Ch.366The Devil of the Volcano (5)

“What’s with the sudden bomb?”

And a Star Union bomb at that.

All the spaceships deployed on the volcano are Cult warships. Unless it’s a Space Dog, it’s extremely rare for the Cult to use cyborg weapons.

‘Did Salman bring it?’

Salman, the ruler of Askha44, is a player. Since he’s not bound by Cult common sense, it’s not strange for him to use Star Union weapons.

[Zzzzzz zzzzz zz(How much explosive is there?)]

“I don’t know exactly how much. But I saw them moving a gamma-class antimatter bomb.”

Among the three superpowers, Star Union possesses the most powerful conventional weapons. Besides nanomachine bombs, they also have plenty of traditional-style bombs, like nuclear weapons.

The gamma-class antimatter bomb Isabel mentioned is the third most powerful explosive weapon in Star Union’s arsenal. Its power is strong enough to blow away a city protected by a biodome in one go.

‘The question is why they’re bringing it out here.’

It might make sense against other enemies, but a Magmasaur can’t be killed with an antimatter bomb. Like a Skywhale that absorbs energy, it can absorb thermal energy.

Would a ranker planning to fight a Magmasaur not know this? Setting off a gamma-class bomb here would only feed the enemy.

Therefore, that bomb was installed with a different intention.

‘Perhaps they’re trying to put it to sleep rather than kill it?’

The Magmasaur’s main diet is the energy and byproducts produced when a volcano erupts. It absorbs energy through the plates on its body and sucks in inorganic materials like lava and rocks through its large mouth.

When it exceeds its digestive limit, the Magmasaur stops eating and falls asleep. In hibernation, its body rapidly transforms and is reborn as a new volcano.

‘It shouldn’t be much different in this world.’

In the game, the transformed Magmasaur was treated as terrain rather than a living creature. Naturally, you couldn’t obtain genetic essence from it.

Unless you’re lucky enough to consume it before its head transforms, it would be difficult to prey on its essence.

The same applies to Salman. It’s uncertain how his perk would work, but he probably can’t control a massive creature whose body is changing at the genetic level.

“It seems like a trap.”

Isabel said to me while I was thinking.

A trap set by Salman. Based on the circumstances, I think that’s highly likely.

When he controlled the researcher, Salman was actively searching for the Magmasaur. His purpose was obviously to control a stronger creature, not to put it to sleep.

The fact that he’s acting this way now means his goal must have changed. Instead of controlling it himself, he’s trying to eliminate it preemptively so others can’t take it from him.

And it’s obvious who that “other” is.

‘He knows I’ve come to this planet.’

Otherwise, the reconnaissance fleet’s attempt to put the Magmasaur to sleep makes no sense.

If my judgment is correct, I’m currently in serious danger. If Salman has detected my intrusion, he would have called for reinforcements.

Perhaps all the rankers of the Return Faction are already on Askha44.

“Big baby, are you okay?”

At that moment, No. 26, who was above the central head, cautiously called out to me. It sensed my intensifying emotions and was worried.

‘I need to calm down.’

My thoughts are jumping to conclusions.

Losing composure in a dangerous situation doesn’t help at all. I need to think rationally.

‘If I carefully review the circumstances…’

First, what’s certain is that he doesn’t know where I am. If he did, Return Faction rankers would have already pounced on me.

The fact that they haven’t means he knows I’m on Askha44 but doesn’t know my exact location.

‘His controlled creatures discovered traces of me.’

He must have used his unique perk “Beast God’s Noose” to place living surveillance cameras all over the planet. The spies saw me moving around the planet and reported back to their master.

All this time, I focused on avoiding enemy ship surveillance but didn’t pay much attention to wildlife. I probably got caught while heading to hunt the Dreadsong or Pyromancer.

‘But that’s not what’s important here.’

I don’t know whether Salman couldn’t properly understand what his controlled animals saw, or if it’s a limitation of the perk itself.

The point is that he’s acting based on uncertain information.

If my guess is correct, that bomb is a kind of insurance that works through the Magmasaur as bait.

If I remove the bomb to catch the Magmasaur, my intrusion becomes certain. He’ll naturally learn where I am.

The same applies if he discovers my existence and location through other means. Then he can just detonate the bomb to put the Magmasaur to sleep. Although he’ll lose the chance to control an Apex, he can prevent me from growing stronger.

‘Then he’ll call his comrades to deal with me.’

So why did he take such a roundabout approach?

The answer is simple. Because his comrades aren’t on Askha44 right now.

Alshas previously mentioned that Return Faction members each have important tasks. They don’t abandon their assignments unless something extremely important comes up. Salman must be guarding the Return Faction’s weapons alone.

‘That’s all I can determine for now.’

I explained my reasoning to Isabel. After listening to everything, she nodded.

“I see. So what are you planning to do?”

The first thing to do in this situation is clear.

Quickly eliminate Salman before his comrades arrive.

‘But the opponent is already preparing countermeasures.’

Whether he’s already called comrades or not, he wouldn’t have completely ruled out the possibility of me attacking him first. He’s surely laid all kinds of traps in anticipation of my attack.

Sky Mother and PS-111 successfully infiltrated the base, but my situation is different. In fact, if only one of them had gone, they probably would have failed. Sky Mother can’t hack machines, and PS-111’s body isn’t suitable for infiltration.

But I’m not keen on a frontal confrontation either. That would be playing into his hands.

“Big baby looks unhappy.”

“Dwarf” “always” “looks” “unhappy” “when” “we” “meet”

“It’s because humans have bad things.”

“Dwarf” “body” “weak” “stick” “strong”

“Bad humans should be hit with bad things!”

While I was thinking hard, the kids were chatting out of boredom.

‘Wait.’

Hearing their conversation, an idea suddenly struck me.

‘This could work well if used properly.’

There’s exactly one method that could deliver a fatal blow to Salman while accomplishing all my goals.

A method almost like magic.

[Zzzzzz zzzzzzz zzzzzzzz zzzz(The equipment Sky Mother is trying to make)]

“Huh?”

[Zzzz zzzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzz zzzzzz(That takes about two hours to complete, right?)]

“Depending on what facilities are used, but I remember it taking about that long.”

[Zz(Good)]

Including the time for the infiltrators to escape, it will take 4 hours.

Once that time passes, Salman is finished.

–

“What happened to the bomb team?”

In a massive space with a dome-shaped gate on the ceiling.

Salman asked his butler in front of a rocky mountain in the center.

“It’s been 4 hours since installation, but no one has approached.”

“If he came here, he would definitely appear there. As soon as you confirm it, detonate the bomb.”

“We have the remote control switch here, so there’s no need to worry.”

When the butler took out a black terminal, Salman nodded slightly.

‘I’ve done everything the Empress ordered.’

Among the Return Faction members, the Empress and Bumho had fought AMorph the most. Salman contacted the Empress through a communication monolith to ask for advice.

She, or rather he, said that if AMorph really arrived on the planet, he would be after two things.

One is a ranker’s life. Having heard about Salman’s existence from the now-dead Alshas, he came targeting him. So the focus should be on survival.

Immediately after receiving the contact, he captured as many wild animals as possible to increase his subordinates.

At the same time, he equipped all available gear from the equipment storage. He changed the security system of the storage to a closed system so that no one else could access the remaining equipment.

And the second reason AMorph would target Askha44: the Magmasaur, which has the best genetic essence obtainable from the volcano.

The Magmasaur, belonging to the upper ranks of Apex creatures, is something Salman also covets. That’s why he’s been using exploration teams to search the volcano’s interior.

Knowing this, the Empress also advised that if AMorph really came to Askha44, Salman should give up on the Magmasaur. She also said he should suspect all subordinates who had gone outside and returned to the base.

‘Because they might be infected with parasites.’

That crazy Morph-lover wouldn’t search the volcano inch by inch. Even in the game, he enjoyed exploiting others’ plans. He’s likely to secretly use Salman’s subordinates.

Since all her advice was convincing, he followed it obediently. Those responsible for external activities and volcano exploration were all assigned to the bomb management fleet. If any of them were infected, they would serve as good bait to lure the Morph-lover.

“Are there any reported problems inside the base?”

“No, Salman sir. Nothing unusual so far.”

The butler answered confidently. Hopefully, nothing will go wrong, as he said.

Thinking this, Salman approached the rocky mountain and reached out to stroke it.

‘I should check outside too.’

While stroking the rocky mountain, he closed his eyes. His senses connected with one of the animals he controlled.

When he opened his eyes again, what he saw wasn’t the rocky mountain. All around him was boiling lava.

Currently, beasts under his control are hiding in the airspace outside the base and in the lava below. He instructed the beasts to report immediately if they saw a black cloud or a giant monster.

Synchronized with a Volcarox hiding in the lava lake, he raised his head to look at the edge of the lake. There was no sign of any creature where the black land met the gray sky.

‘I hope it’s just needless worry…’

He looked around while synchronized but saw no approaching entities.

Finally, as he was about to examine the base floating above, a pillar of fire shot up from the lava. It was a phenomenon caused by gas erupting from beneath the ground. For a brief moment, as the base’s energy absorption device opened to absorb the gas, the interior was exposed.

‘Huh?’

Salman flinched at the sight. Although it was an extremely brief moment, the base was indeed exposed to external threats. Who knows if that part could become a weakness during a fight with AMorph?

After breaking the link, he was about to mention this to his butler.

“The gas absorption facility…”

“Salman sir!”

At that moment, the butler spoke first. Calling to Salman with a very surprised face, he was holding a communication device.

“It’s a contact from the bomb management fleet!”

“What?”

When the butler turned on the communicator, screams flowed from the small device.

“M-monster attack! C-confirmed loss of over 60% of fleet power!”

“Lost contact with the bomb managers who went to the ground!”

“D-damn it! S-something’s trying to get in from outside!”

“Request immediate support! Immediate support… a-aaaaargh! Click.”

The frantic voices soon cut off. What remained was only a cold silence.

“Detonate the bomb! Now!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

When Salman shouted resolutely, the butler quickly activated the remote control switch. The number 20 appeared on the screen of the black terminal. When that number reaches 0, the gamma-class antimatter bomb will explode.

Then AMorph won’t be able to obtain the Magmasaur’s genetic essence.

The numbers decreased rapidly.

When the remaining number reached 10, Salman suddenly had a strange feeling.

That things were going too well against the infamous AMorph.

“Butler. Can you also check the location of that bomb?”

“Pardon? I’ll check.”

When the number indicated 5, the butler touched the terminal’s screen with his finger.

Seeing the changing screen, the butler’s eyes widened to the point of tearing.

“S-Salman sir?”

“What’s wrong?”

“T-the location…”

The map he showed had a familiar place marked. The location of the bomb was their base. The remaining number on the screen was now 2.

“Son of a…! Marid (مارد)!”

When Salman shouted, the huge rocky mountain behind him moved to cover him.

Immediately after, light erupting from inside the base engulfed them.