Chapter 155: Earth Defense Force
—The Normandy Legion completely collapsed!
—Four armored brigades and two artillery battalions vanished! No available ground forces!
—Death toll estimated at least in the thousands! Currently, hundreds of thousands of citizens are fleeing towards Paris!
Gloomy news flew across France.
The US military had failed to stop Beta One, allowing it to enter Rouen.
Beta One easily crushed the resistance of the French army and smashed every building in Rouen.
There was hardly anything left by the power of the ether blade that could cut through black metal.
Occasionally, air force fighters were deployed to project firepower, but they could not stop it.
That’s how Rouen turned into ruins in just over an hour and its aftermath reached Paris.
The distance from Rouen to Paris was less than 100km.
At the monster’s speed, it was a distance that could be swept in an hour.
As the citizens began to evacuate chaotically, the already narrow streets of Paris turned into a parking lot.
Crackling sounds were heard here and there, and sometimes fighting sounds were heard.
If Beta One raided Paris at this point, it was certain that there would be casualties in the tens of thousands.
Fortunately, Beta One did not move right away.
Even if it was a plague, it needed energy.
It wandered around the ruins of Rouen and eroded any metal it could find.
Tanks and cars with turrets blown off, as well as various kitchen utensils, were absorbed by it as they came along.
Even streetlights and signs were pulled out and Rouen became miserable as if it had been hit by a nuclear attack.
Arma analyzed the eroding mode of it.
“The erosion range is short. And you saw the fighter jets, so you could transform into flight mode, but I don’t see any signs of that.”
Plague mimics human weapons.
It was obvious that it was innate, as even the lowest beast-class had that ability.
But this Beta One did not intend to transform from its original land puppy appearance.
There was no way that it couldn’t fly with a bio-ion thruster.
“It’s not a biotic body, but an ionic body. It’s not good at transforming.”
“It seems like they deliberately sent a creature that is not good at fighting.”
“That’s the problem with that clumsy guy.”
Humanity was not ready yet.
It was natural that he came now when he would arrive 70 years later.
“The prophet knows we’ve gone back in time, but he doesn’t seem to know much about the situation on Earth…”
“Maybe the prophet is a system. It sends us a suitable solution depending on our choice.”
“I thought he was a superior being who transcended humanity far away.”
“The possibility is enough.”
Whatever the identity of the prophet was, it was troublesome to leave Beta One alone.
Although he couldn’t say he had a good relationship, he had no ill feelings towards the French themselves.
The French were also part of humanity that he had to preserve.
He wouldn’t have to worry about them anymore after accommodating 900 million in the megacity, but in the current situation, it was the right choice to help France.
But he decided to wait a little longer.
“I’ll be treated like an enemy if I help now. How’s the public opinion in France?”
“There is no official position, but there is not much opinion that we should reach out to us.”
“Then leave it alone. I’ll come out when I can see a clear effect.”
It was a meaningless act to fight among humans now that plague had invaded.
It was right to prepare for unity under the leadership of the United Human Federation.
He was willing to support any country if they changed their minds.
In fact, wasn’t Russia preparing to integrate into the United Human Federation?
Even if not to that extent, they could introduce technology and develop their economy like Germany, India, or Australia.
But it was hard to untie the knot of hatred that had been tied up for a long time.
He managed to get surrender from China and Japan, but he couldn’t say he completely subdued them.
Except for Germany, the EU still growled at the United Human Federation, and the US did not stop doubting him.
It would have been more suspicious because of the reactive armor experiment on Mars at this time.
He didn’t need to choose war to overcome this situation.
‘The time for war is over. What we need now is integration.’
He needed France’s sacrifice for that.
It was ironic that he needed sacrifice for integration, but he couldn’t help it.
It was only possible in dreams that all humanity would change their attitude and cooperate when space monsters appeared.
The important thing was feedback, which France would show directly to humanity.
This is what happens if you don’t act now.
He turned his eyes away from the miserable city of Rouen.
“Don’t say anything until you reach out first. Tell the secretary’s office the same thing.”
“I understand.”
***
As Beta One destroyed Rouen and advanced to Paris, the evacuation of ten million people became visible.
Some even discussed the possibility of France’s collapse prematurely.
—That monster absorbed metal in Rouen and fully recovered. Now there is less than an hour left to Paris.
—Think about it. The only way to counter that monster is a megaton-class nuclear weapon. But there is no way to hit it directly.
—Now, to kill it, you have to kill the French citizens along with it.
That was the biggest problem.
If Beta One entered Paris as it was, it would be impossible to handle.
It was best to kill it before that.
The French Prime Minister, Georges Morua, who received authority from the president, discussed countermeasures with the White House for more than 20 minutes, but nothing clear came out.
“As I said before, we can’t prepare a megaton-class nuclear weapon in two hours. Therefore, France must stop the advance.”
“There is no way. It doesn’t budge with any reasonable power…”
Morua Prime Minister appealed with frustration, but President Baldwin cut him off coldly.
“Didn’t you use all the nuclear weapons? I know France has a lot of hydrogen bombs, if you use them, you can stop the advance.”
Nowadays, most of the nuclear weapons are hydrogen bombs.
France also finished the experiment half a century ago and had most of its nuclear power in hydrogen bombs.
The power was suppressed to 300 kilotons, but that was because he couldn’t ignore the maintenance cost.
He couldn’t spend 20% on nuclear weapons like Russia anyway.
Anyway, President Baldwin saw that France was still hesitating.
He didn’t care about the nuclear weapons, he believed he could move someone.
Yu Ji-ha.
He was the one who gave several warnings close to advice to help France in this situation.
He didn’t have to come out when he thought of the insults France had done, but he was not an ordinary person in many ways.
‘Does he really have a weapon that can destroy that monster?’
President Baldwin suddenly recalled the experiment on Mars.
An unidentified explosion that was neither a meteorite collision nor an earthquake.
It was hard to measure the power of the explosion that happened on Mars, not Earth, but it was reported to be at least 100 megatons.
It was unlikely that it was a hafnium-2 warhead.
That meant that the United Human Federation had tested a new type of bomb on Mars.
France and Britain had been observing Mars as usual, so they knew about the experiment.
However, apart from the experiment, President Baldwin did not like to interfere between France and the United Human Federation.
“Just in case you’re wondering, the US is not a mediator. If you need help from the United Human Federation, you can contact them directly.”
“Isn’t that hard? It’s not like we’ve been in conflict for a day or two…”
Because of the insults they hurled at each other, comparing them to Hitler, the relationship between the two countries had deteriorated.
Usually, even if there was a conflict, they would still trade in the economic sector, but that was not the case either.
The United Human Federation had devised an economic policy that allowed them to obtain most of the resources within their own country and did not need France anymore.
Maybe if it was wine or cheese.
“President Yu Ji-ha has talked to China, who fired nuclear weapons at his own country. He will help you if France shows some sincerity. I can’t guarantee it, though.”
“…You’re asking me to stake my political life.”
President Baldwin was surprised by the voice that sounded sad.
Was he so clueless about the situation?
It seemed right for this regime to be ousted for the sake of France.
“Then you might as well sacrifice Paris to the monster. You have 40 minutes left.”
“…”
Prime Minister Morua hung up the phone and looked at the scenery outside his office.
The Matignon Prime Minister’s residence was located in the center of Paris, which boasted a population of ten million.
When he looked outside from his office, he could see people walking on the street.
There were no more peaceful people who rode bicycles or drank coffee while walking.
The narrow street was filled with cars and people were running around with their luggage.
They had realized that the monster was coming to Paris and had taken refuge.
This situation was happening all over France and neighboring countries were no exception.
The Belgian people began to escape to the Netherlands and Germany and Britain called back all their fleets.
They probably didn’t want to provoke the monster unnecessarily.
The EU headquarters started a meeting but Prime Minister Morua did not expect anything great.
‘The only way to destroy that monster is with nuclear weapons.’
And the only places that had megaton-class nuclear weapons were the US and Russia.
Maybe the United Human Federation had something equivalent to that…
Prime Minister Morua grabbed the phone with his trembling hand.
To be honest, even if he contacted the United Human Federation, there was little chance that Paris would be saved.
He didn’t know where Earth Fleet was, but it couldn’t arrive faster than the monster.
That meant that Paris’s destruction was inevitable.
‘In that case…’
France’s downfall was already a foregone conclusion.
After this incident, they would regress for at least ten years due to the aftermath.
It wouldn’t be strange if the EU collapsed after failing to play a significant role in Russia’s invasion of Estonia.
Now, the world order was led by the US and the United Human Federation.
Sadly, France had no place in it.
‘But I have to save the people.’
That was his last conscience.
Prime Minister Morua took a deep breath and picked up the phone.
“Connect me to Korea, no, the United Human Federation. Call their secretariat.”
It was ridiculous that France’s prime minister contacted them through their secretariat, but he had no other line so he had no choice.
Soon after, Secretary General Baek Seongmin realized the seriousness of the situation and connected him to Yu Ji-ha.
“Please help me, President Yu Ji-ha.”
Yu Ji-ha did not have a bad habit of mocking or stalling those who were in trouble.
He listened earnestly to his situation and Prime Minister Morua was impressed by him.
‘We’ve insulted each other so much that it would match Mont Blanc…’
Maybe he didn’t care much about France’s friction with him.
He asked him to open France’s airspace as there wasn’t much time left.
“We need to attract Beta One’s attention and Earth Fleet is passing by Germany. If you open your airspace, we’ll enter and lure it away.”
“Is that possible?”
“Beta One is intelligent, so it knows what is threatening to it. We have to get it away from Paris first.”
The Plague reacted sensitively to ether, so it couldn’t ignore the Earth Fleet flying with the ether reverse field.
But the important thing was the firepower to kill it.
Did the United Human Federation have that?
France didn’t have time to wait for the US to come up with another plan.
“Please.”
That’s how the call ended.
As soon as Prime Minister Morua ordered to open the airspace, he received a report that Earth Fleet had entered through the border with Germany.
They seemed to have been waiting.
The French media quickly captured Earth Fleet reaching Paris’s sky and broadcasted it.
“The United Human Federation’s fleet, shrouded in a veil, has entered our sky… There are more than 20 ships!”
“It’s not enough that trains fly in the sky, now ships fly too. Isn’t that amazing?”
Earth Fleet was quite famous, but it was hardly exposed to the public.
Even the members of the United Human Federation had not seen it properly, and neither had the French.
In fact, France had no exchange with the United Human Federation, so they were more shocked by the flying ships.
“We’re living in the 21st century, but those ships are from the 22nd century.”
“How far do they want to develop…”
Some of them were surprised to learn that the former name of the United Human Federation was Korea.
They thought that France was leading the world with the US and Britain, but that was not the case.
The Parisians looked at Earth Fleet heading towards Beta One with fascination.
More than 20 warships were flying fast without making any sound.
They were only wrapped in a faint golden light that looked like an ether reverse field.
When Earth Fleet appeared, Beta One, who had just entered Paris, reacted.
***
The Plague was a living creature made of black metal, or rather, living metal.
But humans had analyzed them and found out that they were using Aether from their core.
They were using a similar method to the Prophet’s artifact, the Aether receiver, to get ether from somewhere.
The source was probably the nest where the Queen was sitting.
Based on the final war, the nest was located on Jupiter and sent a huge amount of ether to its subordinate forces.
As they used ether as energy to operate, they naturally became sensitive to it.
Beta One headed to Paris after Luang for tactical reasons, but also because there were many psychics there.
Of course, modern psychics were weak beings who couldn’t even be a mouthful for it, except for Yu Ji-ha.
But because they could handle ether, Beta One regarded them as a threat.
He didn’t know why the psy-field was blocked, but he would think about it after killing them.
「…….」
It was when Beta One entered the outskirts of Paris.
A formidable enemy appeared, unlike the flies he had encountered so far.
This enemy flew in the sky despite its huge size and, more importantly, scattered ether around.
It was a huge temptation for Beta One.
He turned his head quickly and started chasing Earth Fleet that had passed by in an instant.
He fired Aether lasers, but the fleet deployed reflectors at the rear and reflected them.
Numerous lasers decorated the sky of Paris, but the buildings were all intact.
They adjusted the angle of the reflectors to prevent damage to the ground.
As Beta One began to move away from Paris, the citizens cheered in unison.
They had forgotten all the insults they had thrown at Yu Ji-ha until now.
Meanwhile, Yu Ji-ha watched Beta One approach Earth Fleet through the screen.
“I can’t believe he fell for this temptation… He’s pretty dumb for a Knight-class.”
「It seems that he has been subjected to various constraints. The output of his Aether laser is also low.」
“He must have broken the limbs of his prey and given it to a baby lion. Then he should practice his hunting skills diligently.”
In fact, there was no need to practice.
All he had to do was lure Beta One to a secluded place and feed him a reaction bomb.
It was a version with reduced power by 1/1000, but it could definitely blow up a Knight-class.
The problem was what came next.
The explosion of the reaction bomb was very different from other bombs.
He couldn’t use nuclear weapons as the world’s attention was focused on him, and it wasn’t a situation where he could be mistaken for a hafnium-2 warhead either.
They were completely different weapons.
He had to expose the reaction bomb, which was a huge burden for Yu Ji-ha.
“Arma, how long would it take for the US or Europe to make anti-particles?”
「Checking… It would take 83 years to make 1 gram. The cost would be over 50 trillion won.」
This was the situation even though they had invested a lot in particle accelerators to accelerate Aether.
It was hard to induce a proper annihilation reaction with 1 gram, so it was not worth much as a weapon.
If he used an anti-particle reaction bomb at this point, it would cause a controversy that was incomparable to before.
‘I have to reveal the Prophet’s artifact.’
What would the Americans say if they saw the golden record on Voyager that they had launched decades ago?
This decision might cause another controversy, but there was no time to hesitate as the Plague had appeared.
Yu Ji-ha looked at Earth Fleet and Beta One moving away from Paris and said,
“Prepare the reaction bomb and fire it as soon as it comes out of the sea.”
「Should I contact France to prepare for a tsunami?」
“I don’t think they need it since they all ran away, but it wouldn’t hurt to do so.”
As he said that, Earth Fleet was fighting hard with Beta One and moving northward.
They didn’t just hit him one-sidedly, but showed some tolerance by taking some hits as well, so Beta One got cocky.
Those bulky ships flew precariously as if they were about to be shot down.
He had intelligence, but he was so excited by Aether that he didn’t realize that Earth Fleet was luring him.
The lack of orders from higher beings also lowered his judgment.
Above all, the weapons here were not threatening to him at all.
He occasionally felt some stinging attacks, but he could endure them easily.
That’s how Beta One chased Earth Fleet and plowed through France’s vast farmland, gradually moving northward.
Finally, when he reached the coast and destroyed a village, Arma manipulated Sibir satellite.
The anti-particle reaction bomb was only mounted on Settler and Sibir satellites.
「Arming pod ejected.」
The hatch opened with a clunk and the arming pod with the anti-particle reaction bomb entered the atmosphere.
The arming pod separated the reaction bomb at an altitude of 30km.
「Ion thruster maximum output.」
At the same time, Earth Fleet ran away desperately.
Beta One noticed something falling from above, but he didn’t think much of it.
As before, he thought it would be shattered by one or two lasers.
He fired Aether lasers, but the warhead had reflectors and plasma shields for defense.
The weak lasers of the Knight-class disappeared without a trace and the reaction bomb descended to an altitude of 1km and detonated.
Particles and anti-particles caused an annihilation reaction, emitting dazzling light and tremendous heat.
A sun was born on the northern coast of France.
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