065

Ep. 65

–

"Did you like your meal? "Denver."

"It's not something I like. As expected, the word T&C comes out of nowhere. Especially the main dish. "It was the first time I tried this dish."

"It is an oven-baked dish featuring local pigs as the main dish. "It is characterized by rich meat quality thanks to being raised through pure pasture in an environment most similar to the Earth."

"Huh, I thought all pigs were extinct?"

"The exploration team under my command succeeded in cultivating the seeds that were obtained with great difficulty in the family. "We plan to introduce it to the market under a new brand in the next few years."

"Haha, great. "I definitely want to buy it when it comes on the market."

The T&C family is a leader in colonial development among Noble Capitals. T&C's power comes from resources coming from countless colonies.

Thanks to these conditions, T&C was able to secure its influence in a way that differentiated it from other families.

The politics of cooking. That was their way of influencing the upper class of megacorps.

They have over hundreds of colony planets. This means that a variety of food ingredients can be obtained from planets with all kinds of environments.

As a result, the T&C family almost monopolized the market for high-end food ingredients targeting the upper class.

Of course, if you look at the food supply ratio within Megacorp, the Eugene family, which produces genetically modified foods, is much higher. Since Eugene is responsible for the diet of all low-income people in the Megacorp area, it has no choice but to be like that.

However, the profits gained from maintaining good relationships with the upper class by actively using fresh and rare food ingredients were by no means small.

Actually that was true. After Denver finished eating the soiree food, he was able to see Lila again.

'I deliberately chose this dish to suit my taste.'

Rooms and cuisine. Everything is Denver's taste.

With this level of information, it is unlikely that the board of directors will make a big mistake. Denver felt relieved and picked up the crispy pork skin with his fork.

Just as he was about to put it in his mouth, the door to the banquet hall opened and two people came in.

'huh?'

"Is there a problem?"

The people who came in were Lila's secretary and Deputy Director Vickers. The two almost ran towards their respective owners.

"Your Highness, this is an urgent report."

"Urgent report?"

"We lost contact with the four knights who went to protect William."

Denver's face hardened at the vice-captain's words.

'All four people got hit?'

The Silver Lion Knights are stationed on Edgerton's flagship and are a unit dedicated to ship defense and assault on enemy ships.

For any fleet, protecting the flagship is the most important. Therefore, it can be said that the capabilities of the Silver Lion Order, which protects the flagship, are at the highest level among the land forces possessed by the Egerton family.

An enemy that has annihilated four warriors belonging to the family's best special forces unit is by no means an easy enemy.

"…What are the follow-up measures?"

"I'm already drunk. The remaining 20 members were dispatched. "Jacob was in charge."

"hmm. "Return the members who were sent outside immediately, right?"

Denver, who was calmly giving instructions to Vickers, suddenly stopped talking.

The look on Lila's face, who was sitting on the other side of the table and receiving the report just like him, was strange. Her face, which had always maintained her composure, was very distorted.

After hearing the secretary's emergency report in full, she barely maintained her composure and called Denver.

"Denver. "A report just came out that the Silver Lion Knights stormed into a hospital and brutally butchered citizens."

"…what?"

"I'll show you."

As Lila gestured, the secretary manipulated the terminal pad to display a hologram screen on the wall of the banquet hall.

"This is Sarah, a Daily Mars field reporter. "I am now in front of the second hospital in the commercial district where the tragedy occurred."

The screen displayed by the secretary showed a reporter standing in front of the hospital and reporting.

'no way?'

Denver looked at Vickers and he nodded slightly. That was the hospital where William was admitted.

Meanwhile, a reporter brought out a new person. The other person was a man wearing a patient uniform.

"Please explain what on earth is going on inside."

"I was injured while working and was hospitalized. I came out at night to smoke a cigarette, but four people in strange clothes came in and destroyed the hospital." "You mean

people in armor?"

"That's right!" Armor! The 'beep-' bastards in armor were shooting something, and the wall that was fine was broken and the 'beep-' person was 'beep-' and 'beep–' It was very 'beep-' and 'beep–' intense!" ｣

｢ Thank you for your kind explanation. What does it mean that 'those in armor' massacred civilians in the T&C Special Trade Center just a few days before the board meeting? What on earth are the managers of this city doing? "More details…"

Halfway through, Lila gestured that that was enough. The hologram turned off and only silence remained in the banquet hall.

The silence was broken when Lila spoke first.

"Denver. "I don't think the Edgerton family would have done something like that for no reason."

"…."

"However, this issue is not just a problem for the Edgerton family. I am the manager of this city. You deserve to know what's going on in your city. So please tell me."

The idea was to reveal everything you know before seeing blood.

Because of Denver's favorable attitude during the soiree, she now knows that Denver is friendly to T&C. That's why I politely asked for your cooperation.

'The problem is that we don't know either.'

In the first place, knights were dispatched because of the secret surrounding William. Since all of the members sent to retrieve William are dead, it is unlikely that William is alive either.

Since the only person who knows the truth is dead, it is difficult to say that Denver's current position is good even with empty words. If we were not careful, a war could have broken out not only between the board of directors but also between TNC and Edgerton.

'I guess I should tell you what I know first.'

Denver sighed and briefly explained the situation he knew and the orders he had given to his men.

"Does that mean the police officer named William has something to do with this?"

"yes."

"…Not long ago, I heard that an unidentified smuggling organization escaped in an attempt to smuggle Mountain Crawlers in the port district. "It might have had something to do with it."

"Let me check for myself whether the culprit is a mountain crawler or not. "Vice-captain."

"yep."

"Call Jacob. "I need to figure out the situation, so turn on the camera."

"All right."

The vice-captain contacted Jacob through the communicator and then operated the terminal pad just as Lila's secretary did.

"Loyalty. "Jacob of the Knights of the Silver Lion meets the leader."

The face of a handsome black man appeared on the marble wall of the banquet hall. His shoulder armor had a small drawing of a woman in a bikini.

"The general manager of the special trade hub is watching. Synchronize the cameras and report the situation."

"yes. Synchronization complete. We are now approaching the target 2nd hospital."

｢Article 2 Tennessee synchronization completed. Arrived at the back door. ｣

｢Article 3 Ferris synchronization completed. "No problem."

When Jacob manipulated the helmet, the camera attached to the helmet and Vice-Captain Vickers' terminal were linked.

The hologram revealed a hospital with rising smoke.

–

'The second group entered through the back door and the third group was waiting.'

Those wearing silver armor were surrounding the hospital with agile movements. As if he wasn't an elite, he showed off his movements on a completely different level from the enemies he had met before.

If I were in the hospital, I would have had a hard time.

'But I'm already outside.'

Now I have already left the hospital and am observing the enemies from atop the nearby press building. The jaw's auxiliary organ is constantly collecting information such as the enemy's movements and conversations.

Although there is no significant change in appearance, the auxiliary organ, which is much upgraded in function, can even detect conversations that enemies are having through a communicator.

Thanks to what they told me in detail, I know where the enemy will enter and how they plan to attack me.

"Enter Group 1!"

"Enter Group 2!"

After confirming that they were entering, I crawled down the wall. There is no one inside the building because all the reporters rushed out to the front of the hospital looking for a scoop.

After getting down to the ground, I ran towards the station.

There was a loud noise when my foot hit the sidewalk block, but it was very noisy because the police, reporters, and even an ambulance and fire truck were present in the area. No one noticed my footsteps.

"group 1. Confirm that a fire broke out inside the building. Article 2. Switch to a vibration detection system instead of heat detection."

Article 2. Conversion complete."

Article 3. "Standing."

Even while I was running, the auxiliary agency did not stop collecting information. Among the countless pieces of information, only the parts of the enemy's communication at the hospital are being extracted and relayed to me.

'There's not much time left.'

The duration of metal absorption still has some time, but the symbol of hunting is problematic. Out of the 10-minute time limit, I spent roughly 8 minutes at the hospital. The remaining time is at most 2 minutes.

'You must kill as many knights at the station as possible until the effect is lifted.'

The Edgerton Knights are all genetically modified humans. It may not contain a huge amount of genes like the Hulk Mutant or Sihyeon Eugene, but it still contains more useful genes than an ordinary citizen.

'After all this time, I have to pull out the mulberries.'

You can only be called a true Amorph if you suck up everything the enemy has.

Thanks to the symbol of hunting, the time it took to get from the hospital to the station was extremely short.

You can see six drivers standing guard in front of the station.

The enemies haven't noticed me running yet. I decided to use my newly acquired ranged attack method.

｢Barb-shooting tail: The tail develops an organ that fires deadly barbs. Replaces spinous projectile organs.

*P.S.: Unlike the hedgehog, it would be nice for Aimorph not to have to worry about dilemmas.

My tail now looks a lot different than before. The tip of the tail was covered with long thorny hairs reminiscent of a cactus or a porcupine with dense thorns.

This was thanks to the fusion of the spine hair characteristics and the spiny bone firing organ, resulting in new characteristics.

'Unlike the spine projectile, this one fires multiple shots.'

If the previous one was a sniper rifle, this one can be said to be a machine gun. Its penetrating power is lower than that of thorn bone, but it has the characteristic of digging into the wound when it gets stuck in the opponent's body. In addition, it can be applied as a neurotoxin, so it can be said to be an effective weapon when fighting multiple enemies.

Now that the spine projectile characteristic has disappeared, the left forearm has returned to the same appearance as other combat arms, but it is not a disappointment. Because both characteristics have their pros and cons.

In situations like now where multiple people must be subdued at the same time, a tail that fires thorn hairs is more necessary.

I didn't stop running and whipped my tail loudly. The dense thorn hairs at the end of the tail flew towards the enemies.

"group 1. Team 3, who is on guard, please watch."

"This is Team 3. "I can't see anything in particular… Wow!"

Dozens of thorn hairs as long as a hand's span were stuck in the knights' bodies. The enemies were startled and reacted to my attack.

"The enemy! Everyone counterattacked…what?"

"Ooh, it's not moving!"

"The thorn is stuck in the joint!"

Thanks to the excellent defensive power of the advanced reinforced suit, the thorn hairs could only get stuck in their armor and not penetrate it. Instead, it gets stuck in the joints and only restricts the enemy's movement.

'Because the thorn hairs are quite hard.'

Of course, considering the power of the advanced reinforced suits worn by the enemies, it is only a matter of buying time, but that is enough.

'You said you haven't changed the heat detection vision yet, right?'

Group 1 2 entered the burning building and changed the surveillance system to a different type, but they were not.

I opened my mouth wide. The ignition organ inside pulsated and soon a huge amount of flame poured out of my throat.

"Aaaah!"

"He shoots fire!"

Magmagator's characteristic fire breath blasted at the knights. Black smoke rose from the fire in front of the station and penetrated into the station.

"Everyone change your perspective!"

As expected from a veteran, the enemy responded calmly even when both movement and vision were blocked.

Of course, I am not one to wait for the enemy to prepare.

I rushed to the driver who was in charge of communications at the front. The knight, who took the charge with all his might, was unable to even scream and his entire body was shattered.

"This is Article 1. Article 3 Answer! "What's going on?"

"This is Rix! "Ferris got hit!"

Since there was not much time left, I picked up the knight's dismembered body and immediately put it in my mouth.

Meanwhile, another driver who had switched on the surveillance system pointed his bolter at me.

"100 million?!"

However, the plasma bullet did not hit me as he intended.

There is one reason why I shot the flames.

Blocking the enemy's view.

The enemy here does not simply refer to the knights in front of me.

The 'enemies' I mentioned also include cameras installed within the station.

"Big baby, we're here."

My friends in the basement. They are hiding in the smoke and helping me.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

The 'shackled' article from issue 26 appeared in the air. The arms and legs on his body danced wildly, like a child catching an insect and removing its limbs.

"Ahh!"

"Rix!"

His arms and legs fell off with the sound of bones dislodging followed by the sound of firecrackers exploding. In an instant, the knight, who looked like a turtle, fell down onto the blood. He shivered for a moment but then calmed down.

"This is Group 3! We are under attack! "Support!"

｢What the hell is going on?｣

｢This is Group 2! "I'm going to apply right away!"

"Damn it!" Tennessee! Wait right where you are!"

"But!"

The voices of the enemies sound confused through the communicator. The knights are in a panic as they lose their comrades in an instant.

It's all a familiar sight.

"Retreat later! Retreat…Kek!"

One of the knights ran to escape and got a hole in his neck. It was Aadhai who accurately targeted the enemy's weak point.

｢Creature｣｢Neck｣｢Weakness｣

From beyond the smoke, Adhai let out a low wave.

If the knight had activated the psychic shield built into his advanced armored suit, he would have survived. It was his fault for turning his back on me during the battle.

After that, it was all smooth sailing.

The knights were beside themselves after losing half their comrades within minutes of starting the fight. The knights who always brought victory to their masters were not here.

There are only flocks of sheep shaking in fear.

There is only one thing a flock of sheep that has lost its leader can do in the face of wolves.

Just crying pitifully.

Just as no wolf saves a flock of sheep when they cry, the same goes for me.

After finishing off the three remaining knights, I quickly picked up two corpses.

'quickly!'

I entered the station, cutting up the corpses and pouring them into my mouth.

[Zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzu (You have to pack all the food and go to the nest)] ｢Aren't you going to eat

here?｣

[Zuzuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzu (I don't have time. Bring as much as you can and follow me)]

｢I｣｢Hunger ｣

"Okay. "I'll take care of the rest."

Number 26 knew that I was in a hurry, so he calmly stretched out his tentacles and picked up two corpses. Aadhay also tried to pick up one, but it was heavy, so he gave up.

So we took the four corpses and returned to the nest.

I could hear it just before the hunting symbol was lifted.

One of the enemy knights who arrived late was yelling in anger.

I smiled through the smoke and darkness.