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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 391
The shadow that had attacked me quickly disappeared between the ships.
Even if humans transplanted the genes of powerful creatures, it was still no easy feat for them to fight and defeat an Amorph in its adult form. The physical disparity alone was an insurmountable gap.
They must know that too hence their cautious behavior.
‘Looks like they brought some good equipment instead.’
[ZZZZZ (How many were there?)]
｢Three. Unique-grade. Equipped. Confirmed a pistol and a sniper rifle too.｣
Number 26, having observed during that short moment, relayed the information.
｢The others, time was short, didn’t see them.｣
Its special ability required direct visual confirmation to be effective. Since the enemy had quickly hidden themselves, it hadn't managed to confirm everything.
‘Still, it caught sight of the important gear. That’s good enough.’
At least, the pistol was unmistakably the one Isabel had obtained through a contract with Vortex One. Both the pistol itself and its attack style matched perfectly with what I had seen in her memories.
‘And that sniper rifle.’
I knew about that one too.
Among players, it was commonly nicknamed ‘the sniper rifle’, but it had an official designation as well. The nickname might sound ordinary, but the weapon was anything but.
Its proper name was ‘Giant Gun’. Among top-rankers, when they spoke of a sniper rifle, they almost always meant the Giant Gun.
Unlike coilgun snipers that supported a variety of ammunition, the Giant Gun was designed to fire only a single, specialized round.
‘The problem is, that specialized round is a real nightmare.’
Inside the Giant Gun’s exclusive ammunition was a microorganism extracted from a specific creature. When the round embedded itself into a target’s body, it released the microorganism inside.
The organism traveled through the bloodstream, blocking all healing abilities. Even the Amorph’s own regenerative and recovery traits would become completely useless.
‘I don’t currently have any traits that can counter that effect.’
The microorganism would eventually die off naturally after some time, but until then, all healing was effectively sealed.
Which meant I had to make absolutely sure I didn’t get hit.
Focusing my secondary organs, I advanced toward the enemy fleet.
As the distance closed, waves of ship-to-ship combat drones poured out from the Star Union’s vessels. Some of the Outsiders who had been aligned with the Megacorp fleet also moved to intercept me.
｢Counter-field drones, deployed.｣
PS-111 spoke upon seeing the triangular drones.
Those drones lacked direct offensive capabilities but could generate powerful counter-fields. They were mostly used in battles against physical attackers like Outsiders and Metallic Gremlins.
As the large lens embedded in the bottom part of one triangle drone glowed, a tightly compressed energy field formed in front of me. I quickly banked downward to slip out of the field’s range.
Waiting for me there was a swarm of carrier-based fighters. The small plasma cannons mounted on their hulls unleashed a barrage of fire. I could have dodged, but this time I chose to push through.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of plasma shots rained down on me. There were too many to avoid individually. I accelerated straight toward the fighter swarm, enduring the plasma hail.
Among the many blasts, I sensed a particularly lethal attack hidden in the barrage. Twisting my neck sharply, I narrowly avoided a sniper shot from one of the shadows. A small projectile, about thirty centimeters across, zipped past my cranial shell.
‘As expected.’
I had anticipated they would start sniping once they found cover among the fleet.
While flying, I activated my Dark Veil.
Normally, in a situation where the enemy had counter-field drones deployed, mist-generating traits wouldn’t be very effective. I knew that but I had a plan.
Black mist spewed from my biological pipes, trailing behind me like a ribbon. The carrier fighters immediately ceased fire, and in their place, the counter-field drones and the Outsider group advanced forward.
The drones predicted my movements and projected counter-fields ahead. Various flying monsters, Outsiders equipped with biological cannons and scavenger beetles moved to encircle me within the counter-fields.
They massed together, tightening the encirclement.
‘Got you.’
The moment I had been waiting for finally arrived I unleashed my prepared move.
A strange hue seeped into the red and black carapace covering my surface. A sinister glow, as if imbued with malice, gathered at the monster's tentacles atop my head.
Moments later, a psychic bubble, enhanced by the Abyssal Hue burst forth from my body. Like a ravenous predator hunting for prey, it drifted through the mist.
The enemies had experienced the Abyssal Hue once before on Verzan-02, so they would know just how deadly this bubble was. They tried to retreat, but the force fields scattered throughout the area obstructed their escape.
While the strengthened psychic breath engulfed the clustered enemies, I halted the mist generation and slipped through a gap between the force fields.
Not far from the mist, between the carrier fighters, I sensed a particularly small object.
｢Three o'clock ahead. Handgun.｣
The instant I heard Isabel's thought-wave, I twisted my head sharply. One tip of my horn was struck by a bullet and liquefied. The enemy had been relentlessly targeting my head since our first encounter.
'They must have been briefed about me.'
The enemy, failing to land a decisive blow, attempted to withdraw. Having already been hit twice, I couldn't afford to let them escape.
The large spikes protruding from my back rapidly heated up. When the temperature reached its limit, the spikes launched forward like a volley of spears.
The carrier fighters blocking my path were shredded, exploding as the searing spikes tore through them. I surged through the blasts, chasing after the shadow.
Despite having a high-performance jetpack, the enemy darted around nimbly. Still, no matter how good their gear was, they couldn't outrun me in my Symbol of Hunt state. From the protective shell on my back, a dormant Corrosive Tentacles emerged, reaching to seize the fleeing foe.
Just as the tentacles’s appendages were about to snag the target, Isabel fired off a sharp thought-wave.
｢Careful!｣
A small projectile was hurtling toward the tip of my tentacles at alarming speed, a supporting shot from another shadow armed with a Giant Gun.
It was already too late to pull the tentacles back. At that moment, PS-111, perched on my back, took action.
｢Not getting hit, twice.｣
Before the specialized round could pierce the tentacles, PS-111 rapid-fired the Demolisher implanted in its tail. Among the navy-colored energy shots, one struck the incoming 30-centimeter round mid-air.
A feat only possible thanks to the assistance of a high-performance computer though the finishing blow was a little sloppy. The fleeing shadow was also caught in the crossfire, struck by an energy shot.
The enemy, hit by the disintegration rounds, couldn’t even react before crumbling into dust.
'Tch.'
In my Symbol of Hunt state, devouring the shadow would have yielded a significant amount of genetic essence. It was a rare opportunity and now it was wasted.
'Nothing I can do about it.'
At least I had managed to eliminate one of the troublesome shadows. I used Corrosive tentacles to retrieve the handgun floating in the void and handed it over to Isabel.
｢Good, very good.｣
'Handgun recovered. Next up—'
Just as I was maneuvering past the main guns’ firing arcs to slip deeper into enemy territory, I detected a surge of movement behind me.
'What now?'
I thought they were carrier fighters but they weren’t. Chasing me were a swarm of ‘Collector Bugs’, their bodies coated with bubbles.
Several of the bugs, half their bodies dissolved by the Abyssal Hue bubbles, tried to cling to my tail.
Just before they could latch on, Isabel fired the Vortex One's handgun. The approaching Collector Bugs crumbled like sandcastles swallowed by a wave.
｢Amorph? You, okay?｣
[ZZZ (Thanks to you.)]
If Isabel hadn't reacted so swiftly, it could have been dangerous.
The psychic breath, strengthened by the Abyssal Hue, would relentlessly spread across any biological enemy it touched, devouring all organic matter until nothing remained. It might seem easy to wipe off the bubbles quickly after contact but it wasn’t.
That’s because those ominously glowing bubbles inflicted excruciating pain on biological enemies. Even lower-tier Outspacers, creatures with no intelligence to speak of, were paralyzed by the agony.
As a result, most enemies that came into contact with the bubbles ended up dying, unable to move, writhing in pain until their end.
It seemed that Fourth had noticed this weakness and modified the Collector Bugs by removing their pain receptors entirely, allowing them to keep fighting even after getting hit by the bubbles.
Collector Bugs were expendable assault units that fought by swarming their targets at close range. As long as they could get close, they could transfer the bubbles stuck to their own bodies onto their enemies.
'They deliberately re-engineered the Collector Bugs just to reverse-infect me with the bubbles.'
I had already used the enhanced psychic breath once before on Verzan-02. They must have studied that encounter closely to figure out its traits and weaknesses.
Behind the liquefied, vanishing Outspacers, the Collector Bugs swarmed forward, their bodies coated in bubbles. Even as they melted away, they still struggled to latch onto me.
Force field drones and carrier fighters joined the pursuit as well, keeping pressure on me. I kept moving without pause, evading them.
'A pretty annoying situation, but...'
I figured that even Fourth didn’t fully understand the Abyssal Hue. For example, it would be hard to realize without observing it many times that the bubbles only consumed organic matter and left inorganic material untouched.
'Let’s test that.'
Dodging through the enemies, I abruptly veered upward. I shot straight into the middle of the warships above right between the Megacorp and Star Union fleets.
Some of the warships hastily pivoted their main batteries, firing plasma beams at me. I didn’t bother dodging; I took the full brunt of the plasma rain as I advanced.
As I closed in on the ships, the behavior of the Collector Bugs changed. Those that had been clinging to my tail all turned away at once, pulling back and widening the distance between us. It seemed they didn’t realize the enhanced psychic breath couldn't harm inorganic materials.
'Or maybe...'
Perhaps something critical was hiding among the fleet, something that absolutely couldn’t be touched by the bubbles.
｢Amorph, four o'clock.｣
At the coordinates Isabel mentioned, I sensed an unusual energy flow.
It was similar to the energy released during faster-than-light travel, yet subtly different, a unique flow of energy unlike anything else.
The being emitting that energy wasn’t very large, only the size of a small or medium destroyer. But the distinctiveness of its energy was unmistakable.
'There you are.'
That creature, protected by numerous warships and Outspacers, was the one disrupting faster-than-light navigation.
I had finally found the hidden ace that the enemy rankers had prepared to block my escape route.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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