Ep. 218
Od Grad, which avoided the strengthened ‘Watcher of Fear’, did not attack us.
Just keep your distance and be on guard.
Before I avoided him, he seemed arrogant, but now he wasn’t like that at all. This guy was extremely wary of us, or me.
The movement of my wings, the angle of my head, the auxiliary organs swaying and rustling in the wind, and even the tentacles of the monster shining purple and green.
‘I don’t get it.’
Its gaze was fixed on the monster’s tentacles. It’s as if he knows that this tentacle is a threat to him.
‘Black Gallagon has no intelligence-related characteristics.’
Gallagon does not possess characteristics such as ‘clairvoyance’, which collects surrounding information and detects beings under the ground or behind walls, and ‘insight’, which analyzes equipment or characteristics based on the opponent’s appearance. Even Red Gallagon only appears in events.
Gallagon is a perfect creature with a strong body that can survive in space, the ability to use powerful psychic powers, a long lifespan, and the social nature of hunting in packs with its own kind. There is no need to have intelligence-related characteristics.
‘No, I don’t know that.’
Didn’t Adhai show a different appearance from the regular Gallagon? Odd Grad may also not be a typical Black Gallagon.
‘Let’s write some insights.’
Actually, when I went to look for the Hellside Hornet, I used Adhai’s insight once. It wasn’t much help because no special information was provided.
There is a high possibility that no new information will come out from him, but we are still at a loss. I flapped my wings to approach him.
[Zuzuzu Zuzuzuzu Zuzuzu (I’m going to get close to that guy. Help me)]
｢Yes.｣
I tried to use the color of the abyss and No. 26’s combined attack as a secret trick, but I was already caught. Number 26 used to move passively to hide his power, but there is no need to do that anymore.
I moved forward, beating the air with my wings. As the distance between me narrowed, Od Grad’s horn glowed purple.
I can hear a tiger purring far above my head. A supernatural storm is about to break out due to the influence of ‘Maelstrom’.
Purple lightning rained down behind me, and a waterspout over 100 meters in diameter blocked my path.
The flight speed was drastically reduced due to the waterspout sucking in the air. At that moment, when the supernatural lightning was about to hit me, No. 26 came forward.
｢Uuuu!｣
Have you ever seen lightning strike from the sky and stop? Something that can only be seen in pictures is happening on my back.
It feels like an auxiliary organ. Thousands, or so many threads that it is difficult to estimate, are sticking out from No. 26’s body and holding onto the lightning. And the stuffed psychic power gathers into one point in the air according to the guy’s will.
｢!｣
Odd Grad, the party who cast Maelstrom, tried to regain control of the lightning, but it was already too late. The psychic power stolen by No. 26 had already turned into a purple arrow and was aiming for his life.
Like an arrow fired by a god to kill an evil dragon, psychic power flew through the dark clouds. Od Grad, who failed to control it, flapped his wings and took refuge. The arrow changed direction and aimed at him, but it was difficult to keep up with his irregular movements.
“Big baby, it’s hard so I won’t be able to do this for long.”
[Zuzuzu (It’s okay)]
Thanks to him buying me time, I was able to catch up with him without any checks.
[Zuuu Zuzuzu (Help Aadhai)]
｢Yes.｣
At that moment, the small White Gallagon Aadhai is fiercely attacking Od Grad from a close range. No. 26 controlled psychic power to assist Aadhai’s energy bullets.
“You bastards!”
Ohd Grad let out a wave of irritated thoughts and began firing his psychic breath. I activated Insight while Aadhai was avoiding the heat rays fired at ultra-high speed through evasive maneuvers.
｢Name: Od Grad
Race: Black Gallagon
Status: Enhancement (Dragon Power ■■■ ■■■)
Possessed Skills: Hyper-accelerated Psychic Breath Dragon’s Heart and many more… ｣
‘…Indeed.’
After identifying the guy with insight, I activated my psychic breath. Unlike the usual purple light, my body was filled with a strange light mixed with green, purple, and various other pigments.
It is a psychic breath strengthened with the color of the abyss. Suffering from endless hunger, bubbles of destruction form at the tips of my tentacles.
A bubble-shaped breath flew out to engulf the creature. The guy who was trying to attack Adhai retreated quickly as soon as he saw the bubbles.
‘I noticed it again this time.’
Thanks to the guy retreating, I had some time to recall the information I had just acquired.
‘He has special abilities.’
You can tell by looking at its ‘state’. Clearly, in the enhanced state, there were other attribute effects other than ‘Dragon Power’.
All Gallagons above Black Gallagon have a unique skill called ‘Dragon Heart’. When a normal player possesses the heart of a dragon, he or she receives a strengthening effect known as the power of the dragon.
The problem is the strengthening effect that follows the dragon’s power. A normal Black Gallagon only needs one dragon’s power, but he is receiving two strengthening effects.
It is highly likely that the added strengthening effect is related to an unknown ability.
The unfortunate thing is that I wasn’t able to confirm all of his abilities through insight. This is because Insight does not show all of the opponent’s equipment or skill characteristics, but shows them randomly.
It would be nice to approach it again and write an insight, but it doesn’t seem easy. The guy who dodged my attacks in succession was because he was extremely wary of me. He’s a smart guy, so he won’t allow me any more access.
‘I guess I should say I’m glad he came out passively.’
I don’t know how Od Grad knew my characteristics, but because of that, my movements are limited. If he had come out actively, the fight would have been much more difficult.
‘We need to change our strategy.’
I shot a short wave at Aadhai. The guy who heard my wave was confused and hesitated, but when I fired a strong wave again, he eventually agreed.
“Big adult,” “Body,” “Be careful.”
With only those words left, the guy flew in the opposite direction.
Od Grad had only his eyes on me, whether Adhaj left or not. He knows that Aadhai will not get any damage if he attacks him.
‘You might think that if you catch me, it will be over easily.’
It’s a reasonable decision for him. Of course, I acted like this because I thought he would judge it that way.
And the battle against him resumed. Perhaps because of No. 26, he adjusted it so that lightning does not fall in the Maelstrom area.
Instead, it hindered my movement by increasing the number of waterspouts coming down from the clouds. The intention is to intercept me while maintaining a distance and slowly kill me.
As expected, he opened the distance between me as much as possible and fired his breath.
No. 26 had previously eliminated Ham Oort’s heat ray, but Od Grad’s breath was impossible to control. So, like now, I was assisting by slightly changing the trajectory of the breath to make it miss.
‘That alone is a big help.’
Actually, I had one ‘treble’.
If Od Grad wasn’t much stronger than I expected, or if he was as stupid as the Black Gallagon I know, I would have used this move.
There is a trait obtained by defeating Sky Whale before. A physical fusion characteristic combined with the physical characteristic ‘synthetic scales’ that I previously possessed.
｢Imitation Scale: Inherits and strengthens the effect of synthetic scales. When you continuously receive energy-type attacks, the characteristics of that energy are imitated and reflected on your body.
*PS: Originality is not important in nature. What is important is how to survive.”
‘Mimetic scales’ is a characteristic that is similar to but different from ‘metal absorption’, which involves eating metal and reflecting its effects on the body. As explained, mimic scales imitate an enemy’s energy attack and provide the body with a resistance effect to that energy attack.
For example, if you keep attacking me with the plasma launcher, the mimic scale effect will be activated, greatly increasing your defense against plasma attacks. So much so that even a single piece of scale cannot be broken by a plasma weapon.
It is a good trait that dramatically improves Amorph’s survivability, but it also has its drawbacks.
Once you have gained the resistance effect to one type of energy, you cannot immediately gain the resistance effect to another energy type. It is immune to plasma, but this means it cannot be immune to psychic power as well. To gain immunity to psychic powers, one must wait until the existing immune system is lost.
‘So cult players would alternate between using different types of weapons.’
Of course, in my current situation, this is not a big drawback. Gallagon mainly uses psychic power attacks.
The problem is that in order to obtain the resistance effect of Mimic Scale, you must continuously be attacked by enemies.
It is difficult to achieve effectiveness when fighting an enemy like Od Grad that pours out attacks that your body cannot withstand. Because I’ll die before the mimic scales work.
‘If the plan hadn’t gone wrong, I could have used it properly.’
Originally, I planned to obtain the resistance effect of Mimic Scale while hunting White Gallagon. I can withstand the psychic breath they shoot.
‘If I had known this would happen, I should have prepared in advance.’
If I had Aadhai and No. 26, I could activate the mimic scales even though it took a long time, but I was complacent. It happened because I didn’t know it would attack so quickly.
‘…It’s never too late to regret later.’
I wrapped my wing arms around myself and spun my body around. The incoming heat rays grazed the surface of my wings with the difference of a sheet of paper.
‘It won’t work either.’
I thought about activating Mimic Scale by getting hit by its breath, but I don’t think that would work. Those black-purple heat rays are not at a level where you can block them with your body.
‘I can’t take an adventure when I don’t know what this guy’s abilities are.’
Regardless of whether you use imitation scales or not, you need to know its abilities first to be able to take effective measures.
‘It’s probably not the ability to read information.’
If you think about it again, it is unlikely that he knows about the color effects of the abyss that the player does not know about.
‘Then there is only one thing left.’
Ability to detect crisis in advance.
Just like the ‘predator sense’ I have, it can also analyze its surroundings and bring about miracles close to precognition.
‘This is more likely.’
He read my plan in advance and made his move without receiving any reports. Not only that, but out of the 12 White Gallagons, he came to help the one I was targeting. These were actions that I could do because I knew the future.
But there are also questions. As far as I know, there is no ability to see the future over such a large area. The sense of a predator only shows me the imminent danger of death.
If he can read the future perfectly, there is absolutely no way for me to win.
‘no. That can’t be possible.’
If he had that ability, he would have killed me long ago. There were plenty of opportunities, such as when I had just arrived on this planet or when I was weakened after the fight with Jason.
The reason he didn’t do that is simple.
‘There are limits to our ability to see the future.’
What is important is what the limit is. If you know this, you can attack him.
‘I have to find out now.’
And beings who will help me with my experiments are coming up here.
｢Black kin｣｢Support｣
Two large and small gallagons with white scales followed behind me. They were Adhaj and Nel Germa.
He seems to think I am acting as bait while Aadhai runs away, but that is not the case.
The guy backed away, pretending to run away, then took a detour and went to help Nel Germa. Thanks to this, the two were able to quickly take care of the White Gallagon, which had a broken wing, and come up this way.
Od Grad glared at us with cold eyes.
｢Nel Germa｣｢Did you kill Djer Garuda｣
｢Right｣
｢Od Grad’s Companion｣｢What was lacking that led to betrayal｣
｢Ham Ort｣｢Speaking｣｢Od Grad｣｢Liar｣｢Tyrant｣｢Weak compatriot｣ ｢Abandonment｣｢Killing｣｢Agree｣｢Impossibility｣
Od Grad remained silent in response to Nel Germa’s rebuttal.
After a short silence, the guy let out a wave of thoughts.
“It’s a pity” “The unrepentant traitor” “Only death”
“Nel Germa” “Never die” “Dying” “Liar” “Od Grad”
“The Great Odd Grad” “Never die”
The one who said that is Nel Germa. He turned his gaze away from Ma and looked at me. The eyes of the guy who had been full of caution just a moment ago showed a completely different emotion.
‘derision?’
“The great Od Grad will not retreat” “No matter how strong the enemy is” It
was difficult to call it a leisurely situation, but he was laughing at me.
At that moment, I felt like lightning struck my head.
At the same time as I realized, Adhaj and Nel Germa also quickly sent a thought wave to me.
｢Big adult｣｢Over there｣｢My own kind｣｢I can feel it!｣
｢White kind｣｢Approaching｣
Although I can’t see it yet, it seems certain that their group is coming this way.
‘Maelstrom! That’s how you called your colleagues!’
There are not many beings on this planet that can cause local extreme weather events.
Except for the black dragon Od Grad in front of me.
It’s true that he was wary of my attack, but he also had a hidden plan.
｢The Great Odd Grad｣｢Formidable Enemy｣｢Danger｣｢I Won Everything｣
The guy sent out a wave of thoughts in triumph. Contrary to his words, it was clear that his intention was to run away and buy time until his compatriots arrived.
‘Do not be ridiculous.’
The saying that I am strong, I am dangerous, and I win everything also applies to me.
Because I too have overcome all kinds of strong enemies and dangers so far.
‘Don’t think that only you can call your colleagues.’
It’s the same this time too.
![Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]](https://cpunovel.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/arcane-sniper.jpg "Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]")
