SOS CH 22: Deadly Greed (Patreon)

The Knightframes landed on the ground, more softly than one would have expected with heavy weight, outer countenance, and all. While not particularly the best at ground warfare, Knightframe all had a means of movement through any terrain that was good enough for them to not be completely useless. They were versatile, ready to be used in any terrain, but they also had their specialties— a story for another time. [1]

｢What is the situation?｣

With Omid being one step behind the rest, four pirates in power armor landed on the ground after he took the measuring equipment out of his Knightframe.

One of the few ways to find the ruin rooted on a planet, housing the vestiges of the Old Empire, was to observe and calculate the repartition of the gravity on the surface through specific geological equipment.

The gravity that affected a planet was never uniform. This held true for most planets and celestial bodies. Though the difference would not vary widely throughout the surface, only a variation of 0.7% between different places, some places could still go even further up the scale. Historically, a variation of more than 2% or more had been spotted on numerous planets, anomalies that often pointed to the existence of ruins.

And such anomalies were what they were after right now, the motive of their search. Things would have been easier with a grand-scale planetary scanner but they had to make do with what they had on their clutches. It had never been easy for them and wanting it to be easy now wouldn’t do squat.

“Scanners ready.”

“Camera Drones ready.”

“Metal Detectors ready.”

｢Very well. Stay in formation. Try finding the lair of any Abyss beasts in the vicinity. This might also be an important clue.｣

Omid, seated in the cockpit of his Mecha, sighed quietly to himself as he fought the surging excitement trying to leak out of his face.

Bringing his hands forward, two handles appeared and he grabbed them both simultaneously. While he could use his mental command to maneuver the hulking mass of metal. That action was very taxing for him and had the prerequisite of pinpoint accurate and deep concentration, something that would only hinder his progress in the present moment, and for no reason to boot. He needed to have his A-game ready for when the big events started surfacing and straining himself now would only be foolish of him.

｢Noah. You should be seeing what our cameras are recording on the screen right about now. Where exactly were you ambushed when you came for us with Morgiana in tow? Phaeia, allow him to give the command to pinpoint the location for us and guide us there.｣

｢I… I think it was around here.｣

A red dot manifested on the 3D skeleton of the hazardous terrain, the scenes were manifesting and changing in real-time— a boon of the geographical mapping equipment at their disposal. While they did not have access to an online database due to the large distance, the offline system linking them was more than enough for them to make up for it and the mapping equipment helped.

｢Good. Four Frames and ten foot soldiers heed my order. Proceed to the marked location and try your luck.｣

｢Yes, sir!｣

Once again, they were all advancing with efficiency and clear and concise orders. Slowly covering the map while leaving nothing unturned in their path toward the location marked.

The crew members that were sent to the location Noah pointed out were slowly inching further and further away from their location, however, Omid was not too worried about them. Even if some abyssal beasts somehow showed up to attack them, in the current scenario, they were more than armed and prepared enough to take them head-on and triumph.

They were also holding the gold that Noah had provided them in their presence, cut into smaller pieces and distributed among the crew. While the existence of gold should be more or less present on this planet, the ruins had a gimmick that made them react when Dark Matter and Gold were placed in conjecture in the vicinity of their location.

At the same time, Omid had a timer on his head for this mission. If the search ended without them finding anything in a set time… they would leave this planet with Morgiana.

As much as it pained him to accept defeat, he could not risk his life more than what he was already doing.

｢Continue the search.｣

Slowly, they left the habitable part of the planet and a spike in temperature could be visibly observed almost immediately.

Omid groaned ever so slightly with rapture as the temperature in his cockpit rose to a degree uncomfortable for most. As a Frame that had been modified for him to operate, it obviously had the function of absorbing solar energy and sharing said energy with him to supplement his Djinn powers.

The yellow streaks, flowing like rivers of molten magma, on his skin started to pulse and vibrate under his armor as if he were a beast being fed after a long, long time. Since there were literally 3 suns in this solar system, the effects were far better than anything he could have hoped anywhere else. Even though it was far inferior to the seven suns prevalent on his home planet, it was close enough. [2]

‘Good. I am feeling good.’

Absorbing the energy of the sun in space was pretty dangerous because of all the cosmic radiation that would rampage unobstructed. Even a Yellow Flame like him risked destroying himself while in prolonged contact with such radiation. But things were different when they were on a planet with its own magnetic field and an atmosphere to block and filter the cosmic radiation.

This was akin to the difference between eating raw unprocessed meat full of possibly mortal parasites as well as numerous bacteria and carefully well-cooked and seasoned meat.

｢Captain! We got a signal!｣

Omid snapped out of his reverie and pushed his Frame forward in strides, his heart once again bursting with excitement and anticipation.

They had finally found the location of the ruins. When someone had all the elements, finding and opening the ruin was not a complicated issue in the least. What mattered was the string of events that would inevitably occur after they entered the ruins.

The frames as well as the foot soldiers all started running, excitement carrying their feet faster than what would have been possible. Or it was just a placebo effect, who knew really…

｢Call back those who were sent out to find where Morgiana had been attacked. We need all hands here and now!｣

｢Yes!｣

The foot soldiers all aligned themselves and when Omid reached the place. His eyes immediately brightened when he witnessed that the energy necessary for the anti-gravity hover increased slightly but quite noticeably.

‘This it!’

｢Start the Operation!｣

Simultaneously, every single one of them started taking out the equipment they had prepared in advance for this operation, all with the goal of causing a resonance.

At the same time, Omid, who was holding the largest piece of gold in his hand, started injecting his own energy into the golden metal.

‘Please! Please! Please!’

Omid did not have to beg for long as soon, a new chain reaction manifested.

Rumble~!

The Earth started to shake and quake. Slowly at first but soon, the simple shaking changed into a literal earthquake. Cracks manifested and trailed the ground like branches of an ominous tree and all the pirates started hastily shifting their positions, afraid of being caught in the cracks and losing their lives.

One of them was sadly not fast enough and fell in a crack that seemed to have no end but no one bothered slowing down even as they heard the ear-piercing screams of their comrade in arms. All the Mechas jumped in the air simultaneously, as if on cue. The energy consumption necessary to fight gravity was astronomical but it was better than dying a dog’s death. Not even Omid could complain about their conduct.

The shaking lasted for quite a while as everyone fought for dear life. But finally — It came to a stop.

Long sinuous cracks, could be seen everywhere their eyes could scratch. Of the previous 50 pirates outside of Omid… only 45 remained, the others had fallen into the cracks, not to be seen ever again.

However, no one mourned for the losses.

All eyes were riveted on the gigantic and imposing gate that was hanging a few meters above the ground as if it was detached from reality itself and was casting a shadow on all of them, causing them to gulp in both awe, fear, and greed.

The gate was more than 200 meters in height. Rather than a gate, it seemed more like a small mountain. There was no door at first but soon, a flicker sparkled and a white light filled the gate in its entirety.

Omid couldn’t stop himself from gulping.

A Star Gate.

This ruin was definitely not just a small ruin but something far more prominent. In his knowledge, normal ruins were nothing more than underground or aboveground structures, in the sky or even in the depth of the sea. Those may be dangerous but the danger they posed was minimal in retrospect. The rewards they brought were just as minimal as the dangers they posed.

After this came Ruins hidden in pocket dimensions and only by going through a Star Gate could one enter their depths— location unknown.

This kind of ruin was classified into ranks depending on the colors of the gate. Going from the red as the lowest to violet as the highest.

The current Emperor of this galaxy was said to have reached his seat after conquering a blue-ranked gate. Just a rank below the highest violet deemed possible.

— He had never heard of a White Gate. Just what kind of rewards could come out of this mythical structure?

｢Captain! What do we do?｣

Omid was trembling from head to toe. His brows were even sweating as his brain tried to work coherently in such an impossible situation.

He was at a crossroads. This was without a doubt the most important decision he would take in his entire existence.

Should he listen to reason and flee immediately?

Or…

Should he throw caution to the wind and give it a try?

The answer to this question should have been evident from the get-go. The most reasonable choice was clear for all to see.

But this was both the beauty and stupidity of living beings.

Sometimes… They didn’t make the wisest choice at their disposal. Even when they knew they might eventually fall to their ruins.

There will always be a little voice singing in their mind.

Perhaps I am different.

Perhaps I am better.

Perhaps I am luckier.

Like so, they would self-hypnotize themselves into making decisions they would normally never make.

This was the power of Greed.

For all his experience and cautiousness — Omid was not above greed. He was, after all, a pirate after all.

｢Paheia. Kill Noah. He is useless to us. As for you guys. Proceed with me. We are entering the ruins｣

And so, guided by greed… Omid made the worst decision in his entire life.

———

At the same time, far far away, in the space station above Oz, Dorothy, the Witch of Stars, stopped her endless walk and craned her head to the right.

There… a light so bright shone with such luminosity that it was hurting her eyes, causing her planetarium to crumble instantly.

Thankfully, not before she was able to memorize the coordinates of the planet.

When she came to herself, she groaned as her eyes and nose were leaking blood.

｢Dorothy!? What Happened!?｣

Dorothy groaned as she fought a mighty headache. She felt like something was literally piercing through her brain and sloshing it in a blender.

“I do not know what happened but… I think I found Morgiana’s coordinates.”

She also found the location of the awakening… of the mysterious and anticipatory… brightest star.

———

[1]: From now on, I will mostly use the term Knightframe when designing Mecha. Just sounds cooler than just saying Mecha again and again.

[2]: If my searches are right. To date, no system with more than 7 suns has been found. Even with 7 we only know Two such systems. The first one is AR Cassiopea and the second is called Nu Scorpii. If I have the wrong information, I would be happy to be corrected.

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