Ch.459Apex (5)

“Why” “Won’t” “You go down?”

“The support fleet could track our energy signals. We need to wait here to disrupt their activities.”

In the atmosphere where even the air was faint, not to mention clouds, Adhigh Orr tilted his head at the boundary between light and darkness.

“Dwarves” “Numbers” “Meaningless” “I” “Much” “Stronger”

“I agree. But if reinforcements head toward where AMorph is, it could become dangerous.”

“My” “Flight” “Speed” “Very” “Fast”

Adhigh Orr circled nearby with his four wings spread wide. Though it was just light flying, he moved so quickly it appeared as if red light was flickering.

“Dwarves” “Slow” “I” “All” “Hunt” “Possible”

“‘Little One’s’ movement is faster than any ship, but there are physical limitations. As the number of enemies increases, the probability of defense failure also increases. My goal is to minimize any possibility of AMorph being threatened.”

Though displeased, he couldn’t object. PS-111’s words were correct. So he merely kicked at the empty air with his hind legs.

“I” “Growth” “End” “Much” “Stronger now” “All” “Protect” “Want”

“Is that so?”

“But” “Still” “Lacking” “Weak” “Disappointing”

Seeing Adhigh Orr depressed for the first time, PS-111 blinked her eyes made of red camera lenses.

“The total energy Little One generates is the highest among all organisms I’ve encountered.”

She paused briefly before speaking.

“While strength and weakness are relative, if we use energy as the criterion, it would be appropriate to describe you as strong.”

“But” “Lacking” “Truth”

“Little One’s weakness stems from rapid growth in a short period, which prevented developing response capabilities for various crisis situations.”

“Meaning” “Understanding” “Difficult”

“To summarize, it means you lack experience.”

It was a reasonable opinion.

Adhigh Orr had gained tremendous power only recently. With time, his skill in handling that power would improve and he would become stronger than now.

“Too” “Long” “Takes”

The problem was not knowing how much more time that would take. Adhigh Orr hunched his neck in frustration.

“Now” “Great One” “Weak time” “Power” “Need”

“That’s unnecessary worry. ‘AMorph’ entrusted you with protection because he judged you to be sufficiently strong and reliable.”

Adhigh Orr flinched at those words.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Really?” “Really?”

“According to my observations, that is correct.”

Upon hearing that his most beloved being acknowledged him, his previously hunched neck and tail gradually straightened.

In truth, AMorph had never directly said such things. But judging from his usual behavior, he clearly trusted Adhigh Orr deeply.

Of course, he seemed to care equally for No. 26 and Sky Mother as well, but there was no need to mention that part.

“Great One” “Trust” “Repay” “Experience” “More” “More” “Many” “Accumulate will”

Perhaps thanks to the hopeful words? With improved spirits, Adhigh Orr lightly shook his long neck.

“If you wish, I can create an appropriate training curriculum for you.”

“Training?” “That” “Study” “Isn’t it?”

“Since knowledge acquisition will be conducted in parallel, it conforms to the concept of ‘study’…”

PS-111 suddenly stopped speaking. She raised her head and looked toward space beyond the atmosphere.

Simultaneously, Adhigh Orr sensed something and looked in the same direction.

In the black void where nothing had been moments before.

Two massive creatures surrounded by blue light were there.

One resembled a blue-yellow jellyfish, while the other looked like a snake covered in translucent white scales. Though their forms resembled animals, their size vastly transcended ordinary creatures.

Neither Megacorp’s genetically engineered weapons nor Star Union’s Mutant Screamers included creatures of such magnitude.

“That” “Dwarf” “Weapon?”

“No.”

“Feeling” “Familiar” “Strange” “But” “Quite” “Strong seems”

Adhigh Orr’s tentacle clusters pointed toward the two creatures, trembling slightly.

PS-111 also questioned their sudden appearance.

Currently, her detection abilities had been greatly upgraded thanks to the superweapon Prometheus and the High Commissioner’s brain. If someone attempted faster-than-light travel within her detection range, she could sense them before arrival.

Yet these unidentified creatures had arrived here without triggering her surveillance network.

The strange visitors stopped as they were descending toward the planet. They too seemed to recognize Adhigh Orr and PS-111’s presence.

“Ajacnjfk. Tntkdgks Shaemfdlek.”

“Dnflsms Qowpgksek.”

The two creatures halted in place and emitted incomprehensible wavelengths. As if they were conversing.

PS-111 realized their identity.

“Those creatures are Outspacers.”

“That” “What is?”

“They’re creatures we encountered in the battle where Little One was injured before. They appear to be a higher species that controls lower entities.”

“Then” “Enemy?”

“Yes. They are enemies targeting AMorph.”

As she spoke, the atmosphere on the other side changed. The translucent snake monster inflated its body greatly and began charging toward them.

“We must subdue them here.”

“Agree”

Adhigh Orr, who had been prepared, immediately rushed forward.

At the edge of the atmosphere, a red comet and a giant snake over 100 meters long flew toward each other.

The moment they collided, Adhigh Orr pierced through the opponent’s body. The snake monster, penetrated by the red beam of light, shattered into pieces.

“?”

Despite literally pulverizing the enemy, Adhigh Orr remained vigilant. The feeling was different from his usual enemy destruction.

His judgment was correct.

The fragments that had scattered and were falling in all directions began to move and gather in midair. What had appeared to be pieces of flesh were actually small fish-like monsters.

Tens of thousands of fish monsters gathered in one place, merged, and transformed back into the snake monster that had just exploded.

“What is?”

“Dnflsms Wnrwl Dksgsmsek.”

The restored enemy struck Adhigh Orr with its tail. The impact caused the tail to burst apart while Adhigh Orr’s body was pushed back significantly.

Having sacrificed its tail to create distance, the snake retreated toward its companion. The fragmented tail—or rather, the fish monsters—followed and reattached to the main body.

“Dnflsms DPtkdgkwl AhtgoTek.”

“Wndmlgodi Gksek. Wjremf Aodn Rkdgkek.”

Adhigh Orr, who had been sent flying by the tail strike, quickly regained his posture. PS-111, who had been behind him, flew to his side.

“Are you alright?”

“Problem” “None”

Adhigh Orr lightly shook his wings. Thanks to the “Red Armor,” his enchanting scales remained clean without a single scratch.

“That snake-like entity appears to be a collective of numerous small organisms. Given the minimal damage despite colliding with Little One, it likely possesses an ability to reduce impact force.”

“Strange thing” “One” “More” “Exists”

“You mean something strange?”

“Just now” “Tail” “Attack” “More” “Powerful”

Having an invincible armor doesn’t mean one can’t feel sensations. Though they had only clashed twice, he could clearly sense that the enemy’s attack had grown stronger.

“You say the attack became stronger?”

“Yes” “First” “Collision time” “Different” “Then” “Weak was”

“I didn’t detect any special energy changes.”

Arriving here via faster-than-light travel without PS-111 noticing, and the inability to gauge the energy usage of the collective entity—the implications of these two facts were clear.

“One of the enemy entities is disrupting my detection abilities.”

PS-111 looked at the being she suspected was causing this.

A faint energy signal was detected from the blue-yellow giant jellyfish beside the snake monster.

“I will analyze and break through the interference signal that entity is generating. Please prevent them from descending.”

At that moment, cracks appeared in the snake monster’s body before it exploded.

Thousands of fish monsters split apart and scattered in all directions. The flying school of fish rushed toward Adhigh Orr and PS-111.

“Worry” “Unnecessary”

Seeing this, Adhigh Orr spread his wings wide.

Red Gallergorn, Mutant Screamer, and Outspacer.

Above NOX-02, which shone like a blue jewel, a battle between different apex predators began.