Ch.313Monster Hunt (4)

Siheyon Yujin, wearing the white reinforcement suit ‘White Maiden’, glared at the presence in the darkness.

The unknown being who had killed her assassination target in the past and then murdered ‘Siheyon Yujin’ herself.

That monster, which had haunted her nightmares for a while, was discovered in the underground of an unfamiliar planet. And it had become unrecognizably stronger.

Even during their fight, the creature had transformed its body once. It was a change that could rightfully be called evolution.

How many evolutions had it gone through to become like this? She couldn’t even guess.

But she wasn’t afraid.

There was only one thing she needed to focus on now. Using all her strength to kill it.

All her senses were concentrated on the enemy. The exoskeleton covering the monster’s body made subtle sounds as the plates interlocked.

Reading that it was about to move, she kicked off the ground.

As expected, the creature’s left head struck where she had been standing. Jumping into the air to avoid it, she landed on the monster’s neck and continued running.

The right head opened its muzzle and spewed out black mucus.

While running, Siheyon raised her right arm forward. The reinforcement suit she wore, White Maiden, could change its appearance according to the user’s will. The suit covering her wrist spread out like a funnel, transforming into a large shield.

While defending against the mucus with her right arm shield, she transformed her left arm. This time, it wasn’t the reinforcement suit that changed, but her body itself. The Gallergorn genes injected into her body activated, and a silver blade emerged from the back of her hand.

Just as she was about to slash the creature’s left neck with the blade.

The creature read her intention and shook its neck violently. Due to the loss of balance, she only managed to scratch the exoskeleton on its neck.

As she fell from the neck, the creature’s arm flew toward her. Even with the protection of her reinforcement suit, a direct hit from that massive hand would crush her. She kicked off mid-air and narrowly avoided it.

But the offensive wasn’t over yet. Tentacles that had sprouted from the creature’s back were already within reach of her.

It was impossible to dodge at this point. She hurriedly generated wings on her back.

Spreading her glider-type wings, she retreated quickly. The appendages on the tentacles only grazed the tips of her wings.

But the creature hadn’t given up yet.

The left head that had been stuck in the ground moved again. The huge maw rose up to devour her as she floated in the air.

Siheyon returned her shield-transformed right arm to normal, then drew the plasma pistol from her thigh holster.

Her target was the inside of the creature’s mouth. The green energy bullet hit inside the wide-open muzzle.

“Gruk!”

Though small, it was still a plasma weapon. It was effective enough to stop the enemy. While the left head shook in irritation, she widened the distance between them significantly.

‘…It’s strong.’

When they fought before, she had the upper hand. Though she lost because the creature struck her weak point while she was off guard.

But now the creature was overwhelming her.

Its size and strength were incomparable. She had a slight advantage in speed, but the difference wasn’t significant.

‘Its durability is also incredible.’

She had clearly shot a plasma bullet into its throat, yet it was fine. Even the unprotected interior of its body had terrifying durability.

‘A perfect biological weapon.’

The being before her was the very embodiment of House Yugin’s long-cherished wish. If the shadow created by House Yugin was a genetically modified weapon at least one generation ahead, this creature was on an entirely different dimension.

Could she win against such an opponent, or even hold out? The conclusion was pessimistic.

‘…But.’

Yet Siheyon stood here for a reason.

Because she too had a hidden dagger.

Lila Chamberlain, who had descended underground with her, was lying in wait with the relic ‘Deep Destroyer’.

If everything went according to plan, they could deliver a proper blow to the creature.

With that hope, she charged at the monster again.

–

‘How did she survive?’

I thought as I took the incoming blade energy head-on.

Siheyon Yujin, who continued her fierce attacks despite knowing they were useless, was already dead.

Thanks to consuming her, I had gained useful traits like ‘Mimicry Organ’ and ‘Monster’s Tentacle’. I remembered it clearly.

But the being fighting me was definitely Siheyon Yujin. Her fighting style, movements, and physical responses were all identical.

While Space Survival doesn’t completely lack methods to arbitrarily resurrect the dead, they are extremely limited. Moreover, this is reality, not a game. It’s questionable whether traits or equipment that resurrect the dead would work properly.

Then there’s only one answer.

‘A clone.’

The enemy fighting me is likely a clone that Siheyon Yujin had prepared in advance.

While I was thinking about my opponent’s identity, yak horns sprouted from her temples. In that state, she swung her arm with Gallergorn’s claws protruding from it. A much stronger blade energy than before flew toward my auxiliary organs.

‘Two techniques?’

As far as I knew, Siheyon couldn’t use two or more genetic techniques simultaneously. Yet now she was using both the yak horns implanted in her head and the Gallergorn claws implanted in her arm.

I turned my head and defended against the blade energy with the fangs that had grown on both sides of my mouth. The edges of my fangs were slightly damaged, but it wasn’t serious. Without concern, I struck at the enemy with my combat arm.

“Tch!”

She clicked her tongue briefly and jumped sideways to avoid my arm’s attack. The corrosive tentacles on my back poured toward the direction she was dodging.

As if she had read my attack, she transformed her arm into a shield again. The white shield collided with one of the corrosive tentacles.

“Ugh?”

Though she succeeded in blocking the corrosive tentacle with her shield, her expression was quite surprised. She must have realized that the force contained in the tentacle was not light at all.

I spread the membrane of one of my wing arms and swept it forcefully across the floor where she was standing.

Perhaps judging that escape was impossible, this time she deployed ‘Reflection’. Just before my wing arm swept her away, it stopped in place. The enemy didn’t miss this brief opening and hurriedly escaped.

“…Damn it.”

Though she looked fine except for being covered in sand, her expression wasn’t good. This was because the arm part that had transformed into a shield was damaged.

‘Even White Maiden isn’t omnipotent.’

I know what reinforcement suit she’s wearing.

The unique-grade reinforcement suit White Maiden. It’s the same grade as the ‘Black Shroud’ worn by Code Black, the shadow I killed before. It was probably given to her by Akira Yujin, the head of House Yugin and the 3rd ranker.

White Maiden is a special reinforcement suit with nanotechnology that can freely change its shape according to the user’s will.

‘It’s equipment that greatly depends on the user’s level.’

Additionally, it has useful functions such as self-repair and the ability to absorb other materials as energy sources for the suit.

Siheyon’s weakness is that she can’t use more than two genetic techniques at once. She compensated for this disadvantage by wearing White Maiden, which allows her to freely transform her body.

‘But even that equipment has weaknesses.’

As now, when it receives an attack too strong for the suit’s durability to withstand, the repair slows down.

Unless she has other auxiliary equipment, she can’t withstand an AMorph adult’s attacks.

I looked down at the black-haired woman who was gritting her teeth.

‘Given that she’s wearing a unique-grade reinforcement suit, she must indeed be Siheyon Yujin’s clone.’

Her appearance was quite different from ordinary clones.

In the setting, Star Union’s clones can’t perfectly receive memories. This is due to various reasons such as memory data loss during transmission and inconsistencies between the body and memory data.

But judging by her behavior, she clearly remembered fighting me. It was as if her memories had been transmitted after she was killed by me.

‘Has some new technology I don’t know about been developed?’

I think that possibility is low.

If that were the case, all the rankers I’ve killed would have been resurrected in clone bodies and come after me. It’s reasonable to consider the Siheyon Yujin clone before me as an extremely rare case.

‘No need to think about it further.’

I can just ask her directly.

At that moment, she who had been glaring at me turned her body and ran in the opposite direction. It looked as if she was giving up and running away.

‘That can’t be.’

The presence I felt before encountering her wasn’t just one.

To be precise, there were two. Besides Siheyon, there was another presence, which is now barely perceptible. It’s probably hiding somewhere in that passage.

‘It definitely felt quite heavy.’

Before it disappeared, that presence felt quite vibrant. This means the opponent’s weight is considerable.

‘Whatever it is, it won’t be easy to defeat me.’

I prepared for any possible ambush and followed the path Siheyon had fled.

I also continuously checked if there was anything strange with the auxiliary organs attached under each head. As a result, my auxiliary organs detected a faint mechanical sound coming from one side of the wall. My muzzles turned toward the direction of the sound.

“Damn it! It noticed!”

Seeing me, Siheyon shouted as if cursing. Her companion, disguised as a wall, deactivated the optical equipment and raised a weapon toward me.

A navy-colored heat ray fired from the muzzle of a standard-issue demolisher called ‘Slayer’ flew toward my central head.

‘I knew it.’

I had already predicted such an ambush. That’s why I had activated ‘Variable Bio-weapon’ in advance.

The target of the mutation was my head. The thick head carapace of an Ice Horror was protecting my central head. The Slayer’s heat ray only made a hole in my carapace without causing critical damage.

“Fall back!”

The enemy wearing a peculiarly shaped reinforcement suit just stared at me blankly, apparently surprised that I was unharmed.

To return the favor, I put strength into my two legs. My enormous body, 60 meters in length, accelerated.

“Oh no?!”

The enemy only came to their senses after seeing me rapidly approaching. Letting out a mechanically modulated scream, they hurriedly avoided me.

When my enhanced heads collided with the passage wall, the surroundings shook as if an earthquake had occurred. In that state, I swung my right tail with pincers attached strongly.

The enemy who had dodged sideways hurriedly activated a shield, but it wasn’t much help. The moment they were hit by the pincers at the end of my tail, not only the shield but also the shield activation device attached to their wrist was completely shattered.

“Kuk!”

The enemy hit by my tail flew like a shell fired from a cannon and crashed into the opposite wall.

‘Tough.’

Whether it was a reinforcement suit with extremely high physical defense, it didn’t break even with my current attack. Blood smell came from the enemy embedded in the wall, but they were still alive.

‘I’ll deal with that one later. What remains is…’

Only Siheyon Yujin.

Thinking so, I turned my head and she was standing not far away.

‘Huh?’

She was holding items that looked like they had just been dug out of the soil.

“Got you.”

Siheyon muttered coldly, as if her previous demeanor had been an act.

She inserted the crystal she was holding into a device that looked like a cordless vacuum cleaner. The crystal began to spin fiercely, emitting an eerie light.

“‘Si■ ■jin’ ■■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■”

‘What?’

Suddenly, images blocking my view. Due to the heavy mosaic, I couldn’t see anything clearly.

However, I know well what this phenomenon means.

‘Predator sense!’

It was already too late to avoid. I hurriedly covered my head with my wing arms and combat arms. The eerie light enveloped my body.

I didn’t feel pain. No, I didn’t feel any sensation at all. It felt like a gentle breeze passing over my body.

Just as I was about to think that.

“Gruk?!”

Blood flowed from my mouth. Along with it, I felt extreme pain from my combat arms. Two combat arms attached near my side twisted violently and then rapidly shriveled.

Is this what it feels like to forcibly become a mummy while conscious? I hadn’t experienced such pain since being hit by ‘Fearful Gazer’ with ‘Deep Color’ applied. My legs weakened from the pain beyond imagination.

‘Ugh… Th-this is…?’

My surprise wasn’t just because of the pain.

The translucent text box was displaying a warning I had never seen before.

‘I, I need to pull myself together! Right now, more importantly…’

There’s a very dangerous enemy in front of me. I somehow managed to use my wing arms to raise my body.

“Why, why aren’t you dying? Are you not an Outspacer?”

Siheyon Yujin, who had inflicted serious injury on me, looked perplexed. She seemed shocked that I wasn’t dead.

“Grrrrrr!”

“…Tch!”

Taking advantage of my inability to move properly, she picked up her injured companion and fled far away.

‘…That was dangerous.’

If she had used ‘that weapon’ again, it would have been over.

After confirming she was gone, I stuffed the soil scattered around into my mouth. Thanks to the ‘Inorganic Digestion’ trait, which belongs to environmental adaptation characteristics, I can enhance regeneration effects even by eating soil. The efficiency isn’t high, but now is not the time to worry about that.

As I devoured the soil, the pain gradually subsided. The internal bleeding also stopped, and I recovered some strength.

However, my combat arms didn’t return to normal.

The translucent text box explained why.

“‘■■ ■■■’ has destroyed the genetic essence of ‘Outspacer’.

‘Parasitic Colony’ trait is deactivated. To reactivate this trait, you must consume related genetic essence.”

What Siheyon Yujin used against me.

‘…To eliminate an AMorph trait.’

It was a weapon that destroyed genetic essence.