Ch.430Arcane Orca (2)

Inside a building in a small town near the harbor. A half-destroyed walker lies collapsed before me.

As I expected, the creature didn’t get far. It was hiding and cooling its overheated engine when I caught it.

‘Running away is pointless anyway.’

I stretched out my small chest arm to pull out the No. 25 hiding in the cockpit.

At that moment, No. 25 shot out from inside. It cut off my finger with a sharp object before landing on the floor.

“D-do you think I’ll die like this?!”

The creature growled in a thick, rough voice, its appearance vastly different from an ordinary human.

Its muscles were grotesquely swollen throughout its body, and below its right forearm, instead of a hand, was a bone blade reminiscent of a Japanese sword.

‘Genetic modification surgery?’

But it hadn’t completely abandoned its human form like Akira Yujin. Judging by its appearance, it seemed to have undergone common genetic modification surgery rather than having a Perk.

‘A final struggle? I thought it would run away.’

It can’t defeat me with that level of strength.

I slammed the floor with my two wing arms.

The floor cracked and fragments scattered. I could see it moving through the gaps. It used the flying debris as stepping stones to close the distance between us.

I predicted its movement with my auxiliary organs and extended my wing arm toward where it was coming. It leaped with all its might onto my wing, then ran along the slightly folded membrane.

Seeing this, my left head stretched its neck to bite the prey. No. 25 twisted its waist sideways while running and narrowly avoided it.

And immediately after dodging the attack, it jumped onto my central head.

‘Is it targeting my auxiliary organs?’

These thin tentacles under my jaw are the only weak spots on an AMorph’s body. I quickly retracted them into the shell under my jaw to avoid being cut by the bone blade.

But the blade was aimed elsewhere. As soon as it landed on my snout, it stabbed my eye.

Eyes aren’t particularly important organs for an AMorph. That’s because we have auxiliary organs that integrate sight, hearing, smell, and other senses. In fact, visual organs sometimes disappear when using the hunting aspect.

However, while my body isn’t human, my mind is. It’s not pleasant to have a sharp blade stabbing my eye.

[Zzuzz (Stop!)]

“Kuugh?!”

Irritated, I struck the enemy hard with my wing arm. The impact broke the blade stuck in my eye, and it flew off and crashed to the floor.

‘How annoying.’

I used my small chest arm to pull out the bone blade fragment embedded in my eyeball’s surface.

‘Huh?’

There’s a strange smell coming from the broken blade. Something other than my blood is mixed in.

‘This smell seems familiar…’

Suddenly, I heard laughter. No. 25, covered in blood, was mocking me.

“It worked! Finally got you!”

“What do you mean?”

“That blade contains microorganisms harvested from the Gorgon Swarm! You of all creatures should know what that means!”

Gorgon Swarm. A name I haven’t heard in a while.

“Yes. It mutates living organisms’ genes and turns them into quartz chunks.”

“Kekeke, with such microorganisms injected near your brain, you’re as good as dead.”

He’s not wrong.

The silicon-based Gorgon Swarm is highly ranked among Apex creatures precisely because of this ability. It changes organisms at the genetic level, making recovery impossible with ordinary regenerative properties.

Such dangerous microorganisms have entered near my brain. I understand why he’s so confident in his victory.

But there’s one thing he doesn’t know.

“No matter how much you struggle, your eye has already turned to mineral…”

His boastful voice gradually diminished. Confusion replaced confidence on his dirty face.

Unfortunately for him, the Gorgon Swarm’s microorganisms don’t work on me.

‘Because I ate them long ago and specialized them.’

What I gained from that was the “Medusa Organ.” The Gorgon Swarm’s microorganisms have long established themselves within me. My injured eye quickly returned to normal.

“Kuso! (Damn it!)”

Seeing this, he frantically fled outside the building.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’

I launched an erosion tentacle toward the fleeing target. Like a coiled snake catching prey, the tentacle struck the enemy’s leg precisely.

“Argh!”

No. 25 rolled on the ground, screaming. I calmly approached and tore off his two broken legs.

“AAAAARGH!”

Since he strengthened his body through genetic modification, he won’t die even with his limbs torn off. If it seems dangerous, I can simply implant symbiotic spores.

“I-I’ll definitely kill you! Tear you to pieces—ARGH!”

His loud shouting is quite annoying. I put the severed legs in my mouth and tore off his left arm too. That finally shut him up.

‘Now, let’s implant the parasite first.’

A parasite, responding to my command, poked its head out from a small hole in my combat arm. The creature, resembling a black eel, crawled down my hand toward its new home.

‘After infecting him, I’ll go get the kids…’

Just as I was thinking about heading to the ship in orbit, everything around me brightened. Not just where I was standing—everywhere was suddenly illuminated.

‘Huh? Could this be…?’

I hurriedly looked up at the sky.

The dark clouds that had filled the sky moments ago had completely vanished. A small star floated in the smooth sky that looked like blue silk spread out.

I know what that entity is.

Red Gallergorn, a top-tier Apex creature on par with Voltex One, and a higher species of the Space Whale Skywhale that swims through galaxies.

‘Arcane Orca?’

“It’s here! It’s here!”

No. 25, lying on the ground like a roly-poly, shouted with joy. As if he had been expecting its appearance.

“Did you summon it?”

“Kekeke, yes. I summoned it, you damn morph bastard.”

It seems No. 25 has drawn in the Arcane Orca.

‘A Perk’s power… oh no!’

At that moment, the star flickered once. As soon as I saw that, I hurriedly threw No. 25 into my mouth. Within seconds, a sphere of light fell on me.

「Pain Reduction activated!」

“AAAAARGH! IT’S HOT!”

Massive energy burns my flesh. The small tentacles all over my body burn up, and the shells and scales beneath them glow red-hot. I could hear No. 25’s agonizing screams from inside my mouth.

The heat from the energy didn’t stop at burning me. The nearby buildings and the nest on the ground melted like ice cream exposed to heat.

The flames that seemed ready to devour everything soon subsided. I rose from the thick smoke.

My entire body had burned, but it wasn’t a fatal injury. The charred shells and melted tentacles were already visibly recovering at a rapid pace.

After checking my body’s condition, I spat out the ranker I had kept in my mouth.

“Ugh, kuso… (damn it…)”

He too had survived thanks to my protection. The regenerative ability he gained through genetic modification was also extending his life.

‘What’s going on?’

From the circumstances, No. 25 is the one who drew in the Arcane Orca. But from how things are unfolding, he doesn’t seem able to control the monster. If I hadn’t saved him, he would have been reduced to ashes.

‘And the Arcane Orca launching a preemptive attack?’

Skywhale-type creatures aren’t aggressive except when feeding or defending their territory. It’s rare for them to attack an opponent they haven’t even directly encountered.

‘Should I ask?’

I immediately injected the parasite into him. Completely incapacitated, No. 25 accepted the parasite without any resistance.

“Explain your Perk now.”

“My, my Perk is, disguising, as a natural, enemy, cough, to enrage certain, creatures, ugh, it came here, thinking, there was an enemy, urk…”

“Enrage? So you can’t control it?”

“Th-that’s, right.”

“You summoned it knowing you couldn’t defeat the Arcane Orca in your current state?”

“The original plan was, to transfer, the attractant in my body, to you, urgh! AMorph, sir, and then hide. Then it would chase you instead of me…”

From what I hear, his Perk seems to be the type that can lure specific creatures to desired locations. He injects his body with substances that the target creature would hate, summons it, and forces it to fight.

Simply put, he becomes living bait.

‘So that’s why it attacked me too.’

I’ve also become a target after eating No. 25’s legs. That must be why the normally non-aggressive creature launched a preemptive strike.

‘…Since it’s come to this, I might as well catch it here.’

As long as he’s under the influence of the Perk, it will continue targeting me.

That means it’ll be much easier to lure it to where I want. And I won’t need to run away during the fight.

‘Good.’

I threw the ranker into my left head’s mouth.

He’s a useful one. If I left him elsewhere, he’d be killed by the Arcane Orca, so it’s better for me to protect him directly.

Then I put strength into my legs and jumped. As I spread my wings wide, my body soared high, riding the air.

At that moment, another sphere flew at me and struck hard. My newly recovered body burned again.

In the game, all of Arcane Orca’s attacks were unavoidable. They were like some kind of superluminal guided missiles that always hit their target.

It’s the same now. Even with AMorph’s hyper-senses, I feel this can’t be avoided.

‘So I have no choice but to take it with my body.’

I have many traits that can protect and heal my body. Such mere check attacks can neither kill nor stop me.

“AAAAARGH!”

‘So noisy.’

“ARGH…hup!”

After silencing my noisy passenger, I accelerated while taking the enemy’s attacks.

By the time the sky no longer looked blue, I could see the target. It was at the boundary between blue and black.

Surrounded by light so intense it resembled the sun, the Arcane Orca waited for me.