With only one lock remaining to be unlocked, the group's morale experienced a boost. However, things won't be so easy.
Okay, it actually was. The first few years were pretty much the same, with just the invasion becoming increasingly bigger with each year that passes.
A few months after the first year, the survey finished, completely revealing the first planet away from the homeworld. But, in reality, the survey was a repeatable mission—eventually leading to the complete map of the local planetary system. And yet, the group were reluctant to continue researching this area as, so far, they had gained absolutely nothing from the survey other than a nice planet to look at.
Now, we're there rewards to be had? Most likely. However, they did not when they would receive it, or even what they would receive if they continued surveying. So, instead of continuing that route, they instead chose to research runes—a ten year project.
Other than that, they did pretty good. The soulful beings were able to reproduce explosively under the continued protection of the world, leading to an increase of energy levels. By the end of year nine, their energy stood at a more comfortable one-hundred and seventy-five percent.
But this coming year, things are going to be a bit different. Luckily, to deal with the increasing number of space invaders, they had prepared.
By now, they had five of both of their current weapon systems as well as having them max upgraded. As for why they didn't convert any of their current weapons to their more evolved counterpart, which was unlocked after max upgrading? Simply speaking, they thought it was unnecessary and inefficient. In fact, the evolved weapons take huge amounts of energy compared to the original, so it was indeed unnecessary.
For example, the laser cannon only takes one percent of energy to charge, only half a percent if fully upgraded, but it's evolution, the high-powered laser cannon, takes a whole ten percent. That's literally a perversion, especially since the weapon only does twice as much damage as the fully upgraded original. So, anyone can see that this wasn't worth it, not for now anyway.
But, there is a reason as to why I'm even bothering to spend so much word count on this in the first place. And like I said earlier, this year, the tenth year, is going to be a bit different.
At first, when they started the tenth invasion, everything went as normal. They fought normally and act one passed by. Act two progressed, but it was harder than usual to finish them off. After all, compared to the around two million invasion from the first year which had around two million invaders, this year had around twenty million.
But eventually, when only twenty five percent of the invaders remained, with only fifteen days left to reach the homeworld, they suddenly stopped.
They looked at the corpses around them for a second before suddenly flying into a rage. The blue light they glowed with suddenly turned red and arcs of electricity would flash around them. They roared across empty space though it was silent before speeding towards the homeworld once again.
Due to their rage, they are not only twice as fast, but also twice as tough. This obviously means it would take half the time it takes to reach the homeworld, being seven days, all the while only taking half the damage.
Now, while the group was extremely alarmed, they quickly prepared a new batch of weapons to be built in the following days, more than doubling their current count by the end. The weapons came fully upgraded, so when they were built, they helped push back. With the current trajectory, it wouldn't take more than five days to rid them all.
But, as the author, can I really stand by and watch as they smooth through another year, with not even a single consequence.
Well, anyone who knows me in real life knows that I am one with spice. To me, spice is the name of the game, and not even text on a screen can't prevent me from at least dabbling with a little habanero.
…
And indeed it was so, just like I said it would.
The tower suddenly sprang with red lights as alarms began blaring.
"Warning! A space invader is currently undergoing an evolution into level-one!"
As soon as their numbers reached ten percent, a single space invader had its eyes glow a deathly blue. It attacked a fellow invader, using its tentacle-like arms to stab into its friend. The long arms then wrapped around it before bringing it back. When they returned and were close enough, the arms glowed blue as well before quickly growing to over five times their original girth and length.
The space invaders' entire body shone blue as it grew bigger and bigger, it's teeth growing sharper and sharper, and the crystals around its body grew increasingly in number. Then, strange scales grew out, standing up like spikes before shaking vigorously. The newly evolved space invader roared as it shoved its fellows away, coming to the front of the pack.
And when it was exposed to the various attacks from the powerful lasers and missiles, it's arms flailed with red electricity, completely blocking all attacks. The attacks didn't even leave a burn mark.
Now, with a level-one boss leading them, the space invaders grew increasingly more supportive of each other, coordinating counterattacks much more successfully than before. Not to mention with the boss being impervious to the current attacks, it helped block attacks as well.
Naturally with the current course of events, they would definitely lose. So they did what they could and finally converted two laser cannons into high-powered laser cannons.
It took a day to convert two cannons and another day to charge them.
On the third day, it finally launched an attack. These two lasers were, while considerably smaller than the original, much more powerful. They even had a penetrative effect… aha!
Yep, and when the laser beams struck the boss, they pierced its body, ripping many tentacles and it even lost most of its left side.
But… it was still alive; it actually needed three high-powered laser beams to be defeated, and they fell one short.
And so, with extremely dark faces filled with regret, everyone watched as the boss and its small entourage entered the homeworld and once again wreaked havoc.
Then, the screen suddenly darkened and there was no sound coming from it. This lasted several seconds, as if to let them wallow in their own mistakes, before a new screen appeared.
"You… have failed me," it read. The text stayed stagnant for a few seconds before continuing.
"You should never underestimate your enemies… ever. Never overestimate yourself."
"For failing the game, you have unlocked the achievement: NEVER FAIL ME AGAIN! +5 pro-gamer points. Congratulations, and thank you for playing…"
"Bye bye."
And before they could process what was happening, the screen darkened before returning to the title screen.
Before they realized the significance of this, a sound reverberated behind them.
Looking behind them, they saw all three lights being green, and all locks being unlocked.