark means they are as strong as a Human Heavenly Lord realm cultivator."
"A heavenly Lord?!" the red-skinned boy repeated, "Y-You mean to tell me there are a thousand creatures at the same level as a Squad Leader?!" he asked with wide-eyes.
He looked at the screen once again and then at the emaciated long-haired man that sat the front of the army.
'There are so many beasts at the same level as him??' he thought inwardly.
The Profound Realm warriors that were considered to be at the peak of cultivation back in the Mei Kingdom could only be considered as elite soldiers at most in a vessel of this level.
This was because of one simple fact, the standards of battles between there and deep space were too far apart. In reality, even a vessel of this size would not be an equal to a hive of the same level.
Yet right now they were engaged in combat with the insect tribes that outnumbered them 1 to a thousand at least.
"But why? Why fight them?" the weak-looking human boy asked.
