Chapter 146
Chapter 146
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: qiqi iykow gkk-146i
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 146
Chapter Title: The Fall of the Empire Carrier
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Cult spaceships are renowned for their elegant designs. Especially the empire carriers deployed on purification missions resemble cut diamonds, with some even calling them the "gems of the universe."
It's an apt nickname in a way. Their production and maintenance costs are astronomical.
The beautiful gem of the universe and treasure of the Cult Empire—one of them, the Judgment of Damus 08.
The ship, once dedicated to the security of the Cult Empire, now faced a dire crisis.
"Cosmic power flow reversing! Overload exceeding 200%!"
"At this rate, the ship will collapse!"
The command center shook violently, as if it might shatter into pieces at any moment. The ornate decorations that once lit up the interior had all fallen and shattered. Sparks flew nonstop from the computers and machinery.
Cult crew members struggled to keep their footing amid the hellscape, urgently reporting the battle situation.
"Status of the carrier fleet!"
"30% silenced by the enemy's psychic power attack!"
"From a single strike?! Impossible!"
Even amid the chaos, the captain kept his composure and checked the holograms at the center of the command center.
The dark matter wielded by empire carriers was a delicate yet dangerous force. The advanced modules attached to them weren't just for charging and firing cosmic bolts. They also served as a means to control and regulate the unpredictable beast known as dark matter.
Having fully assessed the ship's condition, the captain made his decision. He sent a psychic message throughout the vessel to the crew.
"Captain!"
"B-but!"
The crew were stunned, but the captain remained utterly cold.
"I'll stay here. You all get out of here."
"What?!"
"The cosmic bolt output controls are damaged. Someone has to hold it together until the crew evacuates."
With those words, the captain stepped down among the crew and began operating the computer. He seized control of the psychic holograms and multitasked between using psychic power and manipulating the ship systems.
The crew watching this fell silent all at once.
"What are you doing? I said evacuate!"
"......"
Seeing their captain ready to sacrifice himself for his subordinates, the crew exchanged glances.
"I'll take care of this, so hurry up and escape!"
"...Forgive us!"
"Ugh?!"
One of the younger crew members pulled a gun from his bosom and struck the captain in the back of the neck.
The captain let out a short groan and collapsed unconscious. The crew member carefully supported his slumping form.
"Take care of the captain."
"We'll buy as much time as we can to get to the escape pods."
"Come on, no time. Everyone to your stations!"
"That punk was always singing about wanting to be captain."
"Heh heh heh."
The Cult crew wore cheerful expressions. Rather than let their respected captain sacrifice himself, they had chosen death for themselves.
The young Cult committed their backs to memory one last time, then hoisted the captain onto his back.
As he left the command center, shouts from the Cults echoed behind him.
"Brave Cults! May Providence claim us!"
"May Providence claim us!"
Vowing to convey their noble sacrifice to the Empire, he murmured quietly.
"May Providence claim them..."
Moments later, countless escape pods launched from the empire carrier. Some were handed off to ships in the nearby carrier fleet, while others vanished into the depths of space.
The empire carrier, which had held out until the final escape pod launched, could endure no longer and began to collapse.
Its exterior armor, which had maintained the perfect balance of refined diamond, twisted massively and shattered. The command center at the central top oxidized in a blast.
The cosmic bolt launcher at the ship's core crumpled inward violently, as if being sucked into something.
Just as dark matter began oozing out from gaps in the ruined armor.
A golden bolt of lightning from Saigil 08 slammed into the black energy.
Soon, an immense light reminiscent of a supernova engulfed the carrier and its fleet.
'I won.'
Confirming the empire carrier's explosion, I blacked out right there. Plenty of ships remained, so I knew I shouldn't lose consciousness yet, but it was unavoidable. My will had nothing to do with it.
'Still alive, so they must have retreated... Huh?'
Aftereffects of Monster King? Power wouldn't return to my body properly, yet something kept getting shoved relentlessly into my mouth.
The thing rousing my dulled taste buds was chunks of creature meat. Someone was feeding me all sorts—Hondr Gigants included.
The crisply grilled meat slid down my throat and digested rapidly. Vitality returned slowly... ever so slowly. My monster tentacles and auxiliary organs, utterly unresponsive to outside stimuli, began stirring faintly.
Only then did I get a sense of my body's state. The Psionium effects had worn off, reverting me to near-adult form. The two auxiliary heads aiding me were gone, and the lowermost combat arms that had served as legs had reverted to match the others.
My body, briefly evolved to adult via Psionium, had returned to normal.
Even as my senses recovered, unidentified food kept pouring into my mouth. I probed the surroundings with the auxiliary organ beneath my jaw.
Finally, I saw who was feeding me.
「Might be short on energy! Keep feeding! 」
「Big baby! Don't die! 」
「I 」「Too 」「Big adult 」「Survival 」
They clustered near my head. Sky Mother and Adhai fetched food; 26 sliced it neatly and crammed it into my maw.
'Why are they bringing food so damn fast?'
To figure out what was going on, I opened my eyes. 26 was tentacle-chopping a charred beast; Adhai hauling small carcasses. They startled at the sight of me.
「Big baby woke up! 」
「Big adult 」「Survival 」「Confirmed! 」
26 lit up brightly. Adhai dropped the small corpses gripped in its mouth tentacles and rushed over.
「Don't stop! Stamina not recovered yet! 」
「Yeah! 」
「Affirm 」
Sky Mother fired a thought at the rejoicing bunch.
Far off amid raging tree fires, her singed-furred form appeared, lugging a slab of large-creature meat on her back.
'Fire?'
I looked skyward.
A burning sky.
Post-empire carrier destruction, debris rained down as a meteor shower onto the planet even now. Judging by it, not just locally ablaze. The entire Saintopia 02 continent—no, all continents of PH-101—were seas of flame.
'Figures.'
Now I got why the food tasted barbecued or charred. They scavenged meat from critters incinerated in the forest fires.
Even after I woke, the trio kept force-feeding without pause. I wanted to tell them to stop, that I was fine—but everyone present knew otherwise.
Like a baby bird, I meekly accepted the food while pondering.
'Would've been risky if corpses weren't plentiful.'
Monster King's effect was stellar, but the backlash brutal. Psychic Breath blacks you out past use limits; residual energy shortage triggers rampage via Hunter's Image—side effects every bit as hazardous.
'This from just one transformation.'
Aimorphs skyrocket energy efficiency at adult stage. Without adult form, Monster King would've drained me dry in seconds, fatal.
Pre-waking, energy so depleted auxiliary organs barely twitched. Not adult—or solo—I'd be done even after nuking the carrier.
'Owe my life to the kids and Sky Mother.'
Me still breathing? Their efforts to save me.
'Allies.'
Too frantic earlier to check properly, but the message clearly said "ally."
Obvious who, but that's beside the point.
Aimorphs per system can't mingle with other lifeforms. Relentless hunt-slaughter murder machines.
System greenlit an Aimorph making comrades. What does it signify?
'Me—no, Aimorphs are evolving.'
Sociality aids survival generally. Herds fend off stronger predators effectively. Carnivores tackle high-risk prey via numbers.
Humans' high sociality lets them thrive despite myriad weaknesses.
'No such message with symbiotic spores...'
Means fundamental shift from before. Got a hunch.
'Space Monster type.'
⑥ Space Monster (Unique): Perfect Organism (Unique), Nightmare Horizon (Unique), Organic Evolution (Unique)
Traits formerly split between body and nest types—"Perfect Organism" and "Nightmare Horizon"—had migrated there.
All acquired via transcendence stage 1, "Unique Trait Synthesis" system.
'...Dodged disaster without pre-stocked nest traits.'
Types double trait reqs for next acquisition.
Say nest enhancement and special defense enhancement each need 8 traits. Acquire nest first? Special defense jumps to 16.
Issue: Acquired type's traits removed (fused for other type or unique material), lose effect—treated unacquired.
Key: Req doesn't revert.
Acquire with 8? Post-acquisition req 16—must fill 16 to retain effect.
'Not pranking anyone. Arbitrary change, no message.'
Had fewer traits secured? Lost nest enhancement—huge loss.
Fortunate: Pre-transcendence 2, 14 hours swamp-grinding netted misc traits.
Besides "Pincer," snagged infection/nest traits aplenty. Traits shuffling? No effect loss.
'Hoarded doubting utility—turned windfall.'
Anyway, transcendence traits alone migrating to new type? Profound.
'Perfect Organism' for beastlier shifts, 'Nightmare Horizon' ship corrosion/domination, 'Organic Evolution' via swapping "Giant Creature"/"Dwarfism."
'Traits beyond Aimorph bounds.'
Plus, never saw "Unique" types in-game.
'Nor types with descriptions.'
Aimorph types? Zero explanations on effects/trait types. Players verify manually.
Rule broken: Space Monster, unique-grade, includes description. I opened its text box.
Evolution's ultimate goal transcends species limits. This type grants stepwise additional effects each time traits from the 'Transcendence' system are added. Ignores penalties from type acquisition.
*Stage 1 (Traits needed 3/4)
*Stage 2 (3/8)*Stage 3 (3/??)*Stage 4 (3/??)
Content explained the description. Transcendence 2 reward—effects wildly unique.
'First stepwise-empowering type.'
Types usually inert till fully unlocked post-reqs. None offer partial perks like this.
'Effects...? Unspecified, naturally.'
No hints, premature to judge—but smells overpowered.
'Trait enhancement system next...'
Craved immediate check, but crushing fatigue surged. Belly swelling, fires warming ground—sleep lust overwhelming.
「Big baby sleepy? Sleep okay. 」
「Big adult 」「Fatigue? 」
「...Emergency handled, but rest wise. Game unseen trait—side effects unknown. 」
Tough on them for my sake, yet urging rest.
「Zz... (Thanks...) 」
Couldn't voice gratitude properly, sleep claimed me swiftly.
Mercury.
Nearest to the Sun and smallest in the solar system, it falls officially under Garmelda of Mega Corp's Noble Capitals.
Yujin Family owns the Moon, Garmelda rules Mercury, T&C wields influence over Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos, Prime Capitals vie for Ganymede, and so on.
Thus, Mega Corp's seven families claimed various solar system moons and planets.
Typically, Noble or Prime Capitals buy other worlds and dispatch family governors for proxy rule. Garmelda bucked the trend.
Current Garmelda patriarch Chloe Garmelda. For over a decade, she'd holed up in Mercury's weapons research facility, refusing to emerge.
No wonder her moniker: "Queen of Mercury."
Patriarch neglecting family should've eroded her standing—yet astonishingly, no such thing. Her inventions' influence was colossal.
Weapons, powered exosuits, soldier-boosting drugs.
Churning out fresh killing tools yearly kept Garmelda unprecedentedly wealthy. Elders backed her staunchly despite youth and disinterest in clan affairs.
Today, the Queen of Mercury—weapons prodigy—took rare vacation.
"Lady Patriarch vacationing more lately. Few weeks back too."
Researchers strolled the boulevard in the bio-dome Garmelda weapons base. Eyes drawn to dome center. Patriarch's residence lay underground there.
"Good thing. Workaholic extreme. Health scare catastrophic."
"Patriarch away? Run new gear test ourselves once more."
Adored by her underlings, Chloe occupied a space in her patriarch residence.
Dim-lit room strewn with toppled diamond steles wired up. Only two afloat, glowing.
Perched in a bespoke hover chair, Chloe addressed the pair.
"Jason oppa, empire carrier dispatch update? My sats got smashed midway—no sitrep."
「Curious myself. Carrier fleets jammed intel. 」
Jason, Chloe, Jubaka.
Powers respectively of Cult, Mega Corp, Star Union. Weeks prior, plotted to erase infamous rank-5 Aimorph.
Spread fake intel: PH-101—Saigil 08 to Cults—contaminated. Lured Cult council into purification order. Outcome: Judgment of Damus 08 dispatched to Saigil 08.
Escort carrier fleet obliterated surrounding Mega Corp/Star Union sats, leaving Chloe/Jubaka blind.
Thus, ample time post-order, summoned Jason for results.
"Near-adult—not tough, right?"
「Morphs? Unpredictable. Could've mauled carrier fleet badly. 」
"Toys anyway, no sweat. Break 'em, sub new ones."
「Quintessential Mega Corp—life cheap. 」
"Pfft, dictator."
Chloe/Jubaka bantered leisurely, convinced Aimorph purged.
Rank 5 prowess irrelevant against planet-scouring empire carrier. Minor resistance maybe, cosmic bolt'd reduce to ash-pile.
But.
Their inconceivable nightmare manifesting.
Sudden clear feminine voice shattered illusions with harsh truth.
「Long time no see. Lady Chloe, Jubaka. 」
"Huh? Cynthia? Why on Jason oppa's stele..."
「...... 」
Mid-manicure, Chloe jolted at the stele woman's voice. Jubaka groaned forebodingly over shock.
「Would use mine normally, but emergency—proxied Jason-sama's. 」
"Emergency? What?"
「...No way? 」
「Jason-sama's led purification? Total failure. Empire carrier, fleet—wiped. Council's condemning him for defying Providence, assaulting holy site. Ignores summons, gone into seclusion. 」
"......"
「...... 」
「Me too—dragged hearings all day for prophecy flub. Barely escaped here. Beg pardon. 」
Their nightmare future—worst-case—had materialized.
Dawning that, Chloe unwittingly dropped her nail grinder.
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