Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary-Chapter 475 The Rulers of Monsters

"This is f*cking insane! What the hell is happening here?!"

Avery could hear Liesel shouting over their connected communications, but he hardly heard her at all.

His entire focus was drawn towards the mass gathering of monsters in front of them.

They had followed the single Fluem that had been picked up on the Dauntless’ sensors for nearly an hour and a half.

It had been using solar winds to travel and this made it faster than either Avery’s or Liesel’s ships could keep up with using just their thrusters.

So, they had used small light speed jumps to follow behind the creature and eventually found where it was heading.

They had made their way to an icy planet that was the closest large celestial body to where the extermination fleet had set up their base.

Typically, one would not expect to find much in the way of life here, but there were hundreds of thousands of space monsters gathered on one side of the planet.

All five types were present and separated into giant groups.

There were more here than the entirety of what the mercenary fleet had eliminated since their arrival in the system.

Seeing this made Avery feel like there was a heavy stone lodged in his stomach. And it was not just because of the sheer number of monsters that had been gathered.

Larger than any of the other species was a previously unknown sixth type of space monster.

This type was not something that Zefield had encountered during his first attempt to conquer the system and had remained hidden until now.

There were only five of this new type, but each one was far more imposing than any of the other species.

Even the massive Volmargars were dwarfed by these things’ size.

While there was a bit of variance between them, Avery estimated just by sight that each of these five new space monsters were at least six kilometers long and four kilometers wide.

They had round bulbous forms that got thinner towards what Avery figured were their backsides.

Each one had a single enormous eye on the front of their bodies.

All of their eyes were one solid color without any discernable pupils.

Avery figured that the different colors and other minor variable characteristics were to denote their purposes.

It did not take a genius to see what was going on here, as each member of this new type of space monster was at the head of each of the other types that were amassing.

’They’re probably commanding the other species somehow. Each one looks like a general gathering an army behind them. Is this why the space monsters acted so differently this time compared to how they did when Zefield first came here? Have these things been commanding the other space monsters to attack us?’

Avery’s mind was racing with questions as he tried to take in and make sense of the what was happening before his eyes.

He could only guess, but he suspected that the people that had developed the space monsters that Avery and his companions had been fighting had made the sixth type to serve as controllers.

It was likely easier for them to control just the five generals than influencing each individual species of space monster through other means.

Of course, that still obviously did not work out for the people that had once lived in this system. Seeing as how their civilization had been brought to ruin.

’This is bad, but it does offer us an opportunity. If we can take out those five, the other space monsters are likely to turn into directionless mobs. It’s possible that they might even start attacking each other. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t fight amongst each other because of some directive from their leaders.’ Avery thought, attempting to come up with a solid plan of action rather than fall into despair at the sight of the massive horde of space monsters.

However, as he was contemplating this, one of the previously undiscovered species turned towards where the Dauntless and Liesel’s vessel were floating.

Up until this point, they had fortunately not been noticed. Both of their ships were small, and they had kept their distance.

Yet the giant eye of the sixth type of space monster was capable of perceiving things from very far away. Otherwise, it would not be able to effectively use its forces.

"Sh*t! We need to get out of here fast!" Liesel yelled when it was clear that they had been discovered.

Except, Avery did not move. As he had felt something being directed towards him, his extrasensory perception had activated on its own for the first time in a while.

That’s when he saw it.

What looked like strands of twisted dark brown energy coming off of each of these new types and reaching out to each individual of the other five species.

With how many space monsters were gathered, it almost looked like a solid wall of light, but Avery was able to tell that it was really just an enormous web on a truly colossal scale.

From the one that as clearly controlling the Hinvieners, Avery watched a single strand of this brown energy weaving its way towards him at an astounding seed.

Before he could even react, it reached the Dauntless and passed right through it.

Immediately it connected itself to him and he felt a reviling presence enter his mind.

It was similar to how Nianni had once unconsciously reached out to him with her own psychic powers.

But in her case, she was not trying to act maliciously, and it had been out of her control.

This thing was different.

All it had noticed was a mind that it could reach. Something that was typically impossible with most people.

Still as its instincts demanded, it tried to exert its dominance.

What reached him were not words exactly, but an overwhelming presence and a single command.

’OBEY ME!’

This was how Avery understood the psychic pressure being exerted on him by the creature.

It was so strong that he felt sick as he attempted to resist and nearly vomited from the effort.

Again, he heard the booming voice in his mind that was both grating and thunderous.

’OBEY ME!’

This time was much worse than the first, and it felt like someone had just whacked his brain with a giant hammer.

The urge to give in so that the pain would stop was strong. Avery would be lying if for a moment he did not consider doing so just to make it end.

"I won’t become some nonsensical space monster’s puppet." Avery growled had he dug his nails into his knees.

What he was doing was crude, but he was helping to fight the pain in head by causing pain to his body.

As he continued to resist, the creature exerted more psychic force on him.

It was unused to feeling such resistance, as the Hinvieners had always fallen under its control without issue.

Nevertheless, it was not a truly intelligent being and merely followed the programming that had been given to it by its creators. And one of its directives was to control whatever it could.

Avery struggled for what was only a couple of minutes, though it felt like hours to him.

This was the first time that he had ever endured a true psychic attack against.

Species with such powers were rare and typically were not all that strong. Like the Vensians who could usually only communicate with plants. With those like Nianni being exceptions.

The monster he was fighting off now though, was something that had been designed to control hundreds of thousands if not millions of other creatures using its mental capabilities.

Avery tried multiple times to break the connection somehow, but the monster would not let him go.

If there was any solace to be had, it was that while this was going on, none of the other space monsters were making a move to attack.

Liesel was in a panic though.

She had been screaming at Avery over their connected comms and had attempted to connect their ships’ airlocks but had failed since Avery was unable to give permission for the docking.

As a last resort, she was preparing to force her way in when she heard Avery yelling.

"That’s enough! I’m never going to listen to you!"

Like a damn breaking, Avery felt some sort of power inside of him welling up.

There were still a lot of questions about how his body was changing, and what the ancestor far back in his lineage that allowed him to become something beyond human was.

None of that mattered right now, however.

All Avery knew was that his unique abilities had gotten him into this mess in the first place, and now they were going to get him out of it.

Beyond just seeing the flow of energy, this time he manipulated it.

He had already seen his mother do something similar, and when she had used her own power to examine his body and mind, he had felt something back then.

It had been beyond him to control before, but in this harrowing situation where his mind was on the verge of being destroyed, Avery was forced to advance to survive.

The energy inside of him that had been mostly stagnant burst out all at once.

Normally, this would have destroyed Avery from the inside, but right now he had somewhere else to send all of this raging power.

Somehow, he understood how to direct it and sent it along the line of dark brown energy the monstrous creature had forced inside of him. The connection that had been established between them went both ways after all.