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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 233
Shadows spread over countless branches as the clouds that had scattered returned to block the sunlight.
In the cool, ashen light, we followed the trail of the Screars.
The once sporadic footprints were becoming increasingly frequent. Not just on the ground, but the surrounding trees and rocks were also covered with marks left by sharp alloy claws.
'It's not just one or two.'
Given that Screars have eight legs, it's natural for there to be many footprints, but even taking that into account, there were far too many. There had to be at least several dozen of them.
"How many Screars were deployed for this mission?"
I utilized stored genetic information to mimic a voice as I questioned PS-111.
"Three hundred units were deployed at the start of the mission."
"Three hundred? That's quite a lot."
Hearing its response, I was slightly surprised.
Considering that standard Screars are almost treated like bio-drones in the Star Union, deploying 300 of them isn't particularly unusual. In large-scale ground battles in the ga, thousands of Screars would often be deployed.
But that was under the players' command. It's rare for the regular Star Union army to deploy Screars alone.
Screars possess formidable combat power, but they have a downside: a lack of strategic thinking and flexibility. So, when unexpected situations arise, they can't respond appropriately.
'Normally, you'd need sothing to make up for that shortcoming...'
The Mutant Screars resolved the old models' flaws by categorizing them into standard models and commander models. The fact that Mutant Screars' commander models possess superior strategic judgent is evident just by looking at PS-111.
When fighting Odd Grad, it quickly understood the signal I sent and brought in the cruiser. A regular Screar would never have made such a decision.
'At least the good news is that their numbers should have significantly decreased by now.'
Given that the planet is teeming with dangerous creatures, it's unlikely that all 300 have survived unscathed. In fact, even PS-111 was nearly destroyed by an Ice Horror attack.
"How many do you think are left? Two hundred? Two hundred fifty?"
"I believe the total number hasn't decreased significantly from the original 300 units."
"Why is that?"
Although Mutant Screars are powerful, they wouldn't co out unscathed after encountering Apex creatures like Ice Horrors or Glacier Fiends.
PS-111, which was searching for traces with its sensor protruding from its eye, responded.
"According to the data stored in my brain, the forr main controller, 'Pyra Eleven', had facilities on its ship capable of producing Mutant Screars."
"What?"
"As long as there is genetic information, a large energy source, and organic material to use as resources, it is possible to produce S-model Screars."
In the lore, Screars are often seen as expendable, so it's rare to provide support via ships. The most you might get is orbital bombardnt support after deploying the Screars.
But since Mutant Screars are more strategically valuable than older models, it seems they've allocated a dedicated support ship.
"Considering the scale of a Screar production line, it would likely require at least a Jamah-class warship to house the facilities. Even then, they'd have to replace all the ship's maintenance facilities with repair equipnt."
"Due to data loss, I can't provide an exact answer, but that seems like a reasonable assumption."
The XAX01-class warship is nad after the capital planet of the Star Union. Often called Jaks Alpha, this ship is the largest and most heavily ard of the Star Union's warships.
Of course, in this case, it would have been heavily modified as a Screar support ship, so it would differ greatly from its original form. The internal facilities and equipnt would all have been removed and replaced with Screar-related facilities, leaving only the minimal systems necessary to keep the ship operational.
"Do you rember where it landed?"
"My apologies. Due to data loss, I cannot confirm that."
The Jamah-class warship is just under a kiloter in length. I haven't seen any signs of such a massive ship landing around here.
Furthermore, the Gallagons would never miss such a large ship entering the planet's atmosphere. If there's no ntion of it, it must have top-tier stealth capabilities.
As I thought about it, sothing felt off.
"Your mission was to capture , right?"
"If you're referring to the special objective A set by the forr main controller, 'Pyra Eleven,' then yes."
"A Screar that can self-repair and three hundred units at that. Why have they been lying low all this ti, when they could produce even more?"
In retrospect, there were several opportunities for them to attack . When I first arrived on the planet, when I was weakened after fighting Jason, when I was ambushed by Odd Grad, and so on.
However, they never gathered systematically to attack , making the placent of a commander model to compensate for the Screars' weaknesses seem pointless. So far, the only Screars I've encountered have been stragglers.
That leaves only one explanation: sothing must have gone wrong with Pyra Eleven.
After a mont of silence, it replied to my question.
"I don't know about that."
"You don't know?"
"In the process of rebooting the system, mory data was damaged. However..."
It chanically tilted its head. The movent resembled soone pressing their temple, trying to forcefully recall sothing they couldn’t quite rember.
"In my last mory, Pyra Eleven was severely damaged and had entered a dormant state due to certain events."
"Dormant? Was it attacked by the Gallagons?"
"No. Pyra Eleven...error, excuse . It was damaged after failing to perform actions necessary to achieve its objective."
Summarizing what it said, it was clear that Pyra Eleven had been unable to operate normally for so ti.
'Now that I think about it, the one I encountered when I went after the Winter Walkers said sothing similar.'
That one definitely ntioned being in a delayed command state. The others I encountered in the forest after killing Jason said the sa thing.
Considering all this, Pyra Eleven, their commander, must have been inactive until relatively recently.
"These traces are proof that it's active again."
"That is a reasonable assumption."
Though there was a high probability of encountering enemies, we had no useful information beyond knowing that there were many of them.
'Did PS-111 say it could control lower-tier units?'
When I first t it, it ntioned being able to physically connect to the circuits of lower models and take over their control. It would be great if it could do the sa with commander-level units, but Pyra Eleven had improved the security of their control systems, making that impossible.
'I need to capture a few Screars.'
Doing so would allow us to gather information about the ship's landing site, their plans, and other vital details.
After our conversation ended, we continued following the traces for quite so ti.
At first, there were only footprints, but as ti passed, other signs beca apparent. Scattered around the footprints were the remains of creatures, torn to shreds.
"They’ve been replenishing their energy."
"Looks like it."
PS-111, which had the functions of the Blood Reaver implanted in it, could replenish its energy by absorbing bioenergy in addition to consuming at with its mouth. It was an exception, regular Screars absorbed nutrients by sucking up small prey through intake tubes attached to their mouths.
'The blood’s been dry for a while.'
Given the dry, cool environnt, the fragnts of corpses had only begun to decay slowly. This allowed to make a rough guess about how they hunted.
'So they've modified so of them after all, just like the ones equipped with production facilities.'
Just as PS-111 had upgraded itself by absorbing genes, so of the enemy Screars had adapted to their environnt.
'...For instance, by acquiring ranged attack capabilities.'
I pulled out a large bullet, about the size of my finger, from the pool of blood. It resembled a depleted uranium round used by a storm gun, but it was far more threatening.
"Do you know what this is?"
"It resembles a depleted uranium round used by the APDT, but upon inspecting the internal structure, it appears to have been modified into a cluster munition."
"Exactly. It’s mixed with Black silver fragnts."
As I shook the deford bullet, a small amount of Blacksilver alloy shards fell out. It wasn't a large amount, but it was enough to be a lethal threat to certain species.
And on this planet, there’s only one type of creature that could be significantly hard by a cluster munition infused with Blacksilver.
'Gallagons!'
I think I know what they're targeting.
"Do you know where Odd Grad's nest is?"
“Yes. It's this way.”
"There's no ti, so get on top and guide ."
Ti was of the essence, so I unloaded the corpses I was carrying and placed PS-111 on my head. I then called for Number 26 and Adhai.
[ZZZ ZZ ZZZZ (There’s no ti, get on my back.)]
｢Aren't you taking the prey?｣
[ZZZ ZZZZ ZZZ (We’ll co back for it later.)]
Number 26, sensing the gravity of the situation, didn't ask any more questions and quietly climbed onto my body. It shrank down and nestled into the small arms on my chest.
Holding it securely, I called out to Adhai.
[ZZZ ZZZ ZZZ (We’re flying. Get ready.)]
｢Where are｣｢we going?｣
[ZZZZZ ZZZ ZZZ (We’re heading to Odd Grad's nest.)]
I spread out my folded wing-arms wide. The massive mbranes extended, and my body soared upward rapidly, shattering branches as I ascended. Adhai followed closely behind .
｢Is｣｢the nest｣｢in danger?｣
[ZZZ (Possibly.)]
"Just keep heading in this direction."
Adhai tensed up at the ntion of potential danger to the nest. I flew at full speed in the direction PS-111 indicated.
While flying, I kept a vigilant watch below with my auxiliary sensors, wary of the possibility that Screars might open fire from the forest. Despite my shadow and Adhai’s passing over the area, there was no reaction from below.
'...The situation isn't good.'
There must be hundreds of Screars swarming sowhere in that forest, yet it was eerily quiet. I couldn’t decipher their intentions, but it was definitely not a good sign.
After nearly half a day of tense flight, the cliffs where PS-111 said the dragon’s nest was located began to co into view.
There were no signs of Screars or any other creatures near the cliffs.
'Wait, there's nothing visible?'
By now, Nel Germa, Adhai's deputy, should have returned. With the nest this close, at least one or two Gallagons should have shown themselves.
｢Great One｣｢sothing’s wrong｣｢the group｣｢isn't on guard｣
Adhai seed to have sensed the sa thing, sending out a puzzled ntal wave.
Gallagons always kept sentries at their nests because of predators like the Skywhales. Green Gallagons or White Gallagons would take turns guarding the nest, anticipating unexpected attacks.
The absence of such guards ant sothing was seriously wrong.
I was about to warn Adhai to be cautious when my auxiliary sensors detected movent in the forest below.
The forest, which had been completely silent until just monts ago, suddenly sprang to life. The movent was simultaneous and widespread, like an army of ants marching.
Realizing what this ant, I urgently sent a wave to Adhai.
[ZZZZ ZZ ZZZ (Adhai! Use your power!)]
｢!｣
At the sa ti I sent out the wave, an overwhelming number of projectiles erupted from the forest.
A rain of death, blacker than the clouds above, was flying towards and Adhai, intent on taking our lives. I shielded Number 26 with my combat arms and moved beneath Adhai.
The Blacksilver cluster rounds, so densely packed they obscured my vision, pelted my entire body. As I’m not a psychic creature, those anti-psychic rounds didn't deal much damage to .
Moreover, with their lack of penetration power, those cluster munitions couldn’t pierce my carapace and scales.
'But they can still hurt them.'
While the shots did nothing to , it was a different story for Adhai and Number 26. Number 26, who heavily relied on psychic power, would be rendered completely incapacitated if hit by those Blacksilver cluster rounds.
Adhai was in a better position, thanks to her 'Red Armor' absolute defense technique, but even she could only protect her head and part of her forelimbs, leaving her vulnerable to their attack.
[ZZ ZZZ (Is everyone okay?)]
｢I’m fine.｣
｢Thanks to you,｣｢Great One.｣
Fortunately, my shielding had kept both Number 26 and Adhai from taking any damage.
“I took a few hits, but the injuries are minor.”
The only exception was PS-111, who, being perched on my head, had been an easy target and took a few hits.
“I'll make sure you get so good prey later.”
“Understood.”
After a brief reloading period, the firing from the ground resud. The Screars were intent on killing Adhai and Number 26, even if they couldn’t take down, shooting wildly in a frenzy.
'This isn’t a good place to fight.'
[ZZZZ ZZZ ZZ ZZZ ZZZ (Adhai, stick close to and follow.)]
Taking hits from the Screars' bullets, I flew toward the nest. Adhai clung to my back, following closely.
I then landed at a suitable spot near the Screar positions. As soon as I touched down, the trees around us shook ominously.
A horde of Screars was closing in on us.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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