Chapter 269:

Chapter 269:

The corridor was drenched in blood, splattered across walls and ceiling alike.

This gruesome display was the result of the pirates being blown to pieces by the 'Destructive Sonic Waves' I unleashed.

"En-enemy threat level...ca-ca-calculations failed..."

An android, reduced to just a head and a partial torso, emitted garbled machine sounds with its broken voicebox. I brought my winged arm down hard, smashing what remained.

‘The vanguard's done for.’

Now the others would be aware that something significant had gone wrong inside the fortress. A break-in at the underground storage, especially right before the auction, was no small matter. This would be far worse than just dealing with a few lunatics running loose in the city.

‘They’ll all unite and try to kill me—every single living thing and machine in this fortress, and anyone who’s visiting the city, all of them will become my enemies. Except for the ones I brought with me.’

‘So, what’s my next move?’

The first thought that came to mind was to flee the fortress, but escaping right now wasn’t the best option. The fortress's defenses, designed with fleet battles in mind, were immensely powerful. The exterior was lined with defensive turrets, far more numerous than those inside. Even if I managed to board a ship and escape from the military port, I’d be met with a barrage of concentrated fire from those cannons.

‘No need to make things messier than necessary.’

To take down this fortress, the most effective way would be to start from the inside, hollowing it out.

The question was how to go about it.

I could charge out, massacring people on my way to the command center, or I could break through the fortress's outer walls and disrupt the internal environment.

In the game, I destroyed Kesha Arma three different times, each using a different approach. Multiple strategies came to mind this time, but I decided to try something new—something involving my unique traits from the Transcendence System, which hadn’t existed in the game.

‘Technically, I’ve already tried this once.’

I opened a translucent text box and focused on the combination of the unique traits ‘Messenger of Mass Confusion’ and ‘Organic Evolution’, specifically the 'Mutated Virus Host' aspect.

The last time I used these traits together was during the destruction of the pirates’ slave market. They worked well together, both being strong crowd-control tools. Especially against large groups of enemies, they proved very effective.

With the right setup and environment, I could cause an explosion strong enough to shake this steel fortress to its core.

‘Now that the method’s decided.’

The next step was choosing the location, but that wasn't much of a concern. I turned and crawled deeper into the storage facility.

「Are we not leaving?」

“This terrain is not suited for large-scale combat.”

[Z ZZZ ZZ ZZZ (There is a way, Follow me)]

PS-111, who was in the A-Sector storage unit, expressed his doubts when I returned. I took them inside the storage unit.

We stopped halfway through the D-Sector storage area. I pressed my head closely to one of the walls.

「What’s Big One doing?」

“I believe it is searching for something.”

There was no need to explain further; they would know soon enough. I continued feeling along the wall with the auxiliary organ under my jaw.

‘It should be around here... Ah, found it.’

In a corner of a wide, hollowed-out section, I detected faint vibrations—exactly what I had been searching for.

Through my many attempts to invade this city, I knew precisely what these vibrations meant.

‘The subway line.’

There was a sound of the skeleton twisting from long battle arms and winged arms. Things like spider legs shrank to a size that couldn't be twisted anymore.

In contrast, my body swelled like air being pumped into a balloon. The armor that had wrapped around my arms all went into my body, covering my bulging body.

As my body enlarged, my head grew larger as well. The head became heavy, and the neck became so thick that it could not be distinguished from the body. Shortly after the change began, I became a form close to that of a caterpillar.

Of course, the mutation is not over yet. Holes were pierced in the armor covering the body, and hundreds of tentacles emerged from inside.

The newly formed tentacles had a different appearance from the corrosive tentacles I possessed. Overall, they resembled the legs of an octopus, but differed in that their ends were divided into three branches. The length was roughly between 5m and 10m, much shorter than the corrosive tentacles.

The change didn't take long. Feeling my rapidly changing body stabilize, I displayed a text box.

「Mutant Virus Host: A creature harboring a virus that triggers mutations. Physical and internal organ-related traits are deactivated. The transformation state can be voluntarily released by the user. Maximum duration is 3 days, with a cooldown of 30 days.

-Mutant Virus: Triggers rapid genetic mutations in subjects who come into contact with tentacles. The mutation effect is random but generally leads to extreme aggression.」

The mutant virus host is a special state unlocked when I raided Pyra Eleven's support line before leaving the dragon's nest.

Unlike the 'King of Monsters' that greatly enhances combat power and the 'Cunning Weakling' specialized in infiltration and assassination, this special state is specialized in infecting and mutating enemies.

From a physical standpoint, as you can see, it's not much help in melee combat. Its speed also slows down significantly, making it unfavorable in maneuver warfare. Due to the sealing of physical traits written in the tooltip, fighting one-on-one with a formidable opponent is close to suicide.

But there's only one reason why I chose this. It's because of this thing called the 'Mutant Virus.'

Those infected by my tentacles' virus experience rapid genetic corruption. Normally, the moment their genes are ruined, they would die, but this virus isn't that simple. It manipulates the host's body to adapt to the mutations, ensuring they don't perish.

‘It's like becoming a Necro-XX.’

Creatures infected with the mutation virus transform into something resembling space undead from classic sci-fi games. They lose all intelligence, dedicating themselves to killing other living beings until the energy stored in their bodies runs out.

The term "other living beings" includes me, so the mutated enemies also charge at me. That's when I play my next card: the Messenger of Mass Confusion.

The Messenger of Mass Confusion is a trait that distorts the senses of nearby targets. It warps the senses of those infected by the mutation virus, making them focus on specific targets.

‘And the Madness Bomb is just a bonus.’

Mutated creatures are consumed by endless fighting and death. Naturally, the contagious effect of the Madness Bomb increases dramatically as well.

The deadly downside of the Mutation Virus Host and Messenger of Mass Confusion combo is that my speed drops to a crawl. Originally, the Messenger of Mass Confusion also has the penalty of slowing down the body's movements when activated, but this penalty is now doubled.

However, this isn't a problem. My friends nearby will protect me.

「Wow! Big One is becoming more and more like me!」

“Congratulations.”

Number 26 seemed to love my transformed appearance, hopping around and glowing brightly. It also had been thrilled when I first transformed into this form at the slave market.

‘Not everyone shared that sentiment, though.’

For the record, Adhai had said she didn’t mind if I looked ugly, while the Mother of the Sky had pretended she was about to vomit. PS-111, on the other hand, was more curious about the chemical processes occurring in my body, without offering any further comments.

‘You can't please everyone, I suppose.’

Personally, I find this form quite appealing.

‘Anyway, enough of that.’

Sensing strong vibrations from the tracks, I closed the text box.

The trains carrying our sacrifices are coming.