Chapter 254
Chapter 254
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: qiqi iykow gkk-254i
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: Ep. 254
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Superluminal navigation continued several times, but no pursuers followed. All that was visible was black silk adorned with colorful stars.
I returned to the ship through the open hangar.
In the hangar, Griffin Wolf—the Mother of the Sky—was inspecting the onboard craft. She was checking the Storm Gun mounted under the wing when she spoke to me as I entered.
「Pursuit?」
「That 'wave' at the end. Is that why they couldn't follow?」
Thanks to the sudden anomalous phenomenon, we safely escaped from the Star Union.
An intangible wave from somewhere annihilated the enemy fleet. Since I was facing the enemy directly, I knew immediately what had happened.
'The captains all died.'
Ships that froze mid-movement or repeated their actions—the answer was obvious. The cyborg captains who controlled the vessels were dead.
After the wave swept around me once, the ships never returned to normal. Star Union vessels could have cyborgs—like PS-111—directly cabled into the ship computer to take over command.
In other words, the fact that the ships didn't recover normally even from my flames meant all the cyborgs aboard were dead.
「No such event in the game, right?」
「...Don't know the cause, but we got lucky.」
She was right.
If that wave had harmed all lifeforms instead of just cyborgs? Or if it had happened after we'd lost to the Star Union?
We wouldn't all be safe right now.
'But it wasn't 100% luck.'
The anomaly hadn't only benefited us.
The fleet led by Sihyun Yujin's faction had been fighting the Star Union too.
'The human-faced one mentioned it before.'
Sihyun Yujin's remnants had visited a frozen planet in search of relics. The cyborg-killing wave might be connected to what they found.
'Not certain.'
Chances of running into them later were slim. We were heading to a place under no one's rule—not Mega Corp, Star Union, or Cult Empire.
'Easy place to gather intel. Might as well check it out.'
「Anyway, you're back, so I need a break.」
「No big deal.」
I left the hangar with the Mother of the Sky. She headed the opposite way, apparently planning to rest somewhere other than the storage hold.
「Hm?」
I stopped her and entered the storage hold.
Inside, Specimen 026—now massively enlarged—had claimed a spot against the wall and was sleeping. It had extended all its normally hidden fin-like legs to wrap around something.
'What is it doing?'
Galleron eggs nestled between the fins. It was incubating them tightly with its body and fins, like a hen on her clutch.
Green Gallerons were fine on their own, but blue Gallerons and eggs required psy power to survive. That's why Specimen 026, which generated its own psy power, was tending them to keep the eggs alive.
'Gonna have to figure that out too.'
I carefully entered the storage hold so as not to wake it. Amid the cryo containers deeper inside, a few Green Gallerons lay prone in slumber.
And between them sat the backpack containing the items and gear I'd grabbed from the dragon's nest.
I extended a long, spider-leg-like combat arm and picked up one of the mineral chunks.
As I emerged from the storage hold, she quickly stifled a yawn. I held out the mineral to her.
「What's that?」
She widened her eyes at the raw ore in my grasp.
Its name was Star Pearl: black base speckled with white grains. It was used to craft the tools needed to elevate Wolf's deification.
'Can't process it right now.'
Star Pearl raw ore was incredibly tough—impossible with standard gear. But that was fine. Our destination would have the equipment and technicians capable of working it.
She accepted the beautiful lump that gleamed like a pearl from the stars, gazing at it with a subtle expression.
「Oh, this is the one I picked up before.」
「When Ham Ort and I returned to the nest, PS-111 said to check it out. Grabbed it then. Must've missed it in the backpack.」
Come to think of it, I hadn't carried the backpack in ages. Last time I'd rummaged through it was attempting to devour Blood River.
After that, Adhaina and the Mother of the Sky had been handling it.
「Yeah. Can't hurt to have an extra.」
With nothing more to say, I turned to reenter the storage hold when she called out. She scratched her beak with a talon as she spoke.
「Thanks. I'll put it to good use.」
She left a wave of grateful thoughts and departed.
'It can be used for more than just deification.'
Star Pearl was also a material for advanced Cult and Wolf gear. If she could get it processed somehow, it'd be a huge help.
After seeing her off, I returned to the storage hold.
'Might as well check the backpack.'
I went back to where I'd taken the Star Pearl, got down on the floor, and picked up the backpack. Then the rhombus-shaped stele leaning beside it toppled over with a clunk.
It was from Odd Grad's lair, picked up along with the emotion-suppressing ring—both items touched by civilization, saved for investigation.
'Check it later... Huh?'
As I lifted it with a finger to right it, the stele's condition was different from before. Light was emanating from the unknown runes carved on its surface.
'What's this?'
I touched the glowing runes with a finger, but nothing happened. It just pulsed intermittently, as if that were normal.
'Hm.'
I prodded it with a monster tentacle, the auxiliary organ under my jaw, even an erosion tentacle—but no change. Meanwhile, the light gradually faded.
'Maybe...?'
Suddenly, Odd Grad's ring came to mind. I picked up the ring from beside the backpack and slipped it onto one of the small arms on my chest.
The stele reacted immediately.
'Eh?'
A familiar text box popped up before my eyes, and the stele slipped from my grasp.
A stranger's voice began emanating from the floating stele.
「It's me. What kept you so long? No response for ages—I was about to contact you later.」
'What the...?'
「Tch. Got it now, so spill. How'd that thing I mentioned go? */
The voice belonged to a man whose age was hard to gauge. It sounded young, but the speech and vibe were like an old man's.
My focus locked onto the message in the text box. It identified the voice's owner.
'Akira Yujin.'
Jason had mentioned him before: a Mega Corp old-timer who insisted on a Japanese name and acted like a chuunibyou.
'Only one weirdo like that.'
Rank 3 player and a ruthless Aimorph hunter even worse than Jason. A Mega Corp ranker I'd clashed with endlessly.
'Never imagined he'd be tied to the black dragon.'
It all clicked now.
The one who'd given Odd Grad the ring was Akira Yujin.
Odd Grad feared challenges from young Gallerons due to his future sight—or powerhouses like Adhaina born with Red Galleron strength. Akira Yujin had solved that dilemma.
'Wondered who'd made this.'
He'd provided the emotion-hiding ring, letting Odd Grad suppress and dominate the Gallerons.
In exchange, he'd received...
'Gallerons.'
Ham Ort had said Odd Grad periodically killed hatchlings or dumped eggs outside the nest—to reduce the burden of weaklings.
At the time, I'd assumed it was for self-preservation, but my guess was only half right.
He'd been regularly supplying eggs and Gallerons to Akira Yujin's faction.
That explained why Yujin Family members like Sihyun Yujin and his shadows carried Galleron genes. It was all possible because Akira sourced Gallerons from Odd Grad.
「Why no answer? Still haven't dealt with the Aimorph?」
From what he was saying, he'd already briefed Odd Grad about me beforehand. Probably ordered him to kill me.
'A future-seeing black dragon is a tough foe.'
Without my transcendence system's unique trait or the kids, things would've gone his way.
I stared at the stele for a moment, then opened my mouth. The stored voice of the human-faced one—Jason—issued from my throat.
"Long time no see, No. 3."
「...!」
Caught off guard by the unexpected voice? I heard him gulp from beyond the stele.
"Didn't see this coming, huh."
「...This fucking bastard.」
"Your pet's dead."
I could tell his rage without seeing his face. His kill-me plan had failed, and his Galleron supply line was cut.
I delivered the verdict in a flat tone.
"The day we meet isn't far off."
「Tch!」
A short tongue-click, and the stele's light went out. A crack formed, and it shattered in half.
Seemed he got the message loud and clear.
'Not right away, though. After I reach Adult.'
I planned to fulfill the conditions for adulthood at our destinations—in the lawless zones crawling with cosmic outlaws.
Once Adult, no more chatting via stele. We'd meet face-to-face.
His choices then? Two.
Fight me and die.
Or flee from me and die.
Thoughts of what came next swirled endlessly in my mind.
Regardless, the steel cradle bearing us monsters pressed steadily onward to its goal.
In a lavish office, Akira Yujin glared coldly at the mahogany table. A rune-carved rhombus stele lay there.
"......"
He'd immediately destroyed the stele lent to Odd Grad, but that changed nothing.
The exchange was brief, but that damned Aimorph would've gleaned plenty from it. He'd always been like that in the game.
Knowing this, fury blazed inside him like a volcano.
'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'
And that final taunt. The bastard had dared declare he'd kill him.
Akira Yujin, CEO of one of the universe's mightiest powers, Mega Corp—and king of Earth. Anyone else saying that, he'd laugh and tear their limbs off.
Star Union's ranker Juvaka, Mega Corp's ranker Chloe Garmelda—they'd never dare speak to him that way. They knew he'd hunt them down and rip their mouths apart.
But he could do nothing to the Aimorph now. He wanted to spew curses, but held back—afraid of leaking more info by mistake.
That realization pushed him over the edge.
"Urgh, uwaaaaaah!"
His scream of rage distorted his arm into a monstrous limb. It thrashed wildly, splintering the mahogany table into four pieces. Other luxuries met the same fate at his hands.
"Odd Graaaaaad! Jasoaaaaaan! You idiots! How dare you! Do you know who I am?! Aaaaaagh!"
In the perfectly soundproofed office, Akira's meltdown raged on for quite some time.
「Received the 'cargo' I sent? Chloe-sama.」
"Yeah. Obviously. Cynthia's gonna boost our research progress big time."
「Don't forget to guarantee my safety.」
"No worries. That place is beyond even the old man's reach."
「True enough, now that I've seen it myself.」
"I smoothed things over there, so you won't have issues. Talk later."
「Understood, Chloe-sama.」
With that, the diamond stele's light faded.
Chloe Garmelda rode her hover chair out of the room.
"Cynthia's tucked away safe, gave that annoying old fart a proper middle finger. No word from Juvaka oppa—always busy, though. He'll manage."
Things were going smoothly for once, and she felt great.
Last time, Akira Yujin, Cynthia, Juvaka, and she had plotted an Aimorph hunt. Cynthia leaked its location to Cult ranker Jason; Akira sent the black Galleron to finish it.
Afterward, Chloe pulled Cynthia aside with a request.
If Jason succeeded or failed at hunting the Aimorph, tell her first.
She and Juvaka were independently researching gene-synthesized creatures—Hulk mutants. They needed ranker genes.
If the Aimorph died, Akira would demand the corpse. Dense Jason would hand it over easily after his special reward.
Couldn't let that happen, so she'd asked Cynthia—her personal line to Jason.
Outcome: Jason lost. Headless body returned to Cynthia.
She reported to Chloe immediately, and they made a deal.
Chloe would guarantee her safety if she kept Jason's death from Akira.
If Akira learned of Jason's defeat, he'd scheme anew against the Aimorph—and claim Jason's body.
So she'd delayed Jason's death notice by just a smidge.
'Didn't expect it to work this well.'
Normally, Akira would've sniffed it out. With a black Galleron on the same planet, a quick check would've revealed Jason's failure.
But fate smiled on her this time.
Akira was swamped with civil war endgame negotiations, blind to events.
She'd achieved her goal effortlessly.
'Jason oppa's body and samples. Even in death, he left behind a ton.'
Her hover chair halted before the lab door. A soft glow from the terminal scanned her body.
The heavy iron door slid open with a familiar voice.
A stark white space greeted her. Floor, walls, ceiling—all bleached devoid of color, as if the whole room had been dipped and stripped.
The only hues were the bustling researchers and dozens of experiment tanks.
One researcher spotted Chloe and bowed.
"Patriarch. Clone culture at 23% progress. Extremely stable compared to the previous subject."
"Good news. Initiate gene fusion once it hits 50%."
"Understood. But... Patriarch, Chief Researcher Li Zhao keeps asking where we got this."
The researcher approached her chair. Chloe covered her mouth in a no-spill gesture.
"Tell him it's family secret. Can't say."
"Hahaha, figured as much. Oh, new specimen—how about naming it like last time?"
Chloe tapped her chair's armrest with a finger. After a brief pause, she spoke.
"JS this time."
"JS? Last was PS—any special meaning?"
Chloe offered only a faint smile instead of an answer. Seeing she wouldn't elaborate, the researcher shrugged and dropped it.
'Wonder how much help Jason oppa will be.'
With that thought, she gazed at the Cult clone in the tank.
Its girl-like beauty was marred only by eyes steeped in quiet madness.
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