To prevent the outbreak from spreading further, General Anderson had already issued strict orders from the very beginning of the operation that no one was allowed to leave Baeldum Planet unless through properly secured teleportation checkpoints. Likewise, no additional support teams would be permitted to descend onto the planet until the main reinforcent arrived.
At the ti, the decision sounded logical.
Now, standing amidst the growing casualties and the horrifying speed of the infection, even Anderson himself seed to regret it slightly.
The crashed Proxima flagship quickly beca a temporary ergency base as Ery and the four remaining Grand Magus worked together to contain the situation.
Fortunately—
Not everyone had been completely lost to the infection.
They swiftly managed to identify twenty-two survivors still showing signs of resistance. Among them were six Grand Magus.
However, knowing how abnormally fast this new strain of parasite developed, the group was forced to make difficult decisions imdiately. The Grand Magus survivors naturally beca the priority due to their stronger physiques and greater chances of survival.
Archbishop Stephen fully understood the severity of the situation.
The old bishop no longer held back.
Golden radiance suddenly erupted behind him as six massive wings of light manifested across his back,. The damaged command hall trembled slightly beneath the pressure released from the three-cosmos Grand Magus. Warm sacred light spread throughout the room, pushing back the lingering corruption while calming the restless minds of the survivors.
Then a chromatic bowl appeared within his grasp.
The artifact looked ancient beyond asure, its transparent surface covered in tiny divine inscriptions. The spiritual fluctuations radiating from the bowl carried dense aura of purity.
The mont the archbishop activated the relic, rainbow-colored divine water slowly began filling the crystal vessel from seemingly nowhere.
The sacred liquid released waves of holy energy powerful enough to visibly suppress the purple corruption spreading across the infected survivors. Several victims who had been convulsing monts earlier gradually cald beneath the radiance while black mist continuously leaked out from their pores.
This greatly accelerated the purification process.
anwhile, Ery and Hubert took supporting roles throughout the treatnt area.
Ery continuously moved between survivors while stabilizing their bodies using healing techniques. Pure nature energy flowed from his hands into patient after patient as Hubert activated purification talismans, suppressing the spread of corruption just long enough for Archbishop Stephen's holy power to cleanse the infection properly.
Another assistant moved around them with equal efficiency.
A second Ery.
His Light Avatar.
The avatar operated almost independently from the original body, perfectly synchronized with Ery's movents while assisting with treatnts across the command hall. Soft green radiance spread from its hands as healing vines wrapped around wounded survivors, stabilizing damaged organs and suppressing violent parasite reactions.
Even with all their combined efforts, however, the process remained extrely difficult.
Several tis during treatnt, finger-sized parasites suddenly burst violently out from beneath survivors' flesh while releasing horrifying screeches. Blood splattered across the room as the creatures attempted to escape, only to be imdiately engulfed by holy flas or sealed inside reinforced crystal tubes for later study.
Unfortunately, many victims had already progressed too far.
The parasites had fully consud both body and soul, leaving nothing worth saving behind.
In those cases, Hubert acted decisively.
The normally relaxed diviner showed no hesitation as rune bullets pierced straight through infected skulls one after another before flas consud the bodies entirely, reducing both corpse and parasite into ashes before the corruption could spread further.
anwhile, the Sword Demoness remained occupied elsewhere.
Using so unknown soul technique, she continuously worked on extracting fragnts from Ura's corrupted spirit, attempting to gain information before the soul completely collapsed. Anderson himself was similarly occupied, alternating between suppressing the poison spreading through his body, checking the ship logs, and sending urgent reports back toward the orbital station.
A few exhausting hours later—
The results were finally clear.
Out of sixteen Magus-level survivors, only seven successfully survived purification.
Among the six infected Grand Magus, three managed to survive.
In total, eight survivors were stabilized and placed inside healing chambers.
Lambert was among them.
Seeing the Proxima vice commander still breathing caused Ery to quietly release a breath of relief.
Once the imdiate crisis settled slightly, the Grand Magus units gathered together inside the damaged command center to discuss their findings.
The Sword Demoness spoke first.
Using fragnts extracted from Ura's corrupted soul, she had managed to uncover what truly happened.
Apparently, Ura had already been infected from the mont Parasite X devoured him earlier.
The infection had simply been in an extrely early phase, subtle enough that none of them detected it.
Unfortunately, because Ura had already been heavily injured beforehand, the corruption progressed much faster than expected. Worse still, the concealnt master apparently realized sothing was wrong and secretly attempted to purify himself alone.
That decision dood everyone.
Without realizing it, parts of his judgnt had already been compromised by the parasites.
"When he fully lost control," the Sword Demoness explained coldly, "his mastery in concealnt, he was able to eliminate the crew one by one before anyone realized what was happening."
With Parasite X's corpse remaining nearby, infecting the survivors afterward beca easy.
"Until our arrival interrupted him," she finished.
The Sword Demoness eventually concluded her report by revealing that Ura's soul had beco too corrupted to preserve. She then handed over the concealnt master's storage ring alongside his black dagger to Anderson so the items could eventually be returned to Ura's family.
Hearing that, Ery could not help releasing a faint sigh.
One mistake.
One mont of carelessness.
Even a powerful three-cosmos Grand Magus could fall just like that.
Anderson confird most of the report using the ship logs before finally turning toward Archbishop Stephen to ask about the treatnts.
The old bishop released a tired sigh.
"Honestly, all I did was suppress corruption through divine power," he admitted honestly. "As for understanding the parasites themselves…"
He slowly turned toward Ery.
"Fellow Grand Magus Ery likely understands far more than I do."
Everyone's attention shifted toward Ery.
Ery stepped forward before placing three sealed crystal containers onto the table.
Inside each container, worm like parasites writhed violently against the transparent walls while releasing faint screeching sounds.
With his status as a master apothecary and his previous experience experinting on parasites during the Tartarus campaign, he spoke confidently.
"I compared them with the known parasite strains recorded in the Alliance database"
As he spoke, several projected screens appeared beside him displaying rows of analytical data.
"These parasites are different."
He enlarged one of the parasite projections while pointing toward the purple rune-like markings spread across their bodies.
Another projection appeared beside it showing comparison charts.
"Based on the readings, their spirit energy intensity, toxicity levels.and corruption potency are nearly five tis greater than ordinary parasite strains."
The atmosphere imdiately turned heavier.
Even Archbishop Stephen frowned deeply while studying the projections.
Ery continued, "There are two possible explanations. Either these parasites underwent so form of evolution… or this is another species entirely."
He paused briefly before adding his own judgnt.
"Personally, I lean more toward the second possibility. Evolution on this level should not happen naturally so quickly. Still…" Ery narrowed his eyes toward the parasite samples, "it could also be viewed as a forced evolution triggered under certain conditions."
The room fell silent for several seconds.
Finally, Ery concluded,
"I would classify these purple parasites as a higher-tier variant of their species."
Hubert imdiately let out a low whistle.
"Damn… even parasites have their own upper class now."
This ti, nobody reacted to the joke.
Anderson instead looked directly toward Ery with a grim expression.
"Master Ery… does this an our repellent pills are no longer effective?"
The mont that question was asked, everyone's expressions beca wary.
After all, the repellent pills had been their primary defense since the mission began. Every mber of the operation had consud them before descending onto Baeldum.
Which ant—
Any of them could already be infected without realizing it.
The incense detectors and purification talismans they carried suddenly no longer felt reliable either.
Ery remained silent for a mont before finally giving an honest answer.
"The pills should still provide so protection," he said slowly, "but their effectiveness is clearly reduced."
He pointed toward the parasite samples again.
"These variants possess far stronger corruption abilities. I recomnd consuming the repellent pills once every twelve hours instead of the standard schedule. Anyone entering direct physical contact with infected subjects should imdiately take an additional dose afterward."
The atmosphere remained tense as Ery continued.
"To be safe, everyone should also perform a complete internal spiritual inspection every one or two hours."
Archbishop Stephen nodded heavily in agreent.
Unfortunately, Ery was still not finished.
"As for the incense detectors…" Ery exhaled slowly. "I'm afraid they likely won't help much anymore against this strain."
That statent caused the room to turn completely silent.
General Anderson remained lost in thought for several seconds before finally standing up.
"Alright. I need to report this to the other teams imdiately."
Then, just before leaving, the general suddenly turned back toward Ery.
"Master Ery… is it possible to improve the pills?"
Ery blinked slightly, clearly caught off guard.
"Right now…?"
Does he think creating these pills is easy?
Ery could not help muttering inwardly to himself.
###
Far above Baeldum, inside the Pritz orbital station, warning alarms echoed across the command center.
The drones that had been tracking the massive infected groups finally transmitted clearer footage from the planet surface.
These infected groups had already reached dangerously close to the defensive periters.
Thank you for reading
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