Ch.110Predators (1)

“Damn it! Fuck!”

Dylan kept cursing. The subordinates beside him looked at him with anxious eyes.

‘I underestimated the enemy too much!’

After fleeing for a while, they were taking a short break while hiding behind a rock. There were only six people here, including Dylan.

He didn’t know what had happened to his other subordinates.

But judging by how the gunfire that had been heard from a distance until just a few minutes ago had completely stopped, it was easy to imagine what kind of end they had met.

‘Damn it!’

Including him and the deputy assistant, they had brought 32 men, plus 5 Heavy Walkers, but only six remained.

Even if they managed to escape safely, the boss wouldn’t let him get away with such a mess.

‘…Let’s contact the cruiser.’

Yet Dylan chose to contact the cruiser because it was the option that gave him the highest chance of survival.

Dylan was the type who thought it was better to survive even if tortured than to die.

Dylan pulled a wire from the terminal attached to his wrist and connected it to a port at the corner of his mask that resembled a death mask.

When he pressed the button on the terminal, communication with the cruiser was established. A short connection tone flowed from the terminal, and a communications officer received his call.

“It’s Dylan. Where’s the boss?”

“He left for the interior of the continent this morning. He obtained information about a treasure from the Sky Mother? That beast we caught recently.”

“Is that so?”

Dylan sighed in relief at the communications officer’s words.

The pirates who were holding their breath and listening nearby also looked relieved.

With the boss gone, Dylan would be the highest-ranking member of the Humanity Cartel.

If they could capture the monster and present it to the boss before he returned, the severity of their punishment would be reduced.

“There’s a highest-grade dangerous creature here. I’ll transmit the information, so record it in the ship’s database.”

“Oh, understood!”

As Dylan operated the terminal, the video information about the monster recorded by his mask was transmitted directly to the cruiser’s computer.

“All information has been successfully transmitted.”

“Good. Our lives are in danger, so right away…”

“Crackle crackle”

Dylan tried to request support, but suddenly there was static noise and the terminal went dead.

“You bastard! Bring the cruiser over here right now!”

“Crackle crackle”

“Shit!”

As he was about to strike the terminal in anger, he heard the sound of trees breaking nearby.

That sound, made when a huge beast moves, was all too familiar to the pirates present.

“……”

Everyone trembled and covered their mouths.

It wasn’t that they didn’t have weapons that could harm the creature.

The grenade launcher detached from the Walker, the Purple Spray Gun Dylan was carrying, and the Auto Plasma Gun.

The problem was that while they could harm it, they couldn’t kill it.

They all knew well what had happened to the other pirates when the wounded creature counterattacked.

So they chose to hide and endure rather than fight back.

Hoping that the creature would pass by without noticing them.

Thump, thump, thump.

Every time the creature’s heavy feet moved, the wet ground shook with vibrations.

As the footsteps grew louder, Dylan couldn’t tell whether the sound he was hearing was the creature’s footsteps or his own heartbeat.

The footsteps that seemed like they would continue forever stopped. Meanwhile, Dylan’s heartbeat reached its peak.

“Grrrrrr”

The creature growled.

Judging by how close it sounded, they could tell where it was.

It was behind the rock where they were hiding.

‘Damn it, what should I do? What should I do? Fuck, should I charge at it now? No. What if something goes wrong? Damn it! I don’t want to die!’

Dylan felt like he was going to go crazy from the extreme tension. The subordinates next to him seemed to be thinking similarly, as their limbs were visibly shaking.

“Grrrr”

The culprit who had made the pirates flounder in fear moved its feet again.

The vibrations felt at their toes gradually subsided.

Only then did the pirates breathe a sigh of relief. One pirate was so tense that he took off his helmet and vomited right there.

A foul smell wafted over, but Dylan didn’t blame his subordinate.

Being a Cult with lower physical abilities, he too wanted to vomit but was barely holding it in.

The pirates who had been hiding behind the rock got up one by one to look around, and Dylan also took a deep breath before standing up.

The creature was nowhere to be seen, as if it had already gone far away.

Thinking it was fortunate, he tilted his head up to stretch when suddenly.

“……”

Dylan realized what it meant for one’s heart to freeze.

A purple mass was glowing vividly on top of an old tree next to the rock.

“Found·you·”

As soon as he recognized this fact, Dylan felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

A spine the size of a decent fruit knife had flown from the creature’s tail and lodged in his shoulder.

The spine also hit the Auto Plasma Gun mounted on his shoulder, stopping it from functioning.

“Ugh!”

“Kuk!”

He wasn’t the only one hit by the spines; the pirates beside him also let out short screams. Then they fell back limply.

‘Poison!’

“Oh·my·”

The creature tilted its head, as if this was unexpected.

Dylan, who wasn’t poisoned thanks to his Mask of Indomitability, quickly ran in the opposite direction. The moment he fled, more spines flew behind him and stuck into the ground.

Dylan injected the enhancer in his reinforced suit and ran with all his might.

He had never used it before because of the side effects, but now was not the time to worry about side effects.

He had never witnessed such materialized fear in his life.

Even when he first met his boss, when the boss slaughtered countless lives while smiling, it wasn’t this frightening.

The term “monster” was insufficient to describe it.

It was the embodiment of the primal fear that all sentient beings possess.

“Huff, huff, huff, huff…”

Dylan, who had been running breathlessly, noticed that he couldn’t hear footsteps anymore and glanced back.

The creature was nowhere to be seen, but Dylan didn’t stop.

As he ran frantically, he heard the sound of wind in his ears. The sound vibrating the air was too quiet to be a carrier-based aircraft, and there was no flapping sound to identify it as a pterosaur.

Turning his head to the side to identify the source of the sound, Dylan was finally able to witness the creature’s form.

With four arms, thick legs, and a tail much longer than its body, it was gliding between the trees.

Using the membrane connecting its arms and extending to the middle of its tail.

“Damn, it can fly too.”

Dylan gave up on escaping.

Standing dazed and cursing, the creature flew toward him.

–

‘So this was the reason.’

I examined the mask in my hand. It was equipment obtained from the dead pirate leader whose waist had bent backward.

A silver mask resembling a human death mask. I knew what this mask was.

‘This is a Cult quest reward, how did they get it?’

The Mask of Indomitability gives the wearer immunity to poison and mental attacks, and allows them to see hidden targets.

While not unique-grade, it’s not a common item since it’s a reward that Cults receive for completing quests.

The Mask of Indomitability can only be obtained by clearing a rather complex dungeon.

‘Are there other players besides me?’

A player could naturally accept the concept of quests, but this is reality.

It was hard to imagine that the pirate before me fully understood the system called quests and obtained this equipment.

‘If there are other players besides me, how many have entered?’

Until now, I thought only I had entered the world of Space Survival; I hadn’t considered that other users might be here too.

And if that’s the case, a significant problem arises.

‘How should I treat them?’

It’s not for me to say, having eaten countless people, but if the targets are players, that’s a different matter.

They are beings who grew up and lived in the same world as me.

To be frank, they are closer to me than anyone else in this Space Survival world.

Then, in the unlikely event that they become hostile to me, would I be willing to fight against them?

The reason I’m pondering this is because I am an AMorph.

If they are experienced players, they’re likely to try to kill me, and I too would inevitably have to be hostile to other players for my ascension.

‘Because that’s the condition for ascension.’

Like the ascension of AMorphs, the final goal of other races also includes the defeat of races other than their own.

If other players aim for ascension, the chance of a friendly atmosphere when encountering them is very low.

‘…No. I still lack too much information.’

It’s too early to decide how to deal with other players.

It’s much more productive to gather sufficient information and then make up my mind.

I should ask the pirates I paralyzed earlier. Where and how they got the Mask of Indomitability. If they looted it, from whom they obtained it, and so on.

I pocketed the mask and devoured the Cult leader’s corpse without leaving anything behind.

‘Other people, huh.’

If players exist somewhere in this world, I should meet them after becoming as strong as possible. Even if I decide not to be hostile to them, they might be hostile to me.

If I meet them while weak, I’ll just become another player’s slave or prey.

I have no intention whatsoever of becoming someone’s slave or food.

So I’ll do what only I, an AMorph, can do right now.

Hunting, devouring, and evolving.

‘I need to become stronger than anyone else to freely make decisions when the moment of choice comes.’

With that, I retraced my steps.

The paralyzed pirates must still be eagerly waiting for me.

But what was waiting for me wasn’t the pirates.

“Grrrrrr.”

Seeing them, I quickly crouched down. My protective coloration activated, changing my body color to match the reddish old tree beside me.

“Krung?”

A large horned theropod looked in my direction and tilted its head while tearing apart a pirate.

A dangerous creature with a body length of 20m and a height of 9m to the pelvis, the Horned Gigant.

Two of these creatures, positioned high in the forest’s food chain, were chewing on the paralyzed pirates.

“Grrrr?”

It couldn’t see me but sensed that something with a different smell was coming from my direction.

However, the smell of Cult blood on my body seemed to be mixed with the blood of the pirates here, making it difficult to distinguish clearly.

While one was concentrating on finding me in hiding, the other tried to secretly snatch a pirate.

“Grrrr.”

“Kraaaah!”

“Krung….”

The one looking in my direction finally lost interest and roared at the other one, warning it not to covet its prey.

They devoured all five pirates around the rock and leisurely left the area.

‘Oh no.’

After confirming they had left, I stood up.

‘I didn’t expect Horned Gigants to come this far.’

I considered fighting them, but it would be difficult with my current level.

‘I could kill one somehow, but…’

Horned Gigants are powerful predators on their own, but they have a terrifying special ability.

‘The Berserk Mode would be tough.’

Horned Gigants always move in pairs, and if one of them dies, the remaining one’s specs increase tremendously.

Its already tough skin becomes even tougher, to the point where my Psychic Breath can’t damage it, and its jaw strength becomes powerful enough to snap my head carapace in two.

Even if I somehow win the fight, suffering too many injuries would be counterproductive. Because I still have other enemies left.

‘I’ll move again once they return.’

Originally, the Horned Gigants’ habitat is quite far from here. They probably came because they were interested in the explosion I used when catching the pirates.

Once they’re full, they’ll return to their habitat.

‘They really ate everything without leaving anything behind, huh?’

Because the Horned Gigants ate all the pirates, I lost the people I could ask about the mask’s origin.

‘But there are dozens of camps around.’

If I go around catching pirates and questioning them, I’ll eventually get information. If that’s not enough, I’ll have to target the cruiser.

‘I’ll rest until the Horned Gigants leave.’

I don’t know how large a share the pirates I killed held in the Humanity Cartel, but they’re completely wiped out for now.

It will take some time before enemies come looking for me again.

I climbed up a tree and crouched down.

After confirming that my protective coloration had activated, I quietly closed my eyes.

As soon as I entered this continent, I got separated from the kids, hunted pirates with strange names, and heard unexpected information about players.

The jumbled thoughts in my head gradually faded, and drowsiness began to set in.

‘Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I slept alone.’

Until now, No. 26 was always by my side, but now I’m closing my eyes alone after a long time.

With a strange feeling of loneliness, I gradually fell asleep.