Ch.372The Snare of the Beast God (1)

“Six ‘Pileflies’ approaching from the rear.”

“Got it!”

Sky Mother beat the air hard with her enormous wings. As she accelerated forward, dragonfly-like monsters with broad wings pursued her.

The creatures were ‘Pileflies’.

They were carnivorous insects that primarily inhabited volcanic or rocky planets.

They flew by riding thermal currents like gliders, and when they spotted prey, they hunted by shooting biological stakes from their undersides.

The Pileflies, merely 3 to 4 meters in size, could survive on this planet teeming with monsters thanks to these biological stakes. The stakes they fired had extremely high velocity and penetration power, capable of killing even heavily armored creatures like Vulcarox.

These terrifying biological stakes rained down upon the black-winged Thunderbird.

Sky Mother dove toward the ground to avoid the barrage of 70cm projectiles. The stakes grazed past the black feathers covering her back.

She could have flown faster to escape their pursuit, but the situation was complicated by PS-111 hanging from her hind legs.

PS-111, gripping her hind legs with hook-like claws, moved its long tail toward the rear. The Demolisher attached to the tail’s end activated and began firing matter-disintegration rounds.

“Kieek!”

One of the giant dragonflies lost a wing and plummeted as it rode the air currents in pursuit. The following indigo energy rounds struck the wings or heads of three more.

Four out of the six pursuers fell to the ground. Despite losing more than half of their companions, the remaining pursuers showed no intention of retreating. They simply continued firing stakes relentlessly.

“This will never end at this rate.”

“I know… damn!”

At that moment, three or four biological stakes flew toward her wing. It was too late to dodge or intercept them. Just as the stakes were about to pierce her wing, black arms grew from her feathers and deflected them.

Sky Mother had used the function of ‘Obsidian Arms’ to defend herself. While she concentrated on controlling the black arms, PS-111 intercepted the remaining enemies with the Demolisher.

But they couldn’t relax yet. The true threat still remained.

Sky Mother looked down at the ground. Beasts with completely suppressed instincts had gathered there. Above them floated a bizarrely transformed being.

It was Salman, a Volf ranker who had transformed into the mythical beast “Simurgh.”

His appearance was different from when they had fought earlier.

While he retained basic features like the head of a canine beast and the body of a peacock, his wings had grown abnormally large. They had expanded so much that his 10-meter-long body seemed small in comparison, giving him a form closer to a butterfly or moth.

Moreover, the emerald and lapis lazuli colored feathers covering his wings and tail were continuously decomposing and disappearing. Taking their place were particles of light and energy masses.

The enlarged wings had already disappeared and been replaced by multicolored light clusters. Though they still maintained the shape of wings, the light within them pulsated ceaselessly, making them appear highly unstable.

Eventually, the chaotically intertwined light flows grew increasingly violent and began to erupt outward.

‘Dangerous!’

Seeing this, Sky Mother urgently spread her wings to gain altitude. Simultaneously, hundreds of heat rays extended like stems and flew toward her.

Heat rays as thick as an adult man’s waist poured down like rain. She performed dazzling evasive maneuvers to avoid the barrage of light.

However, with PS-111 in tow, it was difficult to perfectly evade the enemy’s attacks as she had before. Eventually, PS-111, hanging from her hind legs, was grazed by a heat ray.

‘Tsk!’

Simurgh’s attacks were not ordinary. They were enhanced enough to easily destroy even PS-111’s sturdy body.

Sky Mother hid in the clouds and moved as far away from the creature as possible.

The enemy, who had been firing heat rays wildly, stopped attacking once she retreated. Instead, he sent new subordinates.

“■■■■■■!”

“Kiriririk!”

An eerie cry that sounded abnormal by any standard. When Salman howled like a beast, the Pileflies hovering around him took flight.

Sky Mother increased her altitude and hid in a nearby dark cloud.

“Are you alright?”

“Two arms have been damaged by highly accelerated unidentified particle energy. Analyzing the properties of these particles and acceleration conditions would be quite useful…”

‘Well, I guess you’re fine.’

For an ordinary creature, losing two out of eight limbs would be a serious injury, but PS-111’s body was mostly mechanical. Losing weapons was painful, but it didn’t seem to significantly impair movement.

During this lull in the battle, she quickly assessed the situation.

‘What on earth happened?’

He fell after being struck by the spear, then suddenly transformed like that.

The characteristic of the Golden Spear of Shaman is that it becomes sharper and more lethal as it absorbs blood. It kills opponents, not mutates them like that. The armor he wore also has nothing to do with mutation.

‘Then there’s only one answer.’

PS-111 suggested that he had taken a stimulant similar to Psyonium and experienced problems. That was likely the cause.

A Psyonium ampoule temporarily elevates the user’s stage by one level. If a Volf consumes it, their Incarnate stage increases by one. If used at a stage that cannot be elevated further, it has no effect.

In other words, at the final mission stage, in the avatar state, one cannot benefit from enhancement effects. She had never seen a phenomenon where the body collapses and distorts after taking the drug.

‘If not for that armor, he would have died already.’

Sky Mother glared at the nail-sized Salman.

A Thunderbird’s eyesight is far superior to a Griffon’s. Thanks to this, she could clearly see what state he was in.

While his entire body was undergoing bizarre mutations, the only intact part was the golden armor covering his torso and head. The Golden Spear of Shaman that she had thrown was embedded in the chest plate of the armor.

That equipment quickly heals the wearer when injured. The fact that he was still alive despite having a hole in his chest and his body collapsing was entirely due to that armor.

‘If his physical collapse is due to the drug’s side effects…’

When the effects of Psyonium wear off, his body should return to normal. Whether his mind would also recover was uncertain, but the possibility couldn’t be ruled out.

Either way, the longer they delayed, the higher the chance he would escape.

“We need to capture him here somehow.”

“How about this method? I act as bait to draw his attention while the ‘middle child’ approaches and subdues the target.”

“I considered that too, but it won’t work. It would put you in too much danger.”

Even with the Mountain Crawler down, there were still many monsters on the ground protecting Salman. Moreover, creatures like Lava Raptors were much faster than PS-111.

If she failed to capture Salman, he might die.

“The target’s potential danger is very high. If we fail to subdue him, the risk factors beyond observation will increase dramatically.”

“…”

“Even at the cost of my physical body, subduing the target would be beneficial.”

Hearing his rigid words, she recalled a memory from the past.

On the day she fought Muriel, her husband, Father Land, had said something similar. While he took the enemy’s attacks, she should move in and finish the enemy.

At that time, she had anticipated that Muriel would bring a dangerous weapon. Though she didn’t know it was the Lightning God, she thought the enemy would have a weapon of comparable power. She believed that no matter how strong her husband was, he would struggle against orbital weapon-grade firepower.

‘It’s exactly the same as back then.’

Her choice had been to move together with her husband.

And that was the wrong decision. Father Land suffered great damage trying to protect her from the Lightning God’s flames, which led to their defeat.

If she had made a different choice, would the outcome have been different?

‘…I don’t know.’

Once again, a moment of choice had arrived, but perhaps because of past memories, she couldn’t make a hasty decision.

As her deliberation deepened, the Pileflies drew closer to their location.

“We’re running out of time. Please decide quickly.”

“I know.”

“Time” “running out?” “Why?”

“I know we need to do something before he escapes! But… huh?”

Sky Mother detected a familiar thought wave in between. The tip of a long, pterodactyl-like snout pointed upward.

In front, a swarm of Pileflies was preparing to attack. The biological stakes growing from their bellies were aimed precisely at her and PS-111.

Just as the stakes were about to leave their bellies.

A red flash appeared, tearing through the dark clouds above them.

“Kieek?!”

“Kyaak!”

The Pileflies that collided with the red light shattered like insects hit by an electric fly swatter. The entity that had turned the gray clouds red in an instant flew toward her.

“Ugly friend” “having troubles?”

The small Gallergorn called her by the strange nickname as always.

But that impertinent thought wave felt incredibly welcome right now.

The red rascal Adhigh Orr had come to help her.