Ch.362Your Ship’s Name (4)

Of course, Griyanar hadn’t figured everything out from the beginning.

To be precise, she understood all of this only after the base had docked with the Tannhäuser.

It was essentially the “Nest of Life” that did the heavy lifting, naturally spreading and infiltrating its neural network in all directions.

No matter how small the swarm of bugs Barbatos had released, they couldn’t be as microscopic and widespread as the cellular neural network.

Though she couldn’t know all the details, what mattered was that Griyanar had detected the existence of the bug swarm spyware through it.

After capturing these bugs, Griyanar was using her brilliant mind.

She found herself nodding at the thought that she could create something new with this discovery.

Of course, all of that would have to wait until after resolving the immediate situation.

So Griyanar was developing an insecticide specifically targeting the newly discovered bug swarm, conducting “pest control” operations to exterminate the spyware en masse.

———-

Naturally, when the spyware was being exterminated in droves…

—————————————–

<Corruption Clan Official Chat Room (Executive Only)>

<Notice: Share information immediately!>

-[This is crazy]

-[The spy parasites are getting completely wiped out](Vice Clan Leader)

-[Could we standardize the name please?]

-[Everyone calls them something different—spyware, parasites, whatever]

-[We can’t help it when everyone uses the name given by whoever created them]

-[That’s true]

-[Anyway, all the parasites are dead?]

-[No, not all of them, about half?](Vice Clan Leader)

-[This isn’t easy]

-[Half died in such a short time?]

—————————————–

“No, goddammit! My bug swarm!!!”

Barbatos, who had assessed the situation from inside her shuttle, was wailing uncontrollably.

For good reason—due to system limitations, once such microscopic bug swarms were released?

There was no way for users to track them, though individual superhumans might be able to.

She had been confident that she could somehow make things work using them, but…

—————————————–

<Event>

<Spyware Extermination>

<Details>

<50% of the spy swarm deployed to Tannhäuser Gateway Fortress has been eliminated.>

<The information gathering capability of this swarm has been significantly reduced.>

—————————————–

Unfortunately for Barbatos, an event message popped up, ruthlessly declaring her plan a failure.

‘I can’t back down like this, even for the sake of avenging my Phantask-class!’

After clenching her fist and steeling her resolve.

Before she could be possessed in the game and undergo TS to match her character…

She decided to take matters into her own hands, trusting her original detective agency skills.

The problem was that regardless of her confidence in her abilities, this game was crawling with superhumans who could easily make a mere detective eat dirt.

As a result, just 14 minutes after Barbatos took direct action.

“Uuuuuuuuugh!”

“Hmm.”

She was immediately captured by the security forces and transported to the Nest of Life where Griyanar was waiting.

———-

Anyway, looking at the captured Barbatos, our Griyanar nodded.

She was about to report the captured Commander to Icarus, who was likely busy with various tasks.

But at that moment.

“Hmm, come to think of it.”

“Yes?”

“Do we really need to inform him right away?”

“What do you mean, Oxianor?”

When Oxianor suggested waiting instead of telling Icarus, Griyanar showed a confused reaction.

Seeing her expression, Oxianor shrugged and calmly explained.

“Weren’t you trying to milk Icarus to collect genetic material from the Commanders’ bodies?”

“Well… that’s true?”

“But now we have a completely defenseless female Commander tied up right in front of us.”

“Eh?”

As Oxianor pointed at Barbatos, who was thoroughly bound with her eyes, ears, and mouth covered.

Griyanar momentarily wondered if she should reveal the truth that her “milking” wasn’t for that purpose.

But that thought was fleeting.

“Besides, we could use this Commander to test what kind of modifications and drugs would be most effective on Commander Icarus.”

“…That’s an excellent idea, Oxianor.”

When Oxianor’s words tickled Griyanar’s “mad scientist” tendencies.

The Professor, stimulated by those tendencies, immediately removed only the blindfold and ear coverings from the tightly bound Barbatos.

“Now then, let’s begin our full-scale modification experiments. Try to endure the pain, okay?”

“Mmmmph?! Mmmmph! Mmmmmmph!!!”

She showed herself having a wonderful time conducting various biological experiments on Barbatos.

However, such enjoyment couldn’t last very long…

After all, the period during which they could “experiment” on Barbatos was only until Icarus finished his “village chief decision.”

Much to Griyanar’s disappointment, that decision was made the very next day…

When Icarus announced that the village chief selection was complete and issued an expulsion order to all users except himself and the clan representatives.

Due to the system’s restraining power, Barbatos, who had been poked and prodded inside Griyanar’s biological tank, was instantly able to return to her shuttle.

Of course, even after returning…

“I mean, if you disappear without saying anything, how am I supposed to…”

“…”

“Uh… um…”

“…”

Thanks to Griyanar, who had attempted various body modifications on Icarus as well, what can I say.

The formerly androgynous appearance was completely gone, replaced by a glamorous female character with large, beautiful breasts and childbearing hips.

Even Wiridijo, who had come looking for Barbatos to scold her for disappearing without contact after receiving help.

Unable to find appropriate words to say.

Quietly placed a hand on Icarus’s shoulder, patting it while saying she’d been through the same thing.

———-

And Barbatos, whose body had suddenly been transformed into a bombshell, was understandably in a difficult situation.

Using deteriorating condition as an excuse, she was preparing to return to her base.

She was even considering stepping down from her position as Vice Clan Leader of the “Corruption Clan.”

And contemplating disappearing altogether.

But…

—————————————–

<Commander Icarus is requesting to chat with you!>

<Accept?>

<Y/N>

—————————————–

‘Huh?’

Despite her suspicions about Icarus’s unexpected chat request, curiosity got the better of her and she accepted.

—————————————–

-[I like your dedication]

-[The Avalon administrator position is filled, would you like to manage Barracuda?](Icarus)

-[Absolutely not, I refuse](Barbatos)

-[K](Icarus)

—————————————–

Faced with Icarus’s completely unexpected message, Barbatos panicked and fled, even using emergency warp to escape to her base.

‘That damn bastard, he’s going to chase me down to the end and do this and that to me!’

Of course, if Icarus himself heard such an interpretation, he would protest that this wasn’t his intention at all…

But since Barbatos didn’t know what was happening on the other side.

And Icarus couldn’t understand Barbatos’s circumstances either.

Icarus simply thought “This must be part of the shenanigans” and was bewildered by Barbatos’s sudden flight.

He then assigned the user management of Avalon and Barracuda to the middle managers he had selected, deciding to enjoy more peaceful days ahead.

And at this point, right after Barbatos warped to her base.

“Wait a minute… I didn’t actually find out anything about the ship.”

Realizing this wasn’t a reason to desert the clan, she tearfully reported the failure of her mission to her clan.