Ch.346Nightmare (1)

The male Cult with deer antlers on his head, Jason, leaps into the air. The black axe in his right hand slices through the air with a chilling sound.

The axe blade targets the Coldblood in front of him. Penelope is a reptilian humanoid with a taller stature and mature appearance compared to the Cult.

She stretches her hand toward Jason. A small spider-like machine springs out from inside her sleeve.

The machine is a “Blood Reaver.” The mechanical vampire flies toward Jason’s neck, aiming to bite it.

The male Cult’s expression hardens as Star Union’s unique-grade weapon emerges. His axe changes direction to strike down the Blood Reaver.

But this was the opponent’s deception. The Blood Reaver, split precisely in half, was completely hollow inside. What the Coldblood had thrown was a replica.

Having deceived her enemy, Penelope launches herself backward. A lighter-like remote control has somehow appeared in her hand as she somersaults. When she presses the button, sand explodes and the real Blood Reaver springs up.

If Jason had been alone, he would have been forced on the defensive here. But he has a companion.

A rainbow-colored light bullet flies in from somewhere and hits the Blood Reaver. Supporting him from the rear is Cynthia, a female Cult with deer antlers like Jason.

After neutralizing the Blood Reaver with a “Color Bomb,” she creates a purple spear and throws it at Penelope.

The “Pain Spear,” which weakens the opponent’s healing effect, flies toward the Coldblood’s legs. Penelope twists her body in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the spear of agony.

Jason rushes like lightning toward her as she lands. The blade of the black axe “Judgment” targets the Coldblood’s chest. With the sound of air being cut, the front of Penelope’s clothes is slightly sliced.

Jason doesn’t stop there and slightly clenches then opens his left hand. Penelope’s body twitches. It’s either “Gravity Control” or “Binding,” though I’m not sure which exactly.

What matters is that her feet are bound. Cynthia doesn’t miss this opportunity and launches a Color Bomb.

It’s truly a critical moment. Then a new variable appears on the battlefield.

A small Coldblood rushes out from a nearby building. He throws something into the trajectory of the approaching Color Bomb. A purple shield emerges from the hexagonal plate and collides with the energy bullet.

Upon impact, the plate turns to dust, but the Color Bomb also disappears. Having achieved her purpose, the Coldblood, Isabelle, pulls out a pistol from her chest.

It wasn’t a futuristic design like a plasma pistol or laser gun, but a flintlock pistol that might have been used in the Renaissance era. Moreover, the entire gun was made of jewels, making it look more like an ornament than a weapon.

An antique gun in the space age? If she shot at Jason, it wouldn’t even scratch the Black Gallergorn armor he was wearing.

But seeing Isabelle draw her gun, Jason quickly rolled sideways to avoid it. Right after, there was a clicking sound from the gun, and the ground where Jason had been standing turned into mushy mud.

‘It’s a weapon of Voltex One.’

That gun Isabelle pulled out seems to be something she received through a contract with Voltex One. Like the curved blade she used when summoning the “Ring of Agony.”

Anyway, in that gap, Penelope freed herself from the binding and moved to Isabelle’s side.

“…Are you okay?”

“Thanks to you. Thank you.”

They were twins in the real world, but they looked completely different here.

Standing next to the small-bodied Isabelle, Penelope with her tall stature and mature figure showed a clear difference. Also, unlike Isabelle with her blue eyes and scales, Penelope had red eyes and white scales.

Though they looked like complete strangers on the surface, their gazes told a different story. The way they understood each other without words suggested their hearts remained as close as when they were twins.

“Damn Voltex One.”

“Be careful, Lord Jason. It would be best not to get hit when you’re not under my protection.”

“I know that.”

Jason and Cynthia also stuck close together like twin sisters. As Cynthia raised her hand, a hemispherical barrier enveloped them.

The lull that followed the exchange of attacks ended quickly. Both sides resumed combat.

I watched the four of them fight and thought.

I already know how strong Jason and Cynthia are from fighting them. I also know what Perks they have.

‘They would be quite threatening if fought without prior knowledge, but…’

Isabelle has the ability to read information about her opponents. Given their information advantage, they won’t be easily pushed back.

‘And there’s also Penelope’s Perk.’

Though she hasn’t shown it yet, I can guess what it is.

When Jason fought me, he summoned a golden form. That ability is a Perk he stole from a Coldblood ranker he killed. It’s the original ability of my “Color of the Deep.”

The ranker who was killed by him and had her Perk stolen was Penelope.

‘If she has a Perk similar to the Color of the Deep, she won’t lose easily.’

In my case, the Color of the Deep only affects organic matter, but her Perk might not have such limitations. If so, even those Cult warships filling the sky wouldn’t mean much.

‘Besides, to steal a Perk, one must take the life directly.’

If the Imperial Motherships floating in the air used Cosmic Bolt, Jason would easily win, but then he couldn’t steal the Perk. Yet directly capturing the twin Coldbloods wouldn’t be easy.

‘But the fact that he still won means…’

There must be a variable I don’t know about.

Meanwhile, Penelope, who was engaged in close combat with Jason, used her Perk.

Her eyes changed from red to gold, and a golden liquid secreted from her body. The golden liquid dissolved the clothes she was wearing, instantly leaving her naked.

Seeing this, Cynthia quickly moved using levitation technology and stood in front of Jason.

The liquid flowing from Penelope’s body gathered in the air like it had a will of its own, forming a large bubble. The bubble, swollen to its limit, exploded above the enemies’ heads.

Thanks to deploying the barrier at the right moment, Jason remained safe.

“Tch.”

Penelope clicked her tongue softly after her surprise attack failed. As if in response, Jason inside the barrier opened his palm. A beam of light in five colors burst forth from his palm.

Seeing this, Penelope quickly raised her hand. The golden bubbles scattered in the air gathered and wrapped around her naked body. The Color Bomb, enhanced by the Perk effect, was blocked by the golden liquid protecting its master.

Isabelle, standing behind Penelope, drew the pistol imbued with Voltex One’s power. The muzzle pointed at the ground where Jason and Cynthia stood. The ground, which had turned to mud earlier, now changed into a quicksand pit.

Cynthia grabbed Jason and used levitation technology to fly upward. Penelope’s golden bubbles followed behind them but were all blocked by the hemispherical barrier.

In that state, Jason stretched his hand above Penelope’s head. Whether using Gravity Control, the ground around Penelope cracked.

Penelope, protected by the golden liquid, seemed unaffected, but not Isabelle. She quickly distanced herself from Penelope.

Despite his attack not working, Jason smiled. As if this was exactly what he wanted.

“Isabelle!”

Seeing Jason’s lips curl up, Penelope shouted urgently. At that moment, a small projectile flew from the sky.

The object, moving at a speed difficult even for my senses to track, tried to pierce through Isabelle’s abdomen. If Penelope hadn’t hurriedly pushed Isabelle away, it surely would have.

“Kuhuk?!”

“Sister!”

Penelope, her abdomen pierced by the projectile, coughs up blood and collapses.

Isabelle hurriedly pulled out a cylindrical object from her waist and threw it onto the sand. With a hissing sound, red mist rose from the object.

“Fuck! Red Mist’s hallucinogenic pheromone!”

“Cloe! Shoot now!”

“Damn it! She’s mine, don’t shoot!”

Right after Cynthia shouted, a small projectile flying from afar grazed Isabelle’s neck in the mist.

‘That is?’

The projectile that tore through the blue scales and fell to the ground was a bullet. The bullet head was made of a metal similar to obsidian, and the rest was made of golden metal.

‘…A bullet made of Star Pearl and Nova Metal.’

Nova Metal is a rare metal used in strategic weapons like the Lightning God or Imperial Motherships. Star Pearl is an even rarer metal.

Only a ranker would use such metals to make bullets.

‘This fight was 3 versus 2.’

An unidentified enemy outside the battlefield was targeting the twins.

“Sister! Wake up!”

“…Cough.”

In the red mist, Isabelle supported the collapsed Penelope. As they escaped, the surrounding scenery became blurry like fog.

Suddenly I was in a dark building. Judging by the collapsed walls and holes in the ceiling, it seemed not far from where they had been fighting.

Inside the collapsed building, Isabelle was checking Penelope’s wounds. Her hands and clothes were stained with golden liquid and blood.

All of it had flowed from Penelope’s abdomen.

“Be-because of me, sister…”

In a state of panic, she tried to stop the bleeding from her sister’s wound. But Penelope’s condition only worsened.

“God, please not my sister! Please not my sister…”

“Isabelle.”

“Co-contract! Even if I have to make a contract…”

“Isabelle!”

“!”

When the dying Penelope raised her voice, Isabelle froze. She caressed her blue-scaled sister’s face with blood-covered hands.

“There are still those we must protect. If both of us are gone, they won’t survive.”

“Sister! You’re more important to me! Rather than losing you, I’d rather…!”

“You don’t really think that. I know.”

Even while continuously bleeding from her abdomen, her voice didn’t waver at all. She sounded perfectly fine just by her voice, but she wasn’t.

Right now, she was delivering her final message to her only family.

“Protect them.”

“……”

“Go. Hurry. They’ll be here soon.”

After saying that, she stood up. Her red eyes changed to gold again, and her entire body was covered in golden liquid.

“Sister…!”

“Go!”

At her sister’s cry, Isabelle had no choice but to obey.

A loud explosion is heard as she escapes from the building. The sound of Jason and Penelope’s shouts intertwining marks the end of the scene before my eyes change.

In a ruined alley, a wounded Isabelle is kneeling. A Cult with deer antlers was looking down at her with an arrogant attitude.

“You’ve annoyed us with your meaningless resistance.”

“…Stop talking nonsense and kill me.”

With an annoyed expression, she tucked the pistol imbued with Voltex One’s power into her chest.

“Kill you? Are you willing to die after abandoning your sister?”

“…What do you mean?”

When Isabelle asked, Cynthia spoke as if doing her a favor.

“Your sister, the 18th-ranked Penelope, has been subdued, not killed.”

“!”

“Of course, it depends on what you do.”

Cynthia bent down and brought her face close to Isabelle. Then, like a tempting snake, she whispered softly.

“Join me, no, join our Returnees. Then your sister will live.”

“……”

After staring at Cynthia with a blank expression, Isabelle eventually lowered her head.

Isabelle’s memory ended there.

When I opened my eyes, a familiar-feeling dugout greeted me.

Overall, it was similar to the dugout Isabelle had made on Beryan02 to hide the Coldblood slaves.

But where there should have been earthen walls, her memories were in place. Like a projector running, the unfortunate events she had experienced were being replayed repeatedly on the wall surfaces.

In the middle of this memory theater, Isabelle sat alone.