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Chapter 122

‘It means the duration decreases every time you use it.’

The decreasing time is randomly determined, ranging from a few seconds to a maximum of 1 minute. For unlucky individuals, it might be limited to only 5 uses.

Therefore, players either use it all early in the game or carefully save it for crucial moments later on. This characteristic of psionic holds true in reality as well. After becoming an Amorph, I’ve used the psionic drugs myself.

‘I used it during the fight with Si-hyun Yujin.’

I enjoyed the effects for 5 minutes, so if I consume another psionic drug later, I should experience the effects for at least 4 minutes.

‘But Muriel said otherwise.’

According to the Mother of the Sky, when Muriel fought herself, the psionic effects lasted for 8 minutes.

‘Is it an improved version of the psionic effect or a module that enhances drug effects?’

With many differences from the game, it’s not clear what the cause is.

‘It doesn’t matter. That part is not important.’

What is certain is that Muriel cannot enjoy the psionic effects indefinitely. If that were the case, she would have used it right away when fighting me.

‘When she first fought me, she used an Ultra Controller.’

While she was waiting for me, she smoked a cigarette. The liquid inside was not a synthetic drug but an Ultra Controller that enhanced psychic abilities’ output and precision.

‘She played it off quite naturally, but the smoke didn’t have the typical hazy drug smell, so I figured it out quickly.’

‘Such an intelligent woman wants to avoid me, even though there’s a way to overpower me?’

Presumably, the psionic drug she used, even if the duration was extended, couldn’t eliminate the drawback of decreasing duration with each use.

‘If you use it recklessly, it becomes difficult to use it when it really matters later on.’

So, she must have used psionic drugs when she deemed herself in dire straits.

‘The maximum duration is less than 8 minutes. Assuming it has the same duration reduction rate as regular psionic drug, it should be less than 7 minutes.’

In reality, the possibility of our fight lasting from 7 to 8 minutes is slim. Both sides move at speeds far beyond human, so regardless of the winner, the combat time won’t be very long.

“Originally, my plan wasn’t to endure until the psionic effect wore off.”

At the moment I was hearing from the Mother of the Sky, I thought about making sure she couldn’t do what she needed with the psionic drugs.

‘…Even if there are two, nothing will change!’

Following her ominous words, Muriel immediately launched an attack. As her foot left the ground, the golden spear approached me at lightning speed. I quickly raised my bone axe. When my bones and her spear collided, it sounded like an explosive blast.

The spear is pushed aside, and her stance crumbles. To engulf her entirely, my corrosive tentacles, with six appendages wide open, rush towards her.

“Hat!”

Muriel extends her mechanized left hand widely. Due to the distortion field, her body slips through the slowed tentacles like a mirage. Then, she clenches her fist with her left arm. In that brief moment, my auxiliary system detects a massive flow of energy transferring through her left arm.

It’s the Thunder Arm Module, belonging to the superior combat modules that a cyborg can equip. With outstanding effects in terms of destructive power and penetrating quantum forces, it can pierce through the exoskeleton I’ve become.

“Where are you going?!”

“Kuk?!”

The Mother of the Sky leaped, colliding with Muriel’s side using her entire body. Ignoring Muriel’s enhanced physical abilities, it was impossible to dismiss the charge of the griffin wolf, with a size of over 4 meters and a body filled with muscles.

Muriel’s posture is disrupted, and the direction her mechanical arm is pointing slightly changes. Thanks to this, the yellow lightning shot by Muriel only grazes my back.

Of course, it didn’t end without any damage; I lost two corrosive tentacles, but it was still bearable.

“Don’t interfere!”

“Ugh!”

After Muriel releases energy, she fiercely strikes the Mother of the Sky with her hot left arm.

The Mother of the Sky, with burns on her face and a broken beak, steped back.

“Good.”

Now is the opportunity, with her attention on another enemy.

I put all my strength into the head and charged at Muriel.

“Kuk!”

My horn broke her rib cage and pierced her organs. Fortunately, she retreated in time, avoiding a complete penetration, but these injuries are severe enough to be fatal.

“No! It’s not over yet!”

As expected, her body glowed violet, just as I predicted.

A violet halo floating behind her head. That’s the halo-shaped headband she wore, the ‘Harmonizer,’ an effect bestowed by the Adjuster.

The Adjuster is one of the rewards for clearing the cult’s mid-to-late quests, granting the wearer the ability to teleport five times a day in ethereal form.

The cult’s quests are divided into 12 stages, and the Adjuster is unlocked as a reward for the 9th stage quest.

When she received the acidic fungal baptism I unleashed, she didn’t use the Adjuster.

“She probably couldn’t use it because she didn’t meet the usage conditions.”

Judging by how she utilized it after consuming psionic drug, it’s certain she cleared up to the 8th stage quest.

“Whatever it is, she only has three uses left now.”

So far, Muriel has used the Adjuster twice. Once when the Mother of the Sky surprised her by popping out of the ground and again when I stabbed her with my horn moments ago.

In other words, she only has three spare lives left.

I predict the point where she’ll move and swiftly reposition myself. About 100 meters away, violet particles gather in the air.

“!”

Muriel, after dematerializing, opens her eyes wide as she sees me charging towards her.

She raised her left arm to activate the distortion field, but the Mother of the Sky couldn’t just stand there and watch.

“Leave her alone!”

The Mother of the Sky, half of her face charred black, had suddenly caught up with Muriel. Her half-broken beak bit forcefully into Muriel’s left shoulder.

“Kkek!”

Due to the dislocated shoulder bone, the manifestation of the distortion field was canceled midway. Muriel, who had come right up to me, hastily assumed a defensive stance with the priest’s spear.

Squelch!

“Ugh!”

The spear and horn collided, resulting in one of my horns breaking. The pain surged as if someone had struck my head with a hard object.

However, the damage wasn’t exclusive to me. Since Muriel also couldn’t escape the impact, the right arm holding the spear extended unnaturally. It was thanks to the nano-Spartan module enveloping her body that her arm didn’t detach; however, the inside must have been completely crushed.

“Eeek! Dieeee!”

Whether it was a scream or a battle cry, she activated the Thunder Arm Module again. As energy gathered in her left arm, the Mother of the Sky quickly let go of the beak she had been gripping.

I, too, quickly shifted my body to avoid the direction in which her arm was pointing. A yellow beam barely grazed my side, with only the thickness of a sheet of paper making the difference.

During that time, she disappeared by dematerializing and reappeared on top of the surveillance tower placed around the camp.

“This… this is impossible…!”

Thanks to the dematerialization effect, her body was unharmed, but her expression was different.

Blood stained her lips as they trembled, and her pupils were shaking.

Now, she was noticeably more shaken than before the fight.

“Way of Escape. Muriel.”

If she fights passively or tries to prolong the battle, the psionic effect will wear off, rendering the Adjuster unusable. On the contrary, if she actively engages in combat, the likelihood of using the Adjuster increases.

Either way, if she can’t use the Adjuster, she’ll have to rely solely on the recovery ability of the nano-Spartan module to face us.

“She should have used it to escape from the beginning.”

Engaging in combat with me, or rather, starting this battle in the first place, was the wrong choice.

I calmly informed her of the reality, knowing that she would understand what those two remaining chances meant for her.

“Two… left…”

“!”

She knows exactly what my words signify.

When those two chances run out, she’ll know what awaits her.

Three years ago.

Muriel found herself alone in the world of space survival, possessing a member of the Space Cartel organization.

No matter if she was ranked 20th or the leader of a large clan in the game, it was all just a story within the game. In the harsh dystopian world, surviving as a mere college student from the real world was by no means an easy task for her. If Muriel hadn’t been a robust cyborg or possessed an appearance beautiful enough to earn the love of the leader, she wouldn’t have lasted even two days.

Muriel could guarantee her life thanks to the cult leader who cherished her. It had been a month since she became the lover of the leader.

Only after her survival was assured did she realize what she had received by coming to this world. It was a kind of blessing, a ‘bonus’ for those who crossed over to this world.

The bonus she received was the ability to change the base species that served as the foundation for her cyborg body into another species. While in the game, cyborgs were fixed to have a human base species, she could transform her base species into cyborg, wolf, cult, or other species.

It could be considered a bonus reflecting the characteristics of the pirate group, Space Dogs, which included various species. However, she couldn’t change the base species without any constraints. Her original species was a cyborg. After plundering the symbols of other species and modifying them into ‘modules,’ she could wear them to use the bonus. This limitation remained unchanged even after changing the species.

Additionally, she could only switch to intelligent species that players could choose, and transformation into wild animals that were unplayable was not possible.

Regardless, realizing the potential of the bonus, she assassinated the cult leader to change her base species to cult.

Without any affection for him and considering him just an NPC in the game, she didn’t feel much remorse for the murder. After converting the leader’s horn into a module and changing her species to cult, she targeted the members of the Cartel organization.

Since the cartel she belonged to was a powerful one, it wasn’t an easy fight, but she managed to win somehow. After that, while on her way to the cult’s nature, she encountered other players and grew with their help.

Two years had passed since she came to this world, and Muriel had become strong. No one in the universe dared to treat her lightly. Moreover, with two rankers sponsoring her, crises were practically non-existent for Muriel.

That is, until now, before meeting Amorph in this SainTopia02.

“Kuk!”

Muriel raised her spear to block the arm of the damn powerful Amorph quasi-entity that came down on her. His attacks were not usually heavy, but Muriel bit her lip due to the unusual weight.

His strength hadn’t decreased at all since the start of the fight. In fact, the longer the fight continued, the stronger he felt. To be precise, it wasn’t that the enemy was getting stronger; it was Muriel who was getting weaker.

“No! I won’t lose…!”

“Motherf***er!”

Though anxiety crept in, she shook it off with a curse-mixed battle cry. The Thunder Arm Module attached to her left arm activated, and a yellow lightning bolt pierced through Amorph’s arm.

For a brief moment of joy at seeing the severed arm, the Mother of the Sky swung her foreleg towards Muriel’s face.

“Ugh!”

She tried to dodge, tilting her head backward, but her right cheek was torn halfway by the brutal attacks of the beastly woman.

“…I can recover from this much!”

With only two uses left for the recalibration of the regulator, she had to use them sparingly. Trusting in the recovery power of the Nano Spartan module, she swung her spear while the golden spear of the priest sliced through the Mother of the Sky’s side. Meanwhile, Amorph’s tail unexpectedly flew towards her.

As it happened during the attack, she couldn’t completely avoid it. She decided to trust in the solid Thunder Arm module’s defense, but it turned out to be a poor choice.

“E-ek!”

Her mechanical arm twisted grotesquely due to the ignorant tail. As if that wasn’t enough, she soared into the air and tumbled miserably to the ground.

“Cough?!”

Muriel, vomiting black blood from her mouth. Although she had fallen to the ground a few times during the fight, this was the first time she had spewed blood.

“That damn Amorph brat and his tricks…!”

Only then did she become aware of the presence of the mist that completely surrounded the campsite.

The mist was undoubtedly created by Amorph’s nest. Having fought Amorph several times in the game, she quickly recognized it. However, she had disregarded the fear of the toxic mist since she hadn’t fought Amorph for such a long time.

In fact, she hadn’t made a foolish judgment. The recovery power of the Nano Spartan module was incredibly outstanding. No matter how powerful the toxicity of the mist was, as long as the module was operational, she could recover quickly.

“But the module’s recovery can’t keep up!”

If she could maintain a stable state for even a short time, the module’s recovery function would normalize. However, the enemies didn’t allow her even that “short time.”

Mother of the Sky rushed towards the vomiting Muriel. Muriel leaped into the air to ward off the Mother’s attack with both feet.

Although the enemy flew far away, another enemy attacked her. Muriel barely parried the thorny fur pouring down from the front with her spear.

“Oh, no! I can still endure this…!”

Just as she thought that, the enemy’s tentacles lunged at her. She managed to deflect some, but she couldn’t block them all. Due to the previous attack, half of her thigh was torn.

“I can solve this with another module!”

As she stood up, the Mother’s foreleg swung towards her, suddenly coming close. It was an attack that took advantage of the narrowed right-side view of Muriel.

“I need to use the distortion field…!”

Hastily unfolding the distortion field with her recovering left arm, Muriel. Although the Mother of the Sky stopped in mid-air, Amorph’s horn aimed at her from the opposite direction.

“Thunk!”

“The next one…!”

Once again, Muriel vomited blood while soaring through the air. Continuously thinking of the next move from her head.

Among the modules she possessed, there was something that could overcome this situation. Although it was a precious module and she hadn’t used it much due to severe side effects, the situation was unavoidable.

“I can still win!”

Blocked. Both of her legs were completely shattered. Utilizing her Psychokinesis Power technique, she lifted her body into the air and quickly thought of the next move.

Among the Psychokinesis Power techniques she possessed, there was one that could incapacitate the enemy. She had been saving it, but now was the time for it to shine.

“With this…!”

However, she was blocked. Penetrating injuries were added to her shoulders and abdomen. With consecutive fatal injuries, the Nano Suit rapidly slowed down. Amidst the confusion caused by the bleeding, she continued to think.

“The next move… how should I handle this?”

It seemed like the creature knew everything about her, the modules she possessed, and the Psychokinesis Power techniques she could use, as if it knew her inside out. In front of it, she might as well have been naked.

As she thought about it, the monster in front of her began to grow larger. The creature, which had grown uncontrollably by consuming her blood, flesh, and emotions, now looked overwhelmingly gigantic and difficult to handle.

Facing such a creature, long-buried emotions in her chest resurfaced.

Desperation and fear of death.

“I… I don’t want to die!”

Driven to the extreme, Muriel, with a determination to use the regulator she had vowed to save, used it once again. After her body dispersed into violet particles, she gathered again in a place as far away as possible from that monster.

“No, this can’t be!”

As her body regenerated, she regretted it. Now, she only had one chance left.

At that moment, the creature spoke.

“…Once.”

Even though the distance between her and the creature was more than a few hundred meters, Amorph’s words resonated in her ears as if they were stuck in her mind.