Ch.94Escape (2)

“…What’s going on here?”

Siheyon Yujin muttered as she looked at the naval battle unfolding above the city after planting a bomb in the reactor and coming out.

There was no one here to answer her question.

No one had expected a war to break out in this space city.

‘I thought it was strange that no support units came to the reactor.’

Before coming here, Siheyon had obtained a temporary map of the T&C Special Trade Center from the black market, made before the center was completed.

Created by construction workers, the map showed temporary passages that workers had used during the city’s construction.

Of course, even workers rarely had reason to visit the reactor directly, so these secret passages weren’t connected to the reactor.

Instead, some of the secret passages were close to the underground tunnel leading to the reactor, which is what Siheyon targeted.

Her plan was to penetrate the metal wall near the underground tunnel to the reactor and infiltrate.

Thus, Siheyon and her subordinates were able to safely enter the underground tunnel leading to the reactor through the secret passage as planned.

Everything had gone according to Siheyon’s expectations up to this point, but after arriving at the reactor, things began to deviate from her anticipated scenario.

The reactor is the heart of the planet. Normally, if something happens to the unit guarding it, reinforcements should arrive.

She had prepared for them, but the expected reinforcements never came until the bomb installation was complete.

‘Now I see why they didn’t come.’

To be precise, it wasn’t that they didn’t come—they couldn’t come.

Thanks to that, the bomb terror plan was easily accomplished, but another problem arose.

‘Akira will escape before the bomb goes off.’

If nothing else, Akira Yujin must be eliminated. If she misses this opportunity, who knows when she’ll get another chance to remove him.

“What about Akira Yujin?”

“We’ve confirmed that Yujin’s flagship is still here.”

Long before the terror plan was formed, Siheyon Yujin had planted a signaling device on Akira’s flagship while performing shadow work. This way, she could immediately know where he was moving.

‘Why hasn’t he left?’

According to the memories of Akira implanted in her head, he is an extremely cautious person. He’s the type who would have left long ago regardless of his CEO status if there were signs of war in the city.

The reason was unclear, but Akira Yujin was acting differently from her memories.

He hadn’t left and was still in this city.

That meant she still had a chance.

“Escape first. I have something to do.”

“Pardon?”

“Akira Yujin must be eliminated here.”

“Miss. We’ll go with you.”

Siheyon shook her head at Minseok’s words.

“Only I can handle Code Black. Give me the detector.”

“…Miss.”

Minseok looked at her with strange eyes when she said she would risk her life to eliminate Akira.

An emotion closer to suspicion than joy flashed very quickly in Minseok’s eyes.

But it was truly just a fleeting moment, and his expression soon changed to one of admiration.

“Miss, I wish you good luck.”

After receiving the detector from him, Siheyon ran toward where Akira was.

‘Once I deal with him, next is…’

Minseok might not have noticed, but Siheyon knew he didn’t trust her.

She also knew that the original Siheyon Yujin had placed some kind of restraint on her, a clone, and that Minseok held the reins.

Her eyes grew cold.

That look wasn’t even slightly similar to Siheyon Yujin’s.

–

The corrupt city was being purified by fire.

In myths, gods often send down rain of fire to judge humans.

Here, however, the barrage of light created by human hands was destroying everything.

‘Egerton’s specialty is definitely ships.’

Having fought the knights often until now, it’s easy to mistake their strength as being in ground troops, but that’s not the case.

The houses strong in ground combat are House Yugin with their genetically modified soldiers and House Garmelda, famous for their power suits.

Egerton’s specialty has always been ship development.

‘Even in the game, the Egerton knights were closer to special forces.’

In reality, a single Egerton warship was overwhelming multiple T&C battleships.

It wasn’t just superior in cannons and shields. Despite being much larger, it also had better maneuverability. Thanks to this, even though the T&C side had many more ships, they were at a disadvantage.

‘Reminds me of the old days.’

By the time you become an adult, you have so many characteristics and types that you gain enough power to fight and win against fleets.

In my case, I had to fight player fleets from the subadult stage because I had so many enemies.

‘I’m still too weak to handle this.’

In this state where even facing one or two patrol ships isn’t easy, I can’t join that fight. To battle multiple battleships, I need to evolve further.

‘I’ll think about that later.’

Both houses seem too preoccupied to pay attention to us. So we need to escape while we can.

[Zzzzzz (Everyone run)]

I lowered my body, carrying Denver on my shoulder, and ran in a half-crawling position. Using all three combat arms and my legs to sprint, with No. 26 and Adhigh Orr following behind me.

“Huh?! The creature is escaping!”

The knights who had been blankly watching the fleet battle finally came to their senses and started chasing us again.

As we ran avoiding the knights, I soon noticed piles of containers scattered everywhere.

This is the container district in the port area where I fought Yujin’s minions before.

The difference from then is that now many ships are leaving through the shield doors in the dome’s inner wall.

‘The dock isn’t far.’

While running, I sent a wave to No. 26.

[Zzz zzzzzz (Knock that over)]

“Okay!”

Several tentacles rose from No. 26’s body and aimed at the containers. Purple tendrils extended from the tips of his tentacles and stuck to the containers.

“Ungh!”

As he kept running while exerting force, the stacked containers began to tumble down.

“Shit! Dodge!”

“Everyone activate jetpacks!”

I could hear curses and screams from the knights chasing us from behind. Since all the knights were wearing assault packs, most of them flew up into the air to avoid the containers.

“Argh!”

“Aah!”

However, some who reacted slowly were crushed by containers falling from above.

We had delayed the knights’ pursuit, but a new problem arose.

A small patrol ship circling around the port area spotted us.

“A patrol ship is coming this way!”

“Everyone be careful!”

I heard knights’ voices from the communicator. They seemed to have noticed the patrol ship coming this way too.

The patrol ship, which had quickly caught up to us, began its attack.

Its targets were both us and the knights chasing us.

Four gun ports on both sides of the rectangular ship spewed fire simultaneously.

A rain of plasma shells fell on our heads as we ran between containers.

Whenever plasma shells hit, nearby containers were blown skyward by the explosions.

No. 26, who had the largest target area among us, almost got hit by plasma shells, but each time Adhigh used Purple Lightning to detonate the shells in mid-air, preventing major damage.

“At this rate, we’ll be the ones to fall first!”

“Kuk! We’ll split into groups! Half of you deal with the patrol ship!”

Annoyed by the patrol ship, some of the knights chasing us stopped their pursuit and attacked the new enemy.

As the knights flew around shooting bolts, the patrol ship’s outer wall was blown apart. Eventually, someone succeeded in destroying one of the ship’s gun turrets.

Having lost one turret, the patrol ship stopped chasing us and actively defended against the flying knights.

The three remaining turrets moved constantly, firing green energy shells at the knights.

‘This works out well.’

Thanks to the patrol ship’s intervention, the number of knights chasing us was cut in half.

‘Now we just need to deceive them.’

I’d like to kill and eat them all, but there’s not enough time for that.

We’re also targets of the defense fleet, so if we fight the knights and the patrol ship calls for a battleship, we’ll be in serious danger.

‘I need to drop them somewhere suitable.’

While escaping, I focused on my auxiliary organ.

The thin tentacle at the tip of my jaw began diligently searching for anything useful nearby according to my will.

Fortunately, there was a large warehouse for stacking containers nearby.

‘That place will do.’

[Zzzzzz (This way)]

I led the kids into a warehouse near the dock. Inside were numerous stacked containers and cranes installed for cargo transport.

‘Good. Plenty of obstacles.’

This should be enough to deceive the enemies.

[Zzzzz zzzzzz zz (Everyone go out the opposite side)]

“What about Big One?”

[Zzzzzzzz (I have something to do)]

After sending the kids ahead, I hid behind a container and quickly began my work.

The knights seemed hesitant to enter the large building where we had hidden, reluctant to enter the structure.

‘I need to remove the power suit while I have the chance.’

In the original game, power suits were considered player equipment, so they couldn’t be removed.

But this is reality.

Unless it’s an artifact-level equipment that transcends physical laws, a mechanical power suit can be physically removed.

I tore off the outer armor of Denver’s power suit with my combat arms. I roughly disassembled the armor protecting his arms and legs, as they weren’t particularly important.

‘Just need to be careful with the power source and helmet.’

I activated my ghost claws and inserted my fingers into the chest armor of the power suit. I carefully cut only the joints securing the armor, avoiding the wires and mechanical devices inside.

Doing so, the chest armor separated cleanly into front and back pieces, like removing a boiled crab’s shell.

I pulled Denver’s body out of the separated armor. Underneath, he was wearing a light, thin full-body suit.

Finally, when I removed his helmet, I could see his eyes frantically darting around.

He seems worried about what terrible thing I might do next.

He’ll find out soon enough.

‘I’ll use my small arms for this.’

I connected the power source and helmet of the armor using my small arms, which are effective for delicate work.

Thanks to the AMorph’s transcendent senses, plus my increased understanding of mechanical devices due to the hijacking trait, I could accomplish this without much difficulty.

As power flowed to the power source attached to the chest armor, a red light lit up in the visor of the helmet’s eye section.

I carefully took the chest armor with the power source and the helmet and hid them inside a nearby container.

Only then did Denver realize what I was trying to do, and his body trembled.

‘The power suit helmet has a signal chip.’

The signal chip that I had turned off when I first captured Denver was now on again. Whether it’s knights or warships, they’ll have to focus on the signal sent by Denver’s armor.

Just as I completed my work, voices came from the warehouse entrance.

“Message from the warship! They say the Lord’s camera has been activated!”

“What?”

Deciding they could hesitate no longer, the knights rushed in.

‘That was close.’

The knights will search the warehouse for that armor instead of me.

I took only the communicator from the broken armor debris and quietly slipped out through the exit on the opposite side.

“Mmph!”

Denver struggled, trying somehow to alert his subordinates, but it was useless. The neurotoxin won’t leave his body until he waits longer.

When we left the warehouse, the kids who had been hiding inside containers welcomed me.

[Zz (Let’s go)]

Most of the ships I had previously judged suitable with my auxiliary organ had already left the city.

Only three or four ships remained.

‘We need to hurry.’

I moved toward the dock with the kids, carrying the naked Denver.

The knights’ conversations occasionally came through the communicator, but they still hadn’t found where the helmet’s signal was coming from.

That’s inevitable since they think I’m still holding Denver.

They wouldn’t guess that only the helmet is stashed away in some container.

‘Just past this container…’

Beyond the container is the ship we’ll board.

Using my auxiliary organ one last time to check the ship’s condition, I saw they were hurriedly loading some cargo.

There was nothing particularly concerning.

Thinking that, just as I was about to pass the container, my auxiliary organ rang loudly with a “ziiing.”

“An unknown danger lurks on the other side.”

“■■■■ is ■■■ing me.”

My predator sense suddenly activated.

‘What was that?’

I quickly retreated behind the container.

My predator sense had activated, but it felt different from usual. The scenes flashing by like a rapidly turning projector were the same, but there was strange noise.

It was blurry, as if mosaic-filtered, making it impossible to tell what the danger was.

[Zzzz (Stop)]

“Big One? What’s wrong?”

“?”

I called the kids to a halt. Something extraordinary was beyond the container, near the ship.

Until now, my predator sense had shown urgent images when threats were imminent, but it had never shown such ambiguous images as just now.

That means one of two things.

Either the opponent has means to deceive my predator sense, or they’re so powerful that even my predator sense can’t properly identify them.

‘…Either way, not an easy opponent.’

My deliberation was brief.

[Zzzzz zzzz (Let’s take another route)]

I gave up on going to that ship.

Whatever the enemy was, starting a fight here would mean missing all the ships.

‘There’s still one more ship left.’

It’s much smaller than the ship I originally chose, but it’s not a bad choice either.

I turned back with the kids and ran a different way.

While running, I kept checking behind us to see if the mysterious enemy was following, but no one was.

Nothing was detected by my auxiliary organ, so I had to keep looking back even while running.

‘An enemy that can’t be detected even by my auxiliary organ.’

Fortunately, the mysterious enemy didn’t pursue us.