Black and White (2)
I beat my wing-arms hard and shot upward in a single motion. The storm clouds that had been torn apart by my battle with Ham Ort had quietly drifted back into place.
Amid the snow, the rain, and the occasional crack of lightning, I spotted a lone star hovering with quiet majesty.
I flew swiftly to Adhai's side.
｢Big Adult.｣
[Zzzzz zzzzz (What happened?)]
｢Kin.｣｢Chased.｣
[Zzzz (Kin?)]
｢Me.｣｢White kin.｣｢Meeting.｣｢Ham Ort.｣｢Pack.｣
Just as she said, the Gallagons were fighting as they flew toward us. The White Gallagon being pursued was drenched in blood, while the ten Green Gallagons chasing her looked comparatively unscathed.
Unless she was someone exceptional like Ham Ort, an ordinary White Gallagon would hardly stand a chance against ten opponents. Left alone, she would be hunted down and killed by the Green Gallagons.
｢Big Adult.｣｢White kin.｣｢Has something to say.｣
[Zzzzzzzz (Something to say?)]
｢Important.｣｢Trust.｣｢Request.｣
I studied Adhai, wondering if she simply wanted to save her kin, but that didn't seem to be the mood at all.
Eating a Green Gallagon right now wouldn't be a bad idea either.
The Avatar of the Hunt had already ended before my conversation with Adhai. The Predation Effect was unlikely to trigger, but I could still fill my APEX quota for evolution, so there was nothing to lose.
They do outnumber us, though….
I scanned our surroundings. Aside from the ten, no other Gallagons appeared to be following.
[Zzzz zzzzzzz zzzz (Shall we clear them out first?)]
｢Agree.｣
｢Let's punish the flappy-flaps!｣
I spread my wings wide and glided toward the enemy. Adhai, flying at my side, shot past me with speed rivaling her mother's own.
In the blink of an eye she closed the distance to the Green Gallagon pack, and began firing her Psychic Breath in rapid, darting bursts.
Impressive.
By design, a Gallagon has to go through a charging sequence before unleashing a Psychic Breath—which meant stopping dead in the air right before firing.
The same held true in reality. Even a Gallagon as skilled as Ham Ort had flinched for a moment whenever she fired her breath at me.
But Adhai showed none of that weakness. She was using Super Acceleration to fire her Psychic Breath in short, clipped volleys—a rolling barrage unlike anything I'd seen.
The enemy was thrown into confusion by this unprecedented, outlandish attack style. They tried to close in on her using their own Super Acceleration, but even that fell far short of her speed.
While Adhai drew their attention, the blood-soaked White Gallagon also launched a counterattack.
She fights better than I expected, but….
A freshly matured Gallagon and a gravely wounded White Gallagon simply couldn't beat ten enemies.
If the Green Gallagons used their numerical advantage to surround Adhai, her greatest strengths would become useless. They seemed to reach the same conclusion I did, because they began spreading out to encircle her.
Can't let that happen.
While I couldn't match Adhai or Ham Ort, I could fly fast enough. Hiding within the clouds, I silently closed in on the Gallagons.
The Green Gallagons had their attention fixed entirely on the enemies before their eyes. I waited for one to drift near me, then lunged forward.
｢?!｣
When something three or four times her size suddenly burst out of the black clouds, the Green Gallagon flinched in shock. My Erosion Tentacles whipped out and coiled around her body in an instant.
｢Dan—｣
She tried to fire a warning thought-wave, but I was faster. I stretched my long jaws wide and tore into her throat.
Carrying the limp body, her spine snapped, I slipped back into the clouds.
The grass-green male of the Great Oude Grad's pack, Ragmaad, was in high spirits.
From his water-green days until he'd grown grass-green scales, he had never once been granted the chance to mate. The Great Oude Grad strictly forbade any male but himself from taking a mate.
The old Black Dragon's power remained so mighty that even the pure-white elders flinched before him. A male with mere grass-green scales was nothing to him.
Then, on some ordinary day after he had resigned himself to quiet obedience, opportunity came knocking.
Ham Ort—Oude Grad's third mate and second in the pack hierarchy—had risen in rebellion.
The pure-white queen, who wielded tremendous power despite her youth, was a female even Ragmaad had admired. She rejected Oude Grad's dominion and founded a new pack of her own.
Ragmaad had been tempted to leave with her back then, but his fear of Oude Grad's wrath kept him from acting.
And his prediction had proven correct. The kin who followed Ham Ort could not escape the Black Dragon's fury. Most of them died, and the pure-white leader was reduced to laying eggs until her last breath.
If the survivors of Ham Ort's pack were all killed as well, Ragmaad might finally obtain the opportunity he craved.
The chance to mate with the very pure-white queen he had admired. His dream was inching closer to reality.
A small pest had appeared midway to make trouble, but he wasn't worried.
The abnormally small white kin was very fast and strong—but that was all. His grass-green scaled pack had far greater numbers.
It would merely take some time. When this battle ended, the only ones left standing would be Oude Grad's own.
Thinking this, Ragmaad turned his gaze to the target. Two of his kin were engaging the white one.
Just as he decided they were fighting well, something struck him as wrong.
Because there were supposed to be three of them fighting the white kin.
｢Ragmaad!｣｢Target!｣｢Surround!｣｢Support!｣
A kin called to him about catching the little pest. As Ragmaad looked toward the others, he realized something was off there too.
They were one short as well.
｢Question.｣｢Kin.｣｢Missing.｣
｢Cannot.｣｢Understand.｣
｢Kin.｣｢Total.｣｢Now.｣｢Eight.｣
｢?｣
The kin who couldn't follow his meaning froze midair. Just then, lightning split the dark sky.
The bolt snaked through the clouds and spread across the whole heavens.
In that brief flash, Ragmaad saw it.
A colossal shadow lurking inside the lightless clouds.
The instant the lightning faded, the shadow's owner lunged out. Countless heads seized one of his kin. The kin didn't even manage a cry before it was dragged down into the black clouds.
The cloud that had swallowed one of his kin drifted away on the wind as if nothing had happened. Not a single trace remained where it had passed.
Ragmaad, who had watched the whole scene from beginning to end, felt an emotion he had never known in his life.
A sensation unlike even standing close to Oude Grad's fury came surging up through his scales.
A dread felt with his entire body—overwhelming, absolute terror.
｢Enemy!｣｢Enemy!｣｢New enemy!｣｢Found!｣
The moment he grasped it, a scream tore itself out of him. His terror poured raw into the thought-wave he released.
Sensing Ragmaad's panic, his kin snapped into defensive postures. The small white pest had vanished at some point. Their original target was gone from sight too.
Perhaps the ｢something｣ hiding in the clouds had devoured that one whole as well.
And now that fearful, greedy existence had set its sights on them.
Just then, a violet flash burst from the clouds. It was the breath of the white pest. One of the grass-green kin hastily fell back to evade it.
｢Danger!｣｢Guard!｣
｢Dan—?｣
Then a tide of deep darkness crashed down on the fleeing kin. Ambushed from behind, she was overwhelmed without a single chance to resist. The ｢something｣ with wings as dark as the night sky slipped back behind the storm clouds once more.
｢Black kin!｣｢Danger!｣
｢Oude Grad!｣｢Needed!｣
｢Impossible!｣
｢Calm.｣｢All.｣｢Close together.｣｢Necessary.｣
Ragmaad gathered his panicked kin into one formation. If they stayed bunched together, surely even that hidden ｢something｣ couldn't pick them off at will.
He was still thinking this when lightning flashed again.
Unlike the white flare from moments before, this bolt burned a vivid gold.
｢?｣
And it wasn't just the color that was strange. Bizarrely, the lightning that should have fragmented into scattered branches instead coalesced into a single mass and flew toward one direction.
Straight toward Ragmaad's pack as they huddled together.
The serpents of light, fast as lightning itself, tore his kin limb from limb.
Through the storm of blood and shredded flesh, he saw the being beyond the lightning.
The ｢something｣ enthroned upon the heavens was a black king of death. The king's countless heads held Ragmaad's kin fast in their grips.
And the white herald sent forth by that black king vomited violet flame at him.
Easier than expected.
Ten enemies had worried me slightly, but the fight resolved itself far more smoothly than I'd imagined. They were inexperienced younglings, apparently, because they panicked quickly. If a White Gallagon commanding them had been mixed in, things wouldn't have fallen apart this fast.
A couple of them probably fled to call reinforcements.
If so, an endless wheel of hell awaited me next. Gallagons would keep throwing themselves at me until the day I died.
Glad it didn't happen.
Having finished off the Green Gallagon pack, we descended back to the ground.
｢A new Gallagon, I see.｣
[Zzzzzzz zzzzz zzzzzzz (Corpse fragments fell over the forest)]
｢You want me to collect them? Understood.｣
"I will assist as well, Middle Baby."
｢…Could you possibly change what you call me?｣
"Negative. Insufficient authority. Conditions unmet."
While Mother of the Sky and PS-111 headed into the forest, the White Gallagon approached me.
｢Nel Germa.｣｢Black kin.｣｢Gratitude.｣
The female White Gallagon, introducing herself as Nel Germa, offered me her thanks.
One of Ham Ort's subordinates, then.
I looked the wounded Gallagon over. Her whole body was a mass of wounds; she was badly weakened. If I attacked her now, she would die quickly.
I'll ask about Adhai first, then deal with her.
Just as I moved my Monster's Tentacles to ask, Nel Germa fired a thought-wave first.
｢Daughter of the Shooting Star.｣｢Ham Ort.｣｢Message.｣｢Has.｣
｢Message?｣｢For me?｣
｢Oude Grad.｣｢Pack.｣｢Attacked.｣｢Kin.｣｢Most.｣｢Dead.｣
｢!｣
｢Young kin.｣｢Few.｣｢Remain.｣｢Rest.｣｢Death.｣
At Nel Germa's words, Adhai and I both jolted. Her amethyst eyes flew wide open, and then her wings began to tremble. Rage at the news that the young kin had been slaughtered.
｢Oude Grad.｣｢Bad!｣｢Young kin.｣｢Pitiful!｣
My own feelings were somewhat different.
So he made the first move.
It seemed the Black Gallagon had raided the nest while Ham Ort was away taking Adhai from the pack.
Our side had no leader; theirs had one—and not just any leader, but a Black Gallagon stronger than any White. What followed was obvious. A massacre, without question.
That must also be why Ham Ort had cut short our duel and rushed back. She intended to join her kin and fight the Black Gallagon, even if too late.
Judging by the situation, she failed.
In any case, if he'd raided the nest and slaughtered the Gallagons, it was a serious loss for me too. It would shrink the pool of Genetic Essences I could claim.
No—the essences I could live without. It's the evolution requirement that's the problem.
To evolve into an Adult, I had to kill APEX organisms with my own hands. Eating corpses slain by another creature did nothing to fill my quota.
I asked Nel Germa.
[Zzzzzzz zzzzz zzzzzzz (What happened to Ham Ort?)]
｢Me.｣｢When leaving.｣｢Oude Grad.｣｢Ham Ort.｣｢Fighting.｣
Nine times out of ten, Ham Ort was dead. However strong she was compared to ordinary White Gallagons, she couldn't overcome the difference in color.
｢More important.｣｢Daughter of the Shooting Star.｣
｢?｣
｢Ham Ort.｣｢Spoke.｣｢Savior.｣｢Condition.｣
｢King of the Sky.｣｢Already.｣｢Eaten.｣
｢Next.｣｢Condition.｣｢Eating white kin.｣
｢Eating kin?｣
｢Ham Ort.｣｢Self-sacrifice.｣｢Daughter of the Shooting Star.｣｢Growth.｣｢Wants.｣
｢Cannot!｣｢Trust!｣｢Cannot!｣
Adhai reacted with open disbelief at Nel Germa's words.
｢Ham Ort.｣｢Abandoned me!｣｢Sacrifice.｣｢Lie!｣
It seemed unreal to her that the mother who had once abandoned her would now lay down her life on her behalf.
Even family—or former family—couldn't be trusted so easily after that. I understood exactly how she felt, because I'd been through something similar myself.
Maybe far worse than mine.
On this brutal ice planet, leaving the nest without any hunting ability meant death. The pack that abandoned Adhai had clearly wished for her death.
｢Truth.｣｢Ham Ort.｣｢Sacrifice.｣｢Impossible.｣｢Instead.｣｢Nel Germa.｣｢Sacrifice.｣
｢Cannot!｣｢Trust!｣
｢Time.｣｢None.｣｢Oude Grad.｣｢Remaining young kin.｣｢Will find.｣
As Adhai shook her head violently, Nel Germa pleaded with her desperately.
While I watched the two of them, No. 26 drifted up beside me and plucked out a single tentacle, poking me with it.
｢Big Baby.｣
[Zzzzz (What is it?)]
｢Big Flappy. Is she Little Baby's mommy?｣
[Zzz zzzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzzzz (Yeah. In the past—not anymore, though)]
｢Once a mommy is always a mommy.｣
Honestly, I wasn't in the mood to discuss such a pointless topic with No. 26 right now. I stayed silent, so she kept the thought-wave going.
｢When the Big Flappy ran away, she said something.｣
[Zzz (What?)]
｢She said: take good care of Little Baby.｣
I was about to dismiss it as nonsense when something suddenly surfaced in my memory.
When Ham Ort had deceived me and withdrawn from our fight, she'd sent me a brief thought-wave. At the time, I'd been too frantic over Adhai's supposed danger to catch it properly.
｢She said she hoped Little Baby, at least, would live.｣
[Zzzz (Then she…)]
｢Is it because the Big Flappy is her mommy?｣
I had no answer for No. 26's question.
…If I think of it that way, it makes sense.
It explained why Ham Ort had let go of her precious daughter so easily.
Speaking with her kin, she must have realized the nest was under attack. On top of that, I had already taken the Skywhale from her, so Adhai's growth through that route was gone. And so she entrusted her daughter to me and flew back to defend the nest.
And that's not all. She must have decided I alone wasn't enough, so she took out insurance.
She knew how strong I was, but judged me weaker than the Black Dragon. So during the battle at the nest, she'd spoken to a White Gallagon and sent her here, to Adhai.
Whether Adhai eats her of her own will, or I kill Nel Germa and feed her to Adhai, the result is the same.
Either way, if Adhai grew strong, she could survive the Black Dragon. So Ham Ort had placed one final gamble.
Ha. Cunning to the bone.
Of all the enemies I'd met in this world, none had been smarter than her—including Mega Corp's Noble Capital, the Star Union's androids, and even the players.
Maternal instinct, maybe….
Applying human standards to a Gallagon was laughable, but no other concept explained this situation better. A mother's heart, wishing for her daughter's peace and happiness.
Or perhaps Ham Ort had simply wanted to atone to the daughter she once abandoned.
Whether she understood No. 26's thought-wave or not, Adhai's fire had visibly gone out. Confused emotions spilled in a flood from her mind.
Tsk.
Speculating about Ham Ort's motives was pointless. She was dead either way, and a far greater enemy remained: the Black Gallagon.
I forced down the ache gnawing at a corner of my chest and called Nel Germa over.
[Zzzzzzzz zzzzz zzzzzz (Is Oude Grad really that strong?)]
｢Oude Grad.｣｢Mysterious power.｣｢Has.｣
[Zzzzzz (Mysterious power?)]
｢Oude Grad.｣｢Reads.｣｢Hearts.｣｢Of enemies.｣｢Because of that.｣｢Never wounded.｣
As far as I knew, Black Gallagons had no such ability. They were living natural disasters that ruled the skies, but nothing about them read minds or bore invulnerable skin.
Then again—can't rule it out. He might have a power I don't know about.
An already overwhelming foe with an unknown ability on top would be anything but an easy opponent. And it wasn't just him; I had to account for his pack. He would surely summon his followers to fight me, just as Ham Ort had.
Which means I need reinforcements of my own.
My strength wasn't enough for this fight as it stood. I had to find some way to fill the gap.
[Zzzzzz zzz zzzz (I have a question)]
｢Black kin.｣｢Question.｣｢Answer.｣
[Zzzzz zzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzz zzzz (Eating a white kin. Is there no other condition besides that?)]
｢Probably.｣｢That will do.｣
Nel Germa nodded.
Good news.
What I needed right now was more allies, and stronger ones.
Killing Nel Germa here was worth less than keeping her alive to use against the Black Dragon. And by all accounts, Adhai could eat any White Gallagon to fuel her growth.
Then the answer was already decided.
I just have to save someone else.
Someone from Oude Grad's pack.