Chapter 18
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Counter Cognitive Hazards with Physical Hazards (5) (Revised)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
'It' came back to life amid the flames.
"Hey bapparyppa! If you lose the fight but still win, drop dead!"
The revived bastard started spouting incomprehensible nonsense.
"Fire the starlight! We have to put it down!"
"Blast it at maximum power! Aim for its eyes!"
"We must take it down!"
The demon that had turned the ship into hell resurrected.
They knew his notoriety all too well.
The Star Flowers squeezed out every ounce of power to unleash their starlight.
But.
The moment the starlight touched the shadow veiling its face,
the light withered away, as if sucked into a black hole.
"W-what the hell...?"
"Impossible! Light is His power!"
"A cognitive load strong enough to overcome even His mental corruption?!"
The Star Flowers cried out in shock.
This confirmed it.
Light was useless against it.
It had only drawn its attention.
"Kuhahaha!!! Hiding like pussy-ass maggots and just shooting light!!! I'll re-arm that gung-ho mindset of yours with some good ol' Marine Corps discipline!!!"
The bastard bellowed as he charged straight at the flowers.
Chiltoom zombies stepped forward to block his path.
But.
"With bodies like these and you haven't enlisted in the Marines yet?! That's straight-up desertion!"
He spewed more incomprehensible nonsense.
Soon, hellfire erupted from his gun.
The Chiltoom zombies began dropping one by one.
Walls and ceilings crumbled as flames surged.
The garden was engulfed in fire, losing its mystical allure.
Only one color dominated this place now.
The crimson blaze of hellfire alone.
The bastard tore, smashed, and kicked whatever was in his path.
Death and destruction trailed in his wake.
"Uaa... Uaaaaah!!!"
"Aaaack!!! Aaaack!!!"
"Stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstop"
In the end, the Star Flowers began losing their minds one by one.
Their sanity shattered, they screamed.
Praying desperately for someone to pull them from this hell.
"Kuhahaha!!! Gung-ho!!! Can't even handle this much boot camp bullshit...!!!"
But the bastard had no intention of stopping.
"You ain't even boot Marines, let alone full-fledged ones."
It was a declaration of sorts.
"Time to turn you all into Marine chow!"
A one-sided vow to slaughter them all.
Soon, he rampaged even more ferociously than before.
"Ehilaatoom! We can't hold it back!"
Ehilaatoom couldn't hide her bewilderment.
She'd thought it was over.
How could something like this even happen?
"J-just hold on a little longer! The Chiltoom battleship is on its way!"
But nothing would change.
If they could just get their hands on that Chiltoom battleship,
they could end it all.
Ehilaatoom staked everything on that one path.
But the demon had no intention of giving her time.
"Assseeeeey!!!!!!!"
His roar sounded like a wild beast's howl.
Just hearing it filled the listener with terror.
"Ah.... Aaa...."
Ehilaatoom slowly turned her head.
By the time her fear-stricken eyes turned that way,
– Splat!
The charging Marine newbie kicked her stem like a tiger pouncing.
"You little... fucker............"
"PUSSY-ASS BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As he bellowed, a storm raged.
Star Flowers unable to endure the noise had their heads explode,
and zombies convulsed in spasms.
Ehilaatoom had to endure that horrific roar right in her face.
"Bringing some shit-stinking, dog-fucking anomalous abomination onto the ship!!! You thought you'd get away with this pussy-ass bullshit?!?!"
His hand seized Ehilaatoom's stem.
Then he forcibly tore open her mouth.
"Kiyaaaaack!!!"
Ehilaatoom shuddered in agony.
But that was just the beginning.
"You chose this anomaly. Now eat it with all its evil."
Then he started shoving the corpses of her fellow Star Flowers into her.
One, two, three, four, five...
She had long passed her limit,
but the demon didn't care and kept force-feeding her the bodies.
"Urp... Ulp...!"
Every breath stabbed her nostrils with the stench of corpses.
"Ueeek!"
Unable to bear the revulsion, Ehilaatoom finally vomited.
She looked up, trembling.
There,
"How dare you...."
"Puke up the food your senior gave you...."
the Marine newbie glared down at her with a tiger-like scowl,
"PUSSY-ASS BASTARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
His rough grip clenched her stem tight.
The muscles in his hand bulged and tensed,
"Kek...!"
and she felt every bit of the pain in real time as
– Crack!!!
she was torn in half.
It felt like waking from a deep sleep.
Like I'd had some nightmare.
I staggered to my feet.
My vision was still blurry.
But light was gradually returning.
"Captain! Are you okay?!"
Orca's voice rang out.
That told me I'd returned to reality.
"W-what? What happened?"
As my mind cleared, I scanned my surroundings.
This wasn't over yet.
I had to destroy the Star Flowers.
With that thought, I looked around.
"What the...?"
But for some reason, everything was spotless.
Mold flowers, Chiltoom zombies, even Ehilaatoom.
The garden had been thoroughly wrecked by someone.
"Who did this?"
"You did, Captain! Yelling stuff like 'little pussy-ass bastards!' and smashing everything. Don't you remember?"
I remembered nothing.
Did that 'Marine' handle it for me?
I carefully surveyed the area.
Flames had spread to the walls and ceiling.
Soon, the garden itself began to melt away.
The garden finally revealed its true nature.
The sky burned and vanished; the soil liquefied.
At last, the bridge returned to its original state.
"We were so close..."
Ehilaatoom's voice echoed from somewhere.
I immediately readied my gun.
"Still alive, Ehilaatoom?"
I followed the voice.
There stood a massive, ornate tree.
All the flowers and stems extended from it.
"I thought you survived just because you're dumb."
"Turns out you're smarter than you look."
"Pulling a cognitive hazard from my memories to hold out."
"Impressive strategy."
"No other Chiltoom ever thought of that."
The voice came from the tree.
I knew what it was without asking.
"This tree is Mriya, huh."
Mriya was no longer a seed.
It had sprouted by devouring the ship's victims,
grown branches and roots using them as fertilizer.
Thus, it infested the ship.
The result was the garden I'd just seen.
It gained power from the victims,
and used that power to warp reality, creating a garden on the ship.
Then, the tree began to move.
The stems writhed and merged into one,
soon forming the shape of a woman.
"Fighting you made one thing clear."
"Mental corruption is too refined for a simple brute like you."
"Simple men need simple methods, don't they?"
Finally, Ehilaatoom revealed herself.
With a gesture, tentacles shot out.
They surged toward me.
I rolled aside to dodge.
"Resurrection changes nothing. I'll burn you down again."
Then I counterattacked.
Aimed my gun and pulled the trigger.
Plasma beams slammed into her body.
The flesh lost form; stems burst and scattered.
Remaining stems burned away,
and amid the flames, a screaming doll-like figure appeared.
But that wasn't the end.
It was just the beginning.
"Our logic doesn't apply in dreams."
"The order of illusions differs from reality."
"That's why you can't kill me."
Stems began reforming the body.
I destroyed those stems too.
This time, I attacked the main body, the tree.
But new stems sprouted, and the tree budded anew.
"You'll never wake from this nightmare."
"The nightmare will swallow you."
Stems kept forming bodies.
Destroy them, and they revived.
This wouldn't do.
I needed a countermeasure.
[Suhariltoom] Self-destruct the ship! Destroy it before my brothers see!
Suhariltoom urged me to self-destruct the ship.
One thing was certain: that option was off the table.
Escaping the ship would take over a day.
Pressing the self-destruct button meant we'd all blow up together.
Not an option for me.
'Think... think...!'
I kept destroying stems to buy time.
Then, a brilliant idea flashed.
"Hey, Suhariltoom! You said the antidote worked, right?"
"Yes."
"What if we use it more aggressively? Slam our cognitive hazard into it!"
"What?"
Suhariltoom responded,
"You're saying dump trash data to destroy it?"
"Yeah. Possible?"
"Theoretically, yes. But how? We don't have a cognitive hazard to use."
"We do!"
"Not enough data volume. A chip with Mriya's processing power needs way more dummy data!"
More dummy data?
I had a way for that too.
Title: Help!!!
Author: Auto-Nickname 1582
Right now I'm trying to kill Mriya by slamming Marine Literature cognitive hazard into it.
But Chiltoom says not enough data volume.
Can anyone use AI tech or whatever to infinitely generate characters from the Marine Literature worldview?
That should give enough data.
Reply fast, I'm about to die soon.
Whoa, solid idea?
Thinking about it, since Mriya's basically a computer chip, this op should work.
Possible.
But we don't know what Marine Literature is, so you'll have to explain. Might take time?
(OP) Auto-Nickname 1582: Neural link function on Chiltoom combat suit lets me upload straight from my brain
(OP) Auto-Nickname 1582: Uploaded the data, make it quick!!! Urgent!!!
Space Engineer: No clue what it is, but I'll give it a shot. Not hard what you described.
Even as I posted, Ehilaatoom kept attacking.
I could feel my focus slipping.
She seemed to notice my fatigue.
"Getting it now? You're just a frail organic after all."
"Fuck off!"
– Boom!
I blasted a plasma beam into her face.
Her head exploded, flames engulfing the stems.
But just for a moment.
New stems would reform the body.
"You hate us, but we don't hate you."
"He's very magnanimous."
"You'll tire out and fall asleep eventually, then bloom into a flower."
"I'll cradle you then."
"So come to our embrace."
Right then.
<<Alert!>> [Newbie bro, prep complete]
I activated the data terminal on my combat suit.
All that remained was jamming it into its skull.
'One shot only.'
I took a deep breath,
roared, and charged straight ahead.
"Final struggle?"
Tentacles flew at me from all sides.
I twisted to dodge.
Those I couldn't, I batted away with my rifle butt.
"W-wait. What are you doing?!"
Ehilaatoom realized my intent and tried to block late,
but it was too late.
I shoved past her and reached out,
finally touching the tree.
"Now feel the pure malice of humanity."
I flashed her a grin,
then jammed the terminal into the tree.
[Data upload in progress...]
"Stop! That's not how you use Mriya!"
She screamed desperately,
but it was irreversible.
The effect was immediate.
"Little... pussy-ass bastard!"
"Little... pussy-ass bastard!"
"Little... pussy-ass bastard!"
"Little... pussy-ass bastard!"
"Little... pussy-ass bastard!"
Reality glitched like a hologram.
Soon, red-pantsed men appeared.
They kept spawning from thin air.
"Asssey! This place is now under Marine Corps control!"
"Pussy-ass bastards!!! Marines don't grow flowers! Asssey!!! Yank 'em out now!"
"Aye! Yes sir!"
"Nooo!!! Don't destroy that!!!"
"Ahh...! Perfect spot for a Marine barracks!"
Gruff male voices filled the air.
Ehilaatoom's cries faded, replaced by the men's boisterous laughter.
Flooded with trash data,
Mriya's world began collapsing.
The tree lost form,
and the bridge restored itself.
Finally, only the seed-form Mriya remained.
It glowed red, sparking,
then
– Boom!
exploded with a thunderous roar.