Ch.278Collapse (3)

“Visual impairment.”

I checked my body condition while hanging from the silo.

“Color Bomb” inflicts heavy damage on opponents while simultaneously causing random negative effects. The annoying part is the latter rather than the former. It weakens bodily functions like senses and muscles, or disrupts concentration, and so on.

My visual function was severely impaired from taking a rainbow-colored energy bullet to the abdomen. Everything around me looked blurry.

‘Without my auxiliary organ, this would have been quite troublesome.’

The most significant sensory organ for an AMorph is the auxiliary organ attached under the jaw. Even without sight, I could clearly detect what was happening inside the silo.

Hanging on the silo wall, I watched the opponent’s movements with my auxiliary organ.

Currently, Cynthia was focusing on healing her wounds. The smell of blood flowing from her wounds and the cold sweat from pain were gradually weakening.

Meanwhile, I organized the important new information I had gathered.

I conducted several experiments while fighting her.

Wondering if she only defended against projectiles, I tried hitting her directly with my hand, and also checked if “Predatory Leech Hand” could devour her barrier.

The result was failure. As a consequence, the fingers and inner palm of one of my combat arms were blown off.

Next, I attempted a joint operation with No. 26.

The protective barrier she had set up was a dome-shaped structure spread across the floor. If so, attacking by breaking through the floor should be effective.

I poured acid breath onto the protective barrier. Cynthia probably thought I was trying to attack the barrier, but I was actually trying to make a hole in the floor.

No. 26 hid in the toxic smoke created as the floor melted and went down to the lower floor. There, it enlarged its body and struck the floor beneath the barrier with its tentacles.

And I timed it perfectly, using “Herald of Chaos” to drive one of the pirates into a frenzy.

Unfortunately, Cynthia changed her barrier into a spherical shape, blocking the Herald of Chaos midway. Because of that, the pirate failed to kill Cynthia.

‘Still, I gained important information.’

The barrier couldn’t block attacks originating from inside. She was injured by a shot fired by her bodyguard.

Among the defensive techniques used by boss-level creatures, there are types where the protected area is completely immune to damage. Her technique isn’t that type.

‘But it won’t be easy to induce attacks from inside.’

After suffering an unexpected attack from inside the barrier, Cynthia pushed the bodyguard outside to eliminate the threat. It’s a shame the bodyguard didn’t die inside the barrier, or the madness bomb would have spread.

She’ll be on high alert after being caught off guard once. She’s a ranker like me. She won’t fall for the same trick twice.

‘Or maybe I can use this to my advantage?’

It’s been quite some time since I started fighting Cynthia. By now, she must know that I have no means to penetrate her barrier. So it would be natural for me to try a different approach for my attack.

The weakness of the barrier revealed so far is its vulnerability to attacks from within. Since both of us know this fact, this aspect becomes the key to the strategy.

‘…or so she’ll think.’

While she’s under that misconception, I plan to target something else.

My auxiliary organ twitched as I observed Cynthia’s reactions. I could feel her breath escaping outside the barrier.

‘Good.’

I had a framework for how to attack.

After checking the timing, which was most crucial for this plan, I sent a wave to No. 26 waiting on the lower floor.

[Zz zz zzzz(Are you okay?)]

“Yes! I’m fine!”

[Zzzzzz zz zzzzzz(Sorry, but I need one more favor)]

“What? What is it?”

[Zeeeeezzz zz zz zzzz zzzz(Go to Adhigh Orr and relay this message)]

I conveyed the necessary information to No. 26.

The little one seemed reluctant to leave, but eventually agreed.

“Big baby, don’t get hurt anymore!”

[Zzzzzzz(Don’t worry)]

After reassuring it, I fired a psychic breath with the monster’s tentacle. The target wasn’t the barrier but the space around it.

“Tch!”

She clicked her tongue briefly when she realized I was trying to destroy all the floor around her. A psychic scythe appeared out of nowhere under her control and struck down at me.

Perhaps my senses became more acute because I couldn’t see? I detected the enemy’s attack in advance and spread my wing arms to fly up. After avoiding the Reaper’s Hand, I tried to fly to the opposite wall to hang there.

While flying through the center of the wide silo, my body suddenly became heavier. I could feel strong psychic power concentrating in Cynthia’s left hand below me.

She grabbed me with ‘Restraint’ and sharply pulled her left arm backward. My body was violently pulled downward and collided with the floor.

It didn’t particularly hurt, but it wasn’t pleasant either. The bio-cannon on my back fired projectiles, expressing my irritation. Two explosive spores flew in an arc, passing over the protective barrier.

The spores exploded, sending shallow vibrations through the floor we were standing on. Ignoring this, Cynthia reached out toward me.

Various negative psychic techniques rained down on me.

My body slowed down as if I had fallen into quicksand. She kept firing Color Bombs while keeping me bound.

I responded by activating “Complex Spectral Body.”

Smoke flowing from my body quickly condensed in the air. The Complex Spectral Body, transformed into a huge tray-like shape, defended against Cynthia’s Color Bombs.

“!”

The reflected Color Bombs bounced in all directions like popcorn popping in a pan. Marks began appearing on the silo walls where they hit. Seeing this, her heartbeat increased compared to before.

She must be wondering just how many more hidden abilities I possess.

After that, we engaged in a more passive exchange of attacks.

Having witnessed the Complex Spectral Body, she focused on techniques that bound and hindered my movement rather than those with powerful destructive power.

Indeed, as Jason said, she showed excellent skill as a ranker specialized in rear support. Though lacking a decisive blow, she was hindering me with the right techniques at the right moments.

After the Complex Spectral Body disappeared, I took a few more Color Bombs from Cynthia. Once I negated the negative effect by breaking it with my horn, but the rest hit me squarely.

One of my combat arms had no feeling, and the acid fungal gland inside my neck was extremely impaired in its ability to produce fungi.

And gravity manipulated by psychic power pressed down on me. Cynthia prepared a Color Bomb aimed at me as I lay with my head pinned to the floor, unable to move properly.

‘She’s aiming for my right wing arm.’

Reading the flow of psychic power with my auxiliary organ instead of my impaired eyes, I forcibly moved my unresponsive body to prepare a defense.

Eventually, the rainbow-colored energy bullet she fired came flying. But it flew in a completely different direction, not toward my wing arm.

“…Damn it!”

Her short curse was filled with deep bewilderment. About 10 minutes into the fight, her attack missed for the first time.

Meanwhile, I crawled out of the Gravity Control’s area. She fired another Color Bomb at my back, but again it flew off in a random direction.

“Why is this…”

She muttered in confusion. She seemed unable to think properly about why her shots kept missing.

Of course, I knew the reason. I kindly pointed behind her with the fingers of my wing arm.

The pirates inside the barrier. Their complexions were very pale, and they had become much quieter. Especially the large pirate, who was clutching his chest and gasping.

“No way?”

She glared at me with bloodshot eyes. The redness in her eyes wasn’t just due to anger.

The weapon I chose to penetrate the barrier was none other than:

‘Time.’

Due to PS-111’s machinations, the oxygen level in this fortress is dropping in real time. In an hour, there won’t be a single human left standing upright inside this fortress.

Originally, each command center would have its own oxygen supply facility for such situations. But now it’s not working properly. Since I smashed through the command center on my way up, more oxygen is escaping uselessly than is being supplied inside.

It’s been over 20 minutes since it started expelling oxygen into space. She and the pirates should start showing reactions soon.

“If you can’t breathe, you die. The Cult is no different.”

This is where being an AMorph is really good. I can survive for long periods without breathing.

“…Mr. Montana, please go inside.”

“Will… you… be… alright?”

Instead of responding to my words, she put the pirates behind her into the transport ship. The ship supplies a small amount of oxygen, so they can hold out a little longer.

Of course, Cynthia is an exception since she has to deal with me.

As I prepared to fight again, she spoke.

“Rank 5, I have something to say.”

This is unexpected. It’s not me who’s at a disadvantage if time drags on, but her side.

‘Has proper thinking become impossible for her?’

From her constant cold sweat and unstable breathing, it was easy to tell she was in a very desperate situation.

“This might be acceptable in a game, but this is reality. If dialogue is possible, there’s no need to avoid it, right?”

Not wrong, but there’s no need to talk right now. She and I are fighting to kill each other, and this conversation could give her a chance to counterattack.

“Are you so immersed in the AMorph life that you refuse to talk to another human?”

At those words, I involuntarily hesitated.

“Another human?”

“Yes.”

“That’s rich coming from someone who hunted other players.”

She’s one of Jason’s group. They tried to enslave the Sky Mother and killed other players to steal their perks.

“My request to talk to you is related to that matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t agree with their intentions at all. In fact, I never received any perks.”

One part of what she said was something I’d heard from Jason. He said Cynthia had never taken a perk while working with him.

“Such excuses mean nothing. The fact remains that you contributed to the death of other players.”

“That was to achieve the goals of the faction I belong to. The reason I associated with them was for intelligence gathering.”

“Intelligence?”

Cynthia put her hand inside her clothes near her chest, seemingly finding it difficult to breathe.

“Rank 5. Isn’t your reason for preying on others to see the end of evolution, that is, Ascension?”

“Yes.”

I answered simply since there was nothing to hide.

She then continued in a more stable voice than before.

“My colleagues and I aim to clear the game and return home.”

Hearing that, I recalled what the Sky Mother had told me before.

That there was a conflict between players trying to see the ending and players trying to dominate this world.

And I’m closer to the former.

“Would you consider cooperating with us?”

Therefore, the words from Cynthia’s mouth were quite predictable.

‘Cooperation.’

Without deep thought, her proposal is quite attractive.

Players once tried to cooperate to see the ending but failed for some reason—Cynthia’s faction probably knows this. Despite that, if they’re aiming for the ending, they likely know a lot of information that I don’t.

In a world that has changed so much from the game, there’s an enormous gap between moving with prior knowledge and moving without it. Especially if the difficulty of the ending mission has increased dramatically, cooperating with them would certainly be advantageous.

‘That would obviously be the case, but…’

However, there’s a trap in her proposal. After brief consideration, I made my choice.

“I refuse.”

“Think care—what?”

Cynthia, who had assumed I would accept, looked at me with disbelief upon hearing my rejection.