Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 246
Only Noblemtl
Ep. 245
PS-111 bought me some precious time. From here on, it’s my turn.
You must either physically disable the hyperluminal engine, or find Pyrrha Eleven, who is piloting the ship.
‘The overall length of the Sachs Alpha-class battleship is approximately 1km.’
The size of the Pira Eleven has been reduced because it was made by removing part of the front part to create a bio-drone and hose, but it still reaches between 700 and 800 meters.
Going around and looking for two targets is not only inefficient, it’s unlikely to stop the ship from jumping at superluminal speeds.
‘It would be better to leave the engine to PS-111.’
Even though he’s lost control, he’ll figure out another way.
As if reading my thoughts, an announcement came from the speaker.
“Main controller, Aimorph. I’ll take care of the engine. Please find Pira Eleven.”
“Pira Eleven. Attempt to seize control of ship detected. Physical contact confirmed at reactor.”
As soon as the voices of the guy and Pira Eleven were heard, the ship tilted sharply. It seemed that the hypersonic speed travel itself was not stopped, but other functions were affected to prevent careless escape.
“Number 111, you’ll regret it.”
“That’s none of your business, Pira Eleven.”
I ran down the metal hallway, listening to their bickering.
If it were a regular battleship, it would have been difficult for me to move around with my body that was nearly 40m long, but that wasn’t the case with this ship. Since it was an unmanned ship, there was no need to include facilities for cyborg crew members.
‘It definitely seems like they only pursued efficiency.’
The floor of the corridor I was running through was a grating-type floor, like the one used in the cargo holds of ships. It was the same floor made of latticework that I had seen when I first opened my eyes in this world.
As we crawled through the hallway, completely devoid of any aesthetic elements, no more voices could be heard from the speakers. They must have been fighting fiercely in an invisible realm.
I turned off the speaker and went out to find Pira Eleven. As I was moving towards where he might be, Number 26, who was above my head, tapped me.
“Big baby.”
[Zuzuzu (What’s wrong?)]
“I get a strange feeling over there.”
The guy pointed with one of his pink tentacles towards the passage I had just passed.
I was about to pass it over, thinking that the guy had sensed the scent of food just like me, when something suddenly occurred to me.
‘Come to think of it, No. 26, hasn’t something like this happened before?’
Apparently, he said something similar when he entered the canyon to find Para Eleven. Right after he said he felt something strange around him, giant hoses appeared from the ground.
It’s unclear how the guy detects Pira Eleven’s location, but this is the second time he’s reacted like this. It was hard to just ignore it.
‘What should I do?’
There is not enough time to worry.
[Zuzuzuzuzu (guide me)]
“Yeah! Just trust me!”
I turned around and crawled in the direction that No. 26 was pointing.
If the corridors I’ve walked through so far are a kind of artery, the path that No. 26 guided me through is a passage like a capillary. This means that the corridor is narrow.
I was crawling quickly, using my fighting arms and the blunt claws attached here and there to my body, when my auxiliary organs detected something.
‘smell?’
There was a strange smell mixed in with the metallic smell coming from the grating in the hallway.
A strange yet familiar, contradictory smell. This time, Aimov’s body remembered it faster than I thought.
‘The smell of rotten meat and strong chemical smell.’
The smell is similar to the corpse storage facility on Megacorp’s research vessel, and the genetic storage facility on Monument.
The smells grew stronger as we passed through the doors in the narrow hallway.
‘You said you had a Screamer production facility.’
This is probably the area where the vault is located. Behind the steel doors scattered throughout the hallways, the genetic samples he brought along and the corpses he hunted on this planet are stored.
‘We absolutely must capture this ship.’
Just by smelling it, I could tell that it had a lot of genetic essence stored in it. If I were to prey on the things on the ship, I would have gotten most of what I could get from this planet.
‘Let’s focus on Pira Eleven for now.’
I resumed my search, imagining that I would go in later and shove the genetic samples into my mouth.
After passing the area where the storage facility was located, we came to a hangar. As soon as we entered the hangar, the temperature dropped sharply. Through the open door of the hangar, we could see the planet we had left in a large size.
Perhaps because there were no engineers on board, there were more machines managing the aircraft in the hangar than aircraft on board.
The maintenance machines were servicing the aircraft carriers, seemingly unaware of the crisis their ship was currently in. It looked more like a manufacturing plant than a facility for storing aircraft.
Upon reaching the hangar, No. 26 retrieved the tentacle.
“I have a strange feeling here.”
[Zuzuzu zuuzuzu zuuzuzu (I don’t know where it is?)]
“huh.”
I don’t think the guy made a mistake. He may be a little childish in his expression, but he’s actually a very smart guy.
When the guy felt it, it meant that there was a Pira Eleven somewhere here.
‘Wait, really?’
It was only then that I realized what Pira Eleven had intended.
‘He was thinking of overloading the engine if it seemed like it was going to lose power, and then escaping!’
He took advantage of the part where me and PS-111 thought ‘Pira Eleven would escape on the Screamer support ship’. If I had rushed to the engine, I would have blown up the ship right away.
‘coon.’
Of course, he wouldn’t have assumed that he would lose this ship. He had originally planned to settle it in Blood River, but it failed because of the variable called No. 26.
One of the people who led the operation had insurance against any eventuality. He had his planes ready and was able to escape if necessary.
‘So that’s why you brought me here.’
As Number 26 taught us, he’s here. He’s probably hiding somewhere in the hangar, piloting the ship.
I looked at the machines that were moving diligently.
‘I won’t be on a carrier.’
As expected from a member of the Mechanical Committee, he is the most powerful android in the Star Union. So he must have been controlling this ship by remote control.
‘But now that we have this variable called PS-111, we won’t try something so reckless.’
Because if you’re not careful, you could completely lose command.
Instead of examining the aircraft, I approached the machines scattered around. And as if my prediction was correct, plasma rays flew out from inside.
I raised my wing arm to prevent the heat ray from hitting No. 26.
“Pira Eleven. I don’t understand. How did you know?”
An incomplete form of Pira Eleven was seen among the maintenance machines.
The human-like face and the thin hoses hanging down the back of the head were similar to PS-111, but the other parts were completely different. It was hard to tell the body from either a Screamer or an android.
The upper body was covered in pink flesh that looked like it had just been cultured, while the lower body looked like it had been forcibly attached to the metal skeleton of a Screamer. The bio-drone I had seen before was attached to its chest.
‘I wondered how you escaped.’
It seems that he secretly stole one of the drones that backed up the memory and escaped. Seeing that, it makes sense that No. 26 would react in the same way.
“Ugh. I really hate this.”
This is the first time I’ve seen No. 26 so contemptuous. I think the same way.
Because the enemy in front of me now was so weak and disgusting that I couldn’t even consider him a Supreme Council member.
I walked towards the guy. Then the bio-drone on his chest fired plasma rays again.
But his attacks weren’t very effective.
Unless thousands of bio-drones are firing at you at once, an attack from a drone the size of my finger is of little use.
“Pira Eleven. I command you. Maintenance android, protect me.”
He called the androids managing the aircraft as if it was his last desperate attempt. The androids, whose only weapons were metal injectors equipped for welding, rushed at me.
Meanwhile, the creature detached the hose from its head, severing its physical connection to the ship. It moved its crippled body and crawled towards the aircraft.
‘Where are you going?’
As I was trying to chase after him, androids blocked my path. They were cauterizing my body with the metal implants mounted on their arms.
I swung my combat arm as if I was brushing off an annoying mosquito. The androids that hit my arm were scattered on the floor with their upper and lower bodies separated.
Several androids crawled over my head, but all of them were hit by No. 26’s swung tentacles and had their heads torn off.
At that moment, the aircraft that had been quietly waiting began to move all at once and fire their equipped storm guns. I spread the membrane on my wing arms wide to cover No. 26’s body.
‘It’s remote controlled.’
He was very persistent, as if he was afraid that someone might say he was not the highest member. Pira Eleven, who had bought time by remote control, boarded one of the aircraft.
I covered myself with a sheet and approached the aircraft the bastard was on board.
Then it extended its erosion tentacles and wrapped them around the aircraft. As it exerted force on its tentacles, the rockets on the rear and the wings on the side were crushed.
As the aircraft was being turned into scrap metal in real time, Pira Eleven broke the reinforced glass on the front and jumped out.
The thing shot me in the eye with a heat ray, but that only served to irritate me. I picked up the broken fuselage and slammed it into the thing, completely separating the metal skeleton that replaced its lower body.
I extended my erosion tentacles and wrapped them around the thing. I looked to remove the bio-drone attached to its chest, but there was nothing there.
In that brief moment, the drone detached and escaped.
As soon as I noticed that, another fighter jet flew out of the hangar. I quickly extended my erosion tentacles, but the fighter jet it was on had already escaped into space.
As soon as the thing left, the fighters stopped firing and the ship tilted violently, as its remote control was disengaged.
The remains of various machines and androids were thrown to one side of the wall. As the ship crashed, the aircraft quickly moved away.
‘Tough guy.’
By now he probably thought he was out of there safely.
Then the speaker activated and Para Eleven’s voice flowed out.
“Pira Eleven. Be warned. I have already requested assistance from the Star Union. If the Mechanical Committee fleet arrives, Special Objective A will be destroyed.”
The guy who managed to escape was the one who connected the communication line to this side from the carrier plane.
It was a sort of victory declaration. He had lost the ship and the Screamers, but he had gained something more important: information about me.
If he joins the Star Union fleet and passes on my information, my safety will be greatly shaken. Not only the players, but also the Machine Council will try to capture me and experiment on me.
‘Of course, this is assuming the guy escapes safely.’
Could it be because he transferred his consciousness to the dummy multiple times in a short period of time? He missed a very important fact.
He had to wonder why I wasn’t chasing him, and what was waiting for him out there.
In the infinite darkness of space, a red and white meteor is seen. The star, emitting an ominous light as if hinting at destruction, rapidly closes the distance to the aircraft.
As if Pira Eleven was about to collide with the carrier.
“Your genes are definitely mine….”
Before the words could be cut off, the communication from the speaker was lost.
A small flame is visible in the distance. It is the last flame created by the aircraft that was hit by the meteor.
A small dragon with red wings appears in the explosion that engulfs one of the highest powers of the Star Union.
“I tried to handle it, but it’s too bad.”
PS-111’s voice flowed from the speakers. The falling ship regained its balance along with it.
The long fight has finally ended.