Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Daughter of the Stars
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At the moment Code Black began her battle with the target.
On the aerial observation deck of Monument's 50th floor stood a girl in a red dress.
Her slender arms and legs, and her tiny face belonged to a young girl, but anyone who glimpsed her eyes would recoil in horror.
Her eyes weren't human—they resembled a chameleon's.
They darted ceaselessly up, down, left, right, surveying the entire administrative district below.
This grotesque girl was Code Red, one of the Yujin Family's secret weapons.
A vivid purple halo floated above her head.
If anyone capable of sensing psychic power were present, they would have seen it clearly: threadlike strands of psychic energy, like spider silk, radiating from the halo to blanket a 1km radius around her.
Code Red lacked the potential to receive Galleron genes like her partner Code Black or the now-deceased Code White.
Instead, she had been implanted with genes suited to combat support, enabling her to aid the other shadows.
One such gene came from the Angel Spider.
A carnivore native to jungle planets, it could weave spiderwebs from psychic power.
Any creature ensnared in an Angel Spider's psychic web fell under its control, becoming prey without resistance.
Unlike the original, Code Red couldn't manipulate other beings.
But she could detect and direct vast flows of psychic energy across areas far beyond a spider's reach.
This technique, the Psychic Control Web, allowed Code Red to support the others from the rear.
Her usual mission was to relay target data to Code Black nonstop—but not this time.
Someone had shredded the vast control web she had spun.
'Psychic power detection rivaling mine. Target undetectable.'
It was like a stone hurled into a spider's web.
Even with the web torn, the spider couldn't identify the culprit or how to stop it.
Code Red was in that exact predicament—the master of a ruined web.
The silver lining: her foe didn't seem as proficient in wielding psychic power.
She would have wrested control of the web outright, but the enemy made no such attempt.
'Prioritize repairs.'
Anything else paled next to the spiritual tuning link with Black—if that broke, disaster.
She monitored Black while methodically restoring her web.
'?'
Then something new pinged within her detection range.
Her gaze lifted to the black sky.
Amid the artificial gloom, a green star gleamed.
"A star?"
She knew the green flyer well: large wings, sleek form, four horns, and a tail. A Green Galleron.
It had appeared from nowhere, hurtling toward Monument at blinding speed.
Instinct screamed enemy. Red halted spiritual tuning and acted.
She snatched the sleek coilgun sniper rifle beside her.
Chambering tungsten rounds packed with condensed plasma, she fired into open air.
The rounds veered wildly on their own, homing in on target.
Her Psychic Control Web bent their paths to her will.
As it closed on the airborne Green Galleron, the plasma detonated.
'Target eliminated.'
The instant she thought it down, green light erupted from the explosion's smoke.
"Hm?"
Unfazed by the blast, it barreled closer.
Target confirmed alive. Red unleashed a barrage from the coilgun.
Silver oval projectiles streaked from the muzzle like a meteor shower in reverse.
Red had no doubt this would end it. Reality proved otherwise.
"What?!"
She, whose emotions were eroded and expressions rare, recoiled in shock.
The green intruder wove through plasma blasts with uncanny flight prowess.
She had enveloped it from all angles for total pressure—yet acrobatics slipped it through the gaps.
Green rays of annihilation streaked the night sky, sparking pandemonium inside Monument.
Red knew her fire was rash, but the enemy's aerial mastery posed greater threat.
'Threat to Lord Akira.'
Code Black fought on. Code Blue guarded Akira Yujin. She alone could defend here.
Yet despite her suppressive volley, the Green Galleron narrowed the gap relentlessly.
Monument's black skies erupted in an impromptu fireworks frenzy.
She was born as white shooting stars adorned the Night Goddess's robe.
The youngest of the great Od Grad herd.
Named Adhai—daughter of the shining star.
Among Gallerons, a unique stellar display at birth was the finest of omens.
She bore the Od Grad herd's collective hopes.
Of course, those hopes soured swiftly.
Cursed flesh marked her birth.
Puny unlike her kin.
Time passed unchanged from hatching.
Weaklings had no place in the Od Grad herd.
No hope of strength meant exile from the nest.
Lifelong nest-dweller with frail physique—surviving wilds neared impossible.
Exiled, she starved slowly.
Without odd dwarves appearing, death was certain.
Thieves raiding for kin eggs.
They found her amid the plunder, dragged her to their lair.
Pierced her with fang-or-claw skewers, encased in cold ice.
Afterward blurred to haze.
Awakening: a creature before her.
Weakest of kin, sharp instincts instant-read it.
Smelled of kin.
Kin devouring psychic-treasures for power.
Differences too.
This one reveled in slaughter and feast—ruthless predator.
It sought to devour her. Facing doom, she offered bargain.
Nest treasures for protection.
Apex kin scorn deals.
Lifetime dependent, she knew parasitism's limits.
Self-consolation: weakness demands leeching.
It knew kin well. Marveling her oddity, it agreed.
Her first encounter with the "Great Adult."
Silver stones inbound. Wings snapped shut.
Body plunged. Blast overhead.
Falling, thoughts churned.
The "adult" vowed safeguard.
Superior predator, yet kin-frail.
Dwarves' metal behemoth teemed with his slayers.
Undeterred, he persevered.
Vanquished stronger dwarves.
Admiration bloomed.
Greatness' secret.
Yearned to grasp it.
Earthbound dive—wings flared wide.
Body rocketed skyward. Trailing silvers detonated short.
Spun deftly past blasts.
Petite frame aided evasion.
Non-mutant, impossible finesse.
Big Adult, Small Adult taught.
Weak hunting strong.
Crucial: "surviving solo."
Diligent pupil.
Someday, inevitably.
Purple lightning lashed from tentacles, striking silver stones.
Green meteors whirled in Night Goddess's shroud.
True to her birthname.
Adhai, daughter of the star.
Code Black—throat slit by my hand.
Head tumbled across floor.
'Not done yet.'
Black Shroud clung to her.
Relic-grade suit evades death unconditionally once every three days.
Sssshhh.
Effect triggered: headless corpse and head dissolved to black mist.
Black Shroud's respawn: near death site.
'Resurrects fully healed, special buffs for duration.'
Per lore, dying in it fuses soul to gear—Necrofacter born.
Necrofacter halves all damage types.
Physical hits drain foe life, fueling self-buffs.
Prime at glance, fatal catch.
'Instability.'
Loses reason, traits glitch.
Like me post-Predation: ravenous beast.
Pure wrath-spirit rampaging blindly.
'Buffed, mindless—easy prey.'
Next issue looms.
District razed by Black clash.
Crowds witnessed; camera jams futile.
Admin district fight eclipses others.
'City's brain hub.'
Monument brass learns of peril? Defense fleet mobilizes—ground troops plus patrol craft.
Time ticking: Predation ends soon.
Three minutes tops—warship plasma dusts me.
Countermeasure? Set.
'Adhai to Monument.'
Adhai targets Code Red.
'Spiritual tuning teleport needs live battlefield sight.
Tallest vantage: Monument.
Like Black, Code Red likely spots distant foes.
'Defense tied to it.'
Spiritual tuning, long-range sense.
Distance fighters' kit. Ranged arms her shield—guns probable.
'Adhai counters perfectly.'
Green Galleron: speed-hit-run ace.
Like fledgling Blue calls kin, Green boasts velocity.
'Super Acceleration' triples flight—AoE-only snare.
'Adhai's tiny—interception nightmare.'
Standard Green hits 10m; big profile.
Adhai: middler height tail-in, wings sub-2m span.
Ridiculous hitbox—androids, ships struggle.
'Airspace skirmish yanks fleet focus.'
Pre-send warning: flee metal-stink projectiles.
Green Galleron outpaces Mega Corp patrols. Rivals? Cult craft, Ezerton speedsters—absent here.
'Clever one—escapes clean.'
Adhai stalls: finish Black, plot exodus.
'Chaos sans patrols...'
Sewer brawl spread lethal virus fleet-fast.
Command crippled likely.
'Later. Fight ongoing.'
Mist cleared seconds prior—ruins stirred nearby.
Black Shroud respawn: Necrofacter.
Specimen 026 clambered from pit, signaling same vibe.
Rubble boomed apart in tandem.
Flames birthed ebon silhouette.
Black transformed: skin inked Shroud-black, eyes crimson blaze.
Voice hissed serpent-static.
Reason flickered—unstable.
Scratch that.
Necrofacter madness gripped full.
Body wrenched post-nonsense.
Hulk Mutant combat-shift style.
Insight: "Body Deformation" trait.
Instability botched traits.
No skills, passives haywire.
Deformation warped.
Mutation brief—form defied human or Hulk Mutant labels.
Four facial eyes locked on me.
The Yujin Family's abomination bellowed at us.