Ch.192Red Forest (1)

“Something seems different about you.”

That’s what No. 26 said to me when she woke up this morning.

As always, No. 26 immediately noticed my change. Probably because she considers me someone she needs to protect.

Strictly speaking, our relationship is closer to one where we protect each other, but I don’t particularly mind. Both in reality and in the game, I’ve rarely met someone who gives such unconditional love as No. 26.

I explained briefly while plucking plants growing at the base of a tree.

[Zzzzzz zzz zzzzzz(I ate a bad guy and got bigger)]

“Growing big baby, so precious!”

[Zzzz zzz zzz(Thanks. Eat this)]

“Okay!”

She extended her tentacles and swept up all the mushroom-like plants at once.

“Grow quickly so we can bring the little baby too.”

[Zz(Sure)]

When I patted her as she acted adorably, her pink body glowed brightly.

Just then, PS-111 woke from hibernation for nutritional replenishment. I created tooth fairies and gave them to Sky Mother and PS-111.

“Uh, um, I’m good.”

“Thank you.”

Sky Mother shook her head and shuddered at the sight of the tooth fairy. Instead, PS-111 beside her took them all.

“Is this a new transformation state?”

Perhaps it was because of No. 26’s psychic power. PS-111 also showed curiosity about the appearance of my tentacles.

[Zzz zzz zzzzzz zzzz(No. This is a permanent change)]

“Energy wavelengths not registered in the database are distorting the light.”

After swallowing the tooth fairies in one gulp, he lit up his eyes with interest.

“If you would provide a sample…”

[Zzz(No)]

Even I don’t know what ability “Deep Color” has. I can’t give something like that to him. Not only might it have unknown side effects on him, but it wouldn’t be good for us either.

‘If something goes wrong and becomes uncontrollable, it’ll be a headache.’

When I flatly refused, he glumly crunched on the tooth fairies.

After our simple breakfast, I explained today’s plan to the kids. I told them I needed to act alone to experiment with the new trophy I’d obtained from a powerful enemy.

“I want to go with big baby.”

[Zzzzzz zzzz zzz(Sorry, but not this time)]

I still don’t know how this trait works. Uncontrollable traits are hard to identify as mines or not until you actually use them.

I don’t want to put her in danger by bringing her along.

[Zzz zzzzzz zzzz(Help middle baby instead)]

“What’s wrong with middle baby?”

[Zzz zzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz(She’ll look for a nest and food while I’m gone)]

Yesterday, I had a brief conversation with Sky Mother about what to do in the morning.

She said she would look for a suitable place for a nest while I conducted my experiments. She claimed her eyesight was the best, making her perfect for finding territory.

‘She’s right.’

She has quite a bit of experience fighting me in the game. So she knows well what kind of places AMorphs make their nests. She should be able to find a suitable hiding place for us.

Even if Gallergorn is roaming around, with No. 26 and PS-111 there, they should be able to avoid it without much difficulty. After all, both can detect Gallergorn’s psychic power.

[Zzzz(Be careful)]

“Don’t worry. I’ll be as careful as possible.”

[Zzzzzz(Please)]

“Y-you be careful too.”

After hesitating, she added one more thing and then turned her gaze away. Perhaps memories of yesterday remained, as her attitude toward me still seemed awkward.

If I told her not to worry about it, she’d probably feel more uncomfortable. I just nodded in response.

And so we parted ways to attend to our respective tasks.

I ran between trees that spread higher and wider toward the top. With countless branches extending and intertwining with other trees, hardly any light penetrated inside.

Only the beast-like growling sound of air passing through branches filled the space.

Already dark, with blizzards raging outside without pause, the atmosphere was extremely gloomy.

I ran for quite a while through the eerily dark forest.

This wasn’t just to put distance between me and the others. I was currently searching for traces of a certain “creature.”

‘It must be here too.’

In the game, Gallergorn’s Nest is classified as a difficult hunting ground. It’s found only on planets with extremely low temperatures like where I am now, or conversely, on volcanic planets with boiling lava, making entry difficult from the start.

Even if you manage to prepare well and enter, problems still remain.

‘Because the area around the dragon’s nest is a magical realm.’

Near Gallergorn’s nest, powerful creatures of Gallergorn-level or higher inhabit the area in large numbers. These creatures either become Gallergorn’s food or function to control Gallergorn’s population.

Simply put, the entire planet with Gallergorn’s nest is teeming with apex-level creatures.

‘Seeing Ice Horror and Winter Walker, there must be other creatures here too.’

I already know what monsters live on this ice planet where the dragon’s nest is located. I’ve raided it many times in the game before.

While my four legs moved diligently, the auxiliary organ under my jaw was busy searching for traces. Then I sensed movement in the distance.

I lowered my body and reduced my speed.

Since I hadn’t deactivated my “Clever Prey” state, my body, including the tail, was less than 5m long. If there were large rocks or thick trees, I could hide my body.

Using terrain features as cover, I carefully approached the direction of the movement.

Soon, I could see its figure through the trees.

Standing 4m tall with a skinny build, abnormally long arms and legs, and a pitch-black face contrasting with its white body—it was a Winter Walker, hunter of the snow fields.

However, belying its hunter nickname, its behavior seemed very sloppy. Its white eyes were hazy as if covered in fog, and it showed no awareness of my presence nearby.

Winter Walker is a creature positioned in the lower ranks of this planet’s food chain. Therefore, it’s characterized by vigilant awareness of its surroundings.

There’s a reason why it’s behaving so strangely.

‘The smell.’

Like the aroma of pancakes from next door on a rainy day, a delicious smell permeated deeply in the air. It was walking toward the source of that tasty smell.

‘Perfect.’

I followed it while maintaining my distance. Walking with its eyes fixed forward and swaying, it looked as if under hypnosis.

‘In a way, it is hypnosis.’

As I followed it, the surrounding landscape gradually began to change.

The most significant change was the color of the densely packed trees. Red moss was attached to the trees that had been nearly black-brown. It looked like protruding blood vessels.

Even the snow covering the ground was stained red as if syrup had been poured on it. Moreover, it emitted a sweet smell, just like actual syrup.

‘Found it.’

That red moss, emitting a dizzying delicious smell, was the trace I had been looking for.

Like me, the Winter Walker that smelled it greedily licked the moss attached to the tree. With each touch of its tongue to the moss, its body trembled like an addict experiencing orgasm from drug inhalation.

That red moss is a toxic substance produced by an apex-level monster with extremely powerful abilities. However, it’s not the kind of poison that causes pain or hallucinations to those addicted.

‘It’s more like a drug.’

Just as a Venus flytrap lures insects with a sweet smell, that red moss attracts surrounding creatures with the fragrant smell of food.

Even to me, with the “Perfect Immunity” trait providing immunity to poisons and viruses, that smell is irresistibly enchanting. For a Winter Walker with almost no immunity to poison, it must be absolutely unbearable.

‘That alone won’t satisfy it.’

As expected, after burying its face in the tree, it looked even more thirsty.

Inevitably, that red moss has an extremely powerful drug effect. Even consuming a small amount instantly makes one a slave to this forest.

As if its previous lethargy had been a lie, it quickly entered deeper into the forest full of red moss.

I followed it, maintaining just enough distance to barely keep up.

I can’t go too deep. If I make a mistake and can’t get out, it’s over.

With all my nerves on edge, I slowly followed, and gradually more creatures became visible around me.

From weak creatures like Winter Walker and Cave Ghoul to strong ones like Green Gallergorn.

Though different in species, they all looked the same: their bodies, except for their heads, were embedded in the ground in the form of red cocoons like moth pupae.

The stems connected to the ground continued to pulsate, injecting something into the creatures. With each twitch of the stems, the captured creatures drooled with happy expressions.

This is a food storage area. All those caught in the red stems are carefully selected prey of the red forest’s master.

‘Glacier Fiend.’

It’s a monster with an upper body resembling a stag beetle and a plant-like lower body with numerous stems. Before settling down, it uses wings on its back to search for places rich in food.

Once it finds a suitable location, it roots into the ground and produces red substances to lure prey. Under this frozen earth where I’m standing, its roots are probably spread extensively.

In other words, this entire vast red forest is its territory.

A Glacier Fiend that has successfully rooted itself in the ground is a very powerful enemy. It can control other creatures with its red substance.

‘More precisely, it induces behavior with drug-like substances.’

Those creatures trapped in cocoons also know well who provides the drug. That’s why they obey the Glacier Fiend with determination to die when it designates a target.

If the Glacier Fiend wanted to kill me here, all the monsters in those cocoons would pounce on me.

‘This should be far enough.’

I stopped tracking the Winter Walker and moved to an area with fewer red stems. The master of the food storage is very sluggish, but the slaves it controls are not.

What I’m about to do is something the master of the food storage will really hate. I need to secure an escape route in case I need to flee quickly.

‘Since I plan to experiment with Psychic Breath.’

My shooting targets are those prey hanging from stems, experiencing orgasm.

I positioned myself where I could easily escape and activated Deep Color. The fur covering my body stood on end as if charged with static electricity.

‘Why is it doing this?’

Confused, I raised my combat arm and saw strange colors embedded in the carapace beneath the fur.

It was both purple-like and green-like. All kinds of colors writhed as if alive. Suspicious lights seethed throughout my entire body, not just my arms.

‘It doesn’t feel like part of my body. Can’t detect energy either.’

Unlike with the human-faced beast, the colors flowing through my body were clearly alien. It felt like wearing the skin of some other being.

I strongly felt that maintaining this for long would not be good.

I concentrated my senses on the monster’s tentacles covering my neck and jaw joints.

The wavering colors quickly began to concentrate in the tentacles. The purple and green colors of the tentacles became much more vivid.

The drooping tentacles float in the air, defying physical laws. The colors covering the tentacles spread into the void like a drop of paint in water.

If the sphere created when using Psychic Breath was like a purple sun, the sphere now before me had completely changed. It was a sphere barely containing a creepy light, a feast of colors.

I threw the sphere of chaos, which was constantly seething, onto the red cocoons. Its appearance as a sphere was completely different from the previous Psychic Breath, which had been emitted as a purple beam.

And the moment that sphere touched its target, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

The numerous lights within the sphere began to pour out and devour the red cocoons. The cocoons directly hit by the light and colors lost their original form and transformed into the exact same form as the sphere I had shot.

The newly born sphere of chaos rushed toward another prey nearby. And the same process repeated.

Uncontrollable chain attacks. That was the effect of Psychic Breath imbued with Deep Color.

“GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

As the Psychic Breath spread and devoured all the red cocoons, a roar was heard from inside. The master of the storage was enraged.

As soon as the roar ended, I sensed the movement of several creatures.

‘Wonder how many more storage areas are around here.’

I moved to avoid the Glacier Fiend’s slaves.

Unfortunately for it, the experiment wasn’t over yet.