Ch.101Into the Darkness (2)

“When do you think the repairs will be done?”

“It. Will. Take. Several. Hours.”

“Haa, that’s taking too damn long. Oh, and the camera seems broken too, fix that as well.”

After responding that I understood, I ended the communication.

‘Let me think this through again.’

I chewed on the engineer’s arm with a crunch as I thought.

Before taking over the ship, what should I do first?

The original plan was to secure energy to maintain control after infiltrating the pirate ship.

I thought that if I ran out of energy after completing the infection, I would quickly lose control of the ship.

‘But the situation has changed a bit.’

When I was controlling the Megacorp escape vessel earlier, I ate the pirates.

Not by directly tearing and devouring them, but by creating infection tentacles inside the ship.

‘After eating, the period I could maintain control increased.’

I had assumed it would be impossible to secure additional energy after taking control of the ship, but my prediction was wrong.

My energy reserves increased even when I consumed enemies with infection tentacles.

‘Eating with infection tentacles is the same as consuming prey with my mouth.’

Seeing the predation effect appear on one of the pirates makes this almost certain.

In other words, I don’t need to desperately secure energy for infection.

‘Still, I can’t just infect recklessly.’

Since infection can’t be canceled once started, I’d have to stay completely still for 5 hours. It’s difficult to respond flexibly to enemy attacks when unable to move.

‘It’s better to proceed safely, even if infection comes later.’

This massive ship, roughly 300m long, has 85 pirates aboard.

The fewer of them there are, the better for me.

‘I need to reduce their numbers first.’

What should I target first?

According to Justin, this ship carries numerous bombs with powerful firepower. He says they’re used to eliminate evidence after plundering other ships.

‘Honestly, I doubt they’d self-destruct just because of me.’

But you never know what they might do when cornered. Or the captain might secretly plant bombs and escape alone through a carrier aircraft.

‘First, let’s make sure they can’t escape.’

If I damage the carrier aircraft on the ship, they won’t be able to casually consider using bombs.

After that, if I take care of the bombs too, their means to threaten me will be greatly reduced.

‘The carrier aircraft are in the hangar.’

Since I used the Hijacking trait as material for Nightmare Horizon, I currently can’t disable surveillance cameras.

Unless I fuse Hijacking again, it won’t be easy to reach the hangar while avoiding the enemies’ gaze with this bulk.

But nothing is impossible in this world.

‘First, I need to make a nest.’

I finished putting the engineer’s corpse in my mouth and crouched down.

Black mucus similar to what appears during ship infection flowed from various holes in my body.

‘Since I’ll only use it temporarily, I don’t need to make it perfect.’

It just needs to be able to thoroughly monitor enemies within a 100m radius from where I’m standing.

The half-solidified mucus was already creating spores and stems, gradually increasing its range.

When the nest grew to roughly the size of my lying body, I attached the end of my auxiliary organ to it. Similar to using infection tentacles, I felt my body being pulled into the ship’s metal plating.

After confirming successful linkage with the nest, I checked the area I could detect with it.

‘Good. This should be sufficient.’

Now that I’ve created a small but operational nest, let’s move on to the next step.

I have a trait I obtained after killing pirates on the escape vessel.

I’ve had opportunities to use it but didn’t, and now it’s time to utilize it.

“Tooth Fairy Nest: An organ that generates ‘Tooth Fairy Swarms,’ flesh-eating fleas with sharp teeth, grows on your body. Tooth Fairy Swarms can be generated up to 3 times per day, and the controllable distance is within a 100m radius.

*P.S.: Seriously, who came up with this name?”

Even before boarding the pirate ship, egg sacs were hanging from my carapace in areas other than the holes where infection tentacles emerge.

These egg sacs are nests containing ‘Tooth Fairy Swarms,’ combat parasites.

The Tooth Fairy Nest is a trait created by fusing the physical trait Bite Force with the infection-related trait Fur Flea.

‘I didn’t expect to get the Fur Flea trait here, it was surprising.’

It’s a trait typically obtained by eating animals covered in fur, so I didn’t expect to acquire it here.

‘Maybe because they’re smugglers?’

One of the pirates who boarded the escape vessel was already infected with fur fleas. When I devoured him, I digested the fur fleas attached to his body and gained a new trait.

‘The Fur Flea itself isn’t a useful ability.’

It’s a trait with negative effects like Dwarfism. Having this trait causes a permanent status ailment called itchiness.

‘But when fused, it becomes completely different.’

When fused with the Bite Force trait, it transforms into a useful infection-related trait.

‘Come out, little ones.’

As I activated the Tooth Fairy Nest, the egg sacs on my back burst, and black insects jumped out.

They looked exactly like ordinary fleas except they had huge teeth and mouths instead of eyes on their heads, and they were about the size of a child’s palm.

Unlike the original fur fleas that suck blood, Tooth Fairies tear and eat anything with their sharp teeth.

These loyal soldiers don’t care whether it’s meat or metal. They just bite whatever I command them to.

‘Everyone, line up.’

Dozens of Tooth Fairies obeyed my will and gathered before me.

No. 26, who had been devouring the spacesuit-wearing engineer nearby, approached after seeing this.

“Wow? Who are these guys?”

No. 26 glowed brightly, seemingly fascinated by the Tooth Fairies huddled together.

[Zz zzz zzzz (They’re my creations)]

“Created? Are they babies made by the big baby?”

[Zzzzzzzz zz zzzz (Similar but different)]

“They’re not babies?”

As written in the tooltip about control distance limitations, Tooth Fairies are a type of summon created through me.

They’re consumables used to draw enemy attention or hide in unexpected places for surprise attacks.

‘I used them well in the game too.’

Unlike Parasitic Swarm, which was implemented as a debuff skill in the game, Tooth Fairies were implemented as combat summons.

They provide significant help to AMorphs, who can only play solo.

‘Honestly, their specs aren’t that great.’

These terrifying flesh-eating fleas move quickly and have high attack power, but they have clear limitations.

Being insects, they have virtually no defense and die from a single laser rifle shot. Strong creatures like Hulk Mutants could kill them by stepping on them.

‘So they need to be used well to be worth it.’

For reference, I’m among those who use Tooth Fairies effectively.

‘Everyone to your positions.’

The Tooth Fairy swarm that heard my command bounced away and disappeared up the cargo hold stairs.

Though invisible, the unique signals sent by the Tooth Fairies were continuously transmitted to my auxiliary organs.

The Tooth Fairy swarm’s destination was the hangar where the carrier aircraft were stored.

‘The hangar is located near the front of the hull on the 3rd floor.’

They quickly climbed to the 3rd floor by bouncing around with their strong hind legs, then entered the corridor leading to the hangar.

‘Pirates in the middle.’

Having already detected the pirates’ movements through the nest, I alerted the Tooth Fairies.

The flesh-eating fleas gnawed through nearby ventilation ducts and hid inside.

<The motion detector shows something here?>

<There’s nothing here?>

<F-fuck, did ghosts infest the ship?>

The pirates wandered the corridor for a while with their motion detectors constantly giving warning signals, then left for elsewhere.

Sensing no pirate movement, I commanded again.

‘Advance.’

As the Tooth Fairy swarm hopped quickly along the corridor, the entrance to the hangar soon appeared before them.

Two enormous guards, larger than normal humans, stood in front of the door.

One was a monster resembling a gorilla, and the other had a head like a rhinoceros. Though they looked different, they shared one similarity: metal plates implanted throughout their bodies.

‘Hulk Mutants?’

Their identity was Hulk Mutants, with various genes inharmoniously implanted, giving them hideous appearances.

They were yawning repeatedly, seemingly bored with guard duty.

‘Hulk Mutants are too much.’

I pulled back the Tooth Fairy swarm.

It’s impossible to face Hulk Mutants with these. Each Tooth Fairy would die with every hit from those creatures.

Even if the Tooth Fairies could kill the Hulk Mutants, I wouldn’t do it.

‘I can’t waste such precious genetic essence.’

I’ll deal with those two myself later, and directed the Tooth Fairy swarm to enter the ventilation duct.

It’s a detour, but this is the safer route.

The flesh-eating fleas walked inside the ventilation duct in two columns. If anyone besides me saw this, they would think it was a truly transcendental sight.

‘Ventilation ducts.’

While controlling the Tooth Fairy swarm, I suddenly remembered when I first became an AMorph.

When I started life as an AMorph in the cargo hold of the meteor research vessel.

I hunted by moving through ventilation ducts, avoiding people’s gaze.

Now I’m trying to hunt numerous pirates in a ship much larger than that research vessel.

‘We’ve arrived.’

After some time, the Tooth Fairy swarm safely reached the ventilation duct attached to the hangar ceiling.

By fate’s joke, the ventilation duct on the hangar ceiling was the rotating blade type, like the one in the research vessel’s cargo hold.

‘Everyone attack and gnaw it.’

Back then, I risked my life to avoid the ventilation duct blades, but not now.

Dozens of Tooth Fairies gnawed at the mechanical devices near the edges of the ventilation duct. Soon sparks flew, and the duct’s blades gradually slowed before finally stopping.

The Tooth Fairies cleared the blades and jumped into the hangar.

Inside, Star Union’s old fighter aircraft were quietly resting.

‘Destroy them all.’

The Tooth Fairies revealed their sharp teeth and attached themselves to the bottom of the carrier aircraft.

There are cameras inside, but unless someone is paying close attention, it would be difficult to notice the Tooth Fairies’ movements.

Their bodies are pitch black like the floor, and they’re only as big as a child’s palm. Viewed through a camera, they could easily be mistaken for rats.

After some time had passed.

The thick hangar door opened, and a group of armed individuals entered.

<Anomaly detected in the hangar!>

<You idiots! There’s a problem inside, what are you doing outside?>

<We, diligently, guarded! Ugh, did well!>

<Fucking worse than monkeys!>

The pirates noticed the anomaly in the hangar earlier than I expected.

They began using flashlights to find the flesh-eating fleas under the aircraft.

<Aaargh!>

<These crazy bug bastards!>

When the flesh-eating fleas pounced on the pirates, they panicked and opened fire. With each flash of red laser light in the dark hangar, Tooth Fairies exploded.

<Aaaagh! Get this thing off me!>

<Gyaaaah! My face!>

Some surviving Tooth Fairies clung to the pirates’ bodies and bit into their flesh. The pirates screamed in pain as their skin was torn by razor-like teeth.

<I, I help!>

<Damn slug! Get it off me quickly!>

The Tooth Fairies performed better than expected, but unfortunately, there were no casualties on the pirates’ side.

This was because the Hulk Mutant guards went around removing the Tooth Fairies from the pirates with their bare hands.

The Tooth Fairy swarm that entered the hangar was completely annihilated in an instant.

But I wasn’t too disappointed.

<Shit! All the aircraft are damaged!?>

They had fulfilled my intention sufficiently.

‘The escape route is blocked.’

And though they don’t know it yet, this isn’t over.

New egg sacs that had grown on my carapace burst, and a new Tooth Fairy swarm surrounded me.

‘The aircraft are taken care of.’

The next target is the bombs stored in the armory.

Hunting isn’t just about chasing prey.

What you prepare and how much you prepare before the hunt begins are also important factors in successful hunting.

Knowing about your prey in advance, making them be where you want them to be, in the state you want them to be.

They don’t know about me, don’t know where I am, don’t know what state I’m in.

Just these three differences determine our positions.

As predator and prey.

‘Once all the bombs are taken care of…’

This place, the only survival space in the harsh void of space,

Will become darkness that devours foolish prey.