Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Assault on the Cruiser
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“Hey, time for the shift change.”
“Phew, I thought I was gonna die of boredom.”
“The acting captain called for you. Go see him before you turn in.”
“Fuck, is the guy relieving me studying or some shit? Why isn’t he here?”
The pirate standing guard outside the ship kicked at the dirt in irritation.
The pirate who had come to relieve him gave a wry smile and tried to soothe him.
“Nothing to be jealous of. He’s gotta write up that report on the cargo we shipped out a few days ago.”
“Oh, that? The wolf slaves we sent to the big camp in the jungle, right?”
“Yeah. With dozens of them, he probably won’t get any sleep.”
“Kekeke, moron. Should’ve done it sooner. He’s properly screwed now.”
They started gossiping, mocking their colleague who’d be stuck with overtime.
It was a tedious guard duty split into three shifts. Without some chit-chat, it was unbearable.
“Let’s have a smoke at least.”
“The relief guy’ll be here any second.”
“It’s an e-cig anyway. What’s the difference?”
“True enough.”
The pirate who’d suggested it first pulled an e-cig from his pocket and hit the small switch. He took a deep drag of the thick synthetic narcotic inside, his face going blissfully vacant.
“Fuuu, fuck… this is the real sex.”
“Pass it here after one drag… Huh?”
The temporary streetlight overhead suddenly flickered and died.
Darkness blanketed them, so they flicked on the headlights mounted on their helmets.
“What the hell?”
“Everywhere else is fine.”
“What’s going on over there?”
“Streetlight’s out here!”
They waved off distant colleagues shouting questions, signaling it was nothing. The lights over those far-off guys were shining steadily.
“Power outage? Why the sudden… Fuck!”
“What’s up?”
“A fucking mosquito got in my ear!”
The pirate with the cig dangling from his lips irritably scratched at his ear and shone his headlight on the streetlamp.
“Huh?”
“What’s that?”
Something odd caught their eyes as they inspected the lamp.
Silver moss-like growth was creeping up from the buried base of the streetlamp post. It had already spread up to the top.
“This moss, right?”
“Why the hell moss all of a sudden? And no rain—why’s the ground so damn wet?”
No sooner had he said it than the damp soil began to heave. A moment later, a plant bursting with vibrant colors punched through the earth.
It looked like a vine with a vivid red hue, its surface absolutely covered in tiny barbed tendrils.
“What the fuck is this? A mushroom? What?”
“……”
The e-cig pirate scowled at the enigmatic plant. Its color was beautiful enough to lift the spirits just looking at it, but something about it felt deeply unsettling.
He pulled out his communicator and called to his colleague, who was staring blankly at the plant.
“Hey, we gotta report this to command.”
“…Beautiful.”
“What’d you say?”
“It’s so beautiful I’m losing my mind!”
The pirate who hadn’t smoked wore an ecstatic expression as he leaned his face close to the plant. The vine, which had been still until then, lashed out at impossible speed and wrapped around his face.
“What the fuck!”
“Heh, hehehe, hehehehe.”
The pirate freaked out seeing his buddy drop to his knees and shove his face into the vine. He hurriedly activated his communicator to contact the cruiser interior.
If not for the voice calling him from afar.
“A woman?”
It was unmistakably a woman’s aroused moan echoing in his ears. It reverberated like it was coming from deep inside a cave, but no mistake.
He loved banging women, after all.
“Jackpot. Time to drain the balls for once.”
Bloodshot-eyed, the pirate followed the voice. So focused, he didn’t even notice the blood trickling from his ear.
“Fucking bitch, you’re dead now.”
He plunged into the underbrush following the sound. With him came a familiar click in his ear.
It was the sound of a nearby landmine activating. Superheated flames erupted from the ground and swallowed him whole.
-
‘It’s starting.’
My nest, buried deep underground, reports to me. Successive vibrations of varying scales on the surface.
Lounging leisurely in the nest and linked to it, I can observe everything happening above.
‘Hallucination Beetles’-infected pirates are leaping onto mines, turning the area around the cruiser into utter pandemonium. Even those who dodged the beetles’ ambushes aren’t safe.
Because the ‘Sticky Spoonworts’ sprouting from the ground are binding them with seductive pheromones.
As the name suggests, Sticky Spoonworts are carnivorous plants that devour victims approaching the nest. They have virtually no direct combat ability, but their signature pheromones hold enemies in place.
By design, the seductive pheromones mimic drugs, granting prey hallucinatory ecstasy. Useless against cyborgs or androids whose flesh is mechanized, but it works beautifully on races like humans.
‘They’re probably dying to gobble up handfuls of dirt right now.’
Plus, I currently possess the pheromone enhancement trait. Some of my physical traits apply to the nest too, so resisting those Spoonwort pheromones won’t be easy for them.
I’ve abused this trait a lot before to troll others, so one community player dubbed me “Druggie Morph.”
‘The ones who fall for it are the fools.’
Anyway, with colleagues suddenly going berserk, the Heavy Walkers on joint guard must be panicking hard.
They’ll try responding to the all-directional assaults somehow, but will it be easy?
The bio-detectors in the Walkers show nothing around the cruiser.
Visual confirmation’s impossible with all the fog blanketing the area. My nest-spawned ‘Smog Towers’ are continuously pumping toxic mist around the cruiser.
Nowhere near as potent as the swamp fog, but still plenty lethal. Lingering in it carelessly pollutes the lungs unto death.
Sure enough, some Walker pilots—maybe with preexisting lung issues—halted. The others seemed gripped by terror seeing their comrades suddenly spewing blood and collapsing.
With all the chaos outside, I wonder what they’re doing inside the ship.
‘Probably scrambling to figure out what’s happening.’
Fat chance.
The cameras linked to the temporary streetlamps are all dead from ‘Gremlin Moss.’ Same for the Stormguns.
Gremlin Moss is a counter-trait to machines, operating differently from hijacking or signal jamming.
Unlike hijacking’s vibrational waves that seize control or jamming’s disruption, Gremlin Moss directly infects machines with moss. Infected machines stay crippled until the moss’s 20-minute lifespan ends.
Downside: can’t reinfect the same machine. Upsides: infect from the nest, and wreck multiple machines at once unlike single-target hijacking.
‘Hard to tag mobile foes like Walkers or giants like the cruiser.’
A few Walkers remain, but I’ve neutralized much of their defensive line.
Time for the next phase.
I severed my link with the nest and started digging straight up from just above my head.
Keep going, and I’d be right under the cruiser.
About 100 meters up, but with my 25-meter bulk tunneling, I reached the surface fast.
I poked my head out slightly, and there was the landing gear right in front of me.
The cruiser’s full outline registered through my now-four auxiliary organs under my jaws.
A Cult signature: elongated diamond shape.
Its outer armor was smooth like an eggshell in ivory—not clunky like Mega Corp or Star Union designs.
‘Typical Cult ship, built with moon silver.’
Opposite black silver, which weakens psy powers, ‘moon silver’ amplifies psy power effects.
‘Good thing I hit the cruiser first.’
The pirate boss’s race is Cult. Target for moon silver buffs.
‘Not anymore.’
Metal clanks of Walkers stumbling through the thick fog nearby. Utterly oblivious I’m right under the cruiser.
I gaped my maw wide and pressed it flush against the underside. My esophageal acidic fungus gland began generating fungi of devastating potency at my command.
Acidic Fungus Gland is a fusion trait I made using the acidic blood trait from my juvenile phase.
Previously, I had to take wounds to trigger acidic blood. Now I can spew ultra-corrosive substances at any foe, anytime I want.
Soon, the rapidly produced acidic fungus spewed from my mouth.
The pale green fungus clung to the cruiser’s belly, melting the ivory moon silver in seconds.
While the fungus worked, I activated the Tooth Fairy Nest. The nest inside my lower back burst open, vomiting forth cannibal fleas.
Enhanced to a new type, their forms had changed. Still kid-palm-sized, but now with chitinous armor on heads and bodies.
‘Fleas wearing helmets.’
As if reading my mind, the Tooth Fairies saluted. Adorably so.
‘Get inside and chew through wires linked to key systems. Eat crew if necessary.’
Dozens of Tooth Fairies poured through the melting hole into the ship.
Sensing them scatter throughout the vessel, I waited for the hole to widen enough.
I could feel the pirates inside growing frantic.
Omnidirectional assaults outside, sudden damage on the keel. All beyond their expectations.
Auxiliary organs scanning inside, I sensed presences approaching the hole.
‘About time to go in?’
I grabbed the still-melting hole with my combat arms. Stretching it four ways, it gaped just wide enough for me to squeeze through.
“Gasp!”
“Fuck! Everyone, shoot!”
The instant I wriggled up through the deck hole, Cult and human pirates in reinforced suits spotted me.
True to cruiser defenders, they calmly opened fire with their purple spray guns.
‘Calm, sure.’
Problem: I have psionic reflection armor.
‘Reflects a portion of psy power attacks.’
Psionic Reflection Armor is a degraded—or psy version—of the psyker technique ‘Reflection.’ It auto-reflects 30% of psy damage taken.
Psy flames engulfed my shell. Thanks to subadult upgrades, it barely hurt now.
‘Not even triggering pain reduction.’
Unpleasant heat to me at worst, but for them?
Part of the flames that had swallowed me refluxed back their way.
Standing at the end: pirates clutching purple spray guns. Seeing violet flame streams boomerang, their faces went sheet-white.
“Wha-wha?”
“Everyone do—Gaaah!”
My armor’s tough, so purple spray barely fazes me. Not them.
Reinforced-suit pirates desperately tried quenching the inextinguishable flames, but they knew best it was futile.
‘Control room this way.’
Ignoring the ones collapsing one by one, I advanced.
Up ahead lay the control room.
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Defense outpost, far from the cruiser.
Saintopia02 continent: signal interference worsens nearing the jungle around the Forgotten Land’s temple. Due to the temple’s unique energy.
Thus, Muriel had built a fortress midway—as bridgehead and emergency command if shit hit the fan at the temple.
“We’ll overnight here.”
Muriel and her subordinates, returning after dismantling the temple-side camp, decided to bunk down. Planned early-morning shuttle back to the cruiser tomorrow.
Even with enemy player attack near-certain, she hadn’t rushed back. Partly signal issues, but mainly to extract more Aimorph intel from Sky Mother.
｢Gaaah! Cough! Cough!｣
“Bro. Won’t die anyway, yank hard.”
“Got it.”
Even at night, the outpost clearing hosted Sky Mother’s torture. Wheel spun, tearing wired guts—she shrieked.
Muriel watched with a bored expression.
“That’s gotta hurt like hell. Can’t she just spill already?”
｢Fucking cunt! Even if I talk, you can’t do shit!｣
“That’s for me to judge. I’m damn sure you’ve fought him before.”
Muriel changed tack after sensing odd vibes in Sky Mother’s attitude.
‘She’s definitely crossed paths with him.’
She knew the rank-5 Aimorph player’s infamy reached foreign servers.
But Sky Mother’s reaction was blatantly off.
She was a ranker too—wolf rank 15, above Muriel. Even if he’d ranked higher back then, he was just subadult now, right?
Plus, the Sky Mother Muriel saw here was exceptionally skilled.
‘Mastered deification.’
‘Deification’—a notoriously tricky advanced wolf skill.
Sky Mother wasn’t ambitious like others, chose living with locals. Yet she’d learned deification amid that? No ordinary foe.
‘Without that gear, I couldn’t have beaten her.’
Brought to subdue Earth Father originally.
Still, Muriel couldn’t fathom such a powerhouse cowering like this.
Deified wolf, beaten by Muriel—no reason to fear him.
‘Must’ve clashed in a past game.’
Only trauma victims react that way.
‘Sky Mother probably got utterly crushed.’
That’s why the fear, Muriel figured.
“He’s that terrifying? Then you won’t survive either. Don’t wanna die? Then…”
｢Ptoo! You killed my family. For a shot at you, I’d sell my soul to that Aimorph!｣
“Hmm. Would you now?”
She knew the torture’s agony best—as designer.
Yet Sky Mother wouldn’t break.
Muriel signaled the pirate to halt the wheel.
“Then how about chatting with your favorite family?”
｢What?｣
She snapped her fingers. Other pirates dragged in wolf prisoners—chained boy pups.
｢You fucking bitch!｣
“Bros, fetch the wheels.”
｢Stop it!｣
Pirates hauled torture wheels like Sky Mother’s. The pups pitifully trembled at the brutal devices.
“Last question. No answer, these wolf pals get talent show time.”
｢I’d eat shit before—bitch! You’re like me! How can you do this!?｣
“Ugh, annoying. Spill quick, or bros might do bad things?”
Sky Mother knew it wasn’t a bluff.
That ruthless pirate bitch would absolutely do it.
｢…Fine. I’ll talk. All of it. Don’t touch them.｣
“Depends on your attitude.”
｢What do you want to know?｣
“You fought him, right? Start with how that went.”
Finally yielding to the threat, Sky Mother began obediently.
｢…You know this, right? Shepard Planet battle.｣
“The jungle planet where four clans clashed? That player hunt mess… Wait. Him?”
｢Yeah. Gathered to catch that Aimorph player. I led one clan there, Savage Clan.｣
Muriel hadn’t known Sky Mother was once a clan leader.
Makes sense—she was infamous for rejecting every big clan invite.
｢He wasn’t a ranker then. Barely near-adult. Thought it’d be easy. But…｣
“But?”
｢Not even an hour after we landed, he wrecked our ships. Comms towers—all but one gone.｣
“...What?”
｢Cut off retreat, probably. Then he picked us off one by one in the jungle. Acted like he knew every plan. No strategy worked.｣
“……”
｢Skinned corpses? Child’s play. Toyed with us in every insane way. He split us, made us fight each other. Planned, no doubt.｣
Sky Mother spoke flatly, but thick emotion laced it.
“...One comm tower left? Radio out for backup.”
｢Kekekeke, yeah. Thought that clan betrayed us at first. Later, we banded together waiting for their reinforcements.｣
Bittersweet tone.
Muriel could guess the rest from her vibe.
Reinforcements never came, probably.
But the truth from Sky Mother exceeded that.
｢Found out later why that one tower survived.｣
“Why?”
｢He left it on purpose.｣
“What?”
｢That clan was already dead. He’d been mimicking them. Knew all our meetings, fed false reports outside.｣
“……”
｢Fooled us repeatedly after. Couldn’t hold—total wipeout. My clan shattered. Distrusted everyone after so many tricks.｣
Muriel thought: That Aimorph player’s a proper lunatic.
And she was properly fucked.
“W-well, it was a g-game…”
｢Game, yeah. But this is reality. He’s here. No clue his tactics, and you’re so chill?｣
“...He’s barely subadult!”
｢While you’re slacking here!｣
Sky Mother’s roar cut her off. That momentary ferocity was intimidating; Muriel flinched.
｢He’s finished all preps to crush you. Cruiser’s probably in his claws by now?｣
Hearing that, anxiety surged in Muriel.
‘No way. Impossible.’
Forcing nonchalance, she called her comm subordinate. To contact the cruiser.
Special gear needed for jungle interference—took time to connect.
Soon, subordinate brought the active comm. Taking it, her voice trembled unwittingly.
“Bros, everything fine there?”
｢Zzzt｣
Static, not answer. Glancing at subordinate, he nodded—connected.
“Anyone alive, respond!”
｢Zzzt, you·there? Zzzt｣
The fragmented voice through the comm.
Horror and dread gripped her.