Chapter 218
Chapter 218
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 218
Chapter Title: Confronting Aud Grad
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Aud Grad that dodged the enhanced Observer of Terror made no move to attack us.
It simply kept its distance, remaining on high alert.
Before I'd evaded it, the creature had exuded an air of arrogance, but now that haughtiness was gone. It was watching us—no, me—with extreme caution.
The motion of my wings, the angle of my head, the auxiliary organs swaying in the wind, and even the monster's tentacles glowing purple and green.
'This doesn't make sense.'
The creature's gaze was fixed on the monster's tentacles, as if it knew full well they posed a threat to it.
'Black Gallerons don't have any scouting-related traits.'
Gallerons don't possess traits like Penetration, which compiles environmental data to detect hidden presences underground or behind walls, or Insight, which analyzes an opponent's appearance to deduce their gear or traits. Not even the Red Gallerons that only appear in events.
Gallerons are perfect organisms equipped with robust physical capabilities for surviving in space, devastating psionic manipulation, long lifespans, and the social nature to hunt in packs with their kin. They have no need for scouting traits on top of that.
'Or maybe that's not entirely accurate.'
Didn't Adhai demonstrate abilities beyond a standard Galleron? Aud Grad might not be a typical Black Galleron either.
'Let's try Insight.'
In truth, I'd used Insight on Adhai once while searching for the Hellsider Hornet. It hadn't yielded much useful info, but still.
The odds of getting something new from this one were low, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I flapped my wings to close in on it.
[Zuzuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzu (I'm going in close. Help me out)]
「Yeah.」
I'd planned to hold back the combined assault of Colors of the Abyss and No. 26 as our trump card, but the trap had already sprung. No. 26 had been playing passively to hide its power until now, but that was no longer necessary.
I beat the air hard with my wings and surged forward. As the distance between us shrank, Aud Grad's horns began to glow purple.
A tiger's growl rumbled from far above my head. The Maelstrom was whipping up a psionic storm.
Purple lightning poured down behind my tail, and a waterspout over 100 meters wide blocked my path ahead.
The spout sucked in air voraciously, braking my flight speed dramatically. In that instant, as the psionic lightning arced toward me, No. 26 intervened.
「Urghhh! 」
Have you ever seen lightning from the sky freeze in midair? Something you'd only see in photos was happening right on my back.
I could sense it through my auxiliary organs. Thousands—no, countless threads erupted from No. 26's body, seizing the lightning. The captured psionic power then gathered at a single point in the air at No. 26's command, like a specimen pinned in place.
「! 」
Aud Grad, the very caster of the Maelstrom, belatedly tried to wrest control of the lightning back, but it was too late. The psionic power No. 26 had hijacked was already forming a purple arrow aimed straight at its throat.
Like an arrow loosed by a god to slay an evil dragon, the psionic power sliced through the thunderclouds. Failing to control it, Aud Grad flapped its wings frantically to dodge. The arrow curved to pursue, but it couldn't keep up with the creature's erratic maneuvers.
「Big guy, I can't keep this up long—I'm getting tired.」
[Zuzuzu (It's fine)]
Thanks to No. 26 buying me time, I closed in on Aud Grad without any interference.
[Zuzuzuzuzu (Help Adhai)]
「Yeah.」
Just then, the diminutive White Galleron, Adhai, was assaulting Aud Grad from close range. No. 26 manipulated the psionic power to bolster Adhai's energy blasts.
「Insolent vermin!」
Aud Grad vented an irritated thoughtwave as it unleashed a barrage of Psionic Breaths. While Adhai dodged the high-speed heat rays with evasive maneuvers, I activated Insight.
'...As expected.'
Having confirmed it with Insight, I activated my own Psionic Breath. Unlike the usual purple glow, my body now shimmered with a bizarre light blending green and purple pigments, among others.
It was the Psionic Breath enhanced by Colors of the Abyss. Bubbles of ravenous destruction formed at the tips of my tentacles, tormented by endless hunger.
The bubble-formed breath surged toward Aud Grad to devour it. The creature, mid-attack on Adhai, spotted the bubbles and retreated swiftly.
'It noticed again this time.'
Thanks to its retreat, I bought a moment to recall the intel I'd just gained.
'It has some special ability.'
Its 'Status' made it clear. Beyond the 'Dragon's Power' enhancement, there was another effect active.
Gallerons superior to Black Gallerons all possess the unique skill Dragon Heart. For regular players, it triggers draconification; for Gallerons, it grants the 'Dragon's Power' enhancement.
The issue was the additional enhancement after Dragon's Power. A standard Black Galleron should only have that one, yet this one had two.
That extra enhancement was likely tied to its unknown ability.
The frustrating part was that Insight hadn't revealed all its abilities. Insight doesn't show everything—gear, skills, traits—it displays them randomly.
Getting close again for another Insight would be ideal, but it didn't look feasible. After dodging my attacks in succession, it was wary of me to the extreme. Being clever, it wouldn't let me approach anymore.
'At least it's playing defensively. Small mercies.'
I had no idea how Aud Grad knew about my traits, but it had restricted its own movements as a result. If it'd come at me aggressively, the fight would've been far tougher.
'Time to change tactics.'
I sent a brief thoughtwave to Adhai. It hesitated in confusion at first, but when I pulsed insistently, it finally relented.
「Great One」「Body」「Careful」
With those words, it flew off in the opposite direction.
Aud Grad ignored Adhai's departure, fixated solely on me. It knew Adhai couldn't inflict any real damage even if it attacked.
'It figures taking me down will end this quickly.'
A perfectly rational assessment from its perspective. Of course, I'd anticipated that judgment, which was why I'd acted this way.
And so the battle with it resumed. Perhaps because of No. 26, Aud Grad had adjusted the Maelstrom domain to prevent lightning from falling.
Instead, it increased the number of waterspouts descending from the clouds to hinder my movement. It intended to keep distance, intercept me gradually, and wear me down.
As expected, it maximized the gap between us while firing off Breaths.
No. 26 had even neutralized the Ort's heat rays before, but Aud Grad's Breaths were impossible to control outright. So it was providing support by subtly deflecting their trajectories to miss.
'Even that's a huge help.'
Truth be told, I had one 'trump card' up my sleeve.
Had Aud Grad not been far stronger than I'd anticipated, or if it had been as dim-witted as the Black Gallerons I knew, I'd have used it by now.
I had a trait acquired from hunting the Sky Whale, fused with my existing physical trait 'Composite Scales' into a new flesh-series fusion trait.
Mimic Scales: Inherits and enhances the effects of Composite Scales. When continuously struck by energy-based attacks, it mimics those energy properties and reflects them into your body.
*P.S.: In nature, originality doesn't matter. What matters is how you survive.
'Mimic Scales' was similar to yet distinct from 'Metal Absorption,' which devours metals and incorporates their effects. As described, Mimic Scales replicates an enemy's energy attacks, granting your body resistance to that specific energy type.
For instance, if hit repeatedly by a Plasma Launcher, Mimic Scales activates, dramatically boosting defense against plasma attacks—to the point where not even a scale fragment would break.
A fantastic trait that exponentially boosts an Aimorph's survivability, but it had drawbacks.
You couldn't gain resistance to a new energy type while one was already active. Immunity to plasma meant no psionic immunity until the prior one faded.
To gain psionic resistance, you'd have to wait for the existing immunity to dissipate.
'That's why Cult players rotated weapon types.'
Of course, in my current situation, it wasn't a major issue. Gallerons primarily used psionic attacks.
The problem was acquiring the Mimic Scales resistance required sustained exposure to enemy attacks.
Against a foe like Aud Grad that could overwhelm my body, it was hard to trigger. I'd die before Mimic Scales kicked in.
'If things hadn't gone awry, I could've used it properly.'
Originally, I'd planned to farm the resistance during the White Galleron hunt. Their Psionic Breaths were tolerable enough.
'Should've prepped in advance.'
With Adhai and No. 26, it would've taken time, but I could've activated Mimic Scales. My complacency had led here—I hadn't expected it to show up so fast.
'...No time for regrets now.'
I wrapped my wing-arms around my body and spun. An incoming heat ray grazed the surface of my wing by a paper's thickness.
'No good.'
I'd considered tanking its Breath to trigger Mimic Scales, but that dark purple heat ray was beyond blocking with my body.
'Can't risk it without knowing its ability.'
Whether Mimic Scales or otherwise, I needed to identify its power first to devise a counter.
'It's not a mind-reading ability.'
On second thought, the chances it knew about Colors of the Abyss—something even players didn't—were slim.
'Which leaves one possibility.'
A precognitive danger sense.
Like my Predator Sense, it could analyze its surroundings to foresee near-prophetic events.
'That seems most likely.'
It had anticipated my plans without any reports and acted accordingly. Not only that, it had rushed to aid the exact White Galleron I was targeting out of twelve. Actions only possible with foreknowledge.
Yet doubts lingered. As far as I knew, no ability foresaw across such a vast scope. Even Predator Sense only warned of immediate lethal threats.
If it could perfectly read the future, I had no path to victory.
'No. Impossible.'
If it had such power, it would've killed me long ago. Like right when I arrived on this planet, or after my fight with Jason when I was weakened. Opportunities abounded.
The reason it hadn't was simple.
'Its future sight has limits.'
The key was figuring out those limits. Only then could I exploit it.
'Time to find out.'
And the assistants for my experiment were ascending toward us.
「Black kin」「Support」
Two Gallerons of varying sizes, both clad in white scales, fell in behind me. Adhai and Nel Gorma.
Aud Grad seemed to think Adhai's retreat meant I was playing bait in the interim, but that was far from the truth.
It had feigned flight, circled around to aid Nel Gorma, and together they'd swiftly finished off the White Galleron with broken wings before heading here.
Aud Grad glared at us with cold eyes.
「Nel Gorma」「Did you kill Zer Garuda」
「Yes」
「Aud Grad's mate」「What lacked that you betrayed」
「Ort」「Said」「Aud Grad」「Liar」「Tyrant」「Weak kin」「Abandoned」「Killed」「Agree」「No」
Aud Grad fell silent at Nel Gorma's retort.
After a brief hush, it emitted a thoughtwave.
「Regrettable」「Unrepentant traitor」「Only death」
「Nel Gorma」「Won't die」「You die」「Liar」「Aud Grad」
「Great Aud Grad」「Immortal」
With that, it shifted its gaze from Nel Gorma to me. The wariness that had filled its eyes moments ago was replaced by something entirely different.
'Mockery?'
「Great Aud Grad never retreats」「No matter the foe's strength」
The situation hardly allowed for leisure, yet it was sneering at me.
In that moment, I felt a thunderbolt strike my mind.
The realization hit me just as Adhai and Nel Gorma urgently sent thoughtwaves.
「Great One」「That way」「Kin」「Detected!」
「White kin」「Approaching」
They weren't visible yet, but its pack was undoubtedly heading this way.
'Maelstrom! It used that to summon its allies!'
Few beings on this planet could trigger localized atmospheric anomalies.
Only the black dragon before me, Aud Grad.
It had been wary of my attacks, true—but it had a plan of its own.
「Great Aud Grad」「Strong foe」「Danger」「Has beaten all」
It sent a triumphant thoughtwave. Despite the bravado, its intent to evade and stall until its kin arrived was obvious.
'Don't make me laugh.'
Strong foes, dangers, beaten them all— that applied to me too.
I'd overcome countless such threats to reach this point.
'You think you're the only one who can call for backup?'
This time was no different.