Other side of the portal,
On the surface of Kai's world, the massive, chaotic convergence of mutated creatures toward the portal entrance was already visible through the lingering bio-active haze.
Kai, standing near the entrance of his fortress, watched the terrifying, orchestrated chaos. The scale of the movement… millions of life forms across the visible horizon… was a physical manifestation of his planetary consciousness.
The sheer, unyielding pressure of the converging bio-mass was enough to push the atmosphere's corrosive vapors aside, creating a visible path leading straight to the golden-red rift. The ground trembled with a deep, subsonic thrum—the rhythm of a million chitinous legs and crushing, serpentine bodies moving as one.
He glanced at the six figures standing rigidly behind him: his core team of evolved subordinates. Each one grim-faced and equipped in heavy tactical armor designed to withstand the corrosion of their own world.
Lilith, his second-in-command, a woman whose face was etched with both ferocity and unwavering loyalty, stood closest. Her grip was white-knuckled on the tactical rifle slung across her chest.
"The reconnaissance is over," Kai stated, his voice flat, devoid of emotion, yet carrying the weight of ultimate authority. "They know we are coming. We will follow the first wave. We must be physically present on the other side before the waves to secure the beachhead and maintain the link to the high-tier forces."
His black eyes, unnervingly still, swept over the terrain, settling on the massive, rusting skeleton of a pre-apocalypse military depot. "Drive the military sand tank through the portal. It's a desert region, on the other side. We'll need armor and mobility there."
The subordinates nodded in unified, silent understanding. They were absolutely under his control: their only task is to question nothing, and execute everything.
Everyone immediately moved toward the subterranean garage bays.
"Lilith, you will operate the command tank with me,"
Kai added, stepping toward the largest, crudest piece of salvaged armor… a massive, six-wheeled military transport chassis, heavily reinforced with layered steel plating salvaged from half-melted skyscrapers. The metal was dull and scarred, a monument to their brutal survival, not their technological prowess.
Soon, the tank convoy… three massive, lumbering vehicles… rumbled through the broken streets, their heavy tires grinding black dust and hardened fungal residue beneath them. The sound was a grinding, violent chorus that momentarily muffled the distant, organic roar of the converging swarm.
The scene was surreal: the colossal mutated worms, the fast-moving, chitinous mice, and all other manner of corrupted creatures parted instantly, creating an open, silent path for the tanks, their movements controlled and orchestrated by Kai's will. They passed through the ruins without a single creature raising a claw in malice.
Upon reaching the edge of the ten-kilometer portal, Kai observed the swirling, golden-red vortex with acute intensity. The atmosphere was strangely calm here, the oppressive purple-gray twilight somehow filtered and less dense near the planar boundary.
His attention immediately snagged on a swarm of massive, serpentine worms, each the size of a small car, gathered nearby, their segmented bodies rippling with contained energy. He exerted a precise fraction of his absolute control.
'Cover the tanks and move forward.'
Immediately, countless smaller, palm-sized worms, along with minute, black insects, erupted from the surrounding crevices and holes. They surged up the chassis of the sand tanks, creating a living, writhing layer of black bio-mass across the armor.
Inside the command tank, a gasp escaped the otherwise stoic team operators.
Kai's team, hardened by months of surviving the apocalypse, were visibly shaken by the sudden, intimate coverage of the ugly worm creatures. The sound of millions of tiny feet, wet bodies adhering to the metal outside was a chilling fear, slowly scratching their heart through the hull.
"Don't worry," Kai grabbed the telecom and assured, his voice cutting through the tension. "I control these creatures. They will be our protective shield, they will absorb any initial atmospheric damage on the other side. Also, prevent our vehicles from sinking in the sand."
His statement surprised the team. They were used to seeing him command the Behemoths, the Giant Zombies, and the other colossal, Tier 1 and Tier 2 creatures. But controlling the microscopic, pervasive small worms and insects, the literal bio-matter of the planet, was a subtle but profound amplification of his power they hadn't anticipated.
Different thoughts ran through his team… a mix of awe, unease, and terrifying reassurance. Kai observed the portal with scrutiny, a deep sigh in his heart he could not release.
Except for the faint, occasional scene-sharing of the controlled undead creatures on the far side… snippets of desert, dunes, and the blinding orange sky… he still could not control anything beyond the veil. His planetary consciousness, so absolute here, was amputated at the portal boundary.
The portal prevented the extension of his will toward the other side.
His eyes hardened, accepting the limitation. He had to be there.
"Move forward," Kai commanded, the words echoing in the confined space of the tank. The living shield of worms and insects tightened on the hull. "Undead army, invade! And team," he added, his eyes meeting Lilith's in the low light, "shoot anything that decides to approach us."
The three sand tanks, covered in a churning, living biological armor, lumbered forward, directly into the massive, golden-red vortex.
The three sand tanks, covered in a churning, living biological armor, lumbered forward, directly into the massive, golden-red vortex.
The transition through the portal was slow and steady. The air inside the tank grew thin and pressurized for a moment, a spatial distortion that made the small cabin feel like it was being squeezed.
...
Few moments ago,
On the other side, inside the Northern Hemisphere base of UHS1, Keon, still within his Exoshell 3.0, received the feed.
His spherical display instantly filled with the chaotic image of a massive, black, serpentine mass emerging from the portal. The front of the wave was composed of thousands of the smaller, palm-sized worms and what appeared to be mutated, dark insects, all driven by Kai's singular, focused will.
The moment the first organism crossed the planar boundary, the Yellow Veil flared.
The yellow materialized plasma, spanning the entire ten-kilometer width of the portal, instantly engulfed the creatures.
Swish!!!
There was no sound, only the clean, rapid chemical decomposition of bio-mass. The intense thermal field instantly vaporized the organic matter, leaving behind only scattering dark carbon ash that drifted momentarily in the UHS1 atmosphere before being pulled down by the 2.8 G gravity.
The desert air immediately filled with a sharp, acrid scent, the chemical signature of superheated carbon and vaporized protein.
'Tier 1 creature purge successfully. Very good, the damage result exceeded the estimated range.'
Keon calculated instantly, a wave of analytical satisfaction running through his core processor. The smaller worms and insects, the Tier 1 vessels controlled by the dreaded spores, were obliterated precisely according to his estimate.
However, as the wave intensified, the size of the incoming creatures began to escalate.
Through the swirling mass, Keon noticed several larger creatures… segmented, lengthy earthworms, each few meters long and visibly tougher… slipping past the low-intensity Yellow Veil.
Although heavily damaged, they still moved forward toward the green layer in front.
'Huh…' Keon lenses flickered as he noticed something strange.
At this moment, the creatures that passed the yellow layer shook and froze' as if their corrupted intelligence kicked in.
Suddenly, these creatures changed their directions of movement… Instead of continuing forward toward the much hotter Green Veil, they executed an immediate, synchronized plunge.
Their damaged bodies burrowed instantly into the deep, soft desert sand below, concealing themselves within the surface layer of UHS1. The move was too coordinated to be instinct, too tactical for a Tier 1 creature.
'Localized, autonomous threat prioritization detected. The enemy is capable of individual tactical evasion under stress,'
Keon noted the sudden change in creatures behavior in surprise, his estimation of these creature threat level increasing marginally.
...
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VEYLON