Ch.336Legion (4)

“…Good heavens.”

The Sky Mother stared blankly at the sky beyond the hole in the dome.

To remain motionless in the midst of battle was unimaginable for someone like her, but at this moment, it didn’t matter.

The stake beetles of the Outspacer she had been fighting were in the same state.

A drop of ink fallen on red paper had spread uncontrollably. That purely black ‘thing’ was devouring ships and Outspacers that had filled the sky indiscriminately.

There were no explosion sounds common to battlefields, no screams of terror, no sounds at all.

It was a silent massacre.

‘That’s almost Voltex One level, isn’t it?’

Being a ranker, she had hunted various raid bosses. This destruction in the sky was a sight she’d only witnessed when fighting Voltex One or Red Gallergorn.

In fact, the Coldbloods she had rescued were showing similar reactions to when they had faced Voltex One. Seeing them frozen in fear, they seemed even more terrified than when facing a giant monster up close.

She shot pressure-controlling particles at them in their confused state. When she gave them a slight stimulus using the particles, they jumped in surprise.

“Everyone, snap out of it!”

“!”

“Now’s our chance! Everyone get on that airship over there!”

Thanks to her, 40 Coldbloods who regained their senses fled to safety. The mini screamer MPS-05 followed behind them.

“GUOOOOOOOOO!”

‘Tch!’

While the Coldbloods and MPS-05 boarded the airship, the stake beetles also began moving again.

A 30m-sized rhinoceros beetle monster swung its pillar-like forelegs. The Sky Mother spread her agate-colored wings and flew up. The stake beetle’s claws struck the spot where she had been just moments before.

Having avoided the attack, she sprinkled particles the same color as her wings. The stake beetle’s leg that the agate-colored particles touched twisted and broke.

Any other creature would have writhed in pain, but not this one. The stake beetle, unfazed, aimed the bio-piles protruding from its back and head at her.

‘It’s been modified not to feel pain!’

She quickly dodged the incoming biological stakes. In the distance, between ruined buildings, she could see other stake beetles approaching.

“Adhigh! They’re coming!”

Taking cover behind a collapsed building, she called for Adhigh.

He was on the rooftop of the opposite building, staring at the sky outside the dome. His amethyst-like purple eyes were fixed on the ‘black entity’ that was greedily devouring ships and flying monsters.

‘Why is he suddenly acting like this?’

She thought he might have fallen into fear like other creatures here, but looking again, that didn’t seem to be the case.

His motionless stance with fixed gaze was, how to put it… like someone in a state of extreme immersion to the point of losing consciousness.

At that moment, the stake beetle targeting her also spotted that small Gallergorn. A 3m-sized bio-pile launched from its back.

The stake was heading for the rooftop where Adhigh was. Without the protection of “RedArmor” right now, taking that attack would be 100% fatal.

‘I can’t let that happen!’

She tensed the muscles in her hind legs and kicked off the ground hard. Her body shot forward like an arrow. Additionally, the wings on her back beat the air fiercely, increasing her acceleration.

The body of the golden-furred griffon burst through the wall of the crumbling building and soared toward the opposite building’s rooftop.

Just before the biological stake could pierce Adhigh, she managed to grab him and dodge. The sharp tip of the stake grazed the horn on her head as it passed.

Only then did Adhigh turn to look at her.

“Ugly friend?”

“Aren’t you paying attention? The battle isn’t over yet!”

“Battle?” “Hunt?”

Hearing those words, a red light flashed in Adhigh’s eyes. The red markings etched on his snow-white body flared up as if catching fire.

‘What was that?’

Startled for a moment, she looked again, but he appeared normal.

He shook his neck vigorously once and spread his wings.

“Friend” “right” “hunt” “not over”

After saying that, he covered himself with RedArmor and took flight.

‘Did I see wrong?’

Deciding it was her imagination, she followed Adhigh who had begun fighting the stake beetle.

–

AMorph preys on other creatures and makes their characteristics its own.

However, despite the concept of continuous evolution, there aren’t many traits that organically change the body. The characteristic of constantly changing the body to suit situations was more exclusive to Volf than AMorph.

“Perfect Organism” that transforms the body into a killing machine, “Organic Evolution” that can take various special states, “Variable Bio-weapon” that transforms body parts into those of an apex predator.

None of these existed in the game.

If even one of these had existed in the game, the balance of Space Survival would have changed dramatically.

Anyway, body-changing traits were rare in the game. Under these conditions, “Bone Beast,” which strengthens the user’s body, was a very attractive trait.

Bone Beast, a fusion trait made using “Giant Creatures” as material.

When the trait activates, armor similar to bone components grows to protect vulnerable parts of the body. As a bonus, the entire body grows about 3 times larger.

Having used it several times in the game, I know well what changes occur.

However, this is the first time I’ve become a Bone Beast after reaching adulthood in this world.

As the trait activates, the material that forms the bone armor flows out from tiny gaps in my dark black carapace and scales. The material coating over the carapace quickly solidifies into hard armor. Sharp spikes protrude unevenly from the completed white armor.

While my body is donning the armor, my entire body rapidly grows. Muscles stretch as if about to tear, and creepy sounds come from the bones inside my body.

1.5 times, 2 times, 3 times. My body, which seemed like it would grow endlessly, stopped just before reaching 200m in length.

“Grrrrrr”

“Grrruk”

The heads on both sides growl at this unfamiliar change. Their howls have become much deeper to match the enlarged body.

‘Good.’

“■■■■■■■■!”

Having completed the transformation, I roared powerfully. The heads attached to both sides howled just like me. The air tore, creating a sonic boom.

“Boom! BOOM!”

“Auditory function damaged. Repairing with remaining energy.”

[Zzz zzz zzzz (Everyone be careful)]

While warning the kids, I swung my wing-arms widely. The black wings, now three times larger, push my body forward with the air. My shadow covers the sand-covered desert below.

“Ssssss!”

The collector beetles that see me approaching make screams of terror. Despite their fear, they charge forward, forced by the queen’s orders. I don’t avoid them but crash right into them.

The Outspacers shatter like insects hitting a car windshield.

Neither their vicious gastric acid nor their sharp teeth were of any use. Though the acid still dissolves carapace, the Bone Beast’s armor was too thick to cause significant damage.

“Bad flappy flappy!”

“Sssk?!”

“Initiating support fire.”

No. 26 on my back and PS-111, who had moved from the central head to No. 26’s side, joined in the bug hunting.

No. 26, who had grown back to tens of meters in size, extended tentacles with sharp saw blades. The collector beetles that avoided collision with me were hit by No. 26’s tentacles and shattered to pieces.

PS-111 hid under No. 26 and supported us with the Demolisher. The matter-decomposing shells, fired with calculated flight trajectories, never missed.

Ramming, smashing, tearing apart. We were all deeply immersed in the slaughter.

The enemies didn’t just take it but launched counterattacks.

The main guns of Cult battleships hidden among the bugs spewed fire.

A shower of purple light pours down on me. The Outspacer gastric acid and blood on my body evaporated in the heat.

However, the skeleton-like carapace and the black scales underneath didn’t suffer much damage. Some of the protruding spikes broke, but that level of damage was negligible. I swung both of my tails toward a nearby battleship.

The right tail with its pincer collided with the battleship’s shield. The translucent purple barrier cracked like breaking glass before shattering. The pincer that broke through the shield struck the front of the battleship hard.

A series of explosions occur inside the completely blown-away battleship. I extended corrosive tentacles to grab the falling ship.

“Aaaaargh!”

Cult crew members fall from the broken battleship. Some became food for my tentacles, while others fell to the ground below.

I used the damaged battleship as a club, swinging it at other ships and Outspacers. Dozens of collector beetles were crushed each time it hit a battleship.

This caused a change in the movement of the clustered bugs. Those receiving the queen’s instructions quickly dispersed.

‘Can’t show my back.’

I struck the temporarily disorganized enemies from behind. Opening the mouths of all heads wide, I swallowed the retreating ones whole. Perhaps because my body had grown so dramatically, more than ten creatures entered my stomach each time I opened my jaws.

“Predation effect activated!”

Thanks to swallowing hundreds of bugs, I finally gained the desired trait. Upon accepting it, sensation returned to my immobile arm. The “Parasitic Colony” that had been restricted due to the loss of genetic essence was finally restored.

‘Phew. Finally restored…’

Just then, a golden lightning bolt flying from afar grazed my body. While I hadn’t suffered much damage from the battleship’s main guns, this was different. The white carapace touched by the heat ray shattered.

While facing the enemies, I surveyed the surroundings with my auxiliary organs. A sphere hundreds of meters in size floated alone in the distant sky.

‘Could that be the Lightning God?’

The Lightning God I knew was in a flat mandala form, not shaped like that. It would look like that if several Lightning Gods were overlapped into a sphere.

‘An enhanced version?’

Given its appearance, it seems to be an upgraded version.

‘I thought they were all destroyed.’

The Lightning Gods were also included in the destruction range of the “Black Predator Cannon.” I thought they had all been swept away with the ships, but apparently not. That must be the last remaining Lightning God from the Surveillance Bureau’s elite fleet.

‘I think I know who’s controlling it.’

The orbital weapon Lightning God can only be handled by users with powerful psychic abilities. It must be controlled by Alshas.

As the Lightning God that failed to strike me gathered lightning again, I too gathered psychic power without avoiding it.

Was it because of the energy consumed by the Black Predator Cannon? Unlike when I fired earlier, there was definitely a strain on my body. Thanks to the dragon’s heart, energy was being recharged, but it seemed like it would take time to fully recover.

‘Let’s focus now without thinking about other things.’

The Lightning God, having gathered energy to the extreme, shines brilliantly. It might feel like facing the sun head-on. I exhaled a highly condensed energy breath timed with the release of the yellow heat ray.

The dragon’s power, extending in three streams, collides with the Lightning God’s lightning. The shock wave generated by the collision of energies shook the sky of Beryan02. Nearby enemies were swept up in the shock wave, colliding with each other or falling to the ground.

‘Certainly strong, but…’

Not enough to defeat me.

The standoff wasn’t long. Like a python swallowing a smaller snake whole, the breath fired from three heads devoured the lightning.

When the yellow light in the red sky was almost extinguished, the purple heat ray reached the Lightning God. Then an explosion so intense it temporarily paralyzed the auxiliary organs under my jaw occurred.

An enormous amount of flames covered the sky as if several nuclear bombs had exploded simultaneously. The few remaining battleships were engulfed in flames and oxidized to dust.

Beyond the burning flames, I could see Alshas and Isabelle above the queen protected by collector beetles.

He seemed quite flustered, probably because his plan was collapsing in real-time. Though distant and hard to see clearly, his emotions were definitely felt.

I aimed at him with my recovered combat arm. Seeing this, he took a big step back.

“What did you say? That we’d cooperate to overcome difficulties?”

“!”

The one here is likely a clone.

But it doesn’t matter.

No matter where in this universe he hides, whatever weapons he brings.

I won’t stop until I consume his essence.