Screamer (1)

A sigh escaped me as I looked down at the Ice Horror sprawled across the ground.

I had succeeded in taking down an APEX, but my mind was far from at ease.

That was definitely hard.

Even in the game, hunting APEX-class creatures had never been easy. Look at the list of beings classified as APEX in the first place — Galagons, Sea Demons, nothing but heavyweight names.

But that had only ever been a game. Space Survival's death penalty was steep, sure, but it was nothing compared to dying in reality.

Fighting a battle where your actual life hung in the balance was not as simple as it sounded.

Without those guys, that would've been rough.

Adhai, who had helped me through this fight, landed beside me. No. 26 and Mother of the Sky, who had ridden on her back, climbed down and came to my side as well.

All three of them had been an enormous help in bringing down the Ice Horror.

｢Big Baby, are you hurt? Big Baby got hurt a lot.｣

[Zzzt zzztzztzzt (I'll be fine in a little while.)]

Having returned to her tiny size, No. 26 worried about me first, as she always did.

｢Strong prey.｣｢Hunt.｣｢Success.｣

｢…I can't believe we actually brought this thing down.｣

Adhai clambered up onto the carcass, hopping back and forth across it, while Mother of the Sky stared at the corpse as if she couldn't quite believe her eyes.

[Zzzt zzzt zzzt zzztzzt (Everyone, eat fast. We don't have time.)]

The underground cavern we stood in was barely holding together. Between the wreck the Ice Horror and I had made of the place, there was no telling when it might come down.

If this place collapses, it'll affect the surface too.

If the cavern gave way, the ice plain above would cave in with it, leaving a massive sinkhole behind. The Gallagons would find a perfectly intact sheet of ice suddenly sunken in, and they were bound to grow suspicious.

And I was running out of time.

The Paragon of the Hunt lasted twenty minutes. Most of that had been spent fighting the beast, leaving me barely five minutes.

Having heard me out, Mother of the Sky glanced at the cracked walls and nodded.

｢Yeah, no argument there. Looking at those walls, this place won't hold much longer.｣

[Zzzt zzztzzt zzzt (You take the heart first.)]

｢Got it.｣

I fished the High Priest's Golden Spear out of the pool of blood and tossed it to her. She caught it effortlessly and walked in through the wound I had torn open in the creature's side.

｢Middle Baby, I help.｣

｢…Thank you.｣

While No. 26 and Mother of the Sky disappeared into the thing's belly, I prepared to eat the Ice Horror's head.

That carapace is too hard to just bite through.

I pried the creature's jaws open and crawled inside. Past the jagged teeth and bony protrusions, the soft flesh deep in its throat welcomed me.

Flesh surrounded me on all sides — every bit of it edible. Crouched low, I began tearing into the meat spread out around me.

Hm.

With a carapace that hard, I'd assumed the meat would be tough as well, but surprisingly it wasn't. Even though half its teeth had shattered in the fight, the creature's flesh slid down my throat without the slightest resistance.

Except…

Spicy. It's spicy.

The Ice Horror's meat was the hottest thing I had ever eaten, hot enough that if an Amorph had tear ducts, they might have welled up a little.

Is it the venom?

The toxin the Ice Horror sprayed was far more potent than the neurotoxin I carried. Wondering if other parts were the same, I sampled the flesh from deep within its body.

This part's milder.

From the look of it, only the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠throat and esophagus near the venom glands were like this; the rest seemed safe enough.

Still, better safe than sorry — I should warn the others.

[Zzztzt zzzt zzztzzzt zzztzt (The meat is venomous. Be careful.)]

｢So THAT'S why it burns so much. It was the venom after all.｣

Mother of the Sky was in the middle of eating the harvested heart. Through my auxiliary organs, I could see she was in her griffin form. She must have tasted it in her beastman mode, realized there was venom in it, and shifted into her venom-resistant griffin body.

None of us currently lacked resistance to poison. No. 26 and I had the highest tolerance, and the other two could safely eat the Ice Horror's meat so long as they avoided the dangerous parts.

The spiciness, however, was another matter entirely — No. 26's and Adhai's psychic wavelengths and thought-waves came pouring out in a torrent.

｢Spicy! It hurts! It hurts but it's tasty!｣

｢Tingly.｣｢New.｣

No. 26 kept insisting it hurt while somehow continuing to eat, and Adhai looked positively delighted to be experiencing a brand-new sensation.

Glad they're all having fun.

I honestly would have loved to watch No. 26 eating something spicy, but I still had work to do.

I had to finish the head before the Paragon of the Hunt ran out.

What'll I get from this one?

The creature was several hundred meters long, so its head alone easily exceeded twenty meters. I devoured meat equal to half my own body mass at a furious pace.

Working my way up from the throat toward the brain, I was interrupted when Mother of the Sky called out to me.

｢Come out for a second when you're done.｣

[Zzztzt (Why?)]

｢Found a Screamer in its guts.｣

[Zzzt (What?)]

I flinched at her words.

｢Don't worry. It's just wreckage — the Screamer's been dead a long time.｣

I relaxed a little at that, but not enough to let my guard down completely.

[Zzztzt zzztzzt zzztzt zzzt (You think there are more of them nearby?)]

｢Doubt it. From how corroded it was, it's been down here a long time. Close to three weeks.｣

[Zzzt zzzt zzztzt zzztzzzt (It's been sitting in its stomach for three weeks?)]

｢Judging by the metal frame that's left, it looks like the same model as the one we saw earlier.｣

From what I was hearing, the modified new-model Screamers had apparently made it down into these depths too. And then they'd run into the Ice Horror and been wiped out to the last unit.

Was the one in the forest up top one that had escaped from down here?

Come to think of it, it hadn't looked to be in great shape even when we first crossed paths. At the time I'd chalked it up to its fight with the Winter Walker, but maybe it had been fleeing from this thing instead.

I'm curious, but…

Eating came first. I told her I'd be out soon and resumed feeding.

After wolfing everything down in a frantic blur, I finished off the creature's head with exactly ten seconds to spare.

And then—

｢New message received.｣

Along with the notification of a new message, the famous Bone Beast — a trait beloved by every Amorph player — had landed in my grasp.

Jason of the Ashray clan.

He was a Cultist with many titles.

Revered High Priest of the Empire, guardian-of-tradition and head of the Providence Faction, and the Hero of the Capital who had defended the holy planet against the Outspacer offensive.

Titles befitting a man who shone at Rank 10.

But recently, his fellow Cultists had taken to prefixing those titles with a single character.

That character was "former."

Thanks to his blunder not long ago, he had fallen from an object of admiration to a villain who had shaken the very foundations of the Empire.

He could have tolerated that much. His body belonged to the Cult, but his mind was still human — and being human, mistakes happened.

What truly drove him insane was the very existence of the being who had contributed so greatly to his downfall.

Rank 5: Morph-fucker.

In reality and in this world alike, the existence Jason hated above all others.

The feud between Jason and Morph-fucker was a long one. In the real world, he had lost count of how many times he'd been forced to roll a brand-new character because of that monster.

The reason he had thrown himself so enthusiastically into sterilizing the Amorph since arriving in this world was simple: Morph-fucker had cost him too much. Even knowing full well that his actions would interfere with quest completion.

And yet the monster had survived. No — he hadn't merely survived. He had handed Jason a humiliation of the very worst kind.

The day he heard that the Imperial Carrier and its escort fleet had been annihilated, Jason understood something.

Until he had Morph-fucker's head taxidermied and hanging in his bedchamber, he would never sleep in peace again.

So, unlike his comrades, he had decided to act personally.

Unique-grade equipment obtainable only from late-game quest clears, the loyal subordinates who followed him, and even a dedicated warship. He had prepared so thoroughly that even an Adult Amorph could be captured without difficulty.

And that wasn't all. There was the sub-boss-class creature Akira Yujin had provided him: a Black Gallagon. At this point, losing to the monster would have been stranger than winning — unless someone was deliberately letting it slide.

When he first set foot on this frigid ice planet, Jason had been brimming with confidence that at last he could kill Morph-fucker.

But that conviction had shattered to pieces the moment he came face to face with the Black Gallagon Akira Yujin had introduced him to — the Great Oude Grad.

"Goddammit! How much longer are you going to sit on your ass? I'm telling you, that monster isn't something a common Gallagon can beat!"

Clad in dragon-scale armor forged from Gallagon remains, Jason was bellowing at the top of his lungs inside the vast cavern.

He hadn't suddenly lost his mind and started shouting at empty air. Before him lay an enormous presence.

A black Gallagon reclining atop a bed of glittering minerals of every kind. He was the king of the dragons dwelling on this planet — the Great Oude Grad.

｢Oude Grad.｣｢Speaks.｣｢Great undertaking.｣｢There is.｣

Oude Grad answered leisurely between bites of prey his young had caught for him. At that placid, lazy display, Jason's blood boiled — but he barely held it in.

You stupid lizard! If you'd just get off your ass, you could crush that pathetic White Gallagon in a heartbeat!

When Jason had arrived, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Oude Grad's pride had been fracturing.

Gallagons, upon reaching adulthood — becoming Black Gallagons — earned the right to challenge the pack's leader.

For a long time, Oude Grad had been the only Black Gallagon in his pride, but there was a problem.

The White Gallagon female ranked second in the hierarchy had begun eyeing his throne. Such things normally happened only after the challenger had become a Black Gallagon; the reason it had erupted now was that no new Black Gallagon had emerged since Oude Grad took leadership.

"The moment you lift a claw, this all gets settled. What are you dawdling for?"

｢Oude Grad.｣｢Speaks.｣｢Traitors.｣｢Gather.｣｢Wait.｣

There were those in the pride now questioning why no adult Gallagons were emerging. They suspected that Oude Grad, the sole Black Gallagon, had pulled some kind of trick, and they were in open dissent.

Oude Grad intended — as he had told Jason — to use this opportunity to purge the Gallagons who resisted his reign. Even his pretense of holing up in the cavern was meant to lull his enemies into complacency.

But that was Gallagon business.

To Jason — who knew that an unprecedented danger in the form of a Rank 5 Amorph ranker was closing in — it was nothing but pathetic politicking.

Once that Amorph grows up, every last one of you is finished! You dumb skink bastard!

Just as Jason was cursing Oude Grad inwardly, a Gallagon came flying in from outside the cavern.

The white-scaled Gallagon folded her wings and bowed her head before Oude Grad.

｢I.｣｢Great Oude Grad.｣｢What you said.｣｢Report.｣

"What's she saying?"

｢Oude Grad.｣｢Speaks.｣｢Lowly one.｣｢Desires.｣｢Young one.｣｢Found.｣

"What? Is that true?"

Being called a "lowly one" didn't bother Jason in the slightest. Capturing the Amorph mattered far more right now.

｢Oude Grad.｣｢Great undertaking.｣｢Preparing.｣｢Instead.｣｢Lowly one.｣｢Young one.｣｢Follow.｣

"…So you're never going to move a finger yourself, is that it?"

With those final words, Oude Grad raised a foreclaw and waved it. No more to say — be gone.

It looked exactly like a king dismissing his attendants with a flick of the hand, and Jason clenched his teeth. It galled him beyond words that a mere pet of Akira Yujin could act so arrogantly — but there was nothing he could do about it.

With Jason's power, he could kill Oude Grad. But doing so would mean fighting every Gallagon in this cavern, and against all of them, Jason's party would take catastrophic losses.

And after that, Morph-fucker would pick us off one by one!

Even in the game, his meddling had shattered clan alliances time and time again. He had zero desire to see the game's history reenacted in reality, so without another word he left the cavern.

Once the traitors were purged, that insufferable Black Gallagon would have no choice but to help him. Akira had given the order, and Oude Grad was duty-bound to assist.

The problem was that waiting on Oude Grad's aid would take far more time than he had. If Morph-fucker really was on this planet with them, they were, without exaggeration, in grave danger right now.

"Hey. That place the lizard just mentioned — take us there."

｢Understood.｣

Which meant that, for now, he had to move first, even alone.

Jason headed for his subordinates' camp together with the White Gallagon.

I opened my eyes, curled in the nest and devoting myself to recovery.

Sleep hasn't been coming easily lately.

It wasn't nightmares or unresolved worries this time. It was the message I'd received after devouring the Ice Horror earlier that day.

After unlocking Transcendence Stage 2, a new system called Trait Enhancement had been unlocked as well. Back then it had remained inactive even after unlocking, so I'd forgotten about it — until today, when it came online.

I didn't expect it to be that kind of system… huh?

Just as I was about to examine the Trait Enhancement system, my auxiliary organs detected movement.

Nothing else lived in the nest besides us. I quickly linked with the nest to confirm what was moving.

No. 26?

She was the one who'd said she'd turn in early, after burning through so much energy during the day.

At first I assumed her early bedtime had thrown off her sleep cycle — but her behavior was strange.

No. 26 slipped out of the nest and disappeared beyond the tunnel.

What's this?

She almost never acted alone. Short of an urgent combat situation, she always told me everything she was doing, everything she wanted to do.

And now she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was sneaking out in the middle of the night. That was unmistakably suspicious.

I rose and cautiously followed her. She was so preoccupied with whatever she was doing that she never noticed me trailing behind.

When she had traveled a fair distance from the nest, she abruptly stopped. Then she began pulling something out from inside her body.

｢Eat this.｣

"PS-111. Expressing deep gratitude for the devotion of the newly registered main controller."

At the voice drifting from in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠front of No. 26, I could no longer stay hidden. I hurried toward her.

｢Huh? Big Baby?｣

[Zzzt zzzt (What is that?)]

｢Oh, this is, um, that is…｣

No. 26 fidgeted uncharacteristically, but I couldn't spare any attention for that.

The small object in front of her. It looked strikingly similar to something I had seen not long ago.

"PS-111. Unknown lifeform detected."

A human woman's face with mechanical components and tubes affixed to it.

It was a new-model Screamer — reduced to nothing but its head.