Young Adult (2)

"……."

"Boss?"

Muriel, boss of the Humanity Cartel, had watched every last one of the reported video files.

When the hologram first flickered ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to life, her expression had been dismissive, almost bored. But as the footage played on, her face had slowly hardened, until now it was as cold as a sheet of ice.

"…When was this recorded?"

She always called her pirates "oppa" when she summoned them. For her to drop the endearment entirely meant her rage was beyond words.

Her subordinate swallowed hard before answering. "Th-that was, ah, a week ago as of today."

"A week? Who's in charge of communications?"

"Ah, that would be me— Huk?!"

Mid-sentence, the man's breath choked off and he clutched at his throat. The eyes of Muriel, standing before him, were burning with violet flame.

"And you're telling me about something this important only now?"

"Ugh, gkk…."

It had been Muriel herself who'd ordered them not to bother her while she was in the temple, but she no longer remembered any such thing.

In the end, it was the innocent communications officer whose neck twisted until he died.

"Clean that up."

"Yes, ma'am."

After ordering another subordinate to dispose of the corpse, she brought the holographic footage back up.

Why is Amorph here…? Don't tell me.

It wasn't just the Sainttopia 02 continent — wild Amorphs didn't live anywhere on planet PH-101 at all. If one had passed through open space and entered this planet, that fact could only mean one thing.

A player.

Muriel knew that in this dystopian world, others who had crossed over from different worlds, just as she had, were far from rare. She also knew that the vast majority of those players were viciously hostile to one another.

After all, one of the reasons she had come to this planet in the first place was to hunt players down.

But Amorphs were supposed to be extinct. How does this make any sense?

Something incomprehensible was unfolding in reality, but that wasn't what mattered right now.

If an Amorph player had come here, she needed to prepare a countermeasure.

"That skinned corpse…."

Muriel had been a Rank 20 player in Space Survival, so she understood exactly what that corpse signified.

In the game, almost no Amorph taunted or terrorized its opponents that way.

Only one ever did.

One of the most infamous players in all of Space Survival — and the only ranked Amorph.

"Rank 5, if I remember right."

Not long after she'd become a ranker herself, that Amorph ranker had quit the game. The two had never met face to face, but his infamy was so great that she knew of him by reputation at the very least.

I have no idea how someone who quit managed to get in, but….

Muriel was a ranker too. On top of that, she had survived a full three years in this world.

Her opponent, by contrast, was a ranker who had played a long time, but a player who had abandoned the game partway through.

She was confident her own skills were in no way inferior to that Amorph ranker's.

"The odds of me losing to him are slim…."

｢Khekhekhekhekhekekeke.｣

Just then, a laugh rang out — one that grated on her nerves.

She tore her eyes from the hologram and turned toward the source of the sound.

｢Khekhek, khhulk! I knew you were an idiot bitch, but I didn't realize you were this far gone….｣

Mother of the Sky was sneering at her.

Even in the middle of a horrific torture that had her innards being pulled out of her, she was laughing as if she'd just heard the funniest joke of her life.

"What's so damn funny?"

｢Khek, khhulk, ptui. Odds of losing are slim, you say? Do you even know who's in that footage when you say that?｣

"…It's the Rank 5 Amorph, isn't it?"

｢And knowing that, you're still sitting here this relaxed. What truly remarkable confidence.｣

"What?"

｢That thing prepares for everything, moves only when it's ready, no matter where it goes or what it faces. It's come here, and it's killed your pirates? Whatever you do, Muriel, you won't escape the palm of its hand.｣

"Hah? The torture's scrambled your brain. That's utter nonsense."

Muriel shook her head in disbelief, but Mother of the Sky continued as if she were reciting the laws of nature.

｢It doesn't matter what you think or what plan you hatch. If you fight, it will kill you. If you run, it will kill you. If you beg for mercy, it will kill you.｣

"……."

｢Before it gets here, you might as well just kill me. Better to die right here than ever cross paths with that thing.｣

Through every torture inflicted on her until now, Mother of the Sky had never once asked to die. She had wanted to survive by any means necessary so she could take her revenge on Muriel.

And now that very same woman was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠saying she'd rather be dead than face that Amorph.

The fact sent a chill crawling down Muriel's spine.

…What the fuck is this?

Muriel stared into Mother of the Sky's eyes.

The emotion simmering within those raptor-like pupils was one she found deeply, unsettlingly unfamiliar.

Fear.

Mother of the Sky — who hadn't lost a shred of her fighting spirit even when she'd soiled herself under torture — was terrified of the Amorph.

Judging that no more useful information could be wrung from her, Muriel called for her subordinate.

"Contact the cruiser. Tell them to go to maximum defensive posture until I arrive. Anyone who approaches — and I mean anyone — gets shot on sight."

"Even people coming from the camp, ma'am?"

"Yes. That thing can pass itself off as a human, so trust no one. Cut off all contact entirely, in fact. And report to me the moment anything happens."

"Understood."

What Mother of the Sky had said gnawed at her considerably, but she forced herself to ignore it.

Going into a fight against a dangerous enemy already scared only made things worse.

Calm down. It's only a Sub-adult, after all.

Being a ranker herself, she had fought Amorphs plenty of times. Their power surged at the Young Adult stage and beyond — the Adult stage above all.

The creature in the hologram looked quite different from its in-game appearance, but it still appeared to be at the Sub-adult stage.

No matter how skilled the enemy might be, the odds of her — with her countless subordinates, her cruiser, and a wealth of unique-grade equipment — losing were low.

The only wildcard would be if he got some special perk.

Muriel herself had received a new perk when she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fell into this world.

Its effects were extremely powerful, but it was by no means some almighty, do-everything f***ing cheat tool. Considering the gap between her and that Amorph — no, considering everything — no perk, however good, would let him beat her.

"We're heading back ahead of schedule. Everyone, pack up."

"Yes, ma'am."

｢Khekhekhekek, what a waste of effort. You're all already screwed! Khek, khhulk!｣

Even as the camp's personnel scrambled into motion, Mother of the Sky's jeering laughter echoed through the air like an ill omen.

One day left until the boss is due to arrive.

I checked the time on the small tablet pad I'd stolen from the pirates.

Having evolved into a Young Adult, I was more or less equipped with everything I needed to face the pirate boss.

Was a Young Adult strong enough for that, though? Not exactly. It was true that I'd grown dramatically more powerful, but with no way of knowing what level the pirate boss was at, I couldn't afford to rely on that alone.

One of the reasons I'd treated evolution as a prerequisite was to raise my specs for a physical confrontation with the enemy — but there was another reason as well.

To bait them into a mistake by feeding them bad information.

They believe I'm a Sub-adult.

There was no telling how strong the pirate boss actually was at this point. If she was a high-tier player, she'd know at least the fundamentals of how to fight an Amorph.

Amorphs vary wildly in power depending on their evolutionary stage, so the enemy would prepare their countermeasures assuming a Sub-adult.

｢Kekekeke.｣

Trust the wrong intel while you prepare, and you're in for a world of hurt.

Chuckling quietly to myself, I brought up the semi-transparent text box.

That's… a lot.

The sheer number of traits I'd acquired since becoming a Young Adult was staggering.

Especially the utility side. Got some serious upgrades there.

That said, my physical and psionic traits had picked up a few noticeable changes of their own.

Because I'd consumed the electrical disruption trait as material for the infection fusion trait Gremlin Moss, the dorsal fins that used to ride along my back were gone.

My carapace coloring had shifted, too — where it was normally closer to a dark brownish-black, it had now taken on a deep purple so dark it was nearly black.

That was thanks to the effect of Psychic Reflection Carapace, created by fusing the trait I'd gained from hunting the Swamp King with my psionic resistance.

Both of these were traits I would use again and again against the enemies I had yet to face.

Gremlin Moss is perfect against machines, and Psychic Reflection Carapace will come in handy against the Cult.

Beyond those, plenty of other traits would keep proving their worth down the line.

Getting Symbiote Spores in particular was pure luck.

Symbiote Spores — built using the traits I'd harvested from the Great Swamplands as material. A nest imbued with this trait produces spores with an extremely specialized function: they heal any being implanted with my symbiotes.

With Symbiote Spores, Number 26 and Adhai will be much safer.

I'd worried so much about the two of them getting hurt, so this came as a real weight off my shoulders.

But that's a problem for later. Let's deal with the cruiser first.

I was currently less than fifty meters from the enemies' cruiser. They must have received strict orders from their boss to hold the perimeter, because they had carpeted the area around the ship with every defensive measure imaginable.

Mines of every triggering type, dozens of Stormguns set to auto-fire mode, dozens of Heavy Walkers, reconnaissance drones built by the Star Union — even the plasma turrets mounted on the cruiser itself were fully powered up and running.

The defense level was an absolute fortress.

If I were still a Sub-adult, breaking through here would have been impossible even with Number 26 and Adhai at my side. The ground and air approaches were simply too impenetrable.

I wonder if they know about the Maginot Line.

The enemy had constructed a near-flawless defensive line against incursion by land and air.

But there was one thing they had overlooked.

The ground beneath their feet.

For some time now, I had been tunneling my way to a position directly beneath the cruiser.

With my evolution into a Young Adult, blunt claws had sprouted across the entirety of my carapace except for my head. Most of them were clustered around my tail, but stubby claws had also emerged along my wrists, waist, and ribcage.

They could serve as weapons in a pinch, but more than anything, they were superb at digging through soil. Thanks to them, I could move underground with remarkable speed and near-total silence.

This should be about far enough.

Reaching the point directly beneath the cruiser, I stopped digging.

This cavity, only slightly wider than my own body, would become my new nest.

Went to the trouble of picking up all these new traits — time to put them to work.

The moment I activated nest creation, black mucus poured out of my body. The surrounding soil drank ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it in the way a sponge drinks water.

The old me would have waited ages for the mucus to harden and form spores, but now the nest completed itself with incomparable speed. Everything — the Type and the traits — had seen to that.

Fast. Very good.

The finished nest began expanding into the surrounding area of its own accord, no command from me required.

The walls of my excavated tunnel hardened instantaneously under the layer of mucus, and I could feel the earth around me as vividly as I felt my own body.

Spores bearing my traits bloomed across the nest like fruit ripening on the vine, while every manner of pathogen — venoms, viruses, molds, fungi — seeped into the soil.

Did the people above the cruiser have any idea?

That a kingdom of pestilence was being constructed directly beneath their feet?

Now — spread, quickly.

The nest surged upward at tremendous speed.

The target: the cruiser the pirates were guarding.

The ship itself was a piece of the pirate boss's power, so weakening it in advance was hardly a bad play.

And if I strike using nest traits, they won't even see it coming.

The enemy the pirates above were about to face was no single monster called Amorph.

It was this soil, this earth — ruled by my will — that would become their adversary.