[436] A Chance for Revenge (8)
"Geumgang Mujang."
When Shirone murmured and planted Armand upright, the blade instantly spread over his body and transformed into an organic robe.
The Nor squad members erupted in cheers.
Shirone was currently touring units under the 2nd Command to unify the rebel forces.
Today was the last day on the schedule, and since someone had asked about Shirone's sword, he decided to demonstrate it.
In Heaven, swords were Kergoin's exclusive domain, so the Nor mages' bewilderment was unsurprising.
"Hoo, this feels like a performance."
The reputation of the Light of District 73 certainly had weight.
At least the reaction from those on the ground was far better than from headquarters.
-Focal point: form change detected. Unified signal system detected.
"Huh?"
Shirone narrowed his eyes at information he'd never heard before.
Focusing on the voice, Armand conveyed new data.
-User cerebral scan. Synchronization. Proposal: integration into a single mental system possible.
"Ah, the Ultima System."
If Shirone's mind experienced a special change, Armand's functions would adapt accordingly.
Armand's computational power relied on Shirone's brain, so that was natural.
-Designation: Ultima System. If integrated into a single mental system, duplication, transfer, and contract termination will be impossible.
-Waiting for user decision.
"Termination impossible? That actually happens?"
It meant the contract-type object that could once be terminated at will would become an irrevocably bound item.
A fully personalized weapon.
In one sense, owning Armand outright wasn't bad, but it demanded thought.
"If it becomes mine, I can't even sell it."
Forty billion gold market price.
Of course Shirone didn't plan to sell Armand for any amount, but removing the possibility of transfer beyond money felt wrong.
-If integrated?
-Unpredictable.
Armand couldn't find an answer for that. It couldn't analyze what Shirone himself didn't know.
"Well, no choice then."
Shirone let go of his hesitation and decided to share the Ultima System with Armand.
If they exchanged information over a single signal, he could feel Armand almost like his own skin.
Future variables were nothing compared to his present desperation.
There was no tomorrow in Heaven; if there was any chance to strengthen himself even a little, clinging to it was the rational move.
-Establishing integrated mental system.
"Ugh!"
Shirone raised his head and opened his chest wide.
Armand's organic material tightened suddenly and pressed against him.
Dozens of tentacles sprang out like thorns, moving erratically, then coiled like a whirlwind and changed form.
"Waaaaah!"
The rebels watched Shirone with wide eyes.
The ragged robe had become a simple, neat garment.
Ultima Version (Function Installed: 0)
Shirone's ideal mage's robe had been controlled down to the organic tips and manifested exactly as he imagined.
"Incredible. This is literally part of my body."
Until now, information had been shared through the brain; now signals bypassed reason and operated on instinct.
It was true integration.
Shirone's complex mind was converted into simple signals and embedded in an object.
Because of that, Shirone and Armand achieved perfect compatibility and could connect down to the ends of neural ganglia.
"Two Ultima Systems…"
Another entity capable of unifying and controlling all signals—biological or not—now existed.
How this would function going forward, even Shirone didn't know, but one thing was clear.
"Nephilim! Lead us to victory!"
"Until the Light of District 73 becomes the Light of Heaven!"
It was the perfect scene for propaganda.
* * *
True-demon hybrid species Galtomic.
A rank-S purgatory-hunt class: a gel-type, collapse-form creature with no fixed shape that absorbs the Law of Evil when attacked and mimics a powerful individual.
The Galtomic pressing Armin's group had a human upper body fused with a horse's lower half.
Every punch sent black flashes roaring; boulders the size of cliffs shattered to pieces.
An S-rank creature meant it had virtually no natural enemies within a hundred-kilometer radius.
Above all, Galtomic's true value lay in its ability to absorb Laws and convert them into enormous magical power.
"Krau! Krau!"
The Galtomic leaped with a peculiar cry and swung both fists like a tempest, leveling the ground as if distance had vanished.
Armin's scattered party began to counterattack.
With Blizzard cast and temperatures plunging, Kuan and Etella surrounded the Galtomic.
Sword and fist combined like two rhythms merging, and within a flawlessly woven tempo of attack, the Galtomic was struck and fell to the ground.
When Armin cast Slow, Shiina's Glacier Bombing slammed onto the Galtomic trapped in decelerated time.
A glacier weighing nearly sixty tons crashed down and shook the earth.
From the mist of rising cold, the Galtomic, summoning its last strength, hurled itself at Shiina like an Inma spear.
At the same time, Kuan flew in an S-shaped arc, appearing before Shiina as if hovering, then spun.
By the time the air tremors from Kuan's ten high-speed rotations per second pierced eardrums, his blade cleaved the Galtomic in two.
Whoooooom.
Kuan's rotational force rode the wind and reached Shiina.
Combined with her freezing magic, it chilled the bridge of her nose.
Shiina had more than ten defensive methods learned through experience, study, and training to prepare for ambushes, and in this case she offered thanks as was natural.
"Thank you. Thanks to you I'm safe."
"I was only waiting for a chance to land a counter," Kuan replied.
Shiina cut him off and watched his retreating back.
Since coming to Heaven she'd learned more about him—he was a far colder personality than she had thought.
It was fundamentally different from Shiina's own chill.
"I'd like to have a deep talk with him sometime…"
Shiina found herself increasingly curious about Kuan the swordsman, but Kuan sank deeper into self-reproach.
"Damn it! I've completely lost it."
There had been no technical mistake cutting the Galtomic. The problem was his pounding heart.
The thought that flashed through his mind in that instant was the wish that Shiina would recognize his worth.
It was an unfamiliar feeling for Kuan.
He had never wanted to pry into someone else's thoughts. But now he did—he wanted to know what his actions meant to her.
"Get a grip. This is a battlefield, and my grave."
"Shiina, are you all right?"
When Armin approached, Shiina—who'd been looking at Kuan—immediately fixed her expression and turned cold.
"I'm not a child. I don't need that worry anymore."
Etella mentally sorted the three people's emotional arrows pointing in different directions.
Their teamwork couldn't be called cohesive, but perhaps this odd mix produced a strange synergy.
"Still, Armin's amazing."
Galtomic rivaled any monster on the continent in raw power.
Of course, none of the hunts so far had been against weak foes.
What let them keep winning wasn't just the four being capable; Armin's contribution was huge.
Crowd control offers lethal opportunities in combat. And Armin, currently in the party, was probably the world's most powerful crowd-control mage.
"If this keeps up, we can get the factory running soon."
As Etella predicted, when they reached the camp the guards were whispering.
At first they'd been doubtful, but hauling in A-rank and higher creatures day after day had made even the hatred that led someone to cut a companion's throat on day one seem pale.
Frankwine smiled as he inspected the Galtomic's corpse.
"Impressive. I didn't expect you to find a tactic so quickly."
They hadn't planned any strategy—the efficacy came from Armin's crowd control.
"Just curious—what elixirs did you get?"
Etella asked plainly.
"Twelve White Elixirs, thirty-two mid-grade Green Elixirs, fifteen high-grade Red Elixirs."
"Jackpot. You did well. Want to take a break? That alone could be wasted on revelry back at the mainland."
Armin said.
"We're not here to play. We only need to capture three species—the sap-feeding Kujen, the photosynthetic beast Olkir, and the armored mineral species Ringa. Once we get those, the contract is fulfilled."
"Naturally. From then on I'll give you an entire factory. Make whatever you want."
"Then we'll be on our way."
As Armin's party left the room, Mitgun—standing next to Frankwine—spoke.
"Isn't that awfully fast? Top mainland hunters take days to bring down a Galtomic."
"Probably because of that blind man. The others are capable, but that guy's presence is different. By hunting grade, he's triple-S or higher."
Frankwine's instincts were animal-like for both business and hunting.
"That's my concern. He could become a liability for the camp later."
"It's fine, it's fine. Do merchants pick and choose customers? Send the corpse to Reysis. And don't forget the conditions we set."
Mitgun seemed to have more to say but shut his mouth and left.
Alone, Frankwine's smile widened into something grotesque.
"Kekekeke, turns out it's a huge board. Right, Reysis?"
* * *
The Fuzix Machine flared.
As the glass tubes were dismantled, the finished biological composite Shirone sprang out.
A Type-A clone without the Ultima System was noticeably different from a Type-B.
So far it accepted specific traits without issue, but unignorable levels of collapse had occurred and its form was unstable.
Shirone's body was covered in red scales, smoke curling from one eye.
This was the day of the comprehensive fusion of corpses brought from the camp. It was also the first day Galtomic traits were added.
"Co-Commander! Look at these readings! They're incredible!"
Their self-developed mana measurement device's values were skyrocketing.
Galtomic's magic amplification fused with Shirone's avatar and produced an enormous outpouring of mana.
As Shirone's mana surged, Akamai trembled.
Even Akamai—reinforced beyond prototype—had its antithesis on the verge of collapse.
Kwahaaang!
Photon cannons fired in all directions of the lab, and Reysis regarded Shirone with awed eyes.
"Ahh, Shirone. You are so beautiful."
It was a demonic love.
A love with no care for the other—only possessiveness.
"Commander! You must take measures! The lab—!"
A researcher shouted, but Reysis didn't move even as the roar of the photon cannons drowned him out.
The further the fusion progressed, the closer Shirone came to becoming the strongest lifeform.
And all the information gained here would be used to strengthen Akamai.
"Heh heh heh. Well then, shall we start with the first kiss?"
Reysis's skin flushed; her waist arched and lengthened, vertebrae protruding along her back.
Her thighs hardened like rock, and the soles of her feet elongated into reptilian points.
"Raaaaah!"
Her mouth spewed a jet of smoke mixed with flame and lightning at Shirone.
"Urrggh!"
Shirone's body melted but regenerated instantly.
It was the trait of the infinite cell-proliferation entity Kencer.
"Kyahahaha! Magnificent, Shirone! Don't you think so?"
Shirone concealed his appearance with the ability of the transparent revenant Hororos.
Without the Ultima System, the natures of various monsters freely acted in his mind.
"He's gone! Find him—quick!"
When a researcher reached the scan device, a suddenly emerging slime melted him.
"Aaaah!"
The Acid Poison King Muusa's ability.
If hit properly, even ultra-strong metals refined into elixirs would dissolve.
When the slime hit the floor, toxic gas rose.
Researchers clutched their throats in agony, and Reysis raised her broad hand to block the slime.
Her hand slid away in an instant, revealing bone that crumbled like spent matchsticks.
"Ugh!"
Reysis had reached her limit.
If they fought any longer, the lab would be obliterated as the researcher warned.
"Release the Akamai!"
The near-unconscious researcher crawled and pressed the scan device.
When Shirone's coordinates were confirmed, three more Akamai emerged from the side walls and activated their antithesis.
Veins stood out in the eyes of the Akamai desperately clinging to Shirone.
Even so, Shirone moved forward slowly.
The grotesque, monster-transformed look on Reysis's face twisted in disbelief.
"Only four Akamai and that's all it takes to hold him?"
It wasn't simply because new traits had been added.
Through biological feedback, Shirone's potential was erupting.
* * *
After receiving the list from the camp, Armin's party hit their first real obstacle.
The creature that flummoxed them was the armored mineral species Ringa, a double-S hunt grade.
Two meters tall and fourteen tons.
It had four legs but could curl into a ball and roll when needed.
Its speed made hunting difficult, but the most serious problem was the shell of grey-white metal covering its carapace.
Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa!
Wherever Ringa charged, a path cleaved through—trees and rocks shattered.
Armin cast two different kinds of Slow to Ringa's left and right. With timeframes out of sync, Ringa bounced wildly.
Bang! Kwa kwa kwa pang!
By the relativity of time, an attack that would have torn through rebar merely caused Ringa to roll like a spun ball.
"Hoo, this is really…"
Armin had never faced such a creature.
If different creatures had different strengths, Ringa's durability was exceptional.
Seeing that Kuan's blade couldn't even bite through, Etella made a decision.
"At this rate we'll miss it even after nightfall. Let's cooperate."
Shiina said.
"You slow Ringa down, brother. I'll cast Absolute Zero."
Etella agreed.
"Then I'll finish it."
After a brief conference they went into action.
With Ringa slowed, Shiina struck it with the pinnacle of freezing magic, Absolute Zero.
"Kiyaaaah!"
At the same moment Etella charged.
Thousand-Hand Guanyin Thunderstrike.
Etella's repeated uppercuts left afterimages in the air.
When the finishing double strike landed, 68,000 interference waves erupted.
Kukukukukukung!
Ringa's crouched body shook heavily.
Five seconds later, tiny cracks crawled across its shell, and the Ringa burst with a heavy thud.
"Phew."
Etella slumped down, exhausted.
Most astonishing was that even the secret art of the yin-yang wave could only make fine cracks against that durability.
"Monstrous. Definitely double-S."
Armin nodded.
"If it hadn't been a wave-type, it would've been far harder. I wonder—why does the camp collect corpses of creatures like these?"
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Applause came from the forest.
A bad feeling crawled across Armin's party as they turned; silence hung for a moment.
It was the Cage B team they'd met on the mainland. Leading them was Deputy Captain Horkin, hands clasped behind his back.
"Fancy meeting you here again."
Etella smiled broadly as she spoke.
"Indeed. Perhaps fate tied our past lives."
"As the rumors said, an extraordinary crew. By the way… where is Gaold now?"
"Huh?"
Horkin's smirk widened at Etella's expressionless, indifferent act of feigned ignorance.
"I apologize for not recognizing you then. Bishop Romi Etella of the Carsi Monastery."
As if on cue, a murderous intent rose from each of their stances.