Ch.91Crossroads (3)

–

Monument’s underground VIP shelter.

Team leaders and androids were working hard to assess the situation.

“How could Monument be attacked? What is the defense fleet doing? Where did the enemy come from?!”

“Unknown, sir.”

“You useless android!”

Shouts could be heard everywhere, and people were running around with bloodshot eyes.

Lila stared at the scene blankly.

‘Is this a dream?’

The interior of Monument, where the board meeting had been in full swing, was in chaos due to an unexpected air raid.

As soon as explosions occurred on the 50th floor, security guards from each house rushed into the meeting room and escorted the heads of houses and their retainers out.

Lila tried to explain to those fleeing, but the situation was already out of control.

The board meeting was a complete failure.

Even if she somehow managed to salvage the situation, her downfall was a foregone conclusion.

‘I need to fix this somehow…’

Was it because she was too shocked? Or because she hadn’t been feeling well these past few days?

Her mind, usually sharp and quick, was moving unusually slowly today.

It wasn’t just her mind. Her senses were becoming detached from reality.

The noise that had seemed loud now began to sound distant.

“General Manager, please give us instructions on how to proceed.”

“…”

“General Manager?”

Someone—a team leader, security guard, or secretary—touched her shoulder.

That slight impact turned her insides upside down.

“Urghhhh!”

“Good heavens! General Manager!”

Lila wanted to believe this situation was a dream.

But the thick scent of blood from her mouth and the pain tearing through her body proved this was reality.

‘What is this?’

By the time she realized she had vomited blood, she was already collapsed on the floor.

People around her were shouting something, but it sounded like angry bees buzzing, incomprehensible.

Soon, she couldn’t hear even that sound.

–

“…How is the General Manager’s condition?”

“The examination shows bleeding in various organs, including the lungs. We cannot treat her here.”

“Bleeding in the organs? Why?”

“We believe she’s infected with an unknown virus.”

When Lila suddenly collapsed while vomiting blood, the atmosphere in the shelter darkened dramatically.

Lila was not simply the administrator running this city.

She was Lila Chamberlain, a woman of House T&C, one of the seven heads of Megacorp.

If she were to die, it was clear that everyone present would face a fate too terrible to imagine.

“W-we can’t just stay here! The central hospital is just upstairs!”

“Y-yes! We must transport her immediately!”

“That’s nonsense! We don’t know when the enemy might attack again.”

“Attack or not! If the General Manager dies, we’re finished!”

The team leaders hesitated despite Lila’s life hanging in the balance.

What if something went wrong while moving her to the hospital? If anything happened to Lila, whoever suggested moving her would be held responsible.

Due to Megacorp’s rigid atmosphere and Noble Capital’s brutal retaliation, Monument’s leadership couldn’t properly handle the situation.

While they were wasting time unable to make a decision, the crisis management team leader approached after finishing communication with the defense fleet headquarters.

“I’ve arranged for a medical ship at the defense fleet headquarters, so we’ll move her there.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to take her to a hospital in the administrative district?”

“…We’ve received word from the defense fleet. The administrative district is also being invaded by unidentified enemies who are killing people.”

“Good heavens!”

The team leaders gasped as they realized the city’s situation was much worse than they had imagined.

“Patrol ships have been deployed, but safety hasn’t been secured yet. The defense fleet headquarters is safer than here, so it would be better for her to receive treatment there.”

“That’s a reasonable argument, but how do you plan to transport her?”

“A transport ship is ready at the plaza in front of Monument. A patrol ship is also waiting above Monument for escort, so we just need to move to the transport ship.”

They finally decided to send Lila to the medical ship as the crisis management team leader suggested.

Combat androids carried Lila out of the shelter and ran toward the plaza where the transport ship was waiting.

Just after the androids passed through the first-floor lobby, a black man with a shaved head walked out from the emergency stairwell.

“Your Majesty, this is Jacob. There’s no body of the creature here. Yes. Yes. The culprit behind this incident is probably…”

The man speaking on the call was Jacob, the newly appointed vice-captain of the Silver Lion Knights under Danver.

–

“Little one, are you okay?”

“I” “am fine” “perfect”

Near the burning wreckage of the crashed patrol ship, the kids and I had a brief reunion.

No. 26 seemed worried about the blood-covered Adhigh and kept touching him all over with its tentacles to check his condition.

Watching Adhigh shake his body as if ticklish, I thought:

‘I didn’t know super-acceleration had such side effects.’

Currently, fragments of human blood, glass shards, and metal rebar were embedded between Adhigh’s scales.

Not only his scales, but his wings were slightly torn, and one of his elegantly grown horns had a crack in it.

All injuries were sustained from ramming into enemies while in super-acceleration state.

‘Originally, Green Gallergorn can ram into other objects while super-accelerated without problems, but…’

It seemed these unfortunate injuries occurred because Adhigh’s body was small and fragile.

‘His condition might improve if he grows bigger, but that’s unlikely.’

He’s already much smaller than other Green Gallergorn. Even with further growth, it’s unlikely he’ll become sturdy enough to offset these side effects.

‘I’ll have to seal super-acceleration until we find a solution.’

If he must use it, it should only be for evasion, not for charging attacks like this time.

“I” “adult” “gift”

As I was thinking, Adhigh called out to me.

He approached me prancing and spat out an object that had been in his mouth tentacles.

It was someone’s hand.

“Trophy” “adult” “gift”

‘Indeed.’

The owner of this hand was probably Code Red.

When a Green Gallergorn enters super-acceleration state, it moves so fast that it creates sonic booms.

Unless Code Red possessed defensive techniques as powerful as Black’s, it would have been impossible to block Adhigh’s charge.

The enemy’s body was probably pulverized, with only a hand remaining intact.

I patted Adhigh’s head and handed the hand back to him.

[This is your trophy]

“Gift”

Adhigh looked ready to throw it away if I wouldn’t eat it.

[Then let’s eat it together]

I couldn’t trigger the Predation effect with just one hand anyway. It would be better for the injured Adhigh and No. 26 to eat it.

I tore off one finger to eat and gave the rest to the kids.

Adhigh watched me cautiously, then sucked all the blood from the hand, and No. 26 disposed of the remains.

Looking at the kids, I thought about what to do next.

‘Three patrol ships have lost contact. They won’t be careless anymore.’

The battles in Monument and the administrative district, plus the destruction of three patrol ships.

The space city will no longer see us as mere strange intruders.

Invasion.

In the eyes of the enemy, we are invaders targeting the board meeting. It’s clear that warships will now directly search for me.

We could defeat three patrol ships by working together, but I would be helpless if dozens of patrol ships or battleships came after us.

‘Hiding in the city is no longer viable.’

The enemies won’t stop until they find me, the one who wreaked havoc on their city.

‘If they find me, it’s over.’

If the defense fleet discovers me, instead of deploying soldiers, they’ll blow up my hiding place entirely.

They’re not fools—they must have learned that ground forces alone can’t capture me.

‘We need to leave.’

I haven’t fulfilled all the conditions for evolving to Subadult, but there’s no choice. Survival takes priority over evolution.

‘Still, fortunately, the situation has changed.’

In my favor.

‘The enemies are currently in a complex situation. Too complicated to properly focus on me.’

What does it mean when they send only a few small patrol ships when the head of the city is under attack?

It means the defense fleet is having internal difficulties that make it hard to mobilize personnel.

All thanks to the space bacteria I spread.

‘But that doesn’t mean we have much time.’

The command couldn’t focus on the disease because of the board meeting, but we can’t expect that to continue now that the board meeting is already in shambles.

If they develop a vaccine and establish a quarantine system, the opportunity provided by the space bacteria will quickly disappear.

‘Fortunately, a good escape method has appeared, so we should use it.’

A war broke out in the city while VIPs were visiting.

Where would those VIPs go?

‘They’ll try to leave the city.’

I looked up at the city’s airspace.

Numerous transport ships were flying toward the port district.

When they try to board their ships at the port district to leave, we can secretly get on board.

Originally, they would have been inspected when leaving because of the board meeting, but would that be possible in the current situation?

Especially for ships carrying VIPs from within Megacorp.

‘We just need to hide well.’

Having made my decision, I called the kids.

[Let’s go, kids]

“Where to?”

[Where we came from]

“I” “don’t understand”

No. 26 understood immediately, but Adhigh tilted his head in confusion. Of course, he wouldn’t know since he came through a different route.

“Where I first met little one.”

“I” “understand”

While Adhigh nodded at No. 26’s simple explanation, I collected corpses from the surrounding ruins.

‘They’re too damaged to extract genetic essence.’

Many corpses were missing their lower bodies or had only arms or legs remaining, making it unlikely to trigger the Predation effect.

‘But they’re still useful.’

The wounds from my fight with Black—my severed arm, tail, and other injuries—haven’t fully regenerated yet. To recover quickly, I need to replenish nutrients by eating.

‘The kids are injured too.’

We need to replenish our nutrition along the way since we don’t know who we might encounter at the port district.

I swallowed smaller body parts like lone arms or legs and collected only the less damaged corpses.

I returned to the kids and handed over two of the corpses I was carrying.

[Eat as we go]

“Okay!”

No. 26, who had somehow placed Adhigh on top of its head, extended its tentacles and readily accepted the corpses I gave.

Adhigh, wrapped in his wings and lying flat on top of No. 26, looked natural.

‘I guess they traveled like this when I wasn’t around.’

After gathering food, we left the patrol ship wreckage and headed for the hole where No. 26 had first emerged.

Going above ground would be faster, but there’s a higher chance of encountering warships.

It’s better to take a slightly longer but safer route underground.

Upon reaching the hole, I used my auxiliary organs to check for any dangers inside.

‘All clear.’

The only movement detected underground was that of corpse catfish.

I went down first, followed by No. 26 carrying Adhigh.

No. 26 retracted its tentacles and fins, transforming into the balloon-like shape from when we first met.

This reduced its body size enough to move through the sewer.

‘So that’s how it got around with that size.’

The two looked like Adhigh was riding on a pink rubber tube.

It looked quite comical but was efficient, so I inwardly admired it.

We entered the sewer and moved toward the port district.

As expected, there were no enemies in the sewer.

On the way, I asked how No. 26 and Adhigh had grown, and the response was unexpected.

[You targeted corpses and newcomers?]

“Yes. People without metal smell? Food is weak. So we only ate them.”

They hadn’t just eaten the corpses of dead employees in the sewer.

They had also attacked and eaten newcomers, like vagrants.

‘They can distinguish between soldiers and vagrants.’

Normally, people unnecessary for city operations—so-called homeless—couldn’t exist in this space city, but this time was an exception.

People lost their jobs when the commercial district collapsed.

Those living day-to-day couldn’t pay rent and had no choice but to hide in sewers or the ruins of the commercial district.

No. 26 and Adhigh seemed to have primarily targeted such people.

‘Impressive.’

Hunting prey that’s easy to catch without causing trouble is the hunting method I typically used.

I thought Adhigh had grown a lot, but No. 26 might be my true disciple.

As we talked and moved, we soon approached the port district.

Having eaten all the corpses along the way, my body was almost fully recovered.

‘We’ve arrived.’

I told the kids to wait while I stood beneath a manhole near the port district dock.

I needed to check if there were enemies outside before opening the cover.

I concentrated my senses through my auxiliary organs to observe the movements around us.

I could hear busy footsteps above ground, the engine sounds of ships moving in the distance, and a familiar metallic smell drifted to the edges of my auxiliary organs.

‘Familiar metallic smell?’

Just as I thought something was strange, my auxiliary organs reported that something new was rapidly approaching.

What was approaching wasn’t a smell or sound.

‘Danger!’

Just as I quickly retreated, a green energy mass shattered the manhole.

The alloy manhole cover evaporated, and a large hole was blown in the nearby sewer ceiling.

“I knew you’d come this way! You monster!”

A voice from above ground.

Following the voice, energy bullets fired from plasma bolters poured into the sewer where I had been.

‘Egerton Knights!’

Waiting for us in a remote part of the port district was Mars’ Prime Capital, House Egerton.