Ch.71Drive (1)

“The signal has arrived. Everyone prepare to move in.”

The secret camp set up by Squad 4 under Yanek’s command.

Officially, they were known as a reserve unit under Squad 2. This was because Deputy Commander Vickers had reported them as part of Squad 2 when informing the Defense Force about unit details.

But in reality, that wasn’t the case.

Squad 4 was a unit that had received secret orders from Danver. Their mission wasn’t to kill the monster but to capture it alive.

They had also been ordered to eliminate any other Defense Force members who discovered them during the mission.

“Squad Leader Yanek. All preparations are complete.”

“Hmm.”

While the Silver Lion Knights were all composed of veterans with genetically modified warriors, the 20 members belonging to Squad 4 were an elite selection even among them.

Moreover, their weapons and equipment were taken from the ship’s armory, making their armament level exceptional.

Besides the knights’ standard equipment, the plasma bolter, they had two additional pieces of gear.

The first was the auto plasma gun.

Simply put, it was a plasma pistol attached to the shoulder of their power armor, but with superior performance to the original.

It had improved durability compared to the original, and most importantly, it could synchronize with the user’s field of vision for automatic defensive fire.

The other equipment was the assault pack attached to the backs of all Squad 4 members.

The assault pack was designed for operations in harsh environments, including outer space. It not only significantly enhanced the performance of the attached power armor but also provided jet pack functionality and oxygen supply.

In summary, it could be called power armor for power armor.

Both pieces of equipment boasted astronomical prices—equipping 20 people would cost as much as a small colony planet. Even for Prime Capital Egerton, they were so expensive that they could only be deployed for truly important battles.

“What about the launcher?”

“Bring it along for now.”

At Yanek’s words, one member shouldered a plasma launcher.

After all preparations were complete, 20 knights including Yanek entered the sewer.

The knights jumped into the polluted water, causing the underground residents to scatter and hide in panic.

“Distance to target: 1km remaining.”

“Fork ahead. Everyone take the right path.”

Though the sewer was like a maze, the silver knights moved without hesitation. This was thanks to the various mechanical devices in their helmets that constantly relayed information about the sewer interior.

“Defense Force detected 20m ahead.”

“Everyone bypass them.”

Although they could kill any Defense Force members they encountered to complete their mission, there was no need to deliberately seek them out. The knights moved toward their target while avoiding the operational radius of the Defense Force shown on their devices.

“Wait! Everyone stop!”

At Yanek’s shout, the Squad 4 members who had been running through the water all stopped.

A pale object was floating in front of them.

It was the corpse of a deserter who had died due to the obedience device.

“Stand by.”

Yanek approached the corpse to check its condition.

The corpse was horrific.

The head was not only melted by the obedience device but the eyes had also burst, with blood streaming down.

Even more terrible was the condition of the abdomen.

There were signs of an explosion from inside the belly, and all the organs were thoroughly cooked.

Among the blackened, charred flesh, obedience devices and signal chips were visible.

‘Is this the creature’s doing?’

Yanek could immediately tell what the monster had done just by looking at the corpse’s condition.

The creature had forced the deserters to swallow obedience devices and signal chips.

‘I should report this.’

Yanek picked up his communicator to relay this information to Jacob of Squad 2.

Since Squad 4’s activities were secret, they weren’t connected to headquarters cameras.

As a result, they had no choice but to report important facts via wireless communication.

“It fed them to one corpse?”

“That’s correct.”

“I understand for now. I have people around me, so I’ll end the call here.”

“Understood.”

After ending the communication with Jacob, Yanek turned to his subordinates.

“Everyone be careful. It seems we’re not dealing with an easy opponent.”

“Yes, sir.”

They left the corpse behind and set off again toward their target.

At the place they had left.

The corpse, left alone swaying with the current, was suddenly sucked down into the water.

–

‘They’re gone.’

After the knights left, I raised myself from where I had been lying flat not far from them.

Before they arrived, I had been examining a corpse I found on the way.

I needed something to complete the final piece of my plan.

Just as I was about to search the corpse, my auxiliary organ warned me.

Seeing the rapidly churning water, it told me knights were approaching at high speed.

I chose to hide and observe the situation rather than confronting them directly.

‘I don’t know anything about the armament level or numbers of the enemies coming this way.’

If they turned out to be manageable enemies, I could ambush them immediately; if not, I could just gather information and leave.

I dove underwater and pressed my body flat against the bottom.

‘They came faster than expected.’

At first, I thought they might have set up more camps in the area. But I was wrong.

Seeing their appearance, I could tell how they had arrived so quickly.

‘They’re wearing assault packs.’

Assault packs double the enhancement functions of power armor and provide various other useful effects.

That’s why in the game, assault packs were so popular among Megacorp players that they were called “mercenary uniforms.” They could dramatically change which planets you could tackle.

‘Though the price is murderously expensive.’

Anyway, with their high-grade power armor and assault packs, they were showing off their enhanced physical abilities to the fullest.

They moved through the sewer full of filthy water as if they were running on flat ground, at a very high speed.

That’s why they had followed the catfish faster than other squads.

‘There are 20 of them. All wearing assault packs, which makes fighting them directly burdensome.’

I could win without much difficulty if I used the Hunt aspect, but the aftereffects would be problematic. Thanks to my Endurance trait, I wouldn’t collapse immediately, but it would hinder my combat performance afterward.

‘Besides, losing my rationality is also a problem.’

Rationality and knowledge.

These are important weapons I possess. If I lose these two things, I become no different from a worthless beast.

‘Becoming a mindless beast when fighting multiple enemies is dangerous.’

The enemy considers me smarter than an ordinary beast but still categorizes me as a wild animal.

In such a situation, if things go as the enemy wants, that’s a shortcut to defeat.

That’s why I temporarily postponed the fight.

As a result, the 20 enemies failed to discover me.

Besides confirming the enemy’s equipment level, there was another gain from postponing the fight.

‘The vision systems don’t vary much between knights.’

Despite their assault packs, most of their equipment was similar to regular knights except for a few pieces.

From what I’ve confirmed so far, the enemies have two detection methods: heat detection and vibration detection.

Vibration detection is difficult to use effectively because of the constantly churning water.

‘Heat detection is the same.’

My outer skin is as cold as ice because I’ve been in the cold sewer water for a long time. Even if they look at me with heat detection vision, I’ll appear the same as the surrounding terrain.

‘I’ve confirmed the level of their recognition systems. Ambushing them should be easy.’

The enemies have left, and I need to finish my business quickly and follow them.

I grabbed the corpse and searched inside its melted belly.

‘Here it is.’

With my small arm holding the signal chip, I made a small scratch on the sewer wall with my combat arm.

Then I inserted the chips I was holding there.

‘I need to use them as new bait, so they can’t be damaged.’

After safely storing the chips, I picked up the employee’s corpse and followed in the direction the knights had disappeared.

Now that I’ve discovered a group of knights, the corpse catfish has achieved my first goal, you could say.

‘But it would be boring if it ended here.’

The reason I extracted chips from the corpse and stored them safely was all for a second plan to complement the first one.

‘When they chase the catfish, there will come a point when they all gather in one place.’

They might meet earlier than I expected because their starting points are close, or they might gather early for reasons I haven’t thought of.

When that time comes, I plan to create new bait to throw the enemies into confusion.

‘Those who entered underground don’t know about the corpse catfish.’

The corpse catfish roaming around here isn’t a naturally occurring creature. It was released by the city managers for efficient sewer management.

If I had used multiple catfish as bait from the beginning, someone among the city officials would certainly have raised questions.

They would wonder if I was using corpse catfish for a distraction operation.

If they become wary of me and track me with full preparation, I would be at a disadvantage.

That’s why I deliberately made only one catfish move by implanting a signal chip in it.

Before entering, they probably thought this:

That I was eating employees and moving around without knowing about the signal chips.

The unfortunate thing is that the knights moved faster than I expected and confirmed the corpse.

‘I was planning to dispose of it while collecting the chips.’

I intended to eat the corpse to keep the enemies confused, but the knights came too early and caught me.

‘Who would have thought the path to find the catfish would overlap with where the corpse was?’

Other corpses are far from the catfish, so they would be difficult to discover unless someone deliberately went looking for them, but this corpse was unfortunately on the knights’ path.

It was an accident that happened because I left it free instead of controlling it with a parasite.

The good news is that they haven’t noticed the catfish yet.

The discovery of the corpse isn’t a big problem.

I followed the knights and swallowed the remains of the corpse in my hand, leaving nothing behind.

The 20 knights I’m currently tracking.

After dealing with them, I plan to return to where I hid the chips.

‘Then I’ll create new bait.’

The enemies will be very confused.

‘Because suddenly there will be two baits.’

Once they’ve entered the sewer, it’s not easy to call sewer officials to ask questions. If I escape during that time, their operation automatically fails.

‘Of course, I have no intention of running away.’

As evident from how the enemies failed to detect me earlier, the knights cannot detect a corpse catfish moving underwater.

I don’t know how good the Defense Fleet military personnel are, but it’s hard to think they would have better equipment than these elite knights.

‘If they were barefoot, they might have felt something passing between their legs.’

If the enemies had been naked in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to think this hard.

Anyway, enemies who don’t know about the catfish will have to split up again because of the divided signals.

‘That gives me more time.’

Time to pick off scattered enemies one by one as they chase after false bait.

The basics of a drive hunt is to control the enemy’s movements.

The catfish and the enemies chasing it are all just dancing in the palm of my hand.

‘Now, where should I strike?’

The distance to the catfish is not far now.

‘I don’t sense any other enemies nearby.’

That means one thing.

This situation is very favorable for me.

I approached closely behind one knight at the rear.

I was moving underwater, pressed flat against the sewer floor, so I made almost no sound.

The water surface around the running knight was churning wildly. I grabbed both his legs with my combat arms from underwater.

“!”

As the knight was about to fall, I quickly bit his nape before he could make a sound. My jaw, strengthened by the Bite Force trait, crushed the knight’s neck vertebrae.

Meanwhile, the knights ahead had no idea their comrade at the rear had been attacked and continued running forward.

‘Being too fast is also a problem.’

I tore the assault pack from the knight’s back and destroyed the power armor battery. The lights on the power armor went out, and the knight’s body went limp.

I took the half-dead knight’s body and melted into the water, hiding.

–

“30 meters remaining to target. The enemy’s speed is slowing down.”

“Everyone stop.”

At Yanek’s words, the knights stopped in place.

‘A creature that’s been moving at an incredible speed suddenly slows down.’

The creature had been so fast that it would have been difficult to chase without wearing assault packs. As a result, the other squads were far behind.

This was a very favorable situation for Yanek, who needed to capture the monster secretly.

‘Judging by the slowed speed, it must have noticed our pursuit.’

Considering the creature’s intelligence, it might be hiding to ambush the knights.

‘Seeing that it can’t gauge our level, a beast is still a beast.’

No matter how powerful the monster might be, it would be nearly impossible for it to handle the firepower of the 20 knights present.

Yanek made a vow.

He would teach that ferocious beast the truth that there is a heaven above heaven.

‘Before combat, I should check our personnel.’

Yanek looked over each member who was examining their weapons.

‘Hmm? One is missing?’

The member who had been at the very rear was gone.

Alarmed, Yanek counted again, but that wouldn’t make a missing person appear.

There were 19 people present.

In the place where the missing member should have been, there was only a dark shadow.

‘A shadow? Could it be?!’

“Everyone on alert!”

Yanek shouted as he realized what that unnatural shadow meant.

But it was already too late.

The shadow surged to the surface, and a long, massive serpent emerged, coiling around one knight.

Simultaneously, the auto plasma gun mounted on the shoulder of a knight standing next to his captured comrade activated and fired.

“Gack?!”

“Oh no!”

“Everyone be careful of friendly fire!”

But the serpent mockingly used the captured knight as a shield. The plasma energy shattered the knight’s sturdy armor, and blood sprayed into the air.

Holding the comrade whose upper body was half blown away, the serpent disappeared into the black sewage.

The knights all drew their bolters and fired at the water surface. The green energy bolts filled the dark sewer with light.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!”

When Yanek shouted as if in agony, the members stopped firing.

At the spot where the serpent had disappeared, only the right arm of their comrade remained, floating on the surface.