I headed for the asteroid.\n\nI figured something would be waiting for me there...\n\nJust as the thought crossed my mind, a transmission came in from Aoi-san.\n\n"Major, please be careful. [Despair] is there."\n\nThe entity felt fundamentally incompatible with me. It wasn't a matter of being strong or weak; I simply suspected we wouldn't mesh at all.\n\n"Kevin, I'm counting on you."\n\n"Got it!"\n\nKevin moved a reconnaissance drone closer to the asteroid. The asteroid was an airless world—or rather, it was little more than a giant hunk of rock. Though, given Aoi-san's presence, it might have been an illusion.\n\n"I'll try landing on the surface," Kevin said.\n\nThe moment the drone attempted to land, the asteroid split wide open. It was a mouth. Lining the interior of the gaping maw were countless sharp, thorn-like teeth. The mouth swallowed the drone whole.\n\n"I-I'll keep the stream going until the signal cuts out!"\n\nThe drone switched on its lights. Perhaps because the signal was weak, the camera feed was riddled with noise and froze frequently. Even so, it managed to keep flying. And the moment it entered a vast space, a hand appeared on the screen.\n\nIt clearly wasn't a normal creature. It had to be about the size of a humanoid fighter.\n\n"Leo Kamishiro. I am waiting."\n\nThe moment the mysterious voice spoke, the drone's signal died.\n\n"Streaming down. Sensors are unresponsive. I think the drone was destroyed."\n\n"Wait, you're telling me to go inside its mouth? No way!"\n\nI mean, it wasn't as if they’d taken hostages. Did I really need to venture into such a disadvantageous position? Strategically speaking, it made no sense.\n\n"Wifey, show that Zork what's what with that move from earlier."\n\n"I'm still charging, indeed."\n\nWhat should I do? I didn't mind waiting as long as it took, but...\n\n"What about ignoring it and just passing by?"\n\n"It would be troublesome if we were attacked from the rear," Nina replied.\n\nFair point. What a pain. How should I handle this?\n\n"For now, let's try a long-range attack."\n\nThat said, both the Death Blaster and my missiles were useless against something that size. Only Wifey's Colony Drop—the unmanned one scheduled for reconstruction—or the New Model Monopole Cannon would do the trick.\n\nI always found the Zork more of a nuisance when they deployed "stupid" weapons. They were gargantuan yet surprisingly mobile, or simply incredibly durable and overwhelming in number. They always brought out things that were simply hellish.\n\n"Why do those guys have to be so annoying? I'd love to pour an ocean of cement down its throat just to spite them."\n\n"I cannot prepare enough cement for an entire asteroid."\n\n"True."\n\nProposal rejected. My other option was feeding it a massive amount of insecticide. But no matter what I did, I had no choice but to go inside. In that case... oh!\n\nI had a brilliant idea.\n\n"Kevin! Help me out!"\n\n"U-Uh, okay."\n\nMuhahaha! I'll outsmart them! I'll use the opponent's size against them. Since it wasn't a machine, it probably had few cameras. That meant its identification system for swallowed objects was likely quite lax.\n\n"Eddie, close in a bit more!"\n\n"Yeah... is this good?"\n\n"Melissa, a little more to the right."\n\n"Roger!"\n\nWhat exactly were we doing? It was simple. It was the Imperial Officer Academy's Specialty: Gymnastic Pyramid. (Actually, only students at the Officer Academy did it because it caused so many injuries.)\n\nThe identification was definitely sloppy. But if we were scattered, it wouldn't swallow us. That was why we became a single mass through a gymnastic pyramid. We filled the gaps with Kevin's drones.\n\nThis time, Ren, our long-range sniper, stayed behind. It was me, Melissa, Eddie, Claire, and Kevin's drone swarm filling the spaces. I had Piggett handle things on the outside, and while Raven-kun resisted until the very end, I made him give up. He'd just die if he came along. Isono, Nakajima, and the other boys also stayed behind to support Nina-san.\n\nBesides, there was a limit to how much we could deceive it with a gymnastic pyramid...\n\nThere was a plan for everyone to form a pyramid and charge, but the target was too big, so I rejected it. If we were going to do that, it would be better for everyone to just go and pry the thing open. Since I saw eyes when it opened its mouth, I estimated the size it wouldn't be able to recognize based on the dimensions of the eyes.\n\nWith that, we approached the asteroid. We had formed a Human Tower.\n\nI stood at the very top, focusing my fighting spirit. This sort of thing usually worked out if you had enough guts and momentum behind it. I made sure not to return to my senses or start thinking about what on earth we were doing.\n\n"Lord Groom! The Monopole Cannon has finished charging!"\n\n"Yeah, fire when I give the signal."\n\nJust as I said that, the asteroid's mouth opened. It split into four quadrants, the interior bristling with thorns. This was going to haunt my dreams... it was way too grotesque. The inside looked like the digestive organs of some gargantuan beast.\n\nWe climbed down from the circular tower we had formed.\n\n"What are we even do—ghof!!!"\n\nEddie had realized something unnecessary, so I landed a backfist on him.\n\n"What was that for, Leo?!"\n\n"Shut up!!! Returning to your senses is forbidden!!!"\n\n"Give it up, Eddie," Melissa said. "Whenever our captain is being weird, there's usually a reason for it. Let's just stop thinking."\n\nAs expected of Melissa-san! She really understood me!\n\n"That's right," Claire added. "Leo does make an effort to think logically... it's just that the answers he comes up with are absurd."\n\nClaire-san... isn't that a bit harsh?\n\n"I guess that's true... Alright, I'll stop thinking," Eddie conceded.\n\nIt was somewhat unsatisfying, but I decided to proceed. As we walked, we saw a humanoid fighter repeatedly body-slamming a wall of flesh... wait, Suematsu-san?!\n\n"Why are you here?!"\n\n"AAAAAAAAAAAH! MY LOOOOOOORD!!! For some reason, this one was swallowed by the planet, forsooth!!! I thought I was going to die all alone, forsooth!!! As I suspected, this one's intuition was correct after all, forsooth!!!"\n\nThe old man was crying his eyes out. Honestly, I wondered if this man might actually be immortal. Eddie comforted him.\n\n"Ahaha... Suematsu-san. Leo is here too, so please calm down... By the way, Suematsu-san, I’ve been meaning to ask... you mentioned your clan always jumps onto the winning side, didn't you? Why did you bet on us? We're a bit rattled by all this, so tell us."\n\nThe Suematsu-san displayed on the monitor looked puzzled. "Well... this one senses that His Excellency, the Grand Duke, is not afraid. And... looking at the Zork, I realized: these things wouldn't forgive me even if I begged for mercy on my knees!"\n\nYeah, that was the right answer. I wasn't afraid of the Zork. The ones I found scary were the Maro who didn't know the difference between good and evil until the day he died, the people who enabled him, and the ones who carved up the fairies to use them as experimental subjects.\n\nAt most, the Zork would just kill me, or if I was unlucky, I'd end up as a brain in a vat. I was always prepared to be killed by an enemy, but I no longer feared the Zork.\n\nSo just you wait, [Despair], or whatever you call yourself.