Ch.87Shadow (4)

At the moment when Code Black began combat with the target.

A girl in a red dress stood at the aerial observation deck on the 50th floor of the Monument.

Her slender arms and legs and tiny face were those of a young girl, but anyone who saw her eyes would be horrified.

“Calibrating Psychic Control Web.”

This was because her eyes resembled not those of a human, but those of a chameleon.

Her eyes moved restlessly in all directions as she looked down at the panorama of the Administrative District.

This strange-looking girl was Code Red, one of House Yugin’s secret weapons.

A distinct purple halo floated above her head.

If someone capable of detecting psychic power had been present, they would certainly have seen it.

They would have seen that from the halo, spider-web-like thin strands of psychic power extended outward, covering an area with a radius of 1km around her.

Code Red, lacking sufficient potential, had not received Gallergorn gene implants like Code Black or the now-deceased Code White who were carrying out the operation with her.

Instead, she received genes related to combat support to assist other shadows.

One of these was from the angel spider.

It’s a carnivorous creature that inhabits jungle-type planets and has the ability to create spider webs made of psychic power.

Any creature caught in the psychic web of an angel spider is controlled by the spider and becomes food without resistance.

Unlike the original, Code Red doesn’t have the ability to control other creatures.

Instead, she gained the ability to detect and control the flow of psychic power in an area even more vast than a spider could.

Thanks to this technique called the Psychic Control Web, Code Red took on the role of supporting other shadows from the rear.

Normally, her mission would be to continuously relay information about the target to Code Black, but not this time.

This was because someone had completely disrupted the vast Control Web she had deployed.

‘Detecting psychic power as strong as mine. Target detection impossible.’

It was like someone throwing a stone at a spider web spun by a spider.

Even if the web is damaged by the stone, the spider cannot know who did it or how to stop it.

The situation she was in right now was exactly like being the owner of a ruined spider web.

The one fortunate thing was that her opponent didn’t seem as familiar with psychic power operation as she was.

If it had been her, she would have reversed the control and seized the Control Web, but her opponent didn’t attempt to take control from her.

‘Focus on recovery first.’

If nothing else, it would be disastrous if the spiritual calibration connected to Black were to be disconnected.

She focused on gradually restoring the Control Web while keeping an eye on Black.

‘?’

But then, she sensed something new entering her detection area.

Her gaze turned toward the dark sky.

In the artificially created darkness, she saw a star glowing green.

“A star?”

The identity of the green flying object was a being she knew well.

With large wings and a sleek body, four horns and a tail, it was a Green Gallergorn.

The Green Gallergorn, appearing from who knows where, was flying toward the Monument at a very high speed.

“Enemy approaching. Initiating interception.”

Instinctively judging the Green Gallergorn as an enemy, Red discontinued the spiritual calibration and moved to respond.

She picked up the long rifle beside her, a sniper coil gun.

She loaded the gun with tungsten bullets containing condensed plasma, then fired the coil gun into the air.

Strangely, the bullets changed their trajectory at will and began flying toward the target.

She was using the Psychic Control Web to control the trajectory of the bullets in the direction she wanted.

And when they got close to the Green Gallergorn flying in the sky, the plasma bullets exploded.

‘Target eliminated.’

Just as she thought she had eliminated the target, a green light shot out from the smoke cloud created by the explosion.

“Hmm?”

Despite the plasma explosion, the creature was rapidly approaching.

“Initiating re-fire.”

Confirming the target’s survival, Red fired the coil gun repeatedly.

Dozens of silver, oval-shaped bullets leaving the muzzle and soaring upward looked like a meteor shower being played in reverse.

Red believed without a doubt that this barrage would eliminate the creature, but reality defied her expectations.

“What?!”

She was shocked, an unusual display of emotion for someone whose feelings were typically worn down.

The green object demonstrated amazing flying skills, avoiding the plasma explosions.

She had deliberately positioned the bullets to surround the enemy from all directions to pressure it at once, but the Green Gallergorn escaped through the gaps with acrobatic flying.

As the green light of death that takes all life repeatedly illuminated the night sky, chaos erupted inside the Monument.

Red knew her actions were rash, but she judged the enemy showcasing such impressive flying skills to be more dangerous.

‘A threat to Lord Akira.’

Code Black was in combat, and Code Blue was responsible for Akira Yujin’s security. She was the only one who could defend this place.

However, despite Red’s active suppressive fire, the Green Gallergorn was not moving away from the Monument but rapidly closing the distance.

“Continue firing until target elimination is confirmed!”

The black sky above the Monument lit up with an untimely fireworks festival.

–

She was born when white meteors adorned the robe of the night goddess.

Born as the youngest of the great Odd Grad pack.

She was given the name Adhigh, meaning daughter of the shining star.

The occurrence of special stellar phenomena among Gallergorn was considered the most auspicious of omens.

So she received all the expectations of the Odd Grad pack.

Of course, it didn’t take long for those expectations to turn into disappointment.

She was born with a cursed body.

Unlike her kin, she was small.

Even as time passed, she remained unchanged from when she first hatched from her egg.

Weak individuals had no place in the Odd Grad pack.

She, with no possibility of becoming stronger, was banished from the nest.

Having lived her entire life in the nest and being physically weak, her survival in the harsh wilderness was nearly impossible.

After being banished, she slowly began to starve to death.

If the strangely shaped dwarves hadn’t appeared, she would certainly have died.

The dwarves were thieves who had come to steal her kind’s eggs.

They discovered her as they were raiding the nest and took her to the dwarves’ nest.

The dwarves stabbed her with strange skewers that might have been teeth or claws, and put her in a cold block of ice.

Her memories after that were hazy.

When she awoke, there was some creature before her.

Having been uniquely weak among her kind, she was quick-witted and immediately recognized what this being was.

This being smelled similar to her kind.

Her kind, who ate treasures containing psychic power and grew stronger.

But there was a difference.

This being was a cruel predator who took pleasure in killing and eating creatures.

He tried to eat her, and before dying, she proposed a deal to him.

She would give him the nest’s treasure if he would protect her.

Originally, her kind, being at the top of the ecosystem, do not negotiate or make deals.

Having depended on her kind and other creatures all her life, she knew this survival method had its limitations.

Still, she consoled herself. Being weak, she had no choice but to live as a parasite to other beings.

That being seemed to know her kind well. He looked curiously at her different appearance and accepted.

That was her first meeting with the ‘Great Elder’.

「Danger」

Seeing the silver stones flying toward her, she quickly folded her wings.

Her body plummeted downward, and explosions occurred above her head.

As she fell, she continued to think.

The ‘Elder’ who promised to protect her.

In her view, while the Elder was certainly an excellent predator, he was weak compared to her kind.

The massive metal structure where the dwarves lived was full of beings that could kill him.

Yet the Elder didn’t give up.

The Elder continuously strived, and as a result, he fought and won against dwarves stronger than himself.

So she admired him.

The factor that allowed the Elder to become great.

She wanted to learn that.

「Strength」「Learning」「Hope」

As she fell toward the ground, she spread her wings wide.

With that, her body soared high into the sky. The silver stones that had been following her couldn’t keep up and exploded midway.

She skillfully avoided the explosions by rotating her body.

Her small size actually gave her an advantage in such evasive maneuvers.

If she hadn’t been a mutant, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid them so easily.

The Big Elder and Small Elder who took care of her taught her.

How she, being weak, could hunt enemies stronger than herself.

And most importantly for her, ‘how to survive alone’.

She learned diligently.

Surely someday…

「I」「Desire」「Great Elder」「Learn」

Purple lightning extended from her tentacles, hitting the silver stones flying around her.

In the curtain spread by the night goddess, green meteors swirled.

That appearance was exactly as her name given at birth.

She is Adhigh, daughter of the stars.

–

Code Black, whose neck was severed by my hand.

Her head rolled on the floor.

‘It’s not over yet.’

She still has the Black Shroud she’s wearing.

The relic-grade reinforced suit Black Shroud allows its wearer to avoid death once every three days without fail.

Swish swish swish

As the Black Shroud’s effect activated, the headless corpse and head dispersed into black mist.

The resurrection point designated by the Black Shroud is not far from the place of death.

‘When she resurrects, all injuries will be healed and she’ll receive special effects for a certain period of time.’

According to the settings, when you die wearing the Black Shroud, your soul merges with the equipment to become an entity called a Necropector.

As a Necropector, you receive only half the damage from all types of attacks.

Additionally, whenever you inflict physical damage on an enemy, you absorb their vitality and use that life force to strengthen yourself.

So far, these effects seem very good, but there is a fatal drawback.

‘Instability.’

In an unstable state, you lose your reason and cannot properly utilize your original characteristics.

It’s similar to how I become a beast hungry for meat when the Mark of the Hunt effect ends.

Literally becoming an evil spirit that attacks any living being.

‘Although she receives strengthening effects, she’s an enemy who has lost her reason. It’s not very difficult to deal with her.’

The problem is what comes next.

The surrounding area has been devastated by the battle with Black.

Many people saw me fighting Black, so disabling the cameras was meaningless.

The fact that a battle occurred in the Administrative District is a problem of a different magnitude compared to incidents in other districts.

‘Because it’s like the brain that operates the city.’

When the Monument’s leadership learns that such an important place is in danger, they will surely mobilize the defense fleet. Not just ground forces, but small patrol ships as well.

Moreover, I don’t have much time left.

In about 3 minutes, the Mark of the Hunt effect will end, and when that happens, I’ll be turned to dust by plasma bullets fired from warships.

Of course, I’ve already prepared for that.

‘I sent Adhigh to the Monument.’

Adhigh went to the Monument to deal with Code Red.

‘To perform spiritual calibration for teleportation, she must be in a position where she can monitor the battlefield in real-time.

The only place that allows this is the Monument, the tallest building in the Administrative District.

Like Black, Code Red probably also has the characteristic of being able to see objects at a distance.

‘Her defensive measures are likely related to that as well.’

Spiritual calibration, long-distance detection characteristics.

These are all techniques more useful for fighting while maintaining distance rather than close combat. Therefore, Code Red’s defensive measures are likely to be ranged attack weapons like guns.

‘Adhigh is the perfect counter to Code Red.’

Green Gallergorn specializes in hit-and-run tactics based on speed.

Just as Blue Gallergorn, weak because it’s young, has the ability to call its kind, Green Gallergorn is characterized by its very fast speed.

Moreover, with the ‘Hyper-acceleration’ characteristic that makes its already fast flight speed more than three times faster, it’s difficult to catch a Green Gallergorn without area-of-effect attacks that damage a wide range at once.

‘Plus, Adhigh is smaller in size, making it much harder to intercept.’

A non-mutant Green Gallergorn grows up to 10 meters, so even though it’s fast, it has a wide target area.

But Adhigh, including her tail, is only about as tall as a middle school student, and her wingspan is less than 2 meters per wing.

The target area is insanely narrow, so even if androids or warships fire at her, it won’t be easy to shoot her down.

‘If a battle breaks out in the airspace above the Monument, the defense fleet will have to focus on that first.’

Before sending Adhigh, I warned her.

I told her to run away if metal-smelling lumps came flying.

As far as I know, Green Gallergorn is faster than Megacorp patrol ships. The only ships faster than Green Gallergorn are Cult patrol ships and Egerton high-speed warships, neither of which exist in this space city.

‘She’s a clever creature, so she should be able to escape safely.’

While Adhigh buys time, I need to figure out how to eliminate Black and escape this city.

‘Given that no patrol ships have appeared despite the situation escalating to this point…’

After the previous battle in the sewers, a deadly virus has spread throughout the city.

Perhaps the epidemic has spread to the defense fleet faster than I expected, causing problems in the command system.

‘No. I’ll think about the aftermath later.’

The battle isn’t over yet.

Just a few seconds after the black mist disappeared in front of me, I sensed Black’s movement from inside a nearby ruin.

She had resurrected as a Necropector due to the Black Shroud’s unique effect.

「Big baby. There’s a bad sooty over there.」

No. 26, who had escaped from the pit, must have felt the same as me and sent a signal.

Simultaneously with his wave transmission, the ruins exploded with a thunderous sound.

From the flames, a pitch-black figure walked out.

Black’s appearance had changed significantly from before her death.

Her white skin had turned as black as the Black Shroud, and her eyes glowed bright red.

“I, hisss, will, hiss, acknowledge.”

Her voice had a hissing noise like a snake.

She seemed to have some reason left, but appeared slightly unstable.

“Forgive, forgive, forgive, can’t, hisss, forgive? Can’t, hiss, I’m special, special being, being?!”

No, let me correct myself.

She had gone properly mad due to the Necropector mode.

After uttering incomprehensible words, her body suddenly began to twist.

It was like when a Hulk Mutant undergoes mutation when entering combat.

When I examined her with Insight, she had the ‘Body Modification’ characteristic.

When you become a Necropector, you can’t properly use your existing characteristics due to the instability trait.

Techniques either don’t activate at all, or passive characteristics’ effects change erratically.

The Body Modification characteristic must also have been affected by the instability.

[Zzzzzz zzzz (It’s a strong enemy, so be careful)]

「Yes. You be careful too, big baby.」

The mutation took place in a short time, but her appearance could no longer be considered human, nor could it be considered a Hulk Mutant.

All four eyeballs protruding from her face turned toward me at once.

“Die, die, hisss, die? I am, Lord Akira’s, hiss, die! Most special, hisss, shaaaaaaa!”

The monstrosity created by House Yugin roared at us.