Chapter 424
When playing Aimorph, it is rare for me to completely dominate my opponent.
Due to the nature of the race that does not allow cooperation, one must be that strong to subdue the opponent. To become stronger, you have to prey on enemies stronger than you.
The same applies when targeting genetic samples. The location where useful samples are stored is usually guarded by multiple players.
Of course, there is no need to worry about that. Because Amorph has many ways to defeat powerful enemies.
Using a nest is one such method.
An underground kingdom made of black slime. As I crouched there, reports came in from various places.
Hiveformers, pirates implanted with parasites, and everything else in the nest moves according to my commands.
The command I gave is simple.
Weakening the enemies that came to AG-01.
‘So far so good.’
When parasite-controlled pirates lure their former comrades underground, hiveformers and nests descend on them. It’s only been a day since they arrived, but our ranks are growing rapidly.
Once I think I’ve seasoned it appropriately, I plan on ranking it then.
‘Thanks to unexpected variables, I gained some leeway.’
In the past, while I was on my way to capture a returned ranker, I fought with a cartel named Shinoroku. At the time, it seemed like it was somehow related to the ranker, so I planted parasites on the leader and sent him back alive.
‘I completely forgot about it after that.’
Is it because the ranker called the pirates in the group? The leader of Shinoroku also came to this planet. Thanks to this, I was able to contact Parasite for the first time in a long time.
Since he happened to be in charge of repairing the terraforming facility, I think we can take another day. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to recruit other bosses and high-ranking executives to obtain information about the ranker.
‘The more information you know, the better.’
At that time, changes were detected from the auxiliary organs in contact with the nest. Something was caught in a distant nest.
‘what?’
I focused my consciousness. The senses that were loosely spread quickly gather to one point. Waves of sensation and consciousness head to the place where the abnormality was detected.
Soon, an unconscious pirate was found trapped in the pulsating walls of the living wall. And there were beings familiar to me nearby. These are the Heavenly Mother and the Wolfs who receive her care.
‘Looks like you caught someone important?’
If you’re at the level of a boss, you have to put in parasites, so I’ll have to go and see for myself. I untied the link and stood up.
“If you get a call from the group, tell them that the repairs are not finished.”
“All right.”
I left behind the leader of Shinoroku, who had come to serve me again, and crawled to the underground pit.
For the past two weeks, I have been diligently traveling around the planet and building a path. So that we can respond to pirates if they land in any city on this planet.
And the opened path was filled with liquefied mucus. Except for the part close to the ground or the manned area, everything else is submerged in slime.
There are two advantages to doing this.
One is that the detection range expands when linked to a nest. Even if the nest is out of reach, it can be observed by leaking mucus.
Nests are planted only in strategically important locations, and the rest are monitored using organically flowing mucus. In the game, planets have been taken over in this way several times.
Another advantage is that the flowing mucus can be used as a kind of water channel. If you want to move to avoid the enemy’s gaze, you can swim.
‘It’s good to use when you can’t fly like now.’
Because of this, they also deliberately acquired swimming-related traits.
If you look at its fighting arms and forked tail now, you can see long fins growing here and there. Thanks to the membranes and fins on the wing arms, swimming speed was as fast as flying.
Thanks to this, we quickly reached the area where the signal was sent. It folded its fins and wings and climbed onto the solid nest.
Not long after I started walking on the hard floor, a familiar quadrupedal beast and a Wolff caught my eye.
“You’re here.”
The Mother of Heaven, who had transformed into a gryphon, saw me and pretended to know me.
[Zuzuzu Zuzuzu Zuzuzu Zuzuzu (I think I caught an important pirate?)]
“Yes. The leader of the Shinoni Cartel.”
[Zuzuzu (Shinoni?)]
“Ventrice told me the location of the leader. After hearing that, Tane lured me here.”
I looked at Tane, the jackal-headed Wolff girl next to her. The child, feeling my gaze, bowed his head politely.
“Looking at the leader’s reaction, he seemed to know Tane. I think I was with you when we attacked the Wolf natives.”
[Z (Really?)]
According to the surviving Wolffs, it is presumed that Ranker also directly participated in the massacre of indigenous people. If the leader was there, he would know something about the ranker.
I briefly linked with the nest and pulled the leader out of the wall.
[Zuzuzuz (are you human?)]
I thought he was a cyborg because I heard he was riding a walker when he killed the Wolfs, but I was surprised.
“He’s not just a human. It seemed like I had undergone genetic modification surgery.”
[Zuzuzu (yes)]
This nest continuously emits air that is toxic to living things. The general public cannot walk around without protective gear.
‘A pirate and a genetically modified human.’
From what I heard from Ventress, Shinoni’s leader is quite influential within the group. In fact, he also participated in the Wolf massacre operation led by Ranker.
In that case, there may be a safety device planted by the ranker in that head. At least that’s what I would have done. It’s not unusual to secretly insert an obedience device during surgery.
Of course, you don’t necessarily need to worry about that. There are many ways to extract what you need from its head. Among them, I prefer parasites because they are the most useful, but other methods can also be used.
‘I’ll wake him up first and check.’
I lightly pressed my wing arm against the pirate’s leg.
“Kwaaaaaak!”
The guy woke up with the sound of bones crunching.
“Oh my god…ugh?!”
“Are you the leader of Shinoni?”
The pirate, who was about to swear, looked at me and held his breath.
“Ask again. “Are you the leader of Shinoni?”
“Yes, yep!”
“Have you ever been to a planet where Wolffs live? “Who commanded you there?”
“yes? Why…ugh! Come on, Sutherland! The leader of the Shinoichi was the commander!”
Since I didn’t seem to understand the situation yet, I made the arms the same as the legs. The guy gritted his teeth and answered.
“Is it true that the pirate named Sutherland rode a walker and used a sword-type weapon?”
“A sword-type weapon? I know what you mean…”
“A weapon like a sword with a blade wrapped in special energy or a rotating saw blade. “Other weapons that can be used at close range.”
After hearing my explanation, the pirate rolled his eyes and shook his head vigorously.
“Uh, as I recall, Sutherland’s walker was armed with a pair of plasma launchers.”
“And among the other pirates?”
“There was none.”
The leaders of Tane and Shinoni have slightly different stories.
I looked at Tane. The little Wolff girl was glaring at the pirate with eyes full of anger. Then he felt my gaze and lowered his head again.
‘It is unlikely that Tane will lie.’
Since they are a primitive tribe that has not interacted with other civilizations, the explanation may be insufficient. However, there is no reason to deliberately lie and deceive us.
‘Then this guy is the problem.’
Pirate crushed under wing arms. Looking at the way he rolled his eyes, it was clear that he was thinking about something other than being scared.
“You lied.”
“yes? It’s a lie… ugh?! Now, wait!”
If you are a reinforced human, you will not die easily even if you receive a serious injury. So I was trying to rip off one of the legs, but the guy shouted urgently.
“Well, I have a signal chip implanted in my body that I received from the commander-in-chief! “If I am killed or critically injured, he will be signaled.”
I thought he didn’t know about chips, but I was surprised.
‘There’s a monitoring device in your head, so it probably means you shouldn’t have any other thoughts.’
I think I intentionally let you know because Betrayal is a daily occurrence for Space Dog.
“So you can’t kill me?”
“If you spare my life, I will tell you the truth!”
“Are you suggesting we make a deal?”
“I know a lot! If you want information, you won’t be disappointed!”
Then it’s a different story.
I relaxed my wing arms. Freed from the pressure pressing down on his entire body, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hehe, if you’re going to save my life, first treat my injuries…”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
“yes?”
I had no intention of killing him from the beginning. Then wouldn’t it be such a waste?
“Even if you want to die, you can’t.”
Until I reveal everything I know.
I previously used the psychic-related trait ‘Ultra Control’ that I obtained from fighting Akira Yujin. My carapace changed from white to purple. As when using psychic breath or the color of the abyss, an enormous amount of energy gathers into the head.
Eventually, the energies turned into small threads and slowly moved toward the target.
“what? What did you do?!”
The leader’s face, which had been forcing a smile, hardened. Since it’s not a cult, it can’t detect psychic powers. It’s just that I realized through my intuition that things were going wrong.
As if responding to the bastard, the intertwined horns unfolded and took on a shape similar to the branches of a tree. This is because the ‘Sense of Shape’, which strengthens the characteristics related to mental disturbance, responded to Ultra Control.
“S-Stop it! Stop, keuiik!”
Threads of energy penetrated mercilessly into every pore of the leader’s face. The guy screamed and his whole body trembled. The veins all over his body became extremely prominent, and red blood flowed from his eyes, nose, and ears.
The trembling of the body stopped only after all the threads had gone through. The guy whose entire eyeball turned purple looked up at me.
“I serve Eimov.”
The mind control was successfully accomplished.
Amorph’s Ultra Control is a deteriorated version of the original, so it has many shortcomings. Still, it can be useful when you can’t use parasites like now.
[Zuzuzuzu zzuzuzu zzuzu zzuzu (Take out the most important information you know first)]
The pirate leader opened his mouth after receiving my order.
“The most important thing for me is to store what the commander brought in.”
[Zuzuz zu zuzu zuzu zuzu (What the gunman brought? Is that a weapon?)]
“No. It is a special warp finder secretly developed by Star Union. The Sinoni Cartel must protect it.”
Secret warp finder made by Star Union.
When I heard those words, something suddenly occurred to me.
“That warp finder. “Is this what I think?”
Heavenly Mother must have thought the same thing as me and sent a thought wave.
Star Union has very powerful equipment. When you ask rankers what the best war weapon is, a weapon so powerful that it always ranks in the top three.
[Zuzuzuzuzu zzu zzuzu (Prometheus is here?)]
“I don’t know the name because the commander didn’t tell me.”
A giant warp particle manipulator, ‘Prometheus’.
It is a super weapon with detection and control capabilities for faster-than-light navigation.
“…Was that something that could be moved?”
However, as she said, it was impossible to transport Prometheus in the game after completion.
Of course, this is not a game, but reality. The Star Union’s cyborgs may have devised a way to move the weapon. Or maybe it’s a new type of warpfinder that I don’t know about.
‘I need to check right away.’
[Zuzu Zuzu Zuzu (Where are they now?)]
“Vice President Ventress is in charge. Should I contact him?”
[Zuzu(no)]
Ventress is already under my control, so there is no need for that.
‘If Prometheus is really here….’
You must obtain that weapon that demonstrates absolute power in space warfare.
“Watch next episode”