Ch.253Cradle of Monsters (4)

The battle began anew.

Ships controlled by cyborgs and androids swarmed like ants. We responded by drawing all our weapons.

When APDs approached to check the Gallergorn, the screamer support ship managed by PS-111 blocked them. Torpedoes loaded in the ship’s cannons were fired, blocking the drones’ movements.

Patrol ships maneuvered to bypass the torpedo explosions and strike the support ship. The support ship had limited torpedoes, making it difficult to fire recklessly at patrol ships. As the support ship faced crisis, a small carrier left the hangar.

The Sky Mother, transformed into a griffon humanoid, had come out to draw the patrol ship’s attention.

The carrier itself had ordinary specs, but the pilot was on another level. She demonstrated skillful evasive maneuvers, breaking through the barrage of torpedoes. Not only that, she used the stormgun mounted on the carrier to fire suppressive shots at the bridge section of the patrol ship.

The stormgun alone couldn’t inflict significant damage on the patrol ship, but it was enough to draw the enemies’ attention. Some patrol ships detached from their formation to chase the Sky Mother.

While the piloting skills were overwhelming on the carrier’s side, the ship specs were superior on the patrol ship’s side. As her carrier became increasingly endangered from being pursued, a savior appeared from somewhere.

The Red Queen with red markings on its head and wings. It accelerated like a comet, piercing through the patrol ships. The surviving patrol ships fired torpedoes, but the Sky Mother shot them all down with her stormgun.

While the patrol ships were buying time, destroyers that had entered effective firing range were attempting to fire all at once.

I first fired a psychic breath toward the patrol ships gathered around PS-111, then flew toward the destroyers.

The destroyers’ target changed to me, and an enormous amount of torpedoes engulfed me.

Thanks to the carapace protecting my body in double and triple layers, the pain wasn’t severe. Only the auxiliary organs under my jaw were ringing with the successive explosions, which was merely annoying. I advanced forward, taking the barrage head-on.

Corrosive tentacles sprouted from my back, grabbing different destroyers. Then I pulled the tentacles strongly. The destroyers, larger than my body, shook from the tentacles and collided with each other. Some tried to escape by accelerating recklessly, only to crash into other destroyers.

Ships positioned in the rear fired torpedoes, but I blocked them using the destroyers as shields. Ships caught in the tentacles exploded, and cyborg crew members were ejected into space.

‘Holding up well.’

Everyone was showing combat skills beyond what was expected. None of the Gallergorn were injured, and PS-111 and the Sky Mother were fighting well too.

Moreover, we weren’t the only ones fighting the Star Union fleet. I looked at the flashing lights away from the white planet.

The Megacorp battleship brought by Siheyon Yujin’s forces. They were also fighting, having become targets of the Star Union’s attack.

‘Thanks to them drawing attention, our burden has been reduced.’

However, it’s uncertain how long this advantage will last.

It may seem favorable for us at the moment, but that’s not actually the case.

They still have numerous ships remaining, with more to be added. Fortunately, the Grand Sovereign isn’t here yet; if he arrives, the situation will become very unfavorable.

‘I need some kind of breakthrough.’

Since engaging with the 5th Fleet, I’ve destroyed four battleships carrying warp finders. There are still at least six confirmed ones remaining, plus other hidden warp finders.

‘It’s not easy to destroy them with breath.’

They aren’t fools. After being caught a few times, they now scatter immediately when I show signs of using breath.

But destroying them one by one by charging as I’ve been doing takes too long. The ships carrying warp finders have started fleeing here and there to avoid me.

I threw the halved destroyer pieces at the enemies while thinking. What other weapons do I have that would be useful against ships?

‘Deep Abyss Coloration is a pass.’

The Psychic Breath enhanced with ‘Deep Abyss Coloration’ specializes in destroying organic matter, and the enhanced ‘Gaze of Terror’ can’t have much effect unless targeting living beings. The psychic reflection armor is also hard to rely on since the enemy is using torpedoes rather than energy-based weapons.

‘Should I go back and consume the Golden Spear of Shaman now?’

The Golden Spear of Shaman is a weapon that grows exponentially stronger the more blood it’s stained with. If I consume it using the ‘Plunderer’s Amorphous Polyhedron’ effect, I’m likely to gain its unique characteristic.

Then in this battle with massive casualties, I could gain tremendous attack power.

‘But the problem is that if I do that, it would be difficult to heal if I were to suffer serious injuries.’

Thanks to the ‘Dragon’s Heart,’ I won’t lack energy, but injury recovery is another issue. To quickly heal wounds on my body, I need the ‘Predatory Leech’s Hand.’

If I eat the Golden Spear of Shaman, I’d have to give up the Predatory Leech’s Hand.

‘What’s left is…’

While biting a nearby battleship with my mouth, I check the text box with my eyes.

‘Great Infector.’

The fourth space monster type characteristic, ‘Great Infector,’ can provide three enhancement effects per type from infection and nest-related characteristics.

Since I haven’t experimented with it yet, the extent of the enhancement effect is unknown.

‘Then now is the time to experiment.’

I selected ‘Gremlin Moss,’ an infection-related fusion characteristic, as the enhancement target.

A characteristic that secretes microorganisms causing malfunctions in machines from my body. That characteristic begins to strengthen.

「’Gremlin Moss’ enhancement setting completed.」

‘Is it done?’

Despite the text box message, I didn’t feel any significant change in my body.

I activated the enhanced Gremlin Moss. Then, mutations occurred not inside my body but outside.

After acquiring the Great Infector characteristic, all the blunt claws on my body disappeared. In their place, cylindrical biological pipe-like organs sprouted.

Something is flowing out from the holes of the pipes that hadn’t shown any special effect until now.

It was like smoke flowing from a factory chimney. Dense smog-like substances were emitted from the pipes, spreading around my body and surroundings.

‘What is this?’

I obtain a similar characteristic when becoming an adult. Biological tubes like pipes grow on my back, emitting smoke that protects the main body. When becoming an adult, the body grows larger, increasing the hit area, so this is to protect it.

However, the phenomenon occurring on my body now was on a completely different level from the characteristic gained as an adult.

The widely spread smoke clouds attached to nearby ships. Then all the lights on the ships went out.

The ships with extinguished lights stopped completely and did not move. Even when I approached, there was no reaction from the ships.

‘So it spreads Gremlin Moss!’

The characteristic has been enhanced from ‘temporarily neutralizing machines that touch the body’ to ‘generating smoke clouds that neutralize machines they contact.’

‘This changes everything.’

It’s the best characteristic in a situation where we’re engaged in a melee with mechanically composed enemies. The only downside is that I can’t directly control the movement of the smoke clouds.

I smashed the stopped ships, then flew toward the battleships providing support fire from the rear.

They saw me and fired torpedoes, but it didn’t matter much. The advanced torpedoes controlled by cutting-edge technology became useless as soon as they touched the smoke cloud, or rather, the Gremlin cloud.

I nimbly avoided the torpedoes floating in space and jumped into where the ships were gathered, along with the Gremlin cloud that was fatal to steel ships.

–

“Hull damage from torpedoes exceeds 25%!”

“Switch the ship’s maneuvering program to Peter Egerton style, and allocate an additional 5% energy to the propulsion system.”

“Understood!”

“Fighter Squadron D team annihilated! B team has 5 aircraft remaining!”

“B team return, and have the damaged aircraft from the remaining A, C, E, F teams return sequentially.”

“Understood! This is the flagship…”

The crew moved in unison at Siheyon Yujin’s command.

In the center of the situation room, the state of the ship and the Star Union fleet attacking it were displayed as 3D holograms.

Amid her subordinates’ busy movements, Siheyon watched the hologram with cold eyes.

‘This is not an easy fight.’

The flagship’s stealth equipment, stolen from Egerton’s secret weapon, boasts considerable performance, but the other side brought superior detection equipment. Additionally, they brought numerous warp finders, making it impossible for her side to hide or escape.

‘If they die…’

Currently, they could hold out because the Gallergorn group and the unidentified ship were fighting the enemies, the 5th Elite Fleet, but that had its limits. If the Gallergorn were annihilated, they would be the next target.

‘Should I use that?’

Her eyes were fixed on the hologram, but her nerves were focused on the object placed under her chair.

The legacy left by her father, Junwoo Yujin.

She hadn’t used that weapon yet. But when obtaining the weapon, she had glimpsed its danger.

The artifact found inside a massive volcano consisted of two parts: the ‘Abyss Destroyer’ functioning as a weapon and a crystal-shaped battery supplying energy. It had a simple structure where attaching the battery to the weapon allowed it to fire energy, but the problem was that energy.

After she recovered the battery from the volcano, strange things happened. Communications that had been dead were restored shortly after, and during their escape, they didn’t encounter any beasts. It was as if the monsters were avoiding her party.

This alone showed that this weapon possessed tremendous power.

But the reason she hesitated was one: according to her interpretation, this weapon sets its killing targets based on genetic information.

Cyborgs are humans with machines attached. Attacking cyborgs means attacking humans. If misused, even the fighter pilots engaged in combat with the enemies could die instantly.

Without fighters, if enemies remain, that’s the end. That’s why Siheyon had been watching for an opportunity.

Just then, a subordinate’s voice struck her ears.

“Emergency report! Massive energy concentration phenomenon detected! Star Union’s additional support fleet is preparing for FTL travel!”

“What?!”

At those words, she snapped to attention. The butler, Minseok Yujin, standing behind her, urgently exclaimed:

“Estimated arrival time?”

“Within 5, 5 minutes!”

There was no more time to hesitate. She had to make a decision now.

At that moment, another subordinate reported urgently:

“The enemy fleet is concentrating on one point!”

“Are they trying to protect the support fleet in FTL travel so it can arrive safely?”

“That’s strange! The distance from the energy concentration point is quite…”

“An unidentified entity is gathering the ships! Connecting to the fighter’s camera!”

Soon, a video with poor quality was displayed on the hologram.

Numerous battleships and destroyers were gathered at a place quite far from the fighters. Their appearance would seem strange even to those who had never experienced space combat.

Battleships should maintain distance from other ships due to their size. Yet the ships in the video were all so close together that collisions between ships were a concern.

There was another strange point.

“Why are there no lights? Is it the effect of a stealth field?”

Not a single light was visible from the ships that were narrowing the distance at will. It was as if their power had been forcibly cut off.

“Um, it seems the ships’ functions have stopped.”

“An EMP? Who did this?”

While Minseok and the crew were confused, Siheyon spotted something between the gaps of the ships.

A smoke-like cloud of unknown composition was quickly moving between the ships. As soon as a battleship touched the cloud, its lights went out, and it became a piece of scrap metal like the other ships.

Seeing this, Siheyon immediately stood up.

“Recall all fighter teams to the flagship! And prepare the FTL engine so we can jump as soon as I return!”

“Siheyon, what are you…?”

“Minseok. I’m entrusting you with the role of acting captain.”

After entrusting ship operations to Minseok, Siheyon picked up the artifact placed beside her seat and left the situation room.

「Siheyon! What are you doing! Come back immediately!」

Ignoring Minseok’s voice coming through the speaker, she quickly ran to the hangar.

‘This is the only chance!’

Whatever that creature enveloped in smoke clouds is, it has given a very good opportunity.

Upon reaching the hangar, instead of boarding a fighter, she opened the door and jumped straight into space.

As she entered the zero-gravity space, the white reinforced suit she was wearing, ‘White Maiden,’ activated. A white helmet-like object covered her face, and wings with thrusters sprouted from her back. The thrusters on the wings activated, pushing her forward strongly.

Fighters returning one by one to the flagship, debris from damaged spaceships, torpedoes and energy beams going back and forth. She flew through numerous obstacles and activated the weapon in her hand.

Then the crystal battery inside the weapon began to rotate, emitting an eerie light.

–

XAX01-class battleship, carrying the fleet commander of the 5th Elite Fleet, Nemea Fleet.

Nemea Five, a member of the Machine Committee, sat on a steel fortress throne.

With a body twice as large as a regular android and numerous cables reminiscent of lush hair, Nemea Five with his extraordinary appearance had his eyes closed.

Currently, he was controlling the entire fleet through his extended cables. In the mental world built of machines and metal, an enormous amount of information was being exchanged.

「Nemea Five. Report from Arrow Nine. 9th Fleet FTL travel preparation complete.」

「Europa Two, Redtail Eight report. 2nd and 8th Fleets achieved 80% energy charge.」

「Menebeo reporting! Analysis of substance being sprayed by Special Target A failed!」

「Kazansky reporting. Estimated to have an effect equivalent to EMP.」

「Shimurabi requesting! Please authorize the use of ship’s main guns!」

「Nemea Five. Denied. Special Target A has resistance to energy-based weapons. Judged effective to buy time until the arrival of the 2nd, 8th, and 9th Fleets.」

Nemea Five’s attention was currently focused on Special Target A.

The 5th Fleet under his command was being destroyed in real-time as if infested by metallic gremlins.

Or perhaps it might be true. Like metallic gremlins, it was neutralizing Star Union ships with EMP attacks. The moment ships touched the fine substance it was spreading, all ship functions immediately stopped.

Whether it affected the machine itself or not, even AI-controlled torpedoes couldn’t hit it properly. This was because they stopped midway after touching the fine substance cloud surrounding its body.

Because of this, the 5th Fleet’s losses were severe. So severe that they would have had to retreat if other fleets weren’t scheduled to arrive.

「Arrow Nine reporting. 9th Fleet will enter FTL travel in 1 minute 12 seconds.」

「Europa Two, Redtail Eight reporting. 2nd and 8th Fleets FTL travel preparation complete.」

In a few minutes, Nemea Five would win. If they secured Special Target A’s corpse, in-depth research would be possible.

At that moment, a report came from a cyborg captain of another ship.

It said that an unidentified flying object had been launched from a Megacorp ship of unknown affiliation and was moving this way.

Nemea Five judged it to be an EMP torpedo. Patrol ships receiving his orders moved to intercept the torpedo.

The torpedo would be shot down, and the Megacorp ship would be dealt with as soon as the other high commissioners arrived.

It was a judgment made after sufficiently rational calculations, but what happened afterward exceeded his calculations.

「Kazansky! Unknown wavelength from unidentified flying object…」

The cyborg captain’s report was cut off midway. Then, the countless reports and messages that had been exchanged suddenly stopped.

As if there was a problem with his auditory function, no sound could be heard. Only silence lingered. When he tried to issue commands again to check, no one answered.

Something was wrong. Nemea Five hurriedly transmitted his consciousness to his sleeping physical body.

Once the transmission was complete, he opened his eyes on the steel throne. The situation that entered his camera lens-like eyes was completely different from usual.

All the cyborgs who should have been assisting him were lying on the situation room floor. According to the analysis through his lens, all their functions had stopped.

The situation room where he was located was a tomb of cyborgs.

Or perhaps it wasn’t just here.

He used cables to synchronize with the ship’s external cameras and visual functions. All cameras of the XAX01-class battleship became his eyes.

Thanks to this, he could see that this incident hadn’t occurred only on his ship.

Numerous ships under the 5th Fleet were leaving their positions and moving on their own.

This was happening because all the cyborg captains had suddenly died.

With the captains dead, the ship AIs were repeatedly executing the last orders they had received. That’s why they were showing such movements.

As reported by the cyborg captain’s last report, the 5th Fleet had suffered near-annihilation damage from an unidentified weapon fired by Megacorp.

Nemea Five immediately contacted other fleets. He told them to stop FTL travel immediately and stand by. Especially, the Grand Sovereign must absolutely not come here.

Then, a communication from the Grand Sovereign who didn’t understand this came:

「It’s me! What’s going on?」

「Nemea Five. Reporting. Chairman, an unidentified wavelength has spread here. It is estimated to inflict fatal damage on cyborgs.」

「What are you saying! Who did such a thing?!」

Beyond the camera connected to Nemea Five’s gaze, the figure of Special Target A could be seen. It hesitated momentarily at the situation happening around it, then soon spewed out an enormous amount of flame.

Is this what it feels like to face the sun? It poured out psychic power close to infinity, turning ships into scrap metal. Even if Nemea Five tried to interfere with the ship AI to move, it wasn’t easy due to the fine substance cloud coming from its body.

Only after burning most of the battleships did it stop its attack. After removing the fine substance cloud, it turned its body. The Gallergorn, who had been fighting with patrol ships elsewhere, also retreated following Special Target A.

「Nemea Five. Suggesting. Currently, identifying the cause is the priority. I suggest suspending the operation.」

「Arrow Nine. Agree.」

「Redtail Eight. Agree.」

「The target is right in front of us and you’re saying to let it go? Do you think that makes sense…!」

The Grand Sovereign Jubaka, who had been expressing intense anger, closed his mouth after checking the video data shared by Nemea Five.

The second high commissioner, Europa Two, instantly analyzed the video and sent a communication:

「Europa Two. Agree. Chairman, currently, a wavelength fatal to cyborgs is flowing in the area. I recommend entering after ensuring your safety.」

Currently, there are elements threatening both androids and cyborgs here. Special Target A has the ability to neutralize androids or ships themselves, and the flying object launched by the Megacorp flagship has the effect of instantly killing cyborgs. As long as the two are together, carrying out the operation would result in too much damage.

Therefore, the four high commissioners had essentially decided that the mission should be aborted.

They are machines that exist for the continuation of the Star Union. They have a duty to protect Jubaka, the most important being in the Star Union, by any means necessary.

Of course, if the Grand Sovereign insisted on proceeding, they would have no choice but to follow. However, none of the high commissioners thought Jubaka would act that way.

He is not a fool. He must know that the problem occurring here is not ordinary. Also, he knows better than anyone what would happen if something were to happen to him.

「I, iiiiik! That morph bastard is right there! Блять!」

After this communication, which could have been either a shout or a scream, the voice of Grand Sovereign Jubaka was no longer heard.

Meanwhile, in Nemea Five’s view, the ship carrying Special Target A and the Gallergorn, along with the Megacorp battleship, were being enveloped in blue light.

A moment later, only blue particles remained where they had been.