After feeling the icy chill reaching deep into his soul from the shadows around him, Major General Lucas came to a realization.
In the blink of an eye, this genuine Major General figured it out.
However, he still couldn’t understand how a civilian could have compensated for his biggest weakness in intelligence gathering.
Could it be that from the very beginning, this was a conspiracy against the Kain Group... no, not just the Kain Group, but rather the entire powerful conservative faction it represented?
There were forces providing the Awakener with intelligence and even other substantial support!
Major General Lucas realized this with his experience.
At the moment he felt the shadow attack him.
He forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart and sent out a message about someone backing the enemy.
Suddenly, the operations office at Major General Lucas’s command post was completely engulfed in darkness.
The rest of the staff at the command post also quickly realized something was wrong and rushed over.
But as soon as the door opened,
The place where the major general in charge of operations and his aides had been was already overrun by a mass of shadow.
Several officials from the Underground City who followed behind them changed their expressions immediately, turning around and fleeing without a word.
The shadow burst out of the room, transforming into spikes which skewered the foremost ten or so people in an instant, before retreating back into the shadows, from where came the sound of devouring.
Of the officials who had run fast, only two who were fortunate enough to exercise regularly managed to escape by tumbling down the stairs.
They gasped for air and pressed the communication device button to send out a message.
In fact, there was no need for them to send a message, as the situation in the corridor was captured by surveillance.
The news of the attack on the command post was immediately sent out.
The alarm sounded loudly, and the mobile squads deployed in the area quickly came to the rescue.
These squads were all personal soldiers of Major General Lucas.
Many squad leaders and deputy leaders were, in a certain sense, sons of the Kain Group.
Even after hearing the reminder about that unbelievable Monster, they charged in fearlessly.
Then, as expected, they ended up in the belly of the Shadow Giant Snake.
The Shadow Giant Snake now didn’t resemble a giant snake so much as an indescribable squid-like Monster.
When fully outstretched, it was comparable to a regular aircraft carrier.
The key issue was, these soldiers of the Federation had only ever engaged with a part of this shadowy creature.
Sometimes, after summoning the courage to deal a heavy blow,
They could only destroy a part or even a small fraction of the shadow’s limbs.
And just when they barely managed to defeat the enemy and caught their breath, it seemed to revive with full health and reappeared!
This sense of frustration and powerlessness could cause even battle-hardened veterans to suffer from severe symptoms like mental breakdowns.
In the First Layer of the command post building,
the Sea God Squad, on par with the Thunderbolt Team, had lost half its members and the majority of their support staff,
but finally managed to eliminate the rampaging shadow Monster by throwing a large number of flash grenades combined with spraying high-temperature flames.
Before those team members could even cheer for their success,
along with a buzzing sound,
they saw that the pitted ground, which had just turned into ashes, suddenly became viscous.
Then, the slender black viscous shadow that they had barely managed to destroy before grew back once more.
Next, seemingly angered by the earlier setback,
thick, writhing shadows started appearing on the walls and ceiling.
Tentacles and moving spikes extended out of them.
The captain of the Sea God Squad’s pupils contracted as he decisively abandoned his superior’s order to hold position.
After sacrificing another half of their members to break out from the First Layer,
the captain realized it was not just them who were running.
From all directions, scattered soldiers and mercenaries were fleeing.
Especially the so-called City Defense Army brought by officers from the civilian areas of the Underground City,
they had lost their gear even before seeing the enemy, influenced by the disintegrating forces.
Seeing this, the Sea God Squad’s captain felt slightly relieved.
With more people escaping, the less severe the subsequent accountability...
Soon enough, news of the command center’s sudden fall and Major General Lucas’s likely doom
spread throughout the higher echelons of the Federation.
Even many related middle and lower elites and citizens heard of it.
With the news of Major General Lucas’s likely doom, the name Kalosis also became known to many, who began to recite it in their hearts, growing more curious about what kind of person he was,
and how he accomplished such a feat akin to a miracle!
There was no helping it; with the fall of the command center, the incident had blown up too big for anyone to delay with misinformation.
But... upon seeing such accomplishments, the upper echelons of the Federation weren’t intimidated.
Instead, they became even more convinced of the value of the Awakener, Kalosis.
Compared to Kalosis... the exceptionally gifted individuals unearthed from their Otherworldly Space exploration programs over the past hundred years were nothing but mayflies compared to whales.
So, acquiring Kalosis, even at the cost of another Otherworldly Space exploration program, was worth it!