Ch.378Mid-Term Check (1)

[Zzzzz Zzz(Is this the one?)]

“Grung?”

The armadillo, the size of a hill, blinks its four eyes. The griffon beastman beside it sends a thought wave.

“The one brought by the bad master. Can you check if his scent is similar to that person’s?”

“Gruuuu”

At the gentle thought wave, the massive beast slowly shakes its head. Then it brings its head close to the human who is much smaller than itself.

“……”

The human trembles as the beast, much larger than himself, comes right in front of him. He knows well that even the reinforced suit he’s wearing cannot protect him.

Eventually, the giant Mountain Crawler blows a strong breath through its nose.

“Gru!”

“That’s right. This one supplied goods to Salman.”

[Zzz(Yes)]

I deliberately didn’t implant any parasites in case he might get confused when the creature smelled him.

I extended my wing arm and picked him up. Now I need to see what’s inside this little pirate’s head.

“W-wait! I’ll tell you everything you want to know!”

“You’ll tell everything?”

“Yes! All the transactions with client S! Everything that bastard ordered me to do! I’ll tell you everything, so please spare me!”

The pirate Sechan was desperate. He probably thinks he can escape if he just gets out of here.

‘But what a shame.’

Isabelle is handling the pirate ship floating in space, and Adhigh Orr went to deal with the transport ship that landed on the ground. Even if he’s lucky enough to escape from me, there’s no way to flee this planet.

From the moment he decided to come here, his fate was sealed, you could say.

‘Though I should be grateful for that.’

Today is the third day since Salman died.

According to the ancient Mountain Crawler he brought, there were people who regularly visited Askha44. Every time they came, there was always the smell of food and blood.

The Sky Mother and I suspected they were the ones in charge of supplies and transport. Askha44 is a planet without terraforming. Naturally, everything must be procured from outside. There must be supply managers outside the planet dedicated to this.

Of course, the Mountain Crawler, not being human, didn’t know where the supply managers were or when they came.

Fortunately, that problem was solved thanks to Salman’s remaining forces. Although the defense fleet in charge of combat was annihilated, ships that had left the base for reconnaissance remained.

I searched the planet thoroughly to find survivors and obtained the necessary information from them.

After confirming when the supply manager would come, we waited on Askha44 for three days.

If he hadn’t come by today, we were planning to leave this planet.

‘But things worked out well.’

“This is the last room. A dining hall? Why is there a baby crying here?”

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice echoed through the nest.

“…What’s this?”

Sechan’s face brightened in an instant. It must be because he heard a voice, that of a comrade.

‘Oh dear.’

Unfortunately, what he’s hoping for won’t happen.

“They’re all dead!”

The being that appeared with a rough curse was a creature far from human. Sechan’s complexion rapidly deteriorated as he saw a jellyfish glowing pink in the darkness.

“You know the captain’s temper, don’t you? Shit! Oh, really?”

It must be because the familiar voice he knows is flowing from the creature’s tentacles.

Small protrusions covering the tentacle surface continuously emitted male and female voices as they moved. It was like playing recorded voices.

“B-big baby. Hahaha. Fuck!”

[Zzzzz Zzz Zzz(You shouldn’t use that word)]

The pink jellyfish, No. 26, who recognized my wavelength, stopped moving.

“Not allowed? Why?”

[Zzzz Zzzzzz(It’s a bad word)]

“Calling big baby is not allowed?”

[Zz Zzzz Zzz Zzz(Not that part, the one after)]

“Fuck?”

[Zzzz(That)]

It seems that studying ‘speaking with sound’ has been fruitful, as No. 26’s vocabulary has reached a considerable level. At least kindergarten level, wouldn’t you say?

“I understand. I won’t do it.”

[Zzzzzz(Good)]

“Yes!”

“T-that voice… could it be all my comrades?”

Ordinary humans cannot understand the conversation between me and No. 26. The same goes for Sechan, who appears to have undergone genetic modification surgery.

But he’s not stupid enough to not understand how the situation is unfolding.

I focused my consciousness on my combat arm. A very small object slowly crawled out from an organ in my arm.

A parasite with an eel-like elongated body moves along my combat arm toward its target. Sechan, held in my hand, began to tremble as he saw the approaching parasite.

“You won’t die.”

“W-wait… ughk?!”

“At least not until you’ve spilled everything in your head.”

He struggled to avoid being infected by the parasite, but it was a meaningless resistance.

A few seconds later, the pirate, who had lost control of his body to the parasite, went limp. The griffon beastman, the Sky Mother, who had been watching from the beginning, shuddered.

“Parasites always make me feel bad. I have a physiological aversion to them.”

[Zz Zzzzzz Zzzz(Really? Aren’t they cute?)]

“It’s a bit late to say this, but I think your taste is a bit strange.”

[Zzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz Zzzzzz(I don’t think you’re one to talk)]

“What’s wrong with this one? It’s cute like a retriever.”

“Gruuu”

She stroked the Mountain Crawler while sending thought waves. The creature gently closed its eyes, seemingly enjoying its master’s touch.

No matter how many times I look at it, the creature doesn’t resemble a retriever in any way. Neither in reality nor in this world does a dog with 4 eyes and 6 legs exist.

‘And it’s bigger than me too.’

Its body length is definitely shorter than mine, but the size of its carapace overwhelms me. When it crouches, it looks like a small mountain or a rocky hill.

“Grung?”

The Mountain Crawler, sensing my gaze, approached me with big steps. The nest shook greatly as if a small mountain was moving.

After narrowing the distance with me, it stretched its head and rubbed it against my body. It was a sight reminiscent of a pet dog, as she said.

Mountain Crawlers lead independent lives throughout their lives except when giving birth. Once the offspring can walk on their own, the entire family disperses and each lives their own life. It’s a species with strong independence, yet it shows affection like this.

[Zz Zzzzzz Zzzz(Well, it is cute)]

“Dandan is cute!”

“Gruuuu”

I scratched the back of its neck appropriately and looked down at Sechan, who was infected with the parasite.

He was waiting for my orders with dull eyes.

“First, explain the job you were in charge of.”

“Yes.”

I asked him everything I could possibly learn from him – where he sourced items from, and if there were items Salman had ordered him to move, where he moved them to.

The interrogation ended after about 2 hours. He spilled everything he knew to me.

Most of it was useless information, but there was one interesting piece.

‘I’ll have to check that outside.’

I need his ship to verify that information. I had a feeling this might happen, so I entrusted the pirate ship to Isabelle, which is fortunate.

[Zzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz(I’ll be out for a bit)]

“I want to go too.”

I left the infected Sechan with the Sky Mother and got up. No. 26, who had been playing with the Mountain Crawler, climbed onto my head.

The creature and I climbed to the surface using the tunnel dug by the Mountain Crawler.

As we emerged onto the black ground, I saw an unfamiliar ship besides the three Cult ships.

‘Is that the one?’

It was a ship similar to the House Egerton warship I had seen before at the T&C Special Trade Center.

It appeared to be about 500m in length, making it much smaller than the one I had seen before. Though smaller, it shared the same impressive golden decorations and sleek, streamlined hull design.

That magnificent large destroyer was now half-buried in the ground.

Isabelle and PS-111 were in front of the ship, which appeared to have crash-landed. Beside them, Adhigh Orr, who had returned after destroying the transport ship, was enjoying a nap curled up.

“It’s amazing how everyone, including Seoa unnie, is so good at flying spaceships.”

“If you implant a flight simulation module, you can demonstrate ace pilot-level control skills.”

“That’s not something you put in your head, is it?”

“Since sensory response and information analysis abilities must also be modified, part of the brain needs to be manipulated.”

“……”

PS-111, who was damaged while fighting Salman before.

As you can see, it was fine. Rather, thanks to several modifications over the past three days, it’s been slightly upgraded from before.

The difference is in its arms. Two of its eight arms have been replaced with new types.

Looking at the two arms attached to the back of its torso, there were short cylinder-like attachments instead of hands. At the end of the cylinders were three appendages, which are used to support the body during movement.

Another minor difference was the addition of four metal pipes on its back.

“If you wish, I can modify you immediately.”

“My sense of taste is already weird, I don’t want to change anything more.”

“If we perform your gun implantation surgery along with the modification, we can expect a dramatic increase in combat power.”

“Absolutely not. Never.”

“Is that so? That’s unfortunate.”

“What about your legs, are they okay… Ah, AMorph?”

Isabelle, who was talking with her sister, stopped what she was saying when she spotted me.

[Zzzzzz(Is that the ship?)]

“Yes. Though it looks a bit rough.”

[Zzzzzz Zzz Zzzzzzzz Zzz Zzzzzzzz(It’s fine. As long as the ship’s computer is alive)]

Anyway, the ship itself isn’t particularly important. I plan to acquire the ship’s data and then dispose of the rest.

“If you need information, I will help.”

[Zzzzzzzz(I’ll leave it to you)]

“What information do you need?”

I explained to it what we needed to find.

“I will secure the stored route records and the captain’s personal records.”

[Zz Zzz Zzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz(Good. If you see anything else that might be useful, grab that too)]

“Understood.”

“I want to go with my friend too. I’ll look for study things.”

“I will check that as well.”

PS-111 nodded and approached the ship. Then it raised the new arms at the back of its torso and aimed at the outer wall.

The appendages attached to the cylinder folded outward, and the entire arm glowed red.

Eventually, white flames poured out from the cylinder and began to burn the ship’s outer wall. At the same time, hot heat was emitted from the metal pipes on its back.

It’s a flamethrower created based on the attack method of a pyromancer that Isabelle told me about.

Just as a pyromancer heats their arm to attack, it can also emit high-temperature flames from those two arms.

Of course, it cannot perfectly control heat energy like a pyromancer. The cylindrical barrel was made by processing a magmasaur’s corpse, which is why it doesn’t melt.

Even with that, it’s not easy, to the point where it has to control the heat with the pipes on its back.

After a while, the ship’s outer wall, which had been intensively exposed to tremendous heat, began to melt.

After creating a large hole in the ship’s outer wall in just a few seconds, it stopped operating the flamethrower. Thanks to the pipes circulating the heat inside its body, its arms quickly regained their original color.

“I minimized the damage for future use.”

[Zzzzzz(Thank you)]

“Wow! Friend is strong! Amazing!”

“Thank you for the praise, Main Controller.”

PS-111 looked satisfactorily at the result it had created and then went inside. No. 26 also disappeared into the interior of the ship, bouncing along behind it.

‘It seems it wanted to show off its new weapon.’

It can easily pick locks and enter through hacking. Seeing it act inefficiently, which is unlike it, it probably wanted to show me. That’s why I didn’t say anything.

“Did unnie just show off her new legs?”

[Zzzzzz Zzzz(It seems so)]

“She’s such a child, now as always.”

Of course, Isabelle pointed that out directly.

Anyway, it will take some time for PS-111 to extract the computer records.

‘In the meantime, I should reconsider future plans.’

There’s nothing more to see on this planet.

Before moving to the next location, I should check my body condition and future plans one last time.

With that thought, I brought up a translucent text box that was different from before.