Ch.148Omen (3)

“What? Old man? I heard you weren’t on Earth, so how are you here?”

Cloe was startled by the sudden appearance of Akira Yujin.

As far as she knew, Akira had been in another star system far from the solar system. He was supposed to be traveling to participate in a conference as CEO to mediate a civil war.

Akira casually answered her question.

“I brought my Monolith just in case. Didn’t I miss Jason’s summons last time? It would be rude to do that again.”

“…Right.”

However, Cloe didn’t believe Akira’s words.

‘He planted a spy on me!’

Seeing him barge in at the perfect timing, Cloe immediately understood.

This gathering was requested by her. She had applied for vacation time in advance, and that must be where the information leaked.

‘Damn old man.’

Akira considered all the heads of Noble Capital houses as potential challengers who could take his CEO position at any time. While it was characteristic of Noble Capital to view everyone else as competitors, Akira was particularly extreme.

The massacres and crimes he committed to seize control of House Yugin were infamous even among players.

‘…Tch, I’ll have to clean house among my inner circle when I get back.’

Though irritated at having to waste energy on such matters, she didn’t express it.

While she remained silent, Jubaka briefly explained the situation to Akira.

After listening quietly, Akira’s first reaction was one of curiosity.

“How is he here… no, that’s not important. I see. Now I understand how T&C showed such research results back then. Ha, this is why it never gets boring.”

He continued muttering things that no one else could understand.

“Akira, what are you talking about?”

“Nothing at all. Anyway, an adult AMorph. Cynthia, please share the footage first.”

“Understood.”

When Jubaka questioned his puzzling response, Akira changed the subject.

Moments later, light burst from Cynthia’s Monolith, shooting toward a point in the air. The scattered light converged to form a hologram.

The image showed the AMorph ranker that had appeared on PH-101, called Psygil08 in Cult language.

“Psygil08, this is the last footage shot from the sanctuary management satellite monitoring PH-101 for Megacorp and Star Union representatives.”

The creature in the footage was a massive monster with three heads and pipe-like organs on its back. Except for being surprisingly large, it resembled an adult AMorph.

The creature raised its three heads toward the sky and was emitting intense light from its mouths.

That light beam reminiscent of lightning, and the darkness pouring down from the sky. Powerful energies were battling each other. The creature was fighting against the Cosmic Bolt fired by the “Judge of Damos08.”

But then the creature began using a new power. Purple energy gathered from its three heads and shot toward the sky.

The footage ended after that.

“After that, a magnetic storm occurred on the planet, making further observation impossible from the sanctuary management satellite.”

“Is there no footage from the ships?”

“The only ship that returned is severely damaged. We’re trying to restore the footage, but I don’t expect good results.”

“Well, well, this is troublesome.”

Despite everyone being tense, Akira laughed nonchalantly.

“That’s surprising. If it’s an adult, Akira, wouldn’t you be a target too?”

“That’s true. If it really is an adult.”

“What do you mean?”

While Cloe and Jubaka didn’t understand, Akira reacted as if their confusion was what didn’t make sense.

“As everyone knows, AMorphs don’t get stronger as they grow because of evolution. ‘Gaining traits to fulfill evolution conditions’ – that’s the true power of AMorphs.”

“We know that too, Akira. Get to the point.”

“The Rank 5 I experienced would have subdued the Imperial Mothership much more efficiently.”

Akira Yujin was the person in this gathering who had fought against Rank 5 AMorphs the most. Though he had lost more often than not, he had also won a fair number of times.

“It doesn’t prefer to confront and crush enemies directly. That’s just a last resort it takes when finishing off enemies or when it can’t defend itself.”

With his extensive combat experience against AMorph rankers, Akira knew the creature’s style well.

Deceptive strategies exploiting communications, aerial combat using flight abilities, biochemical terrorism using viruses and parasites, tactics that use the enemy’s fear to cause self-destruction, and more.

In Akira’s judgment, the AMorph ranker was not a warrior.

It was a hunter, or a terrorist.

“Maybe it did that on purpose? To exploit our judgment.”

“Well, I think differently. The two types of beams in this footage – neither ability appears in the game. Why would it use these abilities when it could stop the Imperial Mothership by other means? Especially knowing the information would leak.”

“That’s a valid point.”

Cloe could finally understand what Akira was trying to say.

“…You mean it used its trump card to defeat the Imperial Mothership?”

“A last resort. Meaning it’s still weak.”

“Exactly. If it were truly an adult, it would have finished off the Imperial Mothership before it could fire the Cosmic Bolt. Not like this.”

“Are you suggesting that the AMorph hasn’t completely matured into an adult yet, Akira?”

As soon as they heard Cynthia’s words, a certain drug flashed through Cloe and Jubaka’s minds.

And they also realized how the creature had obtained that drug on that planet.

‘Muriel!’

“Don’t you all know? The means to temporarily taste evolution conditions without actually fulfilling them?”

“…Psyonium.”

Cloe gritted her teeth as she realized that the Psyonium she had developed had greatly helped the enemy’s survival.

“I suspect it has already left the planet to fulfill its evolution conditions. It’s impossible to evolve into an adult on PH-101.”

“…Tch. This is getting complicated. We need to establish a response system immediately.”

“I should report this to the Prophets’ Council. Though I’m not sure if they’ll listen to me.”

“You should. As it happens, I know a place where it might go, so I’ll stop by on my way.”

While Cloe was internally raging against the dead, the players began discussing how to deal with the AMorph.

–

“Kyaaaa…keck!”

‘That’s the last one.’

Dealing with the Cult survivors wasn’t particularly difficult.

Originally, Cults serving on ships belonging to the Mothership Battle Group were all elite soldiers.

As elites, they should have been exceptionally well-armed, but they had lost most of their weapons in the ship crash.

Most crew members had died from the impact of the crash, so there were very few survivors. Near the ship we found, there were 10 survivors, 4 of whom were injured.

In the end, it was over so quickly it wasn’t even a proper post-meal exercise.

“…The mimicry organ’s trait is disgusting no matter how many times I see it.”

“Is it?”

The Sky Mother shuddered as she watched me speaking with a female Cult’s voice.

With Transcendence Level 2, the restrictions on my mimicry organ have been completely lifted.

Now I can use pheromones to recreate the appearance of the last person I ate, just like before. The function that mimics the mimicry organ’s voice is also working normally.

‘The problem is that I’ve grown too large.’

The effect of the mimicry organ doesn’t actually transform my body into a human. It releases pheromones that deceive other organisms’ senses, making them perceive me as ‘human-like.’ That’s the core mechanism.

As a result, the larger I grow, the greater the sense of dissonance other organisms feel, making it harder to deceive them with pheromones alone.

‘In the game, a subadult wasn’t this massive.’

With the three traits “Complete Organism,” “Horizon of Nightmare,” and “Organic Evolution” applied together, my body is much larger than a typical subadult.

Unless I transform into a “Clever Weakling” state using Organic Evolution, it won’t be as easy as before to deceive enemies with just the mimicry organ.

‘At least my voice has returned to normal.’

Previously, due to restrictions, my voice sounded strange, like it was coming from a broken radio, but now it sounds perfectly fine.

I thought the restoration of trait functions was something to welcome, but the Sky Mother seems to disagree.

“A girl’s voice with that appearance… such bad taste…”

Based on my game experience, disguising myself as a female with the mimicry organ worked better.

I’m sorry to the Sky Mother, but I plan to use this voice for a while.

‘Though the possibility is low, more Cults might come later.’

I think it’s unlikely that Cults will dispatch another Imperial Mothership to this planet for purification. If this were a different planet, there would be no mercy, but this is designated as a “sacred ground.”

‘The influence of Providence in Cult society is complex.’

For Cults, “Providence” holds a status similar to the Quran in Islam in our reality—both scripture and a norm for life.

Most members of Cult society consider actions that violate this Providence taboo. Of course, just as some religious people in reality sometimes act contrary to their faith, ordinary Cults don’t adhere to Providence strictly.

‘But government institutions like the Council are different.’

Providence contains important prophecies related to the future of the Cults. Some lead to the revival of the Cult Empire, while others relate to its decline.

The problem is that it’s not clearly written which path leads to a better future.

In the setting, Cults have often experienced catastrophe by misinterpreting Providence or trying to avoid its prophecies.

To put it simply, it’s like the self-fulfilling prophecies that often appear in Greek mythology—stories of heroes who take the wrong path while trying to avoid an unfortunate future.

To prevent this, Cults established a norm to designate spaces where Providence’s future occurs as sacred grounds and to avoid interfering with them as much as possible.

‘Whether to uphold Providence or persuade others to violate it is important for Cult players.’

While the Cult race’s unique system is quests, unifying Cult society is also one of the main tasks. Providence is the most important element that unites Cult society.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, there are exceptional circumstances where violating Providence is unavoidable.

For instance, if there’s an attack by Outspacers or the emergence of the Sect of Voltex One, opinions differ on whether to leave the sacred ground alone or purify it.

I just used the human-faced parasite trait to examine the Cults’ memories. They came to this planet with the justification of purifying a source of contamination.

‘However, they don’t clearly know what kind of contamination occurred.’

From this, I can deduce two things.

One is that the opposing player’s power is greater than I imagined.

‘They must be quite high-ranking among the antlered Cults.’

They’re likely either a priest belonging to the Council of Elders or a faction leader in the Assembly. They might also have connections with a prophet from the Prophets’ Council, or even hold dual positions as both priest and prophet.

To implement a purification order, one would need to persuade the three power structures of the Cults: the Assembly, the Council of Elders, and the Prophets’ Council.

‘But it seems they pushed things too hastily.’

If they were going to manipulate, they should have done it perfectly from start to finish, but they didn’t.

Or more precisely, I suspect they couldn’t.

‘If they wanted to catch me as quickly as possible, they would have had to rush things.’

So they dispatched the Imperial Mothership without explaining exactly what the contamination was.

Judging from this, the person behind this—the high-ranking Cult player—likely persuaded the Cults by forcefully using their connections and power.

Honestly, their judgment wasn’t bad.

‘If the purification had succeeded, that is.’

But the purification failed. Moreover, they lost the Imperial Mothership and the Mothership Battle Group because of me.

They had already forcefully violated Providence, and now additional risks have emerged.

Those who opposed the player’s opinion will naturally rebel, and even those who followed the player’s opinion will try to reinterpret Providence’s prophecies.

Even if the player who led this is a great power holder, it won’t be easy to withstand their political offensive. They must be in considerable difficulty by now.

‘Since Cults are conservative, it will take them quite some time to decide how to respond.’

Of course, since the destruction of the Imperial Mothership is a fact, the player on the other side might argue that the level of surveillance on the sacred ground should be increased. In extreme cases, they might send numerous satellites to thoroughly search the planet’s interior.

‘The fortunate thing is that the sky is helping me.’

Due to the confrontation between me and the Imperial Mothership, magnetic storms are occurring intermittently on the planet. The battle between the Cosmic Bolt and God’s Whip temporarily destabilized the planet’s atmosphere, causing storms to occur earlier than their normal cycle.

Once the atmosphere recovers, those magnetic storms will end, so I need to escape before then.

‘I have 5 days left until I can use Horizon of Nightmare.’

Although there’s nothing directly threatening my life right now, I can’t be at ease. The situation is as precarious as a house built on sand.

‘Let’s start with what I can do right now.’

First, I need to see if I can corrode this warship in front of me, half-buried in the ground.

“If, if you release me, I’ll tell you everything about the ship’s operation and repairs in detail!”

“I, I know better! I’ll solve it for you!”

“Damn it! You’re a medical officer, not a technical officer!”

“Shut up!”

“This ship model is a new type of escort ship made by technical officers from Jasbil02. It’s made of an alloy containing moonsilver and has reflection functionality. If you just spare my life, I’ll explain in detail…”

The five faces embedded near the top of my back are noisily arguing with each other. All are Cult faces created with the human-faced parasite trait.

‘So noisy.’

I forcibly silenced them and then pulled out corrosion tentacles from the holes in my back. As the six tentacles passed over their faces, the human-faced parasites screamed silently.

‘Let’s check.’

The tentacles began examining the buried ship according to my will.

To determine if this ship can be corroded, how long the corrosion can be maintained, the tentacles work diligently to provide me with the information I need.

Shortly after, as always, the corrosion tentacles didn’t betray my wishes. After receiving a satisfactory report, I released control over the human-faced parasites.

“You. You seemed to know this ship well.”

“Yes, yes! Ask me anything!”

“I, I know well too! I’ll answer for you!”

This ship is a new model I’ve never seen in the game. Unlike the ships I’ve taken over so far, I know nothing about its size, armament, or specifications.

So I’ll have to utilize the collective intelligence of the Cults who have become human-faced parasites.

“…Horrible.”

The Sky Mother, who was watching from the side, muttered quietly, but I ignored her.