Chapter 331
Chapter 331
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 331
Chapter Title: Star Shark Onslaught
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Seems like Kisos isn't a ranker after all.
[Zzuzz zzuzz (This isn't the place)]
"Then?"
[Zzuz zzuz zzuzz zzuzz zzuzz (Let's head toward that Alshas spot you mentioned)]
The moment I tried to take off again, reactions from countless lifeforms were detected from above.
Lifting my head, I spotted tiny specks glimmering in the sky.
'Oh, damn.'
I knew what those tiny specks—no, those creatures—were. And I knew what was riding atop them.
「Sky Whale」 「Similar」
Adhai, flying beside me, projected a thought wave.
'They look similar, but they're quite different.'
「...Those are Star Sharks. A subspecies of Sky Whale.」
「What's a subspecies?」
"Star Shark. Grows to a maximum size of 5m and can absorb energy for rapid movement. Presumed to trail Sky Whales and feed on residual energy."
「Sky Whale」 「Subordinate」 「Dangerous」
「Bad flappy things!」
In the Cult Empire, only one legion tames and rides Star Sharks.
[Zzuzzuzz zzuzz (Priests of the Eye of Revelation)]
The Slayer boasts firepower surpassing the Demolisher but is extremely heavy. The Heresy Inquisitor Armor is likewise heavy yet excels in defense. For either to shine, exceptional mobility is essential.
The perfect solution they provide is their mount: the Star Shark, a subspecies of the Sky Whale.
"Priests!"
The leader at their forefront bellowed. The priest's voice, amplified by mechanical devices, echoed thunderously over the submerged city.
Soon after, the cavalry mounted on cosmic sharks began their descent.
The Star Shark, nicknamed the space shark, is one of the Sky Whale's subspecies.
However, even as a subspecies, it's far weaker than the Sky Whale, classified as an Apex creature.
In terms of size, Star Sharks don't exceed 5m. They're worlds apart from the Sky Whale, whose average body length surpasses dozens of meters. Their combat prowess is similarly inferior. If Star Sharks were Apex-grade, taming them as weapons would be impossible.
Their appearance differs greatly too. The Sky Whale resembles a whale with six wings and eight eyes, but Star Sharks do not. They look like swordfish with transparent skin and two wings.
Thanks to the transparency, their internal organs are fully visible, and even their bones contain bioluminescent material. From afar, they appear like floating fish skeletons.
If there's one thing these two vastly different creatures share, it's that they feed on energy.
Star Sharks don't consume organic matter like ordinary creatures for nutrients. They survive by ingesting various forms of energy.
Unlike cosmic whales, however, they can't convert devoured energy into photon cannons. Instead, they store it in their wings to propel themselves at high speeds. This makes them far more agile than Sky Whales.
And Star Sharks possess one crucial advantage the cosmic whales lack.
Like Outspacers or Metallic Gremlins, they have a 'pack mentality.'
This means the entire group obeys the leader. It's thanks to this trait that the Priests of the Eye of Revelation can tame the ferocious space sharks. By thoroughly training a lead specimen, they easily control hordes of Star Sharks.
And now, hundreds of these ghostly fish were bearing down on me in perfect formation.
I readied my enhanced 'Acidic Fungus Gland'—in other words, my acid breath. Thick liquid welled up from deep within my three branching throats. Without hesitation, I spewed it toward the enemies descending to the ground.
Three beams of devastating acidic heat rays tore through the air. The buildings blocking my path ahead were sliced clean in two by the rays.
The Star Sharks swiftly widened their spacing. They adeptly dodged the heat rays and the cascade of building debris.
The priests riding these 5m biomechanical fighters paid no mind and aimed their matter-disintegrating weapons, the Slayers, at me. Hundreds of navy-blue energy rounds poured down.
I spread my wings wide to shield the little ones. Each impact from the Slayer's photon blasts chipped away chunks of my carapace and scales.
I considered using 'Complex Spectrum Refractor' to reflect the attacks, but I wanted to save that for rankers.
Instead of blocking, I took the hits head-on. The Slayer's decomposing blasts inflicted significant damage, but it didn't matter. Injuries like these could be covered by my Regeneration trait.
'I need to take a moderate amount of damage for it to work anyway.'
After their salvo, the priests circled overhead like raptors that had snagged prey from the riverbank, trying to loop back into the sky.
Taking that cue, the little ones under my wing's protection burst out.
Adhai launched first, plunging straight into the priests' midst.
「Sky Whale」 「Similar」 「Die」
"What the—! Everyone, evade...!"
It swung its Red Armor-coated wings at the space sharks. Wings with absolute defense plus acceleration? It was a flying guillotine. Even Star Sharks, with their reasonably tough hides, were sliced like paper.
Following Adhai, the Mother of the Sky revealed herself. She closed in tight on the enemies climbing for altitude. With every flap of her griffon wings—lion and eagle fused—amethyst particles scattered through the air.
"Gah?!"
"Kek!"
The ability she gained upon reaching advanced deification let her manipulate pressure via these particles. The bodies of the priests they touched crumpled like wadded paper.
Star Sharks that lost their pilots were handled directly by the Mother of the Sky and Adhai.
"Priests! Shift to long-range firing formation!"
The leader bellowed again. Leaving a few to buy time, the rest quickly withdrew beyond our attack range.
Behind the retreating foes, more warships appeared. Patrol ships dotted the formation, with a few battleships mixed in sparsely. It looked like every nearby vessel had converged here.
「Bad humans!」
No. 26, hiding inside my rear head carapace, sensed the new enemies. It leaped toward the water filling the city center.
The rippling surface trembled faintly as it plunged in.
Then, massive pink tentacles erupted, slicing through the currents. Evoking octopus limbs save for the color, they coiled around collapsed building rubble and other structures.
Amid the multitude of tentacles loomed a central body dozens of meters across. It resembled a deep-sea monster crawling up from the abyss.
Its purple-and-pink trunk was studded with countless eyes.
Hundreds, thousands of pupils gleamed eerily at the enemies. Psychic power swelled in No. 26's enlarged form like an inflating balloon.
The Sea Demon's unique skill, 'Terror of the Deep Sea,' unfolded at the heart of the water fortress. Thanks to auxiliary organs on each head, the coalescing energy mass was vividly clear.
"A massive concentration of psychic power is forming."
「...Did No. 26 make that...?」
「Yeah」 「Little grown-up」 「Full power」
The psychic illusion No. 26 conjured was a colossal 'me' stretching to the biodome's edge. Moreover, with eyes covering its entire body, it looked far more vicious than the original.
Terror of the Deep Sea drives multiple foes mad by inflicting nightmarish hallucinations. Even I found it chilling; the enemies must be beside themselves. The Star Sharks under priestly control began breaking formation in panic.
If they just fled, that would've been fine. Some went berserk, attacking their own riders or fellow sharks. The orderly formation dissolved into chaos in moments.
Yet none of the pilots blamed them. They too were gripped by considerable fear. Without rigorous training, they'd have ended up like those beasts.
Those who kept their wits retreated rearward, evading the rampaging Star Sharks, and prepared to fire alongside the warships.
The riders on the space sharks aimed their Slayers at me and No. 26. The battleships and patrol craft swiveled their main guns toward us.
As the brief charging ended, weapons great and small unleashed hell.
A meteor shower of navy and purple engulfed the sky. I stood before No. 26, wings fully extended.
The beautiful yet lethal barrage hammered my body. Slayer rounds pulverized my carapace to dust; battleship main guns shredded the flesh and muscle beneath the shattered shell.
「Pain Mitigation activated!」
The familiar message appeared, but it was exactly what I wanted. My body was disintegrating faster than Regeneration could heal.
「Big baby!」
[Zzuzzuzz zzuzz (I'm fine, don't worry)]
Currently, I had a trait that boosted energy output and muscle strength the worse my injuries got. Acquired from an Apex creature hunted on Adhai's swarm's homeworld.
'Tyrantroid.'
Its fruits had ripened.
The pain from the merciless destruction no longer registered. The two hearts in my thorax pumped sadistically, generating vast energy. In this state, even if my limbs were torn off leaving only head and torso, it'd be fine.
I felt the waters covering my lower body churn. Not from No. 26 or other factors—energy leaking from my body's biological pipes was agitating the water.
My heads, brimming with immense power, moved slowly.
If anyone could see psychic power with the naked eye,
They'd see me wreathed in violet radiance.
The moment my three heads unleashed that power, the sky shattered.
-
A dim warehouse.
Dust lightly coated the scattered junk on the floor, including a 1m obelisk-like interstellar communicator.
It looked like a seldom-visited storage for outsiders, but one peculiar feature stood out.
The walls and ceiling were densely covered in bizarre glyphs. The patterns were eerie enough, but the colors were truly uncanny.
Sometimes purple, sometimes green, sometimes gold. A tangle of hues shimmered chaotically.
The glyphs' glow began undulating like waves.
Light wriggled as if billions of ants were marching.
At its end lay a single curved sword.
When the light touched the blade, the warehouse plunged into darkness. The glyphs had lost their luster, leaving only creepy murals behind.
In the gloom, petite Coldblood Isabelle rose.
Having watched the entire spectacle, she gripped the curved sword on the floor.
"...Preparations are complete."
To others, it was just a dusty blade, but her eyes saw differently.
The ritual had succeeded as planned. Now she was a grenade with the pin pulled. Even a moment's lapse would trigger detonation.
Relief from achieving her goal mingled with dread of the future, leaving her conflicted—when the basement shook violently.
"What was that?"
She tucked the sword at her waist and hurried outside.
The first thing she saw upon emerging was warships swarming the biodome's inner sky, heading for the water fortress's core.
And their target looked utterly transformed from usual. The fortress's landmark artificial waterfall was gone, most of the surrounding skyscrapers collapsed.
"No way?"
While she'd focused on the ritual below, the water fortress had become a battlefield.
Who caused this was crystal clear.
'Idiot! I told you to just leave!'
With the ritual done, this city—no, this planet—couldn't escape doom.
She'd arranged an early evacuation, yet it had escalated like this.
'First things first, though...'
The slave district where Isabelle was lay far from the central warzone.
But no one knew when war's flames would reach here. She had to evacuate the hidden Coldblood slaves quickly.
"Where do you think you're going?"
As she moved to hurry off, a voice from behind halted her. Recognizing its owner, she froze.
In this chaos, the last person she wanted to see was right there.
"You haven't forgotten our contract, have you?"
She pondered at the words from the one she'd contacted daily via stele.
She'd prepared an ace for such contingencies, but using it here would vaporize her sister's legacy entirely.
"...I haven't forgotten."
In the end, Isabelle decided to bide for the right moment.
"Good. Glad your memory's sharp."
"......"
"Follow me. That reckless Morph bastard needs a proper scolding."
"As you command."
She obeyed without resistance.
Her counterpart was a master of dirty tricks. Their calm amid the fortress's transformation into a warzone screamed ulterior motives.