Ch.65Evil Spirit (2)

“Did you enjoy your meal, Lord Danver?”

“Enjoy is an understatement. This truly lives up to the T&C name. Especially the main dish. I’ve never had anything like it.”

“It’s an oven-roasted dish featuring Earth pork. Raised in an environment most similar to Earth with pure free-range methods, resulting in its rich texture.”

“Hmm, I thought pigs were extinct?”

“My exploration team managed to secure rare specimens, and our House successfully cultivated them. We plan to introduce a new brand to the market within a few years.”

“Haha, excellent. I’d certainly want to purchase some when they hit the market.”

House T&C is the leader in colony development among Noble Capital houses. T&C’s power comes directly from the resources of their countless colonies.

These conditions allowed T&C to secure their influence in ways that differentiated them from other houses.

The politics of cuisine. That was how they exercised influence over the Megacorp upper class.

They own over hundreds of colonial planets. This means they can obtain diverse ingredients from planets with all kinds of environments.

As a result, House T&C virtually monopolized the high-end ingredient market targeting the upper class.

Of course, in terms of food supply ratio within the Megacorp, House Yugin, which produces genetically modified foods, has a much higher percentage. This is inevitable since Yugin is responsible for the diet of all lower-income populations within Megacorp territories.

However, the benefits gained from maintaining good relationships with the upper class by actively utilizing fresh and rare ingredients were certainly not insignificant.

In fact, this was true. After eating the banquet food, even Danver found himself looking at Lila differently.

‘She deliberately chose this dish to match my taste.’

The guest room and the cuisine. Everything catered to Danver’s preferences.

With this level of intelligence, the likelihood of making major mistakes at the board meeting was low. Danver felt reassured as he picked up a piece of crispy pork skin with his fork.

Just as he was about to put it in his mouth, the banquet hall door opened and two people entered.

‘Huh?’

“What’s happening?”

The people who entered were Lila’s secretary and Deputy Commander Vickers. Both of them half-ran to their respective masters.

“Your Excellency, urgent news.”

“Urgent news?”

“We’ve lost contact with the four knights sent to protect William.”

At the deputy commander’s words, Danver’s face hardened.

‘All four were taken out?’

The Silver Lion Knights are a unit stationed on Egerton’s flagship, specializing in ship defense and assault operations against enemy vessels.

For any fleet, protecting the flagship is the most important task. Therefore, the capabilities of the Silver Lion Knights who protect the flagship can be considered among the highest level of ground forces possessed by House Egerton.

An enemy capable of annihilating four warriors from the house’s top special forces unit is certainly not one to be taken lightly.

“…What countermeasures have been taken?”

“Already implemented. We’ve dispatched the remaining 20 members. Jacob is in command.”

“Hmm. Recall all knights deployed outside immediately… huh?”

Danver, who had been calmly giving instructions to Vickers, suddenly stopped speaking.

Lila’s face on the other side of the table looked strange as she received her own report. Her face, which had always maintained composure, was now completely distorted.

After hearing the urgent report from her secretary, she barely maintained her composure as she called out to Danver.

“Lord Danver. I just received a report that the Silver Lion Knights raided a hospital and brutally slaughtered civilians.”

“…What?”

“Let me show you.”

At Lila’s gesture, her secretary operated a terminal pad to project a hologram on the banquet hall wall.

“This is Daily Mass field reporter Sarah. I’m currently at the scene of this tragedy, in front of Commercial District Hospital No. 2.”

The screen displayed a reporter broadcasting in front of the hospital.

‘Could it be?’

When Danver looked at Vickers, he nodded slightly. That was the hospital where William was admitted.

Meanwhile, the reporter brought out a new person. It was a man wearing patient clothes.

“Please explain what’s happening inside.”

“I was hospitalized after getting injured at work. I went out to smoke a cigarette at night when suddenly four people wearing strange clothes came in and started destroying the hospital!”

“You mean people wearing armor, correct?”

“Yes! Armor! Those *beep* guys in armor were shooting something that destroyed perfectly fine walls, and people were getting *beep* and it was just *beep* insane!”

“Thank you for your explanation. With the board meeting just days away, what does it mean that ‘people in armor’ have massacred civilians in the T&C Special Trade Center? What exactly are the administrators of this city doing? For more details…”

Lila gestured that it was enough. The hologram turned off, leaving only silence in the banquet hall.

The silence was broken when Lila spoke first.

“Lord Danver. I believe there’s no way members of House Egerton would do such things without reason.”

“……”

“However, this issue isn’t just a matter for House Egerton. I am the administrator of this city. I have the right to know about situations occurring in the city. So please tell me.”

She was saying to spill everything he knew before blood was shed.

During the banquet, Danver had shown a favorable attitude, so now she knew that Danver was friendly toward T&C. That’s why she was asking for cooperation in a respectful manner.

‘The problem is that we don’t know either.’

He had dispatched the knights because of the secret surrounding William in the first place. Since all the members sent to retrieve William had died, the chances of William being alive were slim.

With the only person who knew the truth dead, Danver was in a position where he couldn’t even offer empty words. If handled poorly, this could lead to war between T&C and Egerton, not just issues at the board meeting.

‘I’ll have to share what I know.’

With a sigh, Danver briefly explained the situation he was aware of and the orders he had given to his subordinates.

“Are you saying this incident is related to the police officer called William?”

“That’s right.”

“…I recently heard that an unidentified smuggling organization attempted to smuggle a Mountain Crawler in the port district but failed and fled. It might be related to that.”

“Whether the culprit is a Mountain Crawler or not, I’ll check personally. Deputy Commander.”

“Yes.”

“Contact Jacob. Tell him to turn on the cameras so we can assess the situation.”

“Understood.”

After the deputy commander contacted Jacob via communicator, he operated the terminal pad just as Lila’s secretary had done.

“Loyalty. Silver Lion Knight Jacob reporting to Commander.”

The face of a handsome black man appeared on the marble wall of the banquet hall. His shoulder armor had a small drawing of a woman in a bikini.

“The overall administrator of the Special Trade Center is watching. Synchronize your camera and report the situation.”

“Yes sir. Synchronization complete. Currently approaching the target, Hospital No. 2.”

“Team 2 Tennessee, synchronization complete. Arrived at the back entrance.”

“Team 3 Ferris, synchronization complete. All clear.”

As Jacob operated his helmet, the camera attached to it synchronized with Deputy Commander Vickers’ terminal.

Through the hologram, they could see the hospital with smoke rising from it.

–

‘Team 2 is entering through the back entrance, and Team 3 is on standby.’

The silver-armored figures were surrounding the hospital with nimble movements. As expected of elites, they showed movements on a completely different level from the enemies I had encountered before.

If I had been in the hospital, I would have had quite a struggle.

‘But I’m already outside.’

I’m already out of the hospital, observing the enemies from the top of a nearby media building. The auxiliary organ in my jaw is continuously collecting information about the enemies’ movements and conversations.

Though there’s no major change in appearance, the upgraded auxiliary organ in terms of functionality has even detected conversations the enemies are having through their communicators.

Thanks to them explicitly stating everything, I know exactly where they’ll enter and how they plan to attack me.

“Team 1, moving in!”

“Team 2, moving in!”

After confirming their entry, I crawled down the wall. With all the reporters rushing to the front of the hospital looking for a scoop, there was no one inside the building.

Once on the ground, I ran toward the station.

My feet made loud noises as they hit the pavement, but the area was currently very noisy with police, reporters, ambulances, and fire trucks. No one noticed my footsteps.

“Team 1. Confirmed fire inside the building. Team 2, switch from heat detection to vibration detection system.”

“Team 2. Switch complete.”

“Team 3. Standing by.”

Even as I ran, the auxiliary organ didn’t stop collecting information. It extracted only the parts where the enemies were communicating via communicators in the hospital and relayed them to me.

‘Not much time left.’

The duration of metal absorption still has some margin, but the Aspect of the Hunt is the problem. Of the 10-minute time limit, I’ve used about 8 minutes in the hospital. I have at most 2 minutes left.

‘I need to eat as many knights as possible at the station before the effect wears off.’

All Egerton knights are genetically modified humans. They may not have as much genetic material as Hulk Mutants or Siheyon Yujin, but they’re still prey with more useful genes than ordinary citizens.

‘Since I’ve already used it, I should extract as much as possible.’

A true AMorph should suck up everything the enemy has.

Thanks to the Aspect of the Hunt, it took very little time to get from the hospital to the station.

I can see six knights standing guard in front of the station.

The enemies haven’t noticed me running toward them yet. I decided to use my newly acquired long-range attack method.

“Bristle-firing Tail: Develops an organ in the tail that fires lethal bristles. Replaces the spine-firing organ.

*P.S.: Unlike hedgehogs, it’s good that AMorphs don’t have to worry about the dilemma.”

The appearance of my tail has changed significantly from before. The tip of my tail is covered with long bristles reminiscent of a cactus or a porcupine with densely grown spines.

This was thanks to the fusion of the bristle characteristic and the spine-firing organ to create a new trait.

‘Unlike the spine-firing organ, this fires in volleys.’

If the previous one was a sniper rifle, this would be a machine gun. Though its penetration power is lower than the spine, it has the characteristic of burrowing into wounds when embedded in the enemy’s body. Plus, I can apply neurotoxin effects, making it an effective weapon when fighting multiple enemies.

Since the spine-firing organ trait disappeared, my left forearm returned to look like my other combat arms, but I didn’t mind. Each trait has its pros and cons.

In a situation like now where I need to subdue multiple people simultaneously, the bristle-firing tail is more necessary.

Without stopping my run, I swung my tail widely. The bristles densely growing at the tip of my tail flew toward the enemies.

“Team 1. Team 3 on guard, report.”

“This is Team 3. No visible enemies… ugh!”

Dozens of hand-span-long bristles embedded themselves in the knights’ bodies. The enemies reacted with startled surprise to my attack.

“Enemy! Everyone counter… what?”

“I-I can’t move!”

“The bristles are stuck in the joint areas!”

Thanks to the excellent defense of their advanced reinforced suits, the bristles only stuck to their armor without penetrating. Instead, they lodged in the joint areas, restricting the enemies’ movements.

‘The bristles are quite hard.’

Of course, considering the power of the advanced reinforced suits the enemies are wearing, it’s only buying time, but that’s enough.

‘They said they haven’t switched from heat detection vision yet, right?’

Teams 1 and 2 changed their monitoring systems when entering the burning building, but not these guys.

I opened my mouth wide. The ignition organ inside pulsated, and soon an enormous amount of flame poured out through my throat.

“Aaaagh!”

“It’s shooting fire!”

The Magmagator trait, Breath of Fire, blazed upon the knights. Black smoke rose from the flames spread in front of the station and penetrated into the station.

“Everyone switch your vision!”

As expected of veterans, the enemy responded calmly even with both movement and vision blocked.

Of course, I’m not one to wait for enemies to prepare.

I rushed at the knight in front who was handling communications. Taking my full-force charge directly, the knight’s entire body was shattered without even a chance to scream.

“This is Team 1. Team 3, respond! What’s happening?”

“This is Rix! Ferris is down!”

With little time left, I picked up the dismembered knight’s corpse and immediately put it in my mouth.

Meanwhile, another knight who had switched monitoring systems aimed his bolter at me.

“Ugh?!”

But his plasma bullet didn’t hit me as intended.

There was one reason I shot flames.

To block the enemies’ vision.

The “enemies” I refer to aren’t simply the knights in front of me.

The “enemies” I mentioned include the cameras installed inside the station.

“Big girl, we’re here.”

My friends underground. They’re helping me, hidden in the smoke.

“Ugh, grrr, gack!”

A knight caught in No. 26’s “Binding” floated in the air. Like a child pulling off the limbs of an insect, the arms and legs attached to his body danced chaotically.

“Aaargh!”

“Rix!”

Following the sound of bones dislocating, with a sound like firecrackers, his arms and legs fell off. The knight, instantly reduced to a torso, fell onto the bloody ground with a thud. He trembled briefly before going still.

“This is Team 3! We’re under attack! Requesting support… argh!”

“What the hell is going on?!”

“This is Team 2! We’ll come to support immediately!”

“Damn it! Tennessee! Stay where you are!”

“But!”

The voices of confused enemies over the communicator, knights panicking after suddenly losing comrades.

All familiar sights.

“Re-retreat! Retr… gack!”

As one knight tried to run away, a hole appeared in his neck. It was Adhigh who precisely targeted the enemy’s weak point.

“Organism” “Neck” “Weakness”

Adhigh emitted a low wave from beyond the smoke.

If the knight had activated the psychic shield built into his advanced reinforced suit, he might have survived. It was his mistake to show his back during combat.

After that, everything proceeded smoothly.

Within minutes of starting the fight, the knights who had lost half their comrades were not in their right minds. The knight order that always brought victory to their master was not present here.

There were only sheep trembling in fear.

There’s only one thing a flock of sheep without a leader can do when facing a wolf.

Just cry pitifully.

Just as wolves don’t spare sheep for crying, neither do I. After finishing off the remaining three knights, I quickly picked up two corpses.

‘Hurry, hurry!’

I cut up the corpses and poured them into my mouth as I entered the station.

[We need to gather all the food and go back to the nest]

“Not eating here?”

[No time. Carry as much as you can and follow me]

“I” “Hunger”

“Okay. I’ll take care of the rest.”

No. 26 understood my urgency and quietly extended its tentacles to pick up two corpses. Adhigh also tried to pick one up but gave up because it was too heavy.

So we returned to our nest carrying four corpses.

Just before the Aspect of the Hunt wore off, I could hear it.

One of the enemy knights who arrived late shouting in frustration.

I smiled in the smoke and darkness.