Ch.400Ranker (5)

‘This is not the time to be like this.’

I hurriedly got up from the ship wreckage.

At most 5 minutes? The attack from five Gigacrackers would begin in a matter of minutes.

Currently, I was caught in Akira’s trap and my recovery ability was sealed. In my current state, even a single ion cannon shot from one Gigacracker would be fatal. If all five attack simultaneously, I’m definitely dead.

‘But intercepting them is impossible too.’

I had countered the Imperial Mothership before, but the situation is very different now. The effect of the Hunt’s Symbol will expire in a few minutes, and I can’t use ‘King of Monsters’ either.

So the only option I have now is to leave this place immediately.

‘Wait, before that…’

Unlike me, Akira, whose head was cut off, didn’t collide with the ship. He should still be where I left him.

I used my auxiliary organs to check on the incapacitated Akira. He was floating motionless in the same spot where I had been hit.

‘Good. That’s fine… huh?’

But something was strange.

He had been thrashing around when his head was cut off, but now he wasn’t moving at all. Like a dead corpse.

‘What happened?’

He has special organs that maintain his life, so he shouldn’t die even with his head cut off. In fact, Isabelle had blown his head off before, but he came back to life quickly.

‘I need to get closer to check.’

I immediately deactivated “Clever Weakling.” My body rapidly grew larger, returning to its original form.

As my body expanded, Akira’s head and the inactive MPS-05 I was holding became smaller than my fingernail. I put the mini screamer back in my mouth and carefully held the head with the small arms near my chest.

In that state, I spread my wings and flew toward Akira’s body.

Upon closer inspection, it was definitely not normal. The wound at the severed neck was wide open, and the inside was completely hollow. The internal organs had disappeared entirely, with only small portions of bone and flesh remaining.

‘It’s not because of the Color of the Deep.’

The Psychic Breath enhanced by the ‘Color of the Deep’ devours all organic matter indiscriminately. It doesn’t selectively eat only the insides while leaving the surface intact.

‘Something inside crawled out on its own.’

Looking at the torn neck area, there were traces of an object, estimated to be about 60 to 70 cm, that had crawled from inside to outside. Like someone taking off a costume.

‘Is this the life-sustaining perk?’

I had thought the special organ that maintains life would be something like a heart or regular organs. Now it seems I was wrong.

‘An independent body, or something that functions as the main body.’

What I had thought was Akira’s body should actually be considered more like bio-armor. I never imagined there could be this kind of perk.

‘He could have used this to ambush me, so why didn’t he?’

It’s strange that someone who set all kinds of traps to catch me would miss such a good opportunity.

‘Or maybe he couldn’t?’

Looking back, Akira didn’t abandon his fake body even when he was mistaken for an AMorph or attacked by the Color of the Deep. If he had this ability, he could have just escaped with his main body and created a new body.

That means he becomes weaker when only the main body remains.

‘Or perhaps it takes time to create a new body after escaping.’

It’s clear that he couldn’t freely separate his main body from the fake one during our fight.

‘Since he abandoned the fake body here, his main body must be somewhere nearby.’

I left behind the fake body being consumed by the Color of the Deep and scanned the surroundings with my auxiliary organs.

The battlefield, which until recently had been filled with heat rays, torpedoes, and ships in fierce combat, was now much quieter. There were still some ships fighting Metallic Gremlins, but not many.

Except for the few ships remaining here, the rest had already moved far away. The Star Union warships weren’t even visible. Everyone was clearly retreating to avoid the Gigacrackers’ offensive.

‘He’s not here.’

Despite searching thoroughly, I couldn’t sense his presence. While I was pushed away after colliding with the ship, he must have escaped on another vessel. He’s probably hiding on one of those ships hurriedly escaping in the distance.

‘Should I chase after him?’

Akira is the CEO of Megacorp. No matter how vicious Megacorp people are, it wouldn’t be easy to fire ion cannons at a place where the supreme leader of their faction is located.

‘The problem is if those were sent by another ranker.’

It’s presumed that there are other rankers in Megacorp besides Akira. There are at least two strong candidates: the head of House Garmelda and the researcher from Prime Capital’s House Zhao.

If they prioritize killing me over the CEO’s life? I’d die while chasing Akira.

‘Time to retreat.’

I’ve revealed many of my cards in this battle. If I face them again, it will be a much more difficult fight.

But with five Gigacrackers deployed, pursuing him carries too much risk.

“Big guy.”

At that moment, No. 26 approached me.

He was gently holding the injured “right head” with his fin-like legs.

‘You did well.’

When No. 26 put it down, the split body bowed its head, bleeding profusely.

“It looks like it hurts a lot.”

[Zzzz zzz zzzzzz(It’s okay. It’ll heal soon)]

“Really?”

[Zz(Yes)]

Thanks to ‘Hydra Division,’ this split body is essentially a part of my original body. I gently stroked its head before reabsorbing it.

“Is Aki, ra, dead?”

Isabelle, who had been hiding in the fins along with the split body, poked her head out.

I shook my head in response.

[Zzz zzzzzz(He escaped)]

“Es, caped? Don’t tell me, because of the spe, cial or, gan?”

She must have also noticed Akira’s empty shell floating in space. Seeing the hollow interior, she probably had a rough idea of what happened.

[Zzzzzzzz zzzz zzzz zz zzzzzzzz zzzz zzz zzzzz(Sorry, but I’ll explain later. The attack from five Gigacrackers will start soon)]

“What?”

[Zzzz(No. 26)]

Instead of explaining, I called for No. 26.

[Zzzzzz zzz zzzz zzzz(We’re leaving. Call the kids)]

“Okay!”

A silver tentacle protruded from his entangled body. When the tentacle emitted light, the scattered Metallic Gremlins began to gather.

Among them was Warp Boy, a small silver demon with blue patterns on its body. We need their help to safely escape from here.

[Zzzzzz zzzz zzzz zzzz zzz zzzz zzzz zzzzzzzz zzzz(Tell them to send us to different places, not all to the same location)]

“Why? Shiny ones are weak alone.”

I know that. Metallic Gremlins are stronger when they’re in large numbers.

But there’s a reason why I want them to move separately.

“You’re try, ing to a, void being tra, cked.”

Isabelle immediately understood my intention and sent a thought wave.

All faster-than-light travel leaves residual energy. The higher the energy generated during navigation, the longer it persists.

And with equipment like a warp finder, it’s possible to track where someone jumped to before the residual energy dissipates. Even if we all leave together, the enemy and their Gigacrackers will continue to pursue us.

‘That’s the only way to shake them off.’

If we divide the groups based on the Warp Boys and have each group jump to different locations, multiple traces will be left.

Here, I plan not to perform faster-than-light travel directly but to move by mixing with a group that’s jumping using a Warp Boy’s ability.

If the enemy has recorded my energy signature, they could follow me with a warp finder when I attempt faster-than-light travel. To prevent this, I’m asking the Warp Boy to transport me.

Multiple traces when they don’t know exactly where I fled? The enemy will have to think twice about tracking. They can’t easily split their forces for pursuit, knowing my capabilities. They might get picked off one by one if they do.

And while the enemy hesitates, my Metallic Gremlins and I can continue to make faster-than-light jumps to escape.

[Zzzzzz zzzz zzzzzz(We won’t fight this time)]

“Not fight bad guys?”

[Zz zzzzzz zzzzzzz zzzzzz zzzz(Yes. So those guys won’t get hurt either)]

In reality, if the enemy chooses to split their forces and track us, we might have to fight, but I didn’t mention that.

“Okay! I’ll tell the shiny ones to move us!”

[Zz(Good)]

No. 26’s silver tentacle glowed brightly again.

Seeing this, the Warp Boys prepared for faster-than-light travel. As the silver base with blue tattoos emitted a soft glow, my body and the clustered Metallic Gremlins were tinged with blue.

[Zzz zzzz(Both of you, come here)]

To prevent any issues during the jump, I put Isabelle and No. 26 in my mouth.

Just as the blue light almost completely enveloped my body, I sensed an extremely powerful energy reaction from far away.

Energy generated from a distance too far for even my enhanced auxiliary organs to detect was approaching very rapidly. It was the heat ray fired by the Gigacrackers.

Just before the immense heat engulfed my body, the energy reaction disappeared in an instant. Instead, I felt a familiar pressure.

A moment later, the pressure crushing my entire body also vanished. There were no massive cyan heat rays or damaged metal fragments around. Only me, the kids, and a few Metallic Gremlins remained in the darkness-filled space.

‘We made it.’

We successfully escaped through faster-than-light travel just before being directly hit by the heat ray.

[Zzz zzzzzz zzzzzz(Can you ask them to move us again?)]

I asked No. 26 to have the Warp Boy who came with us use faster-than-light travel again.

After that, the jumps were repeated several more times, crossing multiple star systems.

By the time the Hunt’s Symbol effect on my body was ending, no one was pursuing us.

‘It’s over.’

The large-scale battle involving Megacorp, Star Union, and rankers from both the Dominants and Returnees had finally come to an end.

–

A pristine white room, as if carved from marble.

In the center of this pathologically clean space stood a cylindrical tank with one side made of transparent glass. This tank was a rare facility installed only on some of Megacorp’s ships.

And now, Megacorp’s CEO Akira Yujin was inside it.

‘くそ!(Damn it!)’

In the liquid-filled tank, Akira barely suppressed his rising anger.

‘あのくそモーフやろう!(That damn AMorph bastard!)’

The wicked 5th-ranked AMorph who had tormented him multiple times in the game.

He had made every effort to catch him. He recruited the hostile 4th-ranked player and borrowed various weapons and troops from other Dominant rankers. He had prepared so thoroughly that he would have won if this were the game.

But the result was devastating.

He lost most of his troops and weapons, and almost all of his perks were exposed. The bastard escaped unharmed, while he was now wasting time in this damn tank.

“Are, are you experiencing any discomfort, sir?”

Through his slowly regenerating ear, Akira heard a man’s voice. He looked outside the tank with one newly formed eye.

There stood a man holding a captain’s hat. The captain of this ship. Thanks to his quick rescue operation, Akira was safely placed in the tank.

“What happened to the target?”

Akira communicated with the captain through a chip connected to his head.

“Well, the Gigacrackers fired their ion cannons, so he must be dead…”

“You fool!”

Angered, Akira struck the glass wall of the tank hard.

There was a reason he hadn’t used superweapons to capture AMorph.

With superweapons present, it’s difficult to freely deploy troops on the battlefield. One mistake and you might get caught in the superweapon’s attack yourself.

AMorph is skilled at turning his opponent’s weapons against them. He might fake his death from a superweapon attack, or steal it and use it against us. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d turned the tables when facing superweapons in the game.

Knowing this, he had restricted superweapons for this operation.

“Ahem, the search is currently underway! If, if you wait just a little longer, the search team will bring you the results you desire!”

“Even the smallest trace will do. Whether it’s biological tissue or metal fragments, collect everything. If he attempted faster-than-light travel, record all residual energy.”

“Understood!”

The captain hurriedly bowed at his enraged master’s command.

“And have you found out who called the Gigacrackers?”

“That, that’s also being investigated! It seems someone involved in the operation requested support, so we’ll know soon.”

None of the captain’s answers pleased Akira, but he suppressed his anger.

Normally, he would have torn him apart with his bare hands, but he couldn’t do that now.

Currently, he was so weakened that he needed absolute stability in the tank’s special solution. Going outside the tank to kill the captain would only delay his body’s reconstruction.

“Leave.”

“Yes, yes sir!”

Reading Akira’s discomfort, the captain hurriedly left the room.

In the quiet tank, Akira thought about who might have called the Gigacrackers.

‘I said no superweapons would be deployed except for Alphaboy.’

Yet someone disobeyed his orders and secretly sent a rescue request to the Gigacrackers. And they did so just when Akira was about to be defeated.

If it hadn’t been for this ship, Akira would have died from the ion cannon.

‘Could they be trying to kill me?’

Was another ranker taking advantage of his weakened state? If that’s true, he needs to purge them immediately upon return.

‘Those bastards are no longer necessary anyway. To catch AMorph, I need more perks, so perhaps here…’

Just then, the door opened. A researcher in a white coat approached the tank.

“No adjustments are needed. Leave.”

This tank was designed by Akira himself. He knows it best, so he doesn’t need anyone else’s calibrations.

‘Huh?’

Despite Akira’s dismissal, the researcher didn’t leave. He was staring at the tank with an inexplicable smile.

“Is it because your body changed? Or because we haven’t met in a while? Don’t you remember me?”

“What?”

The researcher spoke as if he knew Akira well.

Startled by the uncomfortably familiar tone, Akira flinched.

“く, くそ虎?(K-Kusotora?)”

“You still switch to Japanese when you’re surprised. That’s interesting. My Korean is getting rusty, but your memory is good.”

The researcher’s identity was someone Akira knew well.

The leader of the Returnees and the 7th-ranked player, “Shin Bumho.”

He had come to see Akira with an unfamiliar face and body of a different species.