Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Ep. 117
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"We've arrived."
"Let's go."
Six Heavy Walkers and one beast disembarked from the transport ship.
They had come here on Muriel's orders to investigate the site where the Thunder God's bolt had struck, checking for any survivors.
The fertile land that had teemed with life just hours ago was now a barren wasteland of ash, sand, and death.
They wandered the withered wasteland with various detection devices activated.
"Huh? Hey! There's something over here!"
One of the Walkers spotted traces on the ground and called to his comrades. As the others approached with metallic clanks, he filmed the marks with the video camera mounted on his Walker.
"Boss, did you see? There are drag marks."
｢Damn, that crazy monster bastard. It didn't die?｣
"Seems that way."
｢Ask the Mother of the Sky. See what condition it's in.｣
"Got it."
One Walker yanked hard on the large chain in his hand. The Mother of the Sky, collared by the chain around her neck, was dragged over limply.
｢Kuh!｣
"Hey, this is that thing's trail, right?"
"From what we know, it walks on two legs, but here there are drag marks from its body. What happened?"
｢You better tell it straight. Unless you want to watch your 'family' die.｣
｢...Tch, hold on.｣
With no choice, the Mother of the Sky examined the traces closely. Using senses far superior to advanced machinery, she assessed the state of whatever had left them and spoke.
｢...It dragged itself along halfway. There are chunks of shed exoskeleton between the gouges, and acid reactions on the ground, so it's injured. Judging by the direction, it headed into that forest.｣
｢This isn't a lie, right?｣
｢You can detect it yourself. Go ahead and check.｣
A special chip implanted by Muriel was currently embedded in the back of the Mother of the Sky's head.
It read the wearer's brainwave patterns to detect lies or disloyal thoughts. As long as this chip remained, she couldn't utter a falsehood.
｢Hmph? Fine. No way it could survive a direct Thunder God hit unscathed.｣
"What now?"
｢It's injured, so it couldn't have gone far. Hunt it down and kill it. You can do that, right, Mother of the Sky?｣
｢I can kill an injured Subadult.｣
｢Heh heh, you hear that, boys?｣
"Yes, sir!"
The comms ended, and the Heavy Walkers collected the shed exoskeleton fragments before following the trail into the forest.
Overhead, the transport ship flew, scanning if the tracks continued deeper into the burning jungle.
Muriel's subordinates didn't doubt for a second that they could easily dispatch the monster that left those traces.
But there was something they didn't know.
The Mother of the Sky hadn't lied. She had simply answered Muriel's questions precisely.
In the opposite direction from where they headed, there were traces the Walkers hadn't noticed.
It was a half-collapsed pit.
Numerous craters dotted the area, formed when redwoods and boulders embedded in the ground were uprooted entirely. The pirates mistook them for similar to other traces, but the Mother of the Sky, with her extraordinary Super Sense, recognized them.
They were holes dug by a long, snake-like creature.
'Ha, that Aimorph brat. It finally evolved into a Near-Adult.'
The Mother of the Sky concealed the fact she alone knew.
Her eyes gleamed coldly, even with the collar around her neck.
The first things I check before starting a hunt are information, time, and location.
First, information.
To fight smoothly, I need to know who the enemy is, what equipment, traits, and skills they have, what strategies they use, and how much they know about me.
Aimorphs grow incredibly powerful with each successful evolution, but the path is treacherous. Everyone else is an enemy except me. So gathering intel is crucial.
Next is time.
Whether to strike at day or night, if the enemy has noticed my approach, or when they'll detect me—I factor these in to choose and prepare the optimal moment.
Finally, location.
The enemy's position, the terrain, where to lure them, and where to finish it.
So, how much advantage do I have in targeting my foe right now?
Starting with information: She and I don't know each other well, but at least I'm ahead.
'Muriel thinks I'm still a Subadult.'
Using the Thunder God on me was a solid choice if I were a Subadult. No matter how fast I fled, escaping its range wouldn't be easy.
'Still, she'll want to confirm.'
She's the type to rig her cruiser with bombs in case it's hijacked. She'll check if I'm dead or alive. Investigating the blast zone, she'll soon realize I survived.
'This is the key point.'
She'll assume the Thunder God dealt me a fatal blow.
I did take minor injuries from it and the cruiser explosion—my exoskeleton heated up, and parts chipped off.
Even now, the trail I left crawling into the forest has those shed pieces.
I left them deliberately.
To make the enemy believe I'm in bad shape.
By hiding my evolution stage and condition, leading them to misjudge me.
The info war began when I emerged underground and slipped into the jungle.
'They'll follow the trail to hunt me...'
Detection gear often glitches in this jungle. They won't miss me entirely, but it'll take time to find me.
While they pursue slowly, my tasks are set.
Locate Muriel and reshape the battlefield to my advantage.
Fortunately, before the cruiser blew, I accessed the ship's computer data.
Thanks to that, I could predict her location.
There are two likely large camps for her: the vast jungle region sprawling from the continent's center, and the canyon with the Volf native village.
I'm certain she's in the jungle.
'Because of the Forgotten Temple of the Land in the continent's heart.'
The 'Forgotten Temple of the Land' is like a dungeon from other games, housing powerful unique-grade gear.
But entry conditions are harsh, and the Volf statues inside are formidable, requiring extensive prep.
For instance, the special energy field around the temple.
Remote scans fail due to it, and comms gear malfunctions more the closer you get. Bad luck, and a transport might crash mid-flight.
So players conquering it set up supply camps a safe distance away. Muriel likely did the same for her raid, establishing a large camp in the jungle.
'The shipment logs were all weapons.'
Regular deliveries confirm they're for the temple raid. She might have cleared it and claimed the rewards by now.
'Was the reward the High Priest's Golden Spear?'
It gains attack power per intelligent being killed. The boost per kill is tiny, but no upper limit—kill enough, and it grows endlessly powerful.
If she learns I'm alive, she'll slaughter minions and slaves to power it up.
'Gotta confirm that directly.'
Half-buried underground for work, I raised my head.
Thirty minutes ago, I'd arrived near her large camp.
I'd raced here at full speed without rest, arriving in a day and a half.
I'm a few kilometers from the camp.
Here, I'm preparing a battlefield suited to me.
Everywhere my gaze reached was blanketed in black mucus.
Lush grass twisted and died, replaced by blood-red vines. Toxic spore sacs puffed mist relentlessly between them.
Even the towering redwoods on the corrupted ground looked fine outside but rotted within. Peel the bark, and black slime and bugs spilled out.
Finger-sized sonic bugs and hallucination bugs buzzed, seeking hosts to infect.
Confirming the nests grew smoothly on their own, I severed the link and stood.
'Third one.'
I'm building nests encircling the camp. Just as flesh or psionic enhancements have perks for their types, nest enhancements do too.
Namely, merging multiple nests doubles the trait effects.
Her camp will face worse toxic fog than the swamp deep in Seintopia02 continent.
'Fighting there will make Human Sacrifice shine.'
Before evolving to Near-Adult, I gained the 'Human Sacrifice' trait in the swamp. Useless alone, but with corpses in the nests, it changes.
With Human Sacrifice, nests absorb bodies, funneling their energy to me. Even severed limbs regenerate in minutes via boosted recovery.
Endless corpses mean I'm a living zombie.
'Plus, it's a counter to the Golden Spear.'
I moved to site the next nest.
Nest-building drains energy, so I replenished en route.
"Kweek?!"
I engulfed a gorilla-headed ant with erosion tendrils.
The carnivorous 'Andrill' outstats Nightstalkers but can't match Near-Adult me.
'Wish I had time to savor it.'
Regrettably, no.
After devouring a few more Andrills, I found a spot and lay down.
As mucus poured from me, forming a nest, a loud roar came from above.
'Hm?'
It was a transport ship flying.
Ignoring the coated trees, it began low flight. Then seven large masses dropped to the ground.
'Found me already?'
Even with bio-scanners, spotting me in this jungle is tough. Devices glitch or reset often.
'Huh?'
The landed foes weren't scanning for me—they headed elsewhere. Toward the trail I'd left crawling here.
'No idea how, but...'
I need to clean up before they hit a nest. Losing one hurts more than getting spotted.
I cut the link to my fourth nest and climbed a tree.
Then slithered silently toward them.
My elongated body let me stretch between close trees or glide with wing membranes for gaps.
Closing in, I saw how they tracked me.
Six Heavy Walkers and one beast.
I'd seen that lead beast in-game.
'A Volf who's mastered deification?'
Eagle head, lion body—like a griffon from myths, it was definitely a Volf.
Unlike Aimorphs' endless evolution, Volfs reclaim divinity within, a key story element.
Their shapeshifting ties to this—closer to divinity, they become sacred beasts like griffons or unicorns, not mere animals.
This griffon Volf equates to between Subadult and Near-Adult for an Aimorph.
'Griffon makes sense, but weird.'
Its eyes rival Aimorph Super Sense, tracking my traces from high altitude.
Riding the transport to follow makes sense, but a bigger question lingers.
'Looks named, so why with pirates... Huh?'
Camouflaged, watching them, the griffon suddenly turned—and our eyes met.
It didn't spot me, turning away naturally. But with my Aimorph Super Sense, I knew.
It noticed me but played dumb.
'No clue why.'
I'll capture it and find out.
I crept carefully above the Heavy Walkers.