307: Cosmic Monster Jondoo Etilagia

"Lord Sata. The preparations are complete. You may send them at any time."

"Understood."

Now, preparations are underway to locate the base—or resting place—of the insectoid cosmic monster.

The equipment prepared is a high-performance camera.

However, instead of immediately displaying the recorded footage on monitors visible to Virijanila and the others, I check my own safety first each time before showing it to them.

This precaution is in place in case the insectoid cosmic monster possesses a mental corruption ability that affects humans it has directly seen.

Incidentally, while we're doing all this, the fake Viridianiara A alien monster is being eliminated elsewhere, suspicious additional mechanisms are being discovered in medical pods on other warships, and someone's mass-producing the ink to disable my mods... Well, that's their problem, and this is ours.

Only I can do this.

"Anyway, shall we take a look?"

The dimension inhabited by insectoid space monsters had both similarities and differences to the Ether Space.

But by analyzing the OS and preparing properly, I could temporarily create a window from my side to observe them unidirectionally.

So this time, we'll observe the enemy through that window and examine their side's conditions.

"Hmm? Hmm... I think I see something like a massive ship."

"Ship, you say? Sat. What about the footage?"

"Wait a moment. There doesn't seem to be any mental contamination or tracking... Even if we're in real space, or hyperspace... It looks like there's no issue from their side either."

Then, recording.

After confirming safety, we also displayed the footage on the monitor prepared by Monekshi.

What appeared on the screen was...

"I see. So it is a ship. Mone, any details like the vessel's number?"

"Please wait a moment, Vice-sama."

"How big do you think this thing is...?"

"Um, estimating from the distance between the拍摄 location and the object... it's about ten times the size of my main body. Quite large."

A massive ship, nearly ten times the size of my main body.

Judging by its size and shape, it's likely something akin to a super-large colony... but truly enormous.

It's so large that it would only ever be deployed for some massive project of epic scale.

"Confirmed. Approximately 500 years ago, the colossal colony ship 'Edenseeker' was constructed and launched to explore the regions beyond the 'Vanilla OS.' However, after venturing beyond the 'Vanilla OS' domain, it vanished completely without a trace."

"I see. That explains it."

The outer shell's basic color appears to be white, yet something blackish seems to stir across its surface.

Scattered around are floating objects entirely covered in the same black substance.

Beyond the colony and the surrounding floating debris... endless darkness stretches out as far as the eye can see—likely an infinite space.

"Um, actually, if this colony in the footage is the 'Eden Seeker'... then what's stirring on its surface..."

And then, one Imperial soldier, voice trembling, raised a question while enlarging the footage I had captured.

Well, honestly, as you might suspect... the soldier's duty required verification, after all.

And so, upon confirming it...

"「「……」」"

Everyone fell silent in astonishment.

And it was only natural.

After all, the sheer number of insectoid space monsters swarming around was beyond description—there were simply too many to count.

The exterior of the Eden Seeker showed several holes, and the floating debris nearby likely consisted of护卫 ships.

But now, everything was completely overrun by the insectoid space monsters... This wasn't merely a matter of tragedy—it was beyond that.

"Satya. You may close it now."

Understood.

Later, this insectoid space monster was named the Space Monster Jondu Etarigia.

While its exact ecology remains unknown, according to data extracted from the OS, it normally zips through a hyperspace of infinite expanse at incredible speed.

When it detects an unconscious object in real space, if that location is an environment where 'Vanilla OS' does not exist, it appears to summon companions and drag the object into its own alternate space, devouring both organic and inorganic matter without distinction.

There are reportedly several other conditions under which it can perform this drag, but the specifics remain unknown.

Whether Funaka tamed, modified, or otherwise dealt with that cosmic monster remains unclear, but in any case, it was used to collect the organism serving as the basis for multiplying imperial soldiers, and to send back the artificial humans it created.

By doing so, it apparently caused a strange incident in which a single person suddenly appeared as two individuals at once.

"May I ask, is eliminating that thing possible?"

"It's impossible. No matter how many times we fire the phenomenon collapse cannon, the sheer number and scale of it make it ineffective. The best approach is to avoid contact altogether. Honestly, I'd rather not observe it at all."

"Come to think of it, isn't that one of the reasons why non-Imperial spacefaring nations can't emerge—or survive for long? That thing."

"Perhaps it is."

Fortunately, there were only a few of them aboard this fleet, as planted by Funaka.

Yet… it felt strangely like witnessing the true nature of the urban legend about a spaceship vanishing without a trace in a blank OS environment.

The Funamushi-type space monster: "Incidentally, we're cleaners, so we have nothing to do with the *Eden Seeker* becoming inoperable or entering an uninhabitable environment. I must make that perfectly clear." (Multiple voices)