282

Episode 282 – Cleaning up (1)

After the metallic gremlin retreated, the shielding wall protecting the fortress was lifted. My Heavenly Mother and I returned to the fortress through the military port.

"Where should I go?"

After entering the fortress, the Heavenly Mother returned from her winged griffon form to a beast doll.

Wings sprouted from its back, which was made up of dense muscles. It was much smaller than when it was in its griffon form, so that when folded it only reached around the thighs. Of course, the movement of the agate color was still there.

she asked me, holding the priest's golden spear on her shoulder.

'Originally, I would have gone to the 2nd Command Center, but…'

It doesn't look like Cynthia is floating around on the broken silo. It is highly likely that he has already moved to board a transport ship belonging to another headquarters.

'He must have gone to First Command.'

She's a cult ranker, so she probably knows Kesha Arma's structure as well as I do. There is no way he doesn't know what the lack of oxygen he experienced means. He must have judged that the 3rd Command, which oversees the fortress' life support facilities, had already fallen into my hands.

So, they would have moved to the 1st Command Headquarters, which was deemed safe.

'I might be fighting with the kids by now.'

During the battle, I asked No. 26 to take Adhai with him and attack the 1st headquarters. If Cynthia had headed to the 1st Command Center, she would have already encountered them.

'If the two of us are together, we may not win, but we will not lose.'

Both No. 26 and A'Dhai are the Sea Demon Red Gallagon, infamous for being powerful psychic creatures. From a cult perspective, it would be safe to say that it is literally the worst in terms of compatibility.

If Cynthia had a strong attack ability like Jason, it would have been dangerous, but she doesn't have that level of attack power.

[Zuzuzu Zuzu (Let's go to the 1st Command Headquarters)]

After sending a wave to the Mother of Heaven, I took out the membrane hidden inside the carapace of the wing arm. Since the 'Bone Beast' has not been released, my body is still gigantic. As the film spread wide like the sails of a sailing ship, the objects around me were pushed away.

"It's really big."

She also slightly admired and spread her wings. Although she was smaller than the Griffon, she still spread her beautiful wings and flew up before me.

I followed her and waved my wings too. As the two huge wings, each 100 meters long, flapped, everything beneath me was swept away.

With each wave of its wings, abandoned buildings were destroyed and corpses lying on the ground were swept up into the air. Among the numerous wrecks was a hover bus. What happened was that the half-left remains of the bus were blown away by the wind and landed on top of a building.

Not long after I started flying over the ruined areas, I saw a long, cylindrical building. We landed in front of 1st Command Center, surrounded by a shield wall.

"I see they're already fighting?"

Just as she said, there was a hole in the shield wall that looked like it had been drilled with a very large drill. From inside, the screams of pirates and the sounds of guns could be faintly heard.

'First, we have to widen the entrance…'

The moment I grabbed the hole in the shield wall with my wing arm to widen it, the sound coming from inside stopped. And familiar waves and thought waves flowed out, tickling the tentacles of my monster.

｢I feel like a big baby!｣

｢Big adult｣｢That's right｣｢Let's go out｣

｢Yes! Let's go out!"

After a while, they appeared. No. 26 must have been in battle, and his body had grown significantly, and Adhai's head and front legs were dyed red.

｢Big baby, big!｣

｢Big adult｣｢Transformation?｣

[Zu (Yes)]

They had seen me use the Bone Beast a few times, so they weren't surprised to see me at such an enormous size.

However, since this was their first time seeing Mother Sky with wings, they both reacted in surprise.

"Is the middle baby also fluttering? "It happens when you grow up?"

"Yes. As you said, I grew and gained wings."

"It's amazing! I want one too!"

"Ugly friend" "A little bit" "It's gotten better"

"Then shouldn't we leave out the word ugly?"

"Tail" "Thin" "Ugly"

"… You said you'd protect me, but you just said Are you going to leave and say that?"

"Anyway" "Growing up" "Almost" "It's over" "I know" "That's why" "I left" "

I won't say a word."

The two were quite impressed by the new look of the Mother of Heaven. It seemed deep. Number 26 was amazed as he gently touched her wing with the tip of his tentacle. Contrary to what he said, Adhai also seemed to think that her wings were fine, so he walked near her and nodded.

'I thought you were fighting?'

When I looked behind them, there were a lot of corpses whose original appearance was difficult to recognize. Cynthia couldn't have already died, so it seemed like she hadn't arrived here yet.

Even if I focused on the auxiliary organs, I could not feel any movement of a living being.

'Where did it go? Could it be that he went somewhere else?'

[Zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzuzu (Have you seen any strong enemies on the way here?)]

｢A strong enemy?｣

[Zu zuzu zuzuzuzu (Yes, the enemy that was fighting with me)]

No. 26 was also fighting with me, but left halfway, so let's take Cynthia. I will remember. If she is hiding somewhere other than here, it will be difficult to find her.

But his answer went far beyond my imagination.

｢Me and the little baby scolded the bad guy!｣

[Z(huh?)]

｢The little baby beat up the bad guy who was fluttering around in his hard shell!｣

｢Agree｣｢The Power of the Stars｣｢Use｣｢Horned Man ｣｢Attack｣｢But｣｢Horned Man｣｢Strange Power｣｢Use｣｢Not Dead｣

｢So I defeated it with this! "Papak!"

No. 26 changed the shape of one of the thick tentacles. A sharp sound rang out as a thin tentacle, like a needle tied to a thread, pierced the air.

[Zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzuzu (They killed Cynthia together?)]

An unbelievable answer came from the two and I asked again.

"huh. I ate it after scolding you."

"Taste" "Stable"

"That's right! It was delicious!"

"Wait. The two of you killed and ate the ranker?」

[Z(Wow)]

Looking at their reactions, it seems like they really killed Cynthia. It's not just about suppressing or wasting time. It was clear that they had killed it and eaten every last bit of the body.

'Come to think of it, Metallic Gremlin.'

The guys who were running like crazy made strange movements before running away. I thought it was because I was afraid of psychic breath.

But looking at it now, it seems like it was due to something else rather than that being the cause. When Cynthia died, there was a problem with the tool she used to summon the Metallic Gremlin.

'What a mess.'

Even though the Sea Demon Red Gallagon combination is cult and extreme, the opponent is a ranker. Since they have hunted boss-level creatures many times in the game, they are naturally well-versed in strategy.

I also knew that they would be holding Cynthia captive, but I had no idea that they would easily beat her to death and eat her body.

'under. 'The two of you are catching a ranker.'

Thinking like that, a strange feeling rose up from within my heart.

Because they preyed on rankers and lost their perks? Because we lost the source of information we needed?

Not everything. This feeling that touches my heart has nothing to do with negative things like anger or regret.

[Zuz zuzuzu zuzu zuzuzu (Good job, both of you. Really great)]

It was a joy.

"and! The big baby praised me!」

「Me」 「Amazing」 「Great Aadhai!」

The guys who sensed my emotions through the waves created by the monster's tentacles are happy. No. 26 jumped up and down in place without even thinking about how big he had grown, and Adhai also jumped on my back and jumped up and down.

To be honest, Cynthia's perks and information were disappointing, but their growth was worth it.

They organized their own operation and captured Cynthia without my help or command. What it means is by no means small.

I don't know how many more rankers I'll have to fight with in the future. Even now, two factions are hostile to me: the faction that Jason belonged to, and the 'return faction' that Cynthia belonged to. I don't know yet how many people belong to each faction, but it's probably not a small number.

'If they have ranker-level skills, it will be much easier to fight enemies in the future.'

While I had such practical thoughts, there were also feelings that were difficult to explain in words.

Once upon a time, when I was very young, I pretended to be an actor in front of my parents.

My mother, who was a famous actress at the time, was always a strict person, but it was different that day.

My mother, who usually had little emotional ups and downs, looked at me and smiled silently. When meeting reporters, it was a sincere smile, not the actor's smile he used when standing on set.

'…I was really happy at that time.'

Why does my mother's smile, which I have never seen again since, come to mind now?

Maybe this feeling I feel is the same feeling my mother felt when she saw me as a child.

"So there are no more threats?"

It was a thought sent by the Mother of Heaven that woke me up from a state of emotion that I couldn't tell if it was a thought or emotion.

[Zuzu zuzuzu zuzuzuzu (Yes, because the ranker is dead)]

｢Seeing as the fortress is in this state, the part where we went to get the genetic essences must have already been dealt with. You just need to catch the rest of the pirates

.

' Did you do it here too?」

[Zuzzuzuzuzu (That's efficient)]

The pirates and survivors remaining in the fortress are in fact in a limited time. If you are wearing a reinforced suit, you will be able to hold out a little longer since you have an oxygen capsule, but that will only prolong your life by a few tens of minutes.

Once we get rid of them, there is no need to stay here anymore.

'The conditions for adult evolution have already been achieved.'

Thanks to the underground storage, I collected all the material properties needed to synthesize the two unique properties. Once these are completed, it can immediately evolve into an adult.

'Oh, now that I think about it, there was a trait of being predatory.'

While thinking about the characteristics, a forgotten memory came to mind.

The predation effect appeared on Warp Boy, who tried to catch Taitabos but ate it instead.

I haven't checked yet because I'm preoccupied with Cynthia. There will only be a few minutes left until automatic cancellation.

I immediately popped up a text box.

"Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired the 'Warp Creature' genetic essence.｣

｢Takeover 'Warp Creature' among the creature characteristics of 'Warp Boy'.｣

｢Do you want to apply 'Warp Creature'?｣

'Oh?'

I can't believe something unexpected happened twice in a short period of time.

The 'Warp Creature' trait is so useful that it is no exaggeration to say that it is semi-essential for Aimorph. If you possess that characteristic, the speed of preparing for faster-than-light navigation increases dramatically.

'It's a pretty good ability when running away.'

Now that I have acquired the 'Monster's Reinforced Wings', I can use faster-than-light sailing alone. However, the reason it is not used during battle is because the preparation speed for faster-than-light navigation is very slow. Since you have to remain still for more than 5 minutes, you become vulnerable to enemy attacks.

If you obtain the Warp Creature trait here, you can cut the time until you start traveling at faster than light speed by half.

'I can't believe I got such good traits from here.'

The chance of getting a warp creature from Warp Boy is very low, so I didn't expect much, but I'm glad I did.

I happily chose to accept.

And….

｢The perks of 'Jason (Jason Turningham)' stored in the token storage facility can be fused with 'Warp Creatures.' ｢It

is subject to use of the characteristic enhancement system. Do you want to use the system?"

The text box again displayed a message that was different from what I expected.