Ch.153Dragon’s Nest (4)

“Damn it! BigD is down! ConJ too!”

“This is not the time to worry about that! Keep running!”

Five heavy walkers ran through the ship, making noise.

The hole behind them had long since disappeared. Far from being relieved by this fact, they were on the verge of going insane.

Fear gripped them that they might all die here.

“Right? Left? Which way should we go?!”

“Where did everyone go? Which way should we—bzzt, bzzzzt”

“Don’t scatter! Stay together!”

Numerous intersections that weren’t there before appeared one after another. One walker that had been following behind was left behind.

‘This won’t work!’

Their walker, the “Sentinel,” was suitable for combat but not for survival in isolated situations. It consumes too much power to operate for extended periods.

The cargo ship was finished, and the carrier they came on was probably in a similar state. They had no idea how much longer they would have to stay inside this monstrous ship.

“Everyone stop!”

McKay called the remaining three walkers to a halt.

“Check your energy levels! If the walkers stop, we’re dead.”

Hearing this, the cyborgs hurriedly checked their walkers’ remaining energy.

“Energy levels are fine, but… damn it!”

“What’s the use! We’re going to die here anyway!”

“There’s nowhere to escape to!”

As his comrades said, their situation was far from good. They were essentially inside the belly of a giant beast.

Still, McKay had one thing to believe in.

‘The Machine Council will send a rescue team. We just need to hold out until then.’

A month ago, the Machine Council, Star Union’s highest authority, issued a notice to all departments and civilian spaceships.

They were ordered to register any unknown organisms or substances in the Starlink database upon encounter. Additionally, all ships were required to attach special signal chips manufactured by the Machine Council.

With the countless organisms in space, reporting each one seemed nearly impossible. And the signal chips? That was blatant surveillance, which few civilian ships would welcome.

It might have been impossible for other powers, but not for Star Union. The Machine Council could issue mandatory commands to all androids and drones produced by Star Union.

For this reason, the cargo ship McKay and the cyborgs came on had a signal chip installed. Since the ship was destroyed, Star Union would receive the news in an hour or two.

“If we can hold out for a day, the rescue team sent by the Population Management Department will arrive. We’ll wait until then.”

“What? How will they know where we are?”

“No need to worry about that. In a few hours, Star Union will receive news about us.”

Information about this ship’s appearance, location, and internal samples had already been transmitted to the Starlink database.

Therefore, those who survived here had only one task.

“We need to buy time until the rescue fleet arrives.”

“Time?”

“This monster is probably capable of FTL travel. If it moves to another star system, it will take the rescue fleet longer to find us.”

The cyborgs nodded.

This JP-99 system, though remote, was under Cult control. If such a massive creature had been wandering without FTL capabilities, it would have been caught long ago.

“We need to prevent it from escaping.”

“What? That’s absurd!”

“Impossible! As we saw earlier, attacking this ship is useless. It recovers quickly.”

“I know that. Shooting blindly would just waste ammunition. That’s why we need a target.”

“A target?”

Before answering, McKay shared a file combining maps transmitted by exploration drones with everyone.

“Look at this.”

“?”

“Even though everything else changes, there are several identical areas.”

“So what?”

“This ship, or monster, or whatever it is—if it’s a living organism, it must have vital organs, right?”

“…You mean these identical areas might contain something like its heart?”

“Yes. If we go there and destroy the organs, we might be able to prevent its FTL travel.”

The cyborgs fell silent after hearing McKay’s opinion.

His argument had many flaws. If they followed his suggestion and it turned out to be a trap, they would die in vain. The problem was that they had no better options.

With their lives at stake, everyone fell into deep thought. But the harsh reality didn’t wait for them.

“The corridor is moving!”

“Shit! Everyone run!”

As the four walkers ran, the corridor twisted dramatically. The narrow space distorted and transformed into a massive room.

“Is what I’m seeing real?”

“F-f-fuck, I’m going c-crazy.”

The medium-sized Sentinel walkers were about 8 meters tall. Suddenly, a space three or four times that height appeared before them.

Even McKay struggled to maintain his composure in the face of this unbelievable reality.

“E-everyone, stay focused!”

McKay encouraged his comrades while activating the weapon systems. As he resolved to shoot anything he saw, a strange sound reached his ears.

‘What was that?’

It was a sound rarely heard in space.

‘The sound of wind?’

From above their heads, where nothing was visible, a strange sound was coming.

Just as McKay aimed his gun at the ceiling to shoot whatever it was, “it” pounced on them.

“Aah!”

*Thud*

A short scream followed by a loud noise. When McKay turned his camera to check, he saw one walker had fallen.

The Sentinel walker had lower durability than the ship’s outer wall but was equipped with a ship-grade shield.

A large 2-meter hole had been punched through the cockpit, which was protected by shields and thick armor. The precisely destroyed area, as if cut by a plasma cutter, glowed with a faint purple light.

The pilot was nowhere to be seen in the walker that had been penetrated front to back. Only drops of blood falling among the broken mechanical parts revealed what had happened to the pilot.

“W-what was that just now?!”

Only three walkers remained, including McKay’s.

Then the sound of wind was heard again. Realizing this was a precursor to an attack, McKay quickly shouted:

“It’s coming…!”

“Huh?”

*Thud*

But before he could finish, another walker collapsed. Just like before: a 2-meter hole, faint purple light on the penetrated parts, and the pilot gone except for blood stains and bits of flesh.

“Damn it!”

They had lost two walkers in just minutes after entering this space. Only McKay and one comrade remained.

“Watch out for the sound of wind!”

“Mother… what kind of wind in space, fuck…”

While his trembling comrade remained vigilant, McKay quickly examined the destruction. He noticed blood stains on the floor.

The camera synchronized with McKay’s walker followed the blood stains. The intermittent drops of blood stopped in front of a wall.

There, their cyborg comrade lay with his limbs severed.

“Eek?!”

“……”

They found their missing comrade, but there was a problem.

‘Where’s the other one?’

The cameras on both walkers looked up.

And there “it” was near the corner of the wall and ceiling.

A green demon with tentacles embedded in the cyborg’s face, sucking out bodily fluids.

“Kkk, kkeuk, kkeuk, kkeuk…”

「■」「■■」

Tentacles were inserted into every facial orifice—eyes, nose, mouth, ears—swelling like straws. With each swell, the captured cyborg emitted bizarre moans and trembled.

Seeing this, McKay thought:

He needed to escape.

“Aaaaaaaargh!”

Just then, his comrade opened fire on the monster. The monster disappeared like a mirage in the blink of an eye.

While his panicked comrade drew the monster’s attention, McKay ran.

His only goal was the door visible ahead.

The thought that he needed to open that door to wake up from this nightmare dominated his mind.

“Kkeuk?!”

*Thud*

Behind him, he heard a short groan and the sound of a walker collapsing. The hand of McKay’s walker reached the bulkhead door.

He didn’t hear the demon’s wingbeats. He opened the door and went outside.

*Thud*

“Phew…”

Only after closing the door could he exhale the breath he’d been holding. No sound came from beyond the door.

Just as he was about to feel relieved.

A voice spoke behind him.

“The prey walked right in?”

A flat, calm voice completely out of place in this horrific space.

The moment he heard it, McKay realized:

He thought he had escaped that nightmarish space, but that wasn’t the case at all.

–

‘You saved me some trouble.’

The walker that had fled here from Adhigh’s attack saw me and was terrified.

Me, fused with the reactor, using numerous erosion tentacles as hands.

A cyborg who trembles just seeing cute Adhigh. I must look much scarier.

The walker, shocked at my appearance, tried to shoot me with a storm gun but failed. Numerous erosion tentacles had entangled its arms and legs.

‘By the way, he’s improved a lot.’

Perhaps thanks to Sky Mother’s good teaching, Adhigh skillfully used his “acceleration” ability even in relatively confined spaces.

While acceleration is a Green Gallergorn’s unique ability, it’s primarily for movement or evasion. It’s rare to see it used so aggressively in such a confined space.

‘He would have been seriously injured before.’

Adhigh surrounded himself with Purple Lightning and used a tactic of melting enemies with psychic power upon impact.

Simply put, he charged at enemies while covered in the psychic flames of a Purple Spraygun.

‘Come to think of it, that’s a method many Cult players used.’

Like putting a psychic shield on weapons before striking enemies, or as Adhigh did, charging while covered in psychic flames.

Thanks to this newly learned method, Adhigh could minimize the damage he would take during collisions. It’s a suitable technique for him, as his physical abilities are inferior to other Gallergorn due to being a mutant.

Of course, this method isn’t perfect. A Green Gallergorn’s psychic power isn’t that strong. With insufficient output, covering the body with psychic power can’t provide complete protection.

He can be more aggressive than before, but he still needs to be careful with his body until he becomes a White Gallergorn.

‘When we get to the dragon’s nest, I’ll look for a way to evolve Adhigh.’

Now that I’ve gathered enough energy, I should finish this cyborg and depart immediately.

Fused with the reactor, I used erosion tentacles to dismantle the walker. Like peeling a chestnut, I took apart the walker, and a cyborg with cables dangling fell out.

My erosion tentacles wrapped around the trembling male cyborg.

‘Let’s experiment with this one.’

When I created a Fluid Harvester jaw on the ship to eat, I couldn’t use it for Faceless Water trait materials. Despite experimenting on hundreds of people earlier, I only got the predation effect without storing genetic information.

‘Is it because I’m integrated with the ship?’

In a state integrated with the ship, only some physical traits are usable. The Faceless Water trait might be unusable.

So despite devouring hundreds of people, the Faceless Waters attached to me are still based on Cult.

‘The mimicry organ works though.’

I don’t understand how disguise is possible with such a massive ship. I tried to use it, but it didn’t work properly, perhaps needing certain conditions.

‘Anyway, let’s move on.’

My tentacles opened wide to swallow the cyborg whole. Seeing this, the cyborg laughed maniacally.

“Kuh, kuhkuh! I die here, *cough*, but you’ll die soon too.”

I usually hear pleas for mercy or apologies, so this is quite a different last statement.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll spare him.

I was about to ignore him and eat him when something he said made me pause.

“S-soon, Star Union’s f-fleet will come! You can’t escape!”

“Star Union’s fleet?”

While these people are an important labor supply, they’re a necessary evil from Star Union’s perspective. Essential for maintaining the community, but an uncomfortable fact to acknowledge. Why would they come to rescue such people?

Moreover, this is Cult territory. The possibility of Star Union risking major diplomatic friction to find me is low.

‘Wait.’

With a sudden ominous thought, I searched through the walker’s remains. Among them was the walker’s onboard computer. I used small tentacles to turn on the partially dismantled computer.

It contained records of communications sent to Starlink, Star Union’s central database.