Chapter 148
Chapter 148
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Akira Yujin Appears
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"What the—Grandpa? I thought you weren't on Earth. What's going on?"
Chloe was taken aback by the sudden appearance of Akira Yujin.
As far as she knew, Akira was in a distant star system far from the Solar System. He was en route to a conference as CEO to mediate an internal conflict.
Akira responded to her question as if it were no big deal.
｢Just in case, I brought my beacon with me. Last time, Jason sent a summons signal, but I missed it, didn't I? It'd be rude to miss another one.｣
"...Right."
But Chloe didn't buy Akira's explanation.
'He planted a spy on me!'
She instantly understood from his perfectly timed entrance.
This summons was at her request. She'd submitted a vacation request in advance for it, and that's where the information must have leaked.
'Damn old fox.'
Akira viewed every Noble Capital patriarch as a potential challenger who could steal his CEO seat at any moment. Seeing everyone else as a rival was a Noble Capital trait, but Akira took it to extremes.
The massacres and crimes he'd committed to seize control of the Yujin Family were infamous among players for all the wrong reasons.
'...Tch. First thing when I get out, I need to clean house with my inner circle.'
She was annoyed at having to waste energy on such nonsense, but she kept it off her face.
While she stayed silent, Jubaka gave Akira a quick rundown of the situation.
Akira's first reaction after listening quietly was puzzlement.
｢How the hell is he here...? Nah, doesn't matter. I see now how T&C pulled off those research breakthroughs back then. Ha, no wonder it never gets boring.｣
He kept muttering things no one else understood.
｢Akira, what do you mean by that?｣
｢Nothing at all. Anyway, an Adult, huh? Cynthia, share the footage first.｣
｢Understood.｣
Jubaka pressed him on the cryptic response, but Akira changed the subject.
Moments later, light burst from Cynthia's beacon and shot toward a spot in midair. The scattered rays converged into a holographic projection.
The footage that appeared showed the Aimorph ranker that had emerged on PH-101, which the Cult called Saigil08.
｢Saigil08—this is the final footage from the Holy Site monitoring satellite, sent to Mega Corp and Star Union.｣
The entity in the video was a massive monster with three heads and pipe-like organs sprouting from its back. Aside from its unexpectedly enormous size, it resembled a standard Aimorph Adult.
It raised its three heads to the sky and unleashed intense beams of light from its mouths.
Those lightning-like thermal rays clashed against the darkness pouring from above. Titanic energies battled it out. The beast was holding off the Cosmic Bolt fired by the 'Arbiter of Damus08'.
But midway through, it unleashed a new power. Purple energy gathered in its three heads and blasted toward the heavens.
Then the footage cut off.
｢After that, a magnetic storm hit the planet, so the Holy Site satellite couldn't capture anything.｣
｢No footage from the ships?｣
｢The sole surviving ship returned heavily damaged. We're restoring its data, but don't hold your breath.｣
｢Heh, what a mess.｣
Even as everyone else tensed up, Akira chuckled leisurely.
｢Surprising. If it's really an Adult, you're a target too, Akira.｣
｢True enough. If it's really an Adult, that is.｣
"What do you mean?"
Chloe and Jubaka didn't follow, but Akira reacted as if their confusion baffled him.
｢As you all know, Aimorphs don't grow stronger through evolution itself. It's by acquiring traits to meet 'evolution conditions.' That's their true power.｣
｢We know that, Akira. Get to the point.｣
｢My experiences with No. 5 tell me it could've crushed the Imperial Mothership way more efficiently.｣
Akira Yujin had fought the No. 5 Aimorph more times than anyone else present. He'd lost more often, but he had his share of wins too.
｢It doesn't prefer smashing enemies head-on. That's just its last resort—when it's finishing them off or can't defend itself otherwise.｣
Rich in combat experience against Aimorph rankers, Akira knew its style well.
Deception via comms hacks, aerial dominance with flight capabilities, biochemical terror with viruses and parasites, psychological tactics to induce self-destruction through fear, and more.
By Akira's assessment, the Aimorph ranker wasn't a warrior.
It was a hunter. Or a terrorist.
"Maybe it did that on purpose? To throw off our judgment."
｢Doubt it. I'm seeing two kinds of thermal rays in that footage—abilities that don't show up in the game. Why use them if it had other ways to block the Imperial Mothership? Especially knowing intel would leak.｣
｢Valid point.｣
Now Chloe grasped what Akira was driving at.
"...So it pulled out its trump card just to take down the Imperial Mothership?"
｢Last resort. Means it's still weak.｣
｢Exactly. A true Adult would've ended it before the Cosmic Bolt even fired. Not like that.｣
｢So you're saying the Aimorph hasn't fully matured into an Adult?｣
As soon as Cynthia spoke, a certain drug flashed through Chloe and Jubaka's minds.
And how it might've obtained that drug on that planet.
'Muriel!'
｢You all know there's a way to taste that power briefly without meeting the evolution conditions, right?｣
｢...Psionium.｣
Chloe gnashed her teeth realizing her own creation Psionium had greatly aided the enemy's survival.
｢My guess? It's already left the planet to fulfill its evolution conditions. Can't evolve into an Adult on PH-101 anyway.｣
｢...Tch. This just got a headache. We need a response plan now.｣
｢I'll report this to the Prophets' Council. Not sure they'll listen.｣
｢Do that. I've got a hunch where it's headed anyway—might stop by on the way.｣
While Chloe inwardly fumed at the dead woman,
the players began discussing how to deal with the Aimorph.
—
"Kyaaah... Gah!"
'Last one.'
Putting down the surviving Cults wasn't much trouble.
Cults serving on Mothership Battle Group vessels were all elite troops.
As elites, they should've been heavily armed too—but the ship crash had stripped them of most weapons.
Most of the crew had died from the impact, leaving precious few survivors. Near the ship we found, there were only ten, four of them injured.
It ended so quick it barely counted as post-meal exercise.
｢...That Mimicry organ is repulsive no matter how many times I see it.｣
"Yeah?"
The Mother in the Sky shuddered as she watched me speak in a female Cult's voice.
With Transcendence Stage 2, the restrictions on my Mimicry organ were fully lifted.
Now I could recreate the appearance of my last prey using pheromones, just like before. The voice mimicry worked perfectly too.
'Only issue is how damn big I've gotten.'
Mimicry doesn't reshape my body to look human. It emits pheromones that fool other creatures' senses into perceiving me as 'human-like.'
So the bigger I get, the greater the sensory disconnect, making it harder to fool them with pheromones alone.
'In the game, Near-Adults weren't this huge.'
'Perfect Organism,' 'Nightmare Horizon,' and 'Organic Evolution' combined made my body far larger than a typical Near-Adult.
Unless I used Organic Evolution to shrink into 'Clever Weakling' mode, tricking foes with Mimicry alone wouldn't be as easy as before.
'At least the voice is back to normal.'
Before, restrictions made it sound like a busted radio. Now it came out clear and fine.
Recovering the trait's function was welcome—but the Mother in the Sky disagreed.
｢A little girl's voice from that body... twisted taste.｣
From game experience, disguising as female with Mimicry yielded better predation results.
Sorry to disappoint the Mother, but I planned to stick with this voice awhile.
'Low odds, but more Cults might show up later.'
I doubted they'd dispatch another Imperial Mothership for purification. If it were any other planet, maybe—but as a designated Holy Site, no.
'The Cults' relationship with Providence is complicated.'
To Cults, 'Providence' held the status of scripture and life code, like the Quran in real-world Islam.
Most Cult society members tabooed acts violating Providence. Of course, like real-world believers who occasionally stray, average Cults didn't follow it to the letter.
'But government bodies like the Council are different.'
Providence contained key prophecies about the Cults' future—some heralding imperial revival, others foretelling decline.
The catch? No clear guidance on which path led to good outcomes.
In lore, Cults had often botched Providence interpretations or tried dodging prophecies, only to meet disaster.
Think self-fulfilling prophecies from Greek myths: heroes trying to avert doom and blundering into it.
To prevent that, Cults designated prophesied future sites as Holy Sites and made a norm of avoiding them.
'Whether to obey or defy Providence is key for Cult players.'
Cults' racial system involved quests, but unifying society was a major task too. Providence was the top unifier.
Of course, exceptions demanded violation—like Outsider raids or Vortex One cult outbreaks—splitting opinions on ignoring or purging Holy Sites.
I'd probed these Cults' memories via Man-Faced Beast. They'd come to purify a contamination source.
'But they didn't know exactly what it was.'
Two takeaways.
One: the rival player's influence exceeded my expectations.
'High-ranking even among Deer-Horn Cults.'
Likely an Elder Council high priest or council faction leader. Or connected to the Prophets' Council—or holding both priest and prophet roles.
To enact purification, you'd need to sway all three power bases: Council, Elders, Prophets.
'But they rushed it.'
If faking it, do it flawlessly from start to finish. They didn't.
Or rather, couldn't, I suspected.
'To catch me ASAP, they'd have to cut corners.'
So they skipped contamination details and pushed for the Imperial Mothership.
This suggested the lead player—the high Cult—leveraged personal connections and clout to force it through.
Frankly, not a bad call.
'If the purification had succeeded.'
It didn't. I inflicted major damage on the Cult Empire.
Already a stretch defying Providence, now with extra risk piled on.
Opponents would rebel; even supporters would reparse prophecies.
No matter the player's power, weathering the political backlash wouldn't be easy. They were probably in hot water now.
'Cults are conservative—debating responses will take time.'
Sure, the destroyed Mothership was fact, so they might argue for heightened Holy Site surveillance. Worst case, swarm satellites to scour the planet.
'Lucky for me, the heavens are on my side.'
Our clash left the planet prone to intermittent magnetic storms. The Cosmic Bolt vs. God's Lash destabilized the atmosphere, triggering storms ahead of schedule.
Once the atmosphere stabilized, storms would end. I had to escape before then.
'Five days till I can use Nightmare Horizon again.'
No immediate life threats, but the situation felt precarious—like a house on sand.
'Handle what I can right now.'
First, check if I could assimilate this half-buried warship ahead of me.
"If you let me go, I'll tell you everything—from operations to repairs!"
"I-I know more! I'll handle it!"
"Damn it! You're a medic, not a tech!"
"Shut up!"
"This model's a new escort frigate built by Zasvil02 techs. Made of mun-silver alloy with reflection shielding. Spare me, and I'll explain in detail..."
The five faces embedded near the top of my back chattered noisily. All from Man-Faced Beast, Cult faces.
'Loud.'
I silenced them forcibly, then extended assimilation tendrils from the holes on my back. As the six tendrils passed over the faces, the Man-Faced Beasts screamed silently.
'Let's see.'
The tendrils probed the buried ship per my will.
Could I assimilate it? How long could I maintain? They worked diligently for the intel I needed.
Soon enough, as always, the tendrils didn't disappoint. Satisfied with the report, I released control of the Man-Faced Beasts.
"You. You seemed to know this ship well."
"Y-Yes, sir! Ask away!"
"I-I know it too! Let me answer!"
This was a new model I'd never seen in-game. Unlike ships I'd hijacked before, I knew zilch about its size, armament, specs.
Time to tap the collective smarts of my Man-Faced Cults.
｢...Grotesque.｣
The Mother in the Sky, watching from the side, murmured softly—but I ignored her.