Ch.292Target (1)

The nickname of Wilter Saintkay, head of House Saintkay, one of the Noble Capital families, is “Eccentric.”

While Akira Yujin, the Megacorp CEO, is also considered peculiar, the context in which Wilter is called eccentric is slightly different.

There are two main reasons why he’s labeled as eccentric.

First, despite being the head of a Noble Capital family, Wilter hasn’t undergone any genetic modifications. Though he uses superior weapons and precise mechanical devices, his body remains pure.

Just as the House Yugin believes in bloodlines, he believes in the purity of “human flesh” itself. While House Saintkay tends to be conservative, few avoid body modifications as strictly as Wilter does.

That alone would make him strange enough, but there’s another element that makes him even more unusual.

His hobby is hunting monsters—extremely dangerous beasts, at that.

Typically, Noble Capital heads enjoy hunting as a sport, but they don’t go after monsters like Wilter does. The death of a family head can severely impact their house. Isn’t that why House Egerton now lags behind House T&C?

Knowing this, Wilter still hunts the most dangerous monsters without any genetic modifications. If he weren’t such a skilled hunter, he would have died long ago.

Interestingly, his hunting hobby has helped him maintain good relationships with other Noble Capital families.

He enjoys the hunt itself but shows no interest in harvesting genes. All of Wilter’s trophies are sold to other houses. The other houses have no reason to dislike someone who regularly supplies them with rare creatures.

A Megacorp power player who’s also a dangerous bounty hunter—in one word, eccentric.

Now this maverick of Noble Capital is meeting another extraordinary individual.

In the reception room installed on Akira’s flagship “Heavenly Sword.”

A middle-aged man with black hair and an elderly man with snow-white hair sit across from each other at a table.

Unlike the middle-aged man’s lean build, the elderly man’s body was massive beyond description. He was twice as tall as the middle-aged man, and his muscular limbs were as thick as an adult man’s waist.

This owner of a body so well-maintained it could be called monstrous is none other than the eccentric Wilter Saintkay.

“The head of T&C once asked me why everyone is so attached to meat from living animals when Noble Capital’s genetic manipulation technology can create perfect meat.”

He lifted a piece of steak with his fork.

“Taste is information. When we enjoy meat, we’re not simply satisfying our taste buds—we’re consuming the ‘information’ contained within the meat itself.”

After saying this, he popped the piece of steak into his mouth.

“Meat produced in a factory an hour ago might taste identical to meat from an animal raised on a farm for over a decade, but we don’t perceive them as the same. The diet, experiences, and intangible value bestowed upon farm-raised meat can never be replicated.”

“Did that youngster say that?”

In response to Akira’s question, Wilter nodded while chewing his meat.

“Experience determines the essence of things. Quite philosophical, wouldn’t you say?”

“Indeed. That sounds like something he would say. From a business perspective, of course.”

Wilter snorted lightly and swallowed the piece of meat.

“As I mentioned before, the preparations are complete.”

“That was quick. Very good.”

“‘The ultimate prey,’ you say. I hope it’s worth the price of 10 Gigacrackers.”

During their previous meeting at the Conflict Resolution Team headquarters, Akira had made one request of Wilter.

That request was to move 10 Gigacrackers to a specific star system.

Even for someone as eccentric as Wilter, using 10 Gigacrackers for personal reasons was quite burdensome. Had Akira not promised an enormous amount of financial support, he would have refused immediately.

“Why move them there? Is it related to Voltex One?”

“No. It’s an entity more terrifying than Voltex One.”

“…Are you serious?”

Having finished his steak, Wilter furrowed his brows at this unbelievable claim.

Voltex One cannot be captured by conventional methods. They are monsters so powerful that at least two houses from Noble Capital and Prime Capital must commit their full resources. Wilter, who once challenged a Voltex One hunt and barely escaped, knew this well.

An entity more terrifying than such monsters? He couldn’t imagine what kind of creature it might be.

“Yes, absolutely. The one I know is the second most dangerous entity in this universe.”

The second most dangerous entity.

Though a subtle expression, this qualifier actually made Akira’s words sound more realistic. Intrigued, Wilter licked his lips and folded his arms.

“Hmm.”

“You’ll find this even more interesting.”

Akira snapped his fingers, and a woman in black appeared from somewhere, offering Wilter a small chip and a computer pad. When Wilter inserted the chip into the pad and activated it, an enormous amount of data was projected as a hologram.

“That’s a lot. It’s hard to believe such an entity has remained unknown until now.”

“I’ve controlled the information in the Megacorp database. Other houses and their heads don’t know about it.”

He was openly admitting to monopolizing information, but Wilter didn’t bother pointing it out. Other houses were doing similar things anyway.

“It will definitely come to that location. It will appear soon, so be prepared.”

“What makes you so certain?”

“I know it well. By now, it should be trying to capture Voltex One.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

The deal was already made. How Akira knew this wasn’t important. He didn’t probe further and focused on the hologram data.

Even at a glance, it was clearly an entity worthy of being called “the second most dangerous entity in the universe.” This meant that deploying the Gigacrackers was just the beginning—much more preparation would be needed.

Plus, he needed to account for the possibility that Akira might be wrong.

As an excellent hunter, he knew all too well that prey doesn’t always move as hunters expect. The same was likely true this time, so he needed to prepare for unexpected situations.

With business concluded, there was no reason to linger. He briefly scanned the hologram and shut down the pad.

“Contact me if anything seems strange or if you have questions.”

With those words, Wilter left the reception room.

Even after his guest departed, Akira remained seated.

‘Morph-boy. This time, you won’t escape.’

He knew that hunting Voltex One was included in the evolution conditions for advancing from Adult to Ascended.

So this time, he decided to set a trap for AMorph—by placing 10 Gigacrackers near where Voltex One resided.

‘And with insurance on top of that…’

Previously, he had relied entirely on his pet Black Gallergorn and suffered a great humiliation. He had no intention of repeating the same mistake.

“Code Black.”

“Yes, Akira sir.”

“Tell the butler to follow Wilter and provide support.”

“Understood.”

After sending the butler as well, Akira thought to himself.

‘Wilter might not be able to kill Morph-boy, but he can certainly inflict significant damage.’

Wilter Saintkay was one of the NPCs he trusted. Except for his refusal of genetic modification.

That’s why he looked so old at 120 years of age. Other family heads at that age don’t have a single wrinkle on their faces.

Although Wilter was very healthy for someone who refused genetic modification procedures, there were clear limitations without technological benefits. Had he not stubbornly insisted on human purity, he could have hunted many more formidable opponents.

‘That’s partly why I sent him.’

He and the hunters under his command had received only minimal genetic modification procedures. This meant that even if they died, there would be nothing beneficial for AMorph.

‘It doesn’t matter if Wilter fails to kill it.’

Considering Wilter’s skills and personality, he would inflict considerable damage even if he couldn’t kill it.

At that moment, when it was weakened, Akira planned to descend upon the scene himself. With a signal chip in the butler’s heart, flying to its location wouldn’t be difficult.

Just as it had done to him in the game, he would now repay it in the same way.

In the lavishly decorated reception room, Akira laughed silently.

“No new energy reactions detected in the target star system. No trackers present.”

[Zzzzzz (That’s good)]

“Where shall we go now?”

In the Gigacracker’s situation room.

PS-111, connected to hundreds or thousands of cables, asked me.

‘Now that I’m an Adult, there are several places I could go…’

Originally, the destination would have been predetermined—places most efficient for fulfilling evolution conditions.

However, the vision I saw during evolution made me hesitate to go there directly.

‘I need more time.’

Having acquired a Gigacracker, it wouldn’t be easy for rankers to threaten me anyway. Unless they set a proper trap and targeted me as a group.

While I was contemplating, I noticed Adhigh Orr lying down in the back of the situation room.

With its red wings neatly folded, it was grooming itself by gently scratching with its horns. Sensing my gaze, it wagged its tail and cleaned its wings more diligently.

[Zzzzzz (Adhigh)]

“Great One” “What?”

It looked at me with eyes that resembled amethysts.

[Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz (Want to visit your new nest after a long time?)]

“Nest” “Nest?” “Really?”

It seemed completely surprised by my suggestion. Startled, it rose from its spot.

“Really?” “Really?”

[Zzz (Yes)]

“I” “Young kin” “Miss them!”

Currently, with enemy tracking cut off, visiting the planet where Adhigh’s group had migrated wouldn’t be a bad idea.

‘It would be nice to visit where No. 26’s friends are too, but that would be difficult.’

Planet PH-101, where it had gained the power of Seed Demon and communed with various bubble amoebas.

That planet was designated as sacred ground by the Cult Empire, making it difficult to bring a Gigacracker there. The Cult would never stand for it.

“I want to see the fluttering babies too!”

Fortunately, No. 26 didn’t seem to mind visiting Adhigh’s group.

Finally, I looked at Sky Mother, who simply shrugged in response.

‘That settles it.’

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz Zzzzzz (To where Adhigh’s kin are)]

“Understood.”

With that brief reply, it bowed its head deeply. The light faded from its red eyes.

Thanks to multiple modifications to its mechanical parts, PS-111 could freely move its body while piloting regular ships. However, controlling a Gigacracker, which was much larger and had many more facilities to manage, in the same way was impossible.

“Then I’ll prepare for hyperspace navigation.”

[Zzzzzzzz (I’ll leave it to you)]

Its voice, mixed with several other voices, flowed from the situation room’s computer. This phenomenon occurred because it had synchronized with the ship’s AI and was using it as an auxiliary brain.

[Zzzzzz (Wait)]

This was a good opportunity. I called Sky Mother.

“Yes?”

[Zzzz Zzz Zzzzzz Zzzz (I have something to discuss privately)]

I took the griffon beastkin to the cargo hold.

“So what did you want to talk about?”

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzzz Zzzz Zzzz (I think we need to modify our immediate goal)]

“Goal? Weren’t you aiming for Ascension?”

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz (That was before, but now it’s on hold)]

She tilted her head, seemingly not understanding my words.

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz (I saw a vision when I became an Adult)]

“You mean the past memories you mentioned seeing before? You saw them again?”

[Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz Zzzzzzzzzzz (This time it wasn’t memories of the past. Another ‘me’ appeared and tried to kill me)]

“What?”

Sky Mother’s eyes widened at this unexpected statement. I explained in detail the vision I had seen to the surprised woman.

The visions occurring in the space where the real me lived, the pain that felt real.

The ‘me’ who told me to choose between killing myself or being killed, and so on.

She listened to my explanation in silence. After I finished, she remained lost in thought for a moment before speaking.

“…I understand what you’re saying. You want to investigate the vision before pursuing Ascension.”

[Zzz (That’s right)]

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help with the vision part. I haven’t reached that stage yet.”

[Zzzzzz Zzzz Zzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzz (I plan to ask other players about that)]

“Other players? Are you going to hunt players?”

[Zzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzz (No. But first, I want to start with this one)]

“?”

I extracted the gene essence that had been stored in my body for the longest time.

The second player I successfully hunted, who had already killed two other rankers.

That entity broke out of a cocoon located near my carapace and legs, falling to the floor.

“■■ugh, A-A-AMorph sir. Did you call for me?”

The humanoid insect, reborn from the genes of the Cult player Jason, bowed deeply to me.