Godzilla Earth: Origin (Patreon)

Volume 2 Chapter 110: Destoroyah – Convergence (Part 2)

“Damage level—”

“10%—”

“20%—”

“30%—”

The laser scalpel continued cutting into the carapace of the Destoroyah specimen. Because of how rare and valuable the sample was, the area being cut was deliberately kept small.

The researchers had no intention of fully dissecting this one-of-a-kind specimen—not yet. They knew exactly how precious it was.

The goal of this dissection was simply to remove one intact piece of the exoskeleton, extract a complete internal insect-like body segment, and cut through the inner skin and muscle layer to create a channel for an electronic probe to access its internal organs.

As for things like slicing the body into multiple samples… that could wait. Not until they had more to work with.

“40%—”

“60%—”

“70%—”

“It’s still not melted through? It’s been fifteen minutes already…”

Standing beside the operating console, the researchers stared down at the specimen with a strange sense of awe.

They already knew from theoretical models just how durable Destoroyah’s carapace was supposed to be.

But witnessing it in person was something else entirely—no set of numbers could compare to the visceral, real-world shock of it.

The laser cutter they were using had been specially modified over the past few days—designed to slice through steel with ease.

In fact, it could sever large chunks of Godzilla’s tissue—remnants recovered by humanity—in just a few minutes.

Its power was already at weapon-grade, far beyond standard medical tools.

Yet even with this laser, they had spent over ten minutes and still hadn’t penetrated a carapace layer only 1 to 2 centimeters thick...

What more could they say?

There had been earlier protests against using such a powerful laser—concerns that it might damage the sample beyond repair if the dissection wasn't stopped in time.

But looking at it now, those worries were completely unnecessary.

This thing’s shell—just how high was its melting point?

“Muscle tissue visible beneath the incision. Cease cutting.”

It had taken a full 20 minutes for the laser scalpel to remove a section of the exoskeleton just 5 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 1 cm thick.

Next, under the control of other lab personnel, the laser-equipped robotic arm retracted.

Then, a new mechanical arm—equipped with a miniature circular saw—moved into place. The folded saw head was inserted into the melted opening in the shell, aimed at the connection between the carapace and the underlying muscle tissue.

Zzzzzzz————

The circular saw unfolded, revealing a disc just 2.5 cm in diameter, and began to slice into the carapace-muscle interface.

This, too, became a long and grueling process. It took nearly 50 more minutes and several replacements to cut through all the attached muscle tissue.

By the time the job was done, they were already on the fifth saw blade.

The previous four had all been destroyed during the procedure, worn down from repeated high-intensity collisions with the extremely dense muscle tissue.

On average, each saw could only cut through a few square centimeters of muscle…

The external researchers could only shake their heads and mutter: “Monster…”

Once the sawing was complete, it was time to extract the removed section of the carapace.

A clawed robotic arm moved forward, gripping the still-smoking, steaming hot slab of exoskeleton, and began to pull.

And that’s where the dissection came to a standstill.

"Mm!"

"Huh?"

"What happened?"

Inside the dissection chamber, the robotic arm had grasped the section of carapace that had just been cut out—but then it simply froze in place.

Moments later, the arm began to tremble—at first slightly, then more and more violently.

This was the machine applying maximum force. Several tons of mechanical strength were now trying to pry the carapace piece loose from the muscle tissue it had been separated from.

But it wasn’t working.

Despite the muscle fibers already being severed, the claw couldn't budge the carapace at all.

There was zero movement.

It was as if the plate was jammed in place. But every researcher present knew that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t jammed—it was simply still attached by the tissue beneath it.

Monster.

That was the only word they could think of to describe this thing.

“What’s the output force?”

“100,000 newtons—maximum setting. Still not budging.”

The claw arm had a maximum pulling force of 100,000 N—10 metric tons.

That kind of force could easily swing a car around like a toy, and yet it wasn’t enough to even nudge the bond between Destoroyah’s muscle and carapace.

Even after the previous sawing had removed most of the adhesion, this ton-level pull still couldn’t do anything.

“Re-cut with the laser. Then switch to Type-3 arm.”

“Understood, sir.”

Since the small claw arm wasn’t enough, it was time to bring out the heavier tools.

A new mechanical arm moved in. Four miniature laser scalpel arms also closed in, each one inserting its tip into a different corner of the carapace segment.

Then all four began to cut at the junctions between the armor and the underlying muscle.

Compared to the armor, muscle tissue is far less heat-resistant, and thanks to the earlier clean-up of the outermost layer, this time the cutting went quickly.

Within minutes, the remaining muscle between the carapace and the body had been fully severed.

It was now time to extract the sample.

The Type-3 arm was specifically designed for dissecting ultra-large lifeforms. Its max force output: 5 million newtons—500 metric tons. It could easily lift a tank and hurl it like a toy.

With that kind of terrifying strength, even the Destoroyah sample should finally show some damage, right?

That’s what they thought.

But once again, reality proved them wrong.

Even with 500 tons of pulling force, the armor—already severed in most areas—still wouldn’t come off.

Its structural integrity was beyond human understanding.

In the end, the team had no choice but to swap out all the robotic arms and bring in the largest tensile apparatus available for this experiment.

It was capable of exerting over 10,000 metric tons of pulling force.

Only then, after a final round of laser cutting and applying this monstrous force, did the carapace finally rip free.

Beneath it, the researchers laid eyes on something unexpected: pink, exposed muscle.

Or rather…

Not muscle.

Bugs. Bugs. Bugs...

Countless insect-like organisms were packed beneath the carapace.

Though long since dead, their tails and mouthparts were still tightly gripping one another—and the inner surface of the armor.

Piled on top of each other in a tangled mess, they resembled the horrifying sight of a cockroach nest that hadn’t been disturbed for years and was suddenly cracked open.

Despite having mentally prepared themselves for something unusual, several researchers still found themselves physically disturbed by the scene.

The “muscle” tissue revealed inside the dissection chamber didn’t look like the anatomy of any one creature.

Instead, it appeared more like the interior of a colony hive, composed entirely of linked arthropods—each one connected to another, forming an intricate, biomechanical lattice of insect bodies.

And not just a hive—one that seemed built out of the insects themselves, each one fusing into the next in an unholy biological network.

Could this really be defined as a single organism?

Probably not.

And so, the truth of Destoroyah was finally revealed.

It was never just one sample.

Never a single being.

Its essence was a collective.

It was one—and it was many.