Ch.182182. The End

There was no hesitation.

KWAAAANG───!!!

Following the order to attack enemies without time to react, 444-1 immediately broke down the door and leaped into the office───

Before his eyes, the full view of the office unfolded.

What once might have looked like a nouveau riche palace covered in all manner of luxury goods and gold leaf,

had transformed into a religious facility after becoming the cult leader’s residence.

Purple tapestries embroidered with gold thread bearing the symbol of this planetary system’s Hive Cult covered the walls,

and artwork depicting what they worship as the Great Father—the Hive Mind—hung throughout the space.

The red carpet on the office floor was covered with strange patterns that appeared to be ritual formations or magical symbols,

and in one corner lay piles of broken human bones, seemingly the remains of meals.

And in the center of this floor.

There, the mastermind behind the Hive Cult rebellion, known as the Minor Father,

sat cross-legged in meditation with his bizarre body.

Six arms, three heads, a body mutated into something resembling a monster, and a long, glistening lizard-like tail.

Naturally, 444-1 instantly attacked the Minor Father—whose form was alien yet still faintly recognizable as human—by telekinetically hurling the torn-off door at him.

CRASH!

[■■■■■■■■■■───!!!!]

Of course, this attack using the steel door was

defended against by the Minor Father, who warped the door with a psychic-infused roar before sending it flying back.

And immediately after that.

Wooong······.

[■■■■■··············.]

444-1, infusing energy into his sword, and the Minor Father

faced off briefly—then lunged at each other.

The final battle of the Hive Cult rebellion on Talisman 77-8 had begun.

※ ※ ※

However, this decisive battle would not be gloriously depicted.

The Minor Father seemed formidable at the start of the battle,

but objectively speaking, the cult leader was inferior to 444-1 in every aspect.

Of course, as the leader of this massive Hive Cult and self-proclaimed apostle of the Great Father—the Hive Mind—he was strong.

Roughly in the mid-to-lower tier among high-level monsters,

specifically a hybrid-type monster specialized in both typical physical close combat and psychic ranged attacks, the cult leader········couldn’t overcome the limitations of a hybrid monster.

With computational power from three heads supporting excellent ranged psychic abilities and six arms for delivering combo attacks,

he was ultimately weaker than monsters specialized in either area—even those slightly lower-ranked than himself.

For the exceptional few hybrid monsters who are transcendentally powerful, such limitations mean nothing,

but the cult leader was far too weak to be among those exceptions.

No matter how powerful the psychic energy he mustered, he couldn’t penetrate 444-1’s telekinetic and psychic barriers,

and his aura-coated claws were mercilessly sliced apart by 444-1’s sword crafted with new monster technology.

While the “Minor Father” naturally had superior basic physical attributes due to being a monster with a large build,

his lack of combat experience meant he couldn’t even land a hit.

Thus, the Minor Father, who had been overwhelmed throughout the fight, finally collapsed under the continuous attacks,

reduced to waiting for 444-1 to finish him off.

Of his three heads arranged side by side like some asura, the middle and left heads had exploded when their psychic attacks were countered,

leaving only the right head, with its brain half-paralyzed and unable to use psychic powers.

The dozens of thin but sturdy carapace layers protecting his abdomen had been cut away by the sword, spilling pink intestines,

and his whip-like tail had been severed at some point, bleeding profusely from the cross-section.

Both legs had also been amputated at the thigh, rendering him completely helpless,

and of the arms he had been wielding as close-combat weapons, the most intact one had barely any shoulder left.

Having become like a roly-poly doll in a state where death wouldn’t be surprising at any moment, the Minor Father·····

for some reason, 444-1 wasn’t finishing him off.

“W-why aren’t you killing me?”

The Minor Father, who could communicate in English—the Federation’s common language used on most planets—

asked the killing machine before him with a faint hope.

But 444-1, without uttering a word, simply remained silent,

approached the elephant-sized Minor Father despite all his limbs being severed,

grabbed his head, and looked him in the eyes.

Though 444-1’s face was completely covered,

the Minor Father somehow felt a sense of mockery, and just as he was about to say something—

“───.”

[········?!!]

The Minor Father was startled by what 444-1 provocatively said to him and tried to open his mouth to respond—but───

───SLASH!

444-1’s decapitation of the Minor Father’s last remaining right head was faster than the Minor Father could open his mouth.

THUD!

As the headless body collapsed to the floor,

444-1 silently gazed at the massive, blood-dripping right head of the “Minor Father” that he had just severed.

Then, suddenly, 444-1 unconsciously voiced a thought that came to mind while looking at the head.

“············Pathetic fool.”

With such favorable conditions, yet operating so openly that he was spotted by the Venus observatory and eliminated.

He thought that this self-proclaimed Minor Father was ultimately just a worthless being, but·······.

At the same time, 444-1 recalled ‘that fact’ which must never be spoken of or even mentioned—and thought to himself.

‘Great Father········that’s not a bad expression. ········Though Minor Father seems too good for this one.’

Thinking to himself that these cult fanatics are indeed good at coming up with impressive-sounding names, 444-1───

Long live the Great Father. I will not end up like this pathetic fool. As the tip of your tentacle.

With feelings of contempt and pity for his stupidly deceased kinsman,

he offered a prayer to his new parent and god—the Hive Mind.

※ ※ ※

‘Ahh········finally some breathing room.’

After quickly wrapping up most of the impulsively started projects—most notably the Hive Cult rebellion.

With mental space finally freed up, I-we

could at last properly utilize terraforming psychic abilities to create various weapons.

But more significant than these unproven weapons was this achievement.

Using the avatar from our previous “Homunculus in a Flask” project as a catalyst,

we draw massive amounts of psychic energy from the psychic dimension.

Then, by pouring this psychic energy into a space created using terraforming psychic applications and directly condensing it········ta-da!

We can now produce high-purity psychic-knight as if stamping it out!

‘············Ah, of course, the actual process is quite complicated.’

Each time we produce psychic-knight, we need to allocate about 5% of our consciousness,

and there’s always a tiny but real chance of causing a massive explosion with each production.

But even with all these burdens, the mere fact that we can produce it

is like being able to synthesize petroleum at $5 per 100 gallons, so I-we are happily───

‘Huh?’

In the middle of such gleeful thoughts, I-we suddenly felt a strange sensation············wait, could it be.

Not the worst········but definitely an incident.

‘What have you all done?’

A tiny portion of my main body has been separated and summoned into reality.

And in a fully materialized state, no less.