Ch.106Jungle (2)

“Small campsite, they said.”

As the dead pilot had mentioned, the campsite wasn’t very large.

There were only about 10 people in total, counting those walking around and those detected as auxiliary personnel.

The problem wasn’t the number of people.

‘There’s a Walker.’

A 6-meter tall open-type bipedal war machine was sleeping next to a tent in the campsite.

Walkers are robotic weapons used by the Star Union.

The model at the campsite was a Light Walker, typically used for reconnaissance or infantry support.

Being an open-type Walker, its defense was terrible, but it had Storm Guns mounted on both hands, giving it tremendous firepower.

‘There’s no cyborg in the campsite.’

Walkers can only be operated by cyborgs who connect their minds to the machine through a special device called a Brain Connector.

Judging by the absence of the faint electromagnetic waves unique to cyborgs, this Walker seemed to have been modified for human use.

Moreover, the Walker at the campsite only had a Storm Gun on its left hand, with the right arm replaced by a crane-like mechanism. They probably modified it for resource collection and cargo transport.

‘So that’s why they attacked so boldly. They had confidence.’

Pirates with a modified Cult cruiser and a Walker to boot.

If they had a Walker at a small campsite like this, there must be many more at their headquarters where the boss or deputy boss would be.

Plus, I still don’t know how many other weapons they might have.

‘They certainly have reason to be confident.’

This level of firepower would classify them as a top-tier cartel even in the game.

Though they’re enemies, I have to acknowledge them as formidable opponents.

‘But that doesn’t mean I can’t beat them.’

I summoned a swarm of tooth fairies, then quietly descended from the tree.

As I approached the campsite, I could see a pirate standing guard with alert eyes.

I sent the tooth fairies to the opposite side of the pirate and commanded them to make noise.

“Hm?”

When he turned his head toward the rustling sound—

“Wup?!”

I grabbed his head with my corrosive tentacle and yanked him hard.

The gun he was holding remained lonely in place, abandoned by its owner.

“Hey, where did that guy go?”

“Hey! Did you go take a piss?”

Shortly after, two other pirates approached. I shot spine hairs at the one standing in the back.

“Ugh?”

While that pirate collapsed clutching his neck, I approached the other one.

“Huh? What?”

As he turned at the sound of my footsteps, my bone axe came down on his shoulder. The pirate was split in two by the bone axe.

Leaving behind the warm vapor rising from the spilled entrails on the ground, I stepped into the campsite.

A pirate was sitting by the campfire in the center of the campsite, grilling meat.

With earphones plugged in, he had no idea what was happening behind him.

I approached right behind him, opened my mouth wide, and bit his head whole.

The startled pirate struggled, but his resistance didn’t last long. As I crushed his head while he was still alive by clenching my jaw, another Cult pirate walked out of a tent.

“Huh?”

“Grrrr”

The goat-horned Cult member stood dumbfounded, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

As I swallowed the upper half of the pirate’s body, I swung my tail.

“Kuheooo…”

He collapsed with a deflating sound as spine needles pierced his neck.

“Ugh, aaaaargh!”

Just then, another pirate burst out of a different tent, covered in blood and screaming.

While I was dealing with the pirates, the tooth fairies that had crawled into the other tents were attacking the pirates inside.

The bleeding pirate saw me and tried to flee in terror, but the tooth fairies didn’t let him escape.

The man-eating fleas jumped up and clung to his back. Under the weight of dozens of insects, he collapsed.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Who the hell is making such a noi—gack?!”

Pirates who poked their heads out of their tents after hearing their comrade’s screams were shocked by the carnage I had created.

I finished swallowing the cook pirate and charged toward the pirates in the tent.

The force behind my 5-meter bulk was truly terrifying. The tent shattered like bowling pins hit by a ball, and the pirates inside were instantly pulverized.

While his comrades were being torn apart, one pirate managed to sneak away and successfully board the Walker.

“You son of a bitch! You’re dead now!”

The pirate who climbed into the Walker wore peculiar equipment. It was similar to power armor but only covered the head and chest, with several socket-like devices attached to the back of the neck.

‘I guess that’s how they connect to the Brain Connector.’

This equipment didn’t exist in the game. Quite interesting, but I’ll examine it later.

The 6-meter Walker rose and aimed its Storm Gun at me.

The pirate controlling the Walker had a triumphant look on his face.

He firmly believed that the depleted uranium rounds loaded in that Storm Gun would tear me to shreds.

But his hopes would never materialize.

Because the radio waves emitted from the plates on my back had cut off the Walker’s electrical signals and stopped its operation.

“Huh? What, what’s happening?”

The pirate cried out in confusion as the previously functional Walker suddenly sat down. Since the radio interference effect wouldn’t last long, I extended my combat arm and pulled him out of the cockpit.

“Gack!”

He coughed up blood as I unceremoniously slammed him to the ground.

Wanting to leisurely examine the outfit he was wearing, I paralyzed him with my spine needles.

“……”

The last remaining pirate was trembling as he aimed his gun at me. True to his wealthy pirate status, he was holding a Gauss rifle.

When I turned my head toward him, he pulled the trigger. The tungsten round fiercely cut through the air and collided with my carapace.

Unfortunately for the pirate, tungsten rounds couldn’t even scratch my outer shell. As the tungsten round crumpled and fell to the ground, the pirate’s jaw dropped.

When I approached right up to his face, he stumbled backward and fell to the ground. I raised my bone axe high.

“Wait…!”

Few people survive having their heads split open. After dealing with the last pirate, I recalled my swarm of tooth fairies.

‘I’ve captured three of them alive.’

I killed the rest.

I gathered all the pirates, both captured and dead, in the center of the campsite.

With no one left to contact their main base, they’ll soon realize their comrades have been attacked. They’ll come looking before the night is over.

‘After all the trouble I went through to get here, I should give them a gift.’

A gift called terror.

–

Originally, there are no concepts of rank or kings among Space Dogs.

With all sorts of species gathered together, and most cartel bosses being too proud to serve anyone even if it killed them, the very concept of one serving another couldn’t exist.

However, it’s clear that there is a hierarchy among cartels, so there are cartels powerful enough to be considered close to kings or nobles.

The Humanity Cartel, which had come to the Saintopia02 continent on planet P-101, was one of those powerful cartels.

Rated as one of the top five cartels among Space Dogs, the Humanity Cartel was unusual in more than just its name.

“Deputy boss.”

“What?”

“We can’t contact Camp 21 and Camp 17.”

Deputy Boss Dylan, who was half-lying down eating meat skewers, frowned his handsome eyes at his assistant’s words.

“21 and 17?”

“Yes.”

“That whatchamacallit, electronic pong-pong? You know, that thing. Isn’t it because of that?”

“If you’re referring to electromagnetic storms, it’s not the season for that…”

“Are you trying to show off how smart you are in front of me, you bastard?”

“N-no, sir.”

When vulgar curses flew from the mouth of the delicate-looking handsome Cult deputy boss, the assistant immediately bowed his head.

Dylan considered whether to stab his subordinate’s head with the skewer he was holding, then spoke.

“21 and 17, huh. Those are both camps on the outskirts of the jungle, right?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“There aren’t any dangerous animals there. Could it be survivors from the ones we shot down earlier today?”

“I’m not sure about that…”

Dylan finished swallowing his meat skewer and waved his hand.

“Send some suitable men to check it out.”

“W-wise decision, sir!”

“I know, boy.”

The assistant bowed his head and left the tent.

The light from a massive blaze illuminated the area around the deputy boss’s tent.

The source of the fire wasn’t a campfire. One of the Volf villages that had existed for hundreds of years on the Saintopia02 continent was burning because of the pirates.

“Kyaaaah!”

“Uwaaaaah!”

Pirates composed of Cults and humans roamed around, setting fire to traditional houses or dragging out the Volfs inside.

One peculiar thing was that all the plundering pirates were handsome men, which seemed at odds with their vicious behavior.

“Keep the handsome ones alive for the boss!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Do whatever you want with the women!”

As someone had shouted, the pirates captured good-looking male Volfs and children, putting electric collars around their necks.

“Sob, sob, Guardian!”

“Kugh! Please hear our prayers!”

Even as they suffered from the electric collars, the Volfs desperately called out to their god.

Originally, this wasn’t a village weak enough to suffer such humiliation. This was one of the villages under the protection of two guardian deities known as the “Parents of All Things.”

However, the “Parents of All Things” had not responded to their prayers for several days.

“They’re at it again.”

“Kekeke, idiots. The bitch they call a god has already been taken down by the boss.”

The pirates guarding the prisoners mocked the Volfs.

As they said, the guardian deities protecting the village had been defeated by the Humanity Cartel.

Father Land, the male deity, had been beheaded by the pirate boss, and Sky Mother, the female deity, was currently being held prisoner.

But the pirates didn’t tell them that. They enjoyed watching the Volfs despair while clinging to false hope.

A pirate approached the assistant who had left the camp and was surveying the plundering scene. The subordinate was holding a female Volf and a young Volf.

“What should we do with this Volf brat?”

“Please, at least spare this child!”

“Not the boss’s type. Dispose of it.”

“W-wait… kyaaaah!”

The pirate killed the young Volf and dragged away its mother.

Although the boss of the Humanity Cartel was female, she deeply despised other women and unattractive men, killing them very cruelly.

Being raped by the pirate subordinates and burned to death here would almost seem merciful in comparison.

In fact, Sky Mother, who had been captured, was being tortured so horribly that even the pirates shuddered.

Of course, telling this to a Volf who had lost her child wouldn’t be very convincing.

Another subordinate approached the assistant, who thought he had shown mercy.

“What did the deputy boss say?”

“He said to send some men. Send whoever’s not busy.”

“Yes, sir.”

After the subordinate left, the assistant also went back to work.

He needed to be diligent in searching for prisoners to offer to the boss before the night was over.

An hour after the assistant met with Dylan.

Ten heavily armed pirates boarded a transport ship and headed for Camp 17.

Eight of the ten wore medium-grade power armor, and two were aboard Walkers. The Walkers were equipped with plasma launchers, and all eight men were armed with Gauss rifles.

It was a level of armament sufficient to deal with any enemy that might appear around the camp, even if stronger than the pirates anticipated.

“By the time we get back, there won’t be any good ones left for us, right?”

“Probably. Or we can share with the others.”

“Tch, but then they feel like corpses, which isn’t great.”

All ten were somewhat forcibly drafted, so they had many complaints, but they had no choice. Their boss and deputy boss were known for their cruel temperaments.

The transport ship arrived in the airspace near Camp 17 and landed in a clearing the pirates had prepared in advance.

“Check for biological responses in the area.”

“Nothing unusual.”

Their transport ship was equipped with a bio-scanner typically found on warships.

The Humanity Cartel possessed genetic information on almost all dangerous creatures on this planet. This allowed the pirates to easily check for dangerous animals.

After running the bio-scanner once, they determined the area was safe and disembarked, rushing toward Camp 17.

Until then, they had no idea what had happened at the camp. At most, they thought it might be a communication failure due to equipment malfunction.

But what awaited them was not a mere communication failure.

Instead of warm campfires and the noisy songs of pirates, cold darkness and silence filled Camp 17.

“Something’s not right.”

“Where is everyone?”

Only then realizing something was seriously wrong, the pirates began to be on guard.

One of the pirates, examining the camp with the light attached to his helmet, discovered an ominous trace.

“Look at this!”

“What, gasp?!”

It was a large amount of bloodstains.

The bloodstains splattered in the middle of the campsite extended into the forest.

“Everyone, combat ready!”

The extremely tense pirates raised their weapons. They entered the forest with the Walkers in the lead.

The blood trail, which seemed like it would continue endlessly, gradually diminished and stopped in front of an old tree.

“Did they fly into the sky?”

“What nonsense. Carnivorous pterosaurs don’t come down here.”

“That’s true, but… huh?”

A droplet fell onto the shoulder of one of the pirates. Thinking it was rain, he wiped it off, but it wasn’t water.

His palm, illuminated by the light on his helmet, was covered in blood.

“……”

Everyone’s gaze fixed on his palm. He swallowed hard and slowly looked up.

And up there.

Were the “comrades” they had been looking for.

“C-contact the deputy boss immediately!”

“N-no, the transport ship! Prepare the transport ship first!”

“Transport ship! Respond! This is an emergency! Fly here immediately!”

What made even these cruel and ruthless pirates terrified—

The skinned pirates were hanging from the tree.