Solus directed the other drones under his command to head in that direction. The armed guards would have been a better option, but he could not get around their protection layer in that situation.
As the team members examined and entered the data on their tabs, mini-hauling drones emerged from cargo drones and began searching for and collecting the specific type of material throughout the area.
They occasionally looked at Solus and noticed him looking at various rocks and plants he had picked up from the ground.
"Looks like he already got the idea," Hera muttered before returning to her work.
Solus was not inspecting randomly selected plants. He knew a lot about that planet, including which plants were used for poison, medicine, and other purposes. The tiny red grass hidden in the sea of yellowish grass, in particular, could be used to produce pheromones.
There was only a single strand of grass every few meters. Instead of spending hours looking for those strands of grass, Solus used his cybernetic eye to easily detect them. He remained close to the others and pretended to be inspecting various materials.
After a while, he collected sixteen strands of red grass. He grabbed them with gloves and began crumbling them. It gave off an odor that no one could detect due to their invisible masks. He walked toward the others, his hands covered in grass paste.
"Leader."
"Oh, newbie, is something wrong?"
"Which materials are you looking at?"
"So you want to know more. I will show you what we are looking for."
The tall man began discussing the work they were doing while pointing to various aspects of the hologram in his hand. Solus just listened quietly, as if he were interested, and nodded occasionally. He also rubbed his hand on the man's suit, applying a small amount of the paste without the man's knowledge.
Solus approached the others and talked about various topics with them while secretly applying paste to their suits. When he finished his work, he walked away from them and toward the spacecraft.
"What a nice kid," one woman said.
"He seems to like this job," Gaia, the woman with glasses, muttered as she worked.
Solus took off his gloves and tossed them into the cargo drone's storage. After making sure no one was watching, he removed the weapons from the storage and placed them inside the spaceship storage.
"Now that the stage is complete, I should begin the show."
He connected his eye to the surveillance drones and viewed the footage. There was a swarm of thousands of creatures that resembled blue leopards with enormous jaws. They gathered around a massive half-eaten corpse, ripping away the flesh with their razor-sharp teeth.
The drones deactivated their invisibility and revealed themselves. The creatures took occasional glances at the drones above before chewing the flesh in their mouths.
Suddenly, one drone flew down on them and self-destructed, causing a small explosion. The explosion killed three creatures and burned several others, including the half-eaten corpse.
When the dust and fire settled, the creatures approached the charred corpse and bit it, but they quickly backed away because the flesh no longer tasted good. The swarm raised its head to look at the drones before howling.
Another drone fired forward and self-destructed, killing two more of them. The creatures gritted their teeth and jumped repeatedly to reach the drones.
The drones then lowered themselves to a level where the creatures could approach them. One was immediately destroyed by the jumping creatures. The other drones began flying toward the safe zone, while the swarm of creatures pursued them behind.
Solus disconnected from the drones and focused on his surroundings. He approached the others and started a conversation.
They happily answered his questions while working and inquired about his lifestyle. Of course, he told them a fake life story full of tragedy and pain.
"You are a strong person. That was a tough life for someone so young and alone."
"I see where you got all your bravery. No wonder you do not get surprised easily."
Their conversation was interrupted when they heard distant roars. The leader looked in that direction with concern but then smiled as he returned his attention to the others.
"Don't worry. Those are the sounds made by living creatures. They are very far away, so do not think about it."
No matter how hard the leader tried to make the situation appear normal, he was actually panicking inside. They had been to that planet before, but there had been no sound. Not only that, but the sound appeared to be very close to them and was becoming increasingly loud. Even though armed drones were nearby, he could not calm down.
One woman stood beside Solus and placed her hand on his shoulder, expressing relief.
"Are we in danger?" Solus asked.
"No. He already said it was nothing. Don't worry."
The leader examined the hologram on his hand, but he saw no warnings from the surveillance drones.
"Something is not right."
He connected to all of the drones and played the footage, but only seven showed up. He could not find the rest, as if they did not exist.
After learning about the problem, he became nervous. He did not receive any warnings because most of the surveillance drones were missing. The safe zone appeared to be completely safe, but this was not the case. He needed to tell the others to enter the spaceship.
"Everyone, we have an issue. First, go inside the –"
The monsters' roars interrupted his words. They all looked at the monster swarm that was approaching them.
"RUN!"
Everyone began running towards the spaceship, while the armed drones stood guard, ready to shoot down. When the swarm approached, the drones fired bullets nonstop, killing the monsters with ease. The heavy bullets pierced through them like papers, killing them instantly. As bodies were dropped one after another on top of each other, a wall of monster corpses began to form.
For a brief moment, it appeared that they had won, but another swarm of monsters approached from the opposite direction. A few drones turned around and began firing their bullets at the other swarm.
As the number of bullets fired by the drones decreased more and more, fewer monsters were killed with each passing second, and many of them managed to run past the wall of corpses that had built up. Some of them collapsed and died while running, while others reached the drones and ripped them apart with the crushing force of their jaws and mouths.
The armed drones began to fall to the ground one by one, crashing down in pieces, and monsters began appearing from everywhere like an endless wave.
The team members were a few hundred meters away from the ship, but the monsters had already arrived in the area and were running straight at them without slowing down.
"Grab your weapons! We have to get through no matter what happens!" the leader shouted.
Everyone except Solus rushed to search the cargo drone's storage unit, but they were unable to locate their weapons anywhere. They searched quickly and frantically because the monsters were approaching fast, but there were no weapons found in the storage area at all.
"Where are the weapons?!!"
"I don't know! I placed them right here earlier!"
When they looked back again, they noticed that the monsters were almost there, only seconds away. The others quickly grabbed the female members' arms and lifted them off the ground, loading them forcefully onto the cargo drone without waiting.
"What are you doing?! Why are you sending us away?!"
"Are you guys planning on fighting alone?!"
They kept complaining, but the male members ignored them completely. They drew their defensive guns from their belts and got into position, ready for the confrontation that was about to happen.
"Send the kid too!" Gaia yelled from the drone.
"We can't! That will exceed the carrying capacity!"
Without waiting or hesitating, she leaped off the drone and landed on the ground. She immediately took Solus' body into her hands and threw him onto the drone above.
Solus had not expected this sudden move, but he did not react to it at all. When he got to the drones, the other two women quickly caught him and held him in place.