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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 388
I examined the chip pulled from the secretary team leader’s skull.
Its design closely resembled the control devices implanted in hired personnel.
The surface was still hot clearly, this tiny mechanism was the reason both the parasite and the man had died.
Why would something like this be in his head?’
This corpse, now with a liquefied brain, had been the top colonial proxy just seconds ago.
He wasn’t a hired employee, yet he had a bomb in his head. That wasn’t just unusual—it was insane.
‘It wasn’t voluntary.’
Li Zhao the Prime Capital of MegaCorp and overseer of LV-06.
He implanted a bomb in his own agent’s skull.
There aren’t many beings in this world capable of seizing control of another intelligent creature’s brain.
And among them, there’s only one who delights in infecting key personnel to sow chaos from within enemy territory.
‘They were targeting me.’
The moment that truth hit me, the entire building trembled violently.
The trap they’d laid had just been sprung.
I hurriedly canceled my Clever Weakling form.
My body expanded rapidly, shattering the surrounding walls.
As the structure collapsed around me, I unfurled my winged arms and launched upward.
From above, I saw several buildings crumbling in unison.
The ground itself was collapsing.
This wasn’t my doing.
The Star Union, a faction specializing in conventional weaponry, possessed a class of superweapons—
Bombs powerful enough to annihilate entire planets.
Their official name: PMB (Particle Manipulation Bomb).
But most just called them Alpha Boys.
In the game, it was the strongest of all installable bombs and I’d faced it plenty of times when fighting the Star Union.
I knew exactly what it looked like when one was triggered.
That city sinking into the earth was PMB’s handiwork.
‘They rigged the bomb to activate when the chip in the team leader’s head went live.’
Planting bombs in the brains of MegaCorp’s elites.
Smuggling a superweapon from a hostile faction into a colony.
‘Turning an entire planet into a trap just to get me.’
Only a player would do something so deranged.
Li Zhao and the players must’ve known I’d come here.
And they set the trap accordingly.
‘…If it’s a PMB, I have to get out now.’
The surface struck by the bomb’s energy was already in the midst of total collapse.
The sky was faring better but not by much.
The atmosphere had been twisted by the released energy, and shimmering auroras of every color flickered across the heavens.
If I stayed much longer, I was done for.
I needed to escape the blast radius before it reached me.
As I flew through the rainbow-tinted sky, I spotted a massive pink jellyfish floating in the distance.
It was Number 26, in combat mode.
It was tightly hugging the others with its fins, doing its best to shield them.
Above it, Adhai wearing her Red Armor was spinning rapidly through the air.
Thanks to her nearly all-purpose defense capabilities, she seemed mostly unharmed.
But not entirely even she couldn’t withstand this environment for long.
Any more delay and even she’d be in danger.
I extended my monster's tendrils and fired off a wave of formless resonance.
[■ZZ ZZ■ZZ (■you al■gh■?)]
｢■lder■!｣
[■ZZ ZZ■ZZ■ ZZ (■et t■get■er no■)]
The PMB's energy must’ve interfered.
The wave was cutting out strangely, and even Adhai’s psychic signal was glitchy and distorted.
Still, she was sharp.
She understood instantly and flew to me.
The moment my left head opened its mouth, she dove inside.
｢Big One｣ ｢Little One｣ ｢Hurry｣ ｢Help!｣
No need to ask. That’s what I was about to do anyway.
With Adhai secured, I rushed toward 26.
The bomb’s radiating energy was starting to peel away its outer skin.
It must’ve been in agony, yet it held firm, protecting the others.
[ZZ■ZZZ (you d■ne we■l)]
｢■■■ight?｣
I brought all three of my heads close to the area near its fins. The companions who had been shielded by the fins safely crossed over to me. Finally, Number 26 shrank its body and leapt into my mouth.
｢Little One｣ ｢Are you okay?｣
｢It hurts...｣
"Why is the Star Union's PMB here?"
｢Amorph! Even you can’t take on an Alpha Boy! If we don’t get out of here now—!｣
Number 26, Adhai, the Mother of the Sky, PS-111, and Isabel were all safe. I prepared for faster-than-light travel to escape from here.
The energy produced within my body radiated out, transforming into a shimmering blue glow. Just as my entire body began to be bathed in light, as usual, the glow suddenly flickered and went out.
‘Huh?’
I attempted faster-than-light travel again. But just like before, the light enveloped me only to break off midway interrupted, as if something were interfering.
‘What’s going on?’
That’s when PS-111, residing in my right head, spoke to me.
"Amorph. A special energy field, believed to have originated beyond the planet, has been detected. This field is interfering with faster-than-light travel."
[ZZZ (What?)]
Following its words, I focused on my auxiliary organs. Maybe because we were within the PMB’s energy radius, I couldn’t sense the energy field it mentioned.
‘An energy field that interferes with faster-than-light travel…’
To my knowledge, there’s only one being capable of halting such movement: Vortex-One, a being specialized in massive warp suppression. It can artificially prevent others from traveling faster than light.
‘It’s here?’
But this isn’t its habitat. Unless the Coldbloods summoned it, there’s no way it would appear here.
‘…No. That can wait.’
Right now, escaping from LV-06 is the priority. With Faster than light blocked, I’ll have to fly out manually.
I slammed my wing-arms through the air with all my strength. The air split, and my body surged forward.
My carapace, a mixture of black and crimson from the effect of the Destroyer Carapace, began glowing red. But it wasn’t just due to atmospheric heat. The PMB’s active energy was searing through me.
｢Pain Dulling, activate!｣
‘Gah!’
A text box popped up, urging immediate escape.
My wing membranes tore, and the protective plates on my body slowly disintegrated into dust. It felt like being thrown into a grinder as pain coursed through every cell.
Maybe because of the melting agony, dark memories surfaced of the accident that changed my life and my family's forever.
‘No. I can endure this.’
Unlike back then, I now have a strong body and unique traits. I kept pushing upward.
Maybe Amorph’s body understood my resolve, because the shredded membranes began regenerating, and the melted shell slowly returned to its original form.
My advanced healing trait Superior Homeostasis, along with Pain Dulling, prevented my will to survive from collapsing.
‘Just a little more…!’
Flying mindlessly, I soon found myself in darkness.
I had escaped the planet’s atmosphere, but I couldn’t let my guard down yet. The PMB, having devoured the entire planet, was about to release a massive burst of energy. If I got caught in that, I’d be obliterated.
‘I need to put more distance between us—fast.’
As I pushed myself to fly even faster than during the initial escape, I noticed a small speck in the distance. I thought it was a drifting meteor fragment—until I realized the truth.
‘Enemy!’
Over a hundred torpedoes were racing toward me. They were small, so I couldn’t identify their exact grade, but their numbers and glow hinted at formidable power.
‘I can’t waste time fending them off.’
I had to focus on getting beyond the PMB’s range. I couldn’t afford to shoot them down myself.
But the others inside me well, that’s a different story.
[ZZZ (Adhai)]
I opened my mouth on the left head, and Adhai emerged with an attack card at the ready.
Her body gleamed with a red aura as she raised her head toward the incoming torpedoes. She wielded a mythical power said to belong only to the greatest of space dragons the Red Gallagon.
From the tip of her tendrils burst a Starflame, a condensed starlight flame that legends say only she can control.
The violet sphere shot through space and collided with the incoming barrage. The resulting explosion was like a sun blooming into existence. In a blink, the swarm of torpedoes vanished.
[ZZZ (Nice job)]
｢Star power｣ ｢Used｣ ｢Hungry｣
[ZZ ZZZ Z (I’ll give you something tasty later)]
It leaned against my teeth, likely exhausted from using up such a massive amount of power.
Thanks to Adhai, who blocked the torpedoes, I continued flying, trying to get as far away from LV-06 as possible.
Then, a moment later, my auxiliary organs quivered violently. A shock even greater than the pain I’d felt while escaping the planet surged through my body.
｢Big■■!｣
｢■■■■! Hold■■ on!｣
A storm of energy greater than even Adhai's Starflame struck me with a brutal force. I lost control of my body and collided with a small floating meteor.
“■e■■'s s■bo■na■on is co■■irm■d. Something is■ de■oy■ng som■hi■g.”
“H■rry! If ■u g■ d■wn now—!”
I could sense the others shouting something from within my mouth. Whether it was due to the explosion or the pain, I couldn’t make it out, nor did it really matter.
I raised my central head while still embedded in the meteor.
In the distance, above the void shrouded in black, a massive vortex of light raged violently. A few minutes ago, it had been a megacorp colony—now, it was just cosmic dust.
‘I survived… somehow.’
I’d just barely escaped the PMB’s range. If I’d been even a second slower, I’d have been shattered along with that planet.
Of course, I was still injured, but it was nothing serious. With Superior Homeostasis, I would recover fully in time.
As I was thinking that, trying to pull my body out of the embedded rock, my auxiliary organ rang with a sharp buzz.
｢You have encountered entities you cannot escape from.｣
Scenes flickering like mist flashed before my eyes and vanished.
It was the activation of Predator’s Sense, a trait that only triggered when my life was in danger and it hadn’t activated in a long time.
Then the beings responsible for triggering it appeared in the vacuum of space.
‘…Damn.’
The Star Union. The Megacorp. And the Outspacers.
Three factions that could never coexist neither in the game nor in this world had surrounded me with their fleets.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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