Ch.474Turning Point (1)

“AMorph?”

PS-111 received a sudden report while investigating the surface of the junkyard. It was a communication from the MPS who had gone with AMorph.

The message instructed her to move a mini screamer and a human-sized small object outside the star system.

Before coming here, AMorph had warned them multiple times. Be careful, as there might be hidden traps.

In such a situation, an unfamiliar entity was not a good sign.

“Executing instructions.”

PS-111 awakened the power of Prometheus. Two high-performance brains instantly calculated the coordinates of the transport targets and destination.

Then, manipulating the warp particles at that point, she sent the two targets to a space beyond space.

“Friend, what’s wrong?”

No. 26, who had been rummaging through garbage with his tentacles nearby, flew over to PS-111.

“AMorph. Urgent contact.”

“From the big guy? Why?”

“Accident presumed. Summoning everyone.”

PS-111 then called in Adhigh Orr and Isabelle, who had gone to investigate elsewhere.

“Sister, what’s, happening?”

“Enemy” “Appeared?”

Having jumped suddenly, both showed clear signs of confusion. PS-111 also transported AMorph.

A blue light flashed in midair, and an object dozens of meters in size emerged.

“Big guy…?”

No. 26, who was about to greet him happily, froze. AMorph’s appearance was drastically different from when they had seen him hours ago.

The headless torso collapsed helplessly onto the pile of garbage. Blood from the wound soaked the ground.

“Great elder!” “Injured!”

Amid everyone’s surprise, Adhigh was the first to regain his composure. The red-scaled Gallergorn hastily landed beside AMorph.

“Help” “Needed!”

“Stop! Wait a moment!”

As Adhigh tried to support the fallen AMorph, Isabelle stopped him.

“A, Morph, has a problem! Don’t, approach!”

“Problem?” “Great elder” “Injury” “Severe!”

“More serious, than the injury!”

Isabelle’s eyes were already glowing green. Evidence that her unique power, ‘All-Seeing Eye,’ had activated.

After checking AMorph’s text box, she quickly realized what state he was in. And why his head had disappeared.

“Sister. AMorph’s mind. Being, attacked.”

“Mind? Is it Bumho you mentioned before?”

“Yes. Removed, head, to avoid, having body, taken over.”

PS-111 knew that her sister could read information with her mysterious ability. And besides the missing head, there were traces of self-harm all over his body.

For some reason, AMorph had destroyed his own head.

“Brain destroyed. Mental control impossible.”

“No. Bought, time. Will recover, soon.”

True to her words, AMorph’s headless torso was regenerating very slowly. With his tenacious vitality, AMorph didn’t die even with his brain destroyed.

“When regeneration, completes, attack, will resume.”

“How do we defend?”

Unlike her sister, she couldn’t detect mental attacks. She needed to know what method was being used to prepare defenses.

“Let’s go, home, first and find, a way.”

“Understood. Preparing to move…”

PS-111 was about to transport everyone again. She certainly would have if she hadn’t detected the sudden anomaly.

“What’s this?”

“Sister?”

A wave that hadn’t been there until just now was enveloping them. Its scale was massive enough to easily swallow the garbage planet.

“Feeling” “Strange” “Something” “There”

Adhigh, who had also detected the wave, pointed his head upward.

Where there should have been rings of scrap metal, now there was only darkness. More precisely, darkness that writhed as if alive.

“Outspacers.”

A legion of monsters covered in black carapaces was approaching the junkyard, crossing over the ring of scrap metal. The wave interfering with faster-than-light jumps was coming from them.

“Too many, enemies!”

Isabelle, who always maintained her composure, emitted thought waves full of tension. The number of individuals she confirmed with her All-Seeing Eye approached billions.

“So, many and we, didn’t notice.”

“Approached from outside detection range. Interference wave. Delayed identification.”

“How, did they get here?”

“Tracking-specialized individuals exist. Followed our traces.”

Such a large force wouldn’t come here for no reason, let alone secretly. As PS-111 said, they must have tracked them after the previous battle.

Then, light flashed from the legion spread like clouds. Moments later, countless projectiles fell onto the junkyard.

Stakes several meters long and pouches containing highly acidic digestive fluids rained down indiscriminately. Some of them struck the fallen AMorph.

“Great elder!” “How dare!”

Seeing this, purple flames shot from Adhigh’s eyes. As he was about to counterattack, someone moved before him.

It was No. 26, who had been frozen in shock.

His body, which had changed from pink to deep crimson, grew rapidly. In an instant, No. 26 grew to nearly 100 meters in size and covered AMorph. Then, the numerous fins and tentacles attached to his body picked up debris scattered around.

“Die!”

With a short, intense wave, No. 26 threw the objects he had picked up.

Discarded rockets and the skeletons of broken spaceships flew and collided with the pitch-black cloud far away. The enemy formation shook, and small particles fell down like rain.

“I too” “Revenge!”

Adhigh, clad in Red Armor, also charged toward the Outspacers. Soon, thunder roared like during a storm, and red lightning flashed.

No. 26 continued to assist by throwing scrap metal projectiles. Enemies targeting Adhigh were crushed by the garbage bullets. The coordination between the two who had fought together for a long time was nearly perfect.

But despite their performance, Isabelle couldn’t hide her anxiety.

“Fighting, here is, not good.”

In terms of individual strength, No. 26 and Adhigh were overwhelming. The problem was the enemy’s numbers. In front of billions of enemies, individual strength has little meaning.

Moreover, they didn’t have much time. If things went wrong and Bumho’s control succeeded, that would truly be the end.

They needed to return home as quickly as possible and find a way to block the mental control. Wasting time here was not good.

“Sister. Can we, escape?”

“Impossible to shake off legion due to tracking individuals.”

“What if I, identify and kill, them?”

“Dangerous. That ability not omnipotent.”

Her sister was right. The All-Seeing Eye is effective when seen directly with the eyes. If the opponent moves faster than the eye can see or is in a place that can’t be seen, identification becomes difficult.

They didn’t know how many tracking-capable individuals there were. They would have to dive into the immense army and search one by one.

“Dangerous, but no choice. I have, to do it.”

She knew it was practically impossible. But there was no other way.

“Please wait a moment.”

As she was about to fly toward the Outspacers, her sister stopped her.

“There is one way.”

“A way?”

PS-111 pointed at No. 26.

“‘Main Controller’ has treated mind before.”

“No. 26? Ah.”

Hearing this, Isabelle recalled a past event. When she was reborn as a screamer, only her mind couldn’t awaken. It was No. 26’s power that restored it.

“High possibility of treating AMorph.”

“Definitely worth, trying.”

“Yes. Then let’s start immediately.”

PS-111 took out a dormant mini screamer from her abdomen and handed it to her sister.

“What’s this?”

“No time to explain. Please take it.”

“Alright.”

“Main Controller. I will send you with AMorph now.”

No. 26, who was about to throw a discarded engine, stopped abruptly.

“A place Main Controller knows. Please treat AMorph there.”

“Treat? How do I treat big guy?”

“What you did to my sister. Do the same.”

“What I did to little friend? Got it!”

No. 26’s body returned to the size of a balloon. A blue light enveloped AMorph and the pink Sea Demon that had climbed on top of him.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Yes! I’ll fix everything that’s hurting big guy!”

With a vigorous wave of his tentacles, No. 26 and AMorph disappeared beyond space.

“No time. Moving now.”

“Understood.”

The screamer sisters flew up simultaneously. They quickly approached the enemy surrounding the garbage planet.

Meanwhile, the legion also detected the faster-than-light jump. A pursuit team composed of various Outspacers began to descend.

“What, do we do, next?”

As the enemy rapidly closed the distance, Isabelle asked what to do, but PS-111 didn’t answer.

“Sister?”

“Many jump traces make tracking difficult.”

Meeting her twin sister’s eyes, she finally realized what her sister’s plan was.

“And strong energy explosion, offsets traces.”

“You don’t mean…?”

To use the power of Prometheus to move all the garbage here and make them collide with each other.

There are plenty of defective faster-than-light engines and unexploded torpedoes here. If all of them explode, it would generate tremendous energy. An explosion strong enough to make it difficult for the enemy to track.

“Difficult to attempt with my sister here.”

During the conversation, blue particles appeared around Isabelle.

“Wait! If you do that, sister, will die!”

“MPS has my memory data and genetic samples. With those, I won’t die.”

She tried to dodge and cancel the jump, but the other side was faster.

“Sisters always protect each other.”

“Sister! No…!”

With that, Isabelle disappeared. Only the echo of an unfinished cry remained.

After sending her sister away, she prepared for the next step. She was about to move an enormous number of objects simultaneously. Even with the Supreme Commissioner’s brain, it would take time and concentration to calculate all the coordinates.

Just as she was about to start calculating, a Queen’s Guard with a hideous appearance appeared behind her.

A sickle-like hook claw struck one of her wings. Thanks to the metal containing Voltex One’s carapace, it wasn’t cut off, but a large scratch formed on the surface.

As the Queen’s Guard was about to attack again, the enemy’s body suddenly exploded. The object that crushed the Outspacer was Adhigh.

“Thank you. Little one.”

“Sent” “Child” “Is it okay?”

Detecting their conversation from afar, Adhigh emitted thought waves filled with concern.

PS-111 tried to answer as usual that there was no problem, but she couldn’t. Her head was filled with illogical thought patterns she had never experienced before.

“…I need your help instead.”

After pausing briefly, she struggled to gather her thoughts and sent a thought wave.

“Help?”

“Please protect me for a moment.”

“No” “Problem”

Spreading his wings wide, Adhigh assured her to trust him. Countless red lightning bolts erupted from the small Gallergorn’s body. Enemies approaching from the front were swept up in the storm and oxidized.

“Krrrr! Small formidable enemy!”

A giant monster resembling a red bug appeared through pieces of flesh. The monster flew at a speed that didn’t match its heavy body and rammed into Adhigh.

“You can’t escape!”

“Negative” “This” “Strategy”

“Kruk! I’ll kill you this time!”

Adhigh bought time against the red monster and the Outspacers.

Meanwhile, PS-111 concentrated on calculations. Her cognitive range continuously expanded using warp particles as a medium. Two brains operated fiercely, calculating the coordinates of objects within range.

It didn’t take long for her brain and body to reach their limits. Her body turned bright red from the heat generated during calculations.

Even as the camera lenses replacing her eyes cracked and her face fractured, she didn’t stop. What mattered to her now wasn’t physical damage. It was completing all calculations before the enemies noticed something suspicious.

And finally, all calculations were complete.

“Little one. It’s done.”

“Done?”

“Yes. Please come here.”

Adhigh, who had been fighting while maintaining a certain distance, flew over immediately.

“I’ll send you to where my sister is.”

“Not coming” “Together?”

“I have things left to do. Please take care of my sister.”

“?”

With those words, PS-111 activated the power of Prometheus at full power.

The empty space filled with light. Adhigh, about to ask something, was engulfed in light and disappeared.

“Small formidable enemy! Running away again…kruk?!”

The red monster, about to chase Adhigh, immediately stopped upon seeing the light spreading everywhere. Realizing what this light meant, it hastily began to flee. As the higher-ranking individual fled, other Outspacers followed.

Of course, it was too late to escape now. Discarded engines and explosives like missiles that were crossing space arrived at the scrap metal ring and the garbage planet. Those that jumped to incorrect coordinates collided with objects already there and exploded.

As this process repeated, the scale of the explosion rapidly grew. When it grew large enough that no more fuel was needed, a powerful flash and shockwave occurred.

The retreating Outspacer legion disappeared without a trace as soon as it was swept up in the shockwave. Individuals with high defense like the red monster were flung to the far reaches of space with fatal injuries.

PS-111 wasn’t unscathed either. Having lost most of her body in an instant, she was embedded in a piece of scrap metal.

‘It’s over.’

Not only the power of Prometheus but also the function to generate thought waves was damaged. Soon, all functions of her body would cease.

With her right eye, which was less damaged, she looked at the creator of the shockwave.

The garbage planet, which had been continuously exploding, had now become a new plasma fusion entity. Brilliantly shining, it was truly awe-inspiring.

‘Light made from garbage?’

Since humanity ventured into space, garbage had been continuously discarded, and now a star was born from it. It was truly ironic. If her body had been intact, she might have smiled wryly.

‘It would have been nice if my sister could see this too.’

That was the last memory of the broken screamer.

The remains of the stopped machine were soon drawn into the burning plasma celestial body.