Ch.53Harbor District (3)

“Damn it! Why is a Mountain Crawler here?”

“It’s just a juvenile, no need to worry. Its legs and belly are weak, aim for those parts.”

Jade was observing the battlefield from atop a container crane.

He wore specially made goggles on his head. It was equipment mainly used by snipers, equipped with various functions such as heat detection and long-distance target magnification.

It was expensive equipment that Jade had specifically invested in to enhance coordination with his team members.

“Hey Tin Can! I’ve got you covered, aim for its legs!”

“You sure?”

“I’ll keep an eye on the punk.”

“Frost, I’ll support with sniper fire.”

As Jade expected, his companions quickly adapted to the juvenile Mountain Crawler.

Frost rushed in to strike at its legs, and when the creature tried to counterattack, Dwayne sniped its eyes to disrupt its vision. As Frost pulled back, Hope showered the creature with grenades.

“Grrrrrr…”

The Mountain Crawler, merely a wild animal, was helplessly overwhelmed by Jade’s team’s coordinated play. Its cries of rage and frustration could be heard even from this distance.

‘But where did that thing go?’

Jade suddenly realized he could no longer see it.

He had lost track of its movements while focusing on the Mountain Crawler.

‘It must be nearby.’

Jade adjusted his goggles to search for the most dangerous monster Janet had warned about.

When Dwayne first spotted the creatures accompanying the Gallergorn, Jade had ordered them to kill the unidentified man first.

It wasn’t a particularly well-considered order. Among all the enemies they had hunted so far, the most dangerous had always been humans, not monsters.

But Janet had objected to Jade’s order.

She said the truly dangerous one wasn’t the man, but the creature carrying the Gallergorn on its head.

Janet, a Cult, said she could sense an unfamiliar psychic power flow from it. According to her, it was the most ferocious yet majestic psychic flow she had ever witnessed in her life.

Since Janet had never said anything like this before, Jade was momentarily tempted. If he could deliver the creature’s genes to Siheyon Yujin, she would undoubtedly become much stronger than before.

‘Capturing it alive would benefit the lady, but…’

However, Jade knew well how dangerous an unknown psychic power could be. If they failed in their attempt to capture it alive, that would defeat the whole purpose. So he ordered Dwayne to target it first.

‘The ambush failed unfortunately, but it can’t escape our sight… Huh?’

While searching for the creature, Jade heard a strange sound. It sounded like the wind, or perhaps like the vibration of a maglev car rising.

‘Where is that sound coming from?’

Looking around below the crane, he couldn’t see anything unusual. Jade called Dwayne, who was wearing the same goggles as him.

“Dwayne, check around the crane…”

“New enemies!”

“They’re supporting the Mountain Crawler.”

“Aren’t those the ones we saw earlier? The ones with the Gallergorn.”

Hearing his companions’ voices, Jade hurriedly checked the battlefield again.

As Hope said, the Blue Gallergorn was visible. Behind it followed a large balloon-like creature the size of a human thigh. He could also see a skinny man hiding behind a container some distance away from them.

Having spotted the Gallergorn he’d been looking for, Jade quickly grabbed his communicator.

“Don’t attack the Gallergorn! If it gets injured, the mission fails.”

“Then what should we do? We agreed to deal with them later because of the Gallergorn.”

The Gallergorn getting injured wasn’t a major issue. As long as it didn’t die, it could be treated somehow.

‘The problem is that the Blue Gallergorn might call others of its kind.’

Though not in this city, he had heard about the enormous sacrifice required to capture another Blue Gallergorn before. At that time, two White Gallergorn and one Black Gallergorn appeared to rescue the Blue Gallergorn, causing such massive damage that ten warships were lost.

‘I don’t know if it’s fortunate, but the one I brought seems unusually docile.’

Whether heaven was helping Jade or not, the creature still hadn’t called for its kind.

However, he couldn’t know how long its patience would last. They needed to knock it out and put it in the freezer as quickly as possible.

‘…I’ll have to take a risk here.’

Having made his decision, Jade ordered his companions through the communicator.

“The plan was to deal with them after clearing the surroundings, but we have no choice. Kill everyone except the Gallergorn.”

“Just be careful with the Gallergorn? Okay.”

“Yes sir.”

“Hope, be careful with the grenades.”

“Got it, mom.”

“Wait, that pink balloon looks suspicious!”

“What?”

At Janet’s urgent transmission, Jade’s gaze turned to the balloon-like creature.

Its appearance had changed from before. Fins had formed beneath its round body, and six long, thin tentacles had sprouted from its body.

As the monster waved its tentacles, Frost, who had been facing off against the Mountain Crawler, froze in place.

“Good Lord! It’s psychic power!”

“What the hell! Is that thing a psychic monster too?!”

“Frost! Fall back now!”

Frost, immobilized by the psychic power, was hit by the Mountain Crawler’s charge and sent flying.

“Don’t worry! Frost’s skeleton has been replaced with Black Silver, so he’ll be fine!”

“That’s right! That tin bastard has tough bones, he’ll be okay!”

“Hope! Activate your shield now! I’ll enhance it!”

“Switching to AP (Anti-Psychic) rounds.”

“Hey! The Gallergorn is about to attack too!”

“Don’t attack the Gallergorn! I repeat! Don’t attack the Gallergorn!”

“Oh shit!”

The communicator was busy with the appearance of the new enemy. Everyone in the group was distracted by the balloon using psychic powers, and Jade was no exception.

That’s why he didn’t notice. The fact that a massive beast was flapping its wings above his head.

‘No. 26 is fighting well.’

I looked down from the sky at them fighting.

No. 26 was working with the Mountain Crawler to block the enemies’ attacks. Perhaps thanks to his hunting experience with me, he was providing good support despite this being his first fight with an unfamiliar monster.

As an Adhigh Orr of the Gallergorn species, he was effectively keeping the enemies in check with his psychic impact.

Of course, the enemies were also well-prepared against psychic attacks, having a Cult as a teammate. They had the best defenses against psychic abilities that I’d ever encountered.

‘Shields and AP rounds.’

Unlike the low-grade equipment the armed police had brought before, these people had real shields attached to high-grade enhancement suits. If not for those, No. 26 would have massacred them, which is unfortunate.

‘The cyborg seems to have been modified with Black Silver.’

Black Silver is a metal that weakens the effects of psychic power and is one of the main materials in shields. If it had been another cyborg, its upper and lower body would have been separated by No. 26’s psychic attack, but thanks to the Black Silver modifications, this one was only immobilized while resisting the psychic power.

‘Normally, the Black Silver would have nullified the soul link too, but…’

The enemy seemed to know this and had prepared a countermeasure. The female Cult was wearing a tiara instead of goggles on her head.

The Ring of Agony. A relic that enhances the user’s psychic power abilities. Thanks to that tiara, she could establish a soul link even with a cyborg who had Black Silver implanted in his body.

‘They’ve really brought everything.’

It was as if an experienced player had recommended this loadout to a beginner.

‘No way. That can’t be.’

I cleared my distracting thoughts and slowly flew down behind the target.

The enemy was focused only on the battlefield in front.

I quietly approached behind him, then covered his mouth with my combat arm.

“!”

After covering his mouth, I grabbed his right arm with my other arm and crushed it. He trembled from the pain, but I wasn’t done yet.

His limbs are unnecessary for my plan.

“Ugh!”

With all his limbs crushed in an instant, he foamed at the mouth. He seemed desperate to scream or somehow alert his allies, but it was useless.

Currently, I was holding his head fixed in the same position as before the attack.

Thanks to this, the enemies only thought his vision was shaking, not suspecting he was under attack.

‘Soul link breaks when the subject loses consciousness or leaves the effective range.’

This means that if I avoid these conditions, I can exploit an enemy caught in a soul link.

While maintaining my grip on him, I slowly descended the crane. I mimicked the movements of him normally grabbing the ladder and climbing down.

This would be impossible for a normal human, but it was possible thanks to my AMorph body with its multiple arms and transcendent senses.

“Boss?”

“What’s going on? Why are you coming down suddenly?”

Confused voices of his companions came through the communicator. The owner of the communicator is currently in no position to answer.

When I was first sniped, the enemies had likely already prepared for our group composition.

‘They probably judged us as one human, one Gallergorn, and two unknown monsters.’

If there had been more humans among us, or if I had been a sentient being, the enemies would have questioned the current situation. A person could threaten an enemy and force them to move.

But the only human among us is hiding and trembling next to the Gallergorn over there.

Therefore, they only think their comrade is acting erratically, not that a monster is “carrying him without killing him.”

Of course, if the enemies aren’t fools, they’ll realize something is wrong with their comrade and try to respond.

And their taking sensible action is exactly what I’m counting on.

“Jade! Answer me!”

“Dwayne! Jade is heading your way!”

“He’s not in my line of sight. I’ll check right away.”

“Ugh…”

The man I’m holding seems to be Jade Russell, the man who brought Adhigh to this city. Since my identity would be exposed if I faced him directly, I haven’t looked at his face closely yet.

‘I somehow suspected it, but it’s really him.’

“Ughh…”

The man, or rather Jade, was trying his hardest to alert his comrades despite having his limbs crushed and being held by me.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

I bit his shoulder. The neurotoxin flowing in my body fluid quickly penetrated his body.

“……”

Stiffening like a startled goat, Jade went quiet.

Carrying the limp-limbed puppet, I moved toward my next target.

‘Next is the sniper.’

I didn’t know his position when I was attacked earlier, but now I do.

The sniper must be within soul link range while also positioned to fire based on Jade’s field of vision, whom I’m holding.

Calculating the enemy’s position based on this narrows down the range considerably.

‘When I get close, the sniper will also appear to check on his comrade.’

After entering the area where I suspected the sniper might be, I laid Jade down on the ground next to a container. Outside of Jade’s field of vision, I waited for the enemies to react.

‘It should be about time they move.’

Since the sniper is likely sharing Jade’s vision, he’ll quickly know where Jade is now. I focused on my auxiliary organs to keep monitoring this area.

After a few minutes, my auxiliary organs detected movement. It was nimble enough to be mistaken for a rat or cockroach.

‘That’s him.’

I quietly circled around to avoid being caught in the sniper’s field of vision. Most likely, the sniper is also wearing equipment to assist his vision like Jade, so I need to keep my distance.

‘This should be far enough.’

After putting some distance between us, I hid in the shadows and waited. The sniper was approaching cautiously like a mouse eyeing a piece of cheese in a trap.

Even though he was close enough to be visible, I couldn’t see him. Since I could still sense him with my auxiliary organs, the opponent must be wearing optical camouflage equipment.

‘Even so, a headshot kills everyone.’

When he stops to check on Jade’s condition, that will be my opportunity.

“I’ve taken care of the Mountain Crawler! The rest will be dealt with soon!”

Bad news came through Jade’s communicator. If the Mountain Crawler is dead, No. 26 and Adhigh won’t last long either.

‘…No. Let’s trust them.’

Negative thoughts arose, but I shook my head.

Based on my experience so far, No. 26 is not weak. He can hold out until I come to help.

I waited patiently. Despite the continued bad news from the communicator, I gritted my teeth and endured.

And finally, my auxiliary organs brought good news.

The news that the sniper was standing on top of a container ahead.

I aimed at his position with my spine projectile organ. The target was his heart.

Though invisible to the eye, my auxiliary organs’ superior senses could easily pick up the sniper’s quiet heartbeat.

“This is Dwayne. I’ve confirmed Jade…”

As he transmitted in a very small voice, a spine projectile was launched from my fingertip.

Needless to say, the AMorph’s senses didn’t betray me.

The sniper couldn’t finish his sentence and fell below the container.