Tree (12)
"Huff...! Huff...!"
I panted heavily, rushing past and weaving between the towers of metal cubes over and over again. It was all to get away from the mutant that was hot on my heels. But I wasn't just running forward blindly; I set a certain area and kept circling within it.
If it was just a ghoul chasing me, my heart would be pounding wildly, but what was after me was a mutant far more dangerous, exuding a fierce, murderous aura. I felt like my heart was about to burst. Right before it broke— no, it was already broken.
A three-meter-tall monster swung its whip-like, ever-shifting arms, aiming straight at me without even properly forming a solid shape. With that in mind, how could I not be on the verge of breaking down? If I hadn't tried so desperately to steady my mind and stay calm, I'd probably have gone mad already.
【Kiaaaaaak!】
I sensed its presence behind me— the air wasn't just sliced, it was pushed, and I felt something like a hand on my back. The instant that the combined pressure assaulted me, I dove to the side.
KWAANG—!
The monster's hand smashed down right where I'd just been. Metal shards and debris scattered everywhere, as if a bomb had gone off. If I'd hesitated even a moment longer, I would have lost my legs for good.
I was completely out of breath. In that split second, a cloud of fine dust erupted, blocking my vision. Since there wasn't that much dirt in the mix, I knew the dust would settle quickly, and I hurriedly attached a heat emitter to the base of a metal tower.
No sooner had I stepped back than the emitter began to glow red-hot. It could have looked like a malfunction, but strictly speaking, that wasn't quite right. It was running a set of inputs Celestia had programmed remotely, self-immolating in the process.
That heat drew the mutant's attention straight to it. It reacts to heat. I was exploiting its characteristics. Of course, my intention wasn't something like fooling the creature into thinking there were multiple people thanks to the emitter.
Not that I hadn't thought about it, but I quickly gave up on the idea. I'd already confirmed it had vision organs, and it had already sighted both me and Eric. There was no way such a monster would be fooled by something so crude.
KWAANG! BANG!
Drawn by the heat from the emitter, the mutant reached for the base of the tower where I'd just set it. The impact shook the tower violently. The emitter disappeared without a trace; all that remained was the heat, sucked up by the monster.
Its arms bulged and then receded, as if blood was rushing through veins. The sight and sound of all that writhing organic matter made my skin crawl.
The mutant, having absorbed all the heat, scratched at its throat and parted its jaws. As it exhaled, not only did a foul stench escape, but flecks of blue powder, reflecting the light, came with it.
Observing it, I'd figured it out now— the reason it was absorbing heat.
The heat from outside softened its flesh, accelerating its mutation, and gathered the scattered blue crystals in its body toward the core, forming a sort of nucleus.
Now and then, when it opened its mouth wide to try and swallow me, I'd clearly seen the blue crystals being drawn to its center. That was enough to let me make a guess.
Its form hadn't stabilized yet; clearly, it wasn't fully mutated. I was certain now— this thing was a mimic. This was a mimic's hunting ground. No, more like its evolution chamber. Or perhaps a nest.
That's why there hadn't been any ghouls in the waste treatment area, and why the creatures hadn't destroyed the facility. If heat was a requirement for the mimic's transformation, then this place, with its constantly running engines, was the perfect spot.
The place with the laser devices was likely unsuitable due to the excessive output.
Then came the question— can mimics and ghouls communicate? Are mimics an evolved form of a ghoul? That would have to wait until later; at the moment, I was too preoccupied with dodging the mimic's attacks.
"Eric! How much longer do I have to keep this thing busy?"
- Two more minutes!
"Are you crazy?! Make it one!"
I choked on my words, sucking in a harsh breath as I rolled forward. Tumbling clumsily, my suit was dusted over. The attack had barely missed, but still left my skin tingling.
Throwing heat emitters as I ran, I was both trying to destabilize the cube towers around me and buying time for Eric to hijack control of the crane.
During the brief connection to the circuits, Eric would be vulnerable. I'd distract the mimic, Eric would take over the crane, and bring down the tower.
That was how we'd smash its exoskeleton. In this situation, without any decent equipment, the only thing we could count on was the sheer mass of the falling metal cubes, which would serve as viable weapons all on their own.
If we were lucky, we might be able to aim directly for the blue crystal cluster inside the mimic's body. Its exoskeleton didn't seem fully formed yet, so it was possible.
I worried about Nadia and Carry, who were fighting inside, but there was nothing I could do for them right now. I had to survive if I wanted to worry about others. If we didn't get rid of this mutant, we would all die.
Not just me, but everyone here.
【Kiaaaaaaak!】
My eyes met the mimic's. This was the first time I'd seen it so close. Its gaze, stained red as if with blood, was fixed right on me.
Being considered prey by such a murderous gaze made it hard to breathe. Could I win? Until now, every move I'd made was to survive, to win. And yet, faced with that overwhelming difference in size, a seed of doubt about myself sprouted in my heart.
- Just 30 more seconds!
Thirty seconds. That's the time I had to buy. Even without a watch, I could hear a ticking sound, as if a second hand were counting down in my ear. Tick-tock, tick-tock. Drops of sweat slid down my face, pooling at my chin, as time dragged on unbearably.
The heat and the acrid smoke filling the place made my lungs burn. Amidst the chaos, the machines carried on as if nothing was wrong, stacking cubes for the towers. Thanks to the isolation system, the inside was cut off from the supply pipeline and no more cubes were coming through, but the machines still kept searching for work.
I didn't take my eyes off the monster as I cautiously inched backward—into the operating range of the crane.
The instant I stepped back a pace, the creature sneered. Its face wasn't even properly formed, but its mockery was clear for all to see. It thought I was too spent to run anymore.
"... You filthy monster."
I clenched my teeth and glared at it. My racing heart sent blood surging through my veins. Only one heat emitter was left. As the monster anticipated, I couldn't go anywhere else. Retreating any farther would ruin the plan.
Humans were a race that lived on faith. I, too, was a human, and I tried to believe in others. Even if the results weren't always good. Still, I hadn't given up on faith.
Because I knew I couldn't do everything alone.
So now, it was time to trust Eric, and Celestia.
【Kraaaaak!】
Raising my plasma cutter and flicking out the blue blade, I saw the mimic open its mouth and shriek at me.
- Crane takeover successful! Activating the trap now!
At last, the message I'd waited for at the risk of my life arrived. The crane stopped building the tower. With a clang, it spread its claws to knock the tower down.
Rumble—!
The tower shook. With just one crane, knocking down a tower wasn't possible, but it was a different story if we had more than one.
Gaining control meant we could manipulate every crane in the waste processing area. In time with Celestia's commands, the cranes moved along the rails and began ripping away at the bases of the towers.
The effect was immediate.
Naturally, the mutant sensed something wrong. It wasn't stupid enough to just stand there. Perceiving the sudden change in its environment, the mimic lost its murderous edge and began to back away, as I had a little while ago.
Eric jumped out from behind a crane to stand by my side, making the mimic's desire to retreat even clearer.
"We did it in under a minute."
"You should have been even quicker. There's only one heat emitter left."
"I'll handle the rest myself. Just need to buy time, right?"
Eric drew his military greatsword with a swift motion. The tip, now adjusted for a better grip, pointed straight at the monster. As ever, but now, it truly mattered—our lives were on the line, and the slightest slip meant death.
"Let's do this together. If that thing escapes to another part of the facility, it'll be even worse."
I dropped my stance, increasing the output on my plasma cutter. The mimic let out a low, threatening rumble at us. I met it with a mocking grin of my own, and its whole body shuddered in response. It took the bait.
Still, maybe the shaking of the towers unnerved it; the mimic tried to ignore us and head off elsewhere. It would surely have gotten away—if the claws of the nearby crane hadn't swiftly grabbed it from behind.
【Kiiiiik?!】
With a metallic clank, the claws clamped tight, pinning the mimic. It thrashed wildly to break free, its obscene strength threatening to wrench the claws apart. The metallic shriek of stressed steel sliced the air sharply.
- We can't hold it long! Just once! Block it just this once...!
At Celestia's urgent message, we both sprang into action at once.
We started from the same line, but Eric darted ahead, circuits in his suit pulsing as he vaulted forward at almost superhuman speed. The suit must have some integrated function to augment the wearer's strength and movement.
Eric's light-footed steps belied his build as he closed in on the mimic in the blink of an eye.
【Kiiiiiiiii—!】
The mimic opened its jaws wide for the prey that had come walking right up to it. As if it didn't care about the crane claws, it seemed entirely heedless of the danger. Truth was, the claws were already losing their strength, the joints being eaten away by the mimic's invading organic tissue.
Seeing that, I immediately gave up on trying to restrain the mimic with more cranes—it would never work, no matter how many we threw at it.
"Eric!"
"Don't worry about me! There's a reason I was chosen as Celestia's guard...!"
The mimic wasn't able to get Eric in one bite. Twisting his body midair, Eric let the mimics jaws snap shut on nothing but empty air.
At that moment, the last remaining heat emitter landed right on one of the mimic's eyes. It ignited instantly, radiating heat that the mimic naturally absorbed.
It might have looked like we were helping the enemy, but that wasn't our goal. With the heat absorbed, its tissues would soften, making them vulnerable.
As Eric passed over the mimic's head, he slashed down hard with his greatsword.
CLANG— CLANG!
Strikes landed in quick succession—a muffled sound, as if something was being blocked, rather than flesh tearing. The greatsword bounced off the exoskeleton without piercing it. Eric danced around with dynamic movements, ducking the mimic's attacks, but it didn't seem to be injured at all. At most, he managed to scratch the flesh that softened after absorbing the heat.
While that back-and-forth played out, I finally made it right in front of the mimic. With its attention fixed on Eric, I leapt up onto its body and sprang upward.
We just had to keep the mimic in place until the towers collapsed. Finishing it off would be the next step. Thinking that, I pushed the plasma tool—refined by Kyle—to its maximum output.
The blade of plasma nearly extended to the length of my arm, burning like a roaring blue flame. Even if my suit's assistance was lacking compared to Eric's, I had him beat in raw weapon output.
I raised the tool, blazing with blue energy, high above my head. The mimic, sensing the surge of heat right in front of it, twisted toward me in alarm.
Watching its rippling bio-organic body, I drove the plasma cutter deep into a patch of softened tissue, pulsing with blue energy.
【KyaaaaaaaAAAAAA—!】
The mutant, the mimic, writhed and screamed in agony. The plasma tool easily sliced through the makeshift, metallic exoskeleton it had wrapped around itself for protection.
I braced my body as it thrashed violently, gripping the tool tight. As its name suggested, the cutter sheared chunks of viscous organic tissue free, which fell to the ground with a wet slap, rendering it temporarily motionless. Overwhelmed by the high-output energy, it seemed stunned.
- Pull back now! It's coming down!
We didn't hesitate to retreat. Attacking further would have been greedy, and it didn't seem likely we could inflict a fatal wound anyway.
Rumble—!
With the cranes disabling their supports, the tower, already on the brink of collapse, finally began to fall. Ironically, the collapse started not from the top, but from the middle.
A rain of metal cubes, rather than hail, cascaded down. The area it covered was far larger than we anticipated, and Eric and I fled with faces pale, barely escaping the falling danger zone.
THUNK!
One of the plummeting cubes crashed down like a meteor, smashing not the mimic but an unlucky crane. That crane found its first and last eternal rest. Good thing it was unmanned; otherwise, the consequences would have been horrific.
Clatter—THUNK!
Soon after, another wave of falling cubes slammed into the mimic with full force, burying it beneath a rising mountain of metal.
The mimic didn't even have time to scream. There was no sound of bone breaking or flesh tearing—just the endless ringing of metal striking metal.
As the tower collapsed, a cloud of dust rose up, but even through that haze, we knew something monumental had occurred. Things had gone according to plan, but the sheer force of it all silenced us. We were overwhelmed.
Waiting for the dust to settle, I anxiously pushed away a screen of grit with my hand. The scene revealed was utterly tragic—so many metal cubes piled into a mountain, it was hard to believe a mimic had ever been there.
- The mutant... it must be dead, right?
"We can't be sure yet."
I knew of their regenerative abilities. The wave of metal certainly dealt it a heavy blow, but was it enough to finish it? I couldn't say.
Complete dismemberment or outright destruction—our attack was closer to the latter, but I still couldn't call it total. I had to check if the core was destroyed.
As I cautiously moved forward to confirm, a desperate scream issued from within the heap of cubes. Eric yanked me back almost simultaneously.
There was no time to be surprised by his action. Suddenly, a blue flame swept through the air, vaporizing everything in its path. The firepower was tremendous enough to melt metal cubes. Soaring skyward, it looked just like a flare.
Fortunately, we weren't caught by the flames, but a blast, seemingly from the mimic, surged through the newly melted hole, sweeping both Eric and me off our feet.
"... Kuhk?!"
I didn't even know what hit me. All I felt was my insides churning and a horrific pain hitting me a moment later. Rolling messily along the floor, the world spinning, I could barely take it in.
I finally stopped myself from tumbling, and found the mimic—now less than half its original size—fleeing the scene.
"Damn it...! We have to catch it...!"
"Hyun-woo! You can't! It's already too far! Right now, you have to worry about your own body!"
I couldn't argue. A wave of nausea surged within me. I ripped off my respirator and spat out mouthfuls of blood, which quickly congealed into sticky clots on the cold ground.
All I could see through my blurry vision was traces of the creature's escape—a long trail of blood, which would vanish by tomorrow.
It wasn't the best outcome, or the worst—perhaps a bittersweet relief. Or maybe I should just curse myself for letting a nearly defeated enemy go due to lack of Strength.
With frustration, I slammed my fist into the ground. The mimic was clearly intelligent—perhaps not highly so, but enough to be a grave threat to us.
'That's why I had to catch it.'
In the end, I let it slip away. Right before my eyes, no less.
Celestia and Eric were shouting in panic, but to me, their voices barely registered as language. Everything was ringing, my mind was blank.
I stuffed one of the advanced medical pills Nadia had given me long ago into my mouth and forced myself to chew, fighting down the constant urge to cough up blood.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Kill the mimic!
【༼ ᕤ◕ロ◕ ༽o:【】:::::::〉】