Ch.213Trap (2)

I rose into the air, flapping my wing arms to gain altitude. Adhigh, known for his swift flight, had already climbed higher than me.

“Suaaa.”

The Hellside Hornet hissed as it pursued me closely. It suddenly caught up and swung its two arms wide.

Its mantis-like forelimbs were both sharp and sturdy—enough to damage my head carapace, one of the hardest parts of my body.

‘My pincers wouldn’t withstand that either.’

The defensive strength of the pincers at the end of my tail equals that of my head carapace, though they only have higher resistance to psychic abilities. So strategies involving deflecting its attacks or taking hits directly would be disadvantageous.

While flying, I pulled my tail toward my body. The hornet’s scythe sliced through empty air.

Using the momentum from bending my tail, I flipped my body upside down in mid-air. As my body rotated, my upper body faced toward the hornet.

In that position, I extended my corrosive tentacles. Six long tentacles moved to tear apart the hornet’s wings.

Seeing the tentacles hissing like snakes, the creature quickly retreated. I predicted its movement direction and spat acidic fungus toward it.

“Shaak!”

The creature became irritated as green liquid covered its head. The Hellside Hornet can shoot powerful digestive fluids, making it immune to all acid attacks.

However, my current attack wasn’t meant to cause fatal damage.

I charged toward the creature while its vision was blocked by the liquid. Sensing the air displacement, it quickly moved its wings in evasive maneuvers. Its body shot upward, and my horns barely grazed its feet.

I felt some of its claws shatter against my horns, but the damage was minimal. The creature quickly shook off the liquid from its eyes and tried to strike my back with its arms.

Its arms collided with the bone scythe arms on my back. My bone scythe was dented about halfway through, but this time the hornet’s arm was also damaged. The sharpness of my bone scythe had slightly damaged the blade on its arm.

As the hornet and I exchanged blows in mid-air, a purple energy ball flew in from somewhere. If the hornet hadn’t ducked, there would have been a baseball-sized hole in the back of its head.

Thanks to its compound eyes, the Hellside Hornet has no blind spots—unless its eyes are completely covered, as I had done earlier.

‘That was close.’

“Shaaaak!”

The hornet, having nearly died in an instant, shrieked and moved away from me. Then Adhigh fired another purple energy ball.

The hornet folded its arms in front of its head to block the attack aimed at its head. The energy shot hit but only left slight scorch marks on its sturdy arms.

After protecting its head with its arms like a shield, the hornet tried to chase Adhigh, but he was already gone.

Lightning spread across the dark sky above. This isn’t a metaphor. Even with my auxiliary organs enhanced by the Hunt’s Emblem state, I could barely track its movements.

Transformed into white lightning, Adhigh retreated while firing intermittent psychic breaths to keep the enemy at bay. The Hellside Hornet wasn’t exactly slow, but Adhigh was so fast that it couldn’t approach him.

“Suaaaak! Shaaaak!”

The enraged creature made bizarre sounds. At the same time, I sensed intense heat emanating from its body.

[Zz zz zzz zzz (Now it begins. Be careful)]

「Confirmed」

The creature’s body glowed as if it had been dipped in lava, then the heat began to concentrate toward its rear.

I sensed countless things stirring in the creature’s hindquarters. To use a metaphor, it felt like an egg sac full of baby spiders.

My auxiliary organ’s perception was accurate. Countless flying insects burst from the hornet’s rear.

“Ss” “Ss” “Ss” “Ss” “Ss” “Ss”

These insects are called “Hornetlings”—the offspring of the Hellside Hornet.

Hornetlings look similar to the Hellside Hornet but are much smaller—only about the size of an adult man’s fist. They also lack the threatening forelimbs.

But that doesn’t mean they should be underestimated.

Hornetlings are also one of the Hellside Hornet’s powerful weapons.

The Hellside Hornet prefers to inject its saliva directly into enemies’ bodies to hatch Hornetlings, but when fighting formidable opponents like now, it can also grow Hornetlings inside its body by consuming its own energy.

Hornetlings born this way have one characteristic: they are extremely hungry because they only received enough energy for growth.

“Shaaaa.”

When the creature made a crying sound, the swarm of Hornetlings flew toward Adhigh. Even though each individual was small, there were hundreds of them. The swarm moving toward him looked like a small cloud.

‘Except there’s no cloud in the world that moves that fast.’

Hornetlings are as fast as adults. The biological cloud of insects approached Adhigh.

Knowing that Adhigh was much faster, they changed their formation to surround him. If Adhigh tried to escape, the Hellside Hornet would drive him toward them.

[Zz zz z (Use that technique)]

「Understood!」

Understanding my intention, Adhigh gathered his power and released it. Psychic power gushed like a fountain from the tips of his tentacles.

It was Purple Lightning, a technique he used during his Green Gallergorn days.

“Ss!” “Ssuk!” “Ss!” “Ss!” “Ssuk!”

The massive psychic net created by Adhigh engulfed the Hornetlings. Dozens of Hornetlings fell like insects hit by an electric fly swatter.

‘The destructive power and precision have improved?’

Originally, Purple Lightning has less than half the destructive power of Psychic Breath and a much shorter range. However, it’s effective against multiple enemies because it spreads widely.

But Adhigh was controlling it to maximize its destructive power and accuracy.

Just as No. 26 subdues enemies by dispersing psychic power, Adhigh was using a similar method. The Purple Lightning, which previously would have been fired once and done, now moved as if it had its own consciousness, destroying the Hornetlings.

He performed evasive maneuvers while defeating the Hornetling swarm. He also mixed in Psychic Breath attacks to keep the Hellside Hornet at bay.

‘You’re doing well.’

I also actively interfered during this time. Whenever the hornet tried to shoot digestive fluid toward Adhigh, I disrupted it by firing Psychic Breath or charging at it.

“Ss!” “Ss!” “Ss!”

“Suaaa!”

When the mother called from behind, the offspring’s movements changed.

The frightening aspect of a Hornetling swarm isn’t just their numbers. Their real weapon is their digestive fluid.

A Hornetling’s digestive fluid is equivalent to that of an adult. The adult’s digestive fluid can dissolve my carapace—imagine thousands of them shooting it simultaneously. Adhigh would leave no trace.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

The goal of this hunt includes helping Adhigh become familiar with his powers. Serious injury during training would be counterproductive.

After confirming that the Hornetlings were moving into position to shoot their digestive fluid, I revealed my hidden weapon.

‘I have the perfect remedy for creatures that swarm like this.’

I prepared my Psychic Breath while simultaneously activating “Deep’s Chromatic.”

The carapace and scales covering my body glowed with strange colors. Purple, green, and all kinds of colors writhed as if alive. The eerie light masses traveled across my body toward the tentacle clusters hanging from my neck, back of head, and jaw.

Bizarrely contaminated psychic power gathered in the monster’s tentacles. Countless bubbles boiled in front of my muzzle.

Like fully bloomed flowers, numerous droplets blossomed. Though visually fantastic, they were actually like vampires constantly craving other life.

The Psychic Breath, reflecting Deep’s Chromatic, was fired.

Like soap bubbles shot from a bubble gun, the Psychic Breath spread across the sky. And one of them touched the Hornetling swarm.

“Ss?!”

The unfortunate one was instantly sucked into the sphere of chaos. That was just the beginning. The sphere of madness, never knowing satisfaction, devoured the Hornetling swarm indiscriminately.

With hundreds of Hornetlings, the effect wasn’t noticeable at first. But soon the swarm collapsed inward as if there was a vacuum cleaner inside. The Psychic Breath inside was consuming them.

Only then did they realize how terrifying the entity near them was. They tried to scatter quickly, but it was far too late.

What could creatures do when their bodies were dissolving into the bubbles? Extremely hungry and with their bodies melting, they grabbed their own kind to survive.

The Psychic Breath and Hornetlings competed to see which was the more voracious predator, consuming their own kind. This process accelerated over time.

There was no sound during this process. The silent massacre didn’t last long. Within minutes, the Hornetling swarm had vanished. Having lost its target, the Psychic Breath dissipated in mid-air.

「What」「was that?」

“Sha, shaak!”

Everyone was visibly confused by the sudden disappearance of the Hornetlings. Adhigh tilted his head, and the Hellside Hornet screamed in anger and bewilderment.

The fight entered a lull due to Deep’s Chromatic. The enemy, sensing danger from my attack, only made threats without charging in.

With the enemy’s attacks halted, Adhigh flew over to me.

「Can」「I」「learn that?」

[Zz zz zzz (Probably not)]

「Disappointing」

[Zz zz zzzz zzz zzz (Let’s talk later, we’re hunting now)]

「Agreed」

As a Black Gallergorn, he could produce something similar to what I did, but I decided to explain that later.

As the battle paused momentarily, the sky was becoming increasingly turbulent. As if a massive storm was approaching, the wind blew fiercely, and the temperature dropped significantly.

[Zzz zzz (Are you okay with the cold?)]

「White」「scales」「good」「no」「problem」

Though his body hadn’t grown much, he was still a White Gallergorn. He seemed fine.

‘Good. Now next…’

The Hellside Hornet is as cautious as it is intelligent. In this unfavorable situation, it has two options.

One is to summon more Hornetlings for a coordinated attack. Having seen what happened earlier, it would likely use them differently this time.

‘It will probably spread them out for hit-and-run tactics or use them as bait.’

It would throw its offspring at me while trying to settle the score with Adhigh somehow. Of course, I wouldn’t allow that.

‘Or it could flee.’

Most other Apex creatures are highly aggressive. They rarely avoid fights.

Except for the Hellside Hornet before us.

“Shaaa.”

After a short cry, the creature’s body rapidly heated up. It was awakening the Hornetling eggs stored inside its body.

Soon, a swarm of Hornetlings burst from its rear. Perhaps because it had spawned offspring twice in a short time, their numbers were about half of before.

‘Still not a small number.’

[Zzz (Prepare)]

Known for quick learning, it would be more challenging this time. Just as I was warning Adhigh and preparing for battle…

The creature that had created the Hornetling swarm began diving straight toward the ground.

‘Oh no!’

Fight or flee? The creature chose both options simultaneously. While the offspring bought time, it would escape.

「Situation」「different」

[Zz zzzz zz zz zzz (Let’s do as we discussed but with a slight change)]

「How?」

[Zz zz zz zzz zzz (I’ll hold it while you)]

「Agreed」「going」「now」

Having quickly adjusted our plan, Adhigh and I moved toward our respective targets. Adhigh went for the Hornetlings, while I dove after the adult.

A purple lightning storm raged behind me. While he fought the insects, I folded my wing arms to close the distance with the Hellside Hornet.

As I fell, I fired Psychic Breath at the creature. This time it was the regular version, not enhanced with Deep’s Chromatic.

The purple beam grazed the creature’s lower body. It would have been a fatal wound if it had hit properly, but the creature dodged just before impact.

“Shaaaa!”

The enraged creature spat digestive fluid at my landing spot. As I was diving with folded wings, I quickly spread my wing arms slightly. My falling speed decreased dramatically, and the attack grazed the flesh below my tail.

Pain surged through my burning flesh, but since “Pain Reduction” didn’t activate, it wasn’t a severe injury. After evading the creature’s attack, I folded my wings again to increase my falling speed.

By the time I could distinguish the trees covering the mountain, I had significantly closed the distance with the creature. I took several more hits from digestive fluid while approaching but endured, trusting my carapace’s durability.

“Shaak! Suaaa!”

Seeing that I wouldn’t retreat despite being hit, the creature seemed to change its mind. It suddenly moved its wings and flew toward me after falling with only passive resistance.

The creature, now very close to me, tried to slice my neck with its scythe-like arm.

Before being decapitated, I pulled my upper body back. The creature’s arm cut off the tip of the blade bone attached to my jaw. The auxiliary organ had transformed into a blade bone due to the Hunt’s Emblem effect, but fortunately, no nerves were damaged.

While pulling my body back, corrosive tentacles emerged from my back and grabbed the creature. The appendages at the ends of the tentacles entangled the six legs attached to the creature’s lower body.

My intention to capture the creature succeeded, but it also had its own intention in being caught. Its arm flew like lightning and pierced my abdomen.

‘Ugh!’

「Pain Reduction activated!」

I nearly lost consciousness from the pain of my internal organs being torn. If I weren’t an AMorph, if I didn’t have the Pain Reduction trait, I would have been defeated here. While my mind screamed in pain, my body refused to give up and held the creature firmly.

‘I’ll pay you back in kind!’

“Shaaa!”

I opened my mouth wide to bite the creature. It quickly folded its other arm to block my mouth. Thus, the creature and I fell from the sky while embracing each other.

“Shaaaaa.”

As if right on cue, the creature’s rear began to move. It probably intended to plant maggots near my carapace that had melted from the digestive fluid.

But there was something the creature didn’t know.

While it was focusing all its attention on killing me, my auxiliary organ alerted me to an important fact.

An ultra-high-speed flying object was approaching from above.

And a purple energy shot was fired from that flying object. This energy shot was much more refined and narrow than what he usually fired.

As if trying to avoid someone’s eyes.

As Adhigh intended, the creature noticed too late. When it saw the energy shot heading toward its head, it tried to pull away but couldn’t. Because it was tightly pressed against me.

“Shaak!”

With excellent judgment, the creature tore off its own arms and legs. With only wings remaining, it moved away from me. I also tried to grab its wings with my combat arms, but it was slightly faster.

‘But!’

When the purple energy shot reached above my head, I slightly twisted my head position.

As a result, Adhigh’s Psychic Breath collided with my head carapace. It must have been properly condensed to finish with one shot, as an intense shock spread throughout my head.

The moment I was hit by the Psychic Breath, my latent trait, Psychic Reflective Armor, automatically activated. Most of the psychic power dissipated when destroying my head carapace, but some remained.

And that energy ricocheted in a direction no one except me had predicted.

Precisely in the direction of the Hellside Hornet’s wings.

“Sak?!”

The creature, having lost one wing, staggered unable to maintain balance. A second energy shot flew in as if to confirm the kill.

「Great One」「attack」「unforgivable」

The energy shot, along with the cold resentment of his psychic wave, burned the creature’s wings.

Having lost both wings, the creature could no longer stay airborne and fell.

This time it wasn’t a strategic retreat but a true fall.

“Shaaaaaaaaaaaaak!”

Though it had lived a life far from falling deaths until now, that was no longer the case. Its body grew smaller along with its diminishing screams.

Soon, the creature was no longer visible.

‘Phew.’

「Great One」「not hurt?」

[Zzz zz zz zzz (I’m fine. You did very well)]

「Hit」「head」

[Zzzzz (Don’t worry)]

Adhigh flew to me and asked with concern.

Currently, my body was a complete mess—carapace melted by digestive fluid, a penetrating wound in my abdomen, severed horns, and head carapace damaged by Psychic Breath. Honestly, it would be a lie to say it didn’t hurt, but I told him I was fine.

Anyway, as long as the brain and heart don’t stop, an AMorph doesn’t die. Injuries like these can be fully recovered by eating the creature’s meat.

Adhigh and I slowly descended to the ground.

The place where the creature had fallen was covered in sticky liquid. In the center of the bloody crash site lay the creature.

“S, s, su…”

With only its head remaining from the upper body, the creature was barely breathing. Its lower body was shattered, and dead maggots floated in the pool of blood.

‘This is the end.’

Approaching the creature, I pierced the Hellside Hornet’s head with the bone scythe arm on my back.

The creature’s upper body trembled briefly, then stopped.