Ch.144The Three-Headed Devil (3)

“Captain, the Cosmic Bolt is fully charged.”

“……”

“Captain?”

In the command center of ‘Damos08 the Judge’.

Although the crew member reported that all preparations were complete, the captain gave no orders.

This was because all communication with the warrior unit that had been sent down had been completely cut off.

‘What’s going on? Why aren’t they responding! Lace!’

Lace was his favored warrior. The possibility of him ignoring the captain’s orders without reason was close to zero.

Moreover, the other warrior units that went down with Lace were also unreachable.

This meant something serious had happened down there.

‘…What should I do.’

He had two choices. One was to fire the Cosmic Bolt as planned, the other was to send down a new search party.

However, the captain knew that choosing the latter option was practically impossible.

In the Cult Empire, contamination issues were arguably the greatest threat to imperial security. Delaying the purification operation to save subordinates? Especially subordinates he had personally sent to retrieve slaves?

The Imperial Mothership wasn’t the only vessel here. The ships from the mothership fleet deployed to protect it would certainly not stand idle.

The moment he delayed, the captain would be dismissed, and another captain would take command of this ship and fire the Cosmic Bolt.

“Captain? Please give your orders.”

“…Fire in 10 minutes.”

“Understood.”

In the end, the captain chose to fire the Cosmic Bolt. Though it was only a brief 10-minute window, he hoped his subordinates would return safely within that time.

–

“How’s it going?”

Sky Mother asked me with a serious look.

“The launch time has already passed.”

“What? But why?”

“I don’t know.”

Since Sky Mother knew about my face-stealer trait, she deliberately left one Cult corpse behind. Taking the corpse from her, I used my face-stealer trait to read the memories of Hamine, the Cult who had come here.

Though there were many gaps in the memories, I was able to obtain the necessary information.

First, that this planet had been designated as a contaminated planet and scheduled for purification.

Second, that the Cosmic Bolt was supposed to have been fired five minutes ago.

Neither Hamine nor I knew why it hadn’t been fired yet.

While the delayed launch was fortunate, we couldn’t relax yet.

“…It’ll fall soon enough.”

Sky Mother frowned and clicked her tongue.

She was right. Cult purification orders were rarely canceled. Even if the Imperial Mothership’s captain went mad and refused to carry out the mission, a substitute would step in to execute it.

The Cosmic Bolt would fall on this continent within minutes, or at most an hour.

‘It’s too late to escape.’

According to its specifications, the Cosmic Bolt was a condensed energy projectile created by mixing dark matter and psychic power. Its instantaneous firepower was comparable to the sun, and when it hit a planet, all atmosphere and water across the entire planet would evaporate.

Even hiding underground would be nearly impossible to escape the Cosmic Bolt, which affected tens of kilometers below the crust. I might somehow survive, but No. 26, Adhigh Orr, and Sky Mother would not escape death.

‘A spaceship won’t work either.’

The research base brought by humans was quite far from here. Even though my body had been strengthened, reaching there within minutes or an hour would be impossible.

Even if we were extremely lucky and the Cosmic Bolt wasn’t fired for tens of hours, we’d still have a problem. The moment we left the planet in a spaceship, the fleet escorting the Imperial Mothership would intercept us.

‘So I have to stop it here.’

If escape was impossible, the only option was to somehow defend against the Imperial Mothership’s attack.

The first thing that came to mind was the trait I created from the ‘Plunderer’s Irregular Polyhedron’.

The Plunderer’s Irregular Polyhedron had the ability to devour equipment and convert it into traits.

I used that ability to devour the unique equipment Muriel possessed and gained destructive power.

Specifically, by devouring the Cult’s orbital bombardment weapon, the ‘Lightning God’.

‘No. That ability alone can’t defeat the Cosmic Bolt.’

My newly acquired ‘ability’ was slightly less powerful than the Lightning God. When I consumed the plasma launcher, my body’s output exceeded the original, but with the Lightning God, it was the opposite.

Even the original Lightning God fell far short of the Cosmic Bolt’s output, so countering with a reduced attack would be largely meaningless. At best, it would buy a few minutes.

‘Still, it’s the most powerful weapon I have.’

So I needed to find a way to increase its output somehow.

‘With the Mark of the Hunt, I could dramatically increase the output, but…’

Originally, the Mark of the Hunt had a 24-hour cooldown.

After breaking through to Transcendence Level 2, the cooldown for the Mark of the Hunt should have returned to normal, but for some reason, it was still counting down.

‘Damn it! It counted my evolution as using it!’

Seeing that the Mark of the Hunt had 18 hours remaining, it was clear. Similarly, the Horizon of Nightmares also showed a 7-day cooldown.

Thanks to the restriction being lifted, they now had separate cooldowns, but in the current situation, I couldn’t use either.

It was extremely frustrating, but there was nothing I could do about it.

‘Damn!’

My trump card, the Mark of the Hunt, was unavailable.

‘…New message window. I haven’t checked it yet.’

While desperately searching for a solution, I checked the newly arrived message window as a last resort.

“As a reward for unlocking Transcendence Level 2, you have been granted the new trait ‘Organic Evolution (Unique)’!”

“New type ‘Space Morph (Unique)’ has been unlocked.”

“New system ‘Trait Enhancement’ has been unlocked.”

‘Huh?’

I thought the reward for Transcendence Level 2 would end with unlocking a new type and removing restrictions on my traits.

But that wasn’t the case.

‘Since perks require related traits, they included one.’

I read through the text descriptions as if entranced.

“Organic Evolution: It’s not the strong who survive, but the survivors who are strong. You can choose one of two special states to transform into.

* King of Monsters: Grow and strengthen your body into a giant creature. The space required to use this trait is at least 100m in radius. This special state consumes enormous energy, and the state will be released when energy is completely depleted. Maximum duration is 10 minutes, cooldown is 30 days.

* Clever Weakling: Shrink your body into a small creature and conserve internal energy. The reduced state cannot exceed 5m. Some trait usage is restricted, but special perks related to this state are provided. Can be manually released by the user. Maximum duration is 7 days, cooldown is 30 days.

* Cannot be canceled or changed during transformation. Both special states share a cooldown.

* New special states may be acquired according to traits obtained in the future.

*P.S.: Evolution and cycle. What awaits at the end? Perhaps you might know.”

‘This is?’

Until just now I had been cursing the game company, but now I couldn’t bring myself to do so.

‘Organic Evolution. This could be useful.’

I wasn’t sure exactly how it would transform me, but there was something that seemed useful for overcoming this crisis.

The special state called ‘King of Monsters’.

According to the description, it would grow and strengthen my body.

‘With this, I could increase my output.’

In a situation where I couldn’t use the Mark of the Hunt, getting a similar card was welcome.

However, there were still concerns.

‘The key is how much this trait will strengthen me.’

Seeing the many cooldowns and limitations, it reminded me of the Mark of the Hunt or the Horizon of Nightmares. I could easily guess that this trait’s effect would be quite powerful.

‘Still, gambling isn’t good.’

If something goes wrong, we could all be annihilated here. To block that Cosmic Bolt, I needed to pull out everything I could.

‘Output, output, need a way to increase output…’

With unknown time left until launch, and needing time to use that trait, I couldn’t keep deliberating forever.

‘…Let me think for one more minute.’

I desperately racked my brain for any additional methods.

“Little one, does it hurt a lot?”

“Hurt.”

“Toy? Want to play with this?”

“Fine.”

I saw No. 26 and Adhigh Orr. No. 26 had already retrieved the spoils bag and was taking out items one by one in front of Adhigh Orr.

It felt like the black light of the Cosmic Bolt could fall upon us at any moment. With the Cosmic Bolt’s firepower, they would all burn to death without feeling any pain.

While watching them, the minute passed. No new ideas had emerged.

‘I have no choice but to go with this… Wait a minute.’

Looking at the bag No. 26 was holding, I suddenly remembered something important.

That bag contained equipment and items I had obtained after killing Muriel. The Golden Spear of Shaman, Blood River, and so on.

And among them was a potion she had used. I hurriedly approached No. 26.

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

[Zz zz zzzz zzzz (Can I have the bag for a moment?)]

“Big one needs toys too?”

[Zz (Yes)]

Taking the bag, I pulled out a small kit. Opening it revealed a vial glowing purple.

‘Great! There’s still one left!’

This potion was Psyonium.

A potion that temporarily raises the status of the target by one level. If I drank the Psyonium, I could immediately transform into an adult.

Becoming an adult would provide two enormous benefits.

First, my strength would increase tremendously compared to now, reaching a level that could match the Cosmic Bolt.

Second, my heads would increase to three.

‘Actually, having more heads isn’t necessarily all good.’

Originally, the significance of increasing heads was to enhance the utility of the Essence Harvester’s Jaw. Having three heads made it easier to collect enemy heads.

In reality rather than in the game, this significance had diminished due to my Infecting Tentacles.

But at this moment, having more heads was very important.

The trait I created by consuming the Lightning God was called ‘God’s Whip’.

It was the ability to fire condensed lightning energy beams from the Lightning God.

If asked which part fired it, the answer was my mouth. Just like when I absorbed the plasma launcher and fired plasma beams, the energy beam only came from my mouth. It didn’t fire from other parts like the Infecting Tentacles.

‘So if I become an adult with three heads…’

It meant I could simultaneously fire energy beams comparable to the Lightning God from all three heads.

Adult form, King of Monsters, and the trait gained from devouring the Lightning God.

‘With these three things!’

I could block the Cult’s absolute weapon for planetary purification, the Cosmic Bolt.