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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Jjescus]
[Proofreader – Demon God’s Disciple]
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Chapter 117
“We’ve arrived.”
“Let’s go.”
Six Heavy Walkers and one beast disembarked from the transport ship.
They had come here under Muriel’s orders to investigate if there were any survivors where the lightning had struck. Until a few hours ago, the lush land teeming with life had now become a desolate wasteland with only sand and death remaining.
They roamed the barren wasteland with various detection equipment activated, following Muriel’s command.
“Huh? Hey! There’s something over here!”
One of the walkers found traces left on the ground and called out to his comrades. As another walker approached with metallic clinks, he recorded the traces with the camera attached to the walker.
“Leader, did you see this? There are dragging marks.”
[Haa, that crazy monster. Isn’t it dead?]
“It seems not.”
[Ask the mother of the sky. Check how it’s doing.]
“Yes.”
One of the walkers pulled a large chain in his hand. The mother of the sky, bound by the chain around her neck, was dragged along lifelessly.
｢Gah!｣
“Hey, this matches the creature’s traces.”
“The one we know walks on two legs, but here, there are marks of dragging. What happened?”
[It’s better to speak honestly if you don’t want to see your ‘family’ die.]
｢… Wait.｣
The mother of the sky reluctantly examined the traces in detail. Using her superior senses that surpassed advanced machinery, she grasped the condition of the target that left the traces.
｢… He dragged his body halfway. He’s injured, judging by the skin fragments between the dragging marks and the acid reactions on the ground. Judging from the direction, he entered the forest over there.｣
[You’re not lying, right?]
｢You can figure it out, can’t you? Verify it if you want.｣
Currently, a special chip implanted by Muriel was lodged in the back of the mother of the sky’s head. It reads the wearer’s brainwaves to determine if they are lying or harboring impure thoughts. As long as this chip is implanted, the mother of the sky cannot speak lies.
[Huh? Whatever. It’s no surprise that he got injured after facing Noshin.]
“What should we do?”
[He must not have gone far since he’s injured. Find and kill him. If it’s the mother of the sky, you can kill it, right?]
｢If it’s an injured creature with a little strength, we can kill him.｣
[Hehe, did you guys hear that?]
“Yes!”
After the communication ended, the Heavy Walkers collected the scattered skin fragments and followed the traces leading to the forest.
Above their heads, the transport ship flew, confirming if there were traces continuing into the burning jungle.
Muriel’s subordinates had no doubt that they could easily eliminate the creature that left these traces. However, there was something they didn’t know. Surely, the mother of the sky did not lie. Instead, she precisely answered only what Muriel had asked.
In the opposite direction that the walkers were heading, there were traces that the walkers did not discover. It was a partially collapsed pit. Many pits were formed by Redwoods or rocks, which were pulled out of the ground altogether. So, the pirates assumed it would be similar to other traces, but the mother of the sky with her extraordinary senses could perceive that it was a hole made by a serpent-like creature.
‘Ha, that Amorph. It evolved into a Quasi-Saint.’
The mother of the sky concealed the fact that she knew.
Her eyes, with a leash tied to the pirates, gleamed coldly.
***
When I begin a hunt, there are three factors I check first: information, time, and location.
Firstly, information.
Knowing who the enemy is, what equipment they have, their characteristics, skills they possess, what strategy they use, and how much they know about me are crucial for smoothly navigating through the battle. Although Amorph is a powerful species as it evolves, the journey to get there is extremely treacherous—not just for me but for everyone.
Therefore, acquiring information is essential.
Next is time.
Deciding when to strike during day or night, whether the enemy is aware of my assault, and if so, when they might become aware—all these considerations help in choosing the right time to hunt and preparing accordingly.
Lastly, location.
Knowing the enemy’s location, the terrain, where to lure them, and where to settle the score—all these aspects need to be understood.
So, how much advantage do I currently have in targeting the enemy?
Starting with the information, she and I don’t know much about each other, but at least I am in a better position than her.
‘Muriel thinks of me as a celestial being.’
Using Noshin or the God’s lightning was a good choice if she thought I was a celestial being. Even if I run away quickly, it’s not easy to escape the range of the gods’ lightning.
‘Nevertheless, she’ll try to confirm.’
She’s a woman who installs bombs in her cruiser as a precaution against it being captured. She’ll try to confirm whether I’m dead or not. Investigating the explosion area will soon reveal my survival.
‘From here on, it’s a critical point.’
She likely believes that I suffered a fatal injury from the gods’ attack. In reality, it’s only minor due to the explosion of the gods and the cruiser. My armor was scorched, and a part of the exoskeleton fell off. Even now, there are remnants of the fallen exoskeleton in the traces leading into the forest.
They were all intentionally left behind.
To make the enemies believe that my condition is not good.
Hiding my evolutionary stage and concealing my condition to mislead the enemy about my status.
The information warfare began when I emerged from the underground and infiltrated the jungle.
‘They’ll probably try to follow my traces over there, but…’
In this jungle, detection devices often malfunction. However, it’s unlikely that they would miss me. Still, it will take some time for them to discover me.
While the enemies are slowly pursuing me, my tasks are clear. I need to locate Muriel and shift the battlefield in my favor. Fortunately, before the cruiser took off, I had browsed through the data stored in the ship’s computer. Thanks to that, I could anticipate her possible locations.
There are two large camps presumed to be where she might be. One is the vast jungle area spreading from the center of the continent, and the other is the canyon area with the Wolf indigenous village. I was confident that Muriel would be in the jungle area.
‘There’s a forgotten temple in the center of the continent.’
The ‘Forgotten Temple’ is a kind of dungeon where powerful unique-grade equipment is stored. However, the entrance conditions are quite strict, and there are powerful Wolf statues inside, requiring thorough preparation for conquest. For instance, For example th special energy fields around the temple. Even if you try to detect from a distance, the energy field prevents detection, and as you approach the temple, communication devices often malfunction. Unluckily, if a transport ship stops working due to the energy field, it might crash.
Therefore, players intending to conquer the temple often set up supply camps a considerable distance away. Muriel, like other players, would have set up a large camp inside the jungle for the temple conquest.
‘When I checked the transported items, there were only weapons.’
And looking at the periodic transport records, it was undoubtedly all used for the temple conquest. By now, she might have finished the conquest and obtained the rewards.
‘Was the High Priest’s Golden Spear reward for clearing it?’
It’s equipment that increases its attack power when killing sentient beings. Although the increase in attack power per killed being is very low, there is no limit to the increase, making it infinitely powerful with more kills.
Once she knows I’m alive, she’ll likely try to kill all her subordinates or slaves to increase her attack power.
‘I need to confirm this part directly.’
Because of the task, I, who was half-buried in the ground, raised my head. Thirty minutes ago, I had arrived near the large camp where Muriel was presumed to be.
I could reach here in just half a day without resting, using all my energy for a full sprint. I was a few kilometers away from the camp.
From there, I was preparing a favorable ‘battlefield’ for myself. There was no area within my line of sight that was not covered in black slime.
The vibrant grasses were twisted, and instead, red vines, like blood, grew in their place. Between the vines, spores emitting toxic mist relentlessly filled the air.
Even the towering Redwoods standing on the corrupted ground seemed intact from the outside, but they were decaying from the inside. When the thick bark peeled off, black slime and insects sprouted from within.
Beetles the size of fingernails and hallucination-inducing bugs hovered around, infecting anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.
Having confirmed that the nests were growing steadily on their own, I released the link and stood up.
‘This makes it the third one.’
I was in the process of creating nests surrounding the camp. Just as there are perks in the physical enhancement and psychic enhancement types that enhance related abilities, there are also perks in the nest enhancement type.
When multiple nests merge into one, the characteristic effects are amplified. In this way, Muriel’s camp will be subjected to a more intense assault of toxic mist than the swamp inside the Utopia 02 continent.
‘If I fight there, the attribute effect of Personification Sacrifice will shine.’
Before evolving into a Quasi-Saint I acquired the attribute ‘Personification Sacrifice’ in the swamp. On its own, it has no effect, but when corpses appear in the nest, the situation changes. If you possess the Personification Sacrifice attribute, the nest absorbs the corpses, providing the energy of the corpses to the owner of the nest. Even if limbs are severed, the energy absorbed through Personification Sacrifice accelerates my recovery, restoring me to my original state within minutes.
In other words, as long as corpses continue to be supplied, I become a living entity akin to a zombie.
‘Moreover, it can counter the Golden Spear.’
I moved to find a new location to set up a nest. Since creating nests consumes a lot of energy, I didn’t forget to intermittently supply energy.
Squeak?!
I seized a gorilla with an ant head using corrosive tentacles.
Named ‘Andril,’ it is a carnivorous creature with specs surpassing those of a Nightstalker, but it was no match for me as a Quasi-Saint being.
“If there’s time, I would have liked to taste it.”
It’s regrettable that I can’t.
After devouring a few more Andril, I found a suitable place to plant the nest and relaxed my body. As the mucus poured from my body and the nest was being created, a loud noise echoed from above.
“Hmm?”
It was the sound of a transport ship flying. The ship started low-altitude flight without caring about the covered trees. Then, seven large objects could be felt falling to the ground.
‘Have they already found me?’
Even with a bio-scanner, finding me in this jungle is not easy. Detection devices often malfunction or reset in the middle.
“Huh?”
The enemies who landed from a distance began moving in a completely different direction as if they hadn’t found me using the bio-scanner. They were heading towards the traces where I crawled here.
‘I don’t know what happened.’
I need to tidy up before the nest is compromised. It’s more detrimental for the nest to be compromised than for me to be caught.
I released the link with the fourth nest I created and climbed up the tree silently.
Then, without a sound, I moved towards the location where the enemies were.
With my body elongated, if the distance between the trees wasn’t too far, I extended my body to move, and if the distance was considerable, I utilized an aerial membrane.
After narrowing the distance with the enemies, I could see how they had pursued me.
Their formation consisted of six Heavy Walkers and one beast at the front.
The leading beast was something I had seen a few times in the game.
‘A Wolf that learned Divine Transformation?’
A creature resembling a griffin from mythology, with the head of an eagle, the body of a lion, and a serpent’s tail. It was undoubtedly a Wolf.
Unlike Amorph, who aims for endless evolution, a wolf’s journey to reclaim the divinity within his body plays a significant role in the story. a wolf’s transformation ability is closely related to this setting. As he gets closer to divinity, he can transform into sacred beasts like griffins or unicorns, not ordinary animals.
Therefore, when a wolf transforms into a griffin, you can think of him as being between the stages of Saint and Quasi-Saint, compared to Amorph.
‘If it’s a griffin, it’s definitely possible, but it’s strange.’
Because a griffin’s eyes are superior to Amorph’s hyper-sensory abilities, it can track my traces even from high altitudes. I understand how they chased me on a transport ship, but there’s a fundamental question remaining.
“It seems like a named one, but why is it with the pirates… huh?”
Observing the pirates while activating my camouflage, I turned my head for a moment, and our eyes met with the griffin.
It didn’t seem to notice me and naturally turned its head. However, with Amorph’s unique hyper-sensory perception, I could tell that it had recognized me but pretended not to.
‘I don’t know why it’s acting like that.’
Detailed information can be confirmed by capturing it directly. I cautiously moved towards the Heavy Walkers’ location.
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HEL SCANS
[Translator – Jjescus]
[Proofreader – Demon God’s Disciple]
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