Chapter 204

Chapter 204

HEL SCANS

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The cult battleship landed in a forest far from where I had set up my nest. The area around the nest was not suitable for landing due to the terrain.

After landing, I sent eight survivors outside the situation room to clean up the scattered bodies.

Inside the situation room, I inserted the Bloodsucking tentacles and sucked in the bodies one by one. That’s when I noticed something strange.

‘No knowledge manager?’Reêad latest novels at novelhall.com

The knowledge manager is the core officer and chief technician of the cult battleship.

As a species using psychic powers called Psychic Power, the cult can transmit records and information stored in computers to individuals. Therefore, the cult does not have a central information processing agency like MegaCorp’s data archive or StarUnion’s Starlink database. The Prophet Assembly, one of the Empire’s three major power institutions, plays a role similar to this.

Normally, a knowledge manager must be on board a battleship.

While it’s common for patrol ships not to carry them, they do board medium and large warships above destroyers.

However, among the corpses laid out in the situation room, there was no knowledge manager.

[ZZZZ ZZZ ZZ ZZZ (Where’s the knowledge manager?)]

「Eh? I subdued it as an ice spirit earlier. It should be inside the situation room.」

The Mother of the Sky answered my question with a wave of my attack. Currently, she was in another part of the battleship looking for equipment worth taking as loot. Despite hearing her response, I searched through the corpses again, but still couldn’t find it.

Physically, the knowledge manager looks just like an ordinary cult member, but with a special badge attached to their clothes. It’s shaped like the eye of a cult, often referred to as Illuminati in the community.

‘Could they be mixed up among the bodies? I can’t find them.’

As I rummaged through each corpse, PS-111, who was circling the computer, asked me.

[What are you looking for?]

[ZZZZ ZZ ZZZ ZZZ ZZ (A corpse with an eye-shaped badge)]

[I ate that corpse before Amorph came.]

[ZZZZ ZZZ ZZ ZZZ (You ate it? When?)]

[Middle Baby was working on the computer. I didn’t realize it was an important target. I apologize.]

PS-111 bowed and apologized.

‘Why is it acting like this when it usually doesn’t?’

Although it always spoke of energy supply, it had never touched my prey before. While it was a special individual, it was still controlled by machines. I thought the chance of making a mistake was low.

Moreover, as always, the voice was a monotonous female voice mixed with mechanical sounds, but it felt subtly different.

‘Hmm.’

I watched it. There was no change in the face of PS-111, a creature composed half of machines. However, both its voice and expression felt different.

If I had to express the feeling that permeated the white face...

‘Emotions?’

It had shown a sulky appearance to Number 26 before. At that time, it felt artificially expressed by the machine in a specific situation.

But now it seemed much more human.

‘A human-like machine.’

It was a new Screamer model and a commander-level creature, so it had relatively high autonomy. Therefore, it was uncertain whether this change was due to its design or whether it was evolving into a new existence.

‘This aspect is similar to Number 26.’

When I first met it, I had similar thoughts. At that time, I decided to keep an eye on him, which ultimately proved to be very helpful to me.

‘Let’s watch a little more.’

If it thinks it can deceive me, there are many better ways than awkwardly trying to deceive me like this. It must not intend to harm me.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to overlook PS-111’s “mistake.”

[ZZZZ ZZZ ZZZ (Be more careful next time)]

[Thank you.]

With that, I finished and sucked up the bodies again with the Bloodsucking tentacles. After cleaning up all the bodies shortly afterwards, I went outside the battleship with PS-111.

「The big baby and the friend came out.」

「Why did it take so long?」

[ZZZZ ZZZ ZZ ZZZ (I had something to do for a moment)]

When I came out, the Mother of the Sky and Number 26 were waiting for us.

The Mother of the Sky had a leash attached to the Demolisher and wore a Champion Shield on her left wrist. She resembled a Temple Guardian but did not wear a Gallagon Scale Suit.

Wolves cannot wear normal armor apart from special materials due to their transformation abilities. This is why when transformed, the body doubles in size and the shape changes, so ordinary clothes would quickly be damaged.

「Adult」 「appearance」 「change」 「real」 「appearance」 「much」 「cool」 「strength」 「powerful!」

Since she had brought the corpse of the Snake King with difficulty last time, it had always been that cry. Ham Ort knew exactly who Adhai meant by ‘adult’.

At the time they met Adhai, the ugly kin was also present.

Adhai remembered the ‘adult’ as a grotesque being so bizarrely shaped that it was unclear if it truly belonged to their kin. It communicated not in the usual way their kin did, making it seem like another species altogether.

Of course, the majestic horns on its head were not unattractive, but that was all. It was small in stature and did not appear particularly strong. That such a feeble being was accompanying Ham Ort’s daughter was a miracle in itself.

「Kin」 「appearance」 「unchangeable」 「Ham Orts daughter」 「mistake」

「No」 「Ham Ort」 「wrong」 「don’t know」 「at all」 「don’t know」

Seeing Adhai speak so bitterly, Ham Ort felt an urge to strike her but restrained herself forcibly. She threw the wing fragments in front of Adhai.

Grabbing the wing fragment with her forepaw and starting to chew it with her tentacles, Adhai was informed by Ham Ort.

「Eat it」 「After eating」 「we will go.」

「Where to go?」

Eating the owner of the Red Forest right now was impossible. Therefore, she needed to advance and deal with what was to come.

「King of the Sky」 「Hunt」

「King of the Sky?」

「Ham Ort」 「Ham Orts daughter」 「go together」

If she were to devour the King of the Sky, her daughter would ascend to a level akin to hers in an instant. So Ham Ort decided to take the gamble.

If her daughter truly was their savior.

She would achieve her goal.

***

Inside the geothermally heated cave, bubbling with activity.

The floor was strewn with all sorts of precious minerals and gemstones, while the walls and ceiling were adorned with fruits emitting a fragrant aroma.

Amidst one of the most extravagant caves seldom seen in nature lay the black-colored owner.

Although his long body curled into a circle as he slept, he still emitted a considerable sense of awe.

Six curved horns sprouted from his head, and his wings were as massive as rain-clouds pouring down. His body and legs were tightly packed with sturdy muscles, and his talons were sharp as lightning bolts in a storm.

He was none other than the Black King, the great Odd Grad.

As usual, he supported himself with the geothermal heat while deep in slumber. However, today was slightly different. Despite clearly being asleep, his tail twitched uncomfortably.

Moments later, he raised his head sharply. As his massive body moved, the entire cave shook violently.

‘What was that just now?’

Odd Grad’s eyes, initially filled with uncertainty, gradually regained their composure. He had just had a nightmare.

In his dream, he saw it.

His kin rushed at him, attempting to slit his throat.

He vividly recalled even the sight of his head falling off mid-flight. Yet the entity that cut his throat remained blurred.

Whether it was large or small, nothing was clear. The only certainty was that the creature’s body was black.

‘...The future?’

Odd Grad possessed a very special ability.

He could foresee the future. Whether through prophetic dreams or visions, he could glimpse what was to come.

After realizing his precognitive ability, he always maneuvered to avoid ominous futures. Without that, it would have been impossible for him to survive this long.

At present, there was only one entity capable of shedding its black scales.

The white female who stood against him.

Odd Grad had been implementing measures to ensure his kin “did not grow.” For some unknown reason, this detestable female had found a loophole in his unknown condition.

The future shown in his visions had yet to materialize. Reflecting on past precedents, it would still be some time before dreams become reality. Therefore, the white female was likely still mid-transformation.

Odd Grad summoned his companion from outside. When the white companion entered, he issued his command.

「Odd Grad」 「commands」 「kin」 「prepare」 「eliminate」 「traitors」

The waiting was over.

It was time to execute the traitors he had long ignored.

HEL SCANS

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