The moment Mizuki stepped into the power armor, a surge of familiarity coursed through his whole body. He could feel Gurren’s presence hogging the majority of his avaible computation power as his cyan iris turned crimson, but her role in the armor having been pushed back into support. His hand gripped the gunnce, and with a firm sp to the bde, he switched the weapon’s configuration into that of Brightcannon.

  The weapon responded with a low hum, energy building at every inch of the weapon. Hardlight particles coalescing into a focused structure that enveloped the weapon. Almost immediately, the bright energy that should have crystalized into a solid form flickered— failing to stabilize. The light warped, distorting like a liquid caught between dimensions. Mizuki’s eye narrowed beneath his visor as he watched the solid hardlight tremble and liquefy, the particles dripping from the gunnce like molten metal accompanied by sparks.

  The first droplet hit the ground with a searing hiss, burning straight through the soil, leaving glowing scars in its wake.

  < Warning, brightcannon configuration is unsustainable in this environment. > Gurren’s voice chimed in through the telepathic channel.

  “Not yet, I can do more.” He flexed his fingers over the hilt of the gunnce as he pushed himself to condense the AT-Field further. A shimmer of dark glow began to radiate from his armor as the secondary yer of AT-Field took form. It was the deployment of AT-Field typically used to isote Mizuki’s battleship from the entropic pressure of Hyperspace.

  As the rate of his cultivation base being consumed rose significantly, the prismatic barrier burst outward, expanding in a shimmering dome for a four meter radius. It cast rainbow-hued hexagonal patterns over the scorched earth.

  Inside the field, the interference of the native world’s dimensional ws seemed to stutter, as if pushed back by an invisible force. The flickering hardlight around the gunnce began to stabilize, particles snapping back into form. It wasn’t perfect, the nce still sputtered with an erratic burst of energy, or some of the hardlight began to drip like liquid, but inside the second yer of AT-Field, it was functional.

  For now.

  ‘I can barely sustain myself…’ Mizuki thought, feeling the strain of maintaining the two-yered AT-Field pressing against his truesoul. The AT-Field bent reality just enough to convert the environment into something that allows his technology to work, but the pushback from the world was constant, and due to the weakened self, the burden Mizuki endured was immense.

  < Dimensional interference reduced by 13%. Brightcannon output is at 4% of optimal levels. >

  Inside the power armor, Mizuki’s body was flushed by super coont as his internal system was being pushed into overclock to compensate for the countless errors, all just to maintain the current situation. With the main body already enveloped by hardlight, the brightcannon produced two rings that seemed to be rger than the entire weapon. As a group of photon projectiles were being printed in the nce’s core, they were pulled by an invisible force around the hardlight ring on each side. The first ‘rotation’ was slow, but the projectiles are being accelerated at breakneck speed. In less than two seconds, the projectiles have performed over a thousand ‘ps’ around the ring, allowing it to reach near the speed of light. Then, as he pulled the trigger, the accelerating photon projectiles are released one by one.

  The moment the light projectile passed through the first and second yer of AT-Field, it rapidly destabilized. Due to the ck of exposure to light-reted ws for a long period of time, the Dimensional Laws of this world have been corrupted with darkness. Light or any form of photon is heavily suppressed. The speed of light in holy terra is almost three hundred thousand kilometers per second, but in this world, it is barely reaching a hundred thousand kilometers per second.

  It only existed for a fraction of a nanosecond before it completely disappeared, but its velocity nearing the speed of light meant it traveled far away before completely dissipating.

  Boom! A distant explosion hundreds of meters wide destroyed a major portion of the ndscape as the secondary heatwaves turned swathes of insects and rocks into boiling magma. The remaining projectiles in the photon collider are shot sparingly, aiming towards the highest concentration of insect.

  He also sprayed some into the south, the explosion of lights terraformed the mountain range into a boiling sea of va, while the northern skies were painted in temporary but bright suns. The sheer heat completely sublimated insect biomass, what remains are becoming charred ash or condensed carbon.

  Naturally, as long as it is within range, he could clear any number of insects. However, the insect swarm realized that they couldn’t allow Mizuki to continue doing this. When the swarm spread out so thinly that a single shot that could kill millions reduced into a few thousand, he began to dislike the efficiency.

  Although the rank 5 Core Reactor in his chest cavity could produce near-infinite energy, it is not true ‘infinite’. Without supply lines to refuel and perform maintenance, the operational duration of his core reactor can barely be sustained for a few thousand years. Each artillery shot consumes so much energy that it is equivalent to years of continuous activity.

  Therefore, it’s unwise to waste energy until he can find an alternative energy source.

  “Confirm their numbers.” Mizuki inquired as Gurren ran a deep analysis on the battlefield.

  < Approximately 85% of the swarm has been eliminated. What remains are scattered and weakened from the secondary heatbst. >

  “Perfect.” He cut off the energy supply to his brightcannon as the hardlight substances flickering out of existence. The two rings dissipated safely and the weapon swiftly changed to Autocannon Configuration as he slowly unraveled the second AT-Field yer.

  Although the first AT-Field yer still rejects the dimensional ws, it was more of a passive blocking that barely allows the rank 5 Mortal Shell and Power Armor to function at 1% of their optimal efficiency.

  While watching closely at the energy expenditure, Mizuki’s sensors are locked into the smoldering remains of the battlefield. Molten rocks so hot that they flowed into rivers distort visions through sheer heat. A deep tactical analysis revealed that the remaining scattered insects scurried away into distant skies, trying to burrow away, or simply ran with tails between their legs. They were actively attempting to hide away from Mizuki’s direct line-of-sight, their retreat was too organized and too deliberate.

  < Movement patterns suggest strategic withdrawal. Probability of regroup and future counterattack: 81% >

  Mizuki mentally shook his head in frustration. His dispy of overwhelming firepower hadn’t produced the expected result from the swarm. Instead, it confirmed his growing suspicion that something, or someone, was guiding the insect swarm. He wouldn’t believe that it was the rank 6 world-devouring astral beast that is fighting the gods above who controlled them directly, but he had strong suspicion that it has some retion with it. Nevertheless, whoever was controlling the insects had learned from this skirmish, adapting their tactics.

  He tapped into his telepathic link with Ayumi. “Any idea what kind of intelligence is behind the swarm?” His voice was clipped, already anticipating the unsettling response.

  < Hypothesized as a gestalt consciousness, the swarm appears to be coordinated through pheromonal or hormonal signals. Complex behavior among the bioforms suggests advanced bioengineering—or perhaps an inherited drive to consume the inhabitants of this world, passed down from a progenitor species. >

  He let himself bathed in super coont inside the power armor once more, his crystal processor being occupied in calcuting the next step. The swarm would come back smarter, more prepared, and more dangerous. Ayumi’s analysis confirmed his fears—the battle wouldn’t end until the ‘control node’, the entity commanding the swarm, was eliminated. Ayumi had already code-named it the Worm Queen, the parasite ruling this region.

  Finding her, however, was another challenge entirely.

  “Track the remaining swarm,” Mizuki squinted his eyes as he focused his sight kilometers behind the glowing sea of va in the south. “Cross reference their movement with potential locations where the Worm Queen could be hiding.”

  As soon as the command was issued, Gurren and Ayumi began their analysis. His tactical overy flickered to life, highlighting potential coordinates in the terrain—caverns, deep underground tunnels, and fissures where the swarm could regroup. Information streamed in, data points feeding directly into the two AIs as they scoured the ndscape for clues.

  Yet Mizuki knew the limits of his equipment. Despite the power armor’s advanced sensors, it was designed for defense and long-range bombardment, not reconnaissance. Penetrating a few hundred meters of metallic soil is simply impossible due to the ck of specialized equipment and difference of dimensional ws. To locate the Worm Queen which was assumed to have buried deep beneath the surface, he’d need more than the power armor could provide.

  A scout drone’s support is paramount, but releasing one into the skies where his AT-Field couldn't reach would be a waste of resources.

  He quickly dismissed the idea of sniping the Worm Queen with a precision shot from the Brightcannon. It would be futile without more data. For now, the swarm’s momentum had been killed—his bombardment had bought him precious time, but how much remained uncertain.

  Nevertheless, he’ll take what he had, and begin to pn around the dwarves.