Ch.317Relic (4)

“Cleared to pass.”

With the guard’s voice, the large metal door opened. The airship successfully passed through the terminal.

To enter the “Water Fortress,” a massive structure composed of bio-domes, one must pass through multiple gates. This is because, like space fortresses or orbital habitats, the dome’s outer walls consist of several layers.

And the gate we just passed was the final one in the outer wall.

“Whew. Thankfully that ended without incident.”

“Good work.”

Sky Mother, sitting in the pilot’s seat, let out a sigh of relief. Since she handled most of the work except when I needed to step in, it must have been quite tiring for her.

“Thanks to your death, their guard is down.”

“That’s an odd way to put it.”

“Is it? I think you died at just the right time.”

As she joked, the enemies believe I’m dead. That was my intention.

‘Originally, I hadn’t planned it that way.’

Thanks to two factors, I was able to stage the scenario of “AMorph killed by Lightning God’s attack.” Without those, we’d probably still be in the midst of battle with the enemies.

‘Especially that trait. I never expected to acquire something like that at this point…’

“Over?” “Can” “I get out?”

The thought waves flowing from behind tickled my monster’s tentacles. It was Adhigh Orr in his cage prison.

He seemed to find sitting still for a long time more unbearable than being confined in the cage. At first, he had been diligently grooming his wing and tail scales with the tentacles around his mouth, but now he was just sprawled out, lying flat.

No. 26 was relatively well-behaved, but his body color wasn’t good. The dark pink hue meant he wasn’t feeling well. Like Adhigh, he was experiencing extreme boredom.

[Just wait a little longer]

“Already” “waited” “a lot”

“Bored. Friend just sleeping. Nothing to study.”

No. 26 poked PS-111’s hibernating body with his tentacles. In fact, PS-111 had been helping operate the airship since earlier by connecting cables to it, but there was no way he would know that.

[If you’re patient, I’ll give you a gift later]

“Gift?” “What kind of gift?”

“Really?”

[Something you’ll like]

The Water Fortress is dozens of times larger than the Streets of Light and Streets of Glory combined. Naturally, it must handle many more creatures within the city. While searching for the 22nd ranker, it wouldn’t be bad to let them taste some rare creatures.

But they seemed to want gifts other than food. Adhigh gently raised his long neck and pointed at me with his front paw.

“Gift” “like” “big one?”

“I want sparkly too!”

[Huh?]

“Big one” “body” “changed” “feels” “strange”

“Yeah. The sparkly zizzing thing moving is amazing.”

“What are they talking about?”

Only Sky Mother couldn’t understand what they were saying. Those two weren’t affected by my mimicry organs, so they immediately noticed the changes in my body.

Right now, I’m transformed into “Clever Weakling.” The centaur-like shape, the fur covering my entire body, and the heads on both sides attached to my body like armor except for the central head—all identical to my previous transformation.

However, there are two differences.

First, looking at my arms, the combat arms have disappeared, leaving only the small chest arms. This is because the “Parasitic Colony” trait has been deactivated.

More importantly is the change in my chest.

Currently, my thoracic carapace has silver, wave-like patterns that shine. These silver patterns on the otherwise black carapace remind one of the Milky Way. The pattern engraved across my chest extends to my small chest arms.

Though hidden by fur now, these patterns begin from inside the thoracic carapace. To be precise, they connect to my heart—not the “Dragon’s Heart,” but AMorph’s heart.

The sudden change occurred thanks to the “Plunderer’s Amorphous Polyhedron.”

While fighting Siheyon Yujin, I devoured a crystal-like component from her equipment. As a result, my existing “Feeding Leech’s Hand” was replaced with a new equipment-related trait.

The trait called “Void Dice.”

Void Dice was quite different in nature from the traits I’d previously obtained through the Plunderer’s Amorphous Polyhedron.

“God’s Whip” that manifests Lightning God’s power, and Feeding Leech’s Hand that steals the life force of enemies—both are traits that help in combat.

In contrast, Void Dice has no direct relation to combat. In fact, if this trait existed alone, it would be useless.

‘It was surprising at first.’

Siheyon’s weapon could destroy genetic essences. So I thought the component would have a similar effect, but it was completely different.

Or rather, to be precise, it’s much better.

This trait is among the most powerful I’ve possessed so far.

‘When used, it resets the cooldown of all possessed traits to their unused state.’

When Void Dice activates, the silver pattern on my chest spreads throughout my body. Once the pattern completely engulfs my body, the cooldown on all traits disappears.

Thanks to that, the “Revenant Organ” that I couldn’t use yet, and Organic Evolution Constraint that had a few minutes of cooldown left, were all reset.

‘And that’s not all.’

The most impressive thing is this trait’s additional effect.

While the silver pattern spreads across my body, the cooldowns and constraints of all possessed traits disappear. This means that when Void Dice is activated, I can freely use all traits as I wish.

I’m certain of this because I saw the text box with my own eyes. The duration of the trait was short, less than 3 minutes, but during that time, the constraint sections of all traits became completely blank.

Thanks to that, I could simultaneously use “Hunting Emblem” and “Variable Bio-weapon” to maximize my defense. With that, I endured the Lightning God’s attack and immediately used Superluminal Navigation to escape.

‘Traits that reset cooldowns are truly rare…’

One of the Voltex One has a similar trait, but given who the opponent is, it’s extremely difficult to acquire. I remember struggling to obtain that trait even when playing the game.

Besides that, Revenant Organ, with all its various constraints, is the only trait that can remove cooldowns.

Of course, Void Dice isn’t perfect and has one drawback.

“Plunderer’s Amorphous Polyhedron (Void Dice)(66)”

That number floating in the translucent text box. It’s the cooldown applied to Void Dice. I need to wait 66 days to use it again.

‘Judging by the name “dice,” it seems this might be random.’

I’d need to use it once more to be certain, but it’s currently unavailable. Looking at that number, I suspect the trait’s drawback is that the cooldown changes unpredictably.

‘The cooldown part is variable, but…’

The trait’s effect is so good that it’s not a major issue. With this trait, I can use a much wider variety of strategies than before.

‘Where on earth did Siheyon get such a weapon?’

Neither the weapon she used nor the component that became the source of Void Dice existed in the game.

This is reality, so there might be things I don’t know about. In fact, I’ve encountered several things that didn’t exist in the game, so it’s not particularly strange.

But even considering that, her weapon is excessively powerful. Almost as if it was created by a player.

‘Is she connected to a ranker?’

The first thing that came to mind was the 3rd ranker who is hostile to Siheyon, but it wouldn’t be him.

He’s more dogmatic and twisted than Jason. A character-broken person giving such a threatening item to his enemy? That’s nonsense.

‘It’s not the rankers of this planet either.’

If it were, they would have collaborated to attack me long ago.

‘I’ll have to check about that woman after finding the 22nd ranker.’

By now, Siheyon is probably being called by the Cult to report my death.

Although she saw it from outside the Lightning God’s impact point, she’s a genetically modified human. Even from a distance, there’s a high probability she saw me disappear.

From her perspective, it would look like I was hit by the Lightning God’s attack, my body twisted, and then completely vanished.

The Cult and rankers have no choice but to accept the incorrect information she provided. She was the last person with me before the Lightning God’s attack began.

Even if they become suspicious and thoroughly search the area, they won’t find any trace of me. The energy reaction from the superluminal navigation would have been buried by the Lightning God’s bombardment.

‘Who would think I used superluminal navigation while being hit by the Lightning God?’

Even if they somehow find my trail, it would already be too late. The airship I’m on is already entering the Water Fortress.

“Big baby, I want sparkly too.”

“Me too”

While I was lost in thought, I felt their wavelengths.

It’s unfortunate for them, but it’s impossible to transfer the Plunderer’s Amorphous Polyhedron.

‘Besides, it would be difficult to find another weapon like this.’

[I can’t give you this, but I’ll find something better instead]

“Really?”

“Promise?” “Promise?”

[Yes]

Hearing my confirmation, they rejoiced. Adhigh wagged his tail gently, and No. 26 changed his body color to bright pink.

‘Tsk. This is going to be busy.’

Originally, I thought about getting them rare creatures to eat. But seeing their reactions, it seems I’ll need to bring better gifts.

Just then, the dark front window lit up brightly.

As the darkness lifted, the first thing that appeared was a bright ivory-colored building. From here, we could see enormous buildings so tall their rooftops weren’t visible, looking down at us.

And beyond the forest of buildings, an immense waterfall came into view. A massive stream of sky-blue water poured down from a gigantic structure.

That’s not a naturally formed waterfall. Like the bio-dome, it’s an artificial waterfall installed on a massive structure that represents the culmination of Cult architectural engineering.

“The water is floating around. Amazing!”

“Dwarfs” “many”

Numerous aerial waterways were connected around the waterfall. Above the waterways, countless hover boats continuously moved about, transporting Cult members who emerged from the ivory buildings.

Between the waterways and buildings, roads covered with soil were laid out, with large trees planted in neat rows. Among the trees, Cult members in light attire could be seen walking around.

The Water Fortress in person exuded a unique atmosphere where ancient ruins and futuristic city coexisted.

“It’s much more impressive than when I saw it in the game.”

[Indeed]

A blue waterfall city built in the middle of a red sand desert.

We had finally entered the Water Fortress.