Evil Spirit (3)
"What in the world happened here? I require an explanation."
"......"
"That invisible, spirit-like creature — is it truly a living organism?"
"...I don't know."
Lyla demanded answers, but Denver had nothing he could say. Of everyone present, the one who most wanted to understand that creature wasn't Lyla — it was Denver himself.
Three or more distinct abilities observed on camera alone. And fused together with perfect naturalness. A complete upgrade over the Hulk Mutant.
Denver was the chief director of the new-generation Hulk Mutant development project. It was no exaggeration to say his knowledge rivaled that of the Eugene family.
Optical camouflage, flame breath, spike projection, and hardened carapace. No organism possessing all of these abilities has ever been discovered.
The natural world was full of creatures bearing a variety of traits and powers. But the abilities this monster had displayed were precisely the kind that were extraordinarily difficult to combine artificially.
If some being truly existed that could pack that many capabilities into a single organism without side effects, calling it a god would hardly be going too far.
...How tempting.
Whether the thing was a product of nature or of someone's design didn't matter. If they succeeded in capturing it alive, the Edgerton family would surpass the Eugene family in a single stroke and claim the crown of genetic engineering. And if that happened, the family's long-cherished dream — elevation to Noble Capital — would no longer be a fantasy.
Even as Denver licked his lips, the knights' cameras kept rolling.
｢This is Jacob. Vice-Commander, do you see anything on Squad 3's camera feed?｣
"Vice-Commander here. The smoke's too thick — nothing's visible."
｢Squad 2, Tennessee! Entering the station now!｣
｢Denied. They may be preparing an ambush. Vice-Commander Vickers, we must regroup at full strength before sweeping the subway.｣
"...My lord, please give the order."
At Vickers's words, Denver shook his head.
"This is the monster that butchered six elite knights in the space of a breath. Fighting it underground, in a confined space, without preparation would be nothing short of suicide. Withdraw and reorganize."
｢Jacob, returning now.｣
｢...Tennessee. Ending transmission.｣
"General Manager Lyla. I'm afraid I must apologize — with the knights currently deployed, I doubt we can take the creature down."
"...I am sealing every station in the city. And, Secretary — contact the Defense Fleet."
Lyla showed no reaction whatsoever to Denver's apology. This was far beyond something a verbal apology could settle. This was a matter to be discussed between the heads of the families themselves. The man across from her was a family lord; she was not. As the manager of a single city, it wasn't her place to resolve this on her own authority.
Denver knew this too, which was why he didn't bother pointing out that she refused to accept his apology. He simply continued.
"The honor of my Knights has been stained. Might you grant them the chance to wash it clean?"
"......"
"This isn't a matter between families — it's a personal request from me. Give the Knights the opportunity to operate alongside your Defense Forces."
"...If you're offering your aid, then I won't refuse."
"Much obliged."
Denver inclined his head toward her, light and courteous. Lyla said nothing, but she seemed quietly pleased to have the head of House Edgerton in her debt.
What she didn't know was that Denver stood to gain as well.
Excellent. Now I can take the creature alive.
Only moments ago, he hadn't been able to issue a capture order with Lyla watching. If he revealed his obsession with the monster, she would inevitably try to leverage it against him in negotiation.
But now things were different. He could simply pretend to participate in the Defense Forces' operation while moving separately to seize the creature.
Of course, the Defense Fleet soldiers accompanying them might try to restrain the Knights' actions — but that was nothing to worry about.
Accidents are common in the chaos of urban warfare.
Denver bowed his head and smiled, soundlessly.
Wow. Without the Endurance trait, I would've just collapsed right there.
The moment the Paragon of the Hunt's effect wore off, I nearly blacked out on the spot. It was still better than having my mind shut down against my will like with the Monster's Tentacles, but a crushing wave of lethargy and hunger had slammed into me all the same.
Thanks to my newly acquired Endurance trait, I could at least fight off the lethargy — the real problem was the ravenous emptiness that hit as a side effect. I'd worried about the aftereffects of the Paragon of the Hunt, but experiencing them firsthand blew my predictions out of the water. My sense of self grew faint, and pure, naked appetite took command of my mind.
If there hadn't been any corpses lying around, I might have actually tried to eat them.
Fortunately, No. 26 reacted quickly, so I never got the chance to attack my own companions. It realized something was wrong with me and shoved the bodies my way instead. Only after swallowing an entire corpse whole on the spot did I finally come back to myself.
｢Are you feeling a little better now?｣
[Zzzzzz (Getting there.)]
｢Want one more?｣
I waved a hand at No. 26 to signal I was fine. The moment it turned to put away the corpse it was holding, a faint pinprick of light caught my eye.
What's that?
We were standing on the rails of the station before the passage leading back to the nest. In the pitch-black space, even that tiny glow stood out with startling clarity.
[Zzzzz zzzz (Hold on — let me see that?)]
｢Okay.｣
I took the corpse from No. 26 and examined it. A faint red glow was leaking from inside the helmet — the powered armor's power supply was still alive.
No way.
I hastily tore the battery pack off the armor's back. The light in the helmet flickered, then died. Once I'd confirmed the suit was completely dead, I ripped the head off the corpse, tossed the skull inside to Adhai, and peered into the helmet cavity.
Ha.
A small chip, connected just behind the semi-transparent visor. I knew exactly what it was.
...A recon chip.
It looked identical to the component you installed when customizing mercenary powered armor in the game.
I'd spent more time in that game facing Mega Corp players than playing as them. Perhaps because of that, at some point I'd come to know their weapons and equipment nearly as well as a Mega Corp ranker.
People who send mercenaries out as scouts tend to load them with recon gear.
In classic strategy games, sending workers to scout enemy territory was basic doctrine. Among Mega Corp players, too, it was common enough to implant recon chips in mercenaries' bodies to gauge an enemy's strategy and armament level.
Not exactly the same situation, but still...
The real problem was the possibility that the enemy now knew where my nest was. I squeezed my hand around the helmet and crushed it flat.
The nest is as good as compromised.
I had noticed before they entered the secret passage, but even so, it was far too late. These enemies were no pushovers. Even without knowing the nest's exact location, they would comb every subway line beneath the city until they found it.
Even if I abandoned the nest, there's no way to reach another planet during the Board of Directors meeting.
Even if I somehow made it onto a ship, if the enemy dispatched the Defense Fleet to hunt me down, that would be the end of it. My body might be tougher and stronger now, but no amount of durability survives the bombardment of a fleet.
Let's think this through, one step at a time.
There was no point poisoning my own well with pessimism this early.
If I fight from the nest, what are the gains and the costs?
I told the kids to wait a moment, then laid out my advantages and disadvantages.
First, the advantages.
There's a high chance the enemy doesn't know the layout of the secret passage.
By the setting, the place where I built my nest was a makeshift passage the city's construction workers carved out for rest and transit. There would be no maps or records of it anywhere. If a worker from those days were still alive, maybe — but this city was, by lore, several centuries old. Unless someone had undergone gene modification, the odds of any of them still breathing were slim.
Also, being underground means I don't have to worry about naval bombardment.
Unless the enemy went completely insane and ordered artillery fire onto their own city, I would never have to fight a warship down here.
Plasma weapons are still a problem, though...
With the Paragon of the Hunt deactivated, anything heavier than the plasma bolters the knights carried was a genuine threat to me. And this city's soldiers would surely have plasma launchers as well. Either weapon could deal me a mortal wound.
It's underground, so I doubt they'd fire casually... but I can't be certain.
There was no guaranteeing this one. If they decided to simply bury me alive down there, they'd order the launchers to unload without hesitation.
I'll have to count that as a disadvantage. And the terrain being narrow and straight works against me too.
The secret passage's layout was a complicated maze, but the corridors themselves were narrow and linear. With no cover to speak of, a sustained wall of fire from the enemy would be hard for me to evade.
Even if I built my strategy entirely around ambushes, if they commit dozens or hundreds of soldiers, that only goes so far.
I didn't know about the city's Defense Forces, but the knights were veterans. They weren't likely to fall for the same attack twice in a row.
Darkness-based disruption tactics are out too.
The nest was dark enough that not a single thread of light penetrated it — but they'd come fully equipped with night vision.
...Time to change my thinking.
Someplace underground that I knew intimately. And someplace that made it easy to defend while minimizing the damage their attacks could do.
As far as I knew, exactly one location met all of those conditions.
The sewers.
When I played as Amorph in this city, I moved around mainly through the sewers. When I first came to this city after the game became reality, I had debated whether to go for the sewers or the subway. Back then, worried about the sewers' heavy security, I had chosen this place — the secret passage.
Because I was weak then.
I'd been a Juvenile, with only one Type, and I hadn't yet acquired my trump card, the Transcendence System. So I'd chosen the secret passage, and it had let me hide from watchful eyes and build my strength all this time.
But not anymore.
Among the traits I picked up at the hospital, there was a weapon tailor-made for exactly this situation.
Space Bacteria.
When this trait was active, my body would automatically produce a microorganism called space bacteria.
Space bacteria were something like the chronic space-flu virus humanity had developed after expanding into the cosmos. A pathogen you could never fully eradicate because new strains kept emerging — yet never quite lethal enough to wipe anyone out outright.
Space bacteria do nothing but suppress the immune system... but what happens if the enemy gets infected with them in a place saturated with every kind of contaminant and virus?
Say, for example, somewhere full of polluted water. Like a sewer.
In other words, any enemy chasing me down there would have to fight two wars at once — against me, and against the space bacteria colonizing their own bodies.
The truly terrifying enemy is the one inside you.
Bullets flying at you could be stopped with armor. An attack eating you away from within was far harder to stop.
Low-grade powered armor came with built-in treatment systems, but they couldn't perfectly neutralize every virus and disease swimming in contaminated water. High-grade armor was no exception. It would carry antidotes, sure — but that merely bought a little more time. The ending was identical either way.
They would all writhe and die in the filth of the sewer.
There's another defensive advantage, too. The sewers are critical infrastructure.
On an artificial structure floating in the void of space, a failure in water-related infrastructure was an extremely serious matter. Water was essential to the survival of every living thing.
A damaged sewer wouldn't kill anyone outright, of course, but it would unmistakably deal the city's operations a heavy blow.
Which means they'll be just as reluctant to use plasma weapons down there.
The last advantage: the sewers were half-flooded.
Every enemy detection system I'd confirmed so far relied on thermal and vibration sensing. Neither was well suited to hunting a target submerged in water. Even if I struck from hiding, they'd struggle to respond in time.
Though they'll have maps of the sewer network, so I'll need to watch for that.
Weighing everything together, the advantages outweighed the drawbacks. The sewers would make a fine new home — and battlefield.
I decided on the sewers and called the kids over.
[Zzzzz zzzzz (Kids, over here.)]
｢That's not our home, though?｣
｢?｣
[Zzzzz zzzzzz zzzz zzzz (We're not going home — we're going to a different home.)]
｢Different home?｣
[Z zzzz (Yeah. New home.)]
To reach the sewers, I had to surface first. Leaving through a station would put me on their grid, but it didn't matter. The tracker bolted to the powered armor already told them I was moving underground.
I led No. 26 and Adhai along the rails to a different station, spiking every camera along the way with my quills.
Them knowing I'm moving underground and them knowing what I am are two different things.
The Metal Absorption extension granted by the Paragon of the Hunt had run out as well. With my cloaking gone, cameras were the thing to watch.
I smashed cameras as I went, rushing the kids toward the station gate. It was deep night, and the gate was sealed. Before security or an android could arrive, I smashed through it and hurried outside.
The square manholes connect to the sewers.
Out on the street, I surveyed the manholes dotting the road. Most were round — but there was exactly one square one.
[Zzzzzz (Over here.)]
｢Okay.｣
｢Hungry.｣
[Zzzzz zzzzzz zzzz (Share it while we walk.)]
｢Can I eat it?｣
[Z (Yeah.)]
The Paragon of the Hunt's effect was over now, so there was no urgent need for food.
With my permission granted, No. 26 lopped off the corpse's arm with a tentacle and handed it to Adhai, then set about melting down a leg for itself.
While the kids snacked, I lifted the square manhole cover and checked below.
No alarm systems near the entrance.
There were no alarms within fifty meters of the underground sewer. Certain it was safe, I crawled down into the dark with the kids.
｢Wow! Water!｣
After sending the kids down ahead of me, I set the manhole cover back in place on the ground and plunged into the water.
Filthy.
Amorph had no nose, but in its place sat an exquisitely sensitive auxiliary sensory organ. I could feel every component of this black water, every bit of what that floating sludge really was.
Thankfully, Amorph's stomach of iron made it bearable.
｢Big Baby, I think I like it here.｣
｢Water｣｢Not bad.｣
Unlike me, both No. 26 and Adhai seemed to love the polluted water. It made sense for No. 26, whose homeland was the deep sea — but Adhai was a surprise. It was bobbing along on the surface, paddling with its wings and tail.
I'd planned to hide Adhai somewhere separate if the enemies invaded this place, but seeing how well it was adapting, that no longer seemed necessary.
Finally, I swept the area one last time for alarm systems or surveillance androids.
Can't speak for everywhere else, but there's nothing here.
The moment it sank in that we'd finally reached somewhere safe, the tension drained out of my body. The fatigue of relentless fighting against powerful enemies — brief as it had been — and the deadness that had crashed over me as the Paragon of the Hunt's aftereffect.
For the first time in a long while since becoming Amorph, I felt genuinely tired.
One last thing — apply the trait I got from the Predation Effect, then sleep.
One trait still remained from devouring the Squad 3 knights keeping watch at the station. I accepted the trait application and settled my body onto the water's surface.
[Z zzzzzz (I'm going to rest for a while.)]
｢Okay. You worked hard. Get some sleep. If anything happens, I'll wake you.｣
[Zzzz (Thank you.)]
Having entrusted the watch to No. 26, I drifted into a deep sleep beneath the polluted water.