Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Unprecedented Reinforced Suit
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'An unprecedented reinforced suit.'
I looked down at the slumped corpse of Cop 112.
'Must be an upgraded reinforced suit.'
Its defense was significantly higher than before. If my body hadn't been enhanced, I would've found it pretty burdensome. Even slashing open its chest with my claws had been tougher than expected.
On top of the helmet, there was a full-face gas mask, a psionic shield to block psychic powers, and more—features absent from standard mid-grade reinforced suits.
'It's based on a mid-grade suit, but with a few high-grade options added.'
High-grade reinforced suits boasted vastly superior specs compared to mid-grade ones, which meant they came at a steep price. Roughly half the cost of plasma gear, so quite expensive by any measure.
'Looks like they're developing a budget version of a high-grade suit.'
In the game, Mega Corp players had plenty of credits and no need to worry about mercenaries' lives. But this was reality. Gear designed to protect living soldiers would evolve in tandem with new weapon development.
Of course, being the budget model, the shield on this suit was nowhere near as good as a true high-grade one. Still, it seemed capable of barely blocking standard rounds from a gauss weapon.
Laser weapons were the upper limit for what ordinary civilians could afford, so a shield like this was plenty practical.
From that perspective, the enemy had clearly come fully prepared.
If they were up against a 'normal human,' victory would've been straightforward.
'If they were normal humans, that is.'
Since they'd chased Sander all the way to me, they had no idea of my true identity. They probably thought I was just a Space Dogs spy or a smuggler.
Before the enemy entered the apartment, Sander—who'd been parasitized by me—sent a psionic wave. He'd been captured by the police and was about to spill everything about me when he got punished for it.
'Using Sander is a lost cause anyway.'
I'd have to find another broker or take advantage of the chaos to loot the harbor district on the sly.
Before escaping this apartment, if I implanted a parasite in one of these cops, tracking down a broker wouldn't be too hard.
'These kids put up more of a fight than I expected.'
The first successful hunt against the intruders wasn't mine—it was theirs.
Before the police entered the apartment, I'd taught Number 26 and Adhai the weaknesses of androids and humans. Things like the androids' power core location, their lack of independent thinking, and how humans' heads were vulnerable.
Thanks to that, Adhai took down an android on the first floor, while Number 26 eliminated a cop on the second floor from the third.
'Adhai was clinging to the ceiling.'
He'd hung there, waiting until only one android remained.
Currently, androids assumed their enemies were human. Unless it was a special species like a Wold or Insectman, clinging to a ceiling was impossible.
So the android never suspected anything was up there, and it fell helplessly to Adhai's psionic attack—Psychic Impact.
Psychic Impact was among the lowest-tier psionic attack skills, but it could deal decent damage to foes without psionic resistance.
Aim it right, and it could destroy an android's power core.
'It would've failed if the android had a shield.'
Had the android prepared even slightly for psionic attacks, Adhai's strike would've been blocked. Psychic Impact was that easy to counter with resistance.
'He knew that, so he targeted the android instead of the cops.'
Anti-psionic androids existed, but none had come to this apartment. With only the shield-equipped cops having psionic defenses, he'd deliberately gone for the android.
Not bad at all for a juvenile Blue Galleron.
Anyway, after safely smashing the android, he slipped out a window and rendezvoused with Number 26 on the third floor.
'Number 26 did great too.'
Whether from growth or not, its psionic abilities were far stronger than before. It could now cast 'Binding'—one of the Seed Demon's techniques—without issue.
Binding was a powerful mid-tier psionic skill. It constricted the target with psychic pressure, and as the caster grew stronger, it could affect more targets with greater effect.
Having hunted humans alongside me several times, Number 26 knew their weak points well.
Hiding in the third-floor corridor, it demonstrated double-binding on a single enemy searching the second floor. The poor cop ended up with its body and head moving independently.
'Still a long way to go, though...'
In the game, a Seed Demon could bind dozens of players at once and choke them out. Number 26 wasn't there yet.
Even so, it had barely managed to immobilize Sihyun Yujin before—this was remarkable progress. It'd only get stronger from here.
'They've done their part. Now it's my turn.'
I'd laid plenty of bait.
I could feel the enemies climbing the stairs through the vibrations.
Using the voice of the dead Cop 112, I called out to them.
"Argh!"
"!"
The enemies outside flinched in tension.
Sensing five humans and two machines, I slipped out the window with the corpse tucked under my side. I crawled along the outer wall to the neighboring apartment.
By then, two androids had taken point, smashing through the door of the place I'd just been hiding and entering.
"Commence search."
Ignoring the android's mechanical voice, I crossed the neighboring unit and emerged into the corridor.
The rearmost cop was just about to step inside. I stung his neck with my tail's venom needle.
Catching him silently as he collapsed without a groan, I scaled the corridor wall to the floor above.
I pried open a window to an empty upper-floor unit and tossed the cop and the corpse inside.
"......"
Through his mask, I could see eyes wide with terror. Only after being grabbed did he seem to fully grasp what he was facing.
He was probably thinking they should've brought the army instead of armed police.
As always, regrets come too late.
He seemed desperate to relay my info to his comrades, but that was impossible. The neurotoxin coursing through his veins was constricting his body like a python seizing its prey.
I seized his head with my combat arm. Sensing what was coming, he shot me a pitiful look.
'Sorry, can't grant that wish.'
I squeezed, and my hook-like claws sheared off his head. Just as it split like a watermelon under a cleaver, a delayed reaction came from below.
With his teammate vanishing from right behind, it was natural they'd panic. I smashed Cop 110's communicator outright.
'Time to shake them up more.'
Confusion and fear paralyze reason.
He still seemed compos mentis, so I'd dose him with more fear. I reactivated Cop 112's communicator.
"Argh! It's torturing me!"
"Aaaagh! Help me, please! I'm on the fifth floor!"
I shouted that, then cut the comm. From below came the sounds of their agitation and clamor.
The android urging calm, the cops rebelling that two comrades were missing—how could they stay calm?
The enemy was sinking into quicksand.
While they floundered, I slipped out, using my tail to smash the corridor lights one by one. Only when glass shattered in front of their doors did the fifth-floor residents poke their heads out.
"What fucker’s making this racket... ugh!"
"Kyaaah!"
Spotting me in the darkness, they screamed.
I growled once, and their faces drained pale as they bolted from their homes. I let the fleeing residents dash down the stairs.
Trailing behind them like a sheepdog herding its flock.
Just then, cops and androids were ascending from below.
"Unarmed targets. Hold fire."
"Shit! Civilians! Everyone, careful!"
As the startled cops hesitated, I thrust out my upper arms. Sawblade tentacles erupted from my palms, wrapping the head of an android beyond the civilians. The razor edges on the tentacles dug firmly into its small, hard skull.
"Enemy attack detected."
The painless android swung its third arm's gauss rifle toward me, but it was too late. I yanked back like pulling a rope, ripping the android's head clean off.
"Ambush. Request permission to engage."
"Fuck! What the hell is that?!"
The rear android spotted my attack faster than the cops and blared its alarm. The cops belatedly trained their gauss rifles on me.
Tungsten rounds poured mercilessly where I'd stood. A late-escaping civilian caught stray bullets and disintegrated like watercolor in water.
The civilian shield had served well. Now to fall back.
'Damn.'
I retreated swiftly, but my larger size meant I couldn't fully evade—a few rounds clipped my tail.
Thanks to my body reinforcement traits and others, no major damage. But now the enemy knew my approximate defense level.
Against a normal human, they might not notice battle damage, but androids were different. Unless their power core was destroyed, they recorded every detail of the fight flawlessly.
They'd surely switch to high-penetration special rounds next.
AP rounds could pierce my exoskeleton. The android would likely instruct targeting my relatively thinner arms or tail.
I had regeneration, so lost limbs could regrow, but slowly. For an Aimorph where the body itself was the weapon, damaging primary arms wasn't pleasant.
Best to dodge AP rounds regardless.
'This is why androids are such a pain.'
Low autonomous thinking, but superior data collection compared to humans. Even Mega Corp players used them heavily for scouting and support.
'Gave me trouble fighting Mega Corps because of it.'
Unless wiped instantly, they'd relay all my traits, patterns, and weaknesses to players. A real hassle.
'Have to annihilate them here.'
The destroyed androids hadn't been taken out by guns but special attacks. The fact I wasn't human was already logged in their internal recorders.
Cops might not matter, but I had to destroy every android recorder here.
Hiding in a unit, I sent a psionic wave to Number 26.
While summoning them, the enemies entered the corridor. Knowing their foe wasn't a normal human, their movements were far more cautious than before.
I bellowed loudly in Cop 112's voice.
"Over here!"
They halted at the sound. Then they repositioned for entry.
Footsteps or gear clinks should've been audible, but up close they were eerily silent and nimble. Clearly well-trained.
'Might be their misfortune to face me.'
They could've subdued other foes easily. Or if I weren't an Aimorph, I wouldn't have won this handily.
Without an Aimorph's Super Sense, I couldn't have read their movements so easily.
I positioned myself by the door, aiming my bone launcher.
'About here?'
Calibrated to hit a target about 20cm above head height through the door, I waited.
As the android neared to breach, I fired. A dull twang like plucking a cello string echoed as the bone pierced the door.
"Eneeeemy deee...tect..."
"E-Enemy's firing!"
Through the small hole, I saw the android crumple with a hole in its head.
I slammed the door with my legs. Hinges tore like paper, and the android before it shattered under my charge.
The cops, finally seeing me up close, gulped. I stomped the recorder in the debris, then extracted a sawblade tentacle to coil around one cop's leg.
"Argh!"
The blades raked through, exposing white bone. As he fell, the three nearby cops aimed gauss rifles at me.
But the monster they faced wasn't just me.
Adhai, carrying Number 26, swooped down on the cops.
Adhai's tentacle engulfed a cop's head. The translucent appendage shattered the mask glass and burrowed inside.
"Guh... urk! Ack ack..."
The cop shuddered grotesquely. Suction cups at the tentacle's tip latched onto his face, draining blood.
Gulping sounds filled the air as red liquid vanished into it. The cop collapsed in shock from massive blood loss.
"Uh... uwaa... gah!"
"Urk!"
The other cops recoiled in horror, trying to aim at Adhai but freezing mid-motion. Purple energy from Number 26, now landed in the corridor, enveloped their bodies.
I grabbed the heads of Number 26's captives, one per hand, and tore them off. Blood spurting from neck stumps floated midair, as if in zero gravity, due to the psionic power.
Adhai, having mummified one cop, flicked his tentacle and slurped the floating blood.
A scene that would horrify onlookers to vomit, but I was proud of my capable subordinates. I wanted to give them time to savor the spoils, but enemies remained.
'First time fighting with backup at my back.'
Never happened playing Aimorph. No friends in game or reality, so this cooperative combat was a novel experience.
Using them strategically in future hunts would help a lot.
'Now for the androids downstairs.'
Clear them, and nothing would hinder our escape.
Spoils could wait until the hunt ended.