Chapter 2425: Hate of the great white

Somewhere in Mid Sector 170—

Ksh Kshhh

A visual recording began playing through heavy intermittent static, the image flickering and breaking apart several times as though the signal were struggling to maintain itself, until it finally stabilized after a few moments and the picture became clear enough to watch properly.

At first, the footage seemed as though the person behind the camera was merely capturing the overwhelming grandeur and endless emptiness of the vastness of space in a breathtakingly clear shot, but before long, a cargo vessel gradually appeared approaching from the distant horizon... and at that moment, the cameraman’s strained voice could finally be heard through the recording: <Here we are, my brothers... Hoof... Hoof... We’re risking our very lives to bring you this footage and show you the truth with your own eyes... Hoof... But we will not be afraid of the criminal Imperial Guards or the terrorist Shadow Swords organization. Now, we’re finally going to show you the truth they’ve been hiding... All right... Come on, activate the thermal imaging device!>

In the very next instant, the entire appearance of the scene changed even though everything within the image remained exactly where it had been before, because what the device itself was now recording had become completely different... For example, the thick walls surrounding the approaching cargo vessel suddenly appeared almost as though they had vanished entirely, allowing everything hidden within the vessel to become clearly visible through the new method of imaging.

And what could now be seen packed inside that cargo vessel was an enormous number of Plague!!

Their actual colors and individual facial features were completely impossible to distinguish through that particular method of imaging, leaving their appearances lacking many of the details that would normally identify them, but those unmistakable horns and that distinctive bodily structure had long since been engraved deeply into the minds of practically everyone throughout the universe. There could be absolutely no doubt about what they were; they were Crimson Plague.

The greater problem, however, was that not a single one of those Crimson Plague was wearing any armor that might have concealed their bodies or identities. They were all females, mothers accompanied by small cubs... and the simple fact that they could be seen like this was already a problem by itself.

The thermal imaging continued recording everything happening inside the cargo vessel, clearly showing the mothers tearing apart chunks of meat roughly the size of human limbs and distributing those pieces among the children around them, then pouring blood directly into their open mouths as they fed. The behavior of the children themselves during the feeding process appeared disastrous and extraordinarily savage to anyone watching the recording, exactly as one would naturally expect from creatures belonging to the Plague!

<Hoof... Do you believe it now, my brothers? Can you finally see the truth for yourselves? They’re being transported aboard cargo vessels belonging to the Cradle Empire at this very moment, and right now they’re on their way to settle upon a new planet and slaughter the people living there... to slaughter you... This is what that so-called friend who claims to stand with us and all of his followers are actually bringing upon us!!>

Clash Then, immediately after those final words, the recording abruptly shut off and the projected scene disappeared.

"Those sons of bitches..." The person who had been silently watching the recording cursed in a low voice filled with obvious anger, then raised one of his deathly pale hands and, without wasting much time, activated another recording...

This time, the recording had clearly been made directly on the surface of a planet rather than from the depths of space. The ground visible throughout the footage was covered extensively in blood, while only very small amounts of scattered human remains could be seen among all that blood.

"Eh?" The person who had activated the recording suddenly narrowed his single eye after noticing the details within the image, focusing his attention carefully upon the shapes of the mountains and the moons that could be clearly seen in the distant background.

<Look carefully at what’s happening here... This is what became of an entire planet after a Cosmic Academy brought only ninety Red Plague here, nothing more than ninety. Look at what happened to this planet after it had once been completely safe, with its inhabitants living comfortably and prosperously just like all of you who are sitting there watching this recording right now... This is what awaits you.>

Bang The recording device was violently crushed with overwhelming force.

"GRAAAAH!!" The pale figure suddenly shot to his feet and roared like a madman, his furious voice exploding throughout the room as he shouted, "That filthy, scummy, bastard, manipulative liar! That planet was injected with the Plague by the Syndicate in the first place, and we were the ones who went there and cleaned it up afterward! Those marks covering the ground are nothing more than traces left behind by the battle that took place there! I personally killed half of the Plague on that planet with my own hands!!"

Bam Then, still unable to contain the fury boiling inside him, he violently kicked away all the other recordings scattered nearby that he hadn’t even gotten around to watching yet. "Has lying and fabricating stories about us seriously become the cosmic trend these days?!"

Bam Then he struck his chair hard enough to send another heavy sound through the room before waving his hand to turn on the lights, causing the surrounding darkness to disappear and finally revealing his entire appearance in full. "Damn you, Robin Burton... Damn you!!"

It was a strange pale creature whose skin was as white as milk, with a single enormous crimson eye dominating his face and one horn rising from his head with a distinctly crimson tip... Leosar.

"What the hell are you doing, you stupid human?!" Leosar raised his voice again as though Robin Burton himself were standing somewhere nearby and could hear every word he was shouting. "Why are you risking everything you’ve spent all this time building for the sake of a handful of stinking Crimson Plague? Why the hell should I have to lose this paradise because of them?!"

Leosar bared an entire row of human teeth through his furious expression while inflamed crimson veins gradually began spreading throughout his enormous single eye, making his appearance increasingly terrifying as his anger continued rising, and it almost seemed as though he could already see the Star Academies, the paradise that had appeared before his eye and given him everything he was currently enjoying, beginning to collapse because of those spreading rumors.

And unfortunately, what he feared wasn’t merely a collection of baseless assumptions created by his anger, but something that was already becoming reality. The spread of the Cosmic Academies had slowed dramatically compared to before, the sons of the Behemoths had begun refusing to accept leadership missions altogether, while many of those who had already agreed beforehand had started inventing various excuses and justifications simply to delay their activities and avoid moving forward as originally planned.

Nearly everything had come to a halt as a result, while the vessels belonging to the academies had suddenly become objects of constant scrutiny, attention, and suspicion among ordinary people and great figures alike whenever they appeared, making it painfully obvious that all those people had already been affected to a significant degree by the lies being spread everywhere!!

The Shadow Swords had certainly responded by publishing reports confirming earlier news that Lord Robin had successfully managed to tame an entire imp nest and that this achievement represented a major breakthrough for humanity, alongside all the other wonderful things that could be said about what had happened... but the endless stream of fabricated recordings that continued appearing day after day as though they were constantly being manufactured somewhere underground had managed to undermine practically everything those reports were trying to accomplish.

"Stupid Crimson Plague... stupid human..." Leosar clenched both fists so tightly that his entire posture reflected his frustration, then began walking toward the window so he could look outside and watch the Peacekeeping Army fighting against a nest of Crimson Plague at that very moment. "The oath is already in the final stages of weakening... Patience, patience."

Then his enormous crimson eye suddenly gleamed with intense hatred as he continued staring ahead. "No one is going to take away what the Cosmic Academies are offering me. Not while I’m enjoying this paradise they created... not after I’ve already become this powerful because of it."

The space surrounding Leosar suddenly trembled violently beneath the pressure radiating from his body...

Even someone like Zavaros the Savage, had he been standing here at that moment, would have instinctively tensed and immediately become cautious upon feeling that formidable and extremely troublesome aura coming from Leusar.

Leusar’s life was extraordinarily short when measured according to the standards of cosmic affairs and the immense stretches of time experienced by the powerful beings scattered throughout the universe, but despite that extremely short period, the speed at which he had continued acquiring strength was simply unparalleled.

Guardian? Something at that level was now nothing more than a mere appetizer to him.

Only a few years earlier, Leosar had received a report concerning an extraordinarily powerful Blue Imp that had appeared in Mid Sector 335, and he had indeed personally gone there to investigate the matter, only to discover that the creature’s strength was truly terrifying. The description of that Blue Imp perfectly matched those ancient monsters that the Cosmic Elder had once fought when he destroyed the Abyss of Calamity...

Leosar had ultimately killed that creature and devoured its soul after suffering nothing more than a few minor injuries during their confrontation.

And in doing so, he had eaten the most delicious meal he had ever tasted throughout his entire life...

From that moment onward, the experience had been enough for him to make finding every remaining remnant of the Abyss of Calamity and devouring them one after another into his personal mission.

But...

But those rabble belonging to the Crimson Plague and that stupid lord who continued involving himself with them were now threatening to ruin the dreams Leosar had been pursuing!!

"Ughh— Aagghhhh— KAAAAAAA—" Leosar unleashed a devastating roar powerful enough to instantly shatter the glass before him, then shot directly toward the battlefield outside while continuing to shout at the top of his voice, "All of you humans, withdraw! They’re mine!!"