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"Holy crap!"
Startled by the sudden sound, Jeff leaped violently to the side, instinctively raising his gun and aiming it toward the source of the noise.
"A kid?"
Upon seeing that his target was actually an unfamiliar boy, his expression froze in obvious bewilderment.
"I don't recall bringing any Dust-caste children along on this mission!"
Whenever their Hunter squad descended to the surface to gather supplies, they would typically bring along some Dust-caste laborers to assist with the heavy lifting.
Since the work involved manual transport, the individuals selected were almost exclusively able-bodied young adults; children were never chosen.
Hearing Jeff's startled cry, the other Hunters who were maintaining a perimeter immediately rushed over, weapons at the ready, to provide backup.
However, when they saw the boy standing opposite Jeff, they, too, were momentarily stunned.
"Jeff, where did this kid come from?"
A girl with short red hair hopped onto the roof of an armored vehicle. She scrutinized the seemingly harmless boy standing there, then suddenly exclaimed in astonishment: "Hey, look! Is that a tail growing out of his butt?"
"Hello there. My name is Son Goku."
Goku raised his hand and politely greeted the young woman and the middle-aged man.
"I have no idea where he came from—but he really does have a tail! Could he have undergone a mutation from living on the surface?"
At that moment, Jeff also noticed the tail swaying back and forth behind Goku.
"It's been twenty years since the Lighthouse last detected any survivors on the surface; nowadays, the human survival rate down here is practically zero.
"And he's just a child. Even if he has mutated, surely he wouldn't be able to survive down here..."
The short-haired girl holstered her weapon behind her back, placed her hands on her hips, and looked down at Goku:
"Hi there. So, your name is Son Goku, right? I'm Erica. Have you been living on the surface this whole time?"
"More or less,"
Goku replied after a moment's thought.
Aside from the month he had spent at the Temple of the Gods, he had indeed spent his entire life living on the surface.
It just wasn't the surface of this particular world. "Aside from you, are there any other people living on the surface?"
Jeff's expression suddenly turned serious.
Over fifty years ago, the Cataclysm of the Ground Vines erupted in a continuous onslaught; humanity faced mass extinction, and cities were reduced to ruins.
Later, a massive lighthouse-like structure—floating high in the sky—began taking in the surviving remnants of humanity, offering them refuge within its walls.
As for them—the "Marauders"—they were a specialized unit within the Lighthouse, tasked specifically with descending to the surface to scavenge for supplies.
In the past, whenever the Marauder unit descended to search for supplies, they would occasionally stumble upon other humans who had miraculously managed to survive.
However, for the last twenty years—starting two decades ago—the Marauders had not encountered a single human being during their searches.
Consequently, the high command of the Lighthouse generally believed that the humans on the surface had long since gone extinct, wiped out by the ceaseless attacks of the countless "Phage Beasts."
If, in reality, a significant number of humans still survived, that would be news of immense value to the Lighthouse.
"As for that... I really don't know. To be honest, I only just arrived here myself."
Goku had initially intended to say, "Why, there are plenty of people living on the surface!" but he quickly realized that the other person was asking whether any humans still existed on the surface of this particular world.
How could he possibly know that? He had arrived here mere minutes ago, and he had only discovered the presence of humans in this area by sensing their Ki.
"What do you mean, 'just arrived here'?"
Neither Jeff nor Erica could make heads or tails of what Goku was saying.
However, just as they were about to grab Goku and question him in greater detail, a sudden burst of rapid-fire gunshots rang out from the entrance to Sector B.
"Run, everyone! It's the Phage Beasts!"
"Phage Beasts!"
At the sound of those words, the expressions on Jeff and Erica's faces changed instantly. Forgetting all about questioning Goku, they hurriedly spun around to look toward the entrance of Sector B.
There, they saw the "Dust-folk"—the laborers who had been hauling supplies—lifting their final loads in sheer terror and sprinting desperately toward the transport vehicles.
Meanwhile, the Marauders stationed on perimeter guard duty were raising their weapons and unleashing a frenzied barrage of gunfire toward the entrance. "Quick! Everyone, grab the supplies and evacuate immediately!"
A burly man with a buzz cut burst out from the entrance alongside a white-haired woman, rapidly issuing orders to the Hunter-guards stationed there:
"Erica! Jeff! Go—start up the Heavy Mechs!"
Hot on their heels was a colossal monster, easily seven or eight meters tall. It gaped its blood-soaked maw wide, intent on devouring the two figures fleeing before it.
Yet, the pair moved with flawless coordination, constantly shifting their positions and dodging; time and again, they managed to evade the monster's attacks by the narrowest of margins.
Behind that massive creature, dozens of similar monsters swarmed out of the entrance, lunging at every Hunter and "Dust-dweller" in the vicinity.
"Yes, Captain Mark!"
Erica and Jeff shouted their affirmative in unison, then immediately spun around and sprinted toward the Heavy Mech suits parked in their respective spots.
However, before departing, they pointed toward the transport vehicle where the Dust-dwellers were evacuating and shouted a final instruction to a young boy named Goku:
"Kid! Get inside that vehicle and take cover—now!"
Among thePhage Beasts surging out of the derelict spaceship, those roughly the size of a buffalo could still be taken down using standard firearms.
But the colossal variants—the ones standing seven or eight meters tall—were a different story; ordinary gunfire striking their bodies felt like nothing more than a tickle, utterly incapable of inflicting any damage.
The only things capable of harming such beasts were high-powered electromagnetic rifles—or the Heavy Mech suits piloted by elite Hunters like themselves.
That said, relying solely on their Heavy Mechs to defeat such a massive horde of beasts would be a daunting task—though certainly not an impossible one.
Their mission was to intercept the beasts' assault on the supply transport vehicle, thereby covering the retreat of the rest of their squad and the precious supplies they had recovered.
"Ah! Help me!"
The Heavy Mechs required time to power up; until their startup sequence was complete, the suppressive fire laid down by the regular Hunters was utterly powerless to hold back the colossal beasts.
Before long—aside from the one Captain Mark had lured away—another giant Phage Beast breached the defensive barrage and charged toward a "Dust-dweller" who was clutching a supply crate and hadn't yet managed to evacuate.
Staring at the gaping, blood-soaked maw looming mere inches away—a maw large enough to swallow his entire body whole—the Dust-dweller let out a scream of utter despair.
Upon witnessing this scene, the elite "Wilderness Hunters"—such as Erica and Jeff—who had already entered their Gravity Body mechs, felt a surge of frantic helplessness; yet, there was nothing they could do.
Their Gravity Body mechs had not yet fully powered up, leaving them utterly unable to rush in and provide support.
However, this was merely the norm.
Every time they went out on a supply-gathering mission, danger was an inevitable companion.
Let alone the lowly Dust-dwellers, even among their own ranks—the "Upper-class" Wilderness Hunters—each mission would typically result in a dozen, or even several dozen, casualties.
It was only because Captain Mark was a genuinely decent man that he would, on every mission, do his utmost to protect the Dust-dwellers.
The others, however, couldn't care less whether the Dust-dwellers lived or died.
"BOOM!"
Yet, just as everyone assumed the Dust-dweller was doomed, a figure suddenly materialized right beside the giant Phage Beast.
With a single, powerful punch delivered to the beast's body, the Phage Beast recoiled as if it had been struck by a speeding train, rocketing through the air like a cannonball.
As it hurtled through the air, it smashed into and knocked aside several other giant Phage Beasts that were in the midst of pouncing; by the time they hit the ground, every last one of them lay motionless and silent.
This single, devastating blow caused the remaining Phage Beast—which had been preparing to swarm the area—to freeze in their tracks, stunned into immobility.
"What?!"
Likewise, the ordinary Wilderness Hunters who were currently firing their weapons, the elite Hunters who had just entered their Gravity Body mechs, and the Dust-dwellers who were scrambling for their lives—
Every single one of them stood dumbfounded, utterly stupefied.