Regrouping (4)
That settled the question of Adhai's growth, but there were still things left to handle.
Originally, I'd planned to fold the Red Gallagon into my strategy for taking down Ored Ghad — but that card was no longer on the table.
Which means I need to revise the plan to fight without one.
That said, regardless of what she'd chosen, it was hard not to feel a flicker of regret. Red Gallagons were, both in the lore and in the actual game, apex predators more fearsome than even Sea Demons or Black Galagons. Creatures wielding power greater than the red dragons could be counted on one hand.
Still, I couldn't expect that level of strength from Adhai as she was now. How much of the Red Gallagon's power she could actually draw upon remained an unknown — and she would inevitably be weaker than the genuine article.
I'll look into that later.
Right now there were things I needed to confirm first. I turned my gaze to the Mother of the Sky.
She had entered the Dragon's Nest itself to rescue Ham Ort. How she'd pulled it off, the size and condition of the enemy force — I had plenty of questions.
｢I saw it from the sky when you used God's Whip.｣
Knowing exactly what I wanted to ask, she began patiently recounting what had happened at the Dragon's Nest.
｢I thought about falling back to support you, but I can't fly. Charging in blind wouldn't have helped anyone. Figured I'd do more good hitting the nest instead, so that's what I did.｣
[Zzz (Fair enough).]
｢With all the White Gallagons gone from the nest, I figured it was worth a shot. Getting inside wasn't even that hard.｣
Minute bacteria colonized the Wendigo's black fur. They did no serious harm to other organisms, but they induced a temporary degradation of cognitive function.
A Wendigo could deliberately disperse these bacteria from its body. Anyone who inhaled them or was infected experienced, for a short time, a loss of spatial orientation and scrambling of all five senses.
Perfect for infiltration or ambushes.
She knew the Wendigo inside and out, just as I did — no doubt she'd shifted into that form deliberately.
For the record, that ability could only be used while transformed into a Wendigo, since the lore had the bacteria generating from its black fur.
[Zzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz Zzzz (How many Galagons were in the nest?)]
｢Hard to say exactly, since I did my best to avoid them, but the Green Galagons alone had to be more than fifty.｣
[Zzz (That's a lot).]
Factoring in the Galagons she hadn't seen, plus the hatchlings, Ored Ghad's pride had to be pushing a hundred members.
As far as I knew, a single Galagon pride almost never exceeded sixty. Beyond that point, keeping everyone fed became a serious problem.
Come to think of it — back when I first fought the Mutant Screamer here.
When the thing self-destructed, it set the forest ablaze and burned countless creatures alive. The Galagons that had flown in at the time were far too busy carting off food to care about anything else.
Galagons were predators that relished hunting live prey. They would eat carrion, but it ranked low on their priorities. Yet they had thrown themselves into hauling away the charred corpses anyway.
[Zzzzz Zzzz (They must be starving).]
｢I never went near where the eggs are kept, but probably, yeah. They've got way too many mouths to feed.｣
[Zzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz Zzzzz Zzzz (And yet, with numbers like that, you still managed to get Ham Ort out?)]
｢It was close. And the situation worked in my favor.｣
[Zzz Zzzz (What do you mean?)]
｢Ham Ort was watching for her own chance, too. The moment I found her and gave her a quick rundown, she got it right away. Thanks to her cooperating, I kept the fighting to a minimum.｣
That gave me a small start. Adhai's mother, indeed. Her judgment and nerve were anything but ordinary.
Because the rescue target had cooperated so actively, she said escaping the nest hadn't been nearly as hard as expected. The Wendigo's potent signature ability, Ice Evil Spirit, had seen to that.
Creatures struck by the Ice Evil Spirit lost themselves entirely to an unnatural hunger. She had whipped the Green Galagons patrolling the nest into a frenzy and used their rampages to pull the enemy's eyes away as she moved.
And the cliff — anticipated as the greatest obstacle to their escape — had been cleared easily thanks to an idea Ham Ort herself had proposed.
｢I was going to climb up and slip away, but she told me water flowed at the base of the cliff. So we went out that way instead.｣
When they leapt from the cliff, Ham Ort had used her psychic power to slow their fall. In the end, both of them dropped into the water without so much as a serious injury.
｢A little later and it would've been ugly. Ored Ghad came back while we were still getting out.｣
A miraculous stroke of luck. If she had returned to the nest even slightly later, or if the rescue of Ham Ort had taken even a little longer, they both would have been finished.
Making her way out through the waterways, she had returned to our nest.
｢When I got back, everyone was hiding in pits they'd dug in front of the nest.｣
Ah, so that's what those pits were.
They'd nearly attacked the Mother of the Sky in her Wendigo form, but thanks to Ham Ort, no fight had broken out.
｢After that, I went out in fits and starts to hunt and scout. In case you came back leading a pack of Galagons on your tail.｣
[Zzzz (Well done).]
Sound judgment and decisive action — fitting for a ranker. When I praised her, the amber flames smoldering in her eye sockets swayed gently.
｢You've gotten awfully free with the compliments lately, Morph-fucker.｣
[Zzzz (Want me to take it back?)]
｢I'm kidding. Anyway, I heard it from Ham Ort too — Ored Ghad has some strange power, right?｣
[Zzz Zzz Zzzz Zzzz Zzzz (Yes. He can foresee crises).]
｢Foresee crises?｣
At my words, the Mother of the Sky scratched her black skull with a hand.
｢You mean a precognition skill? That was pretty underwhelming in the game.｣
[Zzzzz Zzz Zz Zzzz Zzzzz (Not here. He reads the actual future).]
Understanding what that implied, she straightened at once. She knew full well how grave a problem it was for a Black Gallagon — an apex of the ecosystem — to be able to read the future.
｢...That won't be easy. How far ahead do you think he can see?｣
[Zzz Zzzz Zzzzz Zzz Zzz (Crises to his life, occurring within five minutes).]
I didn't know precisely how far his sight extended. But it was certain that it reacted to threats against his life.
Come to think of it, Ham Ort said she fought him too.
[Zzzzz Zzzzz Zzz Zzz Zzzzz Zzzzzz (You said you heard it from Ham Ort? I should ask her once she wakes up.)]
｢Huh? I don't know if Ham Ort can help you there.｣
[Zzz (Hm?)]
｢The ability she told me about is a different one. Not precognition.｣
[Zzz Zzzz Zz Zzzz (He has another ability on top of that?)]
Hearing that, even I couldn't help but be thrown off balance.
｢Unlike the precognition, it's not a combat ability. No — honestly, calling it an ability at all is a stretch.｣
[Zzz Zzzzz (What kind of power is it?)]
｢Going by Ham Ort's words, he carries a mineral imbued with the power to deceive his own kind.｣
[Zzz (A mineral?)]
Something surfaced in my memory at her words.
A gemstone? Could it be?
He wore a massive ring set with a polished jewel on his forepaw.
Galagons possessed intelligence, but they had no concept of adorning themselves with equipment or clothing. That was exactly why I'd found his ring so strange when I first saw it.
[Zzzz Zzz Zzzz Zzz Zzzz Zzz Zzzz (Now that you mention it — he was wearing a ring set with a jewel.)]
｢A jeweled ring, huh. That's probably what she meant. She said he never, under any circumstances, lets that mineral leave his body.｣
If Ham Ort's account was true, it explained why Ored Ghad — despite possessing an abnormal personality even by Galagon standards — was able to command so many of his kin. Where the ring had come from was another question entirely.
Whatever the case, the fact that the ring is the core of his dominion is valuable intelligence.
What if he lost the ring mid-battle?
His followers would be thrown into violent turmoil. They were already starving, and now they'd learn their ruler had been commanding his own kind through some suspicious means.
If I played that card well, I could deal Ored Ghad a crippling blow.
I looked down at Adhai, nuzzling her head against the back of my hand.
Watching her, ideas began to surface for how to fight Ored Ghad.
Good.
I had gathered enough from the Mother of the Sky. As I organized the information, I turned my mind to what came next.
Three things remained.
Waiting for Ham Ort to wake, and...
Testing Adhai's new abilities, and activating my Mimic Scales.
The two were linked — I could handle them in one go.
[Zzz Zzzz Zzzzz Zzzz Zzzz Zzz (Let's head back to the nest first. There's a lot to do.)]
｢Yeah.｣
｢Talking｣ ｢Done?｣
[Zzz (Yes).]
At my words, she lifted her head from my hand. Something about her looked subtly different now — the Red Gallagon traits woven into her, no doubt.
Her larger body, the changed color of her horns and wings, played a part, but it was more fundamental than that. She simply felt changed at her core.
Her psychic waves have changed.
Where before they'd carried raw, primal emotion in short, chopped bursts, her waves now flowed far more refined — much like the way No. 26 or Ored Ghad conveyed their will.
[Zzz Zzzz Zzzzzz (You've gotten skilled at communication.)]
｢Change｣ ｢Not good?｣
[Zzz Zzzz Zzz Zzzzz (No. Growth is a good thing.)]
Her psychic waves had been simple to the point of obscurity — there was plenty about them I'd found hard to parse. The way they were now was far easier on me.
Though a small part of me does miss it a little.
With that thought, I picked up the remaining Galagon corpses.
By the time I returned to the nest with Adhai, the Mother of the Sky, and Nel Germa, the Green Galagons that had gone out hunting were there waiting.
They were clinging to No. 26's body exactly the way the Blue Galagons used to. The cold of this planet was brutal enough to test even Galagons.
Should I plant some Symbiote Spores on them?
Just then, they spotted us and peeled away from No. 26. Then they approached, lowered their wings and upper bodies close to the ground, and bowed their heads.
What's this?
Every bowed horn pointed toward a single being.
Adhai, riding on my back.
Hm.
No other Galagons had ever reacted to her like this. She hadn't become a true Red Gallagon — but to the Galagons' eyes, apparently, that distinction didn't matter.
After their synchronized greeting, the Galagons rose, hauled the corpses they'd stashed in the pits out of the ground, and laid them before me. The sight was uncannily like servants presenting a meal to their master.
No — in this case, more like vassals offering tribute to their queen.
Adhai tilted her head, apparently baffled by their behavior.
｢Me｣ ｢Full｣ ｢Food｣ ｢No need｣ ｢You all｣ ｢Eat｣
｢Thanks｣
Only after she declined did the Green Galagons begin eating the prey they'd caught themselves. While they ate, I pressed Symbiote Spores onto their bodies.
Then I brought what remained of the White Gallagon Adhai had left uneaten over to No. 26.
[Zzz Zzz Zzzz Zzz (Eat with me. There's work to do after.)]
｢Work?｣
[Zzz Zeeee Zzz Zzzz (I need both you and Adhai.)]
｢Okay! Big Baby, you can count on me!｣
She always had nothing but kind words to offer.
In gratitude, I raised my winged arm and stroked her. She shimmered and glowed, pleased as could be.
After splitting the Galagon corpses with No. 26, I led the two of them out of the nest again.
This spot should do.
Stopping in a suitably open stretch of ground, I explained to Adhai and No. 26 what we would be doing here.
[Zzz Zeeee Zzz Zzz Zzz Zzzz Zzzz (First, Adhai is going to test her new power.)]
We needed to find out just how much of the Red Gallagon's strength she could draw out.
Because a Red Gallagon wields an entirely new lineage of power — Dragon Power.
Depending on how much of it she could use, our schedule would shift, one way or the other.
To grant my Mimic Scales resistance to psychic energy, they needed to endure nothing but pure psychic attacks. Gaining resistance to Dragon Power would be completely useless to me right now.
The resistance granted by Mimic Scales applied to only one type of energy at a time. And since it took days for the immunity to wear off, wasting time was not an option.
｢Now｣ ｢Try?｣
[Zz Zzz Zzzz (Yes. As much as you can.)]
At my nod, Adhai's eyes began to gleam.
Then, from her body, a crimson current of energy started to pour forth.