Ch.215Trap (4)

“Just now” “What was that?”

[Zz zzzzzz(I don’t know either)]

Adhigh, who was riding on my back, pokes his head out to ask.

As we approached the nest, something suddenly jumped out. Thinking it might be a remaining enemy, I struck it with my wing arm without even looking. Thanks to that, the opponent was completely shattered and died.

When I checked the corpse, I found that the dead subject was human.

‘Why is a person here?’

He was wearing a specially made reinforcement suit. It was equipment that focused on life support functions such as cold protection and temperature control rather than combat power.

Judging by his attire, he looked more like a researcher or explorer rather than a combatant, but this was also questionable. He wouldn’t have come here alone, so there must be a group or organization that brought him.

‘This planet isn’t even on any routes.’

Jason was able to find this planet thanks to receiving its location from his fellow players. He said this planet’s location wasn’t recorded on the Cult Empire’s routes either. I was only able to come here because Adhigh taught me in detail; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to get here easily.

In this remote part of the universe that few know about, first the Star Union’s Screamers appeared, and now an unidentified human group.

‘Did they come to capture me too?’

Jason said that other players besides himself wouldn’t come here. He thought he could defeat me on his own.

However, that was just his own thinking, and it’s unclear exactly what his colleagues might think. They might have taken precautions in case Jason failed.

If I’m unlucky, I might have to fight new players in addition to Gallergorn.

‘Let’s check.’

I put the tattered corpse in my mouth. While chewing the rather tasteless meat, I activated the “Human-faced Parasite Host” trait.

The genetic information contained in the corpse was transmitted to the organ managing the human-faced parasites. The organ, having received new information, discarded one of the five genetic profiles it had stored. In the nest on my back, the existing parasite dissolved and disappeared instantly, and a new human-faced parasite was born.

‘Come out.’

Responding to my command, the human-faced parasite tore through the tumor-like membrane of the nest and came out. The bug, with the exact same face as the corpse I had just eaten, looked around as if it couldn’t understand its situation.

“■?!”

Realizing it had become a bug, it was about to go berserk. I shot brain waves that control human-faced parasites to forcibly calm it down.

“I have questions. Answer them.”

When a human voice flowed from my mouth, the fly monster with a human head began to tremble.

“Who are you, and where are you from?”

“■■ ■son… I, I am Colin Russell.”

The fly monster, now able to speak human language thanks to my permission. Under my control, it stumbled at first but gradually stabilized.

“I serve Siheyon Yujin.”

“Siheyon Yujin?”

“Yes. She came here to find something to achieve her great work.”

What he said was something I hadn’t expected at all.

‘Siheyon Yujin?’

It’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. The first formidable enemy I encountered after coming to this world.

‘She should be dead?’

Two of my main traits were obtained from eating her: ‘Mimicry Organ’ and ‘Monster’s Tentacles.’

Now I only need to eat the head thanks to the Essence Harvester’s Jaw, but that wasn’t the case before. To obtain genetic essence from an opponent, I had to devour them completely without leaving a single piece of flesh.

‘She definitely died. So this must be either a clone or someone impersonating her.’

When I encountered Siheyon Yujin, she was disguised as part of the Space Dog cartel. As her name suggests, her true identity was a member of House Yugin, one of the Noble Capital Megacorps. The possibility that they stole the core cloning technology from their enemy, the Star Union, isn’t very high.

‘Besides, clones have many side effects.’

Star Union clones have imperfect minds. They are beings who only care about their own identity and don’t take orders from anyone. In the game, clones are even portrayed as the Star Union’s main enemies.

Would the ego-inflated Noble Capital invest in such an uncertain element? That possibility is slim.

‘Then what remains is…’

“She died by my hand months ago.”

“No. That’s impossible. She hasn’t rested a single day since she swore to achieve her great work.”

“Great work?”

“Reclaiming the name Yujin. Punishing the traitor who usurped the family head position. That is Siheyon Yujin’s destiny.”

Hearing this, I have some idea of what’s going on. One of the players Jason told me about was the head of House Yujin.

‘Akira Yujin, was it?’

A player who insists on using only Japanese names and, according to Jason, acts like an old man with chuunibyou syndrome.

There’s only one ranker with these two characteristics. If he’s the “Megacorp Ranker” I know, there must have been a bloodbath when he took over the family.

‘He’s skilled, but his personality is absolutely terrible.’

He was a ranker known as a sociopath even in the community, so he must be even worse here.

‘I understand the situation now.’

Before being eaten by me, Siheyon Yujin was likely the representative of a faction purged by Akira Yujin. Russell is probably a false family name used by the remnants to hide their identity.

When she died fighting me, it must have been quite awkward for the purged faction.

‘So they set up a stand-in.’

The Siheyon Yujin he’s talking about is probably a stand-in for the dead leader. It seems that someone impersonating her has led her subordinates here.

I asked why they came here.

“Siheyon Yujin said there’s an important relic here.”

“Relic? What kind of relic?”

“I don’t know that either. I was only told that the relic is somewhere in the black mountain and we need to find it.”

I asked a few more questions, but nothing more of value came out. He knew nothing about the Screamers either.

‘That’s fine. I got all the information I needed.’

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be closely related to the players. Conversely, the faction led by Siheyon Yujin, or rather her stand-in, is closer to a group that hates players.

‘I’ll look into it after catching Odd Grad.’

There’s one important piece of information I can deduce even though he didn’t mention it. Exploring this harsh planet requires a lot of preparation. Weapons, equipment, and various supplies needed for survival.

Obviously, a ship is needed to supply these things. And a fairly large one at that.

‘It’s probably nearby outside the planet?’

If I hit the ship, I can find out what Siheyon Yujin’s forces are doing and where they are.

After organizing my thoughts, I sent the human-faced parasite back to the nest. Adhigh, who had been bored on my back, brightened up.

“Done?”

[Zzzz zzzzzz(Sorry. Were you bored?)]

“It’s okay”

[Zz zz zzzz zzzz zzzz(Let’s just grab what’s inside and go)]

I gained some interesting information from an unexpected place.

Afterward, Adhigh and I raided the Hellside Hornet’s food storage. Thanks to the traces left by Colin Russell, we could go straight to the food storage without getting lost in the maze.

I checked if there were any new sources of information in the storage, but there were no surviving organisms. The sealed space was filled with cocoons full of decayed, fermented liquid.

“This” “Tastes” “Good”

After sticking a tentacle into a cocoon to taste it, his eyes curved like crescent moons. I’d never seen Adhigh make such an expression before.

‘Is it that delicious?’

I picked one of the dozens of cocoons hanging from the ceiling and drank it. My eyes, beyond my control, curved into the same crescent moon shape as his.

‘This is incredibly delicious!’

The taste was similar to a mojito, but with a much more fizzy sensation. The aroma was also exquisite, giving a refreshing feeling that spread throughout my throat and entire body. It was so delicious that I forgot about the injuries from the battle.

[Zz zzzzzz(How many should we take?)]

“Agree” “Agree” “Agree!”

I took as many cocoons as I could carry. Using all my combat arms and corrosive tentacles, I could carry about 15. The rest went into Adhigh’s and my stomachs.

After thoroughly cleaning out the Hellside Hornet’s storage, we went outside.

[Zz zzzzzz(Let’s head back then)]

Adhigh and I spread our wings wide and soared into the sky. By the time we reach the nest, there should be some movement from Odd Grad’s group.

‘I’ll quickly recover from my wounds at the nest.’

And then target the White Gallergorn that went hunting.

‘The question is how to hunt them…’

Even as I flew through the clouds, I continued to ponder how to fight the Odd Grad group.

–

In that forest full of trees with dozens or hundreds of branches, a beast was crouching low. The forest was very ancient, with even the youngest trees being hundreds of years old.

The beast, with pumpkin-colored eyes glowing like lanterns even in the thick darkness, had a bird-like head with four legs and a slender tail. Two pointed horns protruded from its head.

The beast picked a mushroom-like plant growing on the ground with its thick front paws. Then it grabbed the plant with its beak and chewed it slowly.

Even while satisfying its hunger, the beast’s gaze remained fixed on one spot.

The place the beast was looking at was outside the forest. There were rocky cliffs and several caves. Unlike most cliffs on this planet, which were more like crevasses formed by split ice terrain, this was different.

Instead of cold air, warm heat continuously rose from beneath the rocky cliff. If someone capable of detecting psychic power were present, they would have detected the vortex of energy rising from beneath that cliff.

That rocky cliff the beast was watching was the Gallergorn habitat, the dragon’s nest.

“……”

The beast, Sky Mother, who had finished eating the plant, focused on surveillance without moving an inch. For the past two days, she had not moved at all except for brief meal times. She was being as cautious as possible, knowing how dangerous it was to face a Gallergorn.

Moreover, she wasn’t alone; her companions were behind her.

‘Companions, huh.’

Sea Demon, Gallergorn, Screamer, and…

‘AMorph.’

She wondered how her real self, Choi Seoa, would react if told she was moving with the 5th-ranked player MorphPark. She would surely get angry and say it was nonsense.

She didn’t know about MorphPark, but originally she didn’t like him. To be honest, she was closer to hating him. If she had met him shortly after coming to this world, she would have tried to kill him somehow.

‘Because that guy caused my clan to split apart.’

At that time, she realized how fragile relationships in the game world could be.

Her clan, the Savage Clan, didn’t have many members to begin with due to its unique concept. But after the battle with MorphPark, she was the only one left in the clan. All her friends either quit the game in disgust or left for other clans.

As a result, she was also semi-forcibly driven back to the real world. At the time, Choi Seoa was escaping from reality for various reasons, so she extremely hated MorphPark.

‘…It’s ironic.’

Because of him, she half-quit the game and was driven back to reality, but now they’ve become comrades who’ve gone through life and death together. What’s even more astounding is that her relationship with MorphPark has become much more intimate than with her Savage Clan colleagues.

After opening up to him recently, she felt much more at ease. Though he probably doesn’t know it.

‘He seems oblivious.’

Otherwise, he would know what No. 26 or Adhigh are thinking. As in the game, he seemed to have very limited interpersonal relationships.

‘Or is that unknown?’

Neither Sky Mother nor MorphPark knows what kind of people they were in reality. Despite becoming close, no one has brought it up first.

‘Well, I guess that’s natural.’

While she now has a strong body, agile movements, and a magnificent mane, her real self is not like that. “Choi Seoa,” not Sky Mother, was just an ordinary, or rather below-average, insignificant existence.

That’s why she didn’t want to tell anyone about Choi Seoa. MorphPark probably feels the same way.

‘Judging by his personality, he definitely doesn’t have friends… Hm?’

While mentally criticizing MorphPark, she noticed movement from the nest and stopped her idle thoughts.

She focused her eyes. Several Gallergorn were coming out of one of the caves in the cliff.

‘What’s that?’

Two green-scaled Gallergorn were carrying one Gallergorn to another cave. The Gallergorn being carried was covered in blood, with none of its limbs intact.

‘Ham Oort?’

Though the Gallergorn was in terrible shape, she recognized it.

The White Gallergorn in critical condition, with broken horns and torn wings, was undoubtedly Adhigh’s mother, Ham Oort. The Green Gallergorn beside her roughly dragged Ham Oort into another cave.

‘What happened? Wasn’t she dead?’

Judging by her serious injuries, it wouldn’t be strange if she died immediately. And seeing how roughly the other Gallergorn were treating her, it didn’t seem like she had betrayed them belatedly either.

‘Was she taken prisoner?’

Just as she thought she should remember this important information…

Twelve White Gallergorn emerged from another cave. They spread their wings, flew up over the cliff, and disappeared into the sky.

‘It’s starting!’

After seeing them leave for hunting, she waited quietly for a while. Only when there was no more movement did she carefully move.

The black sky floating above the forest undulates.

As if in response, dense darkness rushed out from a deep cave beneath the cliff. The shadow, which surged up silently, instantly flew up and hid in the clouds.