Ch.382Wanderers (2)

“Right side cannons 3 through 12 completely inoperable! Left side 1 and 11 also inoperable!”

“Goddammit! The fighter ships! Where the hell did you sell the fighter ships?!”

“What? You want me to send fighters against Metallic Gremlins?”

“You son of a bitch, do you want us all to die here? Send them out now!”

“A-alright!”

The situation room inside the pirate ship was in complete chaos.

Many fear Space Dogs, but there are far more terrifying entities in space than pirates.

The suddenly appearing Metallic Gremlins are one such existence.

Those small demons with metallic skin are like a plague to space travelers.

Their sharp teeth easily grind through even the toughest alloy armor, and the unique wavelengths emitted from their skin easily neutralize detection systems. A swarm of hundreds of Metallic Gremlins is a threat that even the latest military vessels must take seriously.

But the enemies now charging at the pirates number at least tens of thousands. Even Frank, the second-in-command of the Shinomitsu pirates, has never heard of a swarm this large.

“Communications officer! What’s the situation?”

“The j-jamming signals are making communications impossible! We can’t contact the other vessels!”

“You idiot! Then get us out of the transmission range immediately!”

“Rear thrusters damaged beyond 65%! Speed rapidly decreasing!”

Metallic Gremlins are absolutely crazy for refined metals. They attack ships not to eat people, but to consume the alloys.

Despite being much smaller than humans, they have terrifying appetites. The moment they latch onto the ship, this vessel over 100 meters long will quickly disappear into their stomachs.

And Frank, having lost his pirate ship, would drift through space until he died.

‘Damn it, this was supposed to be a safe system!’

This is a sector where even trading vessels and mining ships rarely visit. If he had known this would happen, he would never have come here.

“Second-in-command! The creatures’ movements are strange!”

Just as he was regretting his decision, one of his subordinates shouted in bewilderment.

“Th-they’re moving away from us!”

“What?”

Frank hurriedly checked the holographic map. The dots that were about to engulf the pirate ship were now moving elsewhere.

‘What’s that…?’

At the destination where the space predators were heading, there was a marker for an unidentified vessel. Due to the signal interference, he could only tell it was a ship, with no other details visible.

“I don’t know what the hell that is, but good for us. We need to escape while we can…”

Just as he decided to slip away while they fought, the ship suddenly shook violently.

–

‘They’re coming this way?’

The swarm that was about to devour three ships is now flying toward me. As if I’m more important to them than those vessels.

‘Well, I appreciate them coming to me.’

When I acquired “Nightmare Horizon,” I fought Metallic Gremlins for the first time in this world. I remember barely winning against what was only a medium-sized swarm.

But not anymore.

I transformed my ship to create “Heat Spike Carapace.” Despite the name, what formed on the front were spike-like protrusions closer to long spears.

And when those spikes reached their temperature limit, I fired them toward the three ships. The red spikes flew one after another, hitting their targets.

‘Can’t let them escape.’

I’ve completely disabled their thrusters so they can’t get away from here.

After preventing the ships from escaping, I prepared to fight the approaching swarm.

I can’t use powerful attacks since I need to eat the enemies to fill my stomach. Instead of utilizing the ship’s cannons by assimilation, I need to engage in close combat.

‘I have a good trait for that.’

I applied the powerful defensive trait “Destroyer Carapace” to my ship. While it’s automatically applied to my main body regardless of my will, I had to manually activate it for the assimilated ship.

The black mucus covering the hull rapidly changes form. The obsidian-smooth surface swells into bumps and transforms to resemble a Magmasaur’s hide. With the Heat Spike Carapace trait added, large spikes protrude across the entire ship.

Then I applied various traits to the ship one after another. A long snout with splitting fangs formed at the front of the vessel, while a massive pincer-tipped tail emerged from the rear.

No one would think this was a ship anymore. My current appearance is closer to a gigantic monster drifting through space.

“■■■?”

The approaching creatures hesitate upon seeing the ship transformed into a monster.

“■■!”

I thought they might try to flee, but that wasn’t the case. The bodies of the creatures that had briefly paused began to glow blue. A “Warp Boy” mixed within the swarm was using the large-scale FTL navigation technique, “Warp Guide.”

Soon, hundreds of Metallic Gremlins emerged from nearby space. Their faces, filled with swirling mouth patterns, opened wide to bite into me.

‘Not so fast!’

I opened wide the “Reaper’s Maw” attached to the front. The mouth on this 500-meter ship spans dozens of meters in size. Like a whale swallowing a school of fish, I charged toward the enemies with my mouth wide open.

“■■■■?!”

The enemies accelerating to latch onto me couldn’t dodge in time and entered my mouth. I closed my jaws and swallowed the enemies that had entered.

“Predation effect activated!”

Perhaps because I swallowed dozens at once. As a text message appeared, my hunger subsided ever so slightly.

Meanwhile, the metallic-colored predators attached themselves to me. They struggled to sink their characteristically sharp teeth into the Destroyer Carapace.

“■■?”

The outer shell covering the bio-ship is very thick. While they can damage the surface relatively easily, penetrating to the interior is another matter. It would take them quite some time to get inside.

‘But I won’t wait that long.’

I swung my elongated tail, sweeping across the carapace. Only pieces of flesh remained where the tail had passed.

“■■■!”

“■■■!”

Despite their comrades being slaughtered one after another, they showed no signs of stopping. As if this was their only option, they simply continued to bite at my outer shell with their teeth.

‘Where’s the leader?’

Any large-scale swarm always has a commander unit, a “Titaboss.” Since it’s not among the intruders on my ship, it must be somewhere within the swarm where the Warp Boy is.

While clearing the surrounding enemies with my mouth and tail, I moved toward the swarm where the Titaboss was hiding.

“■■■■■!”

Entities several times larger than Metallic Gremlins emerged from the swarm. Those creatures with black-stained arms are “Wolfram Goblins.” A higher species of Metallic Gremlins specialized in long-range harassment.

Thousands of rock fragments rained down on me from the group of Wolfram Goblins.

Those projectiles are Wolfram Goblin excrement, containing microorganisms that corrode metal. While truly lethal to ordinary ships, not to me. I continued advancing, taking their attacks head-on.

When I got close enough, I activated the heat spikes covering the entire ship.

The black spikes glowed red as if soaked in blood. Metallic Gremlins near the spikes melted from the extreme heat.

I fired the superheated spikes in rapid succession. Some detected the danger and dodged on their own, but most couldn’t. Holes were punctured throughout the silver cloud formed by tens of thousands of creatures.

‘They’ll try to dodge next.’

As expected, the Warp Boys used their abilities, and the silver cloud turned blue.

I should harvest the enemy corpses while they’re retreating.

As I was about to move forward with that thought, something strange happened.

‘What?’

Suddenly, I sensed powerful energy flows from all directions. This energy, felt from nearby, is the trace emitted during FTL navigation attempts.

‘They’re not retreating?’

The Warp Boys in the swarm are attempting to teleport to close proximity with me.

One-third of the total swarm appeared right in front of me. The remaining two-thirds moved to my rear, as if to cut off my escape route.

‘Why are they so aggressive?’

Even if Metallic Gremlins have unique ecological mechanisms, they are still living creatures. They eat when hungry and fear when their kind die.

It’s abnormal for them to focus solely on attacking while so many of their kind are dying.

‘Come to think of it, their appearance here is strange too.’

To feed that many Metallic Gremlins, you’d need at least a space city’s worth of alloys. But there are no metal structures in this system, and few ships pass through. Under normal circumstances, there’s no reason for them to appear here.

A large-scale swarm appearing suddenly without reason. Behavior different from typical Metallic Gremlins.

I’ve seen something similar before.

‘Kesha Arma’s Metallic Gremlins.’

The player Cynthia from the Returnee faction once lured a large swarm to fight me. Those creatures showed strange movements then too.

‘Could a player have sent them?’

The thought made my blood run cold.

If this is a trap, I’m in grave danger right now. I don’t know when players might burst in here.

While I hesitated momentarily, they quickly tightened their encirclement.

The enemies that appeared from the front focused solely on climbing onto me and gnawing at my outer shell. Even as they entered my mouth and were about to be eaten, they didn’t stop biting.

‘…I need to get out of here as quickly as possible.’

[Zzz zzz zzzzz (Everyone help me)]

Unless I abandon the ship, my available traits are limited. I need help from the others rather than handling this alone.

“It’s a fight!”

“Outside” “Smell” “Strange”

“Seems like there are more enemies than expected.”

No. 26, Adhigh Orr, and Sky Mother prepared for battle after receiving my wavelength.

“We’ll help too.”

“Sister, wait. We can’t.”

[Zzz zzz zzz zzzzz (You two stay here)]

PS-111 wanted to help too, but Isabelle and I stopped him.

A significant portion of his and Isabelle’s bodies are composed of metal. If the part controlling their brains gets attacked, it would be disastrous.

So everyone except those two came out.

“I thought there were many, but this is…?”

Sky Mother was surprised upon facing the swarming silver monsters. Transformed into a griffon form, she immediately sprayed carnelian-colored particles that manipulate pressure. The enemies around her were instantly crushed.

“Enemy” “Before” “Big elder” “Troubled” “Feeling” “Bad”

Remembering that I had previously struggled with Metallic Gremlins, Adhigh Orr began slaughtering them while covered in “Red Armor.” He turned enemies into pieces of meat by ramming into them.

“Little baby is right! They bullied big baby! I’ll punish all the bad ones!”

No. 26, the last to emerge, also entered combat mode. His body, drifting through space, rapidly grew larger. Simultaneously, numerous eyes formed on his pink skin.

When those eyes made of psychic power glowed, the enemies flinched. The Sea Demon’s unique technique, “Deep Sea Terror,” was activating, showing the enemies frightening illusions.

‘Good. We need to clear them quickly…’

At that moment, all the Metallic Gremlins in the vicinity suddenly began rushing toward No. 26. Even those fighting Sky Mother and Adhigh Orr, all of them.

“Wait?!”

“Little elder” “Danger!”

Not only that, but the swarms behind me also initiated FTL navigation toward No. 26’s vicinity. The movement was so natural, as if this had been their target from the beginning.

‘Damn it!’

There’s an immense gap between a quasi-raid boss level Sea Demon and individual Metallic Gremlins. Even hundreds or thousands attacking would struggle to wound No. 26.

But the enemies we’re fighting now number over tens of thousands. While they can’t defeat No. 26, they could potentially inflict critical damage.

I urgently moved in front of No. 26 to block the enemies.

I employed everything at my disposal—tail, mouth, and even the ship’s cannons.

Thousands died instantly, but the enemy numbers were far greater. As many as had died attached themselves to No. 26.

“Big baby!”

‘I need to abandon the ship…!’

Just as I was about to cancel the assimilation to protect him, No. 26, covered in Metallic Gremlins, began to glow.

‘Huh?’

With metal-skinned monsters clinging all over him, he looked like a silver jellyfish. The light flowing through the gaps had nothing to do with pain.

That light color was what appeared when No. 26 was happy.

“■■■”

“■■■”

“It tickles!”

The creatures, completely wrapping No. 26’s body, weren’t doing anything but staying still. They looked as comfortable as babies in their mother’s arms.

No. 26 wiggled his fins as if their behavior tickled him.

“What is this?” “What is this?”

“…Are the Metallic Gremlins actually being affectionate with him?”

Adhigh Orr and Sky Mother each commented on the sight.

‘What’s going on?’

Until now, I was the one surprising and deceiving others, but now the tables had turned.

Faced with this unimaginable scene, I could only stare blankly like the others.