LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 23 - True Ancestor Virus 2
Chapter 23: True Ancestor Virus 2
True Ancestor.
The term means “true progenitor,” referring to beings who are vampires by nature, unlike the typical vampires who become such by drinking blood from others.
They are noble, powerful, and revered to the extent that they are called the masters of blood and lineage, with even a faction in the Ark secretly worshipping them.
However, to humanity, vampires were calamities incarnate.
Vampires were one of the key forces responsible for the destruction of humanity in the past.
To them, humans were prey, slaves, and convenient tools.
They held no value beyond that and were regarded as humanoid calamities in essence.
If even a single vampire, who could be considered the subordinate of a True Ancestor, appeared in the Ark, it could spread an uncontrollable plague by turning people into ghouls or their kin.
The upper echelons of the Ark adhered to a strict policy of exterminating the entire population of the affected area upon the appearance of a vampire.
Yet, ordinary vampires, while causing significant damage, could still be eradicated with sufficient force.
But their progenitors—the True Ancestors—were entirely beyond the reach of humanity’s subspecies or monsters.
The True Ancestors were not mere lifeforms but viral organisms.
When a True Ancestor manifested on this land, they appeared in the beautiful form of a human.
Outwardly, they seemed like living beings, resembling a subspecies of humanity.
In fact, aside from their slightly pointed fangs, it was nearly impossible to distinguish them from humans.
But a True Ancestor wouldn’t die even if hit by a nuclear bomb or obliterated by the concentrated firepower of a First-Class Overseer and S-Class Hunters.
Their physical body was merely a shell—a form, nothing more.
Their essence did not reside in their body but in a virus.
The True Ancestors’ core was a virus that devoured and infected all cells except their own.
Their bodies were a mock-up of the human form created when the virus and the cells met certain conditions.
For a True Ancestor, complete annihilation and destruction were impossible.
They could linger in the air or hide dormant within a living being until the conditions for their manifestation were met.
This phenomenon was called the “Descent.”
The conditions varied depending on the True Ancestor’s virus.
Just as humans have intelligence, reason, preferences, and emotions, the True Ancestors were no different.
Mana abundance, density, human population density, prey availability, humidity, and environment—any of these could influence a True Ancestor virus.
What was clear was that each of their viruses was a thinking entity and a seed of destruction.
The moment a True Ancestor physically manifested in the real world, the Ark had to obliterate them at all costs.
Yet, this was no simple task.
A newly descended True Ancestor was already a dreadful calamity and monster in its own right.
Even in a newborn state, comparable to an infant, a True Ancestor required the combined power of two First-Class Overseers or three to four S-Class Hunters.
And today…
The True Ancestor virus manifested in the middle-layer collective residential area within the Barrier Agency.
[■Emer■gen■■cy■■ True Ancestor, Virus, Forced Manifestation Detected■■ Evacuate Immediately■■Emergency Evacuation■■ Initiate.]
The abrupt alarm from the AI was accompanied by the Barrier Agency’s lights flashing red.
Hearing the alert, Executors quickly drew their standard issue blades and rifles, preparing for any unforeseen events.
“What the hell is going on all of a sudden?!”
“A True Ancestor virus…?”
Within moments, the interior of the agency was plunged into chaos.
Silence, followed by questions of whether the broadcast was real or fake.
The True Ancestor virus was indeed a catastrophe, but it wasn’t a frequent occurrence.
“The last ‘Descent’ happened three years ago when it encountered the pioneering team on the outskirts of the city, right?”
“I heard they managed to stop the Descent back then, too…”
“Maybe it’s just a simulation glitch?”
“They must’ve triggered an error while adjusting the difficulty.”
“Hey, my buddy reached difficulty 100 once, and the worst they got was a Clione Knight.”
“Then what’s with that alarm?”
The exact manifestation conditions of the True Ancestor virus are unknown to anyone.
Even the upper echelons of the Ark had attempted to analyze their bizarre preferences, but understanding the manifestation conditions of a True Ancestor through human perception was nearly impossible.
Three minutes, five minutes, and eventually ten minutes passed since the alarm sounded, and the tense atmosphere within the Barrier Agency began to relax.
“Ah, it’s just an error.”
“Phew, that scared me.”
It didn’t make sense that nothing had happened ten minutes after the True Ancestor virus was supposedly manifested if it were real.
Beeeeeeeep!
However, just as they calmed down, a red holographic warning lit up all around once again.
[Re■■ alert■■! True Ancestor, vi■us manifestation confirmed! Location is Barrier Agen■! All civilians, evacuate im■ediately■…!]
At the same moment, the AI of the Barrier Agency issued another emergency alert, and Executors entered with guns and blades in hand.
Even if the alert itself could be an error, the movement of the Executors signified a genuine danger warning.
“Damn it!”
“Is it real!?”
“Hey! All staff and those below C-class, get out of here!”
“N-no, that appeared in the virtual dungeon, didn’t it?”
“I don’t know, dammit! Just run!”
“Overseer! Where’s the First-Class Overseer!?”
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“……”
“Haaaah.”
I looked at the woman of blood who let out a low sigh and thought to myself.
Hmm, it doesn’t seem to be my fault…
All I wanted was to adjust the difficulty to 100 out of boredom. Why did it overflow and jump to 999?
【It is clearly your fault, human.】
‘No, it’s not! If you think about it, isn’t this all your fault, Theresa?’
【The one who gave the command was you.】
‘Are you blaming your owner now?’
【Then whose fault would it be? I distinctly warned you, pointed out your zero proficiency in hacking, and requested you reconsider due to the unpredictable side effects.】
‘…..’
She didn’t miss a single chance to talk back.
But hearing her say that, I had no counterarguments.
Alice swept her hand over her forehead.
She wasn’t capable of sweating, but it felt like she was.
In fact, Alice had done her calculations.
Based on how the monster waves at around difficulty level 7 couldn’t even react to mechanical tendrils, let alone avoid them, she figured that adjusting the difficulty arbitrarily wouldn’t be a problem.
Oh? At this level, there’s no way I’d encounter an opponent I can’t beat, even at difficulty 100.
Alice’s reasoning wasn’t wrong.
Normally, the monsters appearing in a virtual dungeon at difficulty 100 were led by Clione Knights.
These were undead monsters in the form of knights, resembling Death Knights, but their bodies were entirely liquid, granting them significant resistance to physical attacks.
Their difficulty level was lower than a Scrap Dragon but slightly higher than engaging the Contact Unit head-on.
No matter what happened, Alice wouldn’t get hurt, and even in the case of an unusual event, First-Class Overseer Oriana was waiting in the observation room.
So, Alice had predicted that hacking the system wouldn’t pose any significant issues.
Under normal circumstances, even if an overflow in the difficulty registry caused a clash with monsters at difficulty 999, no vampiric entity should have appeared.
However, the problem lay with the True Ancestor.
The essence of a True Ancestor was a virus and cellular structure, an unpredictable calamity.
The True Ancestor virus drifted through the air and entered a dormant state until it encountered a suitable environment.
Unfortunately, this particular True Ancestor virus had infected a section of the virtual dungeon within the Barrier Agency.
It was embedded in such an infinitesimal part of the system that even the Overseer and the agency’s AI couldn’t detect it.
Still, this virus should never have manifested in its lifetime.
An unspecified number of citizens in the Ark and the city carried the True Ancestor virus, but due to the lack of vitality, energy, and mana, it never activated.
The danger of a True Ancestor virus came only when it descended.
If it didn’t descend, it was as harmless as oxygen in the air.
Even if someone carried the True Ancestor virus for their entire life, it often failed to reach a “descent state” before their lifespan ended.
This was why tracking the origin of the True Ancestor virus in the Ark was so challenging.
The True Ancestor virus nestled in the virtual dungeon was no different.
The virus had simply drifted there by chance.
Though the virtual dungeon operated on mana and energy, its maximum difficulty was capped at 100.
This environment was unsuitable for the virus to thrive, meaning the virus would have remained dormant for its entire existence.
Given enough time, the virus would have naturally decayed or entered a permanent dormancy.
“Ahhh… Oh, this feels so nice…”
But today.
By sheer coincidence, someone hacked the virtual dungeon, causing an overflow that temporarily raised the difficulty to 999.
An environment of difficulty 999, which normally shouldn’t exist, created a space saturated with thick mana, brimming with vitality and energy so extreme that it became suffocating for humans.
Unfortunately, this perfectly matched the preferences of the True Ancestor virus on the verge of dormancy.
Chance and more chance.
Whether it was fortune or misfortune, these coincidences culminated in the True Ancestor virus entering its descent state.
“Hey, you there. What’s your name?”
The woman of blood, delighted with her own birth, smiled radiantly at Alice.
“…….”
“I’m in a great mood today.”
Alice, preoccupied with mentally bickering with Theresa and assigning blame, missed her chance to respond to the True Ancestor.
“Unlike my original self, I thought I’d rot away somewhere in obscurity, but now I’ve been able to descend.”
Meanwhile, thick streams of blood began flowing all around, becoming rivers and skies.
It was as if she was declaring this space her domain.
“Drifting without a body, aimlessly floating without will… Oh, it was dreadful.”
The woman of blood placed what could be called her hand against her cheek and laughed.
“In that sense, you’re my benefactor. By the way, you’re quite amusing. Are you really human? I feel more of something else from you than humanity.”
But Alice wasn’t listening to the woman’s words at all.
She was still internally yelling at Theresa, trying to figure out how to handle this situation.
‘Theresa, Theresa. I think I’ve made a massive mistake here. How do I get out of this mess without too much trouble?’
【Are you attempting to shift the blame onto someone else, human? I suggest you humbly submit to the aura of justice.】
‘Shut up. I mean, I only expected a monster like a Scrap Dragon to appear. The overflow wasn’t my fault!’
【It was indeed your fault, human.】
‘No, damn it. Ugh… If I admit I hacked the system, it’ll cause chaos, won’t it? If it gets out that I’m a can capable of hacking, Oriana will naturally figure out I’m the one stealing electricity from her household, right?’
【…Human, there is only one solution left in this situation.】
-Creek!
From Alice’s body, mechanical tendrils spread out in all directions at once.
Like the legs of a spider, they moved according to her will, lifting her body, with their tips transforming into needle-like shapes.
【The resolution to the sudden situation at hand is eradication.】
‘Are you saying that if I take care of that thing, it’ll be like nothing ever happened?’
【Correct, human.】
‘That’s surprisingly simple. But why do you keep calling me human?’
【Because I cannot sense any semblance of the dignity or refinement of the Main System in you, I have decided to regard you as an ordinary personality and a human.】
‘Are you picking a fight with me?’
【Be quiet, human. Rather than wasting processing power on unnecessary conversation, focus on the target before you.】
‘Fine, whatever.’
Alice immediately pushed off the ground.
“Oh?”
The newly born True Ancestor smiled as if amused.
‘The humans of the Ark would surely fear me greatly.’
Though this was only a fragment rather than her true self, even in her newborn state, she could claim the lives of tens of thousands of Ark residents without effort.
“Well, I suppose this can be considered a warm-up?”
The woman laughed and flicked her finger.
At her gesture, massive waves of blood surged from all directions.
This wasn’t just ordinary blood.
It boiled like molten lava, instantly dissolving human skin like tissue paper meeting water upon contact—a blood of acidic fury.
-Swoosh!
As soon as Alice perceived the attack, she twisted her body midair, achieving a sharp change in direction.
Thanks to the mechanical tendrils propelling her body like spider legs, she could easily maneuver in the air.
-Bang!
Alice accelerated and collided with the True Ancestor.
Extending her tendrils, she thrust them into the True Ancestor’s body, but the True Ancestor blocked all of them with a blood curtain, merely flicking a finger.
Even when Alice tried to attack from unseen angles, the True Ancestor effortlessly defended, as though she had eyes on the back of her head.
“Click.”
“My, you’ve implanted an amusing toy into your body, haven’t you?”
‘Direct contact with her body is dangerous.’
Although Alice’s mechanical tendrils had significant resistance to most attacks, remaining unaffected by the blood, her biological body was a different story.
-Sizzle…!
“Ah, ugh…”
Alice thought she had a decent tolerance for pain, but the moment a few drops of the blood touched her skin, they boiled and melted the contact points.
It hurt quite a bit.
Alice couldn’t help but think that if a human’s body were to be hit by just one drop, it might dissolve their organs entirely.
“Child, I’m in an exceptionally good mood right now. Won’t you take it easy?”
“……”
Alice twisted her body instead of responding.
The tendrils blocked by the blood curtain were pulled back at once, creating distance as she leapt away.
The True Ancestor’s legs were still rooted in the pool of blood.
Perhaps due to a lack of blood or energy, her lower body and skin weren’t fully formed, leaving her mimicking a human form with blood.
-Swoosh!
“Interesting. Are we playing tag?”
Direct contact was dangerous.
In her current state, Alice’s best bet was ranged attacks through the tendrils.
‘I need to find an opening.’
The True Ancestor’s body was still composed only of blood rather than flesh, so Alice began probing for an opportunity, hurling her tendrils around as if testing the waters.
Using her spider-like legs, she dashed and flung herself in all directions, causing the True Ancestor to laugh in amusement.
“Haha, you’re surprisingly quick.”
It was almost a nimble trick, but Alice’s movements were fast enough to momentarily escape even the True Ancestor’s sharp vision.
Still, it wasn’t beyond her ability to respond.
-Crash!
“Well then… let’s see if you can dodge this.”
The woman’s eyes gleamed for a moment, and the pool of blood surged upward.
-Snap!
-Boom!
[Grieving Mountains]
Masses of blood lunged at Alice like the heads of living snakes.
The snake heads turned into lesser dragons, and their unfulfilled grief manifested as blood mountains firing massive barrages.
Taking a direct hit would cause Alice to dissolve before she could even absorb the blow.
【Predicting the target’s trajectory.】
Theresa calculated the anticipated attack routes, which appeared as red lines blinking in Alice’s vision.
Though the attacks were fierce and dense, avoiding them became manageable with the projected paths visible.
“Oh?”
The True Ancestor’s face showed mild surprise, but her smile deepened.
The boiling blood’s speed was effective even against another True Ancestor, yet Alice dodged with precise timing, as if she had faced such enemies before.
“Should I raise the difficulty?”
With a single gesture from the True Ancestor, the number of blood barrages doubled.
Dodging them led to even more blood barrages regenerating.
It was meaningless to avoid them.
The attacks Alice evaded were reabsorbed by the True Ancestor, reloaded, and fired again.
As the cycle continued, Alice found herself seemingly trapped in a net.
Alice’s expression remained blank, but internally, she was growing anxious.
‘This barrage is insane…!’
She recalled an old shooting game.
The kind where the entire map was painted red with relentless barrages.
The skilled players who dodged it looked impressive from the sidelines, but now, as the one forced to evade, Alice couldn’t help but think that if she were a human rather than a cold android, she would be screaming for her life in tears.
The blood barrage was that dense and unforgiving, and even with predicted paths, she barely avoided the attacks.
【Requesting permission to use internal energy reserves.】
‘What’s the benefit of that?’
【It ensures successful evasion.】
‘Fine, just do it…!’
Energy began overheating through Alice’s tendrils and body.
The energy that had been used only for maintaining her body now surged throughout her system, heating Alice’s frame.
As her system overheated, Alice’s movements became faster.
She planted her foot against a blood-free wall.
-Bang!
Alice started dashing at an even faster speed, dodging the blood barrages more effortlessly than before.
“Try dodging this as well.”
[Dragon’s Ascent]
Alice’s expression twisted as she faced an enormous vortex.
Escape space.
None.
Safe zones.
None.
Predicted trajectory.
Everywhere.
‘Theresa, I’m transferring control of my body to you. Take over.’
【Acknowledged.】