Just standing to the left of this man was a silhouette made of skeletons, also pinned to the ground. Hearing those words, the skeleton cast a sympathetic glance toward him.
The skeleton had only recently joined this small group. Before following the Boss, he had spent his time wandering the chaotic starry sky alone. Perhaps it was good luck, but he had never encountered anyone truly powerful or particularly eccentric. The strongest being he had ever seen was only a few realms higher than himself.
He originally thought the Boss he was following was rare enough, but he hadn't expected to find something even more outrageous! And what was that about eating planets as snacks? Was this starry sky really so dangerous?
Thinking this, the skeleton man began to feel grateful for his luck. It seemed he really had been fortunate never to have run into such beings before.
"Boss, I told you! Your strength is too great, so don't just get excited whenever you feel like it. The rest of us can't handle the pressure!"
As everyone gradually regained their composure, the vice-leader of this small gang, Baldy, finally spoke up.
Hearing Baldy's complaint, the Boss felt a bit embarrassed. It wasn't like he did it on purpose; he just couldn't help himself when he got excited.
"Wasn't it just because I suddenly saw someone who plays with space as well as I do? I'll pay more attention next time," the Boss said.
After offering his apology, the Boss ignored the group's reaction and spoke with an excited face.
"Forget about that for now. What do you think? Should we recruit that human kid? His spatial abilities look pretty good. Even though he's just a native from an inferior planet, his strength definitely isn't simple. You can tell just by how easily he defeated the Witch. And then there's that ball that can catch people..."
Thinking of the purple ball he had just seen—how throwing it at the Witch had sucked her right inside—it looked like a spatial artifact, specifically the type that could store living creatures.
While such storage devices weren't exactly rare, they were still hard to come by. Even he only possessed a mere six of them.
Besides, that purple ball was clearly different from common storage items. The Witch hadn't even had time to resist before being caught. Could it be some kind of unknown treasure?
"Boss, stop joking. The space we're in is at least two light-years away from that planet. Sending the Witch over earlier already consumed half of our energy. We don't have enough left, unless you want to cross over there directly."
"Ugh, forget it then."
Thinking about the space they were currently in, the Boss could only sigh helplessly.
He really should have just fought his way out back then. If he had, they wouldn't be trapped in this space now.
"How about... we fight our way out now?"
Silence.
After the Boss spoke, the entire space fell into a dead silence. Everyone present looked at the Boss with speechless expressions.
"Boss, if you think we're a burden, you can just say it. You don't have to beat around the bush," Baldy said after a long pause, looking at the Boss with a face full of resentment.
As the perspective slowly pulled back, one could see that these people were situated inside a black sphere. Outside this sphere, the surrounding space was filled with an overwhelming, sky-covering swarm of insects, leaving not a single gap.
From time to time, the sound of crunching and chewing could be heard from within, but the number of insects never decreased; instead, the swarm continued to expand.
...
Back on Earth.
Hearing a voice coming from nearby, the family enjoying their barbecue turned their attention toward it.
"Hmm? And you are?"