Chapter 272: 272
Episode 272 – Swarm of Rats (3)
–
Banquet hall in the basement of the 2nd Command Center.
It was usually an empty space, but not today.
Outsiders with ties to the powers of the universe, such as the Megacorp Cult Empire and Star Union, were staying in the banquet hall. They were all dressed in luxurious attire and were being served food that was as precious as the clothes they wore.
The people here are all major customers of Montana Marcio.
Originally, the plan was to invite them to the banquet hall after the auction started, but it was intentionally brought forward.
It was because of an unpleasant incident that occurred in the fortress.
A significant portion of Montana's business is illegal. The guests who visit the fortress also know this fact well. If Montana makes even the slightest mistake, they will immediately leave to find another replacement.
That's why Montana had to do everything he could to win their hearts. At least until his men solve the problem in the underground storage room.
"How was everyone's meal?"
The guests nodded silently at Montana's words. Everyone's expressions weren't bad, but that didn't mean they were friendly.
There was a problem with the underground storage room where their belongings were stored. Because of that, the mercenaries they brought with them have now gone to the storage facility to check the safety of the items.
The reason they did not leave right away was because of their status. In fact, none of those who come to the banquet hall and enjoy a meal are truly upper class. They are, after all, representatives of the upper class of their respective factions. They are a type of employees who take charge of illegal transactions.
Of course, if a problem occurs with the product and the transaction fails, they must also be held responsible. It's better if it's a cult, but the users of Noble Capital or Prime Capital don't know what will happen.
Therefore, it is not too late to sever ties with the Marcio Cartel after the safety of the goods has been confirmed.
For this reason, the guests at the banquet hall believed Montana's words and were here.
Those who hope that he will handle it well, those who are dissatisfied with the troublesome situation, those who are thinking of ways to gain some benefit from it, etc. Everyone had smiling faces, but complex calculations were going on behind the scenes.
Montana, who was watching, did the same.
He was also tapping away at the calculator in his head. Damage from accidents is already inevitable. However, he wondered if he could use this accident to successfully overcome the crisis and build a good image for them.
So far, he has overcome many hardships. It will be like that this time too.
As he believed this, his subordinate approached him cautiously.
"Do ah no, Chairman."
"what?"
"This is an urgent report. It's a bit too much to say here…"
It's never wise to leave your seat in front of numerous customers. If it had been any other time, Montana would have been bitten too.
He would have done so if he hadn't noticed that his subordinate's entire hair was soaked in cold sweat.
"Hahaha, it looks like the work is finished. The main menu will appear soon, so please wait a little longer."
Montana reacted calmly as if nothing had happened and left the banquet hall with the guidance of his subordinate.
And after hearing everything his subordinate said outside, he couldn't keep his composure.
"The troops sent to the military port also lost contact? all?"
The worst case scenario Montana assumed was that the troops sent to the depot would suffer heavy losses.
However, the situation was far beyond his imagination. There is no contact not only in the storage area but also in the reserve units gathered at the military port.
"I contacted the kids wandering around that military port and they are in complete chaos. Monsters have appeared and are massacring people…"
"…"
The situation was very serious. It was the greatest crisis since he took control of the fortress.
'This is not the time to be like this.'
"I'm going to the general manager's office. "You must stay and entertain those inside."
"yep."
He sent his subordinate to the banquet room and rode the elevator with his bodyguards.
The general management office is located on the 10th floor. When the heavy man pressed the button, the elevator began to rise quickly.
–
After organizing the troops gathered in the storage room, I sent a group of mutants toward the headquarters. The reason I didn't go with him was because I had business to do at the military port.
'There will be more troops in reserve.'
The pirates on the train I attacked were all heading to the military port station. For security reasons, there is no space around the storage area for vehicles such as patrol ships or hover buses to land.
Therefore, the enemy would have gathered a large number of troops at a nearby military port and then tried to deploy them one by one depending on the situation.
'If we turn them all into mutants, it will be much easier to conquer the fortress.'
The mutants will move around and reduce the number of enemies on their own. Moreover, if they take control of a military port where many enemy ships are anchored, their means of defense will be greatly reduced.
For this reason, I asked PS-111 to secretly go to the military port and do preliminary work.
And now that I arrived at the military port, I was able to see the results he had created.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu….
" Cluck, cluck…"
Pirates, mercenaries, and various criminals were lying on the ground throughout the military port. This is because PS-111 hacked and messed up the environmental maintenance function in the area where the military port is located.
First, he twisted gravity to prevent the enemies from moving and lightly sprayed poisonous gas on them. Thanks to this, the combat power of the troops gathered at the military port plummeted.
"Hurry and request support from headquarters!"
"Damn it! "The communicator is not working!"
"Stop being useless! First, release the Hulk mutant and stop him first!"
The only disappointing thing is that not all enemies were subdued. There were quite a few who reacted quickly after seeing their colleagues fall to the ground.
Mercenaries and pirates wore gas masks and administered strengthening agents to their bodies to withstand the poisonous gas and gravity. The Hulk mutants, who appear to have been brought in from Megacorp, were also unaffected by the poison gas as they were wearing specially made bio masks on their faces.
'It's not a bad response, but…'
Choosing instead of the worst option is the lesser evil option, so it's just as bad. Since they choose to fight, there are only two futures left for them.
Either die. Or…
"Start shooting!"
The enemy troops who were hiding using the building as cover poured all their firepower towards me. From bullets with physically destructive power, such as tungsten bullets from Gauss rifles and depleted uranium bullets from storm guns, to pulse grenades that are strong against electronic equipment and energy bullets from laser weapons.
All kinds of attacks rained down on me, but only a few of them reached me. All bullets with physical power were fixed in the air.
"Fuck?!"
"What is that…?"
If they were a cult, they would know why the bullets were in the air. Number 26 above my head caught all the bullets coming at me with its powerful psychic power.
[Zuzuzuzuzu (don't kill me)]
"Yes."
No. 26 jumped down onto the metal floor. At the same time, the bullets entangled in the web of psychic power also fell to the ground.
The body of No. 26, who stood in front of me as if protecting me, grew rapidly. A large fin grew from the bottom of its body, and countless tentacles grew from the top.
In an instant, it grew into a 25m tall monster, with countless eyes popping out from its torso. Each eye moved separately and watched the enemy's location.
"…."
"…."
Enemies who made eye contact with him could not take any action. Because an overwhelming, unimaginable fear is clutching at their throats.
At that time, when everyone was silent, No. 26's attack began.
Intense psychic power emanated from its body, while its tentacles stretched out and struck the building.
"Avoid everyone!"
"Kwaaaak!"
The building where about ten people were hiding on the roof collapsed completely after being hit by the guy's blow. It was not difficult to predict what would have happened to those inside. Other enemies who saw this barely came to their senses and began to attack.
"Hulk Mutant! "Unleash the Hulk Mutants!"
"Kill him!"
Hulk mutants wearing bio masks jumped out, breathing heavily. Number 26 stood proudly in front of me and radiated psychic power towards them.
"Kuuuuu?"
"Kuok!"
Four Hulk Mutants rose into the air at the same time. Their bodies began to tremble, and then their limbs were torn off as if they had been executed by car.
"How do you beat that monster?!"
"We must run away now!"
"Everyone get back…Kaaaaaa!"
The pirates who tried to escape were caught in the restraints of No. 26 and had their legs bent 360 degrees. Instead of helping their colleagues, the others were busy taking care of their own comfort.
'I don't think you need help.'
I expected it, but No. 26 was fighting well even without me.
I pulled out the tentacles and injected the mutant virus into the enemies that were not yet dead. The pirates, who were screaming with bones sticking out of their thighs, became quiet as soon as they touched my tentacles.
They broke away from the weak spirit of the past and became a new being. Their desire to kill made them free.
"Gigigigigi"
"Keuuuuuuung!"
The newly born mutants rushed at the Hulk mutants with their limbs torn off.
'It would be great if Hulk mutants could also mutate, but it's a shame.'
It's not that the mutated virus doesn't work, but when I tried using it, the results weren't very good. Is it because there are a lot of spliced genes? Rather, it changed in a bad direction.
I gave up on being a Hulk mutant and focused on mutating living mercenaries, pirates, and other humans.
As a result of diligent movement, by the time No. 26 subdued the enemy, the number of mutants had increased to hundreds. As the 'Messenger of Chaos', I adjusted their movement route.
"Baby, you have to go there, not there."
"Gigigigigi."
There were instances that occasionally escaped, but in those cases, No. 26 caught them one by one. Those whose necks or backs were bent by his strength stumbled and joined the other mutants.
'The port seems to have been somewhat organized.'
I turned dozens of criminals hiding in one building into mutants and tried to get them to join the group.
'Is it okay to do this?'
While I was thinking that, light suddenly flashed from a long cylindrical building in the distance.
And a swarm of light of enormous intensity flew this way and destroyed dozens of mutants I had created at once. As if that wasn't enough, it was enough to make me, who was away from the center of the light, retreat a few meters.
'this!'
Just now, it is a fortification gun for internal defense in this fortress. There were a total of six guns, two each installed in three headquarters, and the current one was the main gun located in the second headquarters.
'The headquarters was also aware of the situation.'
The mutant is still on his way to headquarters. They probably took action not because of the mutation, but because they lost contact with the personnel at the military port.
'But I never thought they would fire the fortress artillery right away.'
The only time the fortress artillery works is when the war situation is extremely bad. It is a weapon made with the assumption that the enemy would infiltrate the inside of the fortress, so its firepower is extremely powerful.
They might know about the mutant, but they don't know about me, so they reacted quite quickly.
｢Big baby, are you okay?｣
[Zuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzu (I'm fine. I'll shrink back down)]
Number 26, who was worried about me, shrank back to a small size. He could use his psychic power to deflect the fortress cannon's beam, but it's a pretty risky attempt. Since there are two fort guns, if you block one and get hit by the other, you will be fatally injured.
'I need to use that.'
Originally, I was planning to use it more sparingly, but the situation is such that I have no choice.
It is time for the unique characteristic 'Complex Spectral Object' that was acquired last to come into play.
The second fortress gun at the 2nd Command Center will be firing soon. Before that, I activated the unique trait.
When the characteristic was activated, an intangible haze rose above my body, as if heat was rising. The haze floated in the air and clumped together to form a transparent tray. It was so large that it covered both me and the largest size 26.
Next, the tray-shaped haze gradually solidified and began to refract and disperse the surrounding light. The colorfully shining tray was similar to my appearance in the 'color of the abyss' state, but it was slightly different.
While the colored light of the abyss gave an eerie feeling somehow, that light seemed to be created from a purely natural phenomenon. Like light reflecting off a prism.
At that time, light flashes again from the headquarters in the distance.
A heat ray of psychic power flew at a much faster speed than Gallagon's breath. It collided with the transparent tray floating above me.
The enemies would have never expected what happened next.
The heat rays blocked by the invisible barrier turned into numerous rays of light and flew in a completely different direction.
The main abilities of the Tray-shaped Hazard or Complexity Spectral Object are:
'Reflects energy-type attacks.'
"It's so shiny and pretty!"
A meteor shower of light decorates the fortress and the city is on fire.
It was a very beautiful sight, as No. 26 said.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone