I Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 44
——————
Chapter 44
‘This is an unfamiliar enhanced suit.’
I looked down at the lifeless body of Officer 112.
‘It seems to be an upgraded suit.’
The defense has significantly increased compared to before. If I were in an unenhanced state, it would have felt quite heavy. Even when I tore through the chest with my nails, it was surprisingly sturdy.
Furthermore, it had additional features like a full-face gas mask attached to the helmet and a psychic power-resistant shield, elements not found in intermediate-level suits.
‘It’s a basic intermediate-level suit with a few advanced-level suit options added.’
Advanced-level suits boasted significantly superior specs compared to intermediate ones, making them considerably more expensive. It’s close to half the cost of plasma equipment, so it could be seen as quite pricey.
‘They seem to be developing cost-effective advanced-level suits.’
In the game, megaCorp players had plenty of credits, and they didn’t need to worry about the lives of mercenaries. However, in the real world, equipment for protecting living soldiers would continuously evolve in response to new weapon developments.
Of course, being a budget version, the shield attached to this suit was likely far less effective compared to the shields on high-level suits. Still, it should be adequate to block even the standard rounds of Gauss weapons. For an ordinary person who can’t afford cutting-edge weaponry, a shield like this should suffice.
Looking at it this way, it’s safe to say that the enemies are well-prepared, even if the shield is not as advanced as high-level suits.
‘If the opponent were an ‘ordinary human,’ we would have easily won.’
‘Well, that’s if they were truly ‘ordinary humans.’
After all, they were after Sanders, and now they’ve come after me as well. They likely consider me to be some sort of spy for the Space Dogs or a smuggler. Before they entered the apartment, Sanders might have been arrested, leading to retaliation against me, the apparent ‘parasite.’
‘Well, using Sanders is no longer an option.’
I’ll need to find another broker or take advantage of the chaotic situation to discreetly raid the Harbor District. If I implant a new parasite in this apartment before leaving, finding a broker won’t be all that difficult.
‘But on a side note, these guys fight better than I expected.’
The ones who successfully took down the intruders in the apartment weren’t me but Number 26 and Adhai.
Before the police entered the apartment, I had instructed Number 26 and Adhai on the weaknesses of both androids and humans. The power source location of the androids, their lack of autonomous thinking, the fragility of human heads, and so on.
As a result, Adhai managed to take down one android on the 1st floor, while Number 26 killed one of the police officers on the 2nd floor.
‘Adhai clung to the ceiling.’
It hung from the ceiling and waited until there was only one android left.
Currently, the android assumes the enemy to be human. Unless it was a special species like a wolf or an Insectoid, it was impossible to hang from the ceiling. So, the android didn’t consider anything on the ceiling, and it had no choice but to succumb to Adhai’s psychic attack, the psychic impact, without resistance.
Psychic Impact was considered the lowest-level psychic attack technique, but it could still inflict significant damage on opponents without psychic resistance. If the target was accurately aimed at, it could even destroy the power source of an android.
‘If the android had a shield, Adhai would have failed.’
If the android had prepared even slightly for psychic power attacks, Adhai’s attack would have failed. Psychic Impact could be easily blocked even by those with psychic resistance.
‘It knew that and targeted the androids instead of the police.’
Although there were super-powered androids as well, they didn’t come to this apartment. The only ones with shields were the enhanced suit-wearing police officers. So, it deliberately targeted the androids. Young Blue Gallagon, It indeed had decent skills.
In any case, the guy who successfully destroyed the android made its way out of the apartment through a window and joined Number 26 on the 3rd floor.
‘Number 26 did well too.’
Whether it was due to its growth or not, its psychic power had become much stronger than before. Now it could easily cast ‘Restraint,’ one of the abilities Sea Demons had, which was a powerful mid-level psychic technique. It was a psychic technique that pressurized and oppressed the target using psychic power. The stronger the caster, the more targets it could affect, and the greater the effect of the technique.
Number 26 had hunted with me several times, so it knew well where humans were vulnerable. The guy, hiding in the 3rd-floor corridor, demonstrated the technique of casting a double Restraint on one of the enemies on the 2nd floor who came to search. Thanks to this, the poor police officer found himself in a state where his body and head were separate entities.
‘It’s still far from perfect, but…’
In the game, Sea Demons could restrain dozens of players at once to the point of suffocation, making it incredibly powerful. Number 26 hadn’t reached that level yet, but it had improved significantly. Perhaps it will become even stronger in the future.
‘They did well, now it’s my turn.’
The groundwork had been sufficiently laid. I felt the vibrations of the enemies coming up the stairs.
I called out to them in the voice of the deceased officer, 112.
“Aargh!”
“!”
Outside, the enemies tensed up.
I sensed there were five humans and two androids. I left through the window, carrying the corpse on my side, and crawled along the exterior wall to move to the neighboring house.
In the meantime, the two androids advanced and broke the door of the house where I had been hiding until a moment ago.
“Begin the search.”
Ignoring the cold voice of the androids, I moved to the corridor and exited the neighboring house.
I saw the police officer at the very back trying to enter the house. I pierced his throat with the stinger at the end of my tail. Silently, I caught him as he fell to the ground and then climbed up the corridor wall to the upper floor.
I opened the window of the empty upstairs house and tossed the police officer and the corpse inside.
“….”
Beyond the police officer’s mask, I could see terror-filled eyes. After being caught by me, he seemed to have a clear understanding of what he was facing.
He probably thought like this: they should have brought the military instead of armed police. As always, regret comes when it’s already too late.
He seemed to want to somehow inform his colleagues about my identity, but it was impossible. The neurotoxin that coursed through his veins, like a snake that had caught its prey, was tightening around his entire body.
I grabbed his head with my combat arm. He sent me a pitiful look, as if he had an intuition about what I was about to do.
‘Unfortunately, I can’t grant that wish.’
When I applied pressure, my hook-like claws ripped through his head. As the police officer’s head turned into something resembling a watermelon sliced by a kitchen knife, a belated reaction came from downstairs.
[This is 106. Respond, 110!]
The colleague who had been behind us just disappeared, so it was only natural that they would be bewildered. I smashed the police officer’s communication device, which had been addressed as 110.
‘I need to shake them up a bit more.’
Confusion and fear could paralyze reason. Since he still seemed mentally sound, I needed to give him more of the drug. I turned on the communication device of 112.
“Help! He’s torturing me!”
[Darn it! 112!]
[This is M01. Everyone stay calm.]
[Darn it! 110, who was right behind me, just disappeared!]
“Oh God! Please help! We’re on the 5th floor!”
After shouting like that, I turned off the communication device. I could hear the commotion and voices from the floor below.
The android telling them to stay calm, the police officers protesting that they couldn’t stay calm when two of their colleagues had gone missing – the enemies were getting entangled.
While they were in turmoil, I went out of the house and used my tail to destroy the lights in the corridor, one by one. The sound of glass shattering in front of their own doors made the people on the 5th floor stick their heads out.
“Who the hell is making all this noise… Agh!”
“Ahhh!”
They screamed when they saw me lurking in the darkness.
When I growled once, they paled and rushed out of the house. I let the residents who were running towards the stairs be for now.
I followed them like a hunting dog.
Coincidentally, the police and androids were coming up from the lower floor as well.
“Unarmed individuals. Don’t shoot.”
“Oh, no! These are civilians! Be cautious, everyone!”
The confused police officers hesitated, and I extended my upper arm toward them. Saw-edged tentacles emerged from my palm and wrapped around the android’s head, which was beyond the civilian. The sharp saw on the surface of the tentacle was firmly embedded in the small, hard head of the android.
“Enemy attack detected.”
The painless android had a Gauss rifle attached to its third arm and aimed it at me, but it was too late. As I pulled my arm back, the android’s head, which had been entangled with the tentacle, was pulled out.
“Intrusion. Requesting backup.”
“What the hell is that?”
The android behind me recognized my attack faster than the police and sounded an alarm. The police also aimed their Gauss rifles in my direction, albeit belatedly.
Tungsten bullets mercilessly rained down on the spot where I had been standing. The civilians who were fleeing late were hit by blind bullets and disintegrated like watercolors in water.
The civilian shields had served their purpose well, and now it was time to step back.
‘Damn.’
I quickly retreated, but perhaps because I had grown in size, I couldn’t completely avoid it, and I was hit a few times on the tail.
Thanks to my physical enhancement type and various characteristics, there was no significant impact. However, this must have made the enemies realize to some extent how resilient my defenses were.
Ordinary humans would have a hard time noticing if I had taken a significant blow during the fight. But androids were different. Unless their power source was removed and they ceased to function, they would meticulously record every detail of their combat with the enemy.
The enemies would surely change to special rounds with enhanced penetration.
Armor-piercing rounds could damage my external shell. The androids probably instructed them to target my relatively thin arms and tail.
I had regenerative properties, so even if my arms and legs were severed, they would regenerate, but it was a slow process. Losing a weapon like my arm, which was the main weapon of Amorph, was not a welcome development.
So it was best to avoid armor-piercing rounds no matter what.
‘That’s why androids are a nuisance.’
Their autonomous thinking ability was lacking, but their information-gathering capability was superior to humans. MegaCorp players often used androids for scouting and support.
‘Thanks to them, I had some trouble in the MegaCorp battles.’
If you didn’t wipe them out in one go, they would transmit all my characteristics, patterns, weaknesses, and so on to the opposing players, which was quite annoying.
‘I have to eliminate them here.’
The androids that had been eliminated so far were not due to firearms but rather special attacks. The fact that I was not human would already be stored in the recording devices integrated into the androids.
The police might not know, but I had to destroy all the recording devices in these androids.
Hiding inside the house, I sent a signal to Number 26.
[ZZZ ZZ ZZ ZZ (Come up and help)]
｢Yes. Little guy, the big baby is calling.｣
While calling them, the enemies entered the corridor. Perhaps because they knew that the enemies were not regular humans, their movements were much more cautious than before.
I shouted loudly in the voice of 112.
“I’m here!”
They stopped in their tracks when they heard my voice. Subsequently, the enemies shifted positions to enter the house.
The sound of footsteps and the clashing of firearms and equipment suggested agility and a quiet demeanor, almost inaudible if one wasn’t close enough. They certainly showed signs of extensive training.
‘Maybe it was unfortunate for them to face me.’
If they were different enemies, I would have easily subdued them. No, if I weren’t Amorph, I might not have won this easily.
It was Amorph’s super-sense that allowed me to read the movements of the enemies so easily.
I stood by the door, aiming the spine launcher.
‘Is this about right?’
I adjusted it to hit the target, which was about 20 cm above my head, and waited for a moment.
When the android came closer to break down the door, I fired the spine. The dull sound was heard as the spine pierced through the door.
“Zzz zzz zzz…”
“Ugh, they’re shooting!”
Beyond the small hole in the door, a slightly perforated android’s head could be seen, slumping.
I pushed against the door with force from my legs. The latch was torn apart as if it were torn tissue, and the android that had been standing in front of the door was shattered by my charge.
The police officers who finally saw me up close swallowed their breath. Among the wreckage of the android, I crushed the recording device with my foot and then withdrew my serrated tentacle to wrap it around one police officer’s leg.
“Ah!”
As the tentacle passed over, the white bones were exposed, and one officer fell. Three other officers aimed their Gauss rifles at me, but I’m not the only monstrous threat they are facing right now. Adhai, who had flown holding onto Number 26, pounced on the police officers.
Adhai’s tentacles covered the heads of the police officers. The transparent tentacles broke the glass of the masks the officers were wearing and penetrated inside.
“Ack, ugh, stop…”
The police officer trembled and made bizarre sounds, as the red plate at the tip of the tentacle stuck to the officer’s face and began to suck blood.
The tentacle, making a squelching sound, was clearly seen sucking in the red liquid. The police officer, who had lost a large amount of blood in an instant, was in shock and sat down on the spot.
“Uh, aaargh…ugh!”
Other police officers hesitated but kept their Gauss rifles aimed at Adhai. In the corridor, Number 26 emitted a violet energy that enveloped the police officers’ bodies.
I grabbed the heads of the individuals held by 26 with one hand each and tore them off. The blood spurting from their necks seemed to float in mid-air, as if defying gravity due to 26’s psychic power.
Adhai, which turned one police officer into a mirage, gobbled up the flying blood with its tentacles.
[ZZZZ ZZ (Well done)]
｢Yeah!｣
｢Easy.｣
Someone watching would likely be shocked and nauseated, but I was proud of the companions who had assisted me brilliantly. I wanted to give them some time to enjoy the spoils, but there were still enemies remaining.
‘This is the first time I’ve fought, leaving my back to someone else.’
I had never experienced such a situation while playing as Amorph, both in the game and in reality, as I didn’t have friends. Fighting like this was a fresh experience for me.
In future hunts, if I strategically utilized these guys, it could be quite helpful.
‘Now, all that’s left is the androids on the lower floor.’
Once we take care of them, any obstacles to our escape will be eliminated. The time to savor the spoils will come after the hunt is over.
——————