Red Dragon Spaceship Awakening: I Gain Alien Abilities on Mars-Chapter 227: The Staging Ground

She had not expected to see something like this if she was being honest.

When Tatehan had told her to check the base, she had been expecting something wayy different than what she was seeing.

It was like a large amphitheater. Some kind of stadium. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The structure was massive, far larger than it had any right to be based on what the exterior suggested. From outside, the base had looked like a standard military outpost: something functional, compact... y’know, nothing special. But inside? Inside, it was enormous, the ceiling arching high overhead, the walls curving outward to create a vast, circular space that seemed to stretch on forever.

Where spectators would normally be seated in a stadium, there were now rows upon rows of bunk beds. Not just two-level bunks, but multi-tiered structures that stacked upward in dizzying columns, each one lined with thin mattresses and storage compartments. The bunks circled the entire perimeter of the space, rising up the walls like some kind of massive dormitory designed to house an army.

And judging by the number of beds, that was exactly what this place was built for. Lyra did a quick mental count and realized there were enough bunks to contain hundreds of soldiers. Maybe more.

But what caught her attention most was the empty space in the middle.

The center of the amphitheater was completely open, a wide, flat expanse of flooring that looked like it could withstand heavy use. There were no obstacles, no equipment, nothing to indicate what the space was meant for.

’That is weird,’ she thought.

Lyra frowned, her mind turning over possibilities. Was it for training? Some kind of drill ground where soldiers could practice maneuvers? Or was it meant for storing something else? Something large, something heavy and something that needed open space?

She did not know. And she did not have time to figure it out.

Lyra turned, summoned another black hole, and stepped through it, teleporting directly to the second base.

The moment she emerged, she was surprised. She had been expecting to be surprised, just like she was when she saw the previous base but standing now, looking at it, made her SURPRISED!

This base was filled with weapons. A damn lot of weapons.

The interior was structured like a massive armory, the walls lined with racks and shelves and storage containers, all of them packed to capacity with equipment.

Guns of every type imaginable hung from the racks: plasma rifles, kinetic cannons, energy blades, projectile launchers. Swords that doubled as guns, their hilts fitted with triggers and barrels. Bombs stacked in crates, their casings marked with warning labels in multiple languages.

And then there were the mechs.

Lyra had not expected to see mechs. When she had saw the guns, rifles and the swords which doubled as guns and rifles, she hadn’t expected to see mechs.

But now that she thought about it, she should have expected it.

Seeing this mechs should give her an estimation on the time period the two base had been around.

When the large Mech monster had attacked the city, they had wondered where it had come from.

Why?

Because the West where the obscuron resided and operated was far from the North were Waython hollow was.

So the Mech should have been sent from somewhere close.

That meant the mech monster had been sent from this base!

Booyah! Mystery solved!

Now she was facing three.

Three of them, standing silent and dormant in the back of the room, their frames towering over the rest of the equipment.

The first was spider-like, its body low and compact, supported by eight segmented legs that ended in sharp, pointed tips. Its head was a cluster of glowing sensors, and its torso was fitted with what looked like weapon mounts designed for rapid-fire plasma cannons.

The second was more traditional, a bipedal mech, humanoid in shape, its arms ending in massive gauntlets that could probably crush a vehicle with ease. Its chest was reinforced with layered plating, and its shoulders were fitted with missile pods.

The third was dwarf-like, stocky and heavily armored, its legs short but thick, its torso wide and barrel-shaped. It looked like it was designed for close combat, its arms ending in massive hammers or drills, its entire frame built to absorb punishment and dish it back out with brutality.

Lyra’s eyes swept over the rest of the room, taking in the volume of equipment. Vehicles for battle: armored transports, flying craft, ground-based tanks. All of it neatly organized, all of it ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.

And then it hit her.

The realization slammed into her like a physical blow. This was not just a forward base. This was a staging ground.

The Obscuron had not been building these bases to expand his territory gradually, to push into the North one step at a time. He had been preparing for something much bigger and much worse.

He was planning to annihilate a city.

Lyra’s mind raced, calculating distances, reviewing maps she had memorized during her training. Which city was closest to this base? Which settlement was in the most danger?

It was obviously Waython Hollow.

The man wanted to destroy Waython Hollow.

Lyra’s breath came faster now, her heart pounding in her chest. She had to tell Tatehan. She had to tell everyone. They needed to move, needed to...

———

Bjorn was about to bring his warhammer down on a soldier’s head, the weapon raised high, the man cowering beneath him, when suddenly—

Poof!

He was grabbed by an invisible force and sucked into a swirling black hole that had appeared directly behind him.

The hammer fell from his hands, clattering uselessly to the ground as Bjorn disappeared, his voice cutting off in the middle of a shout.

Tatehan had just taken a punch to the chest, the impact absorbed by his armor, and he was about to retaliate with a kinetic-enhanced strike fueled by anger and adrenaline when—

Poof!

He was sucked into a black hole, the void swallowing him whole, his vision going dark as the battlefield disappeared around him.