Chapter 205

Chapter 205. A Bright and Healthy Tentacle Dungeon Exploration. (4)

According to Smeragi and Oxianor, it was true that Rain’s back of the head was indeed threatening.

But putting that aside, to be blunt, the so-called “threatening” level was… only threatening relative to the opponent’s rank.

– “Maa… compared to those weaker than us, it was quite a threatening attack.”

– “Indeed, though it was still weaker than us…”

Feeling that the reaction was somewhat strange, I checked Rain’s status window, who was already almost subdued.

—————————————-

<Rain>

<Level 39>

<Type: Support>

<Traits: Combat Ineptitude, Survivalist, Resource Management>

<Stats>

Health: D+

Attack Power: D-

Physical Defense: A+

Magic Power: S+

Magic Defense: A-

Agility: D-

—————————————-

And upon confirming that she was a typical “brainy support” character…

I started to wonder what on earth a weakling like her, who hadn’t even reached level 40 and had no combat ability, was thinking when she decided to strike from behind.

Of course, in the end, it was probably due to some system-induced forced action that made her strike from behind.

And aside from the sheer power difference, the compatibility was also not in her favor…

– “Commander Icarus, just to be clear… that woman didn’t charge at us bare-handed.”

– “Yeah, I figured.”

– “Here, she fused with a giant monster she had modified herself, merging with part of the facility and then attacked.”

– “Oh?”

– “She also used drugs from the research facility and so on… well, it seemed like she prepared quite diversely for the fight.”

Right after hearing that, I took a look at the status of the three vanguard members present and finally understood how the situation had unfolded.

==========

Oxianor = An envoy of the “Space Monster,” currently a direct subordinate “executive” of the princess and a natural-born superhuman.

And if you try to capture her, Rain’s monster will instead be taken over.

Smeragi = A superhuman assassin-style fighter fused with the facility, making her a formidable opponent as a “giant monster.”

You can’t even land a hit on her in the first place.

Gryanarr = Whether it’s monsters, drugs, or facilities, he’s already operating something similar and is fully aware and prepared.

Of course, Gryanarr’s main body is relatively weak, but his pet tentacles for escort are ironclad defenses.

==========

‘Hmm, what a terrifying setup.’

Although Rain, the person in question, probably didn’t anticipate it, the result was a complete hard-counter setup.

As a result, capturing her with a biological barrier was good, but…

After the person in question was beaten up and dragged out of the monster’s body.

While the vanguard was being rescued, the rearguard destroyed the biological barrier, and in the meantime, the vanguard was busy getting beaten up by the very people they were supposed to rescue.

“Probably something like that, Commander.”

“Holy moly, horrifyingly terrible.”

And as if beating her up together wasn’t enough…

Gryanarr, as part of his additional information-gathering efforts, was busy fiddling with Rain’s brain, who had struck from behind.

Anyway, after hearing all that, I first ordered them to deal with Rain, who had already been subdued, to clear the quest.

—————————————-

<Linked Quest>

<<<The Traitor's Scheme! Cleared!>>>

<The rewards for clearing "Exploration of the Ancient Base Ruins" and "The Traitor's Scheme!" have been granted to the Commander.>

<Rewards>

<Dimensional Causality Fixation Ticket (Ship) x1, Dimensional Causality Fixation Ticket (Superhuman) x1>

—————————————-

‘Ah, finally got it.’

Seeing the quest clear message, I decided it was time to wrap up the dungeon exploration.

I ordered the superhumans in the asteroid base-dungeon to start heading back.

But right at that moment…

– “Commander, wait a moment.”

– “Huh?”

– “Just a bit more, and we might get some useful information. Ah, not doing this in a proper facility is such a tease.”

Gryanarr, who had been busily rummaging through Rain’s head, suddenly called for a stop.

Then, with a bright smile, he nodded at me, saying there was some useful information.

And as soon as Gryanarr’s smile faded, a new event message popped up before my eyes.

—————-

<Quest>

<Hidden Ship?!>

<Content>

Surprisingly, the information extracted from the researcher who betrayed you and the superhumans revealed that there is a ship on this asteroid base, which the Ancient Empire had experimentally developed as a prototype.

Of course, the researcher only knew that such a ship existed and had no further information.

It seems you’ll have to go and find out exactly what kind of ship it is.

<Objective>

Go to the hidden ship docking facility on the asteroid base and confirm the ship.

—————————————-

‘Oh.’

Just seeing the words ‘Ancient Empire’s ship,’ even though I don’t know what it is, I nodded, recalling that in-game, despite its mediocre performance, its rarity made it quite valuable.

“Then we should start by finding out where the ship is. Let’s search and contact you once we find it.”

-“Understood, Commander.”

-“Got it!”

==========

And about 10 minutes later.

-“Found it!”

‘Oh.’

After wandering through the bizarrely twisted interior of the asteroid base, our superhumans finally discovered an entrance buried in flesh.

After Ignis and Smeragi blasted through the entrance, we finally found the ship inside…

“It’s small.”

“Tiny.”

Seeing the size of the ship in the docking facility, I felt my expectations rapidly deflating.

Although its overall design was somewhat cool, its size was similar to or slightly smaller than a destroyer.

“Weaponry?”

-“Hmm, from here, it looks like there’s nothing.”

-“I agree, I don’t even see the 50mm CIWS chain cannons usually found on small ships.”

There were no visible weapons, like cannons or anti-air defense systems.

‘Could it be completely unarmed?’

Of course, feeling this disappointed might be premature, as the ship was covered in a thick layer of dust, making it hard to see the panel lines.

“Pashtira, use the beam cannon at minimum output to blow away the dust on the ship.”

-“Got it♡”

After using Pashtira like an air blower to clear the dust, I could finally make a conclusion after seeing the cleaner exterior of the ship.

“I can roughly guess what kind of ship this is…”

“What is it?”

“It’s a ship with all its weapon systems built-in. Judging by the panel lines, it probably only fires missiles or torpedoes from VLS.”

“Heeeh.”

And with that conclusion, I started to think that this ship wasn’t particularly great.

In this world’s setting, having only missiles or torpedoes means you can only engage in long-range skirmishes.

Given that there are electronic warfare devices to jam missiles or guided torpedoes, a ship with only those isn’t very valuable.

Of course, if you could overwhelm the jamming with a massive missile barrage, that would be a different story…

‘Just by looking, it seems there are only 10 to 20 launch tubes.’

Considering that a typical ‘torpedo destroyer’ can have at least 30 launch tubes with modifications, this mini ancient destroyer(?) doesn’t seem very useful.

‘But hey, it’s free.’

Since no one refuses free stuff, I decided to take this mini missile destroyer(?) and sent assault pods to the asteroid base, now cleared of its boss(?) and quest restrictions, to bring in the crew to operate the ship.

Of course, those assault pods would now carry our superhumans.

But a few dozen minutes later, as my crew boarded the ship and started operating it, and the ‘ship’s information’ appeared, I realized that what I had acquired was no ordinary ‘missile destroyer.’