Chapter 220:

Chapter 220:

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‘What happened?’

Mother of the Sky, who had been hiding, lifted her head to confirm that they had left.

Not long after she began monitoring the nest, the Gallagons suddenly started rushing out in large numbers. It was as if they were responding to some urgent matter, quickly flying into the sky and disappearing from sight.

‘Why are the Gallagons... Could it be?’

She looked up at the overcast sky. It was still filled with dark clouds, but something was different. A golden light flickered intermittently within the clouds, which were pouring down snow and hail. It was as though lightning was flowing between the clouds rather than striking the ground.

She realized that something was wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong.

That lightning, or rather the psychic power that resembled lightning, was created by her companion. It was a trump card that her companion would use when fighting a formidable enemy. The fact that they were using this ability meant that her companion was in danger.

She hesitated, wondering whether she should go help, but then made up her mind.

‘Let's do what I can.’

She rose to her feet and dashed toward the cliff where the nest was located.

Thanks to the Gallagons' recent mass exodus, there were no White Gallagons left in the nest. To be precise, there were none except for the captured Ham Ort.

‘If I don't do it now, it'll be hard to rescue her later.’

She had already been informed by the Amorph that Ham Orth was of great value. With the Amorph drawing their attention now, this was the only opportunity to save her.

‘And besides, she's Adhai's biological mother.’

She thought of the small-statured Gallagon. Adhai harboured a mix of love and hate toward the mother who had abandoned her.

If something were to happen to Ham Orth, Adhai would forever lose the chance to resolve those feelings.

‘She can be a bit of a pain sometimes, but...’

Somehow, she didn’t want to see Adhai suffer.

‘If I can just get past the Green Gallagon, I can make it.’

She would use the special power she possessed: “the Camouflage of the Huntress”.

"It’s better to use Wendigo."

Though not the most powerful of the mystical beasts she could transform into, the Wendigo was far more suited for infiltrating enemy lines and rescuing key figures, as she needed to do now.

She also had to consider the possibility of consecutive battles.

Once she used the Camouflage of the Huntress to transform, she wouldn't be able to shift into another mystical beast for a month. To transform again, she would have to revert to her Griffin wolf form and wait a full month. So, given the potential for prolonged conflict, the Wendigo, with a transformation duration of five days, was the better choice.

As she sprinted on all fours, she activated Wendigo.

Then, the black wave-like patterns on her body spread widely, enveloping her entire form. Her skeleton twisted, and the dense muscles that had been anchored across her body receded.

As her skeleton reshaped, her spine straightened, and her hind legs grew thicker and longer than her forelegs. Where she had once run on all fours, she now sprinted on just her two hind legs.

As she ran on two legs, she roughly tore away the remaining fur on her body. Golden fur and chunks of flesh were ripped away, revealing obsidian-black bones and thin layers of skin beneath.

Finally, she tore off the skin on her face. Beneath the torn skin was the black skull of a bird, with massive horns rising majestically from her head. It should have been the head of a stag, but traces of her Griffon form remained.

In the empty eye sockets, her distinct amber eyes glowed like will-o'-the-wisp.

Now transformed into a Wendigo, her body structure was similar to when she took on her humanoid form, suited for bipedal movement. Of course, her appearance was far more eerie and grotesque than in her humanoid form.

As she ran, she glanced down at her body and let out a small sigh.

「This form is really not my favorite.」

Now a Wendigo, Mother of the Sky, began to crawl down the cliff using her hands and feet.

The nest’s inhabitants had not yet detected her intrusion.

The flames created by the cruiser’s main cannon had obscured Odd Grad from view. While he burned in the inferno, I flew toward the cruiser where PS-111 was stationed.

The other Gallagons also targeted the ship that had attacked their leader. The ivory-colored ship began firing its cannons at the approaching enemies.

Medium and small-sized cannons mounted on the ship’s outer walls unleashed a barrage of fire. The purple-glowing bullets were aimed at the flying Gallagons.

While the White Gallagons skillfully dodged, the younger Green Gallagons weren’t as fortunate. A few of the green-scaled Gallagons fell, their wings riddled with holes.

Seeing this, a White Gallagon became enraged and began charging its breath attack. Noticing its tentacle bundles glowing purple, I accelerated and rammed into it.

「!」

The White Gallagon was caught off guard and whipped its head around to face me.

Its psychic breath struck the carapace of my head. The creature must have expected to see me plummet with a hole through my head, but unfortunately for it, reality defied its expectations.

The reflected heat ray pierced through its neck instead. The light in its amethyst-like eyes faded away. I opened my jaws and bit down on the Gallagon’s head where it stood.

‘I’d like to give this to Adhai, but...’

I tried earlier, but their interference was too intense—it’s too difficult here. I tossed aside the headless corpse and prepared my own psychic breath.

As the latent energy within me transformed into psychic power, a voice echoed from the cruiser.

The bubble that formed on top of my cranial shell flew toward him, hidden behind the corpse. This time, he must have sensed the danger in advance, as he hurriedly widened the distance.

Using that opening, I quickly sent another wave to PS-111.

[ZZZZZ ZZZZ (Now. Jump off.)]

A few seconds after my wave reached it, the hangar of the ship opened, revealing PS-111. Without hesitation, it jumped off the platform of the hangar.

The mutant Screamer was free-falling without any support equipment. I adjusted my wings to catch it.

Folding my wings, my body plummeted sharply. Just as I was about to grab it, a second sun appeared in this planet’s atmosphere.

The clouds I had split with the “Divine Spectre” were swept away by a massive explosion, disappearing once again.

I tightly embraced Number 26 and PS-111 with my winged arms. Then, the explosion reached where I was.

The force of the explosion, combined with the speed of my descent, brought me rapidly closer to the ground. Soon after, a violent impact struck my body.

‘What about Odd Grad?’

Despite the pain relief messages flooding my mind, I ignored them and quickly looked up at the sky. Amid the dense clouds, only a blindingly bright orb remained.

And outside that orb, I saw small dots. There weren’t many dots outside the explosion's boundary.

「Black butcher!」 「Butcher!」 「Unforgivable!」 「Unforgivable!」 「Unforgivable!」

A psychic wave so intense that it could be felt even from the ground. The owner of the message, whose vocabulary had become impoverished due to extreme rage, was Odd Grad.

It’s unclear how much damage he and his subordinates sustained, but I suspect it wasn’t insignificant.

Adhai and Nel Germa, who I had warned in advance, quickly escaped the blast radius as soon as they felt the vibrations, but the others weren’t so fortunate.

[ZZ ZZZ ZZZZ ZZ ZZZ (Now we’ll hide and escape. Help me out.)]

「Okay! I’ll help Big kin since you’re hurt!」

Due to the impact of the fall, the bones in my wing arms were shattered, and part of my cranial shell was broken. Fortunately, Number 26 and PS-111 were unharmed, having been protected in my embrace.

Number 26 emerged and inflated its body, using its psychic power to lift me slightly off the ground. Following my instructions, it began digging a tunnel using the Demon Crash.

[ZZZZ ZZZ ZZZ ZZ ZZ ZZZZZ ZZZ (We’ll take the corpses along the way. PS-111 will assist with this.)]

“Understood.”

There are many Gallagon corpses around here that fell during our fight. Even if we gather only some of them, it will help Adhai grow.

PS-111 started to move upon receiving my command, but then suddenly paused.

“I have something to say.”

[ZZ (What is it?)]

“I am modified to withstand atmospheric re-entry without significant issues. What was the meaning behind your recent actions?”

I was momentarily at a loss for words upon hearing its statement. That’s because I didn’t know it either.

‘Wait, now that I think about it, I might’ve heard something like that before....’

As I remained silent, having nothing to say, Number 26 answered in my stead.

「Big kin helped because he didn’t want his friend to get hurt! Friends are like Big kin’s family. Right?」

“Is that so?”

Even though it was an action taken out of ignorance, there was no need to deny it. I quietly kept my mouth shut, and PS-111 bowed its head to me in gratitude.

“Thank you for your consideration, Amorph.”

[ZZ (Alright.)]

After that, we hid in the tunnel Number 26 had dug, out of the enemy’s sight.

An enraged Odd Grad cursed me and fired his psychic breath wildly into the forest. He seemed intent on not stopping until he had killed us all, but surprisingly, his onslaught soon ended.

It appeared something had gone wrong at his nest, as his subordinates hurriedly returned the way they had come.

「Black butcher!」 「I swear by the name of the great Odd Grad」 「You will die by my hand!」

With that final psychic wave, he disappeared along with his subordinates.

‘Did the Mother of the Sky intervene?’

Just as PS-111 had come running upon seeing the “Divine Spectre”, she might have also recognized that I was in danger and launched a diversionary attack.

‘She’ll be fine.’

It would be a lie to say I’m not worried, but she’s a ranker like me. I trust she’ll escape safely.

And so, the first encounter with the black dragon ended.

This time, it ended in what could be called a draw, but next time will be different.

The next time we meet, he will die by my hand.

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