Chapter 167

Chapter 167

Chapter 167

“...Dad, are you not busy today?”

“No, today I’ve prepared to go to a special place with our little darling.”

“A special place?”

“Yes. We’re going straight to mom’s shooting location.”

“Wow! Really? Oh, but didn’t mom say not to come?”

“This time let’s throw a surprise party for mom. How about that?”

“Haha, sounds fun! I want to go!”

***

“Someone help! Our child is stuck under the car!”

“The engine is on fire, it’s dangerous! Step back!”

“■■, no! This can’t be happening!”

“If only you hadn’t taken him that day, none of this would have happened!”

“And are you blaming me for that now? Do you know who will pay for the expensive medical bills?”

“Huh, medical bills? You don’t even care about the child.”

***

“Ahh! Teacher! Switch seats with me! This kid smells!”

“Hey, isn’t there a weird smell coming from somewhere?”

“Eww. There goes a stink bug.”

“■■, if you’re not feeling well enough to come to school, why don’t you just stay home? Rather than just expecting understanding from friends, shouldn’t you consider changing yourself?”

“Ugh, did I just see a monster?”

“Me too. Wow, I thought today was Halloween.”

“Poor thing. If I were like that, I’d rather bite my tongue and die.”

Poor thing.

Disgusting.

Why live?

Monster.

***

「Huh?」

As I opened my eyes, a slightly chilly yet humid air greeted me. Sensations that had been dormant stirred back to life, and I felt the lukewarm liquid flowing on the floor.

‘A dream.’

Since arriving in this world, I rarely dreamed. At most, I might have had fantasies when evolving or utilizing the transcendence system.

‘Is it because of the memories I saw when I reached transcendence level 2?’

Memories from when I was a child.

Days spent in the intensive care unit because of burns. It was a past I didn’t want to recall.

‘Phew.’

I had been forgetting about the events in the real world lately, but remembering them now makes me feel uneasy.

The next stage after Quasi-saint, ascension.

Though not certain, if I were to achieve ascension, there was a high chance I’d be given a means to leave this world.

I wasn’t the only one thinking this way. According to the Mother of the Sky, players who came before me also aimed for similar goals.

‘They all failed, though.’

The aftermath of failure led to the death of the top player, and the remaining players dispersed, each seeking new goals. That seed of conflict led to the present.

‘It’s the end.’

If even the top player couldn’t clear it, the difficulty of the unachieved 1st place must be unimaginable.

In the original game, ascension was notorious for its murderous difficulty. Unlike other evolutionary stages, ascension wasn’t just about fulfilling conditions.

The final battle. There was a last test from the being that held the secret of the world, and one had to pass that test to ascend. Among the Amorph players who met the ascension conditions, I was the only successful one.

‘If it’s the same difficulty as the game, other players would have cleared it first.’

Until now, it had climbed onto my head, but I had never climbed onto it. Perhaps it’s thanks to its body maintaining a suitably cool temperature.

「Big one, sleep well.」

Feeling a strange comfort, I closed my eyes.

***

The noble capitals of MegaCorp possess colonial planets scattered throughout the universe. Some planets are coveted hubs targeted by other factions, while others remain relatively unknown.

The Yujin family also holds numerous planets. This is to procure materials necessary for genetic modification and creating Hulk mutants.

Among such planets is one unnamed planet. Discovered by Akira Yujin himself during exploration, it’s a location not recorded on the shared ship map of various factions.

On this unnamed planet lies the nest of the Gallagons, creatures of the universe.

This frozen planet, chilled to the bone, was the sole supplier of Gallagon genetics.

However, as there is no such thing as a benevolent Gallagon, one had to risk their life to enter this planet. It was so harsh that out of a hundred who entered, only one might barely come out alive.

Danger and value.

Due to these two reasons, only a handful within the Yujin family knew the location of this planet.

And Si-hyun Yujin was one of the few who knew the location.

Because the source of the Gallagon genetics embedded in her body was from here, she couldn’t remain ignorant.

But her knowledge of how dangerous this place was wasn’t solely because of the genetics.

She was the only noble capital besides Akira Yujin himself to have set foot on this planet.

This was because she had stolen Gallagon eggs and captured a mutant Blue Gallagon on this planet.

At that time, her faction suffered tremendous losses from pursuing Gallagons. Although she’s a clone now, she retained most of the original’s memories. She knew well how terrifying enraged Gallagons could be, so she hadn’t even dreamt of returning here.

Yet here she was now, setting foot once more on the planet where Gallagons dwell.

‘...They’ve been here.’

Si-hyun, clad in her specialized reinforcement suit, White Maiden, rose slowly from the snow. Those who had been hiding around her heard her words and began to rise one by one.

To prevent the power source from freezing instantly, her subordinates wore specially made reinforcement suits instead of regular ones.

These suits, painted white like snow and thick like space suits, were equipment used for exploring volcanic or icy planets. Apart from that, communication devices and the weapons they held were all specially treated to prevent freezing.

Like everyone else, Laila Chemblin, painted white with camouflage paint on the outside, approached Si-hyun.

“These gallagons seem quite diligent. Do they usually roam around so frequently?”

“No, they don’t. They mostly stay in their nests unless they’re hunting.”

Earlier, all crew members had to hastily hide themselves due to the sudden appearance of a White Gallagon on the planet.

“It’s fortunate that the flagship didn’t land. Otherwise, the exploration might have ended abruptly three days ago.”

The day Si-hyun’s flagship arrived at the unnamed planet was three days ago. As Laila mentioned, instead of landing on the planet in her flagship, Si-hyun came through a transport ship. The decision was deliberate because a giant flagship would easily be detected by Gallagons and could potentially require external support. However, considering the situation, that decision proved to be advantageous.

“That’s strange. They don’t usually roam around like this.”

While Gallagons are the top predators on this planet, there are many other creatures with comparable strength. White Gallagons have the duty to protect their nests from formidable adversaries. It was clearly unusual for them to venture outside the nest without hunting.

“Captain Neiren, you said the artifact was buried in those mountains?”

“Yes, but let me see the map for a moment.”

Si-hyun handed a small computer pad to Neiren, a middle-aged cultist with yak horns. Once the former captain of the Imperial Battleship ‘Judicator of Damocles 08’, he lost his ship and subordinates to the ‘Devil with Three Heads’. He came to this planet seeking revenge. Despite his cultist appearance, he adeptly marked a red dot on the map at a certain point in the mountains.

“It’s buried here.”

“It’s quite a distance.”

“Still, it’ll be quicker to go this way.”

“I don’t recommend going in that direction. Another White Gallagon might fly in.”

Both Neiren and Laila had valid points.

“What about crossing over to the plain? It shouldn’t take too long. It might be safer.”

“That’s difficult. There are dangerous monsters in the ‘Frozen Plateau’ area.”

Laila pointed with her mechanical hand to an underground space where very powerful beasts reside. When they came here before, over a hundred of their soldiers perished because of that creature. It wasn’t fighting Gallagons that caused their deaths, but rather an unexpected entity that resulted in the loss of many subordinates.

“If that creature is still alive, going in that direction would be risky.”

“Can’t be helped. Even if it takes a detour, I’ll choose a safer route.”

Time wasn’t on Si-hyun’s side, but if she failed here, the trust of the people aboard her flagship would diminish, especially Min-seok.

‘His trust is still needed.’

She glanced ahead after closing the map. Beyond the horizon was a black barrier. One of the peaks of those mountains held the artifact she was seeking.