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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 396
I observed the enemy using the auxiliary organ beneath my jaw.
There, floating amid the wreckage of a shattered ship Akira Yujin.
I had fought Megacorp rankers so many times in the game that I’d grown sick of it. That particular one Rank 3 I’d clashed with him dozens of times.
But the creature now before me looked very different from what I remembered.
Megacorp players could enhance their bodies through genetic modification, much like Amorphs or Outspacers. However, unlike those two races, they couldn’t immediately use harvested genes; they had to convert them into samples first. And since those genetic samples were altered for human use, their quality was far inferior to pure essence.
As such, they couldn't completely transform into something unrecognizable, like Amorphs could. At most, they became hulking mutants. Even Si-Hyun Yujin and Code Black whom I’d fought before still looked mostly human.
But the Akira Yujin standing there now could no longer be called human.
His eyes resembled those of an insect compound and faceted. Four horns protruded from his temples. His height was nearly five meters. His body was covered in scales, with massive wings extending from his back, and four long, segmented arms emerging from his shoulders. Nothing about him resembled a human anymore.
If not for the rifle-like weapon he held in his right hand, I wouldn't have believed he’d once been one.
As soon as I thought that, he moved.
His body shot toward me at terrifying speed, as if crossing space in a single step.
So the wings on his back weren’t just for show. He was much faster than I had anticipated. I quickly transferred Adhai from my combat arms to the smaller arms on my chest.
In an instant, he was upon me. One of his four arms lashed out. That arm ended in a hooked claw not unlike my own scythe-like bone limbs.
Just before that hook pierced my snout, I jerked my head back. His claw sliced through the edge of my carapace.
A moment later, and my snout would’ve been split in two. Barely avoiding a fatal injury, I struck back with a corrosive tentacle.
My corrosive tentacles incorporated the Medusa Organ. If one of their appendages pierced the enemy’s body, it could crystallize them into a lump of quartz.
But the enemy didn’t react even as the tentacle flew toward him. Instead, the wings on his back began to radiate energy.
‘Damn!’
I knew what those rapidly charging wings meant. I had to dodge but he was too close.
Just as he was about to fire, his left wing melted and scattered into the air. Isabel had fired her Vortex One pistol.
Apparently realizing the danger, Akira aborted his attack and tried to retreat. My corrosive tentacle barely managed to latch onto his leg.
Though Akira stood nearly five meters tall, my body was still far larger. The tentacle's appendage tore through his left leg with ease.
I went to rip apart his lower body completely but then, interference. Warships from Megacorp and Star Union.
Their torpedoes and heat rays slammed into my back. Akira used the moment to slip free of my tentacle.
Instead of pursuing him, I withdrew outside the battleships’ firing range. The vessels kept bombarding the area with auxiliary cannons as they moved toward Akira’s position.
I wasn’t happy about enemies converging but I had no choice. Adhai had taken a serious wound and needed time for recovery.
‘Akira’s hurt badly too, after all.’
While withdrawing, Akira used his hooked claw to cut off the leg I’d wounded likely to prevent the Medusa Organ from activating.
Just as I thought that, something strange happened. New limbs began to burst from the stumps where his leg and wing had been.
‘What?’
The new leg that erupted from the torn flesh was protected by a thick carapace. The newly grown wing was narrower and more elongated than the original right one.
Regeneration and healing traits typically restore damaged areas to their original forms. They don’t reconstruct them into entirely new shapes. But the replacement parts Akira had grown looked as though he’d grafted them from an entirely different creature.
｢Amorph. Early. Deep sea. That’s its trait.｣
That was Isabel, sending me a psionic message.
｢It uses stored genetic material... creates new body parts internally... and replaces the damaged ones.｣
Rather than regeneration, it felt more like replacing new legs and wings taking the place of the old.
You could say it was a Megacorp-style version of a cyborg module swap.
‘It’s like a variable-type bio-weapon.’
The right wing, which had just attempted to fire a beam, resembled that of a creature it knew well.
‘The Arcane Orca’s wing.’
It was noticeably smaller than the original, and lacked the creature’s signature mystical markings.
Still, its structure and beam-firing capability closely mirrored the Arcane Orca’s.
The hooked claws that had tried to slash it, the new left wing, and even the freshly grown leg all were imitations of Apex creature parts.
‘It’s replacing multiple body parts at once.’
Variable-type bio-weapons, unless in a Dice of the Void state, can typically only alter one part at a time and even then, only temporarily.
This opponent likely had its own limitations, but at present, its perks were clearly superior to the Amorph’s.
[ZZZZ ZZZ (What other perks?)]
｢Visible, perks seven, when combined with current, ones.｣
[ZZZ (Seven?)]
Of the players it had killed, Jason had possessed the most perks.
The Amorph currently had five ‘Mark of Formidable Foe’, traits it had earned by defeating him and other players.
Seven meant this one had more than it.
｢Fortunately, two, cannot be, used here.｣
[ZZZ ZZZ ZZZZ ZZ (Can’t be used here? Are they restricted perks?)]
The creature nodded.
The ‘Mark of Formidable Foe’ traits the Amorph carried were powerful but came with strict usage constraints.
It seemed this enemy’s perks were similar in that respect.
‘Still, five usable perks... same as mine.’
This one had a perk that corrupted DNA, one that was essentially a superior version of a variable-type bio-weapon, and three others.
‘…It won’t be easy.’
And things weren’t looking good on its end.
While monitoring the creature with a secondary organ, it checked on Adhai cradled in one of its small arms.
Her tiny, fragile body was rapidly cooling, a clear sign that her life force was fading.
｢Amorph. Little One's condition, extremely critical.｣
PS-111 crawled down the Amorph’s arm and quickly scanned Adhai.
｢APNC activation, confirmed. Without immediate intervention, fatal outcome, likely.｣
The Anti Psychic Nanite Cartridge abbreviated as APNC was a nanomachine bullet developed by Star Union.
Upon successful impact, embedded micro-machines activate and absorb all psychic energy nearby.
Imagine a Blood Reaver that only consumes psychic power but microscopic in scale.
Aside from the nanomachines, it’s not that different from a storm gun’s depleted uranium rounds.
For creatures like the Amorph, with ultra-thick carapaces or no psychic power, it’s largely ineffective.
‘The problem is, it wasn’t me that got hit, it was Adhai.’
If she had been a standard White Gallagon, the wound might not have been this severe.
Gallagons grow tougher as they mature, and Storm Gun-level damage isn’t usually enough to hurt them.
But Adhai had been born with a naturally small and frail body.
Without her Red Armor, even the relatively weak APNC round could inflict serious injury as it did now.
[ZZZZ ZZZ ZZZZ ZZ (Any other toxins or contaminants?)]
｢None detected.｣
There was relief that no unknown lethal poisons had been injected, but that didn’t mean things were safe.
‘At this rate, she won’t last long.’
Not only was the injury severe, but the nanobots were still draining her internal psychic power.
If they didn’t act soon just as PS-111 warned she would die.
‘If I could, I’d transplant a recovery trait into her…’
But that was impossible.
Akira’s tampering had corrupted the genes responsible for healing and regeneration.
Still, there was a silver lining.
There was someone else here with healing power.
‘The Mother of the Sky.’
Having inherited the power of the mythical beast Thunderbird, she possessed formidable healing capabilities.
With its thoughts gathered, the Amorph immediately sent out a wave from one of its tentacles.
[ZZZ ZZZZ ZZZ (Everyone, come here)]
Its signal spread through space.
Those locked in fierce combat far away responded to the call.
The silver clouds woven between ships shimmered blue and vanished.
Then, space itself tore open nearby and they emerged.
Thanks to Number 26, which had received the Amorph’s message and relayed it to the Metallic Gremlins, everyone arrived together.
｢■■?｣
｢Grrrr.｣
｢I just saw the enemy fleet vanish mid-warp what happened?｣
The silver devils and my copies, who had flown in during the battle, looked confused. Among them was the Mother of the Sky, who broke formation and flew toward me alongside Number 26.
｢The Little One?｣
As the two of them got closer, they spotted Adhai in my arms and froze. The moment they realized her condition, the combat-mode expression drained from Number 26’s face, leaving it deathly pale.
｢The Little One's hurt!｣
The Mother of the Sky, still in her griffon form, was just as shaken by the sight of bloodied Adhai.
｢That blood is it hers?｣
｢She can’t die!｣
[ZZZZ (Calm down!)]
I pulsed a strong psychic wave at them, loaded with determination.
[ZZZZZ ZZZZ ZZZ (Adhai will not die.)]
Never before had I broadcast a pulse to them with such force. Perhaps because of that, both of them, especially Number 26, froze stiff with tension.
[ZZZZ ZZZZ ZZZZZ (There’s no time. I need your help.)]
｢…What are you planning?｣
The Mother of the Sky recovered from her panic faster than Number 26, perhaps because she had already experienced the pain of losing someone precious. Fixing her eyes on Adhai, she waited for my answer.
[ZZZZ ZZ ZZZZZ ZZZ ZZZ (I’m going to transfer the Revenant Organ to you here.)]
｢What?｣
[ZZZZZ ZZZ ZZZZ ZZZZ (We need the thunderbird’s power to save her.)]
Her eyes went wide at my words.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 396
