Ch.187Defection (1)

“Kuk!”

I tried to tear Jason apart with the bone blade attached to the arm on my back.

But as the “Tuner” effect activated, my attack was rendered useless.

The Golden Spear of Shaman he was holding plunged into the snow.

I had already anticipated that the enemy would use the Tuner. The blade bones wrapping my auxiliary organs twitched busily.

Having predicted the direction Jason would appear, I charged toward it without a moment’s hesitation.

“Revenant organ… kuk!”

Jason, who had reconstituted himself dozens of meters away, started to shout but closed his mouth when he saw me rapidly approaching.

The golden figure on his back hurriedly tried to transform its arms into blades.

‘As I thought, it doesn’t work well with the Tuner.’

From what I’ve observed so far, it always remained fixed in that human-like form after teleportation. In other words, every time he teleports, the golden figure’s weakness is completely exposed.

The weakness being that there’s a certain delay when the figure changes its form.

Before the golden figure could transform its arms into blades, my combat arm clawed at him.

“Aaaaargh!”

He screamed as my nails raked across his face. Blood gushed from his eye, split in half by my nails.

The golden figure that had been standing firmly on his back protecting its summoner trembled unstably and disappeared. The golden figure deeply depends on the controller’s vision. Since he temporarily lost his sight, the golden figure had no choice but to vanish.

“You dog…!”

He swung Purification as he activated Reflection. But I had already pulled back. His attack missed, slicing through air.

“You rat bastard! I could end you with one hit…!”

A new eye sprouted on his forehead as blood poured from both his eyes.

That eye is called the “Third Eye.” It’s a technique that grants casters effects similar to the auxiliary organs I possess.

It’s an excellent detection technique that can sense invisible enemies or movements, but there’s one thing he doesn’t know.

「Unknown Creature’s Fur: This is a perk provided by the “Clever Weakling” trait. The subtle waves created by the movement of the fur provide the user with a stealth effect that can evade detection equipment, traits, and techniques.」

While the others kept him occupied, I prepared both Clever Weakling and Symbol of the Hunt simultaneously.

As the King of Monsters effect ended, I was reborn as a small 5-meter monster using the shed carapace as cover.

My body shape resembled a centaur more than a snake, with four combat arms moving down to my lower body. Fur with powerful protective effects grew over the carapace and scales of my body.

That’s not all—my body is equipped with numerous lethal weapons. Two new arms with bone scythes are attached among the fur covering my back, and an auxiliary organ covered with blade bones waits beneath my jaw.

Clever Weakling, which uses agility as a weapon, and Symbol of the Hunt, which extremely enhances combat power.

These are the final cards I’ve prepared to conclude this confrontation.

Normally, having already used King of Monsters, the Clever Weakling transformation would be impossible. “Organic Evolution” has a one-month cooldown each time it’s used.

But the Revenant organ nullifies this restriction.

While the small organ attached to my heart is awakened, I can use all my traits without limitation.

The reason I chose to become smaller rather than gigantic again is twofold.

I don’t have much energy left. Even if I used something like King of Monsters to become gigantic, it wouldn’t last long.

And when gigantic, it’s harder to dodge enemy attacks. Blood is still flowing from my neck, soaking my fur. I can’t afford to take any more damage.

‘Instead, I’ll end this quickly.’

As long as I’m covered with this shaggy fur, he has no way to detect me. Not until he sees me directly with his own eyes.

Transformed into Clever Weakling with a centaur-like body structure, I raced across the snow on four legs.

Locating my position by sound, he fired psychic power techniques like Pain Spear at me. I narrowly avoided his attacks while approaching again.

Even with his vision not yet recovered, he read my attack and immediately cast Reflection. As my arm stopped mid-air due to the invisible energy field, he smiled with satisfaction.

‘How ridiculous.’

Perhaps it’s because his vision hasn’t recovered yet. If he could see me directly, he definitely wouldn’t be smiling like that.

Because five human-faced beasts attached to my head carapace were staring at him, shedding bloody tears.

「—–!」「—–!」「—–!」「—–!」「—–!」

“?!”

The human-faced beasts under my control sang in unison. The demonic melody tore through his semicircular canals, neutralizing his movements.

While his body was frozen stiff, the bone blade on my jaw moved quickly.

The paralysis from the human-faced beasts affects opponents differently depending on their strength. Jason’s paralysis wore off almost instantly.

This is not a metaphor—he barely avoided the blade that came right up to his face by twisting his neck. Instead of cutting his throat, my blade lodged deep into his collarbone.

“Aaaaargh!”

The collarbone is a vital point, though not as critical as the neck. It must be extremely painful to have that area shattered.

I twisted the bone blade to finish him off, but felt nothing at the blade’s tip.

Unable to bear the pain, he had used the Tuner to escape.

‘That’s the fourth time.’

The Tuner has only one use left. Jason, who reappeared dozens of meters away, looked completely unharmed.

He had no wounds while I was bleeding profusely from my neck, but the momentum was completely reversed.

He was glaring at me with wide eyes, but the emotion contained within wasn’t anger.

Fear.

He was afraid of me.

“…Tch.”

Instead of attacking me, he wrapped himself in the golden figure. It looked similar to the light beam he used when moving or attacking, but there was one difference.

‘Blue light?’

As he tried to fly upward in a mixture of gold and blue, a drill made of rock and ice suddenly flew at him from somewhere and struck him.

「You can’t go!」

“You damn jellyfish bastard…!”

It was No. 26, with about a third of its body torn apart. It had attacked Jason with the Demon Crush technique it had used to destroy the Ice Horror carapace.

This attack seemed to cause considerable damage, as the golden light surrounding Jason flickered. The beam-shaped figure returned to human form and transformed both arms into shields.

Meanwhile, blue particles were gradually spreading across his body. What had started at his hands and feet now covered his arms and legs.

‘I’m sure I’ve seen that form somewhere before.’

Whatever it was, it seemed certain he was preparing a secret move. After all, he wasn’t using Reflection or any other techniques, focusing entirely on defense with the golden figure.

‘Something that can break through his defense… ah.’

I ran to PS-111, who was lying on the ground with its body completely shattered.

“Are you okay?”

“Damage status very critical. Damage rate 92%.”

True to its words, its body was little more than rags. All its legs were severed, and the skin on its face was peeled off, exposing the muscles.

“…I’m sorry, but I need to ask a favor.”

“No need to apologize. Rather, I’m asking you. Please help protect the main controller.”

I nodded and looked at its tail section.

“Can you shoot?”

“Possible if energy is supplied.”

At those words, I immediately extended my arm to its mouth. Understanding my intention immediately, it bit my arm without hesitation.

For a moment, I felt strength draining from my body. As my condition worsened, blood gushed again from the wound on my neck.

If this were a game, my health would probably be at about 5% now.

Still, I didn’t waver.

‘If I make a wrong judgment here, we all die.’

No, dying would be fortunate. If captured by Jason, who knows what would happen to us.

“Secured sufficient energy to use Demolisher against hostile life form.”

I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Everyone here is striving for one goal.

To survive together.

PS-111, having replenished its energy, barely aimed its tail at Jason. Looking at his body defended by shields, I saw that the blue light had already spread to his upper body.

I left PS-111 and ran toward him.

The distance between us was less than 50 meters. As my four legs kicked up snow, my auxiliary organ detected another movement.

Something was falling rapidly from high in the sky. The identity of this lightning-like entity plunging straight down was Adhigh Orr. Despite the pain of his broken wings, he paid no heed.

All of us were fighting with all our might to win this battle.

Jason sensed Adhigh Orr flying toward him and tried to adjust the angle of his shield.

At that moment, when his attention was diverted elsewhere.

The Demolisher’s decomposition energy bullet was fired from PS-111’s tail. The navy energy mass flew without any interference and destroyed the golden shield.

I could see Jason’s face, with the blue light now reaching his shoulders.

He seemed quite surprised by the attack but didn’t appear greatly disturbed. Rather, there was a faint smile on his lips.

Seeing that, I could tell what he was thinking. He probably thought it was all over regardless of what we did.

‘Bullshit.’

It’s not over until I say it’s over.

Before the broken shield could recover, Adhigh Orr collided with the golden figure’s shield. Perhaps due to the acceleration, Jason and the golden figure shook violently.

「I’m」「returning」「what you did」

The impact completely broke Adhigh Orr’s wings and forelegs, but amazingly, his attack didn’t end there.

Sky Mother was riding on his back.

With her beak broken, she thrust the Golden Spear of Shaman she held in both hands with all her might. Jason widened his eyes at the spear coming through the gap.

He quickly twisted his head, with only his neck remaining. The spear shattered one of the deer antlers that had sprouted on his temple and wounded his forehead and ear.

Relief settled in his eyes.

But that was his final mistake.

Distracted by No. 26, PS-111, Adhigh Orr, and Sky Mother, he had forgotten the most important enemy.

The arm on my back moved as I reached his vicinity.

My bone scythe at the end of my arm penetrated through the small gap between the regenerating golden particles. The sharpest weapon of the AMorph’s body precisely carved out its target.

The moment I felt from the tip of the bone scythe that I had cut what I wanted.

The golden figure in front of me disappeared along with Jason’s body. Right after he vanished, my auxiliary organ picked up a small sound.

It was the sound of something falling onto the snow.

More specifically, it sounded similar to when something about the size of a human head falls.

I picked up what had fallen to the ground.

‘Success.’

Warm liquid soaking my hand, the familiar and fragrant smell emanating from it.

It was Jason’s head.

His expression still bore a faint smile, as if he hadn’t expected it to end this way at all.

It was a fitting end for someone who had been careless from beginning to end.

‘How stupid.’

Without hesitation, I put the trophy left by my foolish enemy into my mouth.