Ch.288Moving (1)

Megacorp and Star Union ships can use plasma weapons. This is because both powers originated from humanity in the solar system.

However, looking at the details, the two powers have slightly different equipment preferences.

Star Union favors drone weapons with advanced AI technology. In contrast, Megacorp specializes in energy-based weapons like lasers and plasma.

The spherical super-sized mining vessel “Gigacracker” beneath my feet is one of Megacorp’s superweapons that uses energy-based weapons.

Gigacracker’s main armament is a massive ion cannon. Its power is formidable enough to split meteors or asteroids.

‘But the maintenance cost is enormous.’

There’s a material consumed as an energy source each time the ion cannon is activated. The Crystalwing I caught before. The special metallic substance it secretes serves as the energy source for the massive ion cannon. This is why Megacorp players search desperately for Crystalwing nests.

‘I never expected to see the precious Gigacracker here.’

From what I can tell, it seems they’re attempting to mine the dwarf planet where I’ve settled to evolve.

I was about to launch a preemptive attack when a good idea suddenly occurred to me.

‘Superweapon Infiltration.’

As an adult, my body has grown larger than before, and thanks to the dragon’s heart, my energy output has significantly increased. Could I possibly take control of that ship with “Nightmare Horizon”?

Even if infiltration proves impossible, it doesn’t matter.

The Gigacracker is far more useful and powerful than a mere pirate ship. As a mining vessel, its auxiliary armaments are mediocre, but it has an ion cannon. Acquiring it would definitely be advantageous.

‘I was originally planning to test the Black Devourer Cannon, but…’

I glanced at my “left tail” among my two split tails, the one equipped with the bio-cannon. According to the tooltip, this trait has enough power to completely obliterate that vessel.

I’ve been lucky enough to get a chance to acquire a superweapon. It would be a waste to squander it just to experiment with a trait effect. I’ll save that for later.

Instead of destroying the ship, I changed my objective to capturing it and brought out two weapons.

The psionic fusion trait “Dark Shroud” and a unique trait I hadn’t seen before, “Adaptive Bio-weapon.”

‘Dark Shroud, I used this a lot in the game too.’

AMorphs gain several free traits each time they grow to the next stage. Dark Shroud is a trait created by fusing a free trait with “Mental Web.”

When Dark Shroud activates, special substances flow from pipes all over my body, enveloping me completely.

Its effect is to avoid detection by enemy sensing systems.

It’s similar to Crystalwing, which remains undetected due to its metal secretions.

‘Though the operating principle is the opposite.’

Unlike Crystalwing, which doesn’t register on electronic devices at all, Dark Shroud doesn’t conceal my appearance. Instead, it creates a powerful magnetic field that prevents machines from properly identifying me.

The ship probably registers me as some kind of massive energy mass or a sudden magnetic storm.

Concealed by Dark Shroud, I charged toward my target. Despite the Gigacracker’s armor being much thicker than that of a battleship, it couldn’t completely neutralize my charge now that I’ve reached adult form.

‘Of course, that’s not all I have.’

I returned my cranial carapace, which had grown three or four times larger than usual, back to its original size. The sound of carapace and bones colliding and twisting inside my head echoed, and the weight on my neck decreased in real time.

“Adaptive Bio-weapon: Mimicry is the mother of creation. Modify your body by mimicking the physical characteristics of Apex creatures you’ve already devoured.

Modifiable body parts: Head, Arms, Right Tail, Infiltration Tentacles

Mimicry Target (Result) List: Ice Horror (Cranial Carapace), Gallergorn (Horns, Wings), Glacier Fiend (Claws), Crystalwing (Auxiliary Organs), Skywhale (Eyes), Hellside Hornet (Arms), Gorgon Swarm (Tail)

*P.S.: The notion that the original is superior is an illusion.”

“Adaptive Bio-weapon” was created after escaping the space fortress.

It’s a unique trait that transforms body parts by reflecting the strengths of specific creatures. It required body-related traits as materials, similar to “Perfect Organism,” and the result resembles it too.

Unlike “Avatar of the Hunt,” Adaptive Bio-weapon doesn’t transform the entire body, but instead allows changing specific body parts into different forms.

When I rammed the Gigacracker just now, I utilized Adaptive Bio-weapon to transform my cranial carapace into the skull form of an Ice Horror.

The Ice Horror’s skull was so hard that even my teeth couldn’t properly penetrate it when I tried to eat it. When I changed my cranial carapace using Adaptive Bio-weapon, that hardness was perfectly reflected.

‘It’s good, but there are some drawbacks.’

Using it for the first time, I immediately noticed two disadvantages.

First, there was considerable pain each time I transformed and reverted my body. It wasn’t enough to trigger “Pain Reduction,” but it was still quite bothersome.

Second, since only limited parts can be transformed, they don’t harmonize well with other body parts. Enlarging my cranial carapace was fine, but it put considerable strain on my neck.

‘I need to research if there’s a way to compensate for this.’

The pain I felt during transformation subsided as time passed. I looked down at the dented outer wall that resembled a fortress wall hit by a siege hammer. Judging by its condition, one more hit with the Ice Horror carapace would likely create a hole.

‘No. Let’s try changing a different part.’

Dark Shroud was still active. Inside the ship, they hadn’t noticed what was happening outside.

This time, I decided to transform my arms.

‘Glacier Fiend’s claws.’

As Adaptive Bio-weapon activated, my combat arms, not my wing arms, rapidly changed.

The four fingers at the ends tingled, then the outer skin tore and blood gushed from within. Hook-shaped claws protruded from between the torn finger muscles.

Eventually, my hands transformed into a shape resembling beetle legs. I swung my two combat arms, now equipped with large hook claws, forcefully.

The heavy yet sharp claws embedded themselves in the ship’s outer wall. When I applied force and pulled my arms, the wall tore like paper.

‘Indeed, it’s similar.’

I was lucky when catching the Glacier Fiend in Adhigh’s homeland. Thanks to eradicating the red forest it had taken over with “Abyssal Hue,” I didn’t need to fight it directly.

That might make it seem like a weak enemy, but that’s not the case at all. It’s also classified as an Apex predator. Apart from its skill in controlling minions with narcotic substances, its physical specs are quite formidable.

The Glacier Fiend, with its stag beetle-like upper body and tree root-like lower body, possesses several weapons. One of them is its dozens of claws.

After taking control of an area, it hides dozens of branch-like legs underground. Normally, the thick hook claws at the ends of its legs remain hidden. These claws only emerge when attacking targets that approach its main body.

If you rush toward the main body without knowing this? You’ll be sliced to pieces by dozens of claws erupting from underground.

‘According to the lore, they’re used for digging, right?’

Right now, I’m digging through a superweapon’s outer wall instead of soil.

Thanks to this useful body part, I easily scraped away the outer wall like peeling an onion. I grabbed both ends of the hole with my wing arms and applied force to widen it, then pushed my head inside.

‘No humans nearby.’

The first thing I encountered inside the ship was an enormous pile of mineral chunks. There were numerous mineral pyramids on the storage compartment bathed in red emergency lights.

‘It’s certainly spacious.’

Even though the Gigacracker is a superweapon, it’s fundamentally a mining vessel. Most of the 2km-diameter ship’s interior is filled with spaces for storing minerals. The actual crew quarters aren’t very large.

After confirming this, I pulled my head back. In the distance, I could see two familiar objects approaching.

A griffon beastkin holding a pink ball, and a white dragon carrying an eight-legged spider robot. They slipped into the hole I had created.

Even after they entered, I continued to widen the hole. Only after making it just big enough for my body to squeeze through could I finally enter.

Inside, PS-111 was initiating the ship takeover operation with Sky Mother. No. 26 and Adhigh were fascinated by the huge piles of mineral chunks and were looking around.

“Wow! So many round things!”

“Liar Odd Grad” “Nest” “Similar”

“These round things are pretty.”

“Agreed”

I approached PS-111, who was operating a terminal in the storage compartment. It had connected the cable under its chin to the terminal and was nodding its head.

[Zzzzz zzzzz (Can you control it?)]

“Nothing is impossible for me. It might take some time, but there’s no need to worry.”

[Zzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzzzz (Really? Then could you stall to prevent FTL travel?)]

“Are you planning to infiltrate the Gigacracker? Is that possible?”

[Zzzzzz zzzzz (Let me check first)]

I pulled out an infiltration tentacle from my back and placed it against the storage compartment wall. A familiar text box appeared before me.

“Confirmed suitable size for infiltration. Estimated 16 hours until infiltration complete. Controllable time after infiltration: currently 80 days.”

’16 hours?’

It might seem like a long time, but it’s for completely taking control of a 2km-diameter superweapon. This is manageable.

‘I’ll save this for later.’

After confirming the possibility of takeover, I withdrew my tentacle.

Once infiltration begins, a time limit is created, making it difficult to use as a hidden card when fighting strong enemies. Until a situation requiring infiltration arises, I plan to leave it under PS-111’s control.

[Zzzzz (It’s possible)]

“Really? That seems so unbalanced.”

[Zzzzzz zzzzz z zzzzz zzzzzzz (Let’s consider it the reward for all our hard work)]

Sky Mother shook her head in disbelief.

[Zzz zzzzz (Everyone come here)]

“What is it? What is it?”

“?”

I called the kids over. No. 26 and Adhigh, who had been playing with a diamond ore the size of a laptop, approached.

[Zzzzz zzzzz zzzzz zzzz (Everyone has a job to do)]

There are things we need to do to take over this ship. For example, dealing with the uninvited guests occupying our new home.

“Yes. I know what to do.”

“Me too”

“I’ll hack the system to prevent FTL travel.”

Everyone understood quickly since this wasn’t their first experience with such situations. Then Sky Mother raised her hand.

“Wait a moment.”

[Zzz (What is it?)]

“The container on the pirate ship. We should take it before we leave.”

Come to think of it, I had forgotten about that.

‘I guess we should take it with us.’

The ingredients we brought from the space fortress were well-received by everyone. While this ship likely has food supplies since it carries people, they’re probably just combat rations.

[Zzzzzz zzzzzz (Let’s grab it after we’re done)]

“Great…! Ahem, understood.”

Sky Mother, who was about to cheer with both arms raised, awkwardly lowered them. After that, no one offered any new opinions.

‘Gigacracker, huh.’

A superweapon I’ve destroyed before but never acquired. Somehow, it piques my interest.

Of course, from the owner’s perspective, this is hardly a welcome development, but not everyone can be satisfied.

The first home I’ve acquired after becoming an adult is the Gigacracker.