Ch.67Underground Beast (1)
by fnovelpia
I woke up feeling the waves churning around my body.
‘How long have I slept?’
Looking at the light filtering through the tiny gaps in the manhole, it seemed to be daytime. When I focused on my auxiliary organs, I could hear people walking around above ground.
‘Good thing AMorphs don’t have noses.’
Fortunate or not, none of the members here have noses. Gallergorn’s nose and mouth are replaced with tentacles, and No. 26 doesn’t even have anything you could call a head.
As for me, the auxiliary organs below my jaw substitute for sensory organs.
The olfactory information I receive through my auxiliary organs is, how should I put it? It feels like analyzing each component of smells individually and recognizing them separately.
For example, what percentage of ammonia is in this sewage water flowing here, how much nitrate it contains, and so on.
‘…Let’s stop these filthy thoughts.’
I shook my head to clear away these useless thoughts and got up.
Nearby, I could see No. 26 and Adhigh Orr sleeping. Adhigh had fallen asleep with his head resting on No. 26, who had entered a sleep state while emitting a soft glow from his body.
‘He used to live in water, after all.’
What looks like nothing but filthy water to me must feel rather comfortable to him.
Without waking them, I wandered through the passage.
‘The sewer must be about 6m in diameter.’
Judging by how much space remained above my head even when standing, it must be about that size. Even if I used the Hunter’s Form, my head would barely touch the ceiling.
‘Come to think of it, I applied my traits before falling asleep. Should I check them?’
I was so tired that I just went with it without properly checking. I activated the text box.
「Species: Unidentified Agressive Space Morph
Status: Juvenile (Transcendence Stage 1)
Objective: Survive (Successfully evolve twice).
Traits Possessed
① Physical (Type Applied): Wings(Unusable), Regeneration(Fusion), Neurotoxin Gland(Fusion), Acidic Blood, Mimicry Organ(Fusion)(Unusable), Blood-Sucking Tentacle(Fusion), Spike-Hair Shooting Tail(Fusion), Beast Claws, Bite Force, Metal Absorption, Complete Organism(Unique), Fire Breath, Endurance, Pheromone Enhancement
② Psychic (Type Applied): Predator Sense(Fusion), Monster Tentacles(Fusion), Humanity, X-ray Vision, Psychic Resistance, Insight
③ Infection: Parasitic Colony(Fusion), Space Bacteria
Type: Physical Enhancement Type, Psychic Enhancement Type
*You have received a new unread message. Would you like to view it?」
‘Oh?’
While checking the text box, I noticed a newly changed trait.
‘Blood-Sucking Tentacle? Was that the trait I acquired?’
I had just confirmed it wasn’t a negative trait while half-asleep, but the result is better than I expected.
The ‘Blood-Sucking’ trait isn’t that rare in the game. Just like in reality, many creatures suck bodily fluids from other animals.
‘The effect of the blood-sucking trait becomes stronger in proportion to size.’
Adhigh Orr, despite being only about 50cm in size, can drain all the blood from an adult male in under 10 minutes.
Even a creature with small suction organs can drain at that rate. Naturally, larger suction organs would make it even faster.
I extended the blood-sucking tentacle from my arm. A reddish tentacle shot out from the palm opening of my upper combat arm.
Previously, it had neat rows of saw-like teeth along the entire tentacle, but now those were replaced with suction cups on the inner surface, like an octopus’s limbs. Looking at the suction cups, I could see sharp, thorn-like teeth protruding inside them, similar to a lamprey’s mouth.
‘With suction cups, I can use them to stick to walls.’
When playing the game, I often used blood-sucking tentacles for purposes other than blood-sucking.
I mainly used them to drain all the blood from corpses to erase traces, or to climb buildings using the suction cup tentacles.
‘Well, the blood-sucking tentacle is a highly versatile trait, so that’s good. And…’
For some reason, there’s another new message. I checked it.
「’Transcendence’ Material List: Mimicry Organ, Pheromone Enhancement, X-ray Vision, Hallucination (Not Acquired)」
The newly arrived message contained information about a new transcendent trait.
‘A trait made by combining four traits.’
Complete Organism is a unique trait created by combining three physical traits through the transcendence system. This new one seems to be a trait made by mixing two physical traits and two psychic traits, unlike before.
‘I can’t get Hallucination here.’
The Hallucination trait can only be acquired from Red Mist genetic essence. Red Mist is a creature that only inhabits ancient ruin planets and jungle planets, so it doesn’t exist here.
‘Even if I had it, I couldn’t combine it right now.’
Until I acquire two psychic traits, I can’t combine them with Hallucination for transcendence. If I did, I’d lose my type. Let’s just keep this new transcendence information tucked away in a corner of my mind.
‘Let me look around a bit.’
I need to check if there’s a safer place than where we are, or if there are any dangerous elements nearby.
As I moved through the water, something caught in my auxiliary organs. Something was moving in the murky water.
I swung my blood-sucking tentacle to grab the object and pulled it out. A long, pure white creature flapped around, caught in my tentacle.
‘A corpse catfish.’
Corpse catfish are cleaners that eat up large and small byproducts that flow into the sewers.
The Megacorp sewers don’t just contain sewage. Facilities that satisfy the sadistic desires of Megacorp citizens often secretly dump the remains or byproducts of “employed individuals” into the sewers.
Those byproducts are too large to be processed by sewage treatment plants.
That’s why they need these disgusting creatures to reduce them in size.
‘This is the creature that occasionally appears as disturbing images on community boards.’
It looks so disgusting that ordinary people would shudder at the sight of it.
Of course, I’m not going to waste a perfectly good genetic essence just because it’s disgusting. I took a big bite out of the corpse catfish.
Honestly, the taste was mediocre. The texture was dry, and the juices that flowed out had a repulsively sour taste. Well, it would be strange if a creature that lives in sewers and feeds on corpses tasted good.
‘I’ll have to focus on the nutritional value.’
The thought of having to eat only this kind of thing for a while was honestly a bit depressing, but it’s better than nothing. And maybe if I keep eating them, I might acquire a new genetic essence.
‘Come to think of it, corpse catfish also possessed traits. I should aim for that.’
I tossed the catfish into my mouth and moved on again.
–
“Nothing was found in the subway?”
“Ahem, y-yes, Your Excellency!”
“Deputy Commander. Is this true?”
“According to our members, they only found a secret passage that was presumably used by the monster.”
“T-that’s!”
Two days had passed since the hospital massacre.
With just one day left until the board meeting, there had been no progress at all.
Lila Chamberlain, who had been receiving reports with Danver Egerton until just now, had left to greet a newly arrived VIP.
Thanks to that, the Earth Security Chief was spared the humiliation of being dragged out by guards during his report.
Despite a series of major issues in recent days—smuggling incidents, criminal disappearances, police deaths—the Earth Security Chief had not reported any of them. He thought that if Lila knew about these incidents before the board meeting, she wouldn’t let it slide.
If Danver hadn’t collected the relevant information, those incidents would have been buried forever in the security team’s cabinet.
Lila, the city’s general administrator, was extremely angry that she had heard about these internal matters from an outside person rather than from insiders.
She declared that she would replace all bureaucrats belonging to the security team when she returned, then left the conference room.
Danver clicked his tongue as he watched the Earth Security Chief continuously wiping sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
“Earth Security Chief.”
“Yes!”
“If you want to keep your position, I think it would be better to focus more on your work. Your master is a merciful person, but not someone who will endure everything indefinitely.”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
“If you want to serve in the entertainment district, I won’t stop you.”
“N-no, not at all!”
After warning the security chief, Danver stroked his chin.
‘The monster has intelligence, so it probably knows we’re searching for it.’
This creature uses secret passages to avoid being caught by humans. It shouldn’t be thought of as an ordinary beast.
“Hmm, let’s think about this. If it’s a beast with a human mind, how would it behave?”
“Are you talking about Hulk mutants?”
“No. They’re stupid, aren’t they? We have to assume it’s smarter than that. Crisis Management Chief, do you have any thoughts?”
Danver asked the Crisis Management Chief who was also participating in the meeting. The Crisis Management Chief, an Asian man with strong, upright features, thought for a moment before answering Danver’s question.
“Even if it escaped from the station, it couldn’t have gone far. Based on the information submitted by the Silver Lion Knights, the creature is not small in size.”
“That’s right.”
“So why don’t we compare the map with the creature’s movement patterns and check again for places to hide near the station?”
“Not a bad idea. Let’s look at the map first. Security Chief, please.”
“Y-yes!”
The Earth Security Chief hurriedly manipulated his terminal pad to display a map image of the city on the conference room wall.
Danver examined the map carefully and tilted his head.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“What are all these lines next to the tracks?”
“Ah, those mark the sewer passages. You don’t need to pay much attention to them.”
“Sewers?”
Danver called the Crisis Management Chief again.
“I heard you personally led your subordinates in the search. Were there any places near the station close to the sewers?”
“Well, since sewers are underground facilities, it’s difficult for me to see—oh.”
“What is it?”
“Now that I think about it, I remember that some manholes near certain stations had different shapes.”
“Manholes?”
“I-I can answer that.”
“Go ahead.”
“Manholes connected to sewers are square-shaped. Perhaps what the Crisis Management Chief saw were manholes connected to sewers.”
“The Security Chief is correct.”
“Hmm.”
At the words of the two chiefs, Danver’s eyes lit up.
“Deputy Commander, ask our members if there were any square manholes near the station where the fire broke out.”
“Understood, Your Excellency.”
“Do you think the creature has hidden in the sewers, Your Excellency?”
“If it’s close to the station, I think there’s a possibility.”
“But the sewer structure is much more complex than the subway tracks. There’s a high chance another incident will occur before we find it.”
“I-I think so too!”
The Crisis Management Chief calmly expressed his opinion, and the Earth Security Chief hastily added his agreement.
‘What should I do?’
Danver didn’t really care whether the citizens of this city lived or died. Even if hundreds or thousands of citizens died, it would be beneficial to him if he could capture that monster.
But if he said that openly, the positive image he had built up would plummet.
“Then how about we try this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Rather than searching for it directly, why don’t we try a method to draw it out?”
“You mean a lure operation. But how do you plan to draw it out?”
“It’s almost certain that it preys on humans. Then we just need to provide bait.”
“You’re suggesting we use resources from the entertainment district.”
“That’s right. We prepare a trap in the sewers, lure it in, and kill it.”
It was clear that the monster was as intelligent as a human.
But it wasn’t human.
Being intelligent and knowing detailed information about the city are two different things. Unless it was a human residing in this city, it’s unlikely to find it suspicious if food enters the sewer.
It might be suspicious at first, but if food keeps coming, it will surely lower its guard.
The Crisis Management Chief nodded at Danver’s opinion, apparently thinking it wasn’t a bad strategy.
“We’ll need to get approval from the Human Resource Management Chief, but I think we can bring in about 200 people without any issues.”
“It would be better if we could get more.”
“I-I’ll take care of that part!”
“Oh, good. That’s the spirit, Security Chief.”
It was an insane plan to feed 200 innocent lives to a man-eating monster, but none of the people present thought it was strange.
Those “employed” by Megacorp are not “human.” They are classified administratively as resources. Common resources that can be slaughtered or disposed of as needed.
If they could capture that monster with just 200 human resources, it would be a profitable deal for everyone here. Danver would be happy to capture the monster, and the two chiefs would be happy to eliminate a security threat in the city.
“Very good. Then as soon as the Deputy Commander’s confirmation is complete, we’ll proceed with the operation.”
“Understood.”
“Security Chief, if this operation ends successfully, I’ll ask the General Administrator to be lenient with you.”
“R-really? I’ll do my best!”
“Your Excellency, it may be presumptuous to call it an operation, but since we’re deploying military forces, it would be good to have an operation name. Please name it.”
“Is it appropriate for me to name it?”
“There isn’t a soldier who doesn’t respect Your Excellency. It would be an honor for us if you named it.”
Danver thought for a moment. Come to think of it, Lila had asked him before.
What was that invisible, demon-like entity?
Recalling that memory, Danver spoke.
“How about this? Demon Hunt.”
“Demon Hunt. Good. We will exorcise that invisible demon!”
“Very spirited! Hahaha.”
Everything was going according to his plan. Danver laughed with genuine joy.
‘It will be mine!’
His family’s long-cherished wish was within reach. Danver laughed while secretly clenching his fist.
As if vowing never to let go of the monster once captured.
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