Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Ep. 121
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Darkness, and fog.
Faint screams and explosions echoed from various parts of the encampment.
All of it was the result of me and my nest.
Despite the chaos, Muriel and I observed each other without the slightest hint of agitation.
Timing the strike, knowing when and how to retreat.
Figuring out how to dismantle the enemy's arsenal, and what to do if it failed.
Though we were enemies, she and I were thinking the same things.
Just before raiding the camp, I'd gotten intel on the enemy from the Mother of the Sky.
'She's the type that buffs herself while fighting.'
From what I'd heard, Muriel was a variant with a combat style far removed from typical Cults.
Space Survival offered high freedom, but you couldn't completely deviate from the playstyles the devs intended.
For instance, a Mega Corp player eating people to harvest essence like an Aimorph, or pursuing a vegetarian Aimorph path—those would make progressing impossible.
So, high-rankers could generally predict tactics based on race and faction.
A Star Union cyborg would likely buff themselves with modules or set traps. A Cult would pressure with versatile psychic powers.
Not without exceptions, but they stuck to the broad framework.
Thus, drawing the ultimate card of a deer-horn Cult meant going for 'Cult-like' tactics—toy with the foe using dozens or hundreds of psychic skills.
'Normally, yeah.'
But the Mother of the Sky said Muriel was better at close-quarters brawling than handling psychic powers.
By lore, Cults excelled in superpowers but had subhuman physicality.
This was reality now, so she could've boosted her physique somehow, but challenging a Wolf versed in deification in melee and winning? Near impossible.
Yet Muriel defied common sense.
'Self-buffing melee style—that's what cyborgs often pick.'
Exhibit A: her navy full-body suit.
It resembled an activated Nano Spartan module.
The Nano Spartan coated the body in nano-reinforced armor, skyrocketing physical stats. It brought you just shy of Aimorph or Wolf levels, so cyborg rankers loved it for melee dives.
'That's cyborg-exclusive. How's she using it?'
Somehow, Muriel wore gear unusable by Cults or other races.
'Insight shows zilch.'
I'd tried Insight just in case, but all it revealed was the golden shortspear she held: 'Priest's Golden Spear.'
'New skill nullifying Insight, or...'
Maybe because she's a player. Hard to say now.
'So many questions.'
After mere seconds of deliberation, I withdrew the erosion tentacles from the holes in my back.
Like the unease I'd felt seeing her unprecedented abilities, she grimaced at my game-unseen powers.
Muriel shifted sideways slowly. She'd picked her target.
Only one thing left.
The signal to end the probing phase.
"Hah!"
She seized first strike, shouting a short kiai and kicking off the ground.
The instant her feet left the earth, my erosion tentacles launched at her en masse.
She parried them with her spear.
But could she block my massive tail?
I slammed my upper body flat and whipped my tail upward.
Judging it too tough, she spun midair. Ignoring physics entirely, she dashed across the sky like solid ground, extending her left hand toward me.
As her hand glowed violet, my movements slowed drastically. Effect of 'Distortion Field,' an advanced psychic skill.
It crippled enemy speed in range while hyper-accelerating the caster. Slowing me while buffing herself—but she'd overlooked something.
'I've got psychic reflection armor.'
"Annoying!"
Her floating grimace twisted. 30% of Distortion Field's debuff reflected back at her.
Still, she moved far faster than me.
She dodged my sluggish tail, then counterattacked with her spear. Well-fed on blood, the Priest's Golden Spear pierced my tail chitin effortlessly.
Success on the small hole, she stabbed repeatedly.
'Gotta pull back.'
Wounds healed fast thanks to the nest, but I couldn't tank hits endlessly.
I spun my body to retract the tail while swinging my head horn at her. She swept her spear horizontally to decapitate me.
Horn met spear—the clang echoed like a smith hammering a blade, reverberating through the air.
"What?!"
Muriel's eyes widened at the unexpected clash.
My horn matched my head chitin, the toughest part. It merely scratched against the Priest's Golden Spear—didn't sever.
'A few more clashes, and it'd lop off.'
She knew that; she'd swing again.
To counter, erosion tentacles swarmed from all sides.
"...Tch!"
Even in Distortion Field, dodging six tentacles plus my horns was impossible—she kicked off midair and retreated.
Meanwhile, I crawled frantically to escape the field's range.
"Where you going!"
She pursued. I swept my tail hard against the ground.
She evaded easily in the air, but that wasn't my aim.
The tail gouge kicked up a massive sandstorm between us. Then, with my combat arms, I dug furiously.
A pit formed instantly; I dove in.
She had ways to see through the obscuration and targeted my rear.
Spear charging through dust. My tail-tip barb launchers unleashed a barrage to block her.
"Tch."
While she deflected incoming barbs, I burrowed fully underground.
"Annoying!"
Her irritated shout from above.
She could detect me, but underground made laying Distortion Field tricky.
'It only deploys where she can see.'
She followed, stabbing the ground with her spear—like piercing tofu, skewering my back and tail.
Luckily, her detection wasn't perfect—no lethal hits.
'This'll heal quick.'
Ignoring her probes, I tunneled at breakneck speed under the central plaza.
Digging revealed pre-dug tunnels to my nest—handy for the decisive moment.
'But first things first.'
Tooth fairy nests on my back burst one by one. Enhanced carnivorous fleas tunneled upward, gnawing soil with sharp teeth.
As I released them, I activated acid fungal glands, pooling spores in my mouth instead of firing.
'Good enough.'
In under a minute, prepped. I erupted through the surface.
My 20m bulk warped the earth; waves of sand, rock, and soil crashed over Muriel.
While her vision drowned in the earthen tsunami, I slammed a bone axe at her head.
Lightning-fast, yet she unfurled Distortion Field unflinchingly.
Just shy of her skull, my body decelerated extremely.
She arched back, dodging the axe effortlessly.
Her golden spear thrust per owner's will, impaling my flank. Black blood gushed; a smile lit her face.
But I was the one grinning inside.
'Gotcha!'
Combat arms seized the embedded spear, locking it in place.
Muriel's smile froze. Tooth fairies from earlier swarmed her face and torso.
"Cheap tricks...!"
They blocked her sight; she snarled in frustration. As she said, mere tricks. Vision loss didn't cancel Distortion Field.
'Wasn't aiming for that.'
My jaws unhinged wide; prepped acid fungi shot out like a stream.
Distortion Field slowed biology, not physics.
"!"
Sensing doom despite blindness, she jerked her head aside. Most missed; some splashed her cheek.
But acid fungi's terror wasn't just corrosiveness.
Even a drop spread instantly.
"Kyaaah!"
As it melted half her face and horn, she screamed. Blocking tooth fairies nobly dissolved too.
'Chance!'
Disrupted focus weakened the field.
I whipped my tail hard.
"Kuh!"
She flew far, cratering into the wrecked plaza.
'Too shallow.'
Despite melting face agony, she'd layered defenses: Ghost Skin (10% physical reduction, +50% psychic intake), wrist shield popping from suit.
Hit landed, but no critical.
'A pure Cult would've been downed...'
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!"
As expected, dirt-caked, she rose fast. Suit creeping like spiderwebs over her face, regenerating.
'...As suspected.'
Her recovering face revealed inhumanity.
Beneath half-melted skin: ivory alloy skeleton instead of bone, chips and devices amid red muscle.
Questions from the start.
Game memory: Muriel was Space Dogs cyborg.
Yet wielded cyborg-only gear and Cult-signature psychics freely.
Melee preference atypical for Cults—now all cleared.
'Cult-Cyborg hybrid.'
The dream combo all cyborg players craved, balance-blocked.
Now before me. Fully regenerated save melted horn, she glared.
"How... the... hell... can... you... do... this?"
Lore-wise, frail Cult flesh couldn't survive cyborg conversion. No Cults I'd met resisted parasites due to unbearable pain.
Thus, unlikely she started Cult then cyborged.
'Reverse, probably.'
Cyborg base, 'some means' to swap to Cult race.
'Like my Transcendence System.'
Wolf-like transformations, Outspacer ship control.
Me: Transcendence transcending Aimorph limits.
Her: Cyborg limits breached, psychics gained.
Unsettlingly similar.
"...Fine. Ranking 5th, huh?"
Ignoring my query, she pressed her throat with her free left hand. Transparent buttons flickered under her fingers.
Effect manifested.
Muscles ballooned, eyes blazed violet. Spearless left arm fused with suit into mechanical prosthesis.
'Absorbed Psionium.'
Like Aimorphs unlocking next evo with Psionium, Cults/cyborgs too. Cults unlocked quest-locked psychics; cyborgs shed module limits.
'Which race got the upgrade?'
Human-base cyborgs treated as cyborg race, so module lift. But Muriel's bizarre hybrid—unclear.
'Maybe both.'
Headband morphed to violet halo behind her skull—transformation complete.
"You made me burn Psionium and spare gear. I'll make you pay dearly later."
She closed the gap instantly. Even my super senses barely tracked it.
'Danger!'
I twisted my head instinctively; air ripped behind. Her spear thrust.
Had I failed, crown pierced—game over.
'Physical stats insanely boosted.'
Aware, I swung my tail.
Prior dodger now stood firm, clamping with mech arm. Then squeezed.
Crushing thick chitin wasn't enough—she snapped internal bones. That grip could rip my tail off left-handed.
I drew bone axe with combat arms, smashed down.
She blocked easily with spear. Spear power unchanged, but her strength numbed my arm on impact.
"Not getting tired? Think this works on me?"
"How... the... hell...?"
"What?"
Her sadistic grin faltered at my retort.
'I know your shitty personality.'
I wasn't the only one with hidden cards.
And I'd pinned her to play mine.
Combat arms and tentacles restrained her escape.
Beneath us, my pre-planted parasite signaled.
Host incoming.
"No way?!"
Our footing exploded as she yelled.
｢Muuuurielll!｣
Bursting up: lion's massive forepaw.
Lightning roar from above as it swiped her legs.
"Damn it!"
Calves half-severed, her body glowed violet and vanished from my grasp.
She reappeared unscathed, far off.
"You fucking morph bastard! What kind of Aimorph are you?!"
"What're... you... talking... about?"
"Aimorphs don't bring buddies!"
"That's... just... in-game... stuff."
"Argh!"
As I calmly replied to her rage, the Mother of the Sky clawed up from below.
"That bitch Choi Seo-ah won't die...!"
Psionium-fueled Muriel, vengeance-sworn Mother of the Sky shedding blood tears.
And me, now Near-Adult.
Main cast assembled. Round two begins.