Ch.164Those Who Gather (2)

Star Union’s capital city Jax-01.

There’s a peculiar structure in this place characterized by densely built factories, tremendous smog, and never-ending acid rain.

White and black spires with countless pipes, batteries, and machines of various sizes entangled on their outer walls. They gathered in one place to form an intimidating pyramid of thorns.

The name of this strange yet magnificent structure is Prime Head.

It’s where the Machine Committee, Star Union’s highest authority, is located.

And at the top of the tallest tower among the numerous spires of Prime Head is the office of the Grand Marshal, parent to all cyborgs.

It was always a space where silence and solemnity were maintained, but not today. From inside the tightly closed office, multiple voices could be heard in succession.

“You suffered considerable losses but ultimately failed.”

“That’s right.”

A white man with one eye replaced by machinery was conversing in front of four diamond Monoliths.

With his mechanical eye, impressively groomed mustache, and solid muscular physique, he was Jubaka, the Grand Marshal of Star Union.

“The Perk identified so far is body-switching. And…”

“It seems he also has the ability to integrate ships with his body.”

“Fortunate that we confirmed this now. Heheh. Jubaka, you’ve done a great service.”

“…Akira. What exactly did you hear from my report?”

The damage Jubaka suffered because of that damned AMorph was severe. The Nemea fleet was almost annihilated, and the Arrow and Redtail fleets supporting him also suffered considerable damage.

‘That’s not all.’

Relations with the Cult had deteriorated significantly due to that creature’s meddling. Naturally so, since they had recklessly invaded Cult territory and destroyed an Imperial Mothership. Because of this incident, discussions about war with Star Union were frequently arising in the Cult council.

Since wars without profit should be avoided, Jubaka had to send envoys to the Cult council to apologize. Cloe Garmelda of Megacorp’s Noble Capital also pressured the Cult Innovatives to support Jubaka.

Thanks to this, all-out war between the Cult and Star Union was averted.

However, it was true that the dignity of Star Union’s highest authority had been greatly damaged by this incident. Jubaka, who had been thoroughly humiliated because of one AMorph, couldn’t contain his irritation.

Akira responded calmly to his anger-laced words.

“Did you think you could catch him so easily? You still don’t understand him well. Consider yourself fortunate that your fleet wasn’t completely annihilated.”

“…Tch.”

“Akira sir, is the body-switching Perk perhaps one obtained from Muriel?”

“Well, I’m not sure. We should keep that in mind. He must have between two and three Perks.”

“What’s the use of figuring out his Perks now? All traces to find him have completely disappeared.”

“Wasn’t the biological sample recorded in Starlink? We should be able to track him based on that.”

“For some reason, it can no longer be detected by scanners. It was working fine until we were chasing the No. 98 ship.”

When Jubaka heard that a Star Union labor supply ship had discovered a suspicious organism, he immediately took action.

He synchronized the AMorph sample registered in Starlink, Star Union’s proprietary information processing system, with bio-scanners, and additionally used Warpfinder, a superluminal navigation tracking system.

Thanks to utilizing all means available to the Grand Marshal, tracking the AMorph itself wasn’t difficult. In fact, until they found ship No. 98, distance and time were the only issues; they found the creature quickly.

The problem was that it had been a trap.

“It must be due to the nest-related characteristic, impure mixture. It’s an ability that randomly transforms the components of the nest, making tracking impossible.”

“Damn it! If you knew that, you should have told me beforehand!”

“Hohoho, don’t be angry. Thanks to this, haven’t we learned something new? That the interior of a bio-converted ship can create an environment identical to a nest.”

“Then we must assume he can use other abilities as well.”

When Jubaka discovered the creature, he relayed that information to the other members. At that time, Akira just laughed without saying anything.

But judging by his tone now, it seemed he had predicted this outcome. He probably used Jubaka as bait to verify his suspicions.

“Kaadeuk, this is no time to be so calm, Akira. We’ve lost him. We don’t know how much more dangerous he’ll be the next time we encounter him.”

As he said, there was no trace of the creature after it left ship No. 98. They thoroughly searched the neutral star system, but no traces related to him remained.

“Is it difficult to find him with Warpfinder?”

“The last place ship No. 98 was detected was in a neutral star system. With dozens of ships coming and going via superluminal travel every minute, it’s impossible to find him.”

“Well, it would be difficult if we don’t know the type of ship he boarded.”

Based on the information confirmed so far, the AMorph has the ability to contaminate and then control ships. It seems he can also modify ships, but since he apparently can’t change the superluminal engine, tracking via Warpfinder was still possible.

The problem, as Akira said, is that we don’t know what kind of ship he switched to.

“I checked if any ships were attacked, but there was no information related to him.”

“Could it be that the 5th-ranked player made a deal to purchase a ship? Either through Perk effects or by bringing companions…”

“Nonsense! A personality-broken creature like him having companions? Ha, I can’t even imagine it.”

“Heheheheheh, it’s been a while since Cynthia made such an amusing joke.”

Everyone present here has fought against the 5th-ranked player at least once. They all know how terrifying he is, but there are differences in the information they possess.

For example, Cynthia has only fought against the 5th-ranked player twice, while Jubaka has properly faced him about 8 times. Akira, who ranks higher than both, has fought him much more.

As a result, Cynthia relatively knows less about the 5th-ranked player.

“Heheh, if it’s him, even if he has companions, he’d probably just carry them around as food. Or control them as parasites.”

“Hmph. That AMorph creature is certainly capable of such things.”

“Then he could also control cyborgs with parasites to purchase ships.”

“Of course, I anticipated that and am checking. The problem is that it takes a lot of time.”

Currently, high-performance androids are investigating all transaction records in the neutral star system. They could find something in a month, but by then, he might have switched ships again.

That’s when Akira spoke up.

“Hmm. Is there really a need to chase after him?”

“What do you mean?”

“If we know where he’s going, can’t we prepare in advance?”

“We don’t know that, which is why we’re doing this, Akira. Stop saying useless things…”

“Heheh, you’re so impatient. Listen. Just like in the game, he hates waste. If he’s become a Subadult, he’ll want to become an Adult as quickly as possible.”

“…Right.”

“The fastest way for him to fulfill the evolution conditions is to hunt special creatures called Apex. Then he’ll target places where multiple Apex creatures inhabit.”

“Are you referring to the dragon’s nest?”

Akira didn’t answer Cynthia’s question. Instead, a space map showing various routes appeared from his Monolith.

“These are hypothetical routes calculated based on the direction and path he moved. Looking at this, he was consistently moving in one direction before suddenly changing course when he reached the neutral star system.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means if he hadn’t been pursued, he would have continued in this direction.”

“Damn it! Get to the point. What are you trying to say?”

“If you continue in this direction, at the end is the dragon’s nest.”

“What?”

A red mark appeared near the edge of the space map.

“It’s where House Yugin sources Gallergorn genes and where my ‘old subordinate’ is located.”

“It’s not even on the map, how would he know to go there?”

“I don’t know that either. But if it’s him, he’ll surely target this planet.”

Jubaka glared at the red mark. Since it was an unrecorded planet, no information appeared at that location.

“So he’s heading there…”

“I’ll contact my old subordinate. A Subadult AMorph is an opponent he absolutely cannot defeat.”

“Who exactly is this person that you’re so confident?”

“Huhu, would it suffice to say it’s an aged Black Gallergorn?”

“!”

Jubaka was shocked to hear those words.

Black Gallergorn is the second highest stage in the Gallergorn’s growth phases. Above that are Red Gallergorn, but they are extremely rare beings, so they are generally difficult to encounter.

In other words, it’s no exaggeration to say that Black Gallergorn is the most powerful among wild Gallergorn.

‘Even an Adult AMorph would have to risk its life against a Black Gallergorn.’

No matter how powerful Perks the AMorph possesses, as a Subadult, he has no chance of winning against a Black Gallergorn. Not only is the Black Gallergorn itself powerful, but he would also have to face the horde in its nest.

“Akira sir, would it be alright to inform Jason sir of the coordinates of that location? He mentioned wanting to somehow make up for this situation.”

“Heheheh, then his death would be even more certain. Go ahead.”

With the addition of Cult player Jason’s participation.

Jason’s ranking is 10th. Although his ranking is lower than Akira or Jubaka, he is quite skilled as befitting a ranker.

With a horde of Black Gallergorn and a 10th-ranked player, the AMorph’s fate was essentially sealed.

After coordinating a few more things, the meeting concluded. After confirming that the Monoliths were deactivated, Jubaka picked up a communication device that was still active.

“You heard everything so far, right?”

“…That damn old man. He’s still using others as always.”

After discovering that Akira had spies, Cloe made various excuses not to participate in the Monolith meetings. Instead, she eavesdropped on the meeting contents with Jubaka’s help, like now.

“Cloe. I have a favor to ask.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m thinking of sending Pyrrha Eleven’s Screamer unit.”

“What?”

“The pretext will be a clinical experiment to evaluate operational capabilities.”

“Wait! Brother Jubaka! They’re still prototypes. They’re in an incomplete state, so we don’t know what errors might occur.”

“Don’t you need AMorph genes to complete ‘that plan’ anyway? It’s not a bad condition, is it?”

“It would certainly help, but…”

“Besides, if that planet is a place to gather Gallergorn genes, even better. If the Gallergorn ‘happen to die while fighting the AMorph,’ we can also get back at Akira.”

“Hmm, that does sound appealing.”

“Send the newly updated Hulk Mutants. Have them converted into Screamers and sent immediately.”

Throughout his life, Jubaka had never let anyone who attacked him go unpunished. That was true in the real world, and it was true in this dystopian world.

He had no intention whatsoever of forgiving the AMorph who had thoroughly humiliated him or Akira who was merely keeping him in check.

‘I’ll pay them all back.’

Jubaka’s mechanical eye flashed threateningly as he conversed with Cloe.

–

[Zzzzzz (Is that the place?)]

“Blue” “Star” “Ring” “Confirm” “Nest” “Correct”

Understanding Adhigh’s thought waves from outside the spaceship, I almost cheered.

‘It’s been a long time.’

Thanks to traveling non-stop for a month and ten days on a cramped ship, we finally arrived at the planet where the dragon’s nest is located.

A sky-blue planet reminiscent of the ocean is before us.

The planet had rings like Saturn. Rock fragments captured by the planet’s gravity formed rings as they orbited around the planet.

Looking at the beautifully glowing sky-blue planet and the pale rings drifting around it, it felt like looking at a well-crafted aquamarine decoration.

‘I’d like to admire it more, but.’

Both I and the kids are all hungry.

The food supply that I thought was sufficient ran out two days ago. Since we haven’t seen any other ships or organisms for quite some time, it was impossible to find new food. In that situation, I had no choice but to keep moving forward.

‘If Adhigh had made even a small mistake, it would have been disastrous.’

If he had miscalculated the coordinates, we might have drifted in this remote place and died of starvation.

‘An AMorph dying of starvation.’

I almost experienced a death in reality that I had never experienced even in the game.

‘Let’s go down and fill our stomachs first.’

I prepared to enter the unnamed blue planet. After bringing Adhigh, who was outside, into the ship, I increased the speed.

As the distance to the planet decreased, the appearance of the rings became more detailed.

From ordinary stones and ice fragments to unidentified metal lumps, and fragments of spaceships from who knows where. Many different things were harmoniously flying together in one direction.

If I were a creature with normal skin, I would have been torn to shreds as soon as I entered those rings, but I am not an ordinary creature.

The ship, a mixture of metal and biological tissue, easily withstood the fragments showering over its outer wall. After passing through the rings without much difficulty, I quickly approached the planet’s atmosphere.

Unlike Earth with its blue seas, brown land, white clouds, and rich colors, this planet has a consistent color.

Sky blue and white. That was all there was to this planet.

‘An ice planet.’

In the game too, the areas where Gallergorn lived were extreme like the planet in front of me. Either a fire hell with constant volcanic activity or an ice hell full of darkness and cold. The extreme environmental conditions were one of the factors that made Gallergorn difficult to deal with.

‘I don’t mind, but I wonder if the kids will be okay.’

According to Adhigh, the temperature in areas outside the dragon’s nest is very low. He said that normally, he should have frozen to death shortly after being abandoned by his kind.

Except for No. 26, who lived in the deep sea, it seems like it will be quite a challenging journey for the other two.

While I was thinking about this, my body was rapidly passing through the atmosphere.

What entered my eyes after clearing the thick clouds.

It was an endless expanse of ice.