Chapter 313
Chapter 313
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 313
Chapter Title: Monster Hunt (4)
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Sihyun Yujin, clad in the white reinforced suit "White Maiden," glared at the entity lurking in the darkness.
The unknown being that had killed her assassination target in the past and then her as well.
The monster that had haunted her nightmares for a time had been discovered deep underground on an alien planet. And it had grown unrecognizably stronger.
Even when it fought her back then, the creature had transformed its body once. It was a change dramatic enough to call evolution.
The one before her now was the same. She couldn't even guess how many evolutions it had undergone to reach that form.
But she wasn't afraid.
It was one of the targets she had to kill. She had only one thing to focus on.
Every sense in her body locked onto its movements. The armored plates encasing the monster's body ground together with a faint rasp.
Reading that it was about to move, she kicked off the ground.
As expected, its left head slammed down where she had stood. She leaped into the air to evade, landing atop its neck before charging forward.
Its right head gaped wide and lunged at her. Black slime erupted forth.
While running, Sihyun thrust her right arm forward. The reinforced suit she wore, White Maiden, could alter its shape at the user's will. The material over her wrist unfurled like a funnel, morphing into a massive shield.
She blocked the slime with her arm-turned-shield and simultaneously transformed her left arm. This time, it wasn't the suit changing, but her body itself. The Galleron genes injected into her activated, and a silver blade protruded from the back of her hand.
The moment she swung to sever its left neck—
It read her intent and shook its neck violently. Thrown off balance, her blade only scratched the armor plating over its neck.
As she fell from its neck, one of its arms swung at her. Even with the suit's protection, a direct hit from that massive hand would turn her to pulp. She pushed off in midair, barely dodging its arm.
But its assault didn't end there. A tentacle sprouting from its back had already closed in.
This tentacle, lined with six appendages, was as long as a corvette. Dodging was impossible. In desperation, she generated wings on her back.
Spreading glide wings, she retreated swiftly. The appendages on the tentacle grazed the tips of her wings but missed.
Yet it hadn't given up.
The side head that had been buried in the ground stirred again. Its maw surged upward to swallow her in midair.
Sihyun reverted her right arm shield to normal and swiftly drew the plasma pistol from its thigh holster.
She aimed for its mouth. A green plasma bolt slammed into the gaping jaws.
｢Grk!｣
It was a small weapon, but still a plasma gun. It didn't deal serious damage, but it was effective enough at slowing the enemy's attack. While the left head thrashed in irritation, she widened the distance.
...It's strong.
Last time they fought, she had the upper hand. She'd lost miserably only because it exploited her carelessness and struck her weak point.
But now, it overwhelmed her.
Its size and power were incomparable. She held a slight edge in speed, but it wasn't much.
Its durability is insane, too.
She'd lodged a plasma round right in its throat, yet it was fine. Even unprotected internals had monstrous toughness.
The perfect bioweapon.
The being before her embodied the Yujin Family's long-cherished goal. If the shadows created by the Yujin Family were gene-manipulated weapons a generation ahead, this thing was on another level entirely.
She was skeptical about whether she could beat—or even survive—such an opponent.
...But.
Yet she stood here for a reason.
She had an ace up her sleeve, too.
Laila Chemberlin, who had come down underground with her, was lying in wait with the relic "Abyss Destroyer."
The plan still had many unresolved uncertainties. But if things went according to plan, they could land a solid hit.
Clinging to that hope, she charged at it again.
How is she still alive?
I pondered this as I took her incoming sword energy head-on.
Sihyun Yujin—the woman relentlessly assaulting me despite knowing it was futile—was supposed to be dead.
Devouring her had granted me useful traits like "Mimicry Organ" and "Monster Tentacle," so I remembered her clearly.
Yet the one fighting me was unmistakably Sihyun Yujin. Her fighting style, movements, bodily reactions—everything matched the dead woman perfectly.
Space Survival did have limited ways to revive the dead, but this was reality, not a game. Traits or gear that resurrect the deceased were dubious at best.
So there was only one answer.
A clone.
The enemy battling me was likely a clone Sihyun Yujin had prepared in advance.
While musing on her identity, a yak horn sprouted from her temple. In that state, she swung an arm with protruding Galleron claws. Far stronger sword energy than before targeted my auxiliary organs.
Two techniques at once?
In my memory, Sihyun's weakness was inability to use multiple gene techniques simultaneously. Yet now she wielded both the implanted yak horn on her head and Galleron claws on her arm.
So that's how she got the horn.
I twisted my head, blocking the sword energy with the tusks flanking my jaws. They got slightly nicked, but no major damage. I swung my combat arm down at her head.
"Tch!"
Clicking her tongue, she dodged sideways. My erosion tentacles from my back lashed toward her escape route.
As if reading it, she morphed her arm back into a shield. The white shield clashed with one erosion tentacle.
"Ugh?"
She successfully blocked it, but her face showed surprise. She'd realized the tentacle's power wasn't light.
I spread the membrane of one wing arm and swept fiercely at the ground where she stood.
Judging evasion impossible this time, she deployed "Reflection." My wing arm halted just before sweeping her. She slipped out in that brief gap.
"...Damn it."
She looked fine aside from being covered in sand, but her expression soured. The shield arm was damaged.
Even White Maiden isn't omnipotent.
I already knew what suit she wore.
Like the Code Black I killed before in "Black Shroud," she wore a unique-grade reinforced suit. White Maiden incorporated nanotechnology, freely reshaping at the user's will.
It depends heavily on the user.
It also had self-repair, absorption of materials for energy, and more useful functions.
Sihyun's flaw was limiting her to one gene technique at a time. White Maiden effectively covered that. Likely a gift from Yujin Family Patriarch and rank-3 ranker Akira Yujin.
But White Maiden has weaknesses, too.
Like now—overwhelming attacks slow its repairs when durability fails.
Without other gear, she couldn't withstand an adult Aimorph's assaults.
I looked down at the black-haired woman glaring with gritted teeth.
Wearing a unique-grade suit... yeah, definitely Sihyun Yujin's clone.
Her appearance differed greatly from standard clones.
By Star Union specs, clones didn't perfectly inherit memories due to data loss in transfer, body-memory mismatches, etc.
Yet her actions showed she remembered fighting me perfectly. As if memories post-death were transferred.
New tech I don't know about?
Unlikely, though.
If so, all the rankers I killed would have revived as clones to hunt me. This Sihyun clone was probably a rare case.
No need to overthink.
I could just ask her.
Then, the glaring woman spun and bolted the opposite way. It looked like desperate flight in defeat.
As if.
I'd already seen through it: not fleeing, but luring me.
Before encountering her, I'd sensed two presences.
Precisely two. Besides Sihyun, another that had faded. Not gone—hiding inside the passage, surely.
It felt heavy.
Before vanishing, the presence gave strong vibrations. Meant substantial mass.
Whatever it is, beating me won't be easy.
Prepared for ambushes, I followed her path.
My auxiliary organs under each head constantly scanned for anomalies. One caught faint mechanical noise from a wall. All my maws turned toward it.
"Damn it! It noticed!"
Sihyun, spotting me, yelled furiously. Her ally deactivated optical camouflage disguised as the wall and raised a weapon at me.
A bluish heat ray from the mass-produced Demolisher "Slayer" targeted my central head.
Knew it.
I'd predicted this ambush. While chasing Sihyun, I'd activated "Variable Bioweapon" beforehand.
Target: head. Ice Horror's thick cranial armor now shielded my central head.
Even Ice Horror plating couldn't fully block high-output disintegrator rounds. But its insane thickness protected vital organs like the brain effectively. The heat ray bored a hole in my armor but did no more.
"Fall back!"
The foe in the oddly designed suit stared blankly, not expecting me unscathed.
To return the favor, I powered my legs. My 60-meter frame accelerated.
｢Eek?!｣
The enemy snapped to at my approach, emitting a mechanically garbled scream while dodging hastily.
My reinforced heads smashed into the passage walls, shaking everything like an earthquake. Then I whipped my right tail with its pincer.
The foe activated a shield sideways, but that was a mistake. The pincer shattered not just the shield but the wrist-mounted activator.
｢Guhk!｣
Flung like a cannonball, the enemy slammed into the opposite wall.
Tough suit.
Its reinforced suit emphasized physical defense to extremes; my attack hadn't broken it. But it couldn't absorb all the impact—thick blood scent wafted from the embedded foe.
Now just...
Sihyun Yujin remained. I wrenched my heads from the wall with neck strength.
Turning, I saw her at the end of my gaze.
Huh?
She held objects that looked freshly dug from dirt.
"Got you."
Muttering coldly, as if her prior act was feigned, Sihyun slotted a crystal into a device resembling a cordless vacuum.
The crystal spun wildly, emitting an eerie glow.
What?
Sudden mosaic images flooded my vision. Heavy censoring made nothing visible.
But I knew what this meant.
Predator Sense!
Realizing it, I shielded my head with wing arms and combat arms. As I crouched, the eerie light wave swept over me.
No pain. No sensation at all. Like a gentle breeze brushing past.
Or so I thought—
｢Grk?!｣
Blood poured from my mouth. Agonizing pain surged from my combat arms. The two on my flank twisted wildly before shriveling rapidly.
Like being mummified while fully conscious? Since "Terror Gazer" with "Abyssal Hue," nothing had hurt this bad. Legs buckled from unimaginable pain.
Gr, uh... Wh-what... is this...?
And it wasn't just pain shocking me.
A translucent text box appeared before me. Content I'd never seen.
Gotta snap out of it! More importantly now...
A grave threat loomed. Somehow, I forced my wing arms to lift my body.
"Why... why won't you die? You're not an Outspacer?"
Sihyun Yujin, who'd inflicted serious injury. Her face showed shock at my survival.
｢Grrgrrr!｣
"...Tch!"
Seizing my immobility, she grabbed her wounded ally and fled far away.
...That was close.
If she'd used "that weapon" again, I'd be done.
After she vanished, I swept scattered dirt into my mouths with wing arms. "Inorganic Digestion" under environmental adaptation boosted regeneration even from dirt. Low efficiency, but no time to quibble.
Gorging on dirt eased the pain. Internal bleeding stopped; I stood on two legs.
But my combat arms didn't recover.
The translucent text explained why.
What Sihyun Yujin used on me.
...A weapon that erases Aimorph traits.
It destroyed genetic essence.