Chapter 220
Chapter 220
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 220
Chapter Title: qiqi iykow gkk-220i
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 220
Chapter Title: First Clash with the Black Dragon
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'What in the world...?'
The Mother of the Sky, who had been hiding her body, lifted her head only after confirming that they had left.
It hadn't been long since she started watching the nest when the Gallerons began pouring out in massive numbers. The creatures burst forth as if some emergency had arisen, then hurriedly took to the skies and vanished from sight.
'Why are the Gallerons... No way?'
She gazed up at the overcast sky. It was still filled with thick clouds, but there was one difference. Amid the clouds raining down snow and hail, a golden light flickered intermittently. It was as if lightning wasn't striking the ground but flowing between the clouds instead.
She realized something was off. Something had gone terribly wrong.
That lightning—no, the psychic power mimicking it—was produced by her ally. It was her comrade's trump card, unleashed only against formidable foes. The fact that he had used it meant he was in grave danger.
She pondered whether to rush to his aid or not, then made up her mind.
'I'll do what I can.'
Rising to her feet, she dashed toward the cliff housing the nest.
Thanks to the Gallerons' mass exodus just moments ago, there were no White Gallerons left in the nest. To be precise, none except for the captured Ham Ort.
'If not now, it'll be impossible to extract him.'
She had already heard from Morphbak that Ham Ort held significant value. With their attention drawn to Morphbak, this was her one chance to rescue him.
'Plus, he's Adhai's birth mother.'
She recalled the small-bodied Galleron. Adhai harbored a complex mix of love and hate toward the parent who had abandoned him.
If anything happened to Ham Ort, the little one would lose his chance to resolve that resentment forever.
'He can be a pain sometimes, but...'
For some reason, she didn't want to see him grieving.
'If I can just deal with the Green Gallerons, I can break through.'
Provided she utilized her special trait, the Hunter God's Mimic Husk.
'Wendigo would be the best choice.'
Among the phantom beasts she could transform into, it wasn't the strongest, but for infiltrating enemy lines and extracting a VIP like now, Wendigo was far superior.
She also had to consider the possibility of prolonged combat.
Activating the Hunter God's Mimic Husk locked her out of other transformations for a full month. To transform again, she'd have to revert to her griffin form and wait it out. With a long battle ahead, Wendigo's five-day duration made it the better fit.
As she bounded forward on all fours, she activated the Hunter God's Mimic Husk.
Black wave patterns spread across her body, enveloping her entirely. Her skeleton twisted, and the firm muscles embedded throughout her frame melted away.
Her spine straightened as her skeleton reshaped. Her hind legs grew thicker and longer than her forelegs. No longer using all four limbs, she ran on her hind legs alone.
While sprinting bipedally, she roughly tore off the remaining fur from her body. Golden fur and flesh peeled away, revealing obsidian-black bones and thin skin beneath.
Finally, she ripped the skin from her face. With the hide gone, what remained was the jet-black skull of a bird, topped by massive, imposing horns protruding from her head. It should have resembled a stag's head, but traces of her griffin form lingered, altering it slightly.
Within the empty eye sockets, her characteristic amber eyes glowed like will-o'-the-wisps.
Transformed into a Wendigo, her bipedal structure resembled her beastkin form in functionality. Of course, it was overwhelmingly more eerie and grotesque by comparison.
Glancing down at her body mid-stride, she let out a small sigh.
The Mother of the Sky, now a Wendigo, began scaling down the cliff using her hands and feet.
The nest had yet to detect her intrusion.
The flames from the cruiser's main guns obscured Audgrad entirely. While it burned within the inferno, I flew toward the cruiser carrying PS-111.
The other Gallerons targeted the ship that had attacked their leader. The ivory vessel opened fire on the approaching enemies with its cannons.
The medium and small cannons mounted on the hull's exterior spat flames in unison. Purple-glowing projectiles zeroed in on the flying Gallerons.
The White Gallerons dodged with practiced ease, but the younger Green Gallerons faltered. Several with green scales plummeted, wings riddled with holes.
Enraged by the sight, a White Galleron charged its breath. Spotting its tentacles tinting purple, I accelerated and rammed it head-on.
Startled by the ambush, the White Galleron whipped its head toward me.
Its psychic breath struck my head carapace. It had likely anticipated me crashing with a hole blasted through, but reality betrayed its expectations.
The reflected beam pierced straight through its neck. The light in its amethyst-like eyes faded. I opened my maw right there and crunched its head.
'Wish I could hand this to Adhai, but...'
I'd tried earlier, but their interference was too intense here. I tossed the headless corpse aside and prepared my psychic breath.
As the creature's latent energy converted to psychic power, a voice emanated from the cruiser.
"Glad you're all safe. Do you have a plan?"
The reason I'd summoned PS-111 here was that cruiser he piloted. It was our only ticket out alive.
As I prepared to relay my thoughts, a high-output psychic breath hurtled from behind. I ducked my head swiftly to evade.
The dark purple psychic breath wasn't aimed at me—it targeted PS-111 at the end of my flight path.
The ship he controlled executed an emergency evasion. But the beam was too fast; it clipped the rear.
The diamond-shaped cruiser lurched violently. Then I sensed Audgrad's thought waves blasting from behind me.
Obviously, the cruiser's main guns couldn't kill a Black Galleron. As a psychic being, it resisted Cult weapons, and at that level, its hide was incredibly thick.
That said, it wasn't unscathed. Its left lower body, hit directly, had scales flayed and blood dripping steadily.
It was barely more than a scrape, but the creature seemed furious at sustaining any injury from the surprise attack. Its eyes oozed killing intent, poised to shred the cruiser.
'Perfect.'
The more it focused on the cruiser, the better.
"Five minutes. Correcting for the recent hit—three minutes max before we can't hold."
That would suffice.
While PS-111 drew its gaze, I flew toward Adhai and Nel German.
The two moved in perfect sync, like twins.
Adhai exploited his small frame and speed to slip through enemy gaps. Once he disrupted their formation, Nel German sniped isolated Gallerons with his heavy firepower.
After falling for the same tactic repeatedly, Audgrad's mates moved to eliminate Nel German.
'Not on my watch.'
I unleashed my prepared psychic breath at them. This time, a standard one without Abyssal Hues.
They scattered to dodge, but one failed. It was the mate who'd played bait earlier for Audgrad. Raising altitude to evade, it lost its lower body instead.
Receiving my thought waves, Nel German swiftly seized the torso.
With one mate slain so anticlimactically, the remaining six panicked. While they reeled, I called to Nel German and Adhai.
I explained the plan to escape to the questioning pair.
It was a high-risk plan, but they trusted me. I took the mate's corpse from Nel German and withdrew. Leaving them to reengage the Galleron swarm in aerial combat, I headed for the cruiser.
We'd been fighting mere minutes, yet the cruiser was already a wreck. Only the thrusters kept it aloft, barely.
As I approached, I sent waves to PS-111.
"The ship's computer is more complex than anticipated, but feasible."
"Understood."
In this regard, half-machine suited him well. Despite the risk of immediate explosion, he obeyed instantly.
'Of course, I won't let you die.'
Audgrad turned as I neared, belatedly realizing I'd killed one of its mates.
Audgrad barely reacted to its mate's death. Instead, the dark purple flames in its eyes intensified.
After tearing off a female Galleron's head, I hurled the body at it. Its gaze flicked to the corpse momentarily.
The instant No. 26 manipulated the body to block its view, I unleashed Terror Stare laced with Abyssal Hues.
The bubble formed atop my head carapace sailed toward it from behind the corpse. Sensing the crisis—likely glimpsing the future—it urgently pulled away.
Seizing the opening, I messaged PS-111 swiftly.
A few seconds after my waves arrived, the hangar bay opened, revealing PS-111. Obeying without hesitation, he leaped from the platform.
A mutant screamer plummeting without aids. I adjusted my wings to catch him.
My wings folded, sending me into a steep dive. Just as I was about to snag him, a second sun rose in the planet's atmosphere.
The clouds I'd split with God's Lash were swept away by a massive explosion, vanishing once more.
I wrapped No. 26 on my back and PS-111 securely with my wing arms. Then the blast wave reached me.
The explosion's shock combined with my descent velocity hurled me toward the ground at breakneck speed. Soon, a tremendous impact slammed into me.
'Audgrad?'
Ignoring the flurry of pain reduction messages, I glanced skyward. Amid the clouds, only a blinding orb of intense light remained.
Beyond it, tiny specks dotted the horizon—few in number, outside the blast radius.
Thought waves so potent they reached the ground. Audgrad, its vocabulary impoverished by rage, was the source.
Unclear how much damage it and its minions took, but substantial, I surmised.
Adhai and Nel German, forewarned by me, fled the radius at the first tremor. The others hadn't.
The crash had pulverized my wing arm bones; part of my head carapace shattered. Fortunately, No. 26 and PS-111 were unharmed in my embrace.
No. 26 emerged, puffed up, and levitated me low with psychic power. Then, per my instructions, it began digging a tunnel with Demon Crash.
"Affirmative."
Numerous Galleron corpses littered the area from our skirmishes. Salvaging some would aid Adhai's growth.
PS-111 moved to obey, then paused.
"A word, if I may."
"I've been modified to withstand atmospheric reentry without issue. What was the purpose of your action just now?"
His question left me speechless—I hadn't known.
'Wait, I think I've heard that somewhere...'
Silent from lack of retort, No. 26 answered for me.
"Is that so?"
Unintentional as it was, no need to deny. As he fell quiet, PS-111 bowed in gratitude.
"Thank you for your consideration, Aimorph."
Afterward, we slipped into the tunnel No. 26 dug, evading enemy eyes.
The enraged Audgrad cursed me, unleashing psychic breaths into the forest. It seemed it wouldn't stop until it hunted us down, but surprisingly, the assault ended quickly.
Its minions rushed back whence they came—some issue at the nest, perhaps.
With those final waves, it and its forces vanished.
'Mother of the Sky's doing?'
Like PS-111 drawn by God's Lash, she might have sensed my peril and launched a diversion.
'She'll be fine.'
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried, but as a fellow ranker, she'd escape unscathed.
Thus ended the first battle with the black dragon.
This round was near a draw, but next time would differ.
The moment we met again, it would die by my hand.
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