Chapter 290
Episode 290 – Director (3)
–
In the ion cannon management room, the maintenance team leader and team members looked up at the ceiling with anxious eyes.
A sharp noise made when metal blades hit each other and an intermittent booming sound. Both of these were sounds that should never be heard in this giga cracker.
“Shouldn’t we go too?”
“It’s not possible. “If we move, there is a possibility of losing control of the ion cannon.”
“It’s too much time to wait for an hour…”
“I wore a reinforced suit to prevent an unexpected situation. What you are wearing are high-grade reinforced clothing. “No weapon can damage it.”
Doesn’t that mean there’s something out there that can disable such great equipment?
The maintenance team leader said that to reassure his team members, but it had no real effect. It’s just that the team members understood what he meant by saying it, so they didn’t protest.
“We have to defend this place until rescue arrives. “Everyone please wait at the designated location.”
“…yep.”
With those words, the maintenance team disbanded. Dozens of people were divided into three groups and dispersed to maintenance rooms located in the middle of the hallway.
“I don’t know what the fuck this is.”
“That’s right.”
One of the maintenance rooms installed along the ion cannon’s huge rail. The three team members waiting there were chatting to relieve tension.
“The month-end report was supposed to be next week, but something like this happened.”
“So, I heard you have a family…?”
“you’re right. “I got married not long ago.”
“It’s a good time. This is my 5th year, and I wonder if this is a family member or an employee earning credit. Tsk.”
“If you plan to have children, please report to St. K. “There will be a subsidy…”
While they were talking, they suddenly fell silent.
Because I heard a sound.
It was similar to the sound I heard in the management room, but louder. The team members unknowingly tightened their grip on the plasma rifle.
“…Did everyone hear that?”
“Yeah yep. “I heard it too.”
“I can hear it nearby…”
Whatever it is, hearing that kind of sound nearby is never a good thing. Maybe another maintenance room was being attacked.
The team leader gave me strict orders not to leave my seat, but now was not the time to question that. Three maintenance team members came out of the maintenance room holding rifles.
As this is the facility that is the reason for the existence of Giga Cracker, it is equipped with a device that can independently supply power in case of emergency. It has a closed structure, so remote hacking is impossible unless physically accessed and manipulated.
A brightly lit hallway welcomed the team members. The distance between maintenance rooms is not far. They headed to a nearby maintenance room and were able to meet other team members loitering in the hallway.
“That one too?”
“yes.”
“Now that I’m out, it’s quiet again.”
“Did another team handle it?”
“I’m not sure, I need to check.”
Nothing unusual occurred until the team members visited the third maintenance room.
The problem occurred on the way to the fourth maintenance room. In the hallway, they witnessed an abnormal phenomenon.
I don’t know where it came from, but there were small dust-like things floating in the hallway.
“What is this?”
“It looks like a piece of mineral?”
They were grains that looked like finely ground orange agate. If it had been any other place, I might have been amazed to see the particles shining like stars reflecting the light.
However, this is a space where advanced weapons are handled. The influx of unidentified foreign substances is never a good sign.
And their uneasy predictions soon became reality.
In front of the fourth maintenance room filled with particles. There was an alloy door that was so crumpled that its shape was hard to find.
There is a being nearby that has compressed a large alloy door that is only a few tens of centimeters thick to one-third its size.
“….”
“Gulp.”
The sound of someone swallowing saliva echoed softly in the hallway.
The team members who were supposed to be in the fourth maintenance room were nowhere to be seen. But the nine people could easily guess what happened to them.
“We have to go back…”
The moment one of the team members opened his mouth, something came out from inside the maintenance room where the door was blown off.
It appeared without any warning and resembled the paws of some cat or wild beast. Except that its front paws, covered in golden fur, are larger than the upper body of an adult male.
What stuck out after the front feet was the head of a bird of prey with black horns.
The moment when ‘it”s amber eyes turned to nine people.
Agate-colored particles rained down on them from inside the maintenance room.
The team members standing behind them could not help but witness the sight of those standing in front of them shrinking to the size of basketballs as soon as they came into contact with the particles.
He tried to scream when he saw his colleagues turning into red lumps. But particles traveling through the air were much faster than the sounds coming out of his throat.
I touched the particle, but there was no pain. Because his body was in a state where it couldn’t feel pain in the first place.
A beast that instantly turned nine people into lumps of flesh passed them by.
There are still many prey left for her to catch.
–
Tyrone and the surviving team leaders run through the dark hallway.
Due to the tragedy experienced in the restaurant car, there are only two team leaders left: the research team leader and the facilities team leader. The rest were brutally killed by monsters.
“Ha, Captain! This way…”
“The engine is giving up. Rather, we need to get out of here immediately.”
“yes?”
The two team leaders looked puzzled by the captain’s decision. Even if the captain was Noble Capital, a member of St. K, they could not understand why he would abandon the Giga Cracker.
But Tyrone didn’t make that decision out of fear.
He has participated in monster hunting, a hobby of St. Kay patriarch Walter St. Kay, several times in the past. Of the many predators I hunted, there was only one that impressed me the most.
‘Sea Demon.’
It is said that among primitive intelligences such as Wolf and Fishrian, there are often cases of worshiping the Sea Demon as a god, and this is by no means an exaggeration. The experience of fighting the monster, known by other names such as the god of the sea and the devil of the deep sea, remained the most nightmarish memory of Tyron’s life.
And the pink jellyfish in the restaurant car.
Even though it was small, it was clearly a Sea Demon.
‘We can never defeat him.’
Why is Sea Demon in Gigacracker and why are those fierce guys with other monsters?
It was full of things I didn’t understand, but that wasn’t the important thing. Now that he has taken over the ship, they must somehow inform the rescue team. Otherwise, there will be a literal massacre.
“Captain, please reconsider throwing away the Giga Cracker….”
“It’s not throwing it away.”
“yes?”
“I don’t know how many lives will be lost if we don’t pass on information about that monster to rescue teams. If that happens, it will be difficult to get the ship back.”
“That’s true.”
“That won’t happen, but if something goes wrong, I will take responsibility.”
When the captain said he would take full responsibility, the team leaders remained silent. They continued running in silence until they reached the area where the captain’s office was located.
After passing here, you will come to a hangar. Once there, you can escape by taking an emergency escape ship.
But their difficulties are not over yet.
What awaited them who ran with only one hope was endless ominousness. The hallway leading from the captain’s office to the hangar was completely ruined.
The walls and ceiling on both sides of the hallway were shattered, as if something larger than the width of the hallway had twisted and moved. The captain’s cabin was visible beyond the alloy wall torn off by sharp blades.
The Sea Demon’s white winged lizard didn’t do it. From the looks of it, the entity that devastated the hallway was a creature much larger than those two.
In addition, the entire area’s gravity maintenance system seemed to have broken, causing objects and metal fragments to float in the air.
“….”
Tyran and the team leaders moved through the damaged hallway, very nervous.
Objects from the captain’s room crashed into their bodies, floating and moving without a sound. A portrait of a woman with only her mouth and upper body visible because the top of the frame was blown off. A grandfather clock whose second hand is not moving properly because it is damaged. Broken glass, etc.
Although they were all objects we saw every day, there was nothing that wasn’t creepy.
The good news is that the hallway leading to the hangar is not long. The three barely reached the shielded door leading to the hangar.
The monster that had created this situation in the hallway could not be seen as if it had moved somewhere else. As soon as the research team leader opened the shield door, Tyrone and the facility team leader rushed into the hangar as if they were flying.
“Close it quickly!”
“Yes yep!”
I don’t know when he will come back. The research team leader quickly closed the shielding door with trembling hands.
Only after the eerie hallway was hidden by the door were the three able to feel at ease.
“Seeing as there is still gravity here, it seems like he didn’t come.”
“Looking at all the escape ships left, I guess we were the first to arrive.”
No one talked about what happened to the others.
“The captain’s escape ship is this way.”
“Captain’s code.”
“yes.”
In front of the escape ship, which had particularly flashy decorations, Tyran entered the emergency code into the terminal.
「Gigacracker 14 Captain ‘Tylon St. Kay’ confirmed.’
A short message was output from the terminal, and the escape ship’s door opened with the sound of air being released. The moment Tyron was about to take a step forward, something fell on his shoulder.
“huh?”
When I touched my shoulder with my hand, a sticky liquid came out. He slowly raised his head upward.
There was a ‘monster’ on the ceiling of the hangar.
The guy who was hanging upside down and drooling attacked him.
–
‘That’s right.’
I was hiding in the hangar to see if anyone could escape, but no, it would be different. Those who appeared to be the captain and leaders came all the way here to escape.
‘I don’t think anyone else will come.’
Heavenly Mother went to the ion cannon management facility, No. 26 went to the other facilities, and PS-111 went to the Adhai situation room. The entire crew of this ship should have been cleared by now.
A planet-destroying superweapon is at my fingertips.
‘Not yet?’
I looked down at my new friend, Captain Tyrone.
Like me, the size of the human-faced insects has also grown enormous. Previously, the length from head to tail was around 1m, but now it has reached 3m.
Inmyeonchung, who had the face of a middle-aged man, immediately lowered his head when he felt my gaze.
He said a rescue fleet from a nearby star system would be here in an hour. Until they are sorted out, it will be difficult to say that Gigacracker is completely owned.
‘how will we do it.’
In the game, I fought against superweapons comparable to Gigacracker several times. I know at least how much effort the rankers and NPCs put into protecting this weapon.
Moreover, I knew the level of the rescue fleet in much more detail thanks to what I heard from Inmyeonchung. They are just good prey for me.
For example, I could go out and destroy the fleet myself. The rescue fleet is not a difficult opponent for me, who has become an adult and possesses a strong unique trait.
Or, as usual, you can lure enemies inside the Giga Cracker and eliminate them together with the kids.
‘Or…’
I looked up at the huge metal structure surrounding me with a huge body.
A target that has never been used in the game and is only encountered as an enemy.
‘A good idea occurred to me.’
I laughed, thinking of the moths that would eagerly fly away without knowing anything.