Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Knights, Defense Forces, and the Monster
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In the ruins of the collapsed sewer, a fierce battle raged between three forces.
The Knight Order, the Defense Force, and the monster.
"Deputy Chief! We can't hold out any longer!"
"We have to retreat... Agh!"
Every time the knights fired their plasma bolters, one soldier after another fell dead. The defense force was returning fire with plasma launchers, but it wasn't enough.
The launchers had a charge time, making them ineffective in this chaotic mid-range skirmish.
They had brought the launchers in the first place as support weapons for fighting monsters.
No one had dreamed they'd be clashing with the Knight Order.
'Why are the knights attacking us?'
The crisis management deputy chief couldn't make sense of it.
What did the knights lack that they had to come after them like this?
The atmosphere had been friendly before entering the sewers, and the search had proceeded without major issues.
The knights' vice-commander was a courteous man, and his subordinates were well-disciplined.
'It's not a rebellion. This has to be orders from above.'
Just moments ago, Vice-Commander Vickers had said as much.
They couldn't hand the monster over. They had to capture it alive.
'There's something about that monster we don't know.'
Even amid the screams of his men and the plasma bolts streaking through the air, the deputy's thoughts pressed on.
'The monster first caused trouble at the apartment complex. It fought the armed police there and escaped. Then it headed to the harbor district.'
In the harbor district, the monster had killed smugglers and fled.
The police who uncovered that were hospitalized, and after that...
'The knights went there. My God. They were covering their tracks!'
Finally, things were clicking into place for the deputy.
'That thing's a bioweapon secretly created by the Ezerton family!'
For reasons unknown, the Ezertons had chosen this special trade hub as the testing ground for mock battles with their specimen.
'Probably because it's designed for urban combat.'
It had wiped out the armed police in the apartment complex, so the experiment could be called a success.
Then the smugglers had shown up.
They must have been secretly hired by the Ezertons to extract the monster.
'They probably planned to sedate it and move it out.'
But the operation failed, and the scene was discovered by detectives investigating the smuggler incident in the harbor district.
To protect their old connections, the Ezertons had dispatched the knights.
'They couldn't leave a witness alive.'
A chill ran down the deputy's spine.
To think such a massive plot and conspiracy had been unfolding right under his nose.
It sounded like something out of a novel.
'...I need to report this to the chief administrator.'
But the current situation made that impossible.
He had to hold out until communications normalized for a chance to relay this vital discovery.
'Isn't there some way?'
Most of his men were dead or dying.
Only one soldier remained on launcher duty, gripping the fixed weapon on the ground and firing nonstop.
The situation was hopelessly against them.
As he racked his brain for an escape, an unexpected ally extended a hand.
"Deputy Chief! The monster's only attacking the knights!"
"What?"
"Look over there!"
The deputy's gaze followed his subordinate's pointing finger.
It was true.
The long-tailed, multi-legged monster was slaughtering the knights.
'Let's head to the administrative district.'
The Ezerton warship was tempting, no denying it.
This place was gathering elite troops from the upper capitals ahead of the board meeting.
Slipping away before they could target me wasn't a bad option.
Still, I chose the administrative district for three reasons why it was the better bet.
'To evolve, I need to catch a Cult first.'
I had barely made progress on the Cult requirement for Near-Adult evolution.
Without evolution possible, even abundant gene essence wouldn't get me far.
'I can get plenty of gene essence in the administrative district too.'
Whether a Cult was aboard the Ezerton ship was unknown.
They hadn't deployed any against me with the knights, so probably not.
'And once I'm on the ship, I can't bring the kids.'
Specimen 026 and Adhai.
They'd only ever brought me benefits, never harm.
If asked if boarding the ship was worth abandoning them, I'd say no.
'Adhai and I even have a deal.'
In exchange for sparing and protecting it, I'd get directions to the Galleron nest.
Parting ways now would leave me with nothing.
And finally.
'T&C knows less about me than Ezerton.'
Though cooperating in the sewer search, there was a big info gap between Ezerton and T&C.
Their gear made it obvious.
Ezerton had come loaded for bear: plasma bolters and blade claws to pierce my exoskeleton, assault packs for close quarters.
'Plus launchers on top.'
Launchers could heavily damage everywhere but my hardest part, the head.
The knights had pulled out all the stops to capture me alive.
'Not the defense force, though.'
They had launchers too, but as squad support weapons. Otherwise, their gear was barely better than the armed police from the apartment fight.
'The knights didn't share intel.'
Probably to protect their interests.
Thanks to that, the trade hub's leadership knew next to nothing about me.
They saw me as a threat, sure, but not how dangerous I really was.
The less they knew, the more I could do.
Hiding out in the administrative district was to my advantage.
'Decision made...'
Time to act.
I charged the knights attacking the defense force.
A knight who had just sliced a soldier with his blade claw raised his bolter to target another.
I tackled him from behind, sending him sprawling.
"Guh?"
Caught completely off-guard, he collapsed defenselessly.
I pinned him down with my combat arms to keep him from rising, then bit into his head with my jaws.
"He... Help...!"
He thrashed in the water, but my combat arms held him firm. His struggles were futile.
I crunched his helmeted head.
The helmet crumpled, brain matter spurting out.
I slurped up the goodies from his skull, then ditched the corpse for fresh prey.
"Damn it! Grab that thing!"
Vickers bellowed in rage as I smashed the rear knight's skull, disrupting their rear guard.
I whipped my tail at the knights encircling me.
Spiked bristles erupted from the tip, flying toward them.
They snapped up psychic shields.
The hyper-condensed psychic barriers neutralized my bristles.
A knight blocked the volley and aimed his bolter at my head.
Just as it fired, a penetrator round punched through his skull.
"Fucking defense force!"
As Vickers yelled, the defense force was hosing the knights with gauss rifles.
Not just them—they were shooting at me too.
"Four of you handle the defense force! The rest, on the monster!"
'Can't let that happen.'
The ones who could 'kill' me had to be the defense force. For that, I needed at least two or three left alive.
I extended a bloodsucking tentacle from my right shoulder combat arm and lashed out.
The red tendril smashed one knight's head. His neck snapped with a sickening crack, and he crumpled.
"You dare!"
A knight roared at his comrade's death and unloaded his bolter at me.
I whipped my head up to block the plasma bolts.
My head exoskeleton was my body's toughest part. The energy rounds clashed against it, sending jolts of pain through my head and neck, but I could take it.
'Two in a row might be trouble, though.'
Taking it didn't mean it didn't hurt.
To minimize my profile, I flattened into the muck up to my waist.
Using my four combat arms and legs, I darted around. The knights started panicking.
"Where'd it go?"
The shallow water exposed my back, but floating debris made spotting me tricky.
"There!"
One knight, eyes blazing for revenge, found me while searching.
He leveled his bolter.
"You son of a bi—!"
"You idiot! Get down!"
Vickers shouted in horror, but too late.
A plasma beam from the defense force vaporized his bolter and arm in one go.
"Aaaagh!"
Ignoring the defense force to get me cost him dear. Clutching his vanished limb, he howled.
"Pull that fool back now!"
I couldn't miss the opening.
I hurled bristles at the panicking one-armed knight.
Neurotoxin-laden spines stabbed right into the stump.
As he went limp mid-scream, his supporting comrade looked stunned.
I charged, impaling both on my head horn.
"Gah... Guh... Monster... bastard!"
Even gutted, the knight swung his blade claw, slicing a chunk from my head exoskeleton.
'Lucky it's low-sensation plating.'
If it'd been a tentacle, it'd hurt more.
'Pointless struggling.'
I shook my head violently, still skewering him.
The horn tore through his guts, drawing a groan. His arm, aimed at my crown, went limp.
"Die!"
Another knight targeted my rear.
I twisted to meet his plasma bolt.
The impaled knight became my meat shield.
His flesh burst, filling my auxiliary senses with the acrid stench of burning meat.
"Watch friendly fire! Friendly fi—Grah!"
"Vice-commander!"
Vickers clutched his shoulder, hit by a penetrator while barking orders.
With their leader wounded, the knights wavered badly.
Since my ambush began, the tide had turned sharply.
"Good! Now's our chance while their vice-commander's down!"
The defense force pressed hard.
Frontline soldiers laid down suppressive fire, weaving a bullet curtain toward us. The rear evacuated wounded and reformed lines.
The knights' formation, meanwhile, had shattered because of me.
Those facing the defense force were crippled by my strikes and their fire; the rest floundered, unsure who to target first.
With their commander hurt, their disadvantage snowballed.
"Operation's failed! Everyone, retreat!"
Finally, supported by his men, Vickers called the pullback.
'Think I'll let you escape?'
Even if I'd soured relations between the families, board politics would keep them allied for now.
They might resume the hunt after I reached the administrative district.
'Better safe.'
Minimize loose ends.
I picked off the retreating knights one by one.
Not just me—the defense force, bent on wiping them out here, pursued relentlessly.
"Deputy Chief! What about that monster?"
"Penetrators won't work—fire the launcher!"
I heard the defense force as I decapitated a knight.
'Time to fake it?'
I checked the remaining knights: six fleeing, including Vickers.
Dozens of defense force left. They'd handle it without me.
'That's enough.'
To avoid suspicion of tanking the hit, I shook the knight corpse in my jaws like a beast showing off a kill.
Seeing their chance, the defense force fired the launcher.
Green light sliced through the water toward me.
My auxiliary senses had already tracked the incoming attack.
I aligned my head with the beam's path.
The ship-piercing beam slammed into my head exoskeleton.
'Ngh!'
Stronger than expected—I staggered back a few steps.
My thick plating absorbed most of it, but the excess shock rippled through me.
Exoskeleton on my neck, back, and legs ruptured, blood spurting out.
'...I can still fight.'
Bathed in my own blood, but I had regeneration. As long as my brain was intact, this would heal fast.
'Activate apparent death state.'
Feigning collapse from the beam, I triggered the apparent death trait.
Strength drained from my body instantly.
Control lost, I toppled into the sewer passage.
My reliable chin auxiliary organ went slack, senses gone.
Nothing visible, nothing audible.
Only bone-chilling cold.
Death.
It felt so real, doubts flickered.
'So this is it. But... familiar somehow...'
The eerie déjà vu faded with my consciousness.
And so, I died.