Ch.189189. Mind Fusion Agent

In addition to such spoils, with various sources of income, the large expedition of the “Brothers of Sidra” quickly advanced toward the passage according to plan.

In truth, the passage itself wasn’t particularly safe, and if they had been a medium-sized exploration party of around 500 people, they couldn’t have passed through so comfortably.

Harassment or attacks from SodomGomorrah gangs and criminals,

Blatant interference from other competitors—exploration parties, or even hostile attacks from indigenous life forms.

While ordinary exploration parties inevitably suffer from various hardships and trials,

Such large-scale expeditions don’t need to worry about most of these issues.

No matter how notorious the gangs and criminals of SodomGomorrah are for their lawless lives,

They typically lack the courage to directly confront an expedition numbering almost 10,000 people,

And even if they did, they would be crushed before the overwhelming force.

As for competitors from other exploration parties,

Not only is the scale of over 10,000 people too intimidating to casually challenge,

But this is also a direct expedition joined by the chairman of Babel’s major corporation, “Brothers of Sidra.”

Even a 500-person group with the backing of the “Brothers of Sidra” would be difficult to mess with, let alone one with 10,000 members.

No matter how thuggish someone might be—no, especially if they’re thuggish—they’d likely recognize the power difference and give a wide berth.

And while one might expect mutated indigenous monstrosities to disregard the size of their enemy,

Unleashing their pre-mutation hatred toward intelligent beings—

Surprisingly, these former monster creatures were actually avoiding them because of their overwhelming numbers.

This was partly because their indigenization had somewhat tempered their aggression,

But more significantly, it was because the survival instinct of these former monsters had been triggered.

Contrary to common belief, wild animals tend to avoid aggressive confrontations when encountering equally matched opponents,

Since suffering a critical wound during combat would only result in loss.

These characteristics were perfectly reflected in the monstrous life forms,

And facing an expedition of 10,000 people stimulated their survival instinct enough to suppress their aggression.

However, unlike the beings mentioned earlier, there were some moth-like creatures that directly attacked these 10,000 people—

[Mantas! A swarm of Mantas is coming!]

They were the Mantas, psychic life forms unique to this planet.

Resembling stingrays with dark navy blue backs and pure white underbellies,

They averaged 2-2.5 meters in wingspan, while the largest alpha specimens

Could grow up to 9 meters, taking the form of massive rays.

As their ray-like appearance suggests, they attack by biting with their teeth, stabbing with the spines on their bodies,

Or by emitting psychic-infused sonic waves.

Being psychic creatures, their teeth can pierce any metal when infused with psychic energy,

The spines growing from their tail tips and across their bodies secrete deadly poison that can cause instant death,

And their sonic attacks are not to be underestimated either.

These sonic waves cause mental confusion just by being heard, but the real danger comes when one is hit by the powerful waves that spread in straight lines like energy wavelengths.

The powerful sonic waves can cause auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, mental disorders, schizophrenia, delusions, reality distortion, loss of judgment,

More than enough to reduce humans to invalids, and the sonic force alone can separate flesh from bone.

With these monsters traveling in swarms of hundreds or thousands,

One might think there could be no greater threat—even the “Brothers of Sidra” might be in danger.

“Respond calmly!”

“Target their mouths! Their mouths!”

PEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

WOONG-WOONG-WOONG-WOONG-WOONG!!!

In reality, though, Mantas were considered ‘the easiest opponents to deal with’ among the psychic life forms appearing in this area…

This was because, despite their lethal attack capabilities, they had numerous weaknesses that couldn’t be overcome.

First of all, Mantas are extremely slow.

Their floating motion in the air is often compared to zero gravity,

But the problem is that their movement speed is practically zero gravity as well.

Moving at roughly the pace of a normal human walking, they’re detected and exposed to attacks before they can get close enough for melee attacks, and despite their large size, their durability is pathetic—paper-thin, in fact.

Of course, being psychic creatures, they can deflect attacks that don’t contain psychic energy, but exploration parties like the “Brothers of Sidra” routinely carry weapons specifically designed for psychic life forms.

Therefore, no matter how quickly they charge, they can be shot down before they even get within sonic attack range,

And they can’t even ambush because they can’t control their innate aggression.

To put it simply… they’re just pushovers.

Well, the larger specimens with wingspans of 5 to 9 meters are somewhat tougher and can withstand gunfire while approaching,

But such specimens are handled separately by mid-tier mercenaries.

“—Hup!”

SLASH!

Since they can be swept away with just one or two psychic energy-infused sword strikes,

The expedition easily exterminated the Manta swarm and moved on—

And in the place where the “Brothers of Sidra” expedition had departed,

Unidentified black entities revealed themselves in mid-air.

※ ※ ※

Those who deactivated their equipment’s environmental stealth function and revealed themselves were, first of all, black.

These beings, humanoid in form but of average build, had wrapped themselves completely in black cloth, wore gloves on their four-fingered hands,

And on top of their segmented light-powered suits, they wore black robes.

As if compulsively hiding every inch of their skin, these 519 individuals were—

“…Read and collect.”

“Yes!”

The Mind Collectors, an organization composed of Felicids, led by a somewhat famous drug dealer from the crime city SodomGomorrah and his subordinates.

Yes, the reason they had hidden here and deliberately lured the Manta swarm to be slaughtered by another expedition

Was for that psychic-type drug mentioned earlier.

The unique psychic death throes left behind when psychic creatures die,

Especially from psychic creatures like Mantas that specialize in mental attacks,

That is, creatures with manifested mental-type psychic abilities—the drug made from these death throes is called

“Meltimind”

Psychic death throes are stored in special energy cells by mental-type psychic races like the Felicids,

Then processed with psychic abilities developed by the drug dealer himself who came in person.

The resulting energy-form drug “Meltimind” shows a terrifying combination as a mental-type energy drug.

The most distinctive feature of mental-type drugs made using psychic abilities is that they cause no direct physical changes,

And additionally, energy drugs are very easy to disguise as psychic cells or similar items.

In other words, symptoms don’t appear externally, distribution is very convenient due to easy disguise, and yet the addiction is not particularly weak.

When using Meltimind, the subject experiences specific powerful sensations—or emotions.

From pleasure to pain, sadness, joy, and beyond.

One might think some of these emotions or sensations wouldn’t be addictive, but this is where Meltimind’s true value emerges.

If someone has used Meltimind even once,

The residual psychic energy in the brain stimulates it, creating an urge to experience it again.

The intensity itself is very mild, comparable to wanting to listen to a catchy song one more time after hearing it,

But this weak intensity actually softens mental resistance to the urge.

Thus, using Meltimind again to experience the sensation or emotion increases the urge,

Leading to a vicious cycle of returning to Meltimind.

And so another drug addict is born, becoming a loyal customer of the “Mind Collectors.”