Ep. 85
A translucent purple whip cuts through the surface of a city made of marble blocks.
I stamped my feet and took a big leap backwards.
A whip passes through the air beneath my feet.
I also fought back by retreating and shaking my tail.
Thorn hairs pouring down like a rain of arrows.
As if the whip she was holding had free will, it turned on its own and swept away the thorns.
Meanwhile, I landed on the ground and pulled out a vampire tentacle from my uncut upper left arm.
The tentacle shot out like a spear and stuck at her feet.
She must have predicted my attack, and before I knew it, she had dodged to the side.
I quickly retrieved the tentacle before she cut it off with her whip.
'strong.'
Although they exchanged offense and defense several times in a short period of time, it is clear that they are a formidable enemy.
'I have more than one or two abilities.'
There are only two abilities he has shown so far, but those may not be everything.
'I don't think it's a cult when I see yak horns growing.'
There is no way for the cult to hide it other than artificially shaving off the horns.
In other words, they are genetically modified humans who have been transplanted with cult genes.
I know someone similar to her.
A woman who attacked a research vessel with Space Dog and attempted to terrorize this space city.
'Sihyeon Eugene.'
She died and became nourishment for my body, but now the Eugene family has appeared and is attacking me.
'Well, I'm in the middle of a board meeting right now.'
It is not particularly strange that people from the Noble Capital Eugene family came here.
Of course, I never expected to meet in a general residential area, not in this large city or in Monument.
'You said you were going to capture me.'
I don't know why it's targeting me, but I can guess.
The reason he came to the house of the head of the dissection team was probably to get information about me.
'Maybe I should have been more careful.'
I felt regret for a moment, but I shook my head and shook off the thoughts.
Now is the time to focus on the battle.
'What is immediately confirmed is the ability to transform and psychic whip. And there are additional abilities I don't know about.'
I took a quick look at the cross section of the severed arm.
Thanks to its regenerative properties, the cross section itself is healing, but it will take some time for the arm to grow new.
'It's too powerful for a psychic whip.'
Psychic Whip, the talent used for my Ghost Claws, is usually used as a mid-range deterrent.
It's not a technique powerful enough to cut off my arm and turn the road into a rag from tens of meters away.
'There are auxiliary abilities that enhance characteristics and skills.'
And that level is powerful enough to rival the only characteristic I have.
In order to strengthen it to this level, it is impossible to use general auxiliary abilities.
'It can't go on like this.'
I think I should probably write 'insight'.
The insight characteristic obtained by catching William previously randomly shows some of the enemy's equipment technology characteristics, etc.
I tried to use it sparingly as it was limited to 5 times a day, but the enemy I was dealing with was a strong one.
I activated insight.
A purple glow appeared in my eyes, and the enemy's information was organized into a translucent text box and appeared in front of me.
「Name: Code Black (real name ■■ ■■)
Race: Human (state of genetic modification)
Status: Enhanced (Psychic Master Yonginhwa (龍人化) ■■ ■■)
Equipment worn: ■■ ■■■■ (the only one Class)
Possessed skills: Psychic Whip Psychic Master Body Transformation ■■■■ Dragon's Heart ■■ ■■■ and many more…)
While the information was emerging, a purple whip flew from the enemy, no, Code Black.
After avoiding the whip by lying down on the floor, I opened my mouth wide in that position.
The combustion organ inside my throat activated and a huge stream of flames poured out.
"Fire. "You can't hurt me with something like this."
Her voice can be heard beyond the flames burning on the road.
'I know.'
Fire and smoke are deceiving.
I shot out the thorns into the black smoke and ran without looking back.
I have to get out of the way quickly while her whip bounces off the thorns.
I thought as I ran.
'Code Black also received Gallagon's genes, just like Sihyeon Eugene.'
It also refers to the genes of Black Gallagon, a being of higher rank than White Gallagon.
Among the skills she possesses, Dragon's Heart is a special skill that only comes from Gallagons higher than Black Gallagon.
If you possess the Dragon's Heart skill, you will enter a special state called 'Dragonization', and the effect is similar to the hunting symbol effect I have.
'Fast charging that strengthens the effects of possessed psychic power skills.'
Looking at the part that only strengthens psychic power skills, it seems like it is not as good as the symbol of hunting, but the important thing is the quick charging part.
If you have the heart of a dragon, you can use techniques such as psychic breath that consume enormous mental power and energy.
'Accept the Psychic Master. Somehow I thought it was too strong.'
Psychic Master is a type of passive effect automatically granted to cultists with yak horns.
It has the effect of strengthening the psychic power characteristics and skills of melee, ranged, buff, and crowd control classes.
Since it is doubly strengthened with two techniques, its ridiculous power is understandable.
Additionally, Black is using more than one technique at a time.
'Because I am using psychic power technology while in a dragon state.'
When fighting Sihyeon Eugene, I won by taking advantage of her inability to use multiple abilities at once.
It is impossible to use that strategy against Black.
'In addition, there was unique level equipment in a strengthened state that was not visible through insight.'
I don't know the level of reinforcement, but I can guess what the unique equipment is.
I know of only one piece of equipment that looks like a black mourning uniform and is of a unique level.
'Black Shroud.'
It is one of the relic-grade reinforced suits that only cult members can obtain, allowing the wearer to avoid death once every three days.
Even if you are hit by an attack that turns your whole body into powder, you will definitely survive as long as it is not on cooldown.
'That means I have to kill Black twice to beat him.'
Regardless of the skills or equipment you have, this is an enemy you can never face with this body.
There might be psionium like when fighting with Sihyeon Eugene, but there is no solution here.
'I need a symbol of hunting.'
Now is not the time to worry about the aftereffects.
After opening the door of a random house nearby, I quickly activated the symbol of hunting.
'I couldn't see it through insight, but it probably has tracking capabilities.'
Even as my body transformed into a form optimized for combat, I constantly looked around with my auxiliary organs.
'come.'
I can feel Black getting closer beyond the wall.
And intense psychic power emanates from her body.
'this!'
As the whip hit the wall, the house began to collapse. The psychic whip didn't just destroy the house, it rushed at me, smashing the furniture.
'Pfft!'
The whip hits my head, which has barely completed its transformation.
It was a similar shock to being hit by a plasma launcher.
The difference is that at that time, he was hit without being in a state representing hunting.
Not now.
'It's worth holding on to.'
The outer layer of the wound was torn off, but it was not a fatal wound. Wounds of this magnitude heal quickly thanks to the enhanced regenerative effect.
I strengthened my legs and kicked the floor hard.
My body breaks through the collapsing house and flies towards the enemy.
Her eyebrows twitched slightly, perhaps because it was faster than expected.
Her right hand swings gracefully and the whip aims at my side.
I defended myself against the psychic whip with a shield-shaped shell on the wrist of my arm as a symbol of hunting.
The sound of scraping metal plates was heard from the arm and sparks flew out.
Even a strengthened Psychic Whip could not penetrate my outer shell, which was strengthened by the three effects of the type characteristic, symbol of hunting.
"…quite."
Just before my horn pierced her abdomen, her left hand opened wide.
At the same time, my body stopped as if fixed in the air and was thrown backwards sharply.
Even though I was being bounced by an intangible force, I stretched out my tentacle and struck her.
She must have guessed that I was going to fight back, so she floated her body to the side and narrowly avoided my tentacles.
After one clash, it was me who suffered the loss.
I was trapped in a house that was collapsing.
Remnants of broken wooden furniture and piles of concrete from the ceiling rained down on my head.
'Tsk.'
Although I guessed it because she had yak horns, she also had defensive psychic skills.
The technique she used just now was reflection.
It is a psychic power technique that reflects attacks coming from the direction you are looking.
Not all attacks can be reflected, and psychic power attacks cannot be blocked.
The problem is that the enemy will not know that fact.
'It won't be easy.'
To break through the reflection, you must aim straight ahead or at a blind spot with a psychic power attack.
Of all the psychic abilities I currently have, the only one is attack.
Only the psychic breath used by the monster's tentacles.
'It won't be easy, but…'
It's not impossible.
I got up from the pile of ruins. At that moment, Black aimed his whip exactly at my location.
Confident that I had tracking skills, I dodged the whip and lifted the wooden table from the collapsed pile and threw it towards her.
"Residual talents are useless."
A table broken in two with a cold voice.
'What a talent.'
It's all necessary work.
I ran out of the ruins of the building. She came after me with her whip summoned.
I don't know if it was because of the Black Shroud's strengthening effect or if she had a skill that increases her physical abilities, but she was chasing me without a problem.
A long whip strikes my back, its tongue lashing out like a snake.
Although I was concentrating my senses as much as possible on my auxiliary organs while running away, it was still impossible to completely avoid them.
Blood was flowing out from the broken skin, but I gritted my teeth.
'…You have to hold on.'
The most effective way to attract people is to look weak. There is no problem as long as you do not die or have a fatal wound that puts you at a disadvantage in battle.
Of course, even if I was sober, the pain of my back being torn apart was unbearable.
'I'm glad there is pain relief.'
If it didn't have any characteristics, it would have screamed unsightly.
"Is this not enough?"
After saying that, Black this time pulled out a psychic whip from his left hand.
The two-headed snake hisses and makes threatening sounds.
'this.'
I didn't expect that.
Originally, I was going to run to the subway station in the district.
However, if I get hit by those attacks in succession, my body will be completely ruined before the decoy operation even begins.
'Let's go to the basement.'
I turned and rushed into a nearby house.
As I broke down the wall and went inside, the cult member saw me and screamed.
I ignored them and went down to the basement.
The cult that was screaming and making a fuss behind me was torn apart by Black's psychic power.
Blood poured down the stairs, followed by the sound of her footsteps.
"After all, is a beast a beast? "Even if you run away, you end up choosing a dead end."
A voice heard from the top of the stairs. I shook off the tail and shot the thorns on top.
"It's no use."
She bounced off the flying thorn hair with her reflection.
Aimless thorn hairs became lodged here and there, including in the ceiling above her head.
"I think we'll need some training before we take you in."
She comes down the stairs.
Even in the dark basement, the horns on her head shine brightly in purple.
It's as if he's showing his confidence that nothing can damage him.
'How far will that arrogance go?'
I took a position in the corner of the basement and fired the psychic breath I had prepared.
"?!"
The purple sun gathered from the monster's tentacles flashes.
The essence of pure psychic power is drawn out from the spherical shape and becomes a heat ray.
A heat ray that destroys everything.
"Tsk!"
She releases the psychic whip, raises both hands and quickly points towards the heat ray.
A black sphere appeared in her hand and became a heat ray of the same shape as the psychic breath I fired.
The power of the purple dragon and the power of the black dragon clashed underground.
The ground not only in the basement but also in the entire administrative district shook significantly.
Due to the concentration of tremendous psychic power, the concrete and rebar surrounding the basement turned into dust.
'Ugh!'
The impact alone is causing my skin to peel off. As soon as the acidic blood flowed down, it evaporated under the influence of psychic power, and the ends of the monster's tentacles split and crumbled into powder.
"Ugh!"
Her expression was greatly distorted, as if she, as well as I, was feeling extreme pain. The body protected by the black shroud was fine, but the hands that were firing the breath were covered in blood.
In that way, the psychic breath she and I fired was mutually destroyed, with no one gaining the upper hand.
But when someone sees us standing in the ruins of a ruined basement, they'll probably think she's won.
She was perfectly fine except for her body and her palms, which had almost all of her outer skin torn off.
Because it was clear to anyone that she was the superior one.
"It was unexpected, but I think it was my victory."
She said that in a relaxed tone. I paid no heed to those words and threw the fragments of the collapsed building at her.
The fragment hit what was left of the ceiling above her head.
The broken ceiling shook violently and dust poured down on her shoulders.
"Are you blind now? "It doesn't look like there is anything that can be called eyes in the first place."
I can't believe I'm blind.
When you enter a state of representational hunting, your senses become much stronger, incomparable to what you see with your eyes.
In other words, my attack just now was intentional.
The thorny hair that had been hanging precariously on top of her head falls onto her neck.
The downside of reflection is that it cannot be deflected unless the attack comes from the direction you are looking at.
'Then just aim for the square.'
The thorn hair got stuck in her defenseless neck.
As she was coming down the stairs, she felt a tingling sensation and touched the back of her neck.
When she touches the thorn, her eyes widen.
"Uh huh? "Is this…?"
Lately, like Edgerton's article, I've had a lot of times where I've wrapped my whole body tightly, but the true power of my thorn hair comes from somewhere else.
The unstoppable neurotoxin quickly spreads through her body and ensnares her.
Stumbling, she tried to hold onto the wall, but it was no use. Her arms and legs refused to obey her master's commands and she tumbled down the stairs.
"…."
Before she knew it, she was in a state where she couldn't speak.
I approached her to finish.
'You have to kill me twice to finish.'
As he was about to hit her on the head with his fighting arm, her body glowed purple.
'light? no way?'
I quickly turned around.
The moment I dodged, a purple spear tore through the end of my waist.
'Ugh!'
If I hadn't dodged in time, the weapon made of psychic power would have pierced my organs and heart.
I backed away, holding my side where the blood was flowing out.
Before I knew it, Black was standing behind me, completely unharmed.
"Excellent. "If there wasn't a code red, I would have been hit the same way."
I breathed fire at her.
Covered with fire and smoke, I escaped the basement through a crack in the collapsed ceiling.
The phenomenon that just happened to Black is due to the effects of the 'spirit tuning' technique.
Spiritual body attunement is an auxiliary psychic power technique that the caster applies to one subject, and it has a very powerful effect.
This means that the practitioner can arbitrarily teleport the subject.
When teleporting, the subject's body is temporarily transformed into a spirit by powerful supernatural powers, so the poisoning effect caused by the neurotoxin is completely removed.
Of course, there are disadvantages such as the short distance that can be teleported and the user being unable to move when the spiritual body tuning effect is in effect, but it is the perfect technique for catching the enemy off guard like now.
'Two enemies!'
When I checked Black's status with insight, I was surprised to see that there was an enhancement that could not be unlocked, but I never thought it was a state of spiritual body attunement.
Spiritual body attunement is an advanced technique among various psychic power techniques.
In terms of rarity, it is comparable to the heart of a dragon.
'Besides…'
While I was running away, I checked my side, which was bleeding.
The technique used by the teleported Black when he stabbed me in the back was a technique called 'Pain Spear'.
It is a psychic power technology with a high penetrating effect and has the effect of worsening the recovery of the attacked enemy for a certain period of time.
Because of this, my wounds were healing at a much slower rate than usual.
'It's a big deal.'
Black alone is a strong enemy, but there is an enemy equal to her somewhere here.
The spiritual body tuning range is up to a radius of 1km. When spiritual body attunement is applied to the subject, the practitioner is completely incapacitated.
'I can guess where the magician is hiding, but…'
Black won't let me get there.
'Running away is not a good choice either.'
If you keep running away from here, it's just a waste of time. If Black tracks me in an instant, he will easily find me no matter how much I run away.
'When the symbol of hunting is over, it is truly over.'
Their goal is capture, so they won't kill me. If it's a kill, all you have to do is fire your psychic breath at me.
'They're on guard against me too.'
Since you've already been beaten once by me, I'll just fight passively for a while.
Of course, that time won't be long. If everything I have is revealed, then it will truly be the end.
'How should I break through?'
Just thinking about that one thing made the monster's tentacles tingle and tremble behind my head.
「■Kiya.」
'How should I attack….'
「Big baby!」
I raised my head at the familiar wave.
The waves tickling the monster's tentacles were sent by No. 26.
And the floor I was standing on shook.
The concrete on the road cracks, and dozens of long, thick tentacles rise out of it.
"We're here."
What jumped out of the exploded concrete hole was a huge pink jellyfish well over 5 meters long.
.
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