Ch.272Swarm of Rats (3)

In the underground banquet hall of the Second Command Center.

People in elegant attire were enjoying an early dinner.

They were affiliated with the universe’s major powers like Megacorp, Cult Empire, and Star Union. Montana Martio’s valuable clients.

Originally, the banquet was supposed to start with the auction, but the schedule had changed due to an unfortunate incident at the fortress.

Montana’s business spans both legal and illegal domains. His guests know this well. If even the slightest problem arises, they would immediately seek alternatives and leave.

That’s why Montana had to do everything in his power to keep them here. At least until he resolved the issue that had occurred in the underground storage.

“How was everyone’s meal?”

The guests silently nodded at Montana’s question. Their expressions weren’t bad, but they weren’t entirely friendly either.

There was an issue with the underground storage where their assets were kept. Mercenaries had been sent to check on the safety of the items.

Naturally, if there was a problem with the items and the deal fell through, they would also be held responsible.

In truth, those present weren’t truly the upper class. They were merely representatives of the elite, servants tasked with handling illegal transactions. The Cult’s representatives were somewhat better off, but the servants of Noble Capital or Prime Capital had no idea what would happen to them if the deal collapsed.

At the very least, they had to wait until responsibility was clearly established.

“This wine is made from Beryan cacti. I never thought I’d taste such a rare delicacy here.”

“As expected of Montana’s collection. It lives up to its reputation. Hohoho.”

“Hahahahaha.”

Warm laughter filled the banquet hall. But behind the masks of smiles, complex calculations were being exchanged.

Montana was no different.

Damage from the accident was already inevitable. But he was thinking about how to turn this crisis around, overcome it brilliantly, and build a good image with them.

He had overcome countless adversities until now. This time would be no different.

As he believed this, a subordinate cautiously approached him.

“B-boss, ahem.”

“What is it?”

“An urgent report. It’s a bit… difficult to discuss here…”

Leaving in front of numerous clients is never a wise move. Any other time, Montana would have dismissed his subordinate.

If the subordinate hadn’t been pale-faced and sweating profusely.

“Hahaha, it seems things are wrapping up. The main course will be served soon, so please wait a little longer.”

Montana calmly left the banquet hall. But after hearing the full report from his subordinate, he couldn’t maintain his composure.

“The forces sent to the military port have also lost contact? All of them?”

The worst-case scenario Montana had envisioned was significant losses among the forces sent to the storage.

But to lose contact not only with the storage team but also with the reserve forces gathered at the military port? It far exceeded his imagination.

“I-I contacted some people wandering around the port, and they said it’s complete chaos. Monsters have appeared and are massacring people…”

“…”

The situation was extremely serious. It was the greatest crisis since he had taken control of the fortress.

‘This is no time to just stand here.’

“I’m going to the main control room. You stay and attend to the guests inside.”

“Yes, sir.”

After sending his subordinate back to the banquet hall, he took the elevator with his bodyguards.

The main control room was on the 10th floor. As the heavy-set man pressed the button, the elevator began to ascend rapidly.

–

After dealing with the forces gathered at the storage, I sent the mutants toward the command center. The reason I didn’t go with them was because I had business at the military port.

‘There must be more reserve forces.’

The pirates from the train I attacked were all heading to the station at the military port. For security reasons, there’s no landing space for patrol ships or hover buses near the storage.

So the enemies likely gathered a large number of forces at the nearby military port, planning to deploy them gradually as the situation developed.

‘If I turn all of them into mutants too, taking over the fortress will be much easier.’

The mutants will wander around and reduce the number of enemies on their own. Plus, if I take control of the military port where many enemy ships are docked, their defensive capabilities will be severely reduced.

For these reasons, I asked PS-111 to secretly go to the military port and do some preliminary work.

And now, having arrived at the military port, I could see the results of his efforts.

“Ugh, uuuugh…”

“Waaack! Cough, cough…”

Pirates, mercenaries, and various criminals were sprawled on the ground throughout the port. PS-111 had hacked the environmental maintenance system in the port area and wreaked havoc.

First, he distorted gravity to immobilize the enemies, then sprayed toxic gas over them. Thanks to this, the combat effectiveness of the forces gathered at the port had plummeted.

“Quick, request reinforcements from the command center!”

“Damn it! The communicator’s not working!”

“Stop wasting time! Release the Hulk Mutants to stop him first!”

The unfortunate thing was that not all enemies had been subdued. Quite a few had reacted quickly after seeing their comrades collapse.

The mercenaries and pirates were wearing gas masks and had injected enhancers into their bodies to withstand the toxic gas and gravity. The Hulk Mutants, which appeared to have been brought from Megacorp, were wearing specially made bio-masks on their faces, making them immune to the toxic gas.

‘Not a bad countermeasure, but…’

Choosing the second-worst option instead of the worst is still bad. Having chosen to fight, they only had two futures left.

Either die. Or…

“Open fire!”

Enemy forces hiding behind buildings as cover unleashed all their firepower at me. From tungsten bullets from Gauss rifles to depleted uranium rounds from storm guns with physical destructive power, to pulse grenades strong against electronic equipment and energy rounds from laser weapons.

All kinds of attacks rained down, but few of them reached me. The bullets with physical power were all fixed in mid-air.

“What the?!”

“What’s happening…?”

If they were from the Cult, they would have understood why the bullets were floating in the air. No. 26 above my head had caught all the incoming bullets with powerful psychic power.

[Zzzzzzz (Don’t kill them)]

“Okay.”

No. 26 jumped down onto the metal floor. Simultaneously, the bullets entangled in the psychic power net fell to the ground.

Standing in front of me protectively, No. 26’s body began to grow rapidly. Huge fins grew from the bottom of its body, and countless tentacles emerged from the top.

In an instant, it grew into a massive monster 25 meters tall, with innumerable eyes popping out of its body. Each eye moved independently, monitoring the enemies’ positions.

“…”

“…”

The enemies who met its gaze couldn’t take any action. An overwhelming fear beyond imagination gripped their throats.

As everyone was engulfed in silence, No. 26’s attack began.

“Everyone, take cover!”

“Aaaaargh!”

A building where about ten people were hiding on the roof collapsed after being struck by its tentacles. It wasn’t hard to predict what happened to those inside. Seeing this, other enemies finally came to their senses and shouted.

“Hulk Mutants! Release the Hulk Mutants!”

“Kill it!”

Hulk Mutants wearing bio-masks emerged with rough breathing sounds. No. 26 stood proudly in front of me and unleashed psychic power toward them.

“Kuuuh?”

“Kuuk!”

Four Hulk Mutants simultaneously floated into the air. Their bodies trembled, and then their limbs were torn off as if they were being drawn and quartered.

“How do we defeat that monster?!”

“We need to escape… Argh!”

Pirates trying to flee had their legs twisted 360 degrees by No. 26’s restraint. Others were too busy ensuring their own safety to help their comrades.

‘No need to help them.’

I extended my tentacles and injected the mutation virus into enemies who weren’t dead yet. Pirates who were screaming with bones protruding from their thighs fell silent as soon as my tentacles touched them.

They had transcended their past weak minds and become new beings. The desire for slaughter had set them free.

“Gigigigi”

“Kueeeeeng!”

The newly born mutants rushed toward the Hulk Mutants with their limbs torn off.

‘It would be nice if I could mutate the Hulk Mutants too, but it’s a shame.’

It’s not that the mutation virus doesn’t work on them, but the results weren’t good when I tried. Perhaps it’s because they have so many spliced genes. The mutations only went in unfavorable directions.

Giving up on the Hulk Mutants, I focused on mutating the living mercenaries, pirates, and other humans.

By the time No. 26 finished cleaning up, the number of mutants had grown to hundreds. I adjusted their movement paths using ‘Herald of Chaos’.

“Baby, not there. Go over there.”

“Gigigigi”

Occasionally there were deviating individuals, but No. 26 caught them one by one. Those whose necks or waists were snapped by its power staggered and joined the other mutants.

‘The port is mostly cleared up.’

After turning dozens of criminals hiding in one building into mutants, I was about to have them join the group.

‘Is this enough?’

As I was thinking that, suddenly a light flashed from a long cylindrical building in the distance.

Then, an intense beam of light flew in and annihilated dozens of mutants at once.

‘Oh no!’

That was one of the fortress’s internal defense cannons. There are six in total, two installed in each of the three command centers, and the one just fired was the main cannon from the Second Command Center.

‘The command center has also recognized the situation.’

The mutants are still on their way to the command center. They must have responded immediately not because of the mutants, but because contact with the military port’s personnel was lost.

‘I didn’t expect them to fire the fortress cannon so quickly.’

They might know about the mutants, but they don’t know about me. That’s quite a quick response.

“Big one, are you okay?”

[Zz Zzzzzz Zzz Zzz Zzz (I’m fine. I’ll shrink my body again)]

No. 26, who was worried about me, reduced its body back to a small size. It could have used psychic power to deflect the fortress cannon’s beam, but that would be a dangerous attempt. There are two fortress cannons. If it blocks one and gets hit by the other, that would be the end.

‘I’ll have to use that.’

I was planning to save it for later, but given the situation, I have no choice.

It’s time for my most recently acquired unique trait, ‘Complex Spectral Body’, to shine.

The second fortress cannon in the Second Command Center will fire soon. Before that, I activated my unique trait.

As the trait activated, a formless heat haze rose above my body as if heat was rising. The heat haze floated in the air and then condensed into a transparent platter shape. It was large enough to cover both me and No. 26 at its maximum size.

Then, the platter-shaped heat haze gradually solidified and began to refract and disperse the surrounding light. The colorfully shining platter looked similar to my appearance in the ‘Colors of the Abyss’ state, but slightly different.

While the light of the Colors of the Abyss gives off a somewhat eerie feeling, this looked like light created by a pure natural phenomenon. Like light reflected through a prism.

At that moment, light flashed again from the distant command center.

A psychic power heat ray, much faster than a Gallergorn’s breath, flew toward me. It collided with the transparent platter floating above me.

The enemies could never have predicted the result that followed.

The heat ray, blocked by an invisible barrier, transformed into numerous light beams and flew off in completely different directions.

The main ability of the platter-shaped heat haze, or rather, the Complex Spectral Body, is as follows:

‘Reflects energy-based attacks.’

“Sparkly and pretty!”

Meteor showers of light illuminating the fortress and the burning city.

As No. 26 evaluated, it was indeed a very beautiful sight.