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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 402
I returned to the star system where the Gallagon nest was located and headed straight for the Gigacracker.
The massive spaceship, orbiting the snowy white planet, immediately responded as I approached. A large gate connected to the mineral storage bay swung open wide.
Inside, amidst the piled-up minerals, a massive Mountain Crawler the size of a hill caught my eye.
｢Bye Bye!｣
｢Grruuu…｣
Responding to Number 26’s greeting, the Mountain Crawler blinked its four eyes, then went right back to sleep.
“Where did my sister go?”
Just as Isabel said, the crawler’s owner was nowhere to be seen.
She should’ve finished treatment long ago…
Just then, a Mini Screamer crawled over. With the head of a human woman and thin, long metallic legs, it stood still and looked up at me.
“MPS-03, right?”
“Correct. Correct.”
I mimicked a voice using my imitation organ. In response, MPS-03 twitched its metal legs.
“Where is everyone?”
“Nest. Treating ‘Little One’. Treating.”
“They’re at the Gallagon nest? Not the Screamer support ship?”
“Nest. Treatment impossible.”
My heart sank the moment I heard treatment impossible. Something had gone wrong.
“I’m heading down there.”
｢Big One, I’m coming too!｣
“Wait a sec. We’re coming as well.”
I hurried out through the storage bay gate. Number 26 and Isabel followed close behind.
‘If it’s PS-111, removing the APNC should be nothing.’
It’s more than capable—designed and built the Screamers, after all. The chances of it failing to extract a bullet are slim.
‘Akira rigged the APNC.’
That bastard laid a trap in his own subordinate’s body just to catch me. I had a hard time in that battle because of it.
It’s possible that the bullet Adhai was hit with was specially modified too. If so, standard treatment wouldn’t be enough.
‘…No, I can’t jump to conclusions yet.’
My thoughts kept drifting toward the worst-case scenario. No matter how bad things are, I have to stay composed. I shoved away those useless thoughts and focused on the descent to the nest.
From atop my carapace and tentacle bundles, I could feel the cold atmosphere of the frozen star. Beyond the natural barrier of ice and wind stretched a white landscape. On one side, an entrance led underground.
I passed through the hole and descended. A vast subterranean world revealed itself before me.
There, frozen in the ice below and rising like a tower, stood the Screamer support ship.
Normally, I would’ve headed there first—but not this time. I flew at full speed toward the Dragon’s Nest.
It didn’t take long to reach the valley where the Gallagon nest lay.
｢Companion of the Great Adhai｣
Sha Belmag, a white male Gallagon, sensed my arrival and came to greet me.
[ZZZ ZZZ (Where is she?)]
｢This way｣
Guided by the Gallagon, I crawled deep into a cave hollowed into the cliffside.
Before long, we arrived at a chamber roughly four times my size.
Scattered across the floor were colorful, glowing fragments of minerals. On the ceiling, dried vines and moss clung in patches.
‘Adhai’s room?’
At any other time, I might’ve laughed at how much it resembled a child’s secret hideout.
But now, the place exuded an eerie, indescribable sensation. It was as if something unseen clung to me, siphoning away my energy. Since entering the chamber, a mysterious lethargy had wrapped around my entire body.
“You’ve come.”
｢Amorph, you’re safe!｣
A familiar voice and thought-wave greeted me. It was the Mother of the Sky, taking the form of the mythical thunderbird, accompanied by PS-111—its arms fitted with various surgical tools.
"Sister!"
｢Middle Child, hello! Friend, hello!｣
Isabel and Number 26, both of whom had returned alive from a life-or-death battle, showed their joy at seeing the others.
‘Neither of them is injured.’
Aside from some minor cuts, there were no signs of serious wounds. It was a relief that they were fine—but Adhai was missing.
"Where’s Adhai?"
At my question, PS-111 extended one of its fingers and pointed to the center of the cavern. There, embedded in the ground, stood an enormous ruby-like crystal, easily 10 meters tall.
I moved closer to the mineral resembling a ruby. Inside, I spotted a long, slender white shape. Judging by its small size and graceful form, it could only be Adhai.
‘What... is going on?’
Why was Adhai, the one who was supposed to be receiving treatment, inside this thing? At that moment, the Mother of the Sky sent a thought-wave to me.
｢That’s not a ruby. Nor is it any kind of mineral.｣
“This substance is the crystallized result of the energy body that the ‘Little One’ emitted during treatment.”
“What?”
“Up until the point of our arrival and throughout the surgery, everything went according to your plan, Amorph.”
Seeing my confusion, PS-111 began explaining in detail.
“The Middle Child successfully activated its limited gene model transformation ability. By doing so, it continuously injected healing fluids into the Little One, reducing the risk of surgical failure to 16%.”
｢In fact, PS-111 succeeded in neutralizing most of the APNC rounds inside Adhai’s body.｣
“Was there something wrong with the APNC?”
“No. Aside from modifying the bullet structure to increase penetration, there were no other unusual traits.”
｢The problem occurred after the treatment was finished. Adhai’s psychic power kept draining away.｣
“Psychic power?”
Absorbing psychic power from its target is a known function of the APNC. If the rounds were neutralized, that power should have regenerated.
“A new energy body is being generated within the Little One, replacing the depleted psychic energy. The material currently protecting her is crystallized energy that was overproduced during this transformation and expelled outward.”
I looked at Adhai, slumbering within the ruby-colored crystal. Its color was like wine made from molten suns—eerily similar to the red glow that appears when she wears her Red Armor.
｢Don’t touch it.｣
I had reached out with a wing-arm, curious to see what would happen, but the Mother of the Sky stopped me.
“Why not?”
｢Since she entered that state, Adhai has been unconsciously absorbing all surrounding energy. If you touch her directly...｣
Just then, a new visitor entered the cavern.
It was Ham Ort, a Gallagon with beautiful obsidian-like scales. She bowed her head slightly upon seeing me.
｢Adhai’s companion｣ ｢Welcome.｣ ｢But.｣ ｢Right now.｣ ｢It is difficult.｣
[ZZZZ (It’s fine)]
She must’ve returned from a hunt. Clutched in her forelimbs was the carcass of a massive creature—a Giganterium, which I’d seen Gallagons hunt before.
‘Why bring a corpse?’
She dragged the carcass over and pressed it against the crystal that housed Adhai.
Then something bizarre happened. Just like when Gallagons siphon the fluids from prey, the carcass rapidly withered.
In seconds, nothing but shriveled skin and bones remained near Adhai’s crystal.
｢That’s what happens. All the energy is drained like that.｣
“The substance protecting the Little One demands constant energy. If not supplied, it will forcibly extract energy from everything around it.”
｢That’s why Ham Ort and the other Gallagons keep bringing food.｣
The fatigue I felt upon entering now made sense—Adhai was unconsciously draining the energy of everything nearby.
“Is her life in danger?”
“The operation was successful. As long as there’s an energy source, the probability of fatal complications is currently calculated at 11%.”
“Isabel?”
At my signal, Isabel activated her All-Seeing Eye to examine Adhai.
“She’s in a dormant state right now. Just like they said—so long as she’s receiving energy, I don’t think anything bad will happen.”
The Screamer Sisters had both reached the same conclusion.
It was a relief that Adhai was no longer in mortal danger, but that didn’t mean it was time to relax.
As far as I know, there’s no dragon power-based technique that involves absorption like that. Her current condition is something I’ve never seen before—not even in the game. It’s uncharted territory.
“Wait a minute.”
Massive energy consumption, a forced dormant state, and the secretion of special substances to protect the body… All of it seemed familiar.
‘That’s what happened when I evolved.’
Come to think of it, back when Adhai first acquired the power of the Red Gallagon, she told me something—she apologized for failing.
She’d said she had a strange feeling while she was growing and ended up abandoning her transformation into a Red Gallagon. At the time, I thought she’d chosen to stay by my side instead of becoming the queen of the Gallagon.
But now… maybe she gave up that power because she feared ending up in a situation like this. At the time, we were about to face a powerful foe—Odd Grad. If she hadn’t joined that fight, I wouldn’t be here now.
“The way Adhai is now… could she be preparing to evolve?”
｢Evolve? Ah!｣
The Mother of the Sky widened her amber-colored eyes.
“That is an interesting opinion. However, this process appears inconsistent with any recorded growth patterns.”
｢No—maybe it should be different this time.｣
Considering what Adhai is trying to become, it would only be natural for the process to diverge from what’s come before.
｢This is her first real attempt to become a true Red Gallagon.｣
“Red Gallagon?”
“A fully matured Gallagon—superior to all others of her kind.”
PS-111 tilted its head, intrigued by this term it hadn’t heard before.
“If, like the Amorph, her mutation is happening at the genetic level, then it would be advantageous to have a way to protect her body. In fact, the substance the Little One is secreting is well-suited to minimize risks during the mutation process.”
“Yeah.”
｢But that can’t be all. If just feeding on energy could turn someone into a Red Gallagon, they wouldn’t be so rare.｣
She was right.
Simply stepping into a red crystal and absorbing its energy would be far too easy. There had to be another condition—something that ordinary Gallagons could never achieve.
That’s when Isabel joined the conversation.
“I remember hearing about Red Gallagons from ‘Sister Penelope’ once.”
｢From Penelope?｣
“Yeah. She said Gallagons tend to believe they’re the descendants of starlight—that they inherited the power of the stars.”
That matched Adhai’s behavior. Whenever she used dragon power, or when I unleashed overwhelming strength, she always described it as the power of the stars.
“So then, how does one become the most superior Gallagon of all? She said… by eating a shining star.”
“Consuming a star is physically impossible.”
But the moment I heard “eating a star,” something clicked in my mind. The Mother of the Sky seemed to be thinking the same thing; our eyes met.
“Indeed… devouring that entity would be close to impossible.”
｢Even with dozens of Black Gallagons, it wouldn’t be enough.｣
If you can’t eat the star directly, then the next best thing is to eat a creature that consumes the energy of stars.
And I knew exactly what fit that condition.
The Arcane Orca.
A top-tier apex predator that lives by devouring stellar energy—the very creature that possesses the Aether Core trait.
That thing… is the sacrifice needed for a Red Gallagon’s ascension.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 402
