Chapter 369
–
‘Damn it!’
Salman, who was hiding in the clouds, cursed under his breath.
Every time a roar rang out from below, his insides became seared. Because I know what is happening on the ground hidden by clouds.
Two uninvited guests suddenly appear at the site where the anti-matter bomb exploded and are holding onto his ankles.
One was Wolf, who had transformed into a phantom beast, a griffon, and the other was a bizarre monster resembling a screamer.
I already heard from the Empress about the Gryphon Ranker. He’s a slave taken by the shitty Moppak.
It was obvious that the Screamer monster that came along was probably Aimorph’s slave.
In any case, the most dangerous enemy, Eimov himself, was not there. Instead of catching him, he probably chose to hit Magmasaur.
Currently, he is in Simurgh Goddess mode thanks to Psionium. Not only that, but the equipment worn is also of a high standard.
On the other hand, the opponent is at best a Wolff on the edge of the level of deification, a strange monster without the ability to fly. In the case of Wolff, he is a ranker like him, so it may be annoying, but it is not enough to overturn the difference in power.
That’s what I thought, but he was wrong.
The slaves sent by Eimov were by no means easy enemies.
‘I don’t have time to be like this…’
At that time, black light flashed between the dark clouds.
Salman, who knew what that light meant, was very nervous. His wings, shining in emerald and lapis lazuli colors, scattered light and accumulated energy.
Originally, Simurgh was a phantom beast specializing in energy manipulation. Like the Apex creature Skywhale, it can absorb and accumulate energy existing around it and use it for attacks. In particular, the mixed energy cannon fired while in a strong state boasts high power.
Even though I had a powerful weapon in my hands, I couldn’t relax. His eyes, shining like jewels, moved ceaselessly, watching all directions.
「!」
Black light flashes again. Salman’s wings responded quickly.
The energy gathered in the wings was released in the form of a sphere and flew in the direction where the light was shining. There was a sound similar to thunder and the clouds parted.
‘What?!’
But there was nothing there. Salman, aware of this fact, quickly moved on.
As soon as he moved, black lightning flew to where he was. Intense sparks flew from the tips of the tail feathers. I thought I had avoided it in advance, but it was a little too late. Sharp claws wielded by lightning clawed at his shield.
‘shit!’
He is protected by a shield made with energy manipulation abilities and armor with excellent defense, but he cannot feel completely at ease.
Because the opponent has already gone far beyond his expectations.
‘Where did it go?’
The guy disappeared before we knew it. I looked around but couldn’t see anything but clouds.
Gritting his teeth, Salman used the hind legs of a bird of prey to pull out a silver sphere contained in his armor.
The identity of the sphere is a holographic drone. It is a weapon that creates a specific image using an electromagnetic field to deceive the enemy.
The activated holographic drone soon changed into an appearance identical to Salman’s. It seemed as if there were two of them in the clouds.
After creating the bait, he accumulated energy in his wings and took out other drones one after another.
It is generally accepted that small drones have significantly reduced combat power, but this is not the case with the ones he brought out. This is because threatening weapons are hidden inside the drone.
After activating all of the drones, he finally took out an object of a very strange shape.
It was a manual-action pistol made of jewels. It was more of an ornament than a weapon, but he handled it with care, as if he were handling a dangerous bomb.
The moment I tried to hide my hind leg holding the pistol, the enemy swooped down on the bait. The Simurgh’s neck, embodied in an electromagnetic field, was torn by black claws.
The enemy took the bait. Salman’s wings spread wide, emitting charged energy. Due to the energy, the clouds were colored with white light, and the appearance of a black beast was also revealed.
It was a flying beast as large as Salman, who had gone into strongman mode.
The body and wings are covered with hard, sharp feathers that look like they are made of metal, and the appearance of the neck and head resembles a pterosaur. The feathers covering its entire body were all black, but its eyes were bright amber, making it look like a flower lamp shining in the darkness.
Anyone could tell that the entity that destroyed the holographic drone was not a griffon.
The name of that monster, which looks like a mixture of a pterosaur and a bird of prey, is ‘Thunderbird.’ The guy who was a griffon just before the fight has now become another phantom beast and is targeting Salman.
‘The power to transform into another phantom beast!’
Although its appearance was slightly different from the normal thunderbird, that was probably because it was transformed while wearing armor.
What you need to pay attention to is the speed of the thunderbird. It’s fast enough to be in the top five phantom beasts that Wolf can transform into.
Salman widened the distance by firing counterattacks with the energy cannon. The opponent who destroyed the holographic drone followed him.
The Thunderbird is a beast optimized for dogfighting in the air. It overwhelms the Simurgh from the basic speed, and can also use super-light sailing at the level of a metallic gremlin.
However, the reason he can move on par with that guy is thanks to the power he gained from psionium. When you enter a strong state, your physical abilities increase dramatically, allowing you to catch up with the speed of a thunderbird.
What that means is that it needs to be sorted out before the psionium effect wears off.
‘There’s still more left, but…’
There are a few more reinforced psionium ampoules on the chest, but those are really a last resort.
Each time Psionium is used, its duration decreases. I can’t use it here because I need to save it for when I run away from Eimoff.
‘One shot! Just one hit and it’s over.’
Thunderbirds have no special abilities other than being as fast as lightning. The Simurgh’s energy cannon can cause fatal damage to a monster with just one hit.
Moreover, he has a secret weapon.
A pistol held by the hind legs. This is a weapon made by the Cold Blood player under a contract with Vortex One. A colleague from the Returning Sect once gave it to him.
According to my colleague, this item has been modified so that even non-Coldbloods can use it. Weapons received from Vortex One cannot be modified. Perhaps someone he didn’t know changed the weapon with a special privilege.
Anyway, the important thing is that the pistol can be used if a large amount of energy is sacrificed.
And the enemy does not know that fact.
Salman glanced at his enemy who was following him. The black thunderbird flying through the air was quickly approaching him.
‘It’s our policy not to kill fellow players, but in this situation, there’s nothing we can do.’
Having to kill ‘a fellow human being’ was a bit daunting, but the opponent was Aimorph’s slave anyway. They are the same as the ruling faction, full of trash.
For the sake of the faction and his survival, risk factors must be eliminated in advance.
Thinking like that, Salman put energy into his pistol.
–
The first place Seo-ah Choi encountered when she opened her eyes was a wild world.
Extraterrestrial beasts that cannot be found on Earth, harsh environments. Many other factors threaten survival.
The world of space survival was such a harsh place that even she, who had a body stronger than that of a human, felt harsh.
Still, she liked it here.
Here, you don’t have to carry an asthma inhaler or medicine cabinet every time you go out.
There is no need to be hurt by others’ bullying and ridicule.
A new body, a new family, and a new name.
The life of ‘Mother of Heaven’, not Choi Seo-ah, was happy.
Until I lost my entire family due to a past relationship.
After that day, she decided. I will make sure something like this never happens again.
Light flashed in the dark sky. The vibration of the air that follows later. It was a similar phenomenon to when lightning struck.
However, the Mother of Heaven knows well that that light is much more dangerous than real lightning.
The identity of the halo of light is an energy bullet. An enemy hidden in the clouds is firing energy bullets.
She quickly folded one of her wings. The body, shining with black luster, was tilted to one side.
Enemy fire continued behind her as she moved quickly through the air and wind. Only a small portion of the pouring energy bullets barely reached the tips of her feathers, and all the rest missed.
「Tch!」
You can feel the waves of thought left behind by the enemy you are fighting, Wolf Ranker Salman.
I don’t know if the other person knows, but the Mother of Sky was also famous as an excellent pilot in the game. If you were to rank them based solely on their fighter piloting skills, they would be in the top three. There was a reason why Amov asked her to teach Adhaj the art of flying.
In the meantime, I didn’t have many opportunities to show my skills, so I ended up just assisting Adhaya or Eimov, but not today.
The third phantom beast, ‘Thunder Bird’, which can transform into the ‘Hunt God’s Converted Shell’, is a beast specialized in speed combat in the air. Thanks to this, I was able to demonstrate flying skills worthy of the name ‘Mother of the Sky.’
She flew as if in a storm of mixed embers and light.
Her flight is not as graceful as Adhaj or Gallagon, nor as awe-inspiring in size as Aimorph.
Her specialty was moving as efficiently as possible, taking advantageous positions, and quickly putting pressure on her opponents. Even now, he was narrowly avoiding the incoming energy bullets and gradually narrowing the distance to the enemy.
The opponent must have decided that a barrage of energy bullets alone would not work, so he brought out another means of attack. Objects smaller than a halo of light flew toward her through the dark clouds.
It is small in size, not exceeding 1m, and moves as fast as a fired bullet. It is a small combat drone. Its combat power is much lower than that of anti-ship drones, but that doesn’t mean you should let down your guard.
He already tried to trick her once with a holographic drone. They must have done something wrong with that drone.
As expected, one of the drones sprayed a bunch of powder made up of small particles. The powder, which looked like luminous sand, moved as if it were alive.
In reality, that is not sand, but a group of creatures as small as a grain of sand. The name is ‘Mossfly’. It is a biological weapon created by genetic manipulation at Megacorp.
When a swarm of moss flies attaches to a target, it creates a fungus that slows down the opponent’s movement. In addition, moss flies have the property of emitting light themselves, making them excellent targets for enemies attacked by them.
Drones followed the flying luminous clouds, or rather, the swarms of moss flies, and approached the Mother of Heaven.
The enemy must have been playing a game in order to reach a conclusion here.
‘After all, we don’t have time, right?’
I already knew that Salman, who had transformed into Simurgh, was nervous.
His specifications were much higher than I had guessed based on the information I heard from Isabel. Being able to enter the state of a strong god means that you are close to the ending.
Energy bullets fired by the River God Simurgh can cause fatal damage to Aimorph. If she were to be hit once, she would be in a dying state.
Has an enemy with those specs moved passively so far? There is only one reason.
‘I guess they used improved psionium.’
He is the one who manages the equipment of the returning faction. It was clear that the psionium had been stolen from the ruling faction, or had been obtained through some kind of method.
‘He won’t have much time left.’
More than five minutes have already passed since the fight started. If the effect ends and Amorph comes, you’ll want to get out quickly because it’s a big problem.
‘good.’
Currently on the ground, PS-111 is biding its time against the huge Mountain Crawler. I told him to back off if it was dangerous, but he would never do that.
‘Let’s see the end here.’
As she ran away, she quickly folded one wing. Due to air resistance and acceleration, her body was tilted in the direction where her wings were folded. With a sharp turn, the pointed tip of her beak pointed towards the drone and the swarm of moss flies.
In that state, she accelerated towards her enemies. As the distance got closer, several drones spit out small spider-shaped machines. It was Star Union’s only class weapon, ‘Blood River’.
Light twinkles in the clouds behind them. This phenomenon occurs when the Simurgh’s wings recharge energy. The plan is to weaken it with Moss Fly or Blood Reaver and then snipe it.
The remaining distance from the flying moss flies and blood rivers was only a few meters. After just a few seconds, she becomes completely helpless.
But no threat could shake her concentration.
Everything flows slowly, as if time has stopped. Just before touching the moss fly, her body dives. This is because air resistance was minimized by folding the wings and straightening the neck and legs.
As she descends and overcomes the swarm of moss flies, the mechanical vampire, Blood Reaver, intercepts her.
Just before Blood Reaver’s metal claws grabbed her feathers and body, she adjusted the angle of both wings. Then, the body riding on the wind made a big rotation. Because of the wind pressure that occurred at this time, the mechanical vampires failed to capture her.
Not only that, when it turned its body, it used its hind legs to catch the Blood River upside down. And then he threw it at another flying drone. Along with the explosion, various harmful substances and weapons contained within the drone flew out.
The Mother of Heaven half-opened her black wings and powerfully pushed out the air. Her body accelerated like lightning and quickly moved away from the explosion.
She quickly broke through the enemy’s barrage and jumped into the black cloud.
「What?!」
Salman, who was hiding and accumulating energy, was staring at her blankly with his mouth open. This was because her movements clearly deviated from his common sense.
“Rain, damn it! “This is a scam!”
Light bullets are fired from the enemy’s wings. In front of the rain of light, she pointed her wingtips backwards and straightened her body. She minimized the area hit and narrowly avoided the barrage of energy bullets.
Now the distance has become close enough to clearly see the other person’s face.
A man wearing golden armor with the head of a canine beast widens his eyes. There were two types of emotions in those eyes.
One was the fear of an incomprehensible situation. The other one…
“I’m dying!”
The guy who hasn’t given up yet takes out something with his back foot.
The object grasped by the pointed toes was a pistol made of jewels.
There is still quite a distance between him and her. And she has no means of ranged attack at all.
‘I guess you think so.’
The original color of the thunderbird’s feathers is silver.
Nevertheless, the reason her body is black is not because of special privileges, but because she is wearing some type of armor. This is Vortex One, an armor made using ‘Ring of Agony’ as a material.
A black arm reminiscent of Vortex One’s arm rose above her wings. The arm was holding a golden-colored spear.
The black arm threw a javelin at the enemy.
Salman’s pistol was later aimed at her head.
The priest’s golden spear flies through the air like a fired arrow.
The moment the spear entered the target’s chest, the claw pulled the trigger of the pistol.
「Kk?!」
「Kk!」
A thought wave filled with pain stayed in the air and disappeared. One of the owners of the thought fell into a cloud as dark as an abyss.
The being floating above the cloud of fluttering cinders was a bird as black as pitch black.
“Watch next episode”