Ch.221Reorganization (2)

“Ah, I just remembered something I’d forgotten.”

After the Gallergorn herd left, I emerged from the burrow and checked my text box.

During the fight with them, the Predation effect had appeared. The probability of obtaining genetic essence without using the Hunter’s Emblem is very low, but somehow I got lucky. And it wasn’t even from a Green Gallergorn, but a White Gallergorn’s genetic essence.

When I brought up the text box again, there were only 10 seconds left to make a selection. Startled, I quickly chose to acquire the trait.

「Stealing the ‘Gallergorn’s Horn’ trait from ‘White Gallergorn’s’ biological characteristics.」

「The ‘Gallergorn’s Horn’ trait has been applied.」

“Whew, that was close.”

As the trait was applied, the horns on my head began to mutate.

The six horns grew much larger than before. The head carapace remained the same, but with the enlarged horns, I felt a noticeable increase in weight.

There were other changes beyond just size.

First, all horns commonly developed thin scales growing in the reverse direction on their surface. The gaps between scales were tinged white, making it look like white cracks had formed on the black horns.

And the mutation reflected the fact that two of my six horns had been broken before the change.

Originally, there were two types of horns on my head: a pair of spiral horns that curved to point forward, and four spike-like horns arranged in a row along my head carapace.

Among these, Odd Grad’s breath had damaged one left spiral horn and the last of the four row horns. They were in the process of regenerating when the mutation was applied, resulting in an unbalanced appearance in size and shape between the horns.

The right horn became thick and robust, while the left horn developed sharp, saw-like scales jutting out chaotically. The four row horns showed similar differences.

“Hmm.”

Though the change was unexpected, it didn’t seem like it would hinder their use as weapons. I touched the now more grotesque horns with my hand.

“Gallergorn’s Horn, huh.”

The effect of the psychic power-related trait “Gallergorn’s Horn” is very simple.

It completely ignores the effects of psychic power techniques.

For example, take “Reflection,” which has often annoyed me.

Even if an enemy protects themselves with Reflection, they can’t block my horn thrust. The horn simply penetrates through the Reflection field. Not just Reflection, but all other shield-type psychic power techniques are nullified as well.

The nullification range is limited to the horns. So if my head carapace touches Reflection, my entire head will be repelled, but since the horns are so large, it’s not much of an issue when fighting ordinary Cult members. Each horn easily exceeds 1m in length, so that’s only natural.

“It’s a very good trait when fighting Cult members.”

The unfortunate thing is that these horns don’t get much chance to shine when fighting Gallergorns. They don’t use techniques like Reflection.

After checking the changes to my horns, I also looked at the messages that had appeared in the meantime.

Although I failed to kill Odd Grad, I gained a lot from this battle. The number of Apex creatures I’ve successfully hunted has now reached 28.

The Apex condition counts only those I kill directly. Thanks to using “God’s Whip” against the Gallergorn herd, I was able to fill the count significantly at once.

“Just 2 more to go and the Apex condition will be complete.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop hunting Apex creatures afterward. I still need to acquire 10 unique traits and 6 types.

While it’s become relatively easier to obtain unique traits through the Transcendence System, it wasn’t originally like this.

In the game, the orthodox method of acquiring unique traits was to hunt creatures that possessed them. You either had to kill high-ranking Apex creatures like Black Gallergorns or kill players who had unique traits.

The latter method involves killing enemies who utilize genetic essence, like Outspacer players or genetically modified Megacorp players.

Needless to say, even a Black Gallergorn is extremely difficult for a player to kill alone. Red Gallergorns or Arcane Orcas above them are far more powerful enemies.

And players who managed to hunt these creatures and obtain unique traits? Without exception, they were top-tier players on par with rankers.

Therefore, obtaining unique traits in the game was never easy.

It’s telling that even in the game, fewer than 10 people, including myself, reached the AMorph adult stage. I struggled tremendously to overcome this wall.

“When you think about it, the Transcendence System is truly groundbreaking.”

I’ve been in this world for less than a year, yet I’ve already grown this powerful. As I was thinking this, my body suddenly floated into the air.

No. 26 was using psychic power to move me because of my injuries.

[Zz zz zzzz (I’m fine now)]

“No. You’re hurt, big baby. I’ll carry you.”

The lower part of my tail hadn’t fully regenerated yet. My wing arms were also still regenerating bone.

“I’ll accept his help for now.”

He wobbled a few times while carrying me, but soon got the hang of it and transported me properly.

When PS-111 appeared dragging the Gallergorn corpses, he lifted those as well.

“Impressive.”

He didn’t seem to have much difficulty using psychic power to lift me and the Gallergorn corpses. Truly befitting a creature of sub-raid boss level.

We carefully moved with the Gallergorn corpses. We had no choice, as Odd Grad might send pursuers again at any time.

I had already told Adhigh Orr and Nel Germa to meet us at the nest. They would also be moving while hiding somewhere in the forest.

About half a day after we started moving, my wing bones had almost recovered. So I asked No. 26 to put me down.

“Big baby still hurt. Need to rest when hurt.”

[Zzzzz zzzz (I’m fine now)]

While the pincers on my tail still had a long way to regenerate, they wouldn’t significantly hinder me crawling on the ground. I took a few Gallergorn corpses from No. 26 and firmly grasped them with my corrosive tentacles.

“Those tentacles appear very useful with high versatility.”

[Zzzzzz (They are)]

“I would need genetic information to reflect this in future upgrades.”

[Zz (No)]

I flatly rejected his request and carried the Gallergorn corpses. Apart from the missing lower body parts, I looked fine.

After a short rest, we set off again toward the nest.

Since I was now moving on my own, our speed increased significantly compared to before, though it was still slower than flying. It took us almost a full day to reach the vicinity of the nest I had created.

As we approached the nest, Adhigh Orr and Nel Germa, who had arrived before us, emerged from the forest.

“Sub-controller 2 small baby confirmed. Nice to meet you.”

“Hello, small baby!”

“Small adult” “Injured child” “Safe” “Fortunate”

After greeting No. 26 and PS-111, Adhigh Orr was startled when he saw that my tail was still regenerating.

“Big adult” “Injury” “Serious” “Are you okay?”

[Zz zzzzzz (I’ll heal soon)]

“Rest” “Needed” “Return” “Qui…” “?”

He stopped sending thought waves and tilted his head. His lavender-like eyes, reminiscent of fallen lavender on snow, were fixed directly on my horns.

“Horn” “Feel” “Different”

[Zzzz zzzzzz zzzz zzzzzz (They broke earlier because of Odd Grad)]

“Broken” “Different” “Horn” “Changed”

[Zz zzzz zz zz zz (This changed after eating prey)]

“One side” “Bigger” “One side” “Sharper” “Wild” “Attractive”

“Agree”

Adhigh Orr seemed to prefer the current appearance of my horns and nodded. Nel Germa beside him also sent thought waves indicating agreement.

“Is bigger appendage good?”

“In some species, males appeal their sexual attractiveness through colorful tails or horns.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

[Zzzzz zzzzzz zzzz zzzz zzzzzz (Enough chatting. Was everything okay at the nest?)]

Hearing my words, Adhigh Orr suddenly seemed to remember something and bombarded me with thought waves.

“Big adult” “Important matter” “Exists” “Very” “Very” “VERY!” “Important matter!” “Now” “Nest” “Must go!”

[Zz zzzz (What is it?)]

“Nel Germa” “Daughter of meteor” “Opinion” “Agree” “Black kin” “Home” “Check” “Necessary”

Seeing even the usually calm Nel Germa with such an attitude made me uneasy.

“Has something happened to the nest?”

Or perhaps Sky Mother had suffered a serious injury. I quickly checked the parasite in her head. Seeing it was fine, there didn’t seem to be any major problem with her physical condition.

“Then why?”

[Zzzzz zzzzzz (Is something wrong with the nest?)]

“Nest” “Problem” “None” “Problem” “Something else” “Quickly” “Check”

Following Adhigh Orr, who was hopping up and down urging me, I hurried to the nest.

In the distance, through the trees, I could see the entrance to a cave half-buried underground. Next to the entrance was something huge with red and white mixed colors.

“Huh?”

As I was thinking that it looked somehow familiar, someone came out of the cave.

It was a beast with a skinny black skeleton-like body, massive stag-like horns, and a head shaped like an animal skull.

Its appearance resembled the evil phantom beast Wendigo from Space Survival.

And this Wendigo-like beast looked at me. Familiar amber will-o’-wisps were rising from its empty eye sockets.

The Wendigo’s true identity was Sky Mother wearing the “Hunter God’s Disguise Shell.” She had safely returned here after monitoring Odd Grad’s nest.

As soon as she saw me, she gestured urgently.

“There’s no time! The injuries are severe and won’t last long! We need to use symbiotic spores quickly!”

Only after hearing her words did I realize what this enormous object at the cave entrance was.

Torn wings, broken and twisted arms and legs, ripped tail and broken horns. It was a White Gallergorn in terrible condition.

And this Gallergorn was someone I had met before.

“Ham Oort?”

Adhigh Orr’s mother who rebelled against the black dragon. The one confined in Odd Grad’s nest was here.

“Did Sky Mother bring her here?”

I wanted to ask what happened, but there was something I needed to do first.

I generated symbiotic spores and attached them to the dying Ham Oort.

“She’s an important source of information. I can’t lose her here.”

Even as I attached the spores, she didn’t move at all. She didn’t even seem to be breathing, clearly on the verge of death.

The reason she was kept outside the nest was probably because my nest contained many elements harmful to creatures without my permission.

Due to the traits I possess, the nest constantly emits substances harmful to other creatures. While these aren’t strong enough to threaten a White Gallergorn’s life, Ham Oort was severely injured. If I had just put her inside, she would most likely have become nutrients for the nest.

“Now that I’ve attached the spores, let’s move her inside.”

With the symbiotic spores attached, Ham Oort could receive healing effects. I carefully lifted her with my corrosive tentacles and placed her inside the nest.

Perhaps thanks to the heat rising from the nest, I could feel life gradually returning to Ham Oort’s body.

[Zzzzz zzzzz (What happened?)]

“It’s a long story. I’ll explain later, you should rest too.”

As she said, my tail injury hadn’t fully healed either. She said nothing more and went outside the cave.

“There’s a lot to think about, but…”

Perhaps because the tension had eased upon returning to the nest, I felt considerable fatigue.

“I’ll rest for a while now.”

I closed my eyes on the warm swamp.