Chapter 461

The outer boundary of the northwest galaxy group.

There, living creatures swimming in the vacuum of space had formed a pitch-black encampment.

Every single one of them was a cockroach.

Their size was massive, and their appearance was also incredibly bizarre.

The size of a single cockroach easily exceeded 3 meters.

There seemed to be millions of such cockroaches.

"Cockroaches live in space too."

Kim Minwoo, sitting in the captain's seat, clicked his tongue.

He had just warped here following the wave of the Supreme Sovereign of Death's legacy. It meant the next legacy was sleeping somewhere beyond that disgusting swarm of bugs.

Whether they recognized the mothership Mary as an uninvited guest, the cockroaches simultaneously opened their massive mandibles and began to spew hostile momentum.

However, the brow of Kim Minwoo, who had zoomed the screen to the maximum, twitched minutely.

"……Wait. Why does their color look like that?"

It was oddly heterogeneous for living creatures.

Their massive carapaces were half rotted away, exposing their hideous skeletons completely, and blue eye glints were burning in the empty eye sockets dripping with acidic fluid.

The swarm gnawing on the asteroid also had white skeletons sprouting hideously over their rotten flesh.

It was the obvious form of an undead, dead corpses forcibly standing up and moving.

"……I thought they were space cockroaches, but they're zombie cockroaches."

Is there a Necromancer here too?

It was the split second Kim Minwoo let out a hollow laugh as if it was absurd.

Ttiring—.

A clear and cheerful chime bell sound rang out toward the residents inside the mothership.

[Announcing to all residents.]

Mary's soft and kind voice, like an airplane cabin announcement, rang out across the 100 million private suites and all the squares.

[Currently, the approach of a space swarm has been confirmed in front of the mothership, so this ship is immediately transitioning to combat mode. During the interception and evasive maneuvers, there may be very slight shaking inside the ship for about 3 minutes, so please set your wine glasses or soups down on the table so they do not spill.]

Streamer Park Jihoon, who was playing in the pool on an inner tube in his suite that had turned into a massive mansion, blinked his eyes.

"……Combat?"

[For your reference, tonight's dinner banquet will be provided free of charge with a top-grade steak course by the grace of the Death Lord. Room service will begin as soon as the combat ends, so please wait a moment while enjoying the fireworks display unfolding through the hologram windows. Thank you.]

Park Jihoon was startled and hurriedly turned the drone camera out the window.

"Cockroaches?"

Pitch-black dots were densely filling space.

But those millions of entities simultaneously began to squirm.

Seuseuseuseuk—.

The disgusting colony stuck to each other's carapaces, intertwined their legs, and clumped together into a single massive shape.

What was revealed was like the shape of a human face.

A massive skull made by gathering millions of rotten carapaces. In the empty eye sockets, blue magic power swayed like eye glints.

Jjeoeoeoeok—.

A maw the size of a mountain range slowly opened.

The rotten roof of the mouth split, and boiling green bodily fluids began to condense like a waterfall between the fangs covered in acidic fluid.

Kuwaaaaaaang—!

From the massive maw, a tidal wave of green bodily fluid poured toward the Mary.

It was an acidic tsunami that seemed to swallow one corner of the galaxy whole.

"Hiiiik!"

Park Jihoon let out a scream.

However, the expressions of Dr. Higgs in the main control room and the hologram Mary were more peaceful than ever.

"Mary, start calculation."

— [Version 2.0 Quantum Core processing load 0.01%, enemy bombardment trajectory prediction 100% complete. Beginning evasive maneuvers.]

Kugugugugung—!

A massive 150km lump of iron.

Enduring an incoming bombardment by blocking it with a thick defensive shield is the standard of space warfare.

But the Mary right now was different.

Mary, having perfectly broken through the limits of processing, reverse-calculated the minute tremors of the giant face's jaw muscles contracting, the mass of the bodily fluid condensing inside its throat, and even the ejection angle in units of 0.0001 seconds.

Seueueueuk—.

The continent-sized battleship twisted its body unbelievably smoothly in the space of the universe.

Up, down, left, right.

Minute altitude adjustments and reverse thrusts of the thrusters were executed with ridiculous timing.

Syuaaaaaaaak—!

The green tidal wave narrowly grazed the Mary's defensive shield by a mere paper's thickness and flowed vainly to the other side of space.

The 150km massive battleship danced lightly like a butterfly, swimming ghost-like through the acidic tsunami.

Even Kim Minwoo in the captain's seat let out a hollow breath as if it was absurd.

"It didn't even use the defensive shield energy at all?"

— [Great Lord. Receiving an enemy's attack with a defensive shield is an unnecessary waste of magic power. If you know the trajectory 100%, merely dodging is the most economical choice.]

Mary lifted her skirt hem and smiled elegantly.

— [Now it is our turn.]

The front armor plates of the Mary, having finished evading, opened simultaneously, revealing tens of thousands of interceptor laser turrets.

Jjiiiiiing—.

Blue magic power began to condense at the tips of the barrels.

Seuseuseuseuk—!

The millions of cockroaches that made up the massive face startled and began to scatter.

They attempted to split from a single shape back into millions of dots and flee in all directions.

"Firing."

Mary whispered lowly.

Jjuaaaaaaak—!

The blue rays that were gathered at the tips of the barrels split into hundreds of branches the moment they were fired.

The split rays split into hundreds of branches again.

Like a living spider web, they covered the space of the universe and accurately tracked the heads of every single scattering cockroach.

A blue point of light reflected in the empty eye sockets of the fleeing monsters.

Peopeopeopeopeopeong—!

A perfect pinpoint precision strike without wasting a single shot.

The massive undead space cockroaches that were running away had their heads blasted to pieces without even being able to scream properly.

A mere 3 minutes.

The swarm of millions of space entities that were covering the universe was reduced to space junk in a mere 3 minutes.

"……My. That's amazing?"

Kim Minwoo set Hell Rhapsody down and genuinely admired it. The hologram Mary brought her two hands together and answered demurely.

— [You flatter me. This perfect brain and body given to me are also thanks to the great Lord's grace. Compared to the Lord's martial prowess, my processing is merely a trivial trick.]

Soon after, the clear chime bell sound rang out again inside the mothership.

[Residents. The clearing of obstacles ahead has been perfectly completed. We resume safe flight as scheduled, and room service for the festival commemorative steak course begins from this time. Have a peaceful evening.]

The residents inside the mothership let out screams of enthusiasm while slicing the juicy steaks that were just served.

Faith points were pumping like a waterfall once again, reassuringly filling Kim Minwoo's heart.

"Good. The path is open, so let's go into the real destination where the legacy is."

Along with Kim Minwoo's command, the Mary leisurely pierced through the monsters' debris and advanced deep into the northwest galaxy group.

And before long, beyond the main screen, the reality of the destination slowly began to reveal its bizarre outline.

"……Heo."

Kim Minwoo's brow, as he sat in the captain's seat, narrowed sharply.

Dr. Higgs in the control room and Park Jihoon, who had the broadcast turned on.

And all the residents looking out their suite windows dropped their jaws, unable to hide their astonishment.

"That's…… a planet?"

That massive sphere floating in space was an entire planet of a massive lump of meat pulsating bright red.

The crust was covered in a slushy purple mucous membrane, and instead of clouds, yellow toxic gas and spore clouds swirled in the atmosphere.

Even the ring surrounding the planet was not an asteroid belt, but an orbit of corpses created by the tangled white bones and corpses of giant beasts that had died while wandering in space.

All over the planet's surface, flesh towers grotesquely rising like nests were squirming, extending tentacles into space, and between them, massive living cockroaches were swarming and breeding like a horde of ants.

"……What is this. They're all living things?"

Kim Minwoo's eyes narrowed.

They were definitely of a different grain from the half-skeleton undead cockroaches the Mary had just swept away.

The vast majority crawling on the slushy mucous membrane were living entities boasting intact carapaces and drooling acidic fluid.

However……

Seueuk—.

As he zoomed in on the screen, Kim Minwoo's brow narrowed even further.

Between the living swarms.

Half-skeleton undead cockroaches walking around leading the colony like shepherds were sparsely mixed in.

Guys spewing blue eye glints while exposing their bones between rotten carapaces.

Their numbers were merely a handful compared to the living swarm, but they possessed a clear hierarchy and were working the living.

"……You're saying the undead are leading the living?"

— [Lord. The wave of the legacy of the Supreme Sovereign of Death is resonating intensely from the deepest core of that bizarre biological planet, the so-called Hive Core.]

"Mary, zoom in at maximum magnification."

— [Command received. Raising the output of the quantum optical scanner to the maximum to penetrate the interior of the crust.]

Seueueueuk—.

The viewpoint of the main screen quickly zoomed in, piercing through the planet's atmosphere, passing the purple mucous membrane and flesh towers, into a massive cavern deep underground.

And the sight finally caught on the screen was enough to surprise not only Kim Minwoo but even the four Legion Commanders lined up behind him.

"……Huh?"

A bizarre biological palace built from massive bones and blood.

Atop the highest bone throne of that palace sat a single massive cockroach in an arrogant posture.

Its bright red carapace glistened like armor, and a hideous crown that seemed to have been carved from the bones of dead beasts rested atop its head.

Even at a glance, it looked like the ruler of this swarm.

Beneath the feet of such a king cockroach, the corpses of dead monsters were piled up like a mountain.

And when the one sitting on the throne raised its pincer and spewed thick magic power, the flesh melted away from the corpses sprawled on the floor, leaving only white skeletons, and they began to be resurrected as undead monsters in real-time.

Udeudeuk!

Jjeojeojeok!

The shocking sight of dead bugs mutating into undead and bowing their heads toward the ruler.

However, what captured Kim Minwoo's gaze more perfectly was an item hanging down long behind its back.

A single piece of pitch-black cloth that swallowed all the light of the universe.

Bloody patterns were densely engraved on that cloth. Every time the insectoid ruler raised its pincer to raise the undead, pitch-black death energy radiated from the cloth, powerfully assisting its crude necromancy.

Thump!

Thump!

The Crown and Heart of the Supreme Sovereign of Death Kim Minwoo was wearing, along with his Gauntlet, Belt, and Ring, simultaneously resonated and spewed red light.

"Aha."

So that insect was using the legacy?

The Cape of the Supreme Sovereign of Death.

Like a child who lost its parents, the item was intensely calling out to him.

Kim Minwoo stood up slowly from his seat.

— [Are you going to step out yourself?]

Mary asked, tilting her head.

"I have something I'm curious about from that cockroach using my stuff."

Kim Minwoo replied lightly while slinging Hell Rhapsody over his shoulder.

"Then I'll be back."

— [Yes, Master. I will be waiting.]

Shwiik—.

As soon as his words ended, the ejection port below the captain's seat opened.

Kim Minwoo's body pierced through the bottom of the mothership and was shot straight down toward space.

Shuuuuuuung—!

A single streak of a bright red meteor tearing the atmosphere.

Kim Minwoo's figure plummeted like a nosedive toward the crust of the planet covered in the purple mucous membrane.

Kuuung—!

The slushy flesh crust dented, and purple slime splattered in all directions.

A massive shockwave spread out in concentric circles centered on the landing spot.

The flesh towers undulated and vibrated, and the entire planet trembled as if startled.

Seuseuseuseuseuk—.

From the holes of the flesh towers where tentacles squirmed.

From the gaps between rotten carapaces.

From the cracks beneath the bright red mucous membrane.

An uncountable number of cockroaches simultaneously turned their heads.

Kim Minwoo slung Hell Rhapsody over his shoulder with a tuk and smiled.

"Hello?"