Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 234
Only Noblemtl
Ep. 233
Shadows fall across the countless branches, as the scattered clouds return to block out the sunlight.
In the cool ashen light we followed the Screamer’s trail.
The scattered footprints are now increasingly numerous. In addition to the simple footprints on the ground, the trees and rocks in the ground are also covered with marks left by sharp alloy claws.
‘There are more than one or two.’
The Screamer has eight legs, so it’s inevitable that it’ll leave a lot of footprints, but even taking that into account, there were an awful lot of footprints. There were probably dozens.
“How many Screamers were deployed for the mission?”
I used the stored genetic information to imitate the voice and asked PS-111 a question.
“300 units were deployed at the start of the mission.”
“300? That’s quite a lot.”
I was a little surprised when I heard the guy’s answer.
Considering that in Star Union, regular Screamers are treated as bio-drones, it is not particularly uncommon for 300 Screamers to be deployed. In games, when large-scale ground battles take place, Screamers are often deployed in the thousands.
However, this is due to the players’ command. It is rare for the Star Union regular army to deploy only Screamers.
Screamers have strong fighting power, but they have the disadvantage of lacking strategic thinking and flexibility. As a result, they are unable to respond properly when unexpected situations occur.
‘Originally, there was a need for someone to fill in the missing parts…’
The Mutant Screamer solved the shortcomings of the old model by dividing it into two categories: the general model and the commander-level model. The fact that the commander model of the Mutant Screamer has excellent strategic judgment can be seen just by looking at the PS-111.
When we fought Odd Grad, he quickly recognized the signal I sent and led the cruiser. A normal Screamer would never have made that decision.
‘But the good thing is that their numbers should have decreased considerably by now.’
With dangerous creatures swarming the entire planet, it’s unlikely that 300 of them will remain intact. In fact, wasn’t PS-111 also destroyed by an Ice Horror attack?
“How much is left? 200? 250?”
“It is estimated that the total number will not have decreased significantly from 300.”
“Why?”
Although Mutant Screamers are strong, they are not immune to encounters with Apex creatures such as Ice Horrors or Glacier Fiends.
PS-111, who was searching for traces with a detection period protruding from his eyes, answered.
“According to the data stored in my brain, the former Main Controller ‘Pira Eleven’s’ battleship is equipped with production facilities for mutant Screamers.”
“what?”
“As long as you have genetic information, a large amount of energy, and organic matter to use as materials, you can produce the S-Model Screamer.”
In terms of setting, Screamers are strongly perceived as consumables, so there aren’t many cases of ships providing support. Perhaps the only case is when a fleet is waiting in orbit after Screamers are deployed to provide support fire?
However, since the mutant Screamer has a higher strategic utility than the old one, it seems that a separate support ship has been prepared.
“Considering the scale of the Screamer production line, it seems like it would be able to accommodate at least a SAX Alpha-class battleship. Even then, aside from the facilities for ship maintenance, everything else would have to be filled with maintenance equipment.”
“We cannot give you an exact answer because the data has been lost, so we consider this to be a reasonable guess.”
The XAX01-class battleship is named after the capital star of the Star Union. This ship, known as the Jax Alpha, is the largest and most well-armed warship in the Star Union.
Of course, in this case, it was modified to support the Screamer, so it would be very different from the original. All the internal facilities and equipment would have been removed and converted into Screamer-related facilities. Only the minimum equipment necessary to operate the ship would remain.
“Do you remember where you landed?”
“Sorry, we can’t confirm due to data loss.”
The overall length of the Sachs Alpha-class battleship is just under 1km. I have not seen any evidence of a ship of that size landing in the vicinity.
Besides, there’s no way the Gallagons would miss a ship of that size entering the planet’s atmosphere. Since they don’t say anything about it, I guess they must have top-tier stealth capabilities.
When I thought about it that way, something seemed strange.
“You said your goal was to catch me?”
“If you are referring to the special objective A set by the main controller, ‘Pira Eleven’, then yes, that is correct.”
“There are 300 Screamers capable of self-repair. Why have they been sitting still until now when they can even produce more?”
Looking back, there were several opportunities for them to attack me: when I first came to the planet, when I was weakened after fighting Jason, when I was ambushed by Odd Grad, etc.
But they never once gathered together systematically to attack me. It was useless to deploy a commander model to compensate for the Screamer’s weakness. The only Screamers I’ve seen so far were the ones who fell behind.
If so, then there is only one answer. It means that there is a problem with Pira Eleven.
The guy was silent for a moment before answering my question.
“I don’t know about that part either.”
“You don’t know?”
“It is because the memory data was corrupted during the system reboot process. However….”
The guy was mechanically nodding his head. It looked like he was pressing his temples to force himself to remember something he couldn’t quite remember.
“In my last memory, Para Eleven was in a dormant state due to some event that had left her severely damaged.”
“Hibernated? Were you attacked by Gallagon?”
“No. Pira Eleven… error, excuse me. It was damaged due to failure in performing the action necessary to achieve its goal.”
To sum up what the guy said, it was certain that Pira Eleven had been unable to function normally during that time.
‘Come to think of it, the guy I met when I went to catch Winterwalker said something similar.’
He clearly said that the order was delayed. The other guys I met after killing Jason and entering the forest also said the same thing.
Looking at that, we can assume that their leader, Pira Eleven, was inactive until relatively recently.
“These traces are evidence that the bastard is active again.”
“That’s a reasonable guess.”
There was a high probability that a battle would break out between them, but there was no useful information to be had. We had little to no information about them other than the fact that there were many enemies pursuing us.
‘Did PS-111 say that he can control lower level entities?’
When I first met him, he said that the lower models could physically touch the circuits and take control of them. He said that it would be nice to be able to take control of the commander-level entities as well, but that it would be impossible because Pira Eleven had improved the security of the control.
‘We need to capture some of the Screamers.’
Then we can get the necessary information, such as where the battleship landed and their plans.
After the conversation ended, we continued following the trail for a while.
At first, there were only footprints, but as time passed, other traces became visible. Around the footprints, the torn remains of living things were scattered.
“It supplied energy.”
“I guess so.”
PS-111, which has the Blood River’s function transplanted, can supply energy to its body by absorbing bioenergy in addition to eating meat through its mouth. It is an exception, but the original Screamer obtains nutrition by sucking in small prey through the absorption tube attached to its mouth.
‘The blood has been clotted for a long time.’
Because it was a dry and cool place, the corpse pieces were still slow to decompose. Thanks to this, I was able to make some guesses about how they hunted.
‘They said they had production facilities, but there are some guys who modified them.’
Just as PS-111 upgraded its body by absorbing genes, there were also instances of enemy Screamers that changed to suit their environment.
‘… For example, a means of long-range attack.’
I pulled a large bullet the size of my finger out of the pool of blood. It looked similar to the depleted uranium bullets from the Storm Gun, but it was more threatening.
“Do you know what this is?”
“It has a similar design to APDT’s depleted uranium bullets, but looking at its internal structure, it appears to have been modified into a cluster bomb.”
“Yes. There are pieces of black silver mixed in.”
When the crumpled bullet was shaken, a small amount of black silver alloy fragments came out. It was not a large amount, but it was enough to pose a fatal threat to certain species.
And there is only one species on this planet that can deal significant damage with a cluster bomb containing black silver.
‘Gallagon!’
I think I know where they’re aiming.
“Do you know where Odd Grad’s nest is?”
“Yes. This way.”
“I don’t have time, so get on top of me and guide me.”
Since time was of the essence, I put all the corpses on my back and placed PS-111 on my head. I also called 26 and Adhai.
[Zzuzuzu zuzu zuzuzuzu (I don’t have time, so get on top of me)]
“Aren’t you going to take food?”
[Zzuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu (Come back and pick it up later)]
Number 26 no longer questioned my serious mood and climbed on top of me obediently. Number 26 shrank down and was held in my small arms by my chest.
I hugged him tightly and called out to him, “Adhaya.”
[Zuzuzu zuuzu zuuzu zuuzu (I’m going to fly. Get ready)]
“Where are you going?” “Going?”
[Zuz …
I spread my folded wings wide. A huge membrane spread out and my body rose rapidly upward. Aadhai chased after me as I flew up, breaking through the branches.
“Nest” “Is it dangerous?”
[Zuzuzu (maybe)]
“Just go straight in this direction.”
Adhai also became very nervous when he heard that the nest might be in danger. I flew at full speed in the direction that PS-111 was guiding me.
While flying, I kept watching below with the auxiliary engine in case the Screamers were shooting from the forest. Even as my shadow and Adhai passed by, I felt no reaction from below.
‘… the situation is not good.’
There must have been hundreds of Screamers swarming around somewhere in that forest, but it was just too quiet. I don’t know what their intentions are, but it’s definitely not a good sign.
After flying for nearly half a day, the cliffs where the dragon’s nest, as PS-111 had said, was located began to come into view.
There were no screamers or other creatures seen wandering around the cliffs.
‘Wait, you can’t see anything?’
By now, Adhai’s representative, Nel Germa, should have returned. Now that we’re close to the nest, a Gallagon or two should show up.
“Big man” “Something” “Strange” “Crowd” “Boundary” “None”
Adrienne let out a thought, wondering if he felt the same way as me.
Gallagons always keep watch over their nests because of natural enemies such as Skywhales. Green and white gallagons take turns guarding the nests, as they can be attacked unexpectedly at any moment.
If not, then something is seriously wrong.
I was about to warn Adhai to be careful, when my auxiliary organs detected movement beneath the forest.
The forest, which had been quiet and silent until just now, began to move all at once. Numerous movements occurred simultaneously, like a swarm of ants.
Realizing what that meant, I quickly sent a blast to Adhai.
[Zuuuuu zuuuu zuuuu zuuuu (Adhai! Use your strength!)]
“!”
As soon as I fired my wave, a huge number of bullets poured out from the forest.
A rain of death, blacker than the dark clouds above, flew out to take Aadhai’s life. I moved my body downwards to protect No. 26 with my combat arm.
Black-silver cluster bullets flew in so densely that they completely obscured my vision, hitting my entire body. Since I am not a psychic creature, I do not take much damage from those anti-psychic bullets.
Moreover, cluster bombs with low penetrative power cannot penetrate my carapace and scales.
‘But not those guys.’
Their shots didn’t do any damage to me at all, but Adhai and 26 were a different story. 26, who relies heavily on psychic powers, would be completely incapacitated if hit by the Black Silver Cluster Bomb.
The situation is better for Adhai, who can use the absolute defense technique ‘Red Armor’, but he can only protect his head and part of his forelegs, so he cannot block their attacks.
[Zuzu zuzuzu (Is everyone okay?)]
“I’m fine.”
“Big man” “Thanks to you” “I avoided it”
Fortunately, thanks to me becoming a shield, No. 26 and Adhai were not harmed.
“I was hit a few times, but my injuries were minor.”
The only exception was the PS-111, which was a good target because it was above my head, so I got hit a few times.
“I’ll pack some good food for you later.”
“Confirmed.”
After a short reload period, the ground fire resumed. They fired like crazy, intent on finishing off Adhaina 26 even if they couldn’t kill me.
‘It’s not a good place to fight.’
[Zuuuu zuuuu zuuuu zuuuu zuuuu zuuuu zuuuu (Adhai, follow me and stick close to me)]
I flew towards the nest, getting hit by the Screamer’s bullets. Adhai followed me, practically clinging to my back.
And I landed right where the guys were. As soon as I landed, the trees began to shake eerily.
A horde of Screamers are chasing us.