Ch.391Offensive (3)

“Bzzzzzz (How many were there?)”

“Three. Unique-grade, equipment, worn. Sniper rifle, confirmed.”

Isabelle reported the information she had confirmed before the enemies went into hiding.

“The rest, time, short, couldn’t see.”

Her Perk only works when she directly observes with her eyes. It seemed she couldn’t confirm everything because the enemy quickly concealed themselves.

‘Still, she checked the important equipment.’

The “disruption round” and “sniper rifle” Isabelle mentioned. I know both of these items.

‘Sniper rifle’ is a nickname used among players, and it has a different official name. The nickname might be ordinary, but its power is anything but.

The official name is “Giant Gun.” Among rankers, when they say sniper rifle, they’re usually referring to the Giant Gun.

Unlike sniper coil guns that support various ammunition types, the Giant Gun only supports one dedicated type of ammunition.

‘The problem is that dedicated ammunition is very troublesome.’

The name of the ammunition used exclusively with the Giant Gun is the disruption round.

The disruption round is a type of biological weapon. When the round embeds itself in the target, it releases a virus contained inside.

The virus travels through the blood vessels of the attacked target and blocks the activation of healing abilities. All AMorph recovery and regeneration-related traits become completely useless.

As a bonus, it distorts sensory organs, preventing proper fighting.

‘Being a virus, it can’t be neutralized.’

The virus naturally dissipates after about 3 minutes, but 3 minutes during combat is a very long time.

So I need to be careful not to get hit at all costs.

“I. Disruption rounds, intercept. Will help.”

Isabelle moved from my back to the top of my head.

She has the “All-Seeing Eye” and a pistol imbued with the power of Voltex One. If she can intercept the disruption rounds, it will be a great help to me.

“Bzzzz (I’m counting on you)”

Leaving the interception to Isabelle, I approached the enemy fleet while focusing on my auxiliary organs.

As the distance between us narrowed, anti-ship drones poured out in droves from the Star Union vessels. Some of the Outspacers who were with the Megacorp fleet also moved to intercept me.

“Force field, dr, ones.”

PS-111 identified the triangular-shaped drones.

Those drones don’t have attack capabilities, but they can form powerful force fields instead. They’re combat weapons primarily used against Outspacers or Metallic Gremlins who mainly use physical attacks.

When the large lens at the bottom of the triangle lit up, an energy field with strong cohesion formed in front of me. I changed direction downward to escape the range of the force field.

Multiple carrier-based aircraft were waiting for me there. The small plasma ship cannons mounted on the aircraft all spewed fire at once.

Hundreds, thousands of plasma rounds hit my body. There were too many to dodge individually.

It’s the perfect situation for disruption rounds to be mixed in, but I wasn’t worried.

A decorative pistol that looks like it belongs in the Renaissance era spits out formless fire. A 30cm projectile flying among the plasma rounds melted away.

“Front 3 o’clock, 11 o’clock, 7 o’clock cleared. Right side 1 o’clock, 12 o’clock, left side 9 o’clock, cleared.”

Isabelle kept switching the hand holding the pistol, disrupting the shadows’ sniping. Sister PS-111 also methodically cleared the force field drones.

While the Screamer sisters provided cover, I continued flying and activated the dark veil.

In a situation where they’ve prepared force field drones, a trait that creates fog is difficult to be effective. I used it anyway because I had a plan.

Black fog released from the bio-pipe extended along the trajectory I had passed. The carrier aircraft immediately stopped their attacks, and instead, force field drones and groups of Outspacers stepped forward.

The drones predicted my flight path and formed force fields. Outspacers swarmed in front of me, blocked by the force field.

The encirclement tightened, and the enemies clustered together.

‘They took the bait.’

This is what I was waiting for. I revealed my prepared move.

A strange color seeps into the carapace surface mixed with red and black. A sinister light, as if harboring malice, gathers in the tentacles of the monster on my head.

Soon after, psychic bubbles enhanced with the “Color of the Deep” left my body. A voracious predator wanders through the fog in search of prey.

They’ve been hit by the Color of the Deep once before at Beryan02. They should know how deadly these bubbles are.

They tried to retreat, but the force fields everywhere hindered their escape.

While the enhanced psychic breath devoured the clustered enemies, I stopped generating the veil and slipped through the gaps between the force fields.

Not far from the veil, I sense a particularly small object among the carrier aircraft.

“Front 3 o’clock.”

As soon as I heard Isabelle’s thought wave, I immediately twisted my head. The disruption round was destroyed just before it could touch my horn.

The shadows have been persistently targeting only my head since our first encounter.

‘They must have heard information about me.’

The one who failed the attack tries to hide again. Having been hit twice already, I can’t let it go like this.

The temperature of the large spikes protruding from various parts of my back rose rapidly. When the heat reached its limit, the spikes were launched forward like a shower.

The carrier aircraft blocking the front exploded when hit by the adult male-sized, superheated spikes. I broke through the explosions and pursued the shadow.

With good performance from the jetpack on its back, it managed to escape well in all directions.

But no matter how good the equipment, it can’t be faster than me in the Aspect of the Hunt state. The corrosion tentacles sleeping inside my back plate emerged to capture the enemy.

As the appendages of the tentacles tried to snatch it, Isabelle urgently sent a thought wave.

“Watch out!”

A small-sized bullet approaches the auxiliary organ under my jaw. One shadow had hidden in Isabelle’s blind spot and fired.

It was already too late to dodge or avoid. That’s when PS-111 stepped in to respond.

“This, time is my turn.”

She fired the Demolisher attached to her tail in succession, creating a curtain of bullets. The approaching disruption round was blocked by the indigo bullet curtain and disappeared.

The shadow trying to escape was also hit by the energy bullets that decompose matter. It turned to dust without leaving a single piece of flesh.

‘Oh no.’

It’s fortunate to catch one, but I didn’t expect the body to completely disintegrate.

In the Aspect of the Hunt state, I could have gained a lot of genetic essence by consuming the shadow. I regrettably missed that good opportunity.

‘Well, can’t be helped.’

There are still two shadows left, so I can look for the next opportunity.

At that moment, I detected many movements from behind.

‘What’s this?’

I thought they were carrier aircraft, but they weren’t. Collection bugs covered in bubbles were chasing after me.

A few bugs with half their bodies gone due to the Color of the Deep bubbles were trying to cling to my tail.

Just before it could get covered in bubbles, Isabelle used Voltex One’s pistol. The collection bugs approaching me faded away like sandcastles swept by waves.

“A, Morph? Are, you okay?”

“Bzzzz (Thanks to you)”

It could have been dangerous if Isabelle hadn’t responded so nimbly.

Psychic breath enhanced with the Color of the Deep continuously spreads until it eats away all organic matter upon contact with biological enemies. It might seem easy to block by quickly wiping off the bubbles, but that’s harder than it looks.

This is because those ominously glowing bubbles cause extreme pain to biological enemies.

That’s why most enemies affected by the bubbles suffer in agony until death without being able to move.

It seems the 4th place competitor caught this point and completely removed the pain receptors of the collection bugs. So they could continue fighting even when affected by the bubbles.

‘They modified them to transfer the bubbles back to me.’

I had already used enhanced psychic breath once at Beryan02. They must have analyzed its characteristics and weaknesses based on the information obtained then.

Behind the Outspacers who disappeared into liquid, collection bugs covered in bubbles are swarming. Even as their bodies melt away, they’re still trying to cling to me somehow.

Force field drones and carrier aircraft also joined in tracking me. I kept moving without rest to avoid them.

‘It’s quite a troublesome situation, but…’

I’m guessing that even the 4th place competitor doesn’t know everything about the Color of the Deep. For instance, the fact that the bubbles only devour organic matter and don’t touch inorganic materials is difficult to grasp without observing it multiple times.

‘Let’s check.’

While performing evasive maneuvers to avoid enemies, I sharply twisted my body upward. Then I charged up between the Megacorp and Star Union battleships gathered above.

Some of the battleships turned their main guns and fired plasma heat rays. I advanced, taking all the rain of heat rays without avoiding them.

As I got closer to the battleships, there was a change in the movement of the collection bugs. The ones that had been closely following my tail all changed direction and distanced themselves from me. They didn’t seem to know that enhanced psychic breath couldn’t harm inorganic materials.

‘Or…’

It could also be that there’s an important entity hiding in the fleet that shouldn’t come into contact with the bubbles.

“A, Morph, 4 o’clock direction.”

From the point Isabelle mentioned, I sense an exotic energy flow.

It was a unique energy flow similar to yet somehow different from the energy released during FTL navigation. Although the entity emitting the energy was only about the size of a small or medium-sized destroyer, its distinctive energy was impressive.

‘That’s it.’

That life form, protected by numerous battleships and Outspacers, is the entity interfering with FTL navigation.

I finally discovered the hidden card prepared by the enemy rankers to block my retreat.