Ch.123Muriel (3)

“Is this as far as it goes?”

Muriel’s body was pristine, without a single wound.

However, the suit covering her body was not. It had holes in various places, exposing her snow-white flesh.

The Nano Spartan Module might be considered the finest among defensive modules, but it’s not omnipotent. In its current damaged state, it would need a replenishment of nano machines to be fully restored.

‘But she’s probably used up her reserves too.’

I could tell from those trembling eyes.

That she didn’t have many cards left.

‘I’ve already confirmed all the equipment and techniques the Sky Mother told me about.’

Before fighting Muriel, I had also carefully reviewed my memories of fighting the rankers.

What species they were, what techniques they possessed, how powerful their equipment was, and what strategies they typically employed.

That’s why I could fully anticipate what modules Muriel had equipped and what psychic power techniques she would use in various situations.

‘She fought well, though.’

Honestly, Muriel’s skills were considerable. On top of that, she came with the cheat combination of being a Cult and cyborg hybrid. She deserved to be called a formidable opponent.

The injuries I sustained during our fight were by no means minor. It was rare for me to fight this fiercely since coming to this world.

If she had known a little more about my condition and abilities, she wouldn’t have been defeated so easily.

‘At the very least, she would have bought time until she could use her trump card, the Lightning God.’

Or she might have given up fighting and escaped altogether.

There was a long-distance transportation method called a transport ship at the large campsite where we were standing. Even if she couldn’t leave the planet, if she had fled to another continent, I would never have been able to chase her.

‘But…’

Despite having several opportunities to survive, she didn’t act that way.

And now.

The time to pay the price is approaching.

“…Ugh!”

Muriel let out a short groan. The confident smile she had when we first fought was nowhere to be seen.

Having only one chance left as an Adjuster, she had completely lost her will to fight.

There was only one path she could choose instead of fighting.

“Damn it! Just you wait!”

Muriel shouted and pressed buttons on the side of her neck with her mechanical arm.

Then her body rapidly blurred like smoke and disappeared into the mist. It was perfect stealth, as if she had never been there in the first place.

‘I can’t see her even with my vision.’

She was barely detectable even with my auxiliary organs.

If it weren’t for the vibrations created by Muriel’s exhaled breath and her footsteps touching the ground when she moved, I wouldn’t have known which direction she ran.

The Sky Mother, whose vision was far superior to mine, kept turning her head to find Muriel.

“That bitch, she still had something left.”

“I-haven’t-seen-a-stealth-module-like-that-in-the-game.”

“I can’t see her with my eyes.”

The fact that she hadn’t used such a high-level stealth module until now meant it must have limitations in combat or usage restrictions.

“What are you going to do?”

The Sky Mother, unable to find Muriel, turned to me.

‘What am I going to do?’

She’s asking the obvious.

“Catch-her-and-kill-her.”

“…Good.”

No matter how excellent her stealth equipment is, she’s ultimately in the palm of my hand.

‘Because this is my nest.’

I may not be able to detect her directly with just my auxiliary organs right now.

But the traces she left behind. Those can be easily captured if I link with the nest.

‘As I’ve said multiple times.’

Escaping before fighting me was the only way Muriel could have survived.

–

‘Fuck fuck fuck fuck….’

In a forest shrouded in thick fog.

Muriel was hiding on a branch of a redwood tree that was over hundreds of meters tall.

This module was an experimental one developed by a Megacorp ranker who shared her cause.

Made using ‘Giant Chameleon’ as material, it grants the wearer a high level of stealth ability. It’s impossible to detect with the naked eye and doesn’t get caught by detection equipment or techniques.

However, since it’s not yet complete, it has many unstable aspects.

It works fine when moving carefully, but the stealth effect is immediately canceled if moving vigorously for combat or when hit by an enemy attack.

Even the ranker who developed this module said it was still an unfinished product and should only be used for escape in emergencies.

She had successfully escaped from her enemy, but the problem remained.

The possibility that the terrible AMorph or the Sky Mother with her strong grudge would give up tracking her was close to zero.

‘…There’s no time to wait for the Adjuster to reset.’

Time works equally for both sides. She has no choice but to hide for 24 hours, but that’s not the case for them.

‘That morph bastard might burn down this entire forest.’

Someone who hangs corpses on trees is capable of that and more.

Remembering the horrific state of her subordinates, she involuntarily flinched. The thought that a skinned corpse might be her future strongly hit her.

‘This won’t work.’

She observed her surroundings using the enhancement effects of the remaining psyonium. With her developed senses, she could tell there were no other enemies nearby.

‘I didn’t want to use this, but….’

With her life in danger, she had no choice.

Judging that there were no enemies nearby, she pressed the button on the side of her neck firmly. Then a long cord shot out from the nano suit covering her down to her neck and plugged into her ear.

The device she just activated was one that enabled interstellar communication.

Before fighting the AMorph, she had fused a military communicator she kept in her safe with the Nano Spartan Module.

Originally, she had planned to use it after the battle to order her subordinates on another planet to bring a spaceship.

The reason she didn’t use it during combat was that interstellar communication consumes a lot of energy. Once this communication ends, the Nano Spartan Module would likely automatically deactivate after consuming all its remaining energy.

‘Please answer!’

This one communication is her lifeline.

During the short connection tone, she suddenly heard a loud wind sound in her ear.

The sound of a giant bird flapping its wings was briefly heard and then disappeared.

‘What?’

She looked up at the tree above her but saw nothing.

As she was thinking about moving to another location, a beep sound came from the communicator.

And then a beautiful male voice was heard.

“My Honey? What’s going on with you calling when you always said communications could be intercepted?”

“Oppa!”

She never thought the voice she always found annoying would feel so welcome now. Muriel barely held back tears that were about to burst out.

“Oppa, I’m in big trouble! Help me right now!”

“What?”

“I lost all my subordinates and spaceship to them and I’m being chased now! Come quickly!”

“Shit, those bastards again? I thought there was a truce… Wait, what about my request? I asked you to get me some female Volfs.”

Despite the urgent situation, Muriel burst out in frustration at her counterpart’s response about slaves.

“No, shit! Oppa! Your sister is about to die and that’s what matters to you? And it’s not them, it’s someone else! There are only two of them but they’re incredibly skilled, so you need to come prepared!”

“Two? Only two attacked My Honey?”

“One is a Volf player I was going to give to you, and the other is an AMorph player!”

“…What? AMorph?”

“Yes! He said he’s the 5th ranked ranker!”

When Muriel explained about the enemy pursuing her, the other side fell silent.

“Anyway, there’s no time! Prepare as quickly as… Huh? Oppa?”

“……”

“Oppa?”

“…Oh, Shit… *click*”

“Oppa? Oppaaa? Shit! It got disconnected!”

At the sudden termination of the call, Muriel quickly tried to call again. But despite the connection tone continuing to ring, the other side didn’t answer.

“Damn it! No, no! If I call unnie…”

She tried to seek help somehow, but a red light came on from her wrist.

It was an indication that the Nano Spartan Module was being deactivated. As soon as the red light went off, the nano suit covering her body disappeared and transformed into a small disc-shaped machine.

With the suit gone, she was practically naked. Although she was a sturdy cyborg, that was meaningless in front of the monsters tracking her.

The stealth effect from the experimental module was still active, but that too wasn’t permanent. When that effect ends, her life ends too.

“No, no! Nooooo!”

Almost out of her mind, Muriel shook the disc trying to somehow reactivate the module. There was no way for the nano machines that had completely depleted their energy to come back, but she didn’t have enough rationality left to judge this.

“This can’t be… Eek?!”

While she was hitting the tree with the disc, she heard the rustling of leaves. Some animal was approaching the tree where she was hiding.

In this toxic fog, there were only two animals that could walk so calmly.

Soon after, an animal with an eagle’s head on a body of a lioness with flexible yet firm muscles appeared.

She thoroughly scanned the surroundings and the tree above, utilizing the excellent vision characteristic of birds of prey.

Muriel held her breath and remained still. The griffon passed right by the tree where she was hiding and disappeared into the fog beyond.

“Phew.”

Only after confirming she had left could Muriel breathe again.

‘…I need to move.’

She didn’t know when that griffon would return. Engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a griffon Volf without protective equipment would be suicidal.

‘And that damn morph isn’t visible either.’

She needed to leave this place immediately.

With that determination, Muriel retrieved the disc she had been hitting the tree with.

“Huh?”

There was black slime on the disc. Her gaze turned to the wound on the tree.

From there, sticky slime was flowing down instead of sap.

‘……’

She knew what that black liquid was.

It was a substance automatically secreted from an AMorph’s nest.

In other words, the tree she had been hiding in was contaminated by the AMorph’s nest.

‘Come to think of it, earlier….’

Suddenly, she recalled the flapping sound she had heard before requesting help through the communicator.

No living creatures exist in this forest except for the three of them.

Then who made that sound?

Muriel felt the blood in her entire body turning cold.

It wasn’t just a feeling. Her body was trembling as if she had been doused with cold water.

She slowly raised her head. Above her head were only densely spread branches and leaves.

Trembling all over, she threw the disc upward.

The disc, which should have flown straight up since there was nothing there, hit something in mid-air and fell.

Tremble tremble tremble tremble

Above Muriel, who was trembling like a possessed woman, his figure slowly revealed itself.

A creature with a snake-like long body was wrapped around the redwood, looking down at her in stealth.

“Hee, heeek!”

She tried to escape, but he was faster. A tentacle shot out from his back and grabbed her leg.

“L-let go of thiiiis… Kyaaaah!”

Six sharp appendages attached to the tentacle grabbed her leg and shattered it. Then other tentacles grabbed her arms and legs.

“S-save me! Save meeeee!”

“You-said-it. You-would-cut-open-my-stomach-and-show-me-my-intestines.”

“Th-that was! Kyaaaah!”

As her intact limbs were slowly crushed, the light disappeared from Muriel’s eyes that had been glowing purple. The psychic power technique being cast was canceled due to the terrible pain.

“Kuuuuh….”

“I’ve-skinned-people-before-but-I-never-thought-of-that.”

Since he looked like he was about to carry out exactly what she had said, Muriel hastily opened her mouth.

“W-wait! L-let’s talk! Just give me a moment!”

“Talk?”

The AMorph paused at her words.

Realizing that the keyword she had spoken was her last hope, Muriel continued.

–

“I, I have many good cards! It, it will definitely be advantageous for you! So, so let’s negotiate!”

Muriel spoke to me with a submissive attitude as her life hung in the balance. I withdrew my hand that had been extended toward her.

‘Negotiation.’

It was too late to mention the word negotiation now. She had threatened my life multiple times, and her subordinates had tried to kill No. 26 and Adhigh.

Additionally, she now knows too much about me.

‘It would be a disaster if other players found out.’

From what I heard when she was talking through the communication device built into her suit, it seems she knows other players.

To prevent information leakage, Muriel must die by my hand.

‘But still.’

I’m quite interested in information about those other players.

“If, if you want, I, I can serve you! You, you know! Th-that AMorphs can do such things too!”

Does she think I’m tempted by her offer because I’m staying quiet?

Instead of answering, I picked up Muriel and came down from the tree.

‘She still doesn’t know me well.’

It’s because she doesn’t know me that she can say such arrogant things so carelessly.

“I, I don’t mind doing it anytime as long as you spare my life… Huh?!”

I raised high the infection tentacle that was holding her leg. Then I slammed her body straight into the ground.

“Kugh!”

“Don’t-be-mistaken.”

Muriel coughed up black blood.

Ignoring her reaction, I lifted the tentacle holding her again. Despite the pain and fear in Muriel’s eyes, I didn’t hesitate.

“Kuegh!”

“The-only-thing-your-body-can-do-for-me.”

“St, st, kyah! Stoooop, kugh!”

“Is-to-provide-meat.”

“A-AMorph-saaaan, kugh!”

After striking her more than ten times, bones, various mechanical parts, and modules from her body broke through her skin and popped out.

‘Since she’s a cyborg, this won’t kill her.’

I don’t intend to kill her yet, so I struck just hard enough to break her spine.

“Kugh, kuruk, kuyuk, kuguk….”

Muriel, sprawled on the ground and groaning, looked like a dissected frog with only its nerves barely alive.

Her porcelain-like skin, beautiful appearance, and magnificent horns were gone, leaving only an ugly mechanical doll that had been broken.

“You-asked-me-for-negotiation? Fine. I’ll-listen.”

She painfully raised her head upon hearing my monotonous voice.

“A-are you s-sparing me?”

“But-there’s-a-condition.”

“I’ll do anything you say! I, I can do whatever you tell me to!”

She doesn’t need to say that much; she’ll have no choice but to follow my words anyway.

I activated the parasitic colony in front of her. The parasite, enhanced by type, stretches as if enjoying the outside air after a long time.

“Th-that! W-waiiiit!”

I grabbed her head so she couldn’t resist and released the parasite. The black parasite wriggled and crawled into her nostrils.

“Kegh! Kek kek! Kuegh!”

“Normally-I-would-interrogate-you-in-this-state.”

I told her what would happen next as she coughed uncontrollably.

“You-have-caused-me-much-harm-and-insulted-me. I’ll-let-you-repay-that-debt.”

“Wh-what does that mean?”

“From-now-on-every-time-I-ask-a-question-I-will-scrape-out-one-of-your-vertebrae-with-this-hand.”

“What?”

She looks up at me with a stupid expression after hearing my words. She doesn’t seem to understand what I mean, but she’ll understand soon enough whether she wants to or not.

“The-number-will-continue-until-all-my-questions-are-answered.”

“Uh, uhhhhh! Wait wait wait wait!”

“By-the-way-lying-is-useless.”

Muriel’s face turned pale blue when she saw the ghost claw trait activated in my hand.

Since she’s also a Cult, she must know well how many things I can do with these claws.

“I’ll-ask. Who-was-the-person-you-were-talking-to-earlier?”

As the interrogation began, my sharp claws flashed purple.

–

About six hours after the death game between Muriel and me began, I was able to extract all useful information from Muriel.

‘What incredible obsession.’

Despite having her spine scraped hundreds of times by ghost claws, Muriel didn’t go insane. It was a glimpse of how great her desire to live was.

‘Though she almost died several times due to the parasite’s sanctions when she harbored other thoughts.’

Thanks to my symbiotic spore trait, she didn’t die. I’m not sure if that was good for Muriel or not.

“I-have-nothing-more-to-ask.”

“…Th-then, will you s-spare me…?”

“No.”

“B-but!”

Muriel gives me a look as if to say this is different from our promise.

I shook my head.

“My-interrogation-is-over-but-the-next-person-is-waiting.”

“N-next?”

As I stepped back, the griffon appeared from behind.

“Muriel….”

“Ah, aah, aaaah.”

The Sky Mother had a piece of clothing worn by a young Volf in her mouth. Seeing this, Muriel began to tremble like an aspen tree.

“So you finally killed my family.”

“N-no! Th-there’s a misunderstanding…!”

“Even when you beheaded my lover, even when you tortured me, I hesitated. Whether it was right to kill you.”

“W-wait! Seoa unnie! W-we were close, right?”

“Yes. Two years ago, I saved you. I rescued you because I thought you were human too, but….”

The Sky Mother carefully put down the clothing she had been holding in her mouth.

Blood tears were already flowing from her eyes.

“I was wrong. Players like you should be extinct.”

While the Sky Mother was speaking, I checked the symbiont attached to Muriel’s body.

“I’ll-give-you-six-hours-just-like-me. Don’t-kill-her-as-I-need-to-eat-her.”

“Understood.”

“Th-this is different from our promise! You said you’d spare me! You said you’d spare meeeee!”

Muriel wails toward me as I leave.

Asking why I’m not keeping my promise.

‘I never promised in the first place.’

I said I would let her repay her debt, not that I would spare her life.

But there’s no need to point that out.

Six hours later.

I returned to where they had been.

“Hee, heek, heek, heek….”

Muriel was left with only her head and upper body, barely alive. The Sky Mother was nowhere to be seen.

I don’t know what relationship they had, but it seemed the Sky Mother didn’t want to see Muriel die.

‘No need to call her.’

I picked up the fallen Muriel.

“Mom….”

She whispered her last words quietly.

Eventually, my jaw opened wide and swallowed her entire body.

With that, Space Dog ranker Muriel, who was ranked 20th, died.

“Predation effect activated! Successfully seized the perk of ‘Muriel (Han Subin)’!”

“Can be fused with ‘Metal Absorption’ that you already possess.”

“‘Muriel (Han Subin)’s perk and ‘Metal Absorption’ trait have been fused. Evolved into ‘Predator’s Amorphous Polyhedron’ trait!”

“Predator’s Amorphous Polyhedron: Consume one piece of equipment to specialize the equipment’s unique ability into a trait. Only possible once per equipment, and when consuming a new equipment, the trait effect of the previous equipment is lost.

*P.S.: You are Death, the destroyer of the universe. But be warned. The entire universe will be watching you.”

Along with the taste of sweet premium cake, what hit my head was a text box related to the new trait.