Yuri Garin is a former reconnaissance colonist and now a soldier of a private military corporation. Having lost his homeland, he acquired a new home, new friends, a new reason for existence. But fate again tests Yuri’s strength - an intergalactic war is brewing between the Empire of the Milky Way and the Commonwealth of Rhea, here and there strange and terrible creatures appear, devouring everyone in their path, and from the depths of space, black “tentacles” of the mysterious Ulcer are reaching out to the inhabited worlds. Will Yuri be able to follow the path of a reitar - a mercenary in the service of the Empire? Will he be able to understand what kind of creature has settled on the lower decks of the corvette “Wormwood”? Will she meet Ellie, a strange girl who speaks to the abyss? We present to you the second book from the science fiction writer Denis Burmistrov from the “Empire of the Milky Way” series.