World Keeper - Chapter 1262: Swarm Tactics
After leaving the palace, Tsubaki closed her eyes, sending her World Sight out to inspect the territory around Deckan. This was the test run of her contract, so she needed to gather as much information as possible to make sure that it was working properly.
There were several reasons why Tsubaki chose Udona to be the recipient of her first contract. First and foremost, Udona had the highest grade of authority among all of their realms. The only one that came close was the Metong’s High Mother. However, the High Mother allowed many of the species within their network to self-govern, so despite controlling more territory, her actual authority did not compare to Udona.
Thus, by choosing Udona, she would be able to see the upper limits of her contract, whether it was in terms of performance or cost. Thankfully, the contract doesn’t seem to consume any more of my energy after it has been signed. She thought to herself in satisfaction.
After a few moments, she was able to detect a faint energy hovering in the air, one which she had not sensed before. This should be the energy of the repulsion field. She mused, nodding her head.
Spreading her energy out further, she found several monsters nesting in a forest not far from the city. These were weak monsters, just common nuisances that bothered those who stepped outside the city. However, this was enough to show that the contract did not have any effect on those with a low level, which was what Tsubaki wanted.
If the contract targeted all monsters, disregarding their levels, then monsters would be panicking to flee the planet. This would immediately destroy various supply chains which relied on monster products, whether for food or manufacturing.
According to the terms in the contract, the repulsion effect should get stronger the more powerful a monster is. I’ll need to have my Keeper or one of the others investigate the effects on cosmic monsters. She thought in satisfaction, opening a gate to travel back to Olympus.
Within the depths of the Metong universe, Cynthia crossed her arms over her metallic figure, eyes narrowing. She was naturally aware of the cosmic monsters that were plaguing various worlds, and had even lost one of her own colonized worlds to these monsters herself. However, for her, that was not the most dangerous threat. Instead, she could sense something new emerging within the vacuum of space, a new breed of monster.
Her first clue about this monster was when one of her colony ships were attacked, and fragmented data was transmitted back to her. Then, one ship after another in the same region of space all suffered from similar fates.
Then, a day later, one of her colony worlds suddenly lost contact after sending a distress signal. Contained with the signal was an image of a metallic cloud, the same image that Cynthia had seen from the various ships that had been lost.
At this point, she was certain that they were being targeted. However, what could she do about it? This was not an enemy that she dared to casually set out to meet. And worse yet, the so-called protection taskforce set up by the main worlds showed no intentions of intercepting this threat. It may have been because they weren’t aware of it, or simply because Cynthia had never formally joined any form of political alliance.
One way or another, I’ll need to talk to her about this. Cynthia begrudgingly admitted to herself, closing the shutters of her robotic eyes. When they opened, her eyes were a shining white, projecting a screen in front of her.
The screen showed static for several moments, before the call connected. The silver, feminine form of the High Mother appeared on the screen, and she looked surprised. “Sir Head of Research, I was not expecting a call from you.”
“I go by Cynthia now. My original body has long since been destroyed.” Cynthia said in an even tone, and the High Mother nodded her acceptance.
“Cynthia, then. My apologies. However, I still do not know to what I owe this call?”
“Run a network check.” Cynthia spoke calmly. “Ping all inhabited worlds and deep space sensors. Look for the key phrase ‘copper cloud’, or all similar terms.”
The High Mother arched her brow, seeming unsure about this. However, such a check was easy for her, and only took a few seconds to execute. “There isn’t anything in our network that fits your terms, and would warrant such a communication.”
“There will be soon, then.” Cynthia said, before explaining. “My colony ships and planets have recently been attacked, one after another. I’m sending the data that I have received thus far over this connection.”
In the corner of the screen, a series of windows flashed by, transmitted to the High Mother. “The enemy is a cloud of small monsters, their individual levels likely no higher than three hundred. However, given the size of the cloud, each cloud is likely to contain tens of millions, if not billions of them. From my brief contact with them, these monsters are mechanical in origin, and operate by consuming other technology to integrate with their own systems. Their copper color came after they destroyed two of my ships, prior to which they were a dully grey.”
The High Mother’s eyes widened, before her lips pursed. “I see… I know this may be a difficult question to ask, but it would be helpful if I knew what technology they may have already integrated with themselves.”
“So far, the only significant technologies among those destroyed regions are terraforming devices, and Digital Conversion printers.” Cynthia explained, causing the High Mother’s eyes to go wide once again. “That’s right. Depending on how advanced they are, they may be able to construct a printer to endlessly produce their forces. With their low individual levels, the production cost would be quite low.”
“In a cloud like this, we have to assume that they have some form of gestalt consciousness.” The High Mother spoke in a serious tone. “Otherwise, it would be difficult for them to maintain their unity and not devour one another. I will bring this to Olympus’s attention. If a creature such as this were to devour a Metong ship, it would gain the ability to spread beyond a single universe…”
Cynthia nodded her head in agreement. Thankfully, she had limited her actions thus far to the Metong universe, and had not created any Dimensium-powered jump drives capable of leaving this universe. Otherwise, the problem would have become far more serious than it already was. “For now, I will continue to try to devise countermeasures, but you should be careful. They seem to target any source of advanced technology, and can sense it from lightyears away.”
Lifre whined when she heard the ping of a new emergency communication to Olympus. “I’m not done potato’ing yet!” She called out, waving her arms helplessly as she got up to make herself presentable.
Once she was done, she puffed out her cheeks, a holographic projection of the High Mother appearing in front of her. “What is it? This had better be good…” She said, having been enjoying her brief vacation.
“My apologies for disturbing you.” The High Mother said in a polite tone. “However, we have a problem on our hands, one that could become catastrophic if left for too long.”
“Eh?” Lifre blinked, seeming to perk up at the news. “What’s going on?”
The High Mother explained the details of the threat to Lifre, who listened attentively, hands on her hips. “Ehh… if it’s a monster, why not just leave it to SCRU?” She asked, but the High Mother shook her head.
“Currently, the SCRU forces are specialized to deal with singular targets with a high level. Swarm-type monsters with low individual levels do not appear on their warning system. And by the time a warning is manually sent out, it will already be too late.”
Lifre nodded her head at that, understanding the logic. It was easier to spot massive, powerful cosmic monsters across long distances because of their immense size and the level of energy they radiated. Swarms had more dispersed energy, and were easier to miss until they were too close to do anything about. “So, you need someone to go deal with your robotic bug problem?” She asked.
The High Mother’s brow twitched, but she nodded her head in agreement. “That… is one way to word it. If you have anyone within Olympus who would be capable of helping, it would be greatly appreciated. Once these monsters have consumed Metong technology, they will be capable of wielding powerful runic magic, and nothing will stop them from leaving this universe.”
Lifre grinned, nodding her head. Suddenly, her body began to change, her right arm turning brass and robotic, with a large wrench appearing in her hand. “No worries, I’ll handle it myself. I’ve been wanting to test out my new power. Or maybe you could call it an old power?” She asked, shrugging with a small chuckle.
After Tsubaki began to use the Hal Tua method of constructing Origin powers, Lifre had snuck over to do the same. The power that she had been wanting to create for so long was far too complex for her to be able to do it herself. That was, the power to transform a target into the main character of a story, allowing her to bring back her old characters that she had created while streaming.
However, this was not an entirely faithful recreation. Since she had the chance to ask for anything she wanted, without needing to know how to create it herself, she made a small change to the power. Thanks to this change, the manifested power of the character increases or decreases to match the power level of the character it is placed on.
In other words, now that Lifre was embodying the power of her mechanic, one who had a special system to control technology, those powers were upgraded to the level of an Origin. Lifre knew that it wouldn’t grant her a new domain, but what it would do would vastly increase her mechanical abilities.
The High Mother blinked, confused by Lifre’s words and transformation. However, with the knowledge that someone from Olympus was handling the case, she felt more at ease. “Thank you. I’ll let you know when we find the target.”
“No need. I’m on my way over now.” Lifre spoke calmly, standing up and heading for the door. “Once I’m in the neighborhood, I’ll find them myself.”
With that, Lifre closed the call, making her way out the door. It might be another extermination mission, but at least this one feels more like an adventure! Plus, I can test out how strong my power profiles get when I put them on an Origin. Win-win! I can always potato more after I get back.
Once Lifre was out of Olympus, she quickly made her way to the Metong universe, appearing on an uninhabited rock. With her eyes closed, she sensed her own powers. The ability she was using was meant to give its target an innate understanding of how to use their newfound abilities, as if they had personally trained them.
Thus, Lifre quickly found what she was looking for. “She said they’re attracted to advanced tech, right?” She asked with a grin, lifting her brass arm up and slapping it down to the ground. “Let’s ring the dinner bell, then!”
The ground seemed to ripple away from Lifre’s hand in response to the slap, the brown stone changing into silver metal. Complex networks of wires formed beneath the surface, with large antenna dishes seeming to grow out of the ground. In the air, holes seemed to pierce through the air, with large ships slowly emerging from within. Lifre grinned at this, eager to test her armada against the swarm.
