Chapter 277 ·Turning Point (40)

Turning 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󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄁󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄀󠄁󠄀󠄂Point (40)

- Take this present!

Nadia activated her missile pod as she jumped off. With the pod cover opening, missiles launched in rapid succession.

Normally, the missiles would soar into the sky for a vertical strike, but since the pod had been tilted in advance and Nadia had bypassed the usual procedures in the system, they were fired straight ahead.

Trailing white smoke, the missiles flew directly to the pre-set coordinates and landed on target.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The mutants, which had their mouths agape waiting for prey, screamed in outrage as metal projectiles entered before we did. Those creatures were swept away in a blast and vanished the moment the missiles exploded.

Some of them, as if to prove they weren't here by pure chance, withstood the attack thanks to their special bulk, but that was true for us as well.

We hadn't survived this long by luck alone. The lingering flames in the area brushed past us.

Celestia's suit responded, activating the shield. Hexagonal blue panels formed partially in midair. I blocked the approaching heat with my arms crossed in front of me.

Thud...!

The sound upon landing was quite heavy, as I hadn't slowed down at all. The shock transmitted through my feet rang dully in my body, but that was all. Right behind me, the power loader and Beta Series also landed successfully on the deck.

Stretching my knees, which I'd bent to absorb the impact, I stood back up and quickly scanned from left to right. Thanks to the missile barrage clearing the deck, there weren't many mutants visible right in front of us.

The survivors of the blast seemed to be power loaders or Dreadnought subspecies infected by mimics. Regular ghouls just left behind traces—shards of claws, arms, and legs.

Riled up from getting hit first, the mutants screeched loudly.

「UWEOOOOH-!」

A Dreadnought with abnormally massive arms thundered across the floor, charging at us. Charging after announcing its intentions, instead of ambushing—what an amateur move.

The Dreadnought was a mutant variant protected by reinforced exoskeleton. It was hard to damage with ordinary attacks. Knowing my pulse rifle couldn't kill this one, I wreathed my body in telekinesis.

I focused my strength in my fist, the way I learned on the Sky Whale. The Dreadnought was quite bulky, yet surprisingly mobile, so it was already right in front of me. Steeling myself, I threw a punch directly at it.

Thunk—

The dull sound of my reinforced exoskeleton meeting my fist resounded like a shockwave. As the force of the charge cracked the floor and tried to push me back, I drew a deep breath and put more power into my arms. My muscles crackled, and the momentum shifted to my side.

The mutant's eyes, sheltered behind reinforced exoskeleton, widened in shock. Apparently, it never expected to be overpowered.

'I've gotten pretty strong.'

I set my foot back in place and advanced a step. Then, spinning the telekinetic force around my fist in a wide arc—

WHAM-!

The Dreadnought, now just trying to maintain its ground instead of pushing, had its arm flung upwards. Its guard was instantly broken. My heightened senses made time seem to slow as I spotted the opening.

Click—

In that split second, the barrel of a Linear Rifle—a byproduct crafted from Whiteout—slipped in. Celestia, who had somehow entered my awareness, coordinated naturally with me and pulled the trigger.

With its energy fully charged, the Linear Rifle accelerated its round to piercing speed, able to punch through anything in its way.

BOOM!

The round tore through the Dreadnought's armored face and straight out the back. A gaping hole spilled what looked like bits of organs from the exposed cross-section. Time, which felt slowed, sped up again.

As Celestia reloaded, she scolded me, her brows furrowed.

"You rely too much on your strength! Why use your fists when you have a perfectly good weapon...!"

"I'm just that strong!"

"Well, yes, but...!"

Celestia could only grumble. She'd seen with her own eyes how my punch had stopped the Dreadnought's charge. It must have been the first time she'd seen anything like it.

Having defeated a Chimera, my strength had reached a new level and I brushed off the event easily. Just then, Nadia finished tearing apart the limbs of an infected power loader and smashed the core in its cockpit.

The mimic that had infected the power loader had mutated to the point of utilizing some of the loader's equipment, but it was still no match for Nadia. She had saved ammo for her grenade cannon and clubbed it repeatedly with her shield until it couldn't resist, demonstrating the vast difference in their abilities.

We never stayed still. We hadn't drawn enough attention yet. If Cystus, who was somewhere on this flagship, was to appear, this level of chaos was nowhere near enough.

"Break through!"

「Order acknowledged.」

So we set off towards what we assumed was the bridge of the flagship. It was the place towering above, clearly visible if you just raised your head.

We had a rough map thanks to Orca. When Griffin was captured, the shielding generator momentarily flickered, allowing for a scan. The analysis wasn't highly detailed yet—just a basic layout—but it would be refined soon.

'Normally, Licorice would have done this.'

I hadn't heard she'd regained consciousness, nor did I think she'd be able to hack even if she did, so Orca would have done it anyway, but I keenly felt Licorice's absence.

Lobelia's words echoed in my mind, constantly reminding me of unresolved issues. Shaking off the unease, I charged with about forty Beta Series units into the surging mutant horde.

"Smash everything!"

All kinds of weaponry roared. Sentry guns borrowed from Griffin's storage bay mowed down ghouls as they were set up, and Beta Series units led their melee types forward while ranged units created a barrage with pulse rifles.

Nadia, in her power loader, tore up the deck itself—ripping up protruding floor panels, she hurled them into the charging ghoul crowds without hesitation.

The airborne slab sliced through the horde, sending them flying like pins. Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect strike; some of them, with their sensitive reflexes, dodged as the board flew toward them.

「Screee!」 「Aaaagh!」

"So damn noisy!"

I drew on my strength and massively expanded my telekinesis. An invisible hand became a wall, which started moving to one side and swept across the deck.

The screaming mutants were swept off the deck by this moving wall. Some tried to cling to the floor with their claws or resist with their bulk.

Those were knocked down by Beta Series pulse rifles, or thrown off balance by Celestia's thrown bundle of grenades.

Once your center of gravity was off, it was over. I swept away the remaining creatures as well. For a moment, the deck was clear.

Mutants kept pouring from countless containers in the lower sector of the flagship, so it would soon be crawling again, but for now we had room to breathe.

'We need to knock down or destroy the containers.'

But entering the lower sector wasn't an option. Heading to the bridge as we were would be better. Since we couldn't clear everything, buying time was the best we could do.

"Nadia! Have you finished calculating the firing angles?"

- Almost done! Just a bit... just a bit more...! ... There! Calculation complete! Inputting now!

Nadia shouted and reactivated the spare missile pod. When we fired missiles to clear the deck, no extra steps were needed—a straight shot was enough.

But hitting the lower sector was different. The flagship's deck was too durable for our current firepower to penetrate. The test missile barrage was partly to check the deck's durability.

Thus, to destroy the containers, we had to strike them indirectly. Once coordinates were set, the missiles' onboard system would guide them to the target, but this time, one more thing needed consideration.

The shielding generator deployed by the flagship was an obstacle. It allowed things out from inside, but blocked anything coming in from the outside. If a missile exited the shield, it would explode uselessly against it before hitting the target.

The distance between the flagship and the shield wasn't far. The missiles had to sharply change direction immediately after launch. That was what Nadia had just finished calculating.

- Full volley!

Every remaining missile in the pod fired in succession. As their tails cleared the pod, the missiles used their forward guidance thrusters to sharply change angle.

With thrust unchanged but their noses abruptly redirected, some missiles spun out of control and exploded randomly in midair.

Still, the rest performed well—leaving long white tails, the missiles zipped through tight gaps toward the containers in the lower sector.

Just before impact, a new type of mutant burst from the container piles. Though the shield was active, gravity hadn't changed. No matter how hard they leapt, gravity should have pulled them down.

But these mutants didn't fall. Instead, with fluttering sounds, they gained altitude and blocked the missiles with their bodies like a circus act.

In the blink of an eye, they moved at high speed—fast enough to prevent the destruction of the container piles. Furious, Nadia yelled.

- That's them! The ones I warned you about!

The power loader echoed Nadia's frustration, jabbing at the air. I focused on them instantly. Flying mutant types. What had they mutated from?

Appearance-wise, they resembled ghouls, but only in the upper body—no lower half.

Their shoulder area had split open, and new parts had grown, splitting horizontally, with membranes stretching between. Their arms were even sharper than regular ghouls. In place of legs, clusters of mutated entrail-tentacles trailed down.

As with most mutants, they looked incomplete—especially so in their case.

"... They look downright disgusting."

「Screee!」

I muttered under my breath, unable to hold back, but somehow the flying mutants heard and grew enraged, flinging themselves at us. We were the ones with a right to be mad.

'If only it weren't for those things...!'

If a huge explosion had gone off at the container pile, their assault would've been disrupted or halted, even temporarily. It would've been a big blow—but they blocked it with their own bodies, and my irritation soared.

Taking out my frustration, I telekinetically lifted all kinds of debris nearby, spun them for impact power, and launched them as a volley. Shards and pulse rifle rounds punched through their membranes without mercy.

I hoped half would fall, but barely any dropped. Celestia shot a hole through one with her Linear Rifle and shouted,

"The membrane doesn't affect their flight at all!"

True, they only fluttered occasionally—they weren't flying by flapping. Like some mutants' special abilities, just being able to fly was itself the ability.

They didn't look like bud-tier threats, but given how mutants constantly evolved, it wasn't strange for creatures like these to exist. Those using the air space moved unpredictably as they approached.

「Screee!」

Moving their limp tentacles, they snatched up Beta Series units and flung them off the deck, just as my telekinetic wall had done.

They weren't fast enough to dodge bullets, but their erratic movements made them hard to hit. They weaved through our fire as if mocking it.

Their only predictable trajectory was just before grabbing someone with their tentacles. Maybe to avoid getting grabbed themselves, they would then accelerate in a straight line, brushing by at top speed.

As I tried to grab one heading recklessly for me, my hand only swiped through empty air. It left only an afterimage as if it could instantly accelerate—a hit would take them down, since their body's durability wasn't special, but landing one was the trick.

They moved like phantoms, so I decided the name 'Wraith' would fit.

"Don't get careless just because you missed a Wraith! They can double back without warning—must be some kind of acceleration ability!"

- Wraith? That suits them...!

I didn't need to elaborate—Celestia and Nadia had already figured out roughly how Wraiths functioned from Beta Series units struggling to respond.

Wraiths appeared unexpectedly and moved in ways that defied logic, tearing apart our formation and cohesion. As they ran rampant, Celestia bit her lip.

"Just get hit already...!"

Our layered fire wasn't entirely futile—their numbers were dropping—but more Wraiths kept pouring from the container nest than we could kill.

- Ugh...! So frustrating! Dodge this if you can, then!

Finally, Nadia lost patience and activated the grenade cannons. The folded barrels deployed for mobility slid out and auto-loaded. Click. The heavy metal nestled onto her power loader's shoulders, one on each side.

- They say from ancient times nothing stops a ghost better than a cannon!

The power loader stabilized itself by deploying a frame and jamming it into the ground. Raising her upper body, she locked the cannons on target.

And at the same moment—

KA-BOOOOM!

She unleashed firepower enough to blanket the whole area over our heads. With proximity fuses, no matter how erratically the Wraiths twisted to dodge, it didn't matter.

The specially modified shells exploded with a dazzling blue blast, with sharp, sparking shrapnel. There was no escaping.

「Screee...!」

The Wraith flock, which had tried to toy with us, was caught in the massive blast and killed in a blazing explosion. They were always elusive targets but never durable; they dropped, burning, by the dozens.

As Nadia finally displayed her satisfaction, I could sense Carry was in synch too, even if invisible.

- Friend, can you hear me?

"I hear you! Where are you?"

- To your side.

I responded right away to Roxy's transmission. Glancing over, I saw that Orca, who had transferred the escape pods to Albatross, was circling the flagship, unable to enter due to the intact shielding generator.

- The transfer's done. You were right to suggest it. There were way more wounded than expected. I've got something to say about extra combat personnel, but dealing with this is priority one.

Roxy continued.

- My orca buddy's identified the generator sites keeping up the shield. Five locations for now—if you can destroy three—no, even two, then I'll be able to get in.

Receiving the flagship data Orca had analyzed, I immediately brought up a hologram. The overall layout of the pureblood supremacist flagship that had swallowed up Griffin appeared, with five red dots marked.

Each dot was a key generator that kept up the shielding generator. They were scattered about, but conveniently, there was one nearby—hidden in the floor in the direction of the bridge.

I hesitated only briefly before moving. Locating the spot, I kicked off hard.

- Go!

Nadia, already anticipating my move, shouted as she fully deployed my booster backpack. The power loader surged with explosive acceleration and launched a shield charge.

I sprinted down the path that Nadia had cleared. Celestia and the Beta Series handled belated attackers coming after me. Thanks to their help, I could focus entirely on moving forward.

With several assists and agile movements, I broke through the monster mob in a rush and leapt high.

While airborne, I pulled back my arm to its limit and hurled the spear with all my might. Shwick! The sound barely kept up with the speed of the spear.

Mutants crawling up from below realized my intent and tried to block, but my spear was already past them.

"One down!"

The generator, covered in writhing creeps, was skewered by my thrown spear.

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