Ch.60Hospital (2)

The footsteps above my head faded away.

‘Time to move.’

I pressed the terminal on the reinforcement suit I was holding. The power energy that activates the suit’s functions was almost depleted, but it didn’t matter since I wasn’t going to wear it anyway.

As long as the stealth function is activated, my outer skin will take care of the rest.

‘It’s working.’

When I operated the terminal located on my right wrist, the reinforcement suit glowed softly and then disappeared before my eyes. Since it’s working well, now it’s my turn.

I activated my metal absorption trait and bit into the reinforcement suit. The tough synthetic fiber was torn to shreds by my teeth, and the metal fragments mixed within were absorbed into my body.

Then the trait effect activated, and my body began to fade.

“Adult?”

As my form completely disappeared, Adhigh Orr looked around, searching for me.

“Little one, what’s wrong?”

“Adult” “Disappeared”

“He’s right there?”

“Feel” “Can’t see”

No. 26 didn’t seem to notice the change in my body, probably because it doesn’t detect its surroundings visually. On the other hand, Adhigh Orr, who perceives the environment with eyes and tentacles, seemed confused that it could sense me with its tentacles but couldn’t see me.

[Zzzzzz (I’m right here)]

“Adult” “Can’t see”

[Zzzz (I’m hiding)]

“Adult” “Hiding” “Perfect”

Adhigh Orr nodded in admiration.

‘The effect seems to be verified.’

As I was about to leave the nest with relief, No. 26, who could see me, followed.

[Zzzzzz Zzzz (Not this time)]

“Why?”

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzz (I have to go alone)]

“Can’t I help?”

[Zzzzzz Zzzz Zzzzzz (This is something I have to do alone)]

“Okay…”

When I firmly refused, it shrank dejectedly. Adhigh Orr, who had followed, also noticed the mood and curled up its body.

I can be concealed, but they cannot. People would certainly not react well to seeing a giant jellyfish reaching up to the waist and a flying tentacled lizard.

As I was about to leave them behind, I felt gazes on my back.

‘…Maybe I should do it this way?’

If things go wrong, a major battle could break out in the hospital. With the board meeting approaching, I can’t completely rule out the possibility of new enemies visiting the hospital.

‘Meeting the Jade team was unexpected too.’

It’s not a bad strategy to have them wait nearby as a precaution.

Having made my decision, I called them over.

[Zzzzzz (Follow me)]

I took them to the hole connecting to the subway tracks.

On the way, I explained the plan to them.

[Zzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzz (I can’t go with you)]

“Okay.”

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzz (Instead, wait for me where I told you)]

“Like we did before?”

[Zz (Yes)]

“Got it.”

I took out a communicator from the bag I had kept after devouring the female reporter and showed it to No. 26.

I plan to give the reporter’s communicator to them while I use the one the sniper had.

After entering the reporter’s contact information into the sniper’s communicator, I handed the reporter’s device to No. 26.

[Zzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzz (When this rings, that’s the signal)]

“Okay.”

No. 26 extended a tentacle and firmly grasped the communicator.

After giving them the communicator, I explained to No. 26 where I would be and how to find me. Thanks to its increased intelligence, it quickly understood my explanation.

As we finished the explanation, we arrived at the hole leading to the tracks. I told the kids to wait here, then approached the hole.

‘My body’s grown, so I need to widen this.’

With my greatly increased strength, breaking down the walls around the hole was very easy.

[Zzzzzzzz (I’ll be back)]

“Be careful.”

Leaving the worried kids behind, I crawled out onto the tracks.

I ran along the tracks toward the station near the hospital, avoiding the occasional passing subway trains. The tunnel, wide enough for two subway trains to pass simultaneously, was filled with the distant sound of moving trains and my footsteps.

‘The noise is louder because of my increased weight.’

Once I enter the hospital, I’ll need to move along the walls or ceiling. While leaving marks on the walls might arouse the androids’ suspicion, it’s better than being immediately detected due to noise.

Thanks to my enhanced body, it took less than three minutes to reach the station—a distance that would have taken at least five minutes before.

Though the night was deepening, there were still quite a few people on the platform. I pressed myself tightly against the track wall and waited.

Shortly after, a train arrived, and the platform became packed with people getting off and on. The bustle created by the crowd didn’t last long.

After the train departed, few people remained on the platform. I carefully crawled along the wall and out of the platform.

Most of the shops in the station were already closed or preparing to close their shutters.

Still, since there were some people around, I crawled along the ceiling, staying close to it.

“Huh? Why is there dust on my shoulder?”

“What’s that on the ceiling? Looks like a crack?”

Some tourists noticed the traces I left as I passed by and started chattering. Fortunately, thanks to the advanced optical camouflage effect, no one discovered my actual form.

After leaving the station, I ran toward the hospital.

There were still people on the streets, but no one noticed my presence. Some people tilted their heads curiously upon hearing my footsteps, but that was all.

Arriving smoothly at the hospital, I headed toward the back entrance instead of the lobby at the main entrance. After confirming no one was at the back entrance, I quickly entered and immediately went up the emergency stairs.

‘I originally thought about using the windows, but…’

My body has grown too large to fit through windows. As I was crawling along the wall, about to climb from the second floor to the third, the stairwell door opened.

“Noise detected.”

The enemy that appeared was an android. The moment it closed the door, my tail struck its head like lightning.

With my increased size, my stinger had grown to the size of a blade attached to a long spear. With such a weapon—more appropriately called a venomous blade than a stinger—the android’s head was shattered instantly.

‘At least I won’t be caught on camera.’

Unless it switched to thermal vision before dying, but the android didn’t have that chance. Just to be safe, I destroyed the memory storage device inside its body.

After pushing the android’s remains into a corner of the stairwell, I used my auxiliary organ to check outside before opening the door. An android passed through the corridor and entered another patient room.

After confirming no one was there, I opened the door and entered the corridor.

‘William is… this way.’

Following the path indicated by my auxiliary organ, I moved toward the intensive care unit located at the end of the left corridor.

Just as I was about to open the door to the room, my auxiliary organ detected something unusual.

‘What is it?’

I sense something from the floor below.

Four extremely powerful energy clusters. Energy aggregates of such high density that they can’t be compared to androids are passing through the lobby on the first floor and coming up.

‘Energy stronger than androids can only mean…’

There’s only one possibility.

‘Advanced reinforcement suits!’

If they can be detected from this distance, they must be high-output, high-firepower reinforcement suits.

‘Why are reinforcement suits that should only be seen on the front lines here?’

The enemy is coming up the stairs on the opposite side. Since they might come this way, I quickly hid in the operating room next door.

“Detecting an open door…”

Only a cleaning android remained in the operating room. I struck its head with my combat arm before it could finish speaking.

After eliminating the android, I quietly held my breath. From beyond the corridor, I could hear the mechanical sounds of thick, solid armor suits.

“This must be the place.”

“I wonder who this person is, that the deputy commander ordered us to guard them.”

“It’s a strict order from His Majesty. I heard he specifically instructed us to take special care.”

“We are His Majesty’s sword. When orders come, we simply follow.”

Their speech pattern sounded like something from a historical drama, but it was strangely distorted by the mechanical sound. It felt like special forces from a space empire in a classic SF game.

‘Space knights, huh.’

Two factions come to mind.

The first is House Garmelda.

They’re a Noble Capital responsible for developing reinforcement suits and androids among the Megacorp factions. Since reinforcement suits, along with genetic enhancement, are crucial elements in Megacorp gameplay, they’re one of the factions many Megacorp users choose.

‘It’s not Garmelda. They don’t talk like that.’

As far as I know, the only faction within Megacorp that has a feudal political system is House Egerton of Mars. As a Prime Capital responsible for ship development, they have a unique culture where, unlike other houses, the head of the family is called a monarch, and elders or vassals are called lords.

‘Did Egerton come with borrowed reinforcement suits?’

Originally, House Egerton specializes in fleet battles in space and isn’t particularly strong in ground combat. The houses responsible for ground combat in Megacorp are House Yugin and House Garmelda, not them.

‘First the police’s armament, and now this. The enemies are evolving too.’

Things that would be impossible in the game keep happening. The upper-tier houses within Megacorp have terrible relationships with each other, so they rarely cooperate like this unless they’re users.

Is this difference because this is reality? Or has a new system been updated, just like I received the transcendence system?

‘That’s a question I can’t answer right now.’

I focused again on the conversation coming from the next room.

“According to the android, it will take about three hours for this person to wake up.”

“Did the deputy commander say anything else?”

“He asked us to bring this person’s physical examination data and doctor’s opinion when they wake up.”

“Does he think it’s a mental issue? They were pathologically thin, but I was really surprised when they suddenly shot themselves.”

From their conversation, it seems they plan to take William away when he wakes up.

‘I need to deal with this here.’

I pressed the auxiliary organ under my jaw tightly against the wall. I needed to understand the positions of the enemies in the intensive care unit next to the operating room.

‘Four of them. Two by the door, one next to William. And one is getting closer to this side.’

With my auxiliary organ still against the wall, I raised my tail sharply, ready to ambush. I planned to pierce through both the wall and the enemy with my tail as soon as they got close.

Just then, I heard the enemies speaking.

“Still, guard duty is guard duty, so I’ll activate the monitoring system.”

“I’ll do the same.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Following this, regular warning sounds emanated from the enemies’ thick armor.

‘Oh no.’

I quickly detached myself from the wall. Almost simultaneously, the wall shattered as a fist like a cannonball appeared.

Through the dust, four knights in silver armor aimed gun-like grenade launchers at me.

‘Plasma bolters!’

Those are dangerous.

I hurriedly broke through the wall and leaped into the corridor. Behind me, green light flashed, and the operating room was literally reduced to dust.

The plasma bolter is a kind of transitional weapon that came out before the plasma pistol was developed.

It looks like a mix between a pistol-type grenade launcher and a concrete nail gun, but instead of conventional ammunition, it fires condensed plasma energy from the muzzle.

As a plasma weapon, its destructive power is excellent, but it’s extremely heavy due to failed attempts at making it lightweight.

Still, apart from being heavy, it had no particular disadvantages, making it suitable as a general-purpose weapon for combat units wearing advanced reinforcement suits.

Advanced reinforcement suits have strength enhancement functions that allow them to easily handle the weight and recoil of the bolter.

Thanks to this, even after the plasma pistol was developed, the bolter has maintained its active service role.

“An unidentified strange life form.”

“I’ll take charge of guarding the VIP.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“Let’s go then.”

Three enemies in silver advanced reinforcement suits are coming this way. The fact that they’re heading exactly in my direction suggests my biosignals are being picked up by their monitoring systems.

‘So much for the effectiveness of concealment.’

Advanced reinforcement suits with plasma bolters. Not easy opponents.

I fought a sniper in an advanced reinforcement suit before, but the circumstances are different now.

‘If it’s a high-output, high-armor upgrade, the defense must be incredibly high.’

The enemy’s defense is probably comparable to a warship’s outer wall. Even though my claws have been strengthened by type effects and complete organism effects, it would be difficult to destroy an advanced reinforcement suit in one go.

The spine-shooting organ with its excellent penetration effect is the only weapon that could immediately deal effective damage to the enemy.

‘Should I use the monster’s tentacles?’

I was tempted for a moment but quickly shook my head. Without obtaining the psychic enhancement type, using it recklessly could lead to a counterattack I couldn’t recover from.

‘…Do I need to use that ability?’

While sensing the enemies’ movements, I brought up a text box.

“*’Symbol of the Hunt’: During application, the probability of predation effect is greatly increased. The effects of all traits you possess are enhanced. You gain resistance to all types of attacks. Duration is 10 minutes.”

Symbol of the Hunt, usable once per day. Due to this limitation, I haven’t used this skill yet.

Originally, I planned to use it when aiming for a large amount of genetic essence. I thought about secretly devouring Cult members or various tourists in the commercial district, but everything went awry because of William.

‘No, let’s think positively.’

It’s a skill I would have had to test at some point anyway, and this is a good opportunity.

With suitable demonstration opponents prepared here, I activated Symbol of the Hunt.

The moment I activated it, my vision was engulfed in darkness.

‘What’s this?’

The outer skin covering my head grew rapidly, covering everything except my mouth and auxiliary organs. My vision disappeared, and instead, the precision of my auxiliary organs’ senses increased to the extreme.

Thanks to this, I could precisely perceive the changes in my body.

Right now, my flesh is evolving.