Estimated reading time: 6–7 minutes
Chapter 28
The Primordial Strain UYK46. That is the name of the enemy we must defeat in this emergency quest. However, the truth is that I came here knowing almost nothing about it. The glimpse I saw in the video was merely a fraction of its full form, which I’m now seeing with my own eyes for the first time.
It’s a colossal 100-meter machine beast. Its base form resembles a lizard, but where its front legs should be there are countless mechanical tendrils supporting its stance. Most striking of all are the thin black strands sprouting from its back. Suspended from their ends are hundreds upon hundreds of machine beasts, motionless and swaying with the vibrations.
Reina gazes at the scene with bitterness.
「The Strain 46… I wish it hadn’t come here.」
「I think it’s about time you properly explained what a Strain is.」
「Huh…? You were thinking of fighting it without even knowing that?」
「…」
「Okay, then. The Primordial Strains are machine organisms born from the ‘waste’ of UYK, the progenitor of all life. 」
「So they’re born from gunk and crap and stuff?」
「Worst analogy ever. But the idea’s close. Regular machine beasts gain life when masses of metal assimilate the i-DNA composed of UYK’s imaginary atoms, kind of like horizontal gene transfer. Strains on the other hand are literally born from UYK itself. They’re the second beings in this world after us to benefit from imaginary atoms.」
Horizontal transfer – that’s when DNA is passed between separate individuals rather than from parent to child, if I remember right. No clue how metal gains DNA, but to compare it to something, it’s like vampires and their kin, with the victims they feed on becoming ghouls.
Thinking about it that way, an image suddenly comes to mind. It’s true you can’t win if you’re afraid, but if you use the right countermeasures, you can somehow manage – that’s the basis of stories with things like werewolve and silver.
When I ask what’s up with all those suspended machine beasts then, the simple answer comes back:
「They’re food. These things crave electricity. So to tap the power generation systems inside the machine beasts without killing them, they string them up like that.」
「So they run on electricity huh.」
「Yeah. That’s why we think they’re attacking the Old Osaka City’s main power plant. There’s no way those massive bodies can sustain themselves without a constant supply of energy, even for machine beasts.」
「Then shrink down, jeez. Such a pain.」
「They’re plenty small compared to UYK’s size.」
So those are the facts coming to light only now. I really had set aside the question of why they were attacking in the first place. In the end, the enemy isn’t some absolute exterminator of mankind, just plain old enemies.
…Which means they’d let us live if we gave them a generator right? But sadly then we’d run out of oxygen. Yeah, no avoiding a fight as expected.
While I desperately peer through my AP’s scope, Reina observes with her naked eye, commenting on things like how it doesn’t have special equipment and the amount of tendrils is insane. Then a familiar Kansai-accented voice calls out from behind.
「Found ya both!」
It’s Momiji, riding an AP.
「Leave the talkin’ with Reina to me.」
This is what Momiji asked me to do yesterday. Given the current situation where we want to fight the Strain but I’m not around and Reina can’t log in, we obviously don’t have enough people or firepower. So Momiji decided to come get me back.
Momiji’s AP is already battered beyond recognition, practically unidentifiable as the same model as mine. And yet she still somehow forced her way here. The cause, of course, was the secret livestream I was broadcasting – limited visibility, but still viewable if you had the URL.
Yes, by livestreaming, I relayed my location to Momiji! (Her idea)
「….it’s been a while, Momiji.」
「Yesterday for me, ya know. So, wanna chat in private over there?」
Then before I know it, they’ve hidden themselves in the shadows of the crystal trees.
「Whether we win or lose against the Strain, the update will progress. Or rather, I’ll make it happen with the cards I hold.」
「….You mean that rejuvenation?」
「Yeah. It’d be trouble for you too if things stay stalled here right, Reina? Unless you wanna keep repeating this ending that is.」
「As if I’d want that! It’s been five years…you can’t imagine the thoughts I’ve lived with…!」
「I know, I know. But one path to resolving that now is by defeating this Strain. So I want your help. Ya gotta free Kanji.」
「This is practically extortion huh.」
「Nah, just a little push. Ya understand you can’t stay like this either right, Reina? Otherwise there’s no way you’d be here observing the Strain.」
….They seem to be having an intense conversation, but hearing what sounds like threats right off the bat, I immediately tune my ears elsewhere. I don’t need to listen to scary stuff. It doesn’t sound like anything good if Reina, who values her freedom, is convinced to change her mind. Yeah, no mistake Reina’s the one in the wrong for detaining me out of self-interest and forcing me to watch the city’s destruction.
With the Strain’s silver form leisurely approaching behind me, I turn my back on their verbal sparring. It’s moving surprisingly slowly, but the tendrils look agile, and the armor does seem sturdy. However, staring at it carefully reveals weak points – namely, there are no notable attack capabilities.
If those suspended machine beasts were to attack, it’d be scary, but the lack of special equipment means this I guess. With this size, if it had machine guns integrated, there’d be no chance. And yet the players were in such a panic, the NPCs in such despair over a thing like this.
…I do wonder about the origin of those tendrils though. Doesn’t look like octopus or squid tentacles.
「….Fine, I’ll cooperate. But the time until the update is…」
「Our minds ain’t changed, yeah? It’s all good.」
And so, before I realized it, their negotiations concluded. In this way, after days gone by, I would at last make my return to Old Osaka City.
『i-DNA』
The DNA equivalent for machine beasts. Machine beasts recreate all aspects of life, including blood, and so have DNA as well. i-DNA has an extremely high rate of horizontal gene transfer, allowing machine beasts to assimilate the corpses and tools of surrounding life forms.
And so, that concludes the chapter where Momiji persuades Reina. Incidentally, if Momiji hadn’t made vaguely threatening overtures, negotiations would have normally collapsed, leading to an ending where the Strain destroys the city.
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