Metallic Gremlins (2)

The white devils swarmed over the hull, sinking their razor teeth into the plating and tearing it apart in ragged chunks.

Avoiding them is already too late.

I hastily spawned my erosion tentacles along the outer wall. Alongside the shells blasting from the stormguns, my tentacles lunged for the creatures.

｢■!｣

Dozens of tendrils latched onto the Metallic Gremlins, wrenching limbs off their bodies or swallowing them whole. The rot-fungi sacs I'd already grown along the outer hull spat out spores without pause.

Adhai, who had returned to the hull, and No. 26, still wreathed in Fear of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Deep Sea, fought alongside me. Adhai became a streak of green lightning, carving paths through the gremlin pack, while No. 26 bound them in place along the stormguns' firing trajectories. The black hull glistened, slick with the silver blood they spilled.

Even defending that furiously, the Metallic Gremlin swarm gave no ground.

There are just too many of them.

I brushed away the text boxes that kept floating up before my eyes. Devouring such an enormous number of gremlins meant the Predation Effect kept triggering over and over.

Most of the results were 'Metal Predation,' which I already possessed, or 'Dwarfism,' a trait useless to me. Still, I managed to secure a few worthwhile traits among them.

Any other time, I'd have been thrilled.

But the situation right now was anything but good.

Psychic Breath had cut their numbers roughly in half, yet hundreds still remained. There were simply so many that no matter how many we killed, the swarm showed no sign of thinning.

And the stormguns are out of ammunition.

If this kept up, the best we could hope for was mutual destruction. While we killed hundreds, another few hundred were chewing through the hull, and the outer plating was already hanging in tatters.

[Zzzzzzzz (Everyone, fall back)]

I couldn't put it off any longer. Any more delay, and faster-than-light travel would become impossible. FTL put considerable strain on the hull — if the ship were damaged badly enough, it could simply tear itself apart mid-flight.

There are still plenty of them, but…

More than a hundred gremlins were still clinging to the hull. There was no choice.

｢Big Baby! There's way too many bad people!｣

｢Enemies｣｢Infinite｣｢Me｣｢Tired｣

No. 26 and Adhai drew up beside me, and I checked them over. Apart from looking exhausted from the relentless fighting, neither seemed badly hurt.

The kids are here. Time to prepare.

I restructured the ship's frame, thickening the walls around the compartments that mattered most — the room where we stood, the reactor, the critical facilities — as much as I could. Then I diverted the reactor's remaining energy into the FTL engine.

The lightspeed engine, eroded and corrupted into a writhing black sphere, slowly flexed and squirmed as it gulped down the energy.

Even as the engine readied itself, the gremlins' assault never let up. With Adhai and No. 26 focused on the charge-up, holding off their attacks was growing harder by the second.

I beat back as many as I could with my erosion tentacles, but they finally crawled their way inside the ship. Once in, they tore the interior facilities apart as if the place belonged to them.

If there had been even a few more of them, I would have lost the reactor before the engine finished priming. They were gnawing at the reactor's outer wall when the heart of the ship signaled that every preparation was complete.

That's it!

The FTL engine roared to life at last.

Our destination was the region the smugglers frequented — a jungle-type planet teeming with rare creatures, located near the arrival point.

Blue light coiled around the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entire ship. The stars that had hung sparse and distant in the void began to warp, strangely distorted.

And everything aboard the ship and clinging to its hull crossed through space together.

Ghk—?!

The instant I registered that fact, a colossal pressure crushed down on my body. It was the shock of the ship breaching the speed of light and plunging into the FTL domain.

The escape pod hadn't been anything like this. Was it simply because the ship was bigger now? Or because the Metallic Gremlins had already compromised its structure?

The warship — hardened alloy sheathed in the special mucus I'd generated to erode it — twisted like a taffy pull.

My body was linked to the ship as I controlled it, so I could feel it: the stress being imposed on the hull right now was anything but normal.

To assess the condition of the whole ship, I spread my senses deeper into the mucus coating the alloy walls. A crushing pain slammed through my skull as if my entire body were being compacted.

I wanted to sever the sensory link immediately, but I had to monitor the ship's condition moment by moment. There was no alternative.

…It'll hold. Barely.

If the ship were going to break apart, it would have done so already. At this rate, I could probably endure until we reached the planet.

But that was a separate matter from the pain. Even with Pain Mitigation active, the agony wringing out every fiber of my body made it hard to keep my mind together.

｢Big Baby! You can do it!｣

｢Great Adult!｣

I sensed the encouraging thought-waves from No. 26 and Adhai. Bolstered by them, I clenched my teeth again.

I've never died like this, even in the game.

If the community users ever heard that I'd been brought down by a pack of Metallic Gremlins, nobody would believe it.

Somehow I steadied myself through the pain and spawned more erosion tentacles along the outer wall.

｢■■?｣

The tentacles bursting from the half-ruined hull visibly startled the gremlins. I whipped the tendrils into them.

I have to clear out as many as possible before we arrive.

The ones inside the hull would be hard to shake loose, but not the ones outside.

｢■■■■!｣

The gremlins clinging to the outer wall were struck by my tentacles and hurled away, shrieking piteously as they fell off into somewhere far out in space.

None of them fought back. If they moved carelessly and slipped off the ship, they'd end up just like their kin who'd taken a tentacle hit.

The problem was the ones inside.

Cunning as ever, they'd stopped attacking the reactor the moment the ship entered FTL. Instinctively, they understood that if the reactor blew mid-flight, it would be catastrophic for them too.

But I have no intention of letting them be.

Following the tentacles, I generated small turrets that fired rot fungi throughout the ship's interior.

｢■■■!｣

The creatures gnawing at the walls inside turned their gazes toward the new threat.

I dispatched the gremlins on the outer hull with erosion tentacles while harrying the ones inside with clouds of fungal spores.

Monitoring the hull's condition, controlling the tentacles and the rot-fungi organs all at once — there was so much demanding my attention that my head felt ready to split open.

After that frantic struggle, the FTL transit that had seemed like it would never end finally concluded.

We're here!

Beyond the darkness that had settled around us, a blue planet came into view. The world the pirates infiltrated to hunt rare animals.

Good! Just a little longer!

I entered the planet's atmosphere with the Metallic Gremlins still aboard. The entire outer wall glowed white-hot, and fierce heat bored its way inward.

｢Kiiiik!｣

The Metallic Gremlins raised a chorus of screams in the searing heat.

Not because of the pain.

Metallic Gremlins wield tremendous power in open space, but on a planet, they become drastically weaker.

By design, they had almost no eyes or sense of smell, hunting prey instead with organs that detected metal. That was why entering a planet laced with heavy metals turned their superb detection ability into poison — metal registering from every direction flooded and scrambled their senses.

Worse, their bodies could only glide within a planetary atmosphere; they had no propulsion to return to space. Once they came down to a planet, there was no way back up.

All that awaited a gremlin stranded on a planet was to wander without purpose until some other predator devoured it. They raged because they knew it.

｢Kiiiiiik!｣

｢Kik! Kiik!｣

Shrieking bizarre cries, they tried to flee outward, raking claws and teeth against the walls nearest the hull's exterior in a desperate bid to escape.

Where do you think you're going?

I used my erosion tentacles to devour every escapee without letting a single one slip free, while simultaneously shifting the very geometry of the space they stood on.

Even if they punched through a wall, the layout changed beneath them. They had no choice but to wander lost inside the ship forever.

And so, toying with the Metallic Gremlins, I descended into the atmosphere.

A blue ocean, islands scattered like freckles across its surface, and land blanketed in dense jungle unfolded below us, small and distant.

Where environments mingled so richly, the creatures dwelling there would be just as diverse — which meant the range of Genetic Essences I could acquire would widen considerably.

As I scanned for a landing site on the surface, an unwelcome vision flashed before my eyes.

｢Hit by interceptor fire from a Cult cruiser's main gun.｣

｢Hull split in two. Recovery impossible.｣

｢Reactor detonated.｣

｢I am dead.｣

What?

The instant I realized what I'd just witnessed was a future prediction from my Predator Sense, I heaved the ship into a hard right bank.

A massive heat beam came flying in from deep inland and vaporized the ship's rear — the section housing the thrusters and command chamber.

Damn it!

The ship was under my control, but even so, I couldn't maintain controlled flight with the thrusters gone. The vessel carrying me and the kids broke free of my grip and began plummeting.

I hurriedly scanned what lay beneath our fall point. It was a shallow sea bordering the land.

A cruiser's main gun has a charge-up time. If I ditch into the sea before it fires…

But the mysterious enemy had no intention of letting me land intact. From the jungle deep inland, diamond-shaped carrier-borne fighters erupted into the sky.

What's going on?

According to the data left in this ship, no faction besides the pirates ever came here. At the very least, there was no record of the pirates I'd devoured ever clashing with another force on this planet.

…Different pirates, then.

Judging by how recklessly they opened fire, they had to belong to a cartel higher up the ladder than this trade ship's former owners. Of course other pirates would show up on the very day I arrived. First a gremlin swarm, now a new pirate fleet — misfortune was stacking up in layers.

Stay calm. Panic, and we all die.

Lamenting my luck could wait; finding a way through this crisis came first.

If I can't land before that main gun activates, it's over.

But those fighters weren't about to grant me a clean landing. The ship was damaged badly enough that their plasma rounds would tear it apart with ease.

I can take it. Me, anyway.

Unless the reactor detonated in midair, I wouldn't die.

The kids with me right now were a different story.

…I have to get them out first.

The question was whether those fighters would leave the kids alone. If they trained their fire on Adhai and No. 26, the two would be in serious danger.

Adhai could fly, at least — she might manage to flee. No. 26 couldn't.

Luckily it's the ocean. I'll send the kids out first from here.

The sea was No. 26's home ground. Once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she was in the water, she'd know to take Adhai and escape on her own.

As for me, devouring the Metallic Gremlins had just secured me a new escape method. Even if I stayed with the ship until the very end after sending the kids off, I'd get out alive.

How do I draw their eyes aw—

As I racked my brain for a way, an idea struck me.

The gremlins raising hell inside my ship. I'd use them.

I warped the ship's structure and punched a large hole in one wall.

The blue ocean spread out beyond the opening, and a briny smell rushed in, flooding the chamber.

[Zzzzz zzzzz (You two go first)]

｢Big Baby?｣

｢Adult?｣

I reshaped the metal walls, molding them to cocoon No. 26 and Adhai. Realizing what I intended, No. 26 fired off urgent thought-waves.

｢Come with us!｣

[Z zzz zzzz zzz zzz (I'll send you two ahead and follow)]

｢You can't stay! It's dangerous!｣

I gave no answer, focusing instead on how the situation outside was developing. The fighters were steadily closing on the ship.

Now.

The moment the plasma launchers mounted on the fighters locked their aim onto us, I simply removed the walls of part of the interior chamber.

The Metallic Gremlins inside burst outward. Carrying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their sprinting momentum straight into a glide, they hurled themselves onto the fighters.

That's my cue!

I slammed my tentacles against the metal sphere I'd built to shield No. 26 and Adhai. Just before it broke away, a single slender tendril rose from No. 26's body and brushed against my auxiliary organ.

In that instant, I felt her thoughts.

Fear of what was coming. The helplessness of being unable to do anything herself. And above all, a desperate, aching plea: please don't die.

To that tangled bundle of emotion, I gave my answer.

I would never die.

And we would see each other again very soon.

｢It's a promise!｣

The moment she cried out, the sphere broke free.

The cocoon holding Adhai and No. 26 was ejected through the pre-made hole, out of the ship and into the open sky.

I focused every scrap of my attention on watching them fall safely into the sea. The fighters, too preoccupied with the gremlins, didn't react at all to the descending metal sphere.

Good.

Everything I could do aboard the ship was finished. I retracted my erosion tentacles and sprinted toward the hole the sphere had shot through.

And I leaped out of the ship.

Far in the distance, the main gun's heat beam came streaking in from the jungle. It tore mercilessly through the ship, and a staggering explosion swallowed me whole.

Ghh!

Inside the raging fireball, I spread all four of my combat arms and my tail wide open.

To activate Glide Membrane — one of the traits I'd acquired from devouring the Metallic Gremlins.

Long flaps of membrane unfurled, stretching from between my combat arms down to the midpoint of my tail, and my body caught the airflow and buoyed upward.

The Glide Membrane mimicked the gliding form of a wingsuit or a flying squirrel — but no one looking at an Amorph with four arms and a long tail would make that connection.

As I bled off my falling speed and soared through the sky, the fighters chased after me. Their plasma rounds scorched past above my head and back.

I snapped the membranes on my arms shut. My body plummeted, and the fighters dove after me in hot pursuit.

They took the bait.

Re-spreading the Glide Membrane, I closed the distance with the descending fighters — then activated another trait gleaned from the Metallic Gremlins.

That trait was Radio Jamming — one of the ingredients for Hijacking, which I'd picked up earlier.

From the double-crested bone plates rising along my back, machine-breaking wavelengths poured out and wrapped around the fighters clustered near me.

The fighters' power died outright, and they began falling helplessly from the sky. Through their reinforced canopies, I glimpsed the pilots throwing up their hands at the completely unforeseen catastrophe.

Having neutralized the fighters, I beat my Glide Membrane and made haste toward the jungle below.

Radio Jamming won't last long.

If those pilots were skilled, they'd regain control of their craft in no time.

Just as I expected, one of the falling fighters quickly righted itself and climbed back into the air, while the rest slammed into the forest.

It tried to chase me, but I was already closing on the dense woodland of towering trees. Membranes folded, I crashed straight through the canopy and down into the depths of the jungle.

After flattening a small forest's worth of giant trees, I landed intact. The moment I touched down, I buried myself beneath the heap of fallen trunks.

When the pursuing fighter mistook me for a boulder and moved to fly on, I turned Gaze of Horror on its pilot.

Just where do you think you're going?

The fighter, flying serenely one second, banked violently the next and rammed straight into a tree. Its wing half shattered, the craft wobbled in a spinning circle before slamming into the ground.

Two pilots crawled out of the wreckage.

One had horns — a Cultist. The other was human.

Both looked dazed from the crash, and the moment I revealed myself, they fled without a shred of hesitation.

You dare run from me?

I hurled my erosion tentacles and snared them both.

"W-wait! H-hold on!"

"P-please, spare me!"

The captured pilots squirmed in my grip.

Under normal circumstances I'd have used parasites or found some other way to exploit them — but right now, I had no interest in that.

It had been a long time since my lid blew clean off.

"G-gyaaaaaagh!"

"St-stop! Aaaaagh!"

The human I swallowed slowly, feet first, with an erosion tentacle. The Cultist I seized by the arms and legs with two tentacles each — and pulled.

You messed with me in a very big way.

First, the Metallic Gremlin swarm event — the one rarer than getting struck by lightning twice. Then, just when I thought I'd dodged it somehow, space dogs come crawling out. And then they blow my hard-won ship to pieces with a main gun, no less.

And they nearly got Adhai and No. 26 killed on top of it all.

For all these reasons, my mood was exceptionally foul.

You dared provoke me in jungle terrain?

The battlefield I had the most confidence in was neither starships nor space cities.

Ever since I annihilated four clans on a jungle-type planet in the past, the ranked players of Space Survival would sooner kill themselves than consider fighting me in a jungle.

In other words — guerrilla warfare in a place like this, in a jungle, was what I did best.

"Gieeeck!"

The Cultist, pinned between two tentacles, squawked and shrieked without pause — until his upper and lower body were separated, at which point he finally went quiet.

"Gh… ugh… ahh…."

The other one let out a faint moan before the tentacle crushed him to death.

Having slowly killed and devoured the pair, I left the spot behind.

There were still pilots in the crashed fighters. They too would all have to die.

I would not leave a single one of the pirates on this planet alive.