Deep within the Free City Alliance, in the pitch-black darkness.
A place where Object prosthetics, having lost their hosts, gathered.
Creatures resembling spiders woven from fingers flowed through intricate passages deliberately bored throughout the city.
At the terminus of these passages lay a vast, cylindrical Object tank.
Its area was immense, rivaling that of the Alliance city itself.
Though deep, its sheer breadth made it feel like a pancake.
And its ‘rank’ was as high as its size, nearly comparable to ‘the Moon’.
Inside the tank, fingers—distinctly inhuman, elongated, multi-jointed—writhed like earthworms.
Scattered within the fingers were transparent cyst-like structures, and inside them, human fetus-like things squirmed.
This grotesque sight was the fate of the prosthetics that entered the tank.
Around the tank, wills unattainable by human ears constantly leaked out.
Should have seized the chance…
I will become a legend of the City Alliance.
From regrets like the laments of the dead…
Humans, must eat humans.
Still hear the voice, need to eat more. More!
To the mad ramblings of Scavengers.
Occasionally, brilliantly shining golden lumps would fall into the tank.
Each time, the finger-worms swarmed towards the gold like schools of fish drawn to bait, or like parasites burrowing into a host’s muscle, devouring it.
The worms coveted the gold, filled with joy, benevolence, and warmth they lacked, but it was not something that could ever satisfy them.
Within the tank, one distinctly large and elongated finger-worm coiled, occupying the entire space.
These fingers had a horrific appearance, as if fused with wires made of gleaming gold and dull metal.
A monitor was attached to each of these giant finger-worms, flashing red light and conveying messages.
The monitors’ red light flashed intensely, like an alarm.
It seemed to propagate a shocking truth.
The light shone clearly even in the darkness, making the space feel even more sinister and ominous.
The messages on the monitors continued to change.
[New Strategy Required.]
Sometimes it looked like a conversation, other times like common human soliloquy or thought.
[Target Acquisition Difficulty Upgraded to Special-Grade.]
The light of the messages gradually turned into a viscous red.
[Formulating Strategy Befitting Target.]
With the message about formulating a strategy, the monitors began to fill with an incomprehensible string of characters.
Sehee Research Institute, bathed in warm sunlight.
The cloud whale carrying me and Tyranno soared into the sky.
My most precious Tyranno’s appearance was completely different from before.
It was covered in magnificent metal!
Moreover, its appearance was significantly different from what James had created.
If James’s original design had been followed, Tyranno would have looked like it was wearing armor. But the current glow-in-the-dark Tyranno was perfectly fused with the armor, down to its very bones.
At first, I tried putting the armor on according to the design, but I didn’t like it.
It felt like a shabby donkey wearing a fancy saddle.
Perhaps because the glow-in-the-dark Tyranno was created purely from my imagination, it lacked a bit of detail up close.
So, I boldly used Halo to reborn the armored Tyranno into a perfect Mecha Tyranno.
Looking at Tyranno, reborn in a truly magnificent form as a result, I smiled contentedly.
James’s armor filled in my lacking imagination, resulting in a Mecha Tyranno twice as cool.
Moreover, its ‘rank’ had also strengthened considerably; though not Special-Grade, it had reached the level of a typical Object.
A few minutes passed, gazing endlessly at Mecha Tyranno atop the cloud whale.
I had already reached the vicinity of the Free City Alliance.
And the closer I got to the Free City Alliance, the thicker the dizzyingly harmful smell in the air became.
Wow, this is really serious.
Arriving here, I understood why the mini Reapers had been reluctant to come along.
It was a stench bad enough to make all but one or two clinging to my hair flee back to the mini Reaper garden.
So, how patient must the mini Reaper remaining in this city be?
I slowly lowered the cloud whale’s altitude and landed on the outskirts of the Free City Alliance.
And I began to march proudly towards the Free City Alliance, riding Mecha Tyranno.
Air filled with pollution.
Strangely shaped cars made using Objects.
People with such diverse appearances that even an Asura with three heads and six arms could easily blend into the crowd.
Perhaps because of this, the city’s reaction was slightly different from my expectations.
I thought they would make a fuss like when I revealed my ghost form in the middle of Seoul.
Or, since it was a city full of harmful Objects, I expected an attack…
But far from an attack, there was no particular reaction at all.
Instead, even seeing me riding the magnificent Mecha Tyranno, they went about their ordinary daily lives.
“Gray Reaper. A Special-Grade Object that annihilated several cities! Be careful.”
“Mercenaries are no match. Call the Family people!”
It was Chinese, so I didn’t know what they were saying, but they must surely be expressing admiration.
The emotions felt were also full of fear and awe.
Everyone respected Tyranno.
Hehe, Tyranno deserves respect anywhere in the world.
Cars passed by slowly and solemnly without honking.
Pedestrians also walked as usual.
As if it were perfectly normal for me to ride a Tyrannosaurus.
This city smells terrible, and the people in it are insane, but it seems like it would be comfortable for me to stay here.
In the Free City Alliance, Qing’s group hideout.
“PIG ahjussi, unfortunately, by the time we arrived, he was already…”
Qing began speaking in an exaggeratedly mournful voice.
“This is ahjussi’s keepsake.”
Qing smiled mischievously and took out the exoskeleton she had ordered from PIG ahjussi.
It was an exoskeleton exclusively for ‘Qing’, made without using any Objects.
It was a convenient exoskeleton that supported the weight on her legs and even came up to her shoulders to absorb the recoil of firearms.
Mercenaries in the Free City Alliance would rather enhance their muscles and bones with Objects than use an exoskeleton, but it was a necessary tool for Qing, who didn’t use Objects.
“Sob sob. I’ll use the exoskeleton well.”
As Qing sniffled ridiculously, the Orange Reaper on her head also started bobbing sadly in rhythm.
The woman, holding a cigarette, also joined in the act with exaggerated movements.
Meanwhile, the man with four arms watched their antics with an expression that clearly said, ‘What kind of bullshit is this?’
But when the woman jabbed him forcefully with her elbow, he had no choice but to follow suit and adopt a ‘sob sob’ posture.
Amidst that playful atmosphere, a stranger sitting in the corner of the hideout shouted with a sulky expression.
It was the woman who, until recently, had used the slug body and the ID PIG.
Qing replied to that voice playfully.
“No, PIG ahjussi with the slug body died back then.”
Then, changing her expression to a serious one, Qing continued with a question.
“Why on earth were you going around looking like that?”
PIG answered with an embarrassed expression.
“That… Right. Since I’m relying on you for my body, I should explain.”
And she began to confess the circumstances.
From meeting people using a remote-controlled robot because there were too many thugs around.
To the fact that her Object resistance was so low that even grafting a few Objects made her hear the red voice.
PIG explained that only essential parts like her stomach, lungs, and skin were Objects.
After hearing PIG’s circumstances, Qing chuckled, sat nearby, and asked a curious question.
“But why did you use that specific form of slug robot?”
When PIG answered as if it were obvious, Qing stopped laughing, stiffened, and moved a little further away to sit.
Qing sat blankly, hugging the Orange Reaper, quietly watching her companions chatter.
Though PIG ahjussi had become PIG unnie, thankfully, she seemed to be blending in well with the group.
Well, even though they always called her crazy, they often took missions together, so maybe that was it?
Besides, Qing herself felt several times more familiar with PIG unnie now that she had shed the slug body.
Others must feel the same way.
Thinking, ‘As expected, the slug was the problem,’ Qing grabbed the Orange Reaper’s cheeks and made it nod instead.
At that moment, a sharp ‘beep-‘ signal sounded from the computer set up in the hideout.
The man who heard the sound muttered quizzically.
After checking the mission on the computer, the man approached Qing with a hardened expression and said.
“Qing, check this yourself.”
Qing tilted her head and checked the mission details.
Her eyes turned serious.
This mission was clearly targeted at ‘Qing’.
The mission details were confidential and would be revealed in person, and the reward was stated to be paid upfront immediately upon acceptance.
Moreover, the reward was none other than the keepsake of her parents that Qing had so desperately wanted to retrieve.
Seeing the client’s name, Qing’s eyes widened.
The king of the Free City Alliance mercenaries, the Colossus.
And the pre-meeting location was the ‘Central Tower’ soaring in the center of the city.
This mission was definitely not ordinary.
Being targeted directly, and the existence of the keepsake offered as a reward, were both suspicious.
But the hope of retrieving her parents’ keepsake deepened Qing’s dilemma.