The Collection of The End

――.12――

Blackwater Outpost.

"Tsk - we should have called Angela here too." Tychus smacked his lips.

"If you let her see this kind of thing, you have some shoes to fill." Renault shook his head.

At this time, "Reynold's Rangers" had arrived at the Blackwater Outpost, and they also saw clearly what the so-called "sludge" was.

It was a grey-brown viscous fluid that seemed to be a mixture of earth, rocks, vegetation fragments and something that looked like organic matter. It was still slowly spreading and flowing outwards, and some bubbles appeared on the surface from time to time, emitting A "wave" sound.

Seeing this look, it’s impossible for anyone to think of opening the helmet’s visor.

"Hey, Renault, I remembered what you said about Sarah's coffee before," Tychus said with a smile: "hot mud."

"I've decided not to drink coffee again," Scout Jimmy said, seeming to suppress his nausea. "Besides, this thing has spread a little more than when I last saw it."

"If it continues to spread and there is no way to stop it, this planet will soon be submerged." Renault squinted his eyes and looked into the depths of the mud.

Although Renault's power armor is equipped with a very advanced detection module, it is powerless against this "thing" that has never appeared before, completely ignoring the abnormally obvious mud. When Renault insisted on analyzing it, the analysis module The conclusion is "a mudslide about to solidify."

Where would a mudslide look like this?

Renault was about to take advantage of the thick armor of the power armor to step on the mud to try it out, but he stopped because of its next "action".

Of course the sludge itself doesn't move, it just flows slowly and normally to a tree.

Then, the tree disappeared.

To say "disappeared" is not quite appropriate. To be precise, after the "sludge" wrapped around the roots of the tree, the entire tree began to "fall" as if it had stepped on a pit trap, and the trunk and branches disappeared almost instantly. , and the lush leaves still floated on the surface of the "sludge" for a while before slowly sinking.

"...Attention to all," Renault said solemnly: "In the following actions, no one is allowed to touch this thing with their skin."

The sound of breathing came one after another in the channel.

"Could this thing be alive?" Tychus reacted first and fired three shots at the mud in front of him.

Crack—boom!

Rifle bullets were like mud cows entering the sea, and the last grenade thrown directly "lifted" a large piece of mud, so that the rangers could clearly see that it was only as thick as a person's calf, but in this way, the tree just now was How it disappeared is even more unimaginable.

"What should we do now?" Tychus put away his gun and said anxiously: "If the main buildings from here to the outpost are all this thing, I think we should go back and use the battleship to blow it up."

"And there are still the same bugs hidden inside." Jimmy added. fresh

"It doesn't have to be so troublesome." Renault slowly raised his gun and aimed at a target that had just been exposed by Tychus' random shooting: "I saw you."

Da da da da da!

As Renault fired, a "ball" in the distance that was denser and more viscous than ordinary sludge exploded. Then, the sludge on the ground began to evaporate and seep down at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Exposing large areas of bare ground.

"Cool~" Tychus whistled: "Then we just need to find those 'tumors' and fight them, right?"

Renault thought for a while and decided not to correct his statement: "...Yes, pay attention to cleaning up the mud. Let's enter the outpost as soon as possible to confirm the situation. If there is nothing we can do, retreat directly and take action!"

————

Having discovered the weaknesses of these "sludges", Reno's rangers began to consciously clear out those "tumors" and soon cleared a passage close to the Blackwater Outpost, but in order to prevent these "sludges" from cutting off their rear The clean-up operation was carried out in a fan-shaped manner along the road, and rapid reaction troops were also arranged to patrol back and forth in trucks to prevent insects from suddenly jumping out of the mud and attacking the infantry.

However, those bugs seemed to have judged that Renault's group was invincible through previous encounters, and they did not make any move until they arrived at the Blackwater Outpost.

"Ha, if the previous mayor was not blind, he was an idiot. He had no idea who the person he was looking for was." Tychus commented while looking at the "command center" in front of him.

"Indeed." Renault nodded in agreement.

In addition to civilian facilities, a general outpost would be nice to have a supply depot and a bunker, as well as a missile tower for air defense. But the scale of the building here is more like a military base than an outpost. Command Conventional military facilities such as centers, barracks, supply depots, and armories are all available. Renault even saw the machine shop and star port under construction. If they are left alone, they may be able to scrape together an army after a while. Formed troops are coming.

But at this time, they were all "corroded" by the silt.

Compared with the silt that can only flow quietly when seen on the periphery, the silt in the center is much more flexible. It clings to the exterior walls of various buildings as if alive, corroding them until they become rusty. At the same time, he was still shrinking and squirming, making the originally normal military base look like a group of crouching, terrifying beasts.

No, it's not as if, Renault's scanning module clearly reported that there were hundreds of the "bugs" he encountered before running back and forth in the corroded base. There were also some whose shapes were not consistent with them, but were equally hideous and terrifying. A large "bug" like a seahorse.

"Obviously..." Renault said, looking at the scene that was like a picture of hell: "The spies of the Tyranid Federation used various means to get the mayor of Settlement 47 to help them smuggle in, and they were preparing to organize troops while mining and building. They raided us, but unexpectedly dug up something they couldn't handle on their own, so the mayor decided to ask us for help when he saw the situation was going badly."

"This amount..." Scout Jimmy's voice trembled: "Should we call for support first?"

"...That's all." Renault squinted his eyes and stared at the bugs: "Perhaps you haven't noticed that when these bugs move on the 'mud', they move significantly faster than on the ordinary surface. And the mud in front, I guess It will not retreat without destroying all the 'parasitized' buildings."

"[If you retreat now and wait for reinforcements, then the next time you come back, their number may be ten times as large as now.]"

The sudden sound caused everyone to turn their guns instantly.

"[Don't be nervous, if I were hostile, your commander would have lost his mind a long time ago.]"

Following the words, a slim silver figure appeared above the truck driven by Renault.

"My name is Kerrigan, maybe you heard of me from Nova?"