Ch.413Appetizer (6)

I could hear a roaring sound, but “it” was far more massive than I had anticipated.

Judging by its upper body alone, it appeared to be nearly the size of a small destroyer. Even Ventris had never seen such an enormous creature before.

Behind its thick, pillar-like legs, I could see the creature’s long neck. At the end was “its” head.

An elongated snout with large horns protruding above it. It resembled the carnivorous reptile “Horned Gigant” in appearance, though there were many differences. Not only was this creature much larger, but it lacked sensory organs like eyes, nose, and ears.

The hand that had caught the pirate rose upward. The creature’s maw opened wide, revealing vicious teeth. Despite having no eyes, “it” swallowed its prey effortlessly.

“Grrrrrr”

“Holy shit! What is that thing?!”

“Everyone attack!”

The pirates who witnessed this let out profanity-laced screams as they began their assault.

The first things to fly were flash grenades. Bright lights as intense as condensed suns repeatedly burst, illuminating the warehouse. Seeing this, Ventris shouted:

“You idiots! What good are flash grenades against something with no eyes?!”

Flash grenades were typically the first choice when hunting wild animals, but they were completely inappropriate for the current situation. Indeed, “it” moved perfectly fine amidst the blinding light.

The monster that had crawled into the warehouse extended its elongated arms and grabbed a handful of pirates. Despite its appearance, its movements were surprisingly fast and quiet.

“Aaaaargh! Fuuuuck!”

“Shoot if you don’t want to die!”

Those who were caught struggled desperately, but not even a small scratch appeared on their opponent’s body.

“It” stuffed the prey into its mouth all at once and chewed noisily. Human blood poured like a waterfall, soaking the floor.

“Replace all flash grenades with binding rounds! Frontline men, create cover with the containers!”

Ventris continued giving orders to prevent his subordinates from panicking. The frozen organization members heard their superior’s voice and hurried to move.

Pirates with heavy weapons fired bombs toward their target. Their aim wasn’t the monster but the containers stored in the warehouse. The tower of containers collapsed, burying “it.”

“Grrr”

The creature growled briefly. Despite being buried under containers that each weighed an enormous amount, it showed no signs of pain whatsoever.

But Ventris had anticipated this much.

“Now!”

The pirates who had switched to binding rounds fired continuously at “it” buried under the containers.

When the fired bullets hit their target, the particles inside spread in all directions. The gaseous particles instantly solidified in the air, transforming into amber-like formations.

Binding rounds were items created by the Star Union to subdue Megacorp’s Hulk Mutants. They were effective at taking away the mobility of large enemies.

Masses from dozens of binding rounds captured “it.” The creature, with heavy lumps attached to its head and neck, fell forward.

“Grrr?”

“Holy shit!”

“It’s still moving?!”

A single binding round could neutralize a Hulk Mutant. Yet this monster was still moving after being hit by dozens of them. It roughly swung its arms, trying to remove the masses attached to its body.

“Damn it! Target its arms with the launcher!”

Still, the enemy had undeniably slowed down. One pirate took out a plasma launcher and aimed at “it’s” arm. While those with binding rounds bought time, the launcher’s energy rapidly charged.

Suddenly, the ceiling above the man with the launcher collapsed.

“What?!”

Through the debris, a massive pincer several meters long became visible. That pincer struck down on those holding the launcher.

A boom followed by a strong impact. Ventris realized he was floating in the air. The launcher that had been charging exploded from the collision, sending him flying. His body flew across the warehouse and crashed into the wall.

“Urgh!”

He felt pain throughout his body, but fortunately, there were no major injuries. It was thanks to the good exosuit he was wearing. He quickly gathered his wits and got up.

“Ah, it hurts! Help me!”

“Aaaaargh! It’s hot!”

“Aah! Someone help me!”

Unlike him who escaped with just bruises, his subordinates weren’t in good shape. The organization members holding the launcher were instantly vaporized, and many of those farther away were seriously injured. The pirates who remained unharmed could be counted on one hand.

And the culprit behind this carnage was floating in the middle of the corpses. The pincer that had been caught in the explosion was only slightly scorched on the surface but otherwise intact.

The large pillar-like part attached to the pincer slowly moved. The pincer passed over the corpses and approached “it.” Then it forcefully struck and broke the binding round masses attached to it.

Only then did Ventris realize that the pincer was part of that monster. The lower body of the creature, which had been hidden by the warehouse wall, had moved.

‘I need to escape!’

With most of his subordinates gone, continuing to fight would be foolish. He needed to get out of here quickly.

Ventris struck the wall behind him forcefully. Breaking through the wall with his enhanced fist, he hurriedly escaped from the warehouse.

“Vice-boss?”

“Damn! He abandoned us… Aaargh!”

His subordinates called from behind, but he ignored them all. Using the organization members as shields to buy time, he ran across the ruined runway.

‘I’ve never heard of such a monster being here!’

There were two risk factors he had considered before coming to AG-01: separatists and T&C’s defense forces. He never thought a monster would suddenly appear and massacre his organization members.

‘Could those crazy terrorists be behind this?’

This planet was terraformed before he was born. Most of the indigenous life forms had been identified. Among them, there were no dangerous creatures comparable to the size of a destroyer.

Clearly, some madman had brought it from outside the planet. The only ones who would do such a thing were the separatists.

‘Those bastards, how dare they stab me in the back like this?’

If he escaped from here, he would definitely take revenge. With that determination, he continued running down the quiet runway.

The screams and gunshots from behind had completely stopped. His footsteps were the only thing breaking the silence of the vast space.

This also meant the probability of “it” following him had increased. Fortunately, the ship he could use to escape was right there.

Among the docked vessels, he could see a warship resembling the Star Shark that the Cult was said to tame and ride. It was the ship commanded by Ventris, the vice-boss of the cartel. With crew members stationed for maintenance, it could depart anytime if needed.

While running toward the only escape route, something strange caught his eye.

A vessel parked near the pirate ship. The hull, similar in size to a small destroyer, was writhing.

‘No way?’

He thought it was a spaceship, but he was mistaken. What was there was a living creature.

“…shit!”

Ventris quickly stopped running and lowered his posture.

With a long extended neck and a large head on top, six arms and two legs, and a tail split into two, the beast was devouring humans and ships.

Seeing a familiar pincer attached to one of the tails, it was clearly the same “it” that had attacked the warehouse.

‘Damn! When did it follow me here?’

He hadn’t heard any other sounds while running here. Unless it flew, it was impossible for something of that size to move silently.

‘…Whatever, it doesn’t matter.’

Ventris approached the pirate ship, being careful not to make any noise.

Among the corpses the creature was eating, there were some wearing familiar clothes. They were all subordinates who had been on the pirate ship. Escaping from here by ship seemed difficult.

But there was still one option left.

‘Let’s take the transport ship.’

There was a small vessel used for smuggling biological cargo. It could be operated with just one pilot, so he could escape with that.

Slowly, step by step, he walked until the pirate ship was right in front of him. The figure of “it” was hidden by the ship, but the eerie sound of bones and flesh being chewed continued.

He approached the rear of the ship with his body pressed against the outer wall. The door used for moving goods was wide open. After passing through the metal hatch and entering, he immediately boarded the transport ship. And as soon as the takeoff preparations were complete, he departed.

“Grrrr”

The ship that left the pirate vessel flew over the port. The monster’s growling sound gradually diminished.

“Phew.”

Ventris sighed deeply and leaned back in the pilot’s seat. The tension had eased due to the relief of escaping from hell.

At that moment, the transport ship shook violently with a loud noise. It was such a strong impact that it made him roll off the chair.

Sparks flew from the internal facilities, and the sound of metal being crushed could be heard everywhere. And the radar emitted a loud warning sound.

“What, what is it?”

A triangular mark was overlapping the circular mark indicating the ship. The moment he confirmed this, the ship shook violently.

“D-damn it!”

Ventris barely managed to sit in the chair and grab the control stick. He tried desperately to regain control, but it was useless. No matter how strongly the thrusters fired, the unknown entity never let go of the ship.

As the ship’s position on the radar kept changing, suddenly the ship stopped. And then the altitude began to drop rapidly.

“Huh? Huuuuh? Wait?!”

Even with his high-performance exosuit, falling from this height would result in at least serious injuries.

But there was nothing he could do now. He could only hope to survive.

“Aaaaargh!”

The moment an impact too great even for his exosuit hit him, he lost consciousness.

How much time had passed since then?

A certain sound woke the unconscious Ventris.

“You did a good job blocking the communication network. It would have been quite difficult without you.”

‘Shepherd?’

It was the voice of his female subordinate who had gone to the research complex. The sound, echoing as if conversing in a cave, lingered in his ears.

‘Where am I?’

When he opened his eyes, it was pitch black everywhere. As he tried to operate his terminal to adjust his vision, he found that his body wouldn’t move. No matter how much strength he put into his arms and legs, they wouldn’t budge.

When he lowered his head, he saw a strange object covering his torso. It seemed this object was fixing him to the wall.

“You want to look at the pirate ship’s data too?”

The voice was heard again. It seemed to be getting louder, suggesting it was walking toward him.

Just as he was about to ask for help, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

At first, he couldn’t tell because the voice was echoing, but listening again, there was something bizarre about it.

Currently, he was hanging on a wall. It would be natural for the sound to come from the front or below. But the voice of the approaching subordinate was coming from much higher.

“No. I’d better check that myself.”

And now, that voice was coming from above his head.

His head slowly turned upward.

“Anyway, there’s a human here who can help.”

There was “it,” mimicking a woman’s voice and laughing.