Planet Master

178- Landing on Rodentia (3)

The Mega Neurax Worm initially spread among the military units of the Yul Municipality. It was the very thing that broke the tight defense of the Rodents.Furthermore, the situation became worse since there was a sign that a breach had happened, causing the Mega Neurax Worm to spread to civilians.

But there was no sign of infection from the Hinon Federation’s side, meaning that they had found a cure to this kind of thing.

“Your Majesty, it looks like the situation is getting worse for us. Do you have word from the Great Rat God?” the advisor asked the ruler of the municipality.

In the palace, which was built of precious metals, the highest-ranking people of the Municipality had gathered. Not only the ruler but also his advisor, as well as the general and ministers.

“The Mega Neurax Worms have spread to the civilian area and now that area is under quarantine.” The Minister of Health said.

The ruler frowned since he had gathered the intelligence about this new variant. From his previous knowledge, this variant spread among the military units but now had spread to the civilians. That posed a problem since there was no cure for this variant yet.

Even after spending most of the resources the Municipality had, they only made a serum that slowed the spread of the Neurax Worms.

That treated the symptom but not the root of the problem. Again, the problem was that there were foreign materials in the Mega Neurax Worm, which could only be solved by a combination of other materials, which took more time.

“So, how is the progress of the cure? Any development you want to share? Otherwise, those enemies’ civilization will storm this place at any time now.” The ruler said while sitting on the throne. His ears were twitching and his tail was swaying.

“The progress has been stalled.” One scientist said dejectedly.

“What’s the reason behind it? Is it because of the encirclement and bombardment nowadays?” the ruler asked.

“It is precisely that, Your Majesty. Our facilities are being bombarded and then infiltrated by their landing units. We are afraid that the worst has come. Now that the enemy is in front of us, we need to decide whether to keep resisting or…to request the Great Rat God for guidance.” The advisor said with a trembling voice.

But everyone in the inner part of the palace knew what kind of guidance came from their god. It meant requesting their god to surrender. But everyone was also afraid of being implicated. Anyone who bore this would be hanged on the pillar of shame.

“We need to preserve the fire of our civilization. So I suggest we communicate with the Great Rat God before deciding what to do. Furthermore, I am afraid that if this infestation is not managed well, it will end up implicating us all and doom us to damnation.” The advisor added.

The others also had a serious look on their face and eyes. Their weapons were ineffective and their last-ditch effort did not gain the expected result. Instead, they found out that the enemy was far stronger than them when they first battled them.

Then, as if on cue, there was a shift in the hall.

First, there was a blow of the wind slowly gathering in the air, near the ceiling of the hall. Then there was something condensing on the spherical form which the Rodents present could feel as if seeing the very source of their being.

After that, there was a figure who was condensed and manifested as a rat with a staff.

“The Great Rat God. Are you alright? Didn’t you get some sort of injury during the battle with the enemy's main god?” The ruler whose eyes were devoid of interest suddenly looked brighter and asked on behalf of everyone.

“I am sorry to appear before you all like this.” The voice was imbued with exhaustion as if the figure had been depleted of its life.

“No, Great Rat God. It is we who have disappointed you. We failed to achieve the result you can be satisfied with in this Star Battle.” The ruler said with a somber face as he frowned, searching for a suitable word for their failure.

“I know what you are going to do.” The Great Rat God said.

Despite being defeated by the enemy during his Personal Manifestation, he still could do this usual manifestation in his own home planet.

“But there is no need. I hereby declare that we surrender.” The voice was weak yet reverberated strongly in the inner hall of the palace.

“What!?” All of the present people were surprised to hear that. They did not expect that their revered god would just surrender after going this far.

But when they thought about it, resisting further would just make things uglier. Especially since their civilians were infected with the Mega Neurax Worm. Their entire military was barely resisting the worm while consuming the slowing serum.

“Is this truly your will?” The ruler looked at the figure above, raising his head as he questioned the decision.

“Child, I know how much effort you put into building the Yul Municipality. Even to the point of using extreme measures, you intend to preserve the civilization this way but someone said to me that when the civilization put even the unprepared next generation to the frontline, forcing them to participate in the war, that civilization is not worth much.” The Great Rat God let out a sad smile.

The ruler clenched his teeth; he was actually the hardest to be hit with this fact. But he still considered things in large and knew that the decision could save more lives than could be saved.

“Looks like…we have crossed a certain line, and that makes our enemy move with ruthless precision just to show us that our path strayed.” The ruler murmured, but it was a pointed criticism of himself.

“To bolster our number with the underdeveloped children, perhaps, is our biggest mistake. Perhaps this will be the blow that we won’t recover from.” The head scientist said while putting his hand in front of his chest.

“But still, we won’t even know whether our decision is right or wrong at that time.”

-

Dian and the others looked at the Great Rat God delivering his message through the system window panel as if watching a live feed.

Well, it was a live feed directly on Rodentia.

Dian also saw that numerous Marines were deployed to land on numerous large, important cities and assets for the Municipality.

In short, the landing on Rodentia was commencing smoothly. They also did not forget to inject the cure for the Mega Neurax Worms to prevent being infected.

“He is quite persistent in his path. I like it.” Dian said as he looked back at the Great Rat God. To be so determined to do something was one thing.

To admit that their path strayed was another. Dian only looked at the opposite side, and the individuals around him understood their assignment.

“I can’t believe that works.” Leif opened his mouth while twirling his beard.

“Those who reached this stage are not fools. It is just that we are extremely lucky to encounter someone like the Great Rat God to be able to establish this plan.” Ghylea added.

“It’s not like he cared about his own race. He just doesn’t want to suffer permanent damage to his existence.” Smirth shrugged.

“Whatever the case, the opponent has accepted our suggestion to surrender. It also saves us from the trouble of annihilating most of their remaining military forces on the Rodentia planet.” Dian nodded while his gaze never left the figure on the opposite side of the Planet Master Space.

Then the Great Rat God, along with his group, looked back at Dian.

“Please, can you let your races give us the cure? Otherwise, the races on Rodentia will all be infected by the Mega Neurax Worm.” The Great Rat God asked.

“Well, let’s end this first for good.” Dian said.

[The opponent has been detected to intend to surrender.]

[The Star Battle has ended.]

Dian nodded when he looked at the system announcement. This is what he truly wanted. Without a formal surrender from the opponent, Dian did not even dare to let his guard down.

Only at this moment, his taut nerve could finally rest.

[The Star Battle of the second rank has concluded]

[Congratulations to the Planet Master, winning the Star Battle]

[Settlement is in progress…]

[Settlement complete! The loser will be at the mercy and discretion of the winner.]

[You have obtained 50.000 energy points.]

Dian looked at the system prompt and the settlement progress. He knew that this was a formality for the Planet Master System to announce it like this.

[It is detected that you have won the third rank Star Battle for the first time. Do you want to receive the entire planet of the enemy star system?]

Dian knew that the important moment had come. But first, he needed to settle everything before he continued. This prompt would appear when one side won the third rank Star Battle.

In the third-rank Star Battle, it was an interplanetary battle, so the rewards were the planets the loser had, in addition to their own existence and remaining energy points.

“Let’s send some staff to quell this pandemic.” Dian suggested what the others regarded as an order.

“I will secure the path from the Rift to the Rodentia.” Chikara offered her and her race to that task.

“Make sure that the cure can be procured as well as securing the Neurax Worm.” Frie said to Leif, to which the latter responded kindly.

He knew that she was in charge of overall intelligence and had a leeway in her order, second only to Dian.

Then the entire Federation was informed of the result of the Star Battle.

“This is it.” Tatsumi nodded in confirmation.

“Code Omega has been raised.” Ame said. For all the Federation, now that the Star Battle had been formally declared successful, it was time for restructuring. They were also informed about what would happen to the enemy’s territory, meaning the planet on which the Municipality thrived.

“Code Omega received.” The captain affirmed it and every single military units of the Federation now on standby and not attacking.

The same went for the Yul Municipality. They also declared their surrender and said they would not fight back. This was the first time that the Rodents tasted defeat.

“Now, we need to send our Ambassador there to finalize the treaty between them and us.” Tatsumi said with some concern.

“But the situation there is still a bit chaotic due to the spread of the Mega Neurax Worm. We still need some time to deliver and produce more cure for it.” Ame said.

“Until when?” Tatsumi asked.

“A few days to weeks at the latest. Fortunately, the first aid has reached Rodentia and the scientists there will do a joint venture to produce the cure.” Ame stated.

“That’s slow.” Tatsumi wanted to say something more but was then interrupted by the incoming message.

Seeing the wristwatch, Tatsumi’s expression softened and became more relaxed.

“Who is it?” Ame guessed as to who had contacted him but still asked in a case where her guess could be wrong.

Then the hologram projection displayed the familiar figure he often thought about in his leisure time.

“Hey, how are you doing there? I expect that everything is fine.” An alluring face which Tatsumi could not forget, was projected. Her eyes were looking at him as if he were the center of her world. Her lab coat was on her which meant that she was still busy in her lab.

“Well, we are just doing a ceasefire as well as the operation to deliver the cure.” Tatsumi had to be honest that he was still stunned by her voice and appearance.

“Brother! How are you faring?” Then Nene’s figure was also projected. Not only her but also Yasuhiro and Tachibana.

“Eh? What’s going on your end? Is there some sort of family gathering there?” Tatsumi asked back with a surprised look.

“It is so happened that we are here together on a certain case but it looks like the Star Battle ended before we acted on eliminating their entire military units,” Charlene replied.

“Yeah, the situation of the divinities is resolved, but in our reality, it is still in the middle of progress,” Tatsumi added.

“What they need the most is the cure for the Mega Neurax Worm. That is the additional clause in their immediate request.” Ame appeared on Tatsumi’s side.

“I figured as much.” Charlene said in understanding.

“So what are you doing contacting me?” Tatsumi asked.

“It is related to what is going on here. Basically, we are already preparing the cure for the situation on the frontline. I can even guess that the former enemy is now desperately in need of them.” Charlene said with a confident look.

“Ah, I see. I should be able to help with that.” Tatsumi understood his assignment.

“Sister Charlene, you are prescient as usual.” Ame praised.

“No. This is inevitable in more ways than one, the moment the enemy tried to infect us with the Neurax Worm.” Charlene explained.

Tatsumi had to agree on that one. In war, there was actually no restriction on the ways of engagement against the opponent. You could do whatever it took to win but of course, you need to shoulder the consequences yourself.

“But how did you know about the tide of battle?” Tatsumi asked. As far as he knew, there were so many variables involved and knowing exactly how the tide of battle changed was a great advantage.

“Big data.” Charlene said while her eyes turned into crescents.

“Brother, what she means is that the entire situation is turned into a simulation and the Artificial Intelligence calculates the probability of them winning. But with the available data, it seemed unlikely for them to win straight, so Sister Charlene assumed that the Municipality would try to do something a bit nasty.” Nene suddenly explained on the side.

She continued, “Then we entered the probability of them infecting us with something and that probability went up to 99%.”

Tatsumi and Ame listened to the explanation with a calm face. The fact that Nene shared this now meant that the matter of the information's importance had passed and could be shared.

“I understand. But this calculation should cost us a fortune. Fortunately, we are still triumphant over the enemy.” Tatsumi nodded his head and felt glad that even with the trick the enemy pulled, the Federation could still come on top.

“That’s right. So please allow us in the rear to help them. They have become the victim of their own move so the least we could do after the end of the Star Battle is to help them.” Nene said.

“Alright. That is actually easy to process.” Tatsumi said, while at the same time processing things to let the cure be swiftly deployed to Rodentia.

Ame also helped with that since she held an important position in the supply route and management.

“That is why we prepared to bring in samples from the infected as quickly as we could. That way, we can develop the cure faster and even the possibilities of using this as a weapon against the enemy. As expected, things went exactly like in the simulation.” Charlene said.

Then Yasuhiro said, “Hehe, that is the reason. But more importantly, how do you feel?”

“Terrible. As if I were a puppet on a string, being manipulated now that I heard about this.” Tatsumi said with a melodramatic tone, hands on his chest.

“Come on, it is not that bad. We can predict things but it is not absolute.” Charlene interjected.

“That’s right. The calculation does not include the development of the units that have been upgraded during the Star Battle.” Nene said while looking at something.

Then they talked about their current lives, family matters, and the latest news.

“I heard that an Ambassador will be sent to Rodentia to finalize things before the great migration. Are you prepared?” Tachibana asked.

“Mother, don’t worry. I think I know who it is that the Federation designated. I will naturally protect him.” Tatsumi smiled confidently and nodded.

Charlene remained silent but a corner of her lips was raised as she looked at Tatsumi and Ame.

“Hmm?” Tatsumi felt that something was going on and looked back at Charlene.

“I am sorry but I think I need some more time before we return. Then…”

Tatsumi tried to placate Charlene, who had been silent, and he knew what it meant for her. That was why he wanted her to know that he would return and then pamper her as well.

‘Yeah, I can’t just pamper Ame.’ Tatsumi thought as his sweat almost flowed.

-

Since the military units of Rodentia received the words of surrender from the ruler of the Municipality, they had to drop their weapons and wait for the Federation Marines to handle the matter together.

The landing on Rodentia was successfully done and even became one of the factors that made the end of the Star Battle viable.

“Alright, you just need to gather the weapons at the designated location.” The leader of the Marines who landed in one of the large cities said to the linguist who understood the language of the Municipality.

The Municipality’s military units obeyed and breathed a sigh of relief. They did not expect that they would not need to shed more of their blood and lives to fight the Federation to the death.

“Tell them that.”

“Yes, sir.”

Then the linguist told the military personnel just that and they obeyed.

All around Rodentia, the operation was successful in neutralizing the hostile factor and even without further shedding more blood. Of course, the people of the Municipality felt sadness since this meant that their defeat was obvious.

But overall, they were glad that they were alive.