I Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 154
Ep. 154
‘Hmm.’
I looked through all the recent records contained in the walker’s built-in computer.
A brief report on a large creature that is not registered in the database, collection of nest remains from the ship, registration of information, etc.
The cyborg I captured sent quite a lot of communication in a short period of time.
‘The signal would not have gone out…’
Even now, psychic power that causes communication failures is periodically erupting from No. 26’s body. It is nearly impossible for the information sent by Walker to reach the Star Union’s capital city, Sachs-01. Even if it does arrive, it will be so damaged that no one will be able to recognize it.
However, that is not the problem.
‘Manpower supply line.’
That ship may have registered information about me in Starlink before encountering me. In fact, the manpower supply ship recognized my existence and approached me before I did. It is highly likely that he reported to Star Union that he had met me before coming.
‘This is going to be a pain in the ass.’
The situation became annoying.
Even if I leave this place, Star Union’s tracking team will come after me.
Escape at faster than light speed is a holdover.
Not only the Star Union, but also the elite fleets of powerful forces such as Cult and Megacorp have a system for tracking faster-than-light voyages. It may depend on how dangerous they consider me to be, but if an elite fleet is chasing me, escape is impossible.
‘It’s impossible to hide even if you change the appearance of the ship.’
The ship that dominates Nightmare Horizon is something between living things and metal. If the manpower supply ship reported my characteristics as a ‘biological ship’, they would quickly recognize me even if I changed my shape.
“How dare you touch Star Union’s ship? “I will never die in peace… Ugh?!”
“quiet.”
After silencing him by squeezing his body with the corrosive tentacles, I checked the cards I had.
‘It’s been a month since I left the Holy Land. ‘Most of the means available to me are available.’
The nightmare horizon that takes control of a spaceship becomes gigantic, or the ‘organic evolution’ that makes my body smaller, the long-distance attack ability obtained from the looter’s irregular polyhedron, the ‘rod of god’, and the ‘symbol of the hunt’ that changes my body into a form suitable for battle. My current condition is perfect for fighting strong enemies.
But I shook my head.
‘All-out war is still dangerous.’
The situation is different from when fighting the imperial carrier. It was important that the planet I was on was a ‘holy land’ in a politically complex location.
If it weren’t for the Holy Land, it would have been impossible to escape as smoothly as now. No matter how I escaped, I would have been chased by cults.
However, Star Union has no such restrictions.
In Star Union, where the Machinery Committee, the highest authority, is dictatorial, concepts such as ‘politics’, ‘competition’, and ‘conflict’ do not exist.
Formally, it involves coordination of opinions between the committee and each department, but in reality it does not have much meaning. All cyborgs must obey whatever the committee tells them to do.
The members of the Machine Committee are all highly intelligent androids, except for the Grand Leader, who is the highest-ranking leader. If they perceive me as an enemy, they will do everything they can to kill me.
‘Android is annoying because it lets its guard down.’
They will definitely dispatch an elite fleet with high military power to kill me once and for all.
‘Space warfare is still difficult.’
A situation where many of the physical characteristics are sealed is like fighting with a handicap. There are also ‘newly unlocked type-related characteristics’ while eating a manpower supply ship, but these characteristics are not useful in the current state of synchronization with the ship.
It has several attack abilities that can destroy enemy ships, but these also have time limits or restrictions on the number of times they can be used. However, if you say that it is advantageous in defensive and evasive maneuvers, that is not the case.
I may be overwhelmed when fighting a small number of ships, but fighting a fleet of hundreds of ships is not easy.
What’s better is that this ship I control has been remodeled? Weapons obtained by disassembling the cult ship have been attached to this ship, so you won’t be helpless when fighting multiple enemies like last time.
‘The bad thing is that I don’t have infinite time.’
This is cult territory. What if I fight here and get caught by the cult? From then on, it is clear that we will be beaten by enemies on both sides. In the cult’s eyes, I am no different from the bio-ship, or the flying monster from Outspacer.
‘for a moment? ‘Cult?’
The moment I thought of a cult, I paused.
This JP-99 star system is the territory of a cult.
It is a remote area and does not have good resources, so it is like a country, but it cannot tolerate others crossing its territory. If they discover the Star Union’s elite fleet invading the star system, the two sides will most likely clash.
‘You can just escape in the meantime.’
The important thing here is how to call a cult, and as it happens, I have the means to call them.
‘This is going to be fun.’
After organizing my thoughts, I made a plan on how to get out of this difficulty. There were a few risky elements, but we decided to press ahead.
From now on, deceiving cults and cyborgs is what I do best.
‘Let’s wrap up the plan like this.’
There is something I need to take care of before explaining it to the kids on board the ship. I looked at the cyborg I had captured.
“What is it?”
The cyborg that met my gaze trembled as if he had an uneasy premonition.
He is going to play an important role on the stage I created. It is not simply food to replenish energy.
‘It’s been a while, it’s your turn.’
By my will, small things sleeping in my body wake up.
A small hole appeared in the ceiling of the ship that was integrated with me, and something fell out of it onto a tentacle. A thin, long rubber band-like thing crawled diligently over the tentacles that were squeezing the cyborg.
“Now wait a minute! “What is this…Stop it!”
Only then does the cyborg, realizing what he is about to suffer, go crazy.
He held on tightly to the cyborg to help the parasite climb up to complete its mission.
“Eup eup!”
A cyborg that resists fiercely.
No matter how much you transform your body into a machine, there are limits. It is impossible to untie the eroding tentacles, which are strong enough to collapse the entire ship.
Anyway, he too will accept it when everything is over.
The reality of becoming a monster’s servant.
–
The Nemean fleet stationed in the ESS-22 star system received an emergency order.
It was a message sent from Nemea Five, a member of the Star Union’s Mechanical Committee and leader of the Nemea Fleet.
“As soon as we confirm the contents, we will immediately move out to destroy the new creatures that have appeared in JP-99. It is a very dangerous entity, so do not approach it, but intercept and incinerate it from a distance. “This order was given directly by Grand Marshal Zubaka?!”
Acting Fleet Commander Sanadaev, who was entrusted with controlling the fleet from Nemea Five, was surprised.
Only very important matters are notified to the Mechanical Committee, and it is rare to give orders directly to individual cyborgs as is the case now. The Mechanical Committee, which runs the entire Star Union, is not a very idle organization.
Moreover, it is truly unprecedented for the head of the Mechanical Committee and the highest dignified leader to show interest. For the first time since being converted into a machine, Sanadaev almost lost his mind.
“F, this isn’t a lie, is it?”
｢Certification marks from the Mechanical Commission and the Grand Council were confirmed. “There is a 0% chance that it is a forgery.”
He scratched his chin at the words of the ship’s computer, F.
“JP-99 is cult territory. Does the Mechanical Council want war?”
ESS-22 is particularly close to JP-99 among Star Union’s jurisdictional areas. The reason the Nemean Fleet, Star Union’s elite fleet, was here was to prepare for just such an emergency.
‘Certainly not, right?’
Sanadaev reaffirmed the instructions of the Mechanical Committee. No matter how many times I saw it, there was no mention of invading the cult.
Since the Machinery Committee is an organization comprised entirely of robots except for the leader, there is no way to say things in a negative way or use analogies. Perhaps what he feared did not happen.
“What happens to the troops currently stationed there?”
｢3 Memnos-class battle cruisers, 20 Xian-class corvettes.’ “There
definitely aren’t that many, perhaps because it’s a frontier area. “There are no space fortresses or imperial carriers.”
After looking at the data screen displayed by F, he made a decision. Let’s quickly complete the mission and leave before the cults arrive.
“But what kind of creature is this that even causes an uproar in the Machinery Committee?”
There was a notice that was sent to all ships about a month ago.
If you discover a new creature, immediately register the data in Starlink. And there are two things: a signal chip manufactured by the Mechanical Committee will be installed in each ship.
At the time, I didn’t know why this order was given.
“He’s that dangerous?”
｢Data attached to the message by the committee has been confirmed.｣
“Send it to my head.”
Soon, biological data flowed into Sanadaev’s head, connected to the ship’s cables. Feeling a slight headache, he pressed his temples and checked the information.
“hmm. “It’s a giant monster with the ability to disguise itself as a ship.”
｢The model is believed to be the Zasville 02 Zama-class frigate.｣
“Zama-class? Are you talking about that new frigate? Hmm.”
His first thought was that it might be a secret weapon of a cult, but he quickly denied his thoughts. The idea of creating artificial life forms and controlling them is something that only Megacorp would do.
‘Or maybe it’s an outspacer.’
As far as he knew, the giant creatures operated by the Outspacer colony did not look like that.
They are hideous monsters with swarms of living organisms that shoot out biochemical substances. Anyone who sees it and says it resembles a cult frigate is probably someone whose eye function is greatly reduced or who has a strange sense of aesthetics.
However, it is true that when it comes to spacecraft made of biometal, outspacers come to mind first. Maybe it’s their newly evolved space assault monster.
Sanadaev carefully examined the information provided by the Mechanical Committee. The amount of information was not as much as I expected. Rather, annotations and hypotheses added by the Mechanical Committee accounted for a much higher proportion.
Never approach the ship as there is a risk of infection. Boarding is not allowed. Psychic power attacks can be used, so prepare anti-superpower defense measures, etc.
Just by looking at it, you could see how wary the Machine Committee was of him.
‘He seems like a formidable guy.’
After checking all the data, Sanadaev contacted all ships belonging to the Nemean Fleet. To prepare the instructions given by the Mechanical Committee.
And two hours later, the entire Nemean fleet of 101 ships began preparing for faster-than-light sailing.
They soon left ESS-22, surrounded by a huge blue light that was visible even from the surface of a planet in the star system.
Thanks to super-light sailing, which easily exceeds the speed of light, the Nemean fleet led by Sanadaev reached JP-99 in an instant.
｢Superlight voyage completed. Confirmed that 0 ships were left behind.”
“Good. Let’s get this over with before the cult finds out. Release exploration drones and aircraft carriers.”
“Confirmation.”
Drones and aircraft poured out from the Star Union warships, which had rectangular hulls covered with elongated, spike-like guns. There were so many drones that it looked like sand was flowing out of a burst sandbag.
“Check the surroundings step by step. If you find anything strange, report it immediately.”
“Confirmation.”
Ship-based planes controlled by drone androids controlled by the ship’s computer searched through the piles of trash and rocks floating in space.
And several aircraft found artificially synthesized metal fragments and delivered them to Sanadaev aboard the flagship.
He quickly realized which ship the fragment came from. Also, where did the data sent from the Machinery Committee come from?
“F. Have you finished checking the traces of faster-than-light navigation?”
“No traces of leaping from this star system.”
“Good. He’s around here, so everyone be careful…”
“Emergency report!” “Energy condensation occurs at the front!”
“What?”
Before he could finish speaking, the ship’s camera flashed ahead. Blue energies gathered in an empty universe and instantly transformed into a huge structure.
“…this.”
Eventually, whenever the blue light flashed, large and small cult warships appeared one after another in front of the Nemean fleet. Sanadaev saw this and muttered softly.
“Oh shit. “It’s ruined.”
Regular cult battleships aren’t much of a problem. A Nemean fleet equipped with super-powerful defenses is enough to fight.
The problem is that huge structure that reliably protects the backs of the battleships.
｢The captain of ‘The Punisher of Gormos 03’ has sent a message. Please check it immediately.” A
diamond-shaped structure decorated with ivory and golden decorations, no, it is a ship.
That huge ship that appeared in front of the Nemean fleet was the imperial carrier that the cult was proud of.