Ch.166Frozen Planet (2)

The suddenly appearing White Gallergorn maintained a low flight pattern, circling around the area. Its movements looked as if it was searching for something.

‘Should I go out and fight?’

The only enemy within my cognitive range is the White Gallergorn. With my Subadult status and the unique trait I gained through the transcendence system, I could defeat a White Gallergorn without much difficulty.

Yet I didn’t move hastily.

‘…Not yet.’

This is Gallergorn territory. A planet where numerous Gallergorn live in groups. Defeating one White Gallergorn won’t end everything in a place like this.

Gallergorn are extremely aggressive creatures. Adhigh is the exception—naturally, Gallergorn are greedy battle maniacs, just like dragons in mythology.

The fight won’t end until either the entire group is exterminated or the leader is defeated.

If I fight that White Gallergorn, eight times out of ten, other members of its kind will come to help. If by chance there’s a Black Gallergorn among the reinforcements, my victory would be nearly impossible.

‘Unless I kill the White Gallergorn in one strike.’

Gallergorn have good eyesight, but they’re especially sensitive to psychic power. If I gather energy to use God’s Whip or Psychic Breath, it would notice immediately.

Besides those two abilities, I have no means to finish it in one go.

Therefore, I need to fight them after thorough preparation.

I remained motionless, holding my breath.

The sound of flapping wings circling around me grew louder. Soon, a low vibration resonated from the nearby snow field.

The average length of a White Gallergorn is 20m. With a pair of wings as large as its body, it would appear much larger than me from a distance.

The sound was surprisingly small for such a massive beast landing. Thanks to the psychic power flowing through its entire body, its weight was lightened.

The creature that landed began to move.

‘What is it doing?’

My body was buried under the snow, so I couldn’t see it, but thanks to my auxiliary organs, I could tell how it was moving.

It was lowering its head and feeling the snow with its tentacle clusters that hung down like whiskers.

‘Oh no.’

If it comes just a bit closer, it will notice that I’m hiding in the snow. It would be much better to ambush it first.

‘No. I need to be more careful.’

Fighting that White Gallergorn would inevitably lead to an all-out war with other Gallergorn. They would immediately begin searching when they realize their comrade has disappeared. With their excellent perception and memory, they would find me quickly.

Even as I deliberated, it was getting closer. The distance between us was less than 10m. It didn’t know I was there only because my body was deeply buried in snow, but if it stepped on me, it would notice immediately.

‘Damn it!’

No more time to think.

I’ll ambush and kill it before it finds me, then leave this place. Moving through underground spaces would buy me some time.

With that decision made, I waited for it to take just one more step. Just as its foot was about to touch the snow, it suddenly stopped.

‘Why did it do that?’

It remained completely still in the position of about to step forward. I maintained my tension and focused on its movements.

‘Huh?’

Its tentacles were swaying to a certain rhythm. At first, I thought they were swaying because of the wind, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

‘It looks similar to Adhigh—is it communicating?’

It seems the creature stopped its search because another Gallergorn called it. I wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation using the monster’s tentacles, but it was impossible.

‘They must have their own private channel.’

After staying like that for a moment, it spread its wings wide and flew away into the sky. Even though it had left, I remained still for a while.

Gallergorn are intelligent creatures. It might be pretending to leave while preparing an ambush.

Only after waiting about 30 minutes did I become convinced that the surroundings were safe.

I don’t understand why it behaved that way.

Normally, Gallergorn don’t flap their wings often. They only flutter their wings when taking off from the ground, like birds or pterosaurs, and once they reach a certain altitude, they glide.

So what does the flapping sound above my head mean?

‘A warning? Or is there another reason?’

Gallergorn typically have strong territorial instincts. They might have been searching because they considered me an intruder in their territory.

‘But if that were the case, they would have flown quietly. Strange.’

Mature individuals from Green Gallergorn upward can levitate using psychic power. The one circling near me was a White Gallergorn. If it intended to attack an enemy, it would have moved more quietly than now.

‘It probably wasn’t deliberately announcing its presence.’

I pondered for a moment, but no clear answer emerged.

‘Well, I should be thankful we didn’t encounter each other, so no need to worry further.’

Now that it’s safe, I should go down. I got up and scratched the ice plate next to the hole with my nails. It needed to be large enough to cover the hole, but the thickness didn’t matter.

After cutting out an appropriately sized piece of ice, I placed it over the hole when I went down.

‘This should keep me from being detected.’

The flying creatures wouldn’t dig through the snow one by one. After thoroughly finishing the cleanup, I crawled down the ice tunnel.

As I descended underground, I sensed the movements of three beings. The largest one, No. 26, greeted me by sending a wave.

“Big kid, why did you take so long?”

[I had a lot to do]

“I saved you some food. You must be hungry, so eat quickly.”

[Thanks]

It picked up some cave goyle meat with its tentacles and handed it to me. Of the ten creatures, four portions of meat remained. Probably considering that I consumed a lot of energy from moving around.

I gratefully accepted and put the meat in my mouth. Hunger is the best sauce, as they say—even the cold cave goyle meat tasted pretty good.

‘It tastes like cold soy sauce chicken, but the texture is tougher.’

The texture was closer to pork skin, but the taste was like soy sauce chicken. It was a strange combination, but not a bad one, so I could enjoy eating it.

While I was crunching on the whole lower half of a cave goyle in my mouth, Sky Mother called me.

“What about the White Gallergorn?”

[Thanks to another one calling it away, it left]

“That’s fortunate. We’re not ready yet, so fighting now would be difficult.”

Sky Mother muttered seriously. Having fought Gallergorn before, she knew well how to tackle them.

“We can ask Adhigh about the group’s characteristics and culture. The problem is the leader.”

[Yes]

She spoke with sharp eyes flashing.

Her appearance was the same as usual. Except for the fact that she was nestled against No. 26 with just her head poking out.

This underground space is relatively warmer than outside. Still, it’s a harsh environment nonetheless. It wouldn’t be easy to adapt for creatures without special evolutionary traits.

‘Adhigh’s group also monopolizes areas where geothermal heat rises.’

White Gallergorn don’t feel cold thanks to their thick skin, but Blue Gallergorn hatchlings and immature Green Gallergorn aren’t the same. Their scales and skin are less developed, so their bodies easily deteriorate in even slight cold.

Just look at Adhigh. He had thrown his backpack on the floor and was nestled against No. 26. He seemed to have fallen asleep now that the tension was gone. Of course, he still occasionally shivered from the cold.

According to Adhigh, the Gallergorn’s nest is located inside an ice valley where geothermal heat rises. From what he said, it was one of the few habitable places on this harsh planet.

‘That’s why we deliberately landed away from the nest, but now we have this problem.’

Before tackling the Gallergorn, we need to solve the cold problem first.

“The nest is quite far from here…”

[You must be cold]

“Huh? Well, yeah, a bit.”

[With just your head sticking out, you look like a baby chick]

“A baby chick?!”

Perhaps feeling my expression was insulting, Sky Mother’s fur stood on end.

She glared at me with her amber eyes, but since she was hugging a pink balloon as if it were a doll, it wasn’t threatening at all.

“Big kid, what’s a baby chick?”

[It means a baby bird]

“I don’t know what a bird is, but I know what a baby is! Tiny ones are babies!”

[That’s right]

“Middle kid is a baby, so that’s why. Am I right?”

[You’re smart]

After hearing my conversation with No. 26, she shivered but soon sighed.

“Sigh, I thought I’d be fine as a griffon, but I didn’t expect it to be this cold.”

[It’s difficult for me to fight the Gallergorn group alone. You need to help me]

“…That’s true.”

[You know best that there’s a way]

Sky Mother nodded at my words.

All players who visited this world received something called perks that didn’t exist in the game. Just as Muriel was a cyborg who could transform into different species, Sky Mother also possessed a perk that transcended the limitations of her species.

‘She can transform into other mythical creatures, right?’

Originally, after Incarnate stage, Volf’s transformation is fixed to one type of animal. Building characteristics and accumulating Incarnate stages in that state is the basic gameplay for Volf.

But Sky Mother can overcome this limitation with her perk. She has the ability to transform into different animals if certain conditions are met.

‘She’s similar to me in that she unlocks new abilities as she fulfills conditions.’

Just as I gain unique traits by using characteristics as materials, she unlocks new animals she can transform into by hunting and eating targets required by the text box.

Also, even without transforming, she can apply some of the characteristics and passive effects of that animal to her griffon body.

Currently, she can transform into one mythical creature besides the griffon. Her powerful melee combat ability comes from that animal.

‘She said she used it when fighting Muriel before meeting me.’

I already heard from her what animal she transforms into. It’s a powerful transformation mode, but its major drawback is the long cooldown time compared to its short duration.

‘That phantom beast would be worth it.’

Anyway, it seems we need to unlock a new animal for her on this occasion. So she can transform into an animal that isn’t affected by the cold.

[What animal can give cold immunity?]

“Wendigo. As an unlock reward, you get frostbite attacks and cold immunity traits.”

[Good. Let’s unlock it here. I’ll help you]

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

[What I need right now is a companion]

Even if my reason for contracting with Sky Mother is insurance for Ascension, it’s useless if she can’t reach Adult stage.

And if I really intend to use her as a sacrifice, she needs to reach a higher Incarnate stage than now. To do that, I need to increase her survival rate.

Simply put, her becoming stronger is beneficial to me.

“You’ve changed a lot too.”

[Have I?]

She didn’t say anything more, but judging by her eyes, she didn’t seem to mean it negatively.

‘It seems we have two goals before tackling the Gallergorn.’

First, gathering the characteristics and information needed for dragon hunting is urgent.

I need to look for terrain suitable for luring and ambushing enemies, and understand the ecosystem here. Since this is a planet I’ve never visited in the game, I lack a lot of information. I heard about it from Adhigh before coming, but I need to see and confirm things myself.

‘Second is unlocking Sky Mother’s transformation ability.’

I haven’t played as a Volf, but I’ve fought against them many times. I know what materials are needed for the Wendigo transformation.

I’m not sure if it will be exactly the same as the game, but based on my precedent, the conditions for transforming into a Wendigo will likely be almost identical to the game.

‘That’s enough planning for now…’

I looked around the dark surroundings once more.

Before going outside, I should remodel this underground space first.

Into an AMorph nest.