Chapter 116: Listening Makes It Even More Frightening

“Then, do you have any way to get back there?”

Hiroyuki nodded. When they had been making their plans, Zero had said that if his powers were unsealed, he would send back a signature at once—not to call in reinforcements, but to deal with this wandering shadow planet.

Since it was a shadow planet, that meant the planet registered on the star charts was devoid of life and civilization. And being a wandering planet meant that it had not yet been captured by any celestial body and was still drifting aimlessly through space. In that sense, it was no different from a massive meteorite. One wrong move, and it could collide with another planet, destroying everything upon it.

At the same time, its unstable location made it an ideal place for criminal organizations to hide and carry out their schemes in secret.

Moreover, the planet was home not only to criminals, but also to victims. Hiroyuki could not simply blow it up and be done with it. It would be better to leave the matter to the proper authorities.

“We wait for Zero’s signature.”

The moment Hiroyuki finished speaking, the captain before him looked up at the sky. Hiroyuki followed his gaze and saw a glowing symbol materialize in midair.

“Is that Zero’s Ultra Signature?”

Hiroyuki could not decipher it with the naked eye. It was probably encrypted information, compressed into the pattern of the Ultra Signature. Or perhaps he could not interpret it because the intended recipient of Zero’s signature was not him.

“It’s a set of coordinates.”

The light screen in the captain’s hand flickered several times, as though he were switching between different screens. This was the first time Hiroyuki had seen the communication system used by the Giants of Light. The interface was reversed from what he was accustomed to, but the simple interaction buttons clearly used the same set of UI assets as the panel on the Taiga Spark.

“Please—please take me there. I have to go.”

Hiroyuki still had no ability to travel through space, and the “Hive” had no network node that could teleport him. Unless the bartender at that bar suddenly contacted him privately through the black-market platform, he had no choice but to ask the Giants of Light here for help.

“Father,” Zoffy said, turning to the young man beside him. “Take Hiroyuki there. Bring him back once the matter is settled.”

The Grand Instructor of the Land of Light had been staring into space, lost in thought. Only when his elder brother called his name did he come back to himself.

Captain Zoffy looked at Hiroyuki and explained, “In addition to checking the restraint device, we need to examine your physical condition. You noticed it yourself just now, didn’t you? You’ve been exposed to some kind of radiation for quite a while. We have some experience treating radiation sickness here.”

…Please stop. That only makes it more frightening.

Hiroyuki shuddered, then nodded.

Taro, meanwhile, looked uncertainly at his elder brother. He still had classes that afternoon, with nearly two hundred students waiting for him.

Naturally, his elder brother would make the arrangements for him. “I’ll notify Mebius to take over your class. He happens to be free of assignments.”

Hiroyuki seriously suspected that they had a private channel. How else could they understand everything with just a glance?

“All right.”

Since Zoffy had already made the arrangements, Taro had no objections. Of course, he wanted to talk a little longer with Taiga’s “partner,” but when he thought of his duties and his students, the matter’s priority plummeted in his mind.

It had been the same twelve years ago. His son had been blasted to dust before his eyes, and his childhood friend Tregear had also been reduced to ash in his arms alongside him. Yet Taro’s “Ultra Heart” could repair itself. But Tregear… Had he escaped at the final moment of the explosion? Or had he already…

Taro did not even know how he had returned to the Land of Light that day. By the next morning, however, his life had returned to its usual course. He had had no time to grieve. He was the Grand Instructor of the Land of Light, responsible for overseeing the training of more than two hundred thousand reserve members of the Guard.

Perhaps a busy schedule truly could dull the pain in one’s heart. Taro soon immersed himself in his work, and the matter was cast to the back of his mind.

Twelve years was neither long nor short.

To a long-lived species, time was something that could be squandered at will. That was why they were the ones who truly understood what it meant for time to fly. Taro had not even noticed that his human “partner” had been dead for a thousand years, let alone thought about the “brief” twelve years since Taiga had left him.

It was only when Hiroyuki, Taiga’s “partner,” appeared before him and struck that chord in his heart that Taro remembered.

Hiroyuki had grown accustomed to being carried in a Giant of Light’s palm while flying. The sensation was practically no sensation at all. Since he could not see what was happening outside, everything was so steady that he almost thought they had not even departed.

In reality, they had already reached their destination, accompanied by more than a hundred warriors from the Guard.

Hiroyuki immediately took control of the Sanderias that had not yet entered his field of vision. All he could “see” were black boxes. He also told Taro not to let the warriors attack any Sanderias that took flight. They were already under his control and would leave the battlefield as quickly as possible, preventing any confusion.

“Is this your power?” Taro asked.

He had originally assumed that this human was merely Taiga’s “partner.” That would explain the faint trace of Taiga’s aura he sensed from him, but the supernatural ability to control monsters clearly did not come from Taiga…

Hiroyuki answered honestly. “No. This is Grimdo’s power.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt the “ground” beneath his feet tremble faintly. It was truly only a slight tremor, but it was the tremor of a Giant. Standing upon him, Hiroyuki felt it with unmistakable clarity.

“This was Tregear’s doing.”

It was a statement of certainty, beyond all doubt. Tregear was Grimdo’s host, after all.

“Most likely.” Hiroyuki nodded. “I don’t know what his purpose was, but judging by the result, he saved my life. He and Taiga both pulled me back from the brink. That’s why I’m still standing here.”

Rather than lying in a grave long ago.

At that moment, more than a hundred Sanderias flew over. Under the control of the mind-control chips, they flew to their designated location and entered a standby state, rising and falling gently in place.

Hiroyuki glanced at the number of uses remaining for the “Infusion” skill in the Taiga Spark. The number slowly fluctuated before finally stopping at 145. Apparently, the sight of a dark mass of giant beasts suddenly spreading their wings and taking flight in perfect unison had frightened quite a few people. It was not as though he had done it on purpose. Absolutely not.

However, unlike before, the balance had now begun to run a deficit. If it was not because those people had grown bolder, then it could only mean that…

A great many people had died in the “Hive.”