Ch.69Underground Beast (3)

Megacorps are known to possess over hundreds of colonized planets.

Under Megacorp law, colonized planets are classified as production facilities that cultivate resources needed by the Megacorps. Legally, all rights to every type of resource on a colonized planet belong to the planetary owner.

To describe colonized planets more bluntly, they are:

Livestock pens.

Pig sties on a cosmic scale.

Naturally, ordinary humans wouldn’t enjoy being treated as slaves or livestock. Even if the entities ruling over them possess galactic-scale power, resistance is inevitable.

That’s why the upper Capitals of Megacorps employ various methods for smooth governance of colonized planets.

For example, debt repayment activities.

A concept first devised by T&C, giving hope that one could escape their employee status by simply completing assigned tasks.

T&C took it a step further by granting Capital status to employees who successfully completed their repayment.

As more people completed their repayment activities and returned to their homelands as Capitals, resistance on colonized planets noticeably decreased.

Many chose to aspire to become Megacorp Capitals rather than resist T&C’s rule.

Brodie, who was brought to the T&C Special Trade Center, was no different.

An opportunity came to him while he was waiting to die in the entertainment district.

The Human Resources Manager’s announcement that they were recruiting personnel for sewer exploration in exchange for debt clearance.

Hearing this, Brodie thought:

‘Better to roll around in sewage than be skinned alive.’

That’s how 210 volunteers with similar reasoning gathered.

When they entered the sewer divided into three groups of 80, 70, and 60 people, Brodie thought his decision wasn’t so bad.

After all, wallowing in sewage was nothing compared to what he’d have to endure in the entertainment district.

That complacent thought vanished the moment they entered the sewer.

“…Phew.”

The sewer was worse than he had imagined.

The stench penetrating his mask, foreign objects floating on the water, the unpleasant sensation of something brushing past his legs.

Each was something he wouldn’t want to see even in nightmares, but there was one thing particularly disturbing Brodie.

‘I feel that gaze again.’

He’d always been told he had good intuition.

In that space-like darkness enveloping the city, something was surely lurking in the water.

‘The conditions seemed too good…’

“Hey, why’s everyone so quiet? Say something instead of making the mood so shitty.”

“Fuck you. If you’re so desperate, why don’t you start talking?”

“You little—”

In this literally suffocating sewer, no one knew how much longer they’d have to stay. Perhaps that’s why everyone seemed on edge.

“Cough!”

It wasn’t just nerves that were frayed.

Brodie felt feverish despite standing in cold water. His hand holding the flashlight barely rested on the water’s surface, and his legs felt as heavy as if they were shackled.

Was the darkness swallowing him? His vision seemed to spin.

“Hey, I think he’s losing it.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Think about it. If he dies because you hit him earlier, we’re all screwed.”

“…Shit. Wait a minute.”

The man at the front turned on his communicator.

“Ah, hello, sir. I have something to report.”

「Static… What is it? Found something?」

“Hehe, you know our colleague who fell earlier? He seems to be struggling a bit.”

「If you’re thinking about taking a break…」

“No, sir! Absolutely not! I just contacted you to ask if we could move a little slower so we could perform our mission longer.”

「Hmm. If that’s the case, I don’t see a major problem. Alright.」

“Thank you!”

The man bowed repeatedly until the communication ended.

When the call disconnected, his expression completely changed.

“That fucking bastard, motherless prick is so damn picky.”

“Well done.”

“Th-thank you…”

“Tsk.”

“Hey, I’ll take the rear, you go to the front.”

“O-okay.”

After switching positions, they set off again.

Having reported to the knight, they slowed their pace slightly.

Though it didn’t make his ailing body feel any better, Brodie barely managed to hold onto consciousness.

Once he gets out of here, he’ll be a free man.

Thinking only of freedom, he walked with dogged determination.

As they walked, a small sewage treatment facility came into view.

A dead end. From here, they needed to move to another designated location.

The man at the front grumbled wearily.

“Sigh, I wonder how many more times we have to do this.”

“Y-yeah.”

“Hey, you in the back, keep up… Huh?”

“W-what’s wrong?”

“Where’s the guy who was behind you?”

“What?”

At the lead man’s words, Brodie whipped his head around.

There was no one behind him.

“Hey, hey, you’re joking, right? Where did he go?”

“I-I don’t know either.”

The man’s face was pale. Was it due to the cold water, or fear of the situation?

What was certain was that Brodie wasn’t much different from the man.

His feverish body had suddenly cooled as if drained of blood.

“F-fuck! Don’t those bastards up there notice someone’s missing?!”

The man hurriedly searched for his communicator. His hands trembled so much he nearly dropped it several times, but he finally managed to activate it.

「Static… What’s the matter?」

“S-sir, one of our team members has disappeared!”

「Someone disappeared?」

“Yes! The friend who was following behind…”

「What are you talking about? The signals show all three of you moving just fine.」

“What?”

The man holding the communicator fixed his gaze behind Brodie.

Brodie swallowed hard and turned around.

The black water rippled like waves. From the undulating water, a man’s head emerged.

The man who had been following hadn’t disappeared. Yet Brodie’s heart, far from calming, began to beat even more fiercely.

The reason for the large ripples wasn’t the man.

It was “that thing” behind him. Something black, appearing massive enough to fill the sewer passage, was holding onto the man.

“?!”

The man with the communicator gaped. Just before air could escape his throat, a snake-like appendage shot out from the water and pierced his neck.

The man froze in the very posture of trying to scream.

“It” silently passed by Brodie and approached the man. Then, with eerily long claws, it removed the communicator from the man’s hand.

「15th unit, report immediately if there’s a problem.」

The knight’s voice came through the communicator, but Brodie couldn’t make a sound.

“It” was looking down at him.

Black matte exterior as dark as the water, contrasted by pale glowing teeth. The unidentified monster looked ready to tear his throat out at any moment.

“It” reached out to him.

“Hik?!”

Brodie tightly closed his eyes, anticipating the coming pain.

Several seconds passed, but nothing happened. When Brodie slightly opened his eyes, “it” was holding out the communicator to him.

Brodie reflexively took the communicator offered by the monster.

Then “it” brought its elongated claw to its mouth full of vicious teeth.

「Sh-sh」

In this situation, Brodie didn’t have many options.

–

The man in front of me reported into the communicator with a trembling voice.

“F-fifteenth unit, Brodie here. The person who was handling the communicator fell, so I’m taking over.”

「Tsk, what a mess. Start moving as soon as he gets up.」

“Y-yes, sir!”

The man who called himself Brodie faithfully followed my instructions.

‘Let’s begin then.’

I activated my parasitic colony. One parasite detached from my arm and swam through the sewage.

“S-stop!”

Brodie recoiled in horror, but he couldn’t escape. The tip of my tail had circled behind him and was prodding his back.

“Ugh, kek, kek kek!”

As the parasite entered his nostrils, he coughed and trembled violently.

His eyes rolled back and his tongue lolled out of control. This was due to the parasite establishing itself in his brain.

The man who had been at the front had to watch what was happening to his colleague while paralyzed.

‘He seemed rebellious.’

Unlike the one I infected with the parasite, this person had quite a foul mouth.

Those infected by my parasites must obey me, but as with William’s case, overly rebellious individuals are inconvenient to control.

They might act unpredictably.

‘I need to check the chips too, this works out well.’

While holding the first man I paralyzed with one arm, I approached the man at the front.

From their perspective, it would look like the two were supporting each other. In that state, I picked up the man at the front.

I examined the man’s body using my auxiliary organs.

‘There must be a signal chip implanted somewhere.’

There’s a faint electrical signal coming from the brain, but I’ll extract that later. It’s a device for managing employees, so I should collect it rather than destroy it.

While examining the man’s body, I sensed a signal near his wrist.

I gripped the man’s arm with my combat arm and tore it off.

“Hee, heek!”

Brodie was horrified watching from the side.

The man stared blankly at his own arm being torn off.

Since his entire body was paralyzed, he wouldn’t feel any pain. He probably thinks he’s having a terrible nightmare.

Splitting open the arm, I found a small chip emitting light. I carefully extracted the chip with the small arm on my chest.

‘Done.’

The moment the chip came into my hand, the communicator rang.

「An-swer」

“B-Brodie here!”

「What’s going on? Why aren’t you moving?」

“N-nothing! We’ll move right away!”

「Tsk, do I have to deal with this nonsense.」

As I suspected, no signal was sent to the other side when the chip was removed from the human body.

That means…

‘This one is no longer needed.’

Perfect timing as I was hungry from building my nest.

I opened my mouth wide and bit into the man’s shoulder. Due to my increased size, half of the man’s upper body was crushed by my powerful jaw strength.

“Ugh…”

“……”

Brodie couldn’t even scream, just trembled violently.

The paralyzed man in my grasp must have been quite shocked to see his colleague being eaten alive. The sewage around me suddenly warmed up.

After a few bites, everything except the head had gone into my stomach.

‘Let’s see.’

I gripped the head with my combat arm and applied pressure until the skull cracked like a broken pumpkin.

Among the flowing debris, a black mechanical device was visible. I firmly grasped this device with my small hand on my chest.

I put everything else into my mouth. I licked up every last bit, leaving nothing behind.

After consuming the man completely, I handed the two chips to the terrified Brodie.

「Wait」

“……”

Now that I understand how the chips work, the man in my arm isn’t particularly useful either.

The most useful thing this man who’s wetting himself in paralysis can do is become my nutrition.

“…!”

Sensing what I might do to him, his eyes trembled.

As always, I’m not one to show mercy just because of that.

While Brodie watched, I cleanly devoured this man too.

The time it took to process two adult men was remarkably short, just a few minutes.

Having replenished the energy I spent building my nest, I handed the newly acquired chips and devices to Brodie.

「Take-these-grr-and-move-gruk-like-before」

“…Yes.”

Having witnessed his two colleagues being eaten, Brodie obediently followed my instructions. He tucked the two sets of chips and devices into the gap of his mask.

After sending him off, I moved toward where another team was located.

I still had much to do.

–

「Y-yes sir! We’ll move right away!」

Tennessee roughly turned off the communicator.

“Why do these worthless beings fall so often? It’s just walking, yet they struggle so much.”

This was already the fifth communication.

Those pathetic fools were slowing down the operation with excuses about falling down or getting lost.

“Involving such inferior beings in the operation was dishonorable from the start.”

If those present were his comrades who had fought glorious battles with him, they would have slaughtered the unidentified monster in an instant.

‘Damn it!’

This situation, this operation, was not what Tennessee wanted.

‘I wanted revenge…’

Unfortunately, His Highness, to whom he pledged loyalty, did not permit it.

‘He ordered us to capture the creature alive when we find it.’

The knights participating in the defense force support role are officially divided into three units, but in reality, there are four.

Unit 4, commanded by Yanek, is mixed with Unit 2 under Jacob’s command.

Unit 4 is secretly waiting on the ground, tasked with capturing the monster or preventing the defense force’s approach when the target is found.

Fully armed with weapons brought on the fleet, capturing the mysterious monster shouldn’t be too difficult.

‘To capture an enemy who brutally killed my comrades…’

Even if he could at least fight by participating in Unit 4, the reality that even that was impossible frustrated Tennessee immensely.

“Tch, I should go up after this cycle is done.”

Tennessee shook his head, barely suppressing his anger.

Strangely, he kept feeling hot despite being in water.

Even though he was a genetically modified human, he could still feel heat and cold.

The sewer water was ice-cold even to him, but his senses were currently off-kilter. His body was suddenly heating up and his senses were dulling.

This was his brain sending warning signals, but Tennessee concluded it was just because he was angry. He believed that someone genetically perfect like himself couldn’t possibly get sick.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, he heard a sound in the water.

Tennessee looked in the direction of the sound. Though it was pitch black, that was no problem for him.

Advanced enhancement suits with various vision functions make concealment useless.

‘Did I hear wrong?’

He tried thermal vision, vibration detection, and various other sensing systems, but nothing was detected.

Tennessee turned his head back.

At that moment, “it” sprang from behind and pounced on him.

–

A makeshift camp set up inside the sewer near the manhole.

This was where Unit 1 knights had placed mechanical equipment and supplies for exploration and combat support, as the water level was low.

“How’s the communication equipment enhancement coming along?”

“We’ve enhanced it as much as possible, but it’s still not working well underground.”

“Hmm, it’s probably due to the EMP prevention system installed throughout the city for the council meeting.”

“Ahem, so that’s it. Anyway, let’s do our best.”

“Understood.”

Around them, unit members and defense force personnel were busily checking equipment.

There, Vickers was monitoring cameras connected to each unit’s supervisors.

“What’s this?”

While checking the cameras, Vickers sensed something odd and picked up his communicator.

“Unit 1, Vickers here. Tennessee, the camera angle is strange, please adjust it.”

「Un-der-gruk-stood.」

“While you’re at it, adjust the communicator too. There’s noise.”

「Yes.」

After a moment, the camera returned to normal. It remained completely still, not moving an inch.

Seeing such disciplined behavior, Vickers secretly sighed.

‘Well, he must want revenge.’

As deputy commander, he understood Tennessee’s care for his comrades. If his temperament had been just a bit calmer, he would have assigned him command of Unit 4 instead of Yanek.

Lost in thought, he noticed a nearby signal management device start beeping.

Beep

“Is it the creature!”

This device shows the movement path when bait deviates from the predetermined route.

The machine beeping meant the monster had taken the bait.

Vickers quickly grabbed his communicator.

“Unit 1, Vickers here! The creature has taken the bait!”

「Unit 2, Jacob here. Where is it?」

「Wh-ere-is-it?」

“The location is…”

About to report the location, Vickers was left speechless at the signals appearing on the management screen.

Beep Beep Beep

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

The number of signals deviating from their routes was rapidly increasing.