Chapter 203
Chapter 203
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: qiqi iykow gkk-203i
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: Taking the Cruiser
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The society and systems of the Cult Empire differ greatly from those of Mega Corp or the Star Union. It was only natural, as they had developed their civilizations in entirely different environments.
For instance, Knowledge Keepers boarding Cult Empire fleets are a concept nonexistent in Mega Corp or the Star Union. If anything, they could be likened to a fusion of other factions' data storage systems and ship engineers.
During voyages, Knowledge Keepers assist the captain with their vast knowledge, and in emergencies, they handle all ship repairs themselves. Thanks to the importance of their duties, Knowledge Keepers command as much respect as generals on any vessel.
But even that prestigious role offered little help in overcoming the current crisis.
The intruder who slew the captain began massacring the crew in the command center.
That monster was an existence unknown even to the Knowledge Keeper. Eight arms of varying sizes tipped with blades, a pale woman's face, a grotesque mechanical tail—a biomechanical abomination straight out of a nightmare.
Well-versed in rival factions, the Knowledge Keeper racked his brain furiously, but identifying it proved beyond him.
The closest match in appearance might be the Star Union's cursed bioweapon, the Screamer.
However, as far as he knew, Screamers couldn't wield diverse weapons like this one. Yet this horrific hybrid fired lethal energy blasts from both its tail and mouth.
The Knowledge Keeper knew exactly what produced that eerie navy-blue glow: the Demolisher, the weapon favored by Temple Guardians.
"Evade!"
"Wh-what?!"
The tail whipped around in a wide arc. Energy bolts capable of disintegrating matter poured down on the Cults, tracking its motion.
Some got lucky and dodged, but others weren't so fortunate.
"My arm! My aaaarm…!"
"…Gurgle."
A crewman whose arm had vanished entirely due to matter disintegration. A Cult struck in the upper body, leaving only his lower half. Not a drop of blood flowed, as if it had always been that way—utterly chilling.
"Target its tail!"
"Useless! It shoots from its mouth too!"
"Damn it!"
Exactly as stated. The energy bolt from its head had decapitated the captain.
Even if its attacks were limited to the tail, the situation wouldn't improve much. The monster moved too swiftly; for non-combatants like them, hitting such a narrow target bordered on impossible.
"Knowledge Keeper! With the captain dead, you're in command!"
"Do something!"
He wanted more time to observe, but the crew faced annihilation first. The Knowledge Keeper, who had been hiding and watching the enemy, finally issued orders.
"Bindings, anything! Unleash every technique that can restrict its movement!"
In the brief time he'd watched, it seemed the monster had low resistance to psychic powers.
The evidence? It desperately avoided the Cults' psychic rifles.
The psychic rifles stocked on the bridge weren't high-firepower weapons. They were emergency tools prepared so non-combatants could fight when the situation grew dire.
Yet the monster had stuck to evasion tactics from the start, despite knowing they packed firepower.
Thus, he inferred its psychic resistance was weak.
At the Knowledge Keeper's shout, the goat-horned Cults began gathering psychic power. They drew forth every technique they knew that might restrain the enemy even slightly.
Intense energy flows filled the command center, ensnaring the monster. Its frenzied movements slowed.
"Kirik?"
Sensing the anomaly in its body, it cocked its head. Its movements slowed further before grinding to a halt.
Its blood-red eyes rolled around. Likely inspecting the changes in its own body.
Soon, its eight arms began trembling as they strained to move.
"Incredible strength!"
"Finish it quick!"
Rupturing sounds emanated from the monster's body, mingled with the groans of the Cults holding it. The command center grew chaotic.
They had to end it as fast as possible. Everyone except the Cults maintaining the techniques aimed their rifles at its head.
The moment their muzzles were about to flash—
The Knowledge Keeper doubted his own eyes.
Something stood at the previously empty doorway.
The entity had horns on its head like a Cult. Similar height, bipedal stance. Yet the Knowledge Keeper felt no familiarity upon seeing it.
Instinct told him: this thing was every bit as dangerous as the bound biomechanical monster.
The eyes of the figure at the door shifted. Vivid amber pupils locked onto the Knowledge Keeper.
The instant their gazes met, he felt those amber eyes glow blue. He tried to call out to his comrades.
But a voice reached him first.
"Hungry!"
"?!"
A low whisper tickled his ear, startling him. He whipped his head around, but no one stood behind him.
'What was that…?'
"Starving to death!"
"!"
The voice that had whispered now boomed through his skull like thunder. The Knowledge Keeper dropped his rifle and clamped his hands over his ears.
"Hungry!"
"Please!"
"Hungry!"
"Meat! Give me meat!"
"Wanna devour anything!"
"So much food around!"
"Quick!"
"Bite!"
"Rip apart!"
"Guts!"
"I'll rip out livers!"
"Blood! Want blood!"
"Strip the bones!"
Curses brimming with resentment pierced his plugged ears. Kill those nearby. Fill your belly with their flesh.
He struggled to endure, but the voices swiftly eroded him. His vast knowledge and reason withered away at an astonishing rate. In their place swelled boundless madness.
"Knowledge Keeper! What do we... huh?"
"G-graaah…."
By the time his comrades noticed something was wrong, it was far too late. The Knowledge Keeper was gone.
Only a victim possessed by an icy malevolence remained.
"Graaaaaah!"
"Uwaaak!"
The moment the Knowledge Keeper, now slave to the evil spirit, lunged at his comrades, the monster from outside entered as well. Golden fur striped with black, horns on its head—it charged the Cults binding the biomechanical.
Every flash of its razor-sharp claws sent Cults crumpling in sprays of blood. As comrades fell one by one, the bindings on the biomechanical shattered.
Two monsters brutally tearing Cults apart, plus the suddenly deranged Knowledge Keeper.
The number of Cults in the command center dwindled rapidly.
Precisely when nine remained, the slaughter halted. The bipedal monster approached the Cults' computer and began manipulating it.
Meanwhile, the eight-armed monster was "absorbing" the fallen Cults.
It wasn't a metaphor. With its hook-clawed hands, it drained the life from the corpses. Wherever its hands touched, bodies crumbled to powder in seconds, soon mummifying completely.
The problem: among the Cults on the floor, some still lived. Even those merely subdued by grievous wounds became its sacrifices.
"St-stop! D-don’t do thaaaaat!"
Its hand touched a Cult dying from severed legs. The agony of live absorption wrung screams from him. The pain was evident even without hearing.
When finished, his body had shrunk to a third its size. The monster withdrew its mechanical tongue and licked its claws clean.
The instant it eyed fresh prey, the command center floor shook. Both monsters—the one at the computer and the one devouring Cults—froze.
The vibrations echoing through the command center drew nearer. Far stronger than when they had smashed the door earlier.
The remaining nine Cults quickly realized the source. An entity crawling to end their nightmare.
｢Grgrgrgrgr｣
It was a greater nightmare.
The command center was a bloodbath. Delicious scents wafted from scattered meat chunks and pooling blood.
All traces left by the Cults. In one corner, nine disarmed Cults shivered.
｢Figured we'd need a crew to hide the ship.｣
This ship would prove useful when we left the planet. No plans to erode it immediately, so hide it somewhere.
'Then we'd need crew to manage it.'
I activated the Mimicry organ after a long time. One of the five stored gene profiles spread through my body.
My vocal organ between mouth and throat reconfigured based on the transmitted genes. Tiny pores in my synthetic scales, hide, and carapace prepared to emit new pheromones.
I slowly opened my mouth.
"Come here."
My voice emerged as one of their own kind, startling all nine. The faces staring at me gradually drained of color.
The Mimicry organ's pheromones would make me appear as a Cult in their eyes. But my massive bulk would evoke severe dissonance. A monster suddenly transformed into an ominous kin—they'd never want to approach.
'No freedom for them, though.'
No place to flee atop the cruiser clouds. The Cult survivors approached like prisoners en route to execution.
Prostrated in the outer corridor, I implanted parasites in them. The first thrashed wildly, so I devoured it with erosion tentacles. The rest obeyed meekly thereafter.
"Land this ship."
"…Yes."
I ordered them to land near my nest. The ash-faced Cults began maneuvering the cruiser.
'I'd prefer to do it myself….'
Now far larger than during my Near-Adult stage. Length unchanged, but bone beast trait thickened my carapace, and folded wings still bulky.
Couldn't enter the command center—corridor barely fit me sprawled. Forcing in to operate the computer would just wreck it.
Remaining prostrated, I called PS-111.
"Thank you. I need the other tools the Aimorph carries more."
PS-111 eyed the trophies clutched in my smaller chest arms. Loot from hunting the Temple Guardians.
Galleron claw-sword and dragonscale suit—a type of reinforced armor—plus miscellaneous sub-equipment in my grasp.
After the fight with Muriel, I'd stored key gear in my backpack or set aside. Blood River, the priest's golden spear, the tuner, and so on.
Not swapping out the 'God's Lash' gained from devouring the thunder god, as it yielded huge gains.
Planned to take these new items to the nest, but PS-111 seemed intrigued.
"The silver tool containing psychic power and specific organism gene data."
PS-111 selected the Galleron claw-sword. I handed it over with a finger; it swallowed it whole.
Soon, its scythe-clawed arms began transforming. The black scythes turned silver from the tips, thickening as well. The new form closely resembled a White Galleron's claw.
Having replaced its scythe with the Galleron claw, it swung its arm. A translucent psychic blade extended, slashing the command center wall.
"I can now wield psychic power."
Satisfied with its handiwork, it nodded.
'Prototype model, as expected.'
Contrary to its casual tone, the ability it demonstrated was no trifle. Its true nature: a mid-stage prototype of the Mutant Screamer combat weapon.
Meaning mass production was possible.
I'd heard players were involved in Mutant Screamer development. In fights against them, I might face hundreds or thousands at PS-111's level.
'…Though the odds seem low.'
No Screamers encountered thus far matched or approached PS-111's power. If others were comparable, players would have conquered the stars already.
'Finding its superior model will confirm.'
When we found it, PS-111 was in poor condition. Thanks to that, Specimen 26 could reboot it as an ally, but much of its memory data was corrupted.
For example, it didn't recall the initial planetary operation or strategic objectives. Those would be known to the top model commanding mid-stage prototypes.
'Pira Eleven, was it.'
The overall commander of Mutant Screamers. Unknown if a Screamer or android. As I pondered future plans watching PS-111, the sky mother approached me.
｢Checked the computer. Found something unusual.｣
｢A creature presumed to be a Green Galleron approached, then retreated.｣
｢Doesn't seem so. It closed to short range before withdrawing—clearly hunting.｣
Gallerons, with their aggressive natures, rarely retreat from prey. Only during scouting or against foes too strong to handle.
'Because of me?'
Black exoskeleton, Galleron-like bulk, tentacles—an immature one might mistake me for a Black Galleron. Fine details differ, but cloud-shrouded, it'd look the part.
'Good we didn't fight….'
Nearby, White Galleron Ort's group—with Adhai—clashed with the longstanding Odd Grad pack. Unknown affiliation.
'Whichever side learns of me, they'll be highly wary.'
And Gallerons despise strong foes rampaging in their sight. They'd surely move to eliminate me.
Seemed I'd need to accelerate preparations for battling Gallerons.
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