Chapter 48: The Frozen Swarm

Michael looked at the supposed number of hidden aliens in a daze.

’20,000 is too high! The aliens were supposed to be several thousand at most! Not tens of thousands!’

For a second, the thought that the system was wrong crossed his mind, but he immediately disregarded the idea. There was no way it was wrong.

“How many aliens did the scan pick up again?”

Roy looked at him for a second before answering.

“As stated before, their forces consist of several thousand Higher tier aliens and about 100 Elites. The numbers may look dire at first, but with 100,000 soldiers on our side, it should be something that we can handle.”

Michael frowned before turning toward Victoria.

“What is it?” She instantly picked up on Michael’s change in demeanor. He was usually calm and unaffected no matter what happened. For him to seem distressed alarmed her.

“I believe we are greatly underestimating the numbers of our enemies.”

Roy couldn’t help but scoff. “With all due respect, we have used several scanners, and we have sent numerous teams. They all confirmed our hypothesis.”

Michael looked over the holographic projection before calmly answering. “What about the massive ice sheet? At certain places, it could be several kilometers deep. If they were to hide their forces there, no scan nor scout team would be able to notice them.”

Roy shook his head. “All you are saying is hypothetical. I can’t trust your hunch while acting like all of our scanners are broken now, can I?”

The general’s words were technically true, and Michael would have acted the same way if he were in his position.

’However, he doesn’t know about the system quest, and I can’t go and explain it to him.’

Victoria knew that Michael was more special than others, knowing and achieving things that should in all fact be impossible, so she decided to trust his words at least a little.

“But even though it’s strange.” She said, bringing the attention to herself.

“The alien forces are not stupid. They would have known that they had the advantage, but rather than attacking your base, they decided to wait? The way I see it, they are either setting a trap for us or are gathering reinforcements unknown to us.”

Roy had expected Victoria to discipline her subordinate and not join his side. That caused an annoyed frown to appear on his face.

“As I said, the reason they haven’t attacked until now is because we have managed to slow them down.” He repeated.

“Even we generals that have reached the Master realm can’t underestimate an Elite. While the stronger of us can deal with several at the same time, there is no stopping or slowing down 100 Elites, no matter how you slice it.”

In other words, Victoria was suggesting that Roy and his men had been fooled. Normally, she wouldn’t make such an accusation, but thanks to Michael’s theory, she began to see more merit in his claim the longer she thought about it.

“Not to mention that due to the large craters on the surface, it makes it difficult to gauge the full extent of their numbers.” Ava added. Since Michael had brought out the idea that there could be hidden aliens, she was naturally going to support him.

“We are the ones that know the layout of our territory the best. You are just outsiders. You can’t just accuse us of being incompetent at our job.” One of the captains Roy had brought said.

“This is why we should have never accepted help from a lower-numbered base. Acting like cowards no matter what.” Another mumbled in displeasure.

The tension quickly began to rise. Even if Michael had given the most logical explanation possible, his words were going to be disregarded for the simple reason he was from a lower-numbered base. After all, that would indicate he was better than the one higher than him, and they couldn’t stand that.

“Let’s all calm down.” Surprisingly, the one that spoke was Carlos. “Even if the chances of missing enemy forces are low, it’s still there, right? It won’t cost us much to make sure that there are no hidden aliens waiting to ambush us.”

’Whether Michael’s claim is wrong or not is irrelevant. As long as I support his claim, he should start to trust me.’ Carlos reasoned.

Roy quickly shut up, observing Carlos. ’He is part of the Immortal Legion. I wondered why he insisted I choose him to come with me. There is no doubt that he is scheming something.’

Even if Roy was his general, the fact remained that Carlos had a certain status being part of the Immortal Legion. He couldn’t exactly ignore his words. Otherwise, it could prove disastrous.

’No matter, now that he has spoken, he will take the blame for wasting our time when the scanner shows us no result.’ Roy sneered inwardly.

“Alright, so be it. I agree to stop the march to make sure that we are not being played.”

Victoria picked up on how Michael visibly relaxed. ’Forget about theorizing. He acts like he is certain of his claim. For a person to say something as outrageous as this like they know the future… He can’t be the one that sent me the message warning me about the alien invasion… Right?’

Wanting to make sure that there weren’t any threats hidden beneath the ice, the army was instructed to stop before firing their heavy artillery at the ice. This greatly puzzled the troops, but with the orders coming from the top, they didn’t argue.

The sky instantly lit up as thousands of shells were fired before coming down on the ice sheet like a meteor.

BOOM!

The ice caved in. Once the crater reached a kilometer in depth, the soldiers were instructed to stop.

With the surroundings cooled off, a tactical drone carrying a deep scanner descended into the hole before landing on the bottom of the crater.

Back at the vehicle carrying the two generals, everyone was waiting for the results with anticipation.

“See? Just like I said, the radar isn’t picking up a thing.” Roy sneered, turning toward Victoria. “Your paranoia has cost us thousands of expensive shells. The higher-ups will expect a lengthy explanation for your failure. This blunder is so massive that don’t be surprised if you even face a—”

Before he could continue, the man in charge of the scanner silenced him.

“Sir… I see movement.”

The next several seconds passed in complete silence, everyone having trouble coming to terms with reality.

“How many?” Michael, the only one not surprised by the outcome, asked.

“…”

The scan operator remained silent.

“ANSWER THE QUESTION!” Roy’s voice boomed, waking him from his daze.

“I… can’t count them, nor can the algorithm. Up until now, there are 40,000 confirmed, and the number is increasing each second. All of them are Higher or above.”

“More than 40,000 Higher aliens? But even a single-number base will not be able to get rid of so many.” One of Roy’s captains mumbled.

“The ice sheet is thick, right? They have not been alerted by us, basically bombarding their heads, right?!” Another exclaimed.

Slowly, the scan operator shifted his eyes from the monitor to Roy, who had turned white as a sheet.

“Sir… they are coming towards us as we speak.”

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