Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 254
Only Noblemtl
Ep. 253
The fight started again.
Ships controlled by cyborgs and androids rush in like a swarm of ants. We each took out every weapon we had and responded.
As the APDs approached to intercept the Gallagons, the Screamer support ships managed by PS-111 intercepted them. The torpedoes loaded in the cannons were fired, blocking the drones’ movements.
The patrol ships move to avoid the explosion of the torpedoes and hit the support ships. The torpedoes on board the support ships are limited, so it is difficult to fire them at the patrol ships indiscriminately. As the support ships are in danger, a small aircraft leaves the hangar.
The Heavenly Mother, transformed into a griffon beast, has stepped forward to attract the attention of the patrol ship.
The aircraft itself had ordinary specs, but the crew was on a whole other level. She showed off her skillful evasive maneuvers and made her way through the barrage of torpedoes. Not only that, she fired a defensive shot at the bridge of the patrol ship with the storm gun mounted on the aircraft.
The stormgun alone wasn’t enough to cause much damage to the corvettes, but it was enough to draw their attention. Some of the corvettes broke away from the formation and pursued the Heavenly Mother.
The piloting skills of the carrier-based aircraft are overwhelming, but the ship specs of the corvette are far superior. The carrier-based aircraft she was on was becoming increasingly dangerous with its rear end bitten, but a savior appeared from somewhere.
The Red Queen, with red makeup on her head and wings. She accelerated like a comet and pierced the patrol ships. The surviving patrol ships fired torpedoes, but the Mother of Heaven shot them all down with her storm gun.
While the patrol ships were buying time, the destroyers, who had come within effective firing range, attempted to fire a salvo.
I first fired my psychic breath at the patrol ships gathered around PS-111, then flew towards the destroyer.
The destroyers changed their target to me, and a huge number of torpedoes attacked me.
The pain wasn’t that great thanks to the double and triple layer of armor that protected my body. The only thing that bothered me was the throbbing of my auxiliary organs under my jaw from the continuous explosions. I continued forward, taking the full brunt of the fire.
Erosion tentacles shot out from my back and grabbed onto different destroyers. They pulled them hard. Destroyers larger than me were shaken by the tentacles and collided with each other. Some accelerated too hard to escape, but ended up ramming into other destroyers instead.
The ships in the rear fired torpedoes, but I blocked them with the destroyer as a shield. The ships caught in the tentacles burst apart, and the cyborg crews were ejected into space.
‘You’re holding up well.’
Everyone is showing off their fighting skills that are better than expected. None of the Gallagons are injured, and PS-111 and Sky Mother are also fighting well.
Besides, we weren’t the only ones fighting the Star Union fleet. I looked up at the flashing lights from far away on the white planet.
The Megacorp battleship that Sihyeon Eugene’s forces brought. They are also fighting because they have become targets of Star Union attacks.
‘Thanks to the other side drawing my attention, the burden on this side has been reduced.’
However, it is uncertain how long this leeway will last.
It may seem like this side has the advantage at the moment, but it’s not really like that.
There are still a number of ships left on the other side, and more are expected to be added. It is fortunate that the Grand Admiral is not here at the moment, for if he arrives, the situation will become very unfavorable.
‘We need some kind of breakthrough.’
After the clash with the Fifth Fleet, four warships carrying warp finders were destroyed. There are still six confirmed ones left, and there are also hidden warp finders.
‘It’s not easy to destroy it with breath either.’
They’re not stupid. They only got hit the first few times, but now they disperse immediately when they see me breathing down their necks.
However, it would take a long time to rush in and destroy them one by one as I have been doing so far. The ships carrying the warp finders also started to run away here and there to avoid me.
I thought to myself as I hurled the half-cut destroyers at the enemy. What other weapons of mine could be useful against ships?
‘The color of the abyss is pass.’
The psychic breath enhanced with ‘Color of the Abyss’ is specialized for destroying organic matter, and the enhanced ‘Gaze of Terror’ is not very effective against anything but living things. It is also difficult to expect any psychic reflective armor, as the enemy mainly uses torpedoes rather than energy-based weapons.
‘Should I go back now and eat the priest’s golden spear?’
The Priest’s Golden Spear is a weapon that becomes exponentially stronger the more blood it absorbs. If you prey on it using the ‘Predator’s Irregular Polyhedron’ effect, there is a high chance that you will gain its unique characteristics.
If so, you will be able to obtain tremendous attack power in this battle where there are large-scale casualties.
‘The problem is that if you do that, it will be difficult to treat if you get seriously injured.’
Thanks to the ‘Dragon’s Heart’, you will never run out of energy, but healing from injuries is another matter. To quickly heal yourself when you get wounds on your body, you will need the ‘Predatory Leech Hand’.
Because if you eat the priest’s golden spear, you will have to give up the hand of the predatory leech.
‘What’s left is….’
He bites a nearby battleship with his snout and checks the text box with his eyes.
‘The Great Infectious Disease.’
The 4th space monster type trait, ‘Great Infection’, can grant 3 types of strengthening effects among the infection and nest series traits.
It is unknown how effective the enhancement will be as it has not been tested yet.
‘Then now is the time to experiment.’
I chose ‘Gremlin Moss’, an infection-related fusion trait, as my target for strengthening.
The characteristic of my body secreting microorganisms that cause malfunctions in the machines. That characteristic begins to strengthen.
“The ‘Gremlin Moss’ enhancement settings have been completed.”
‘Is it okay?’
Despite the message in the text box, I didn’t feel any significant changes in my body.
I activated the enhanced gremlin moss, and the mutation occurred outside my body, not inside.
I acquired the characteristics of a great infection and all the blunt claws on my body disappeared. In the place where the claws had been, cylindrical, biological pipe-like organs sprouted.
Something is flowing out of a hole in the pipe that has not shown any special effect so far.
It was like smoke coming out of a factory chimney. Thick smog-like things were pouring out of the pipes and spreading over my body and surroundings.
‘What is this?’
When it becomes an adult, it acquires similar characteristics. It develops a pipe-like bio-tube on its back, and emits smoke that protects its main body. When it becomes an adult, it doesn’t have any special characteristics, but its body grows larger, increasing its attack surface area, and this is to protect it.
However, the phenomenon that was happening in my body now was on a different level from the effects of the characteristics I acquired as an adult.
Wide clouds of smoke clung to the nearby ships, and then all their lights went out.
The ships whose lights had disappeared were completely motionless and stopped. There was no response from the ships as I approached.
‘It’s the effect of spreading gremlin moss!’
The characteristic of temporarily disabling machines that come into contact with the body has been enhanced to the characteristic of ‘creating a cloud of smoke that disabling machines that come into contact with it.’
‘If you have this, it’s a different story.’
It is the best trait in situations where you are fighting against enemies made up of machines. The only regret is that I cannot directly control the movement of the smoke cloud.
After destroying the stopped ships, I flew towards the battleships providing support fire from the rear.
They fired torpedoes at me, but it didn’t mean much. The torpedoes, controlled by high-tech devices, were instantly disabled as soon as they touched the smoke cloud, or rather the gremlin cloud.
I leisurely dodged the torpedoes floating through space and jumped into the gathering of ships, along with a cloud of deadly gremlins on the steel ship.
–
“Torpedo damage exceeded 25%!”
“Change the ship’s maneuverability program to Peter Edgerton’s style, and add 5% energy allocation to the thrusters.”
“All right!”
“Team D’s aircraft have been wiped out! Only 5 aircraft from Team B remain!”
“Team B, return, and those among Teams A, C, E, and F whose aircraft were damaged are to return in sequence.”
“Understood! This is the flagship… .”
At Sihyeon Eugene’s command, the crew moved in unison.
In the center of the situation room, the status of the ship and the Star Union fleet attacking it were displayed as 3D holograms.
While his subordinates were busy moving around, Si-Hyeon stared at the hologram with a cold gaze.
‘It’s not an easy fight.’
This flagship’s cloaking equipment boasts considerable performance as it is equipped with Edgerton’s secret weapon, but the other side has brought in even more superior detection equipment. In addition, they have brought in a large number of warp finders, so it is impossible for them to hide or escape.
‘If they die… .’
For now, the Gallagons and unidentified ships have been able to hold out against the enemies and the Fifth Elite Fleet, but that has its limits. If the Gallagons are completely destroyed, they will be the next target.
‘Should I use that?’
His eyes were fixed on the hologram, but his attention was focused on the object placed under the chair.
The legacy left behind by her father, Jungwoo Eugene.
She hasn’t used the weapon yet, but when she gets it, she can see the danger it poses.
The artifact found inside the giant volcano consisted of two parts: the ‘Abyss Destroyer’, which functions as a weapon, and a crystal-shaped battery that supplies energy. It was a simple structure that allowed the weapon to fire energy when the battery was attached, but the problem was the energy.
After she retrieved the battery from the volcano, strange things happened. Communications that had been out of order were restored soon after, and no beasts were encountered during the escape. It was as if the monsters were avoiding her group.
Just looking at this, you could tell that this weapon had tremendous power.
But there was one reason she hesitated. As she interpreted it, the weapon set its killing targets based on genetic information.
Cyborgs are humans equipped with machines. Attacking a cyborg is tantamount to attacking a human. If used incorrectly, the pilots of aircraft in combat with enemies will also die instantly.
If there are no aircraft on board and there are still enemies, then it’s over. That’s why Sihyeon has been looking for an opportunity since a while ago.
At that moment, her subordinate’s voice struck her ears.
“Emergency report! A massive energy concentration event has occurred! Additional Star Union support fleets are preparing for hypersonic travel!”
“What?!”
At those words, her mind snapped to its senses. The butlers standing behind her, Minseok and Eugene, shouted urgently.
“What time do you expect to arrive?”
“I estimate it will take 5, 5 minutes!”
There was no more time to hesitate. It was time to make a decision.
Then another subordinate reported urgently.
“Uh, the enemy fleet is concentrating on one point!”
“Are you trying to protect the support fleet that is sailing at superluminal speeds so that they can arrive safely?”
“That, that’s strange! The energy concentration point is quite far away….”
“An unidentified entity is gathering the ships! I will connect with the ship’s camera!”
Soon, a poor quality image was displayed on the hologram.
A large number of battleships and destroyers were gathered at a considerable distance from the aircraft carriers. Their appearance was strange even to those who had not experienced space combat.
Because of their size, battleships must maintain a distance from other ships. However, the ships in the video were all so close together that collisions between ships were a concern.
There was another strange thing too.
“Why is there no light? Is it the effect of the cloaking field?”
There was not a single ray of light from the ships that were closing the distance at will, as if the power had been forcibly cut off.
“Oh, that’s right, it seems like the ships’ functions have stopped.”
“EMP? Who the hell did that?”
While Minseok and the crew were confused, Sihyeon discovered something between the gaps in the ships.
A cloud of smoke of unknown composition was moving rapidly between the ships. As soon as one battleship touched the cloud, it immediately went out of flames and turned into a lump of scrap metal like the others.
Sihyeon, who saw that sight, immediately got up from her seat.
“Return all fighter teams to the flagship! And prepare the hypersonic engines so that we can jump right in when I return!”
“Sihyeon, what are you doing now…?”
“Minseok. I’ll give you the role of acting captain.”
Si-hyeon, who left the ship’s operation to Min-seok, left the situation room holding the relic that had been placed next to her seat.
“Sihyeon! What are you doing now! Come back immediately!”
Ignoring Minseok’s voice coming from the speaker, she quickly ran to the hangar.
‘The opportunity is now!’
I don’t know what that creature in the smoke cloud is, but it gave me a very good opportunity.
When she arrived at the hangar, instead of boarding the ship, she opened the door and jumped straight out into space.
As she entered the zero gravity space, the white reinforced suit she was wearing, the ‘White Maiden’, was activated. A white helmet-like thing covered her face, and wings equipped with propellers sprouted from her back. The propellers attached to the wings activated, pushing her forward strongly.
One by one, the aircraft returning to the flagship, the wreckage of a damaged spaceship, torpedoes and energy beams flying here and there. She flew through numerous obstacles and activated the weapon in her hand.
Then the crystal battery inside the weapon began to rotate and emit an eerie light.
–
The XAX01-class battleship boarded by the fleet commander of the 5th Elite Fleet and the Nemean Fleet.
On a fortress throne made of steel sat the Nemean Five, a member of the Mechanical Council.
A body twice as large as a normal android, with numerous cables reminiscent of lush hair. The Nemea Five, with its unusual appearance, had its eyes closed.
He was currently controlling the entire fleet through long cables. In the mental world built of machines and metal, a tremendous amount of information was coming and going.
“Nemea Five. Report from Arrow Nine. Fleet 9 ready for superluminal travel.”
“Report from Europa Two, Redtail Eight. Fleet 2 and 8 have reached 80% energy recharge.”
“Meneboo report! Analysis of the substance being injected by Special Objective A failed!”
“Kazanskiy reports. It is estimated to have an effect equivalent to an EMP.”
“Shimurabi, please request! Please allow me to use the ship’s main gun!”
“Nemea Five. Disallowed. Special Target A is resistant to energy weapons. It is judged effective to buy time until the arrival of Fleets 2, 8, and 9.”
The Nemea Five’s attention was currently focused on Special Objective A.
The Fifth Fleet he commanded was being destroyed in real time as if by a horde of metallic gremlins.
No, maybe it was true. The thing was disabling Star Union ships with EMP attacks like metallic gremlins. The moment the thing touched the fine particles it was spraying, all functions of the ship immediately stopped.
Whether it was affecting the machine itself or not, the AI-controlled torpedoes were also unable to properly hit it. This was because the cloud of fine particles was surrounding its body, causing it to stop mid-flight.
Because of this, the Fifth Fleet suffered heavy losses. If other fleets had not been scheduled to arrive at this location, they would have had to retreat.
“Report from Arrow Nine. Fleet 9, 1 minute and 12 seconds later, entering superluminal speed.”
“Report from Europa Two, Redtail Eight. Fleets 2 and 8 are ready for superluminal travel.”
In the next few minutes, the Nemea Five will win. If we can secure the body of Special Objective A, we will be able to conduct further research.
Then a report came in from the cyborg captain of another ship.
An unidentified flying object was launched from an unidentified Megacorp ship and is moving towards us.
Nemea Five determined that it was an EMP torpedo. The patrol ships under his command moved to intercept the torpedo.
The torpedoes will be shot down, and the Megacorp ships will be cleared out as soon as the other Supreme Commanders arrive.
It was a decision made after sufficiently rational calculations, but what happened next was beyond his calculations.
“Kazanskiy! Unidentified waves emanating from an unidentified flying object….”
The cyborg captain’s report was cut off midway. Then, the countless reports and messages that had been going back and forth suddenly stopped.
There was no sound, as if the hearing had been impaired. Only silence lingered. He gave the order again to confirm, but no one answered.
Something was wrong. The Nemean Five quickly transferred their consciousness to the sleeping body.
As the transmission was completed, he opened his eyes on the steel throne. The situation that met his eyes, which resembled camera lenses, was completely different from usual.
All the cyborgs who were supposed to assist him were lying on the floor of the situation room. Analysis through the lens showed that all of their functions had stopped.
The situation room he was in was a cyborg graveyard.
No, maybe it’s not just this place.
He used cables to synchronize the visual functions with the cameras outside the ship. All the cameras on the XAX01-class battleship became his eyes.
Thanks to that, he was able to see that this incident was not only happening on his ship.
Numerous ships under the 5th Fleet had deserted the formation and were acting on their own.
All of this is because the cyborg captains died suddenly. The ship AIs are acting like this because they are repeating the orders they were given because the captains died suddenly. It was just as the cyborg captains reported last. The 5th fleet suffered damage that was close to destruction due to an unidentified weapon fired by Megacorp.
The Nemea Five immediately contacted the other fleets. They were told to immediately cease hypersonic travel and stand by. In particular, they told the Grand Admiral that he was absolutely not allowed to come here.
Then, a message from the Grand Commander, who did not understand this, came.
“It’s me! What happened?”
“Nemea Five. Reporting. Your Excellency the Chairman. An unidentified wave has spread here. It is believed to be causing fatal damage to cyborgs.”
“What the heck! Who the hell did that?!”
Beyond the camera connected to the Nemea Five’s gaze, Special Objective A appears. The creature pauses for a moment at the events taking place around him, then spits out a massive amount of flame.
Is that what it feels like to face the sun? He poured out his near-infinite psychic power, turning ships into scrap metal. Even when the Nemea Five tried to interfere with the ship AI and move it, it wasn’t easy because of the cloud of fine matter coming out of his body.
After burning most of the battleships, the one that stopped attacking turned around after clearing the cloud of fine particles. The Gallagons that were fighting the corvettes elsewhere also retreated along with Special Objective A.
“Nemea Five. Suggestion. Right now, the cause needs to be identified first. I suggest that the operation be stopped.”
“Arrow Nine. Agree.”
“Redtail Eight. Agreed.”
“He’s right in front of you, and you want me to let him go? Do you think that makes sense…!”
Grand Master Jubaka, who had been expressing intense anger, closed his mouth after checking the video data shared by the Nemea Five.
The second highest member, Europa Two, quickly analyzed the footage and sent a message.
“Europa Two. Agreed. Your Excellency, the area is currently experiencing a lethal wave to cyborgs. I recommend that you enter after your safety has been secured.”
There are currently threats to both androids and cyborgs here. Special Objective A has the ability to disable androids or the ship itself, and the aircraft launched by Megacorp’s flagship has the effect of instantly killing cyborgs. If the two are together, the damage will be too great if the operation is carried out.
That’s why the four top members effectively decided to stop their mission.
They are machines that exist for the survival of the Star Union. They have a duty to protect Jubakka, the most important being in the Star Union, at all costs.
Of course, if the Grand Commander were to force his way through here, they would have no choice but to follow. However, none of the Supreme Council members thought that Jubakka would act that way.
He is not stupid. He must know that the problem that has occurred here is not ordinary. He also knows better than anyone what will happen if something happens to him.
“Hey, hey hey! That son of a bitch, Morphbak, is over there! F*ck!”
After a communication that was neither a shout nor a scream, the voice of Grand Commander Jubakka was no longer heard.
Meanwhile, in the Nemea Five’s field of vision, the ship carrying Special Objective A and the Gallagons, as well as the Megacorp battleship, were engulfed in blue light.
After a while, only blue particles remained where they had been.