Chapter 311
Chapter 311
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 311
Chapter Title: Monster Hunt (2)
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‘It’s going well.’
The ambush just moments ago had been quite successful.
Because they’d eliminated one of the Eye of Revelation priests who’d been put in charge.
The enemies preparing their ranks in the cavern hadn’t noticed, but there was another secret passage right beneath their feet. A narrow side path used by Number 26, whose movements were slow.
They’d waited until the one mimicking voices to sow confusion among the enemies had slipped into the passage, then struck.
The face parasites I’d summoned finally took the field after a long hiatus. Many of the foes I’d fought lately had been immune to their paralyzing sonic waves. As a result, they hadn’t had much chance to shine beyond gathering intel. But not today.
The enemies, caught off guard by the sonic assault, were neutralized by the waves. Even the priests.
They hurriedly dispelled the paralysis with their psychic powers, but by then it was too late. One of them vanished without a trace, struck by the acidic breath from the central head.
The moment the objective was achieved, I recalled the face parasites and fled.
The priest corps flew into a rage at losing a comrade in an instant, but there was nothing they could do but shout. Regardless of their fury, they couldn’t move rashly—not when they didn’t know what traps might lurk in these underground depths.
I retreated without interference and pressed all three heads to the ground. The auxiliary organs beneath my jaws picked up on everything happening above the underground passages.
With three heads, the performance of those organs had more than tripled. Thanks to that, I could observe the enemies’ movements without even building a nest.
‘They’re reorganizing their ranks.’
The enemies in the cavern stayed put. Instead, new activity stirred from the center area.
They weren’t idiots; they’d gleaned info from the five ambushes so far. Now they were adjusting their defenses accordingly.
‘Good. Keep it up.’
Did they realize their actions were exactly what I’d intended?
In this fight, I had two main goals.
The first was buying time.
To infiltrate the Water Fortress, I needed to transform into Clever Weakling, but the cooldown hadn’t ended. At least two more days to wait.
After the parasites were discovered, I’d prepared various measures to prolong engagements with the enemy. The dozens of large and small tunnels riddling the underground were part of that.
On a normal planet, Imperial Mothership would’ve ended it. But this was Bersan 02. Cities sprawled across the surface above. To catch me, they’d have to come underground eventually.
And regardless of this being a Cult planet, they weren’t accustomed to underground fights.
Aside from the Eye of Revelation priests handling the Heretic Hunters, the rest probably had little experience fighting below ground. Even the priests fought far better on the surface than in the earth.
That’s why I’d crafted this complex battlefield to drag things out. Before they could set up a perimeter, Number 26 and Adhai had busily dug it all out.
The ant-hill-like maze had not just paths wide enough for me, but plenty of burrows for the shrunken Number 26 to navigate. So my minions could run guerrilla ops once I lured enemies to key spots.
Frankly, wiping them out right here wouldn’t be hard. Number 26 and Adhai, with my transplanted traits, could handle it alone. Or I could just douse the nest with Shades of the Abyss like before.
The reason for all this effort tied into the second goal.
‘Feeding false intel to the real enemy.’
The core of Aimorph play in the game lay in your traits. Deploying a vast array at the right moments for unpredictable strikes—that was the basic Aimorph strategy.
Put differently, if the enemy knew your traits, their effectiveness halved. They’d spot weaknesses and counter.
Thus, Aimorphs had to hide their arsenal while constantly devising new ways to use them. Fail that, and even the strongest traits led to obsolescence.
Back on track: the Cult mob confronting me wasn’t my true foe. They were scouts sent by my ‘real enemy.’
Somewhere up there, a hidden Cult Ranker was surely analyzing busily. My evolution stage, my traits—scrutinizing it all.
Knowing that, I didn’t hide my traits entirely, revealing them bit by bit.
To conceal my true aces and plant misinformation.
Right now, my strongest weapons boiled down to two: my helpers, and the traits from the transcendence system.
The first was something no one who knew me from the game would believe.
No one I’d met thought my companions followed me of their own free will. Even Cynthia, my last opponent, saw Number 26 as just a pet.
The Mother of the Sky called it a miracle that I traveled with other beings at all.
The mysterious Ranker opposing me on Bersan 02 was no different. He didn’t know I had allies. Even if he did, he’d assume they were dominated—not that they’d grown strong enough to hunt Rankers on their own.
To hide that, I’d staged it like I had a trait for freely reshaping my body.
For instance, Number 26 and Adhai ambushing in my stead used traits I’d once possessed.
First, Adhai. It actively employed the newly transplanted fusion trait for special defense, Camouflage. The effect mimicked surroundings after staying still for seconds. Perfect for Adhai’s small, nimble frame.
Camouflage alone couldn’t dodge detection systems, but Number 26 handled that from the secret passage with psychic nullification. Then Adhai struck.
As usual, it armored up with Red Armor, accelerated, and rammed the foes. Against an unbreakable Galleron projectile, they were helpless.
Next, Number 26. It used Mutated Tendrils and Mimic Tendrils to finish the wounded.
In the game, Mimic Organ was practically my signature. Luring and killing with voice and form imitation was my go-to.
No Ranker would miss that I often used Camouflage and Mimicry. They’d peg it as my doing.
They’d probably think I’d gained a size-shifting trait or full transformation ability.
‘Not entirely wrong, but not quite.’
Far from what they imagined. The more misconceptions piled up, the likelier their fatal mistakes.
‘Already happening.’
The enemy Ranker had misjudged.
If it were me fighting, I’d have used Imperial Mothership by the second ambush. But they kept pouring troops underground.
Maybe to probe my specs further, but crucially, they underestimated me.
To them, I endlessly revealed traits and fled, never nesting. No luring into traps either—else the 200-plus Cultists underground wouldn’t still be alive.
Any Ranker who’d fought an Aimorph would know what that meant.
I’d arrived on this planet recently, unprepared for a real fight.
No matter my infamy, didn’t that make me fair game?
‘That’s what they’re thinking.’
If the enemy underestimated me, all the better. I hadn’t come to this planet to fight them, after all.
Hoping they saw me as vulnerable, I lifted my heads from the ground.
They were still reorganizing—would take at least an hour, from the looks of it.
I had work to do in the meantime. Succeed here, and I’d buy even more time.
I moved again, toward a wide-open tunnel interior.
Watching Alshas furiously exchanging comms chatter, Nern recalled a nightmare.
He’d witnessed a similar scene before.
‘The three-headed demon...’
The nightmare demon that annihilated an Imperial Mothership and its Mothership Fleet at Holy Site Saigil 08.
That monster had appeared in footage recorded by the subjugation force.
‘Appearance changed, but definitely it.’
The head form captured on the mothership’s cameras back then differed greatly from now. The horns had multiplied, and the size had shrunk incomparably.
Even with just the head poking out, body hidden, Nern recognized it instantly. It was his sworn enemy.
He told Alshas. As the only one present—on this planet—who’d seen the monster firsthand, she acted immediately.
Knowledge Keepers cross-referenced its records with the subjugation force’s. His claim checked out. They estimated high probability it was the same entity behind the Saigil 08 atrocity.
Learning the underground foe was the three-headed demon threw the commanders into chaos.
The silver lining: it seemed weakened. Smaller size, no devastating breath to incinerate a whole fleet.
If it matched prior sightings, everyone underground would already be dead.
Alshas pointed that out to calm them, while requesting deployment of Temple Guardian monster experts and fully armed Eye of Revelation priests. She also called for Imperial Motherships from other planets.
Orbital bombardment on a top-five Empire economic hub like Bersan 02 was off the table, so the mothership summon was nixed. But the rest were approved.
Temple Guardian elites en route now. Eye of Revelation dispatched high-caliber priests like vice-captains underground. Fully geared ones already heading to Glory Street—soon joining the subjugation force.
Nern felt relief at Alshas’s adept use of her advisor role, tinged with faint unease.
The demon was weakened, true. But would it fall easily?
For instance, over five ambushes, it showed its head four times. Three matched Nern’s sighting: central head spewing acidic breath, side heads firing flesh-corroding globs.
But the pink head mimicking Cult voices felt off. Shape identical to the central head, yet alien. Like another creature.
What if it wasn’t alone? What if it had allies or monster minions?
Everyone—subjugation force, Alshas—focused solely on one three-headed demon. If multiples, disaster.
‘...Nah, doesn’t matter.’
This was Bersan 02, an Empire core world. Survival here impossible. Even doubled, just delays the inevitable. It dies here.
Only regret: couldn’t kill it personally.
He yearned to join the force, but Alshas wouldn’t allow it. His cherished junior wanted him safe, watching the vengeance unfold.
‘Still, if a chance arises...’
As he mulled that regret—
A message popped on his wrist terminal pad. His eyes widened.
‘What?’
Sender: Minseok Yujin, butler to Sihyun Yujin.
His master and Laila Chamberlain had bolted out upon seeing the subjugation footage.
‘Why?’
Sihyun had promised to aid his revenge, true. He’d detailed the target, the three-headed demon.
But reacting instantly to footage? The appearance differed from his description, too.
Yet such immediate action—what did it mean?
‘No way?’
It was the reaction of those who truly knew the monster. Like Nern.