Chapter 184
When I crawled up from the depths, white pellets began to fall from the dark sky. It was the return of the quiet snowstorm. Amidst the falling snow, we eyed each other.
“Why? Am I not allowed to be satisfied?”
The enemy player mocked me with a relaxed expression. Despite the swirling snow, the golden figure shimmered brilliantly, steadfastly protecting its summoner.
Without reacting to his mockery, I reflected on our recent clash.
‘That enigmatic particle.’
It was certainly not a psychic power. If it were, there would have been slight reflection from my psychic reflection gloves.
‘Furthermore, its size is not constant.’
The size of the golden figure was barely between 5m to 6m, but it was deceptive. When it swung its arm like a sword just now, its length extended considerably.
Or rather, as it swung its arm, the arrangement of the golden particles composing it changed, transforming into a thin, elongated blade-like form.
‘It looks like a blade, but it’s actually under his control.’
In other words, the golden figure could freely alter its form. Such a concept of summoning creatures didn’t exist in the game.
‘It might be a newly acquired ability, or…’
Perhaps it was the effect of some bonus he possessed, obtained by killing someone just as I had obtained the ‘Plunderer’s Irregular Polyhedron’ by killing Muriel.
‘At least two, if not more.’
I tried to gain insight from the enemy player, hoping to glean something useful, but there was nothing concrete. Just a message indicating that there was information included that couldn’t be verified, much like when I saw Muriel.
The only information I could gather was the enemy player’s name.
‘Jason.’
The fact that his real name didn’t appear was also similar to Muriel. Even with the predator sense triggered underground, his name didn’t appear correctly. Moreover, it appeared sporadically amidst heavy noise.
‘Is it because a player is the opponent?”‘
I didn’t know why it was happening like this, but I’d have to think about that later.
Having organised my thoughts in a short time, I moved again. Blunt claws sprouted around my tail and lower body, transforming into bone-like spikes that struck fiercely at the snow and ice.
My body, spanning over 100m, surged forward like a storm. In an instant, I approached Jason, the cult player, and struck him with my combat arm.
“Hmph.”
Jason countered my attack with a scoff, his golden form acting as a shield. When his shield met mine, the bone spikes attached to my arm snapped and broke.
“Useless, isn’t it?”
Holding his left arm identically, Jason flicked his right arm. As the summoner moved, the golden figure attempted to attack me once again.
A golden sword sliced through my head armor. As the sword met my head, intense sparks flew.
Due to the tail end crab claws and the head armor boasting the highest defense on my body, it wasn’t easily severed. Though I couldn’t prevent the wounds that went several centimeters deep.
“Until when will you hold out…”
As he adjusted his posture again, I pulled out all six corrosive tendrils from my back. The tendrils, like snakes emerging from a jar, entangled the golden figure.
With the tendrils still attached, I exerted force, pulling the figure. Connected to the figure, Jason’s body momentarily staggered.
Flying towards the swaying figure, I wiped my eyes covered in snow. At the end of my tail, the crab claw opened wide.
Due to the bone beast, the size of the claw was roughly 10m. If caught by claws as sturdy as those of the Ice Horror’s armor, even the Dragon Slayer set wouldn’t escape.
“…you thought?”
However, Jason remained calm. The moment he opened his mouth, the golden figure disintegrated into particles, slipping through my tendrils.
In the blink of an eye, the reconstituted figure swiftly formed a shield, blocking my claw. Unlike other parts, the shield-shaped left arm bore a deeper shade of gold.
‘That was easy.’
And the golden figure retaliated like a fencer extending their sword. I lifted my head to evade the attack aimed at the auxiliary organ below my jaw, flying towards me.
But his attack wasn’t over yet. Jason, who had been still until now, propelled himself off the ground and leaped into the air.
As the shield enveloping him disappeared, my tail brushed past under his feet, and he stepped on the air like stairs, rising up towards my chest.
Compared to me, Jason was significantly smaller, so there wasn’t much to worry about, but the problem was the summoned creature clinging to his back.
A huge blade formed from the reconstituted golden figure behind him flew towards me to slice through my body.
‘Oh, no!’
It was difficult to dodge in this situation. Quickly, I spread out the aerial membrane attached to my combat arms.
Originally meant for aerial use, the aerial membrane wasn’t suitable for flight above ground. However, with my increased size, the aerial membranes attached to each of my six arms had also expanded. With wings spanning tens of meters each, it was impossible not to lift my body momentarily.
With the membranes spread out, I vigorously swung my arms. A strong wind swept beneath me, lifting my body upwards.
“Agh!”
Jason blinked in the flying wind. The blade that had been about to cut through my abdomen dispersed into golden particles in an instant.
“Trickster!”
With his shout, the blade that had lost its momentum instantly returned to its original form and lightly grazed my exoskeleton. In the meantime, I soared backwards, swinging my tail forward as if sweeping a broom.
I had expected him to form a shield like before, but this time, he took a different action. As Jason spread his left hand wide, a formless energy field appeared, pushing my tail back.
It was the psychokinetic power technique, ‘Reflection,’ which reflected the opponent’s attack. Despite the tremendous recoil from the energy reflected by my tail, I utilized that recoil. My body was pushed backward by the reflected energy flow.
As I landed on the snowy ground, a gigantic spear made of golden particles flew towards me. I intercepted the persistent attack aimed at my auxiliary device with corrosive tendrils.
Due to the tendrils, the trajectory of the distorted spear deviated, turning into small pellets of light before returning to its owner’s body.
“You stubborn bastard. Do you have nothing else to do besides running away?”
“…”
“Why so silent? You, the esteemed 5th rank in the rankings? Huh?”
Jason sneered at me, but I didn’t respond.
There was something more important than that.
‘That just now?’
In just a few minutes, I had obtained two very important pieces of information.
‘He lost his form when he blinked.’
In the wind generated when I soared into the air, Jason blinked for a brief moment. During that moment, the golden figure had fragmented into particles.
Literally in the blink of an eye, but I didn’t miss it.
‘That form is affected by his senses.’
It seems particularly important for constructing his form visually. Perhaps if I manage to evade his sight, actions like shooting blades or throwing spears would be nullified.
‘And there’s a cooldown for changing his form.’
After blinking, the reconstituted golden figure tried to attack me with a blade again but failed. Right after that, my tail attempted to strike him, but he transformed it into a shield.
‘Unlike before, he used Reflection to block it.’
This part is still not certain. Whether he set a trap or acted without much thought remains to be excluded.
‘Let’s experiment once.’
I spread out the aerial membrane widely and vigorously swept the ground. The ground in front of me cracked, and ice fragments and piled-up snow began to scatter in the air, covering my path.
And I started running in the opposite direction without a cover.
“Trying to run away from here with no cover?”
Escape? Of course not.
Due to me, the terrain of the icy plain became rugged, making it difficult to find a place to hide. Moreover, it’s all covered in pure white snow unlike my jet-black body, so there’s no way to conceal myself.
‘But that’s okay.’
From now on, my actions should appear as if I’m trying to hide my body.
“As expected, the little Amorph. Noticed it quickly.”
In the snow blanketing the ground, Jason briefly licked his lips. It hadn’t been long since we fought, yet he already identified the weakness of the advantage he used.
The identity of the golden figure connected to his spine is a cluster of tiny particle-like parasitic organisms. The organisms are so small, and they are closely interconnected, making the entire cluster appear as one entity.
Usually stored inside Jason’s body, they emerge connected to his spine whenever he activates his advantage, forming the golden figure as it is now.
In essence, Jason is a living nest of parasitic organisms resembling golden particles, no different from a brain. Therefore, his cognitive abilities are greatly influenced by them.
What he doesn’t see, the parasitic organisms cannot see, and what he doesn’t know, the parasitic organisms also do not know.
“To catch that in such a short moment. Truly a madman.”
Strictly speaking, it could be considered a weakness, but Jason wasn’t overly concerned. He’s a powerful psychic power user, positioned almost as a priest in the Cult Empire. He has plenty of means to enhance his cognitive abilities and senses.
Standing there, Jason cast psychic techniques to enhance his senses. Then, information about where I moved rapidly filled his mind: my diminishing energy, the psionic waves dissipating somewhere like thin threads. Jason didn’t miss even the smallest piece of information.
“Psychic waves… Trying to call the slave?”
I already know that he considers the Mother of the Sky as a slave, having seen it through the eyes of a temple guardian.
“Come to think of it, that griffin Wolf, could it be a player?”
Considering the circumstances, it’s highly likely that Wolf is a player, as per the message left by Muriel before her death.
“A player.”
If it’s a man, they’re useless except for the advantage, so kill them right away, and if it’s a woman…
“It’s been a while since I had a Wolf slave.”
Deciding to play around with it for a bit before killing, Jason leisurely followed the traces left by Amorph.
Though the traces left in the heavy snowfall were almost gone, it was no hindrance to him. Psychic powers don’t just disappear easily even in heavy snow.
He activated psychic power techniques for defense like Reflection, then raised his arms high. The golden figure’s sword attached to his back expanded to a size of tens of meters behind him.
“That should be enough, right?”
Having increased the figure’s size to probably over one-third of my body, Jason swung his arms toward the snowdrift. The huge golden sword, enlarged to be visible even from the distant mountain range, descended onto the snow.
With a deafening sound, several fragments fell into the air.
Through his enhanced senses, he could feel that among those fragments were flesh pieces from my body. Looking at the fallen pieces, the destroyed area looked like one of his arms due to the gigantic finger joints rolling on the snow, easily exceeding 5 meters.
“Hmm?”
Seeing that the debris was larger than expected, Jason was taken aback. Even if its size was around 100m, its fingers weren’t supposed to be that big.
“What’s… that big… Wait?”
Sensing something amiss, Jason quickly rolled back and lifted himself up. At that moment, something huge emerged from beneath the snowdrift where he stood.
“Oh, Shit!
For an instant, Jason thought two small mountains had sprouted beneath his feet. Astonishingly, it was a mouth, large enough to easily surpass dozens of meters.
The jaws, which had been wide open from side to side under the snow until now, began to close to swallow him. It was like a trap set with leaves closing in, only this one was operational.
There was no time to activate the shield. Despite already casting Reflection, it was impossible to block the enormous jaws closing in from all directions.
In the end, the only way was to retreat. He kicked the air and swiftly moved backward.
Narrowly dodging the closing jaws like a trap in an ancient tomb, Jason barely escaped. However, he couldn’t avoid the gigantic mouth that easily surpassed dozens of meters without a scratch. Just before escaping, one of his legs was grazed by the teeth, leaving a deep scratch.
“Argh!”
It’s not just a scratch; each tooth is larger than him. Since such massive teeth passed by his leg, it’s more accurate to say his leg was torn than just scratched.
“You bastard!”
Thanks to the Dragon Slayer set he wore, his wounds healed quickly, but it didn’t eliminate the pain. However, Jason hadn’t felt such intense pain in a long time, so he cursed vehemently.
As if in response to the curse, the owner of the mouth in front of him began to slowly rise.
“You damn Amorph… Wh-what?”
For a moment, he thought a solar eclipse had occurred on this planet, but it wasn’t.
It was a shadow created by some creature, not the moon’s shadow.
The owner of the shadow covering the snowy plain was a creature he knew well.
The creature he detested the most….
The monster he didn’t even want to encounter in his nightmares.
The Amorph, with a size exceeding hundreds of meters, roared in front of him.
