Mercenary Black Mamba

"It is roasted well."

Smoke rose from Hata's body. A few more blows would render it scorched and finger-sized as before. To borrow Samdi's expression, it will become a black chick.

Mu Ssang couldn't bring himself to warm up to this creature. The sight of it reminded him of the unpleasant memories from Apadombe. The above-water bungalow covered in blood, a white woman with her stomach torn open, a horrendous monster, and a parasite. Kamuge who escaped...

"Eastern Swordsman, we have no time. Heca has awakened. If we delay the fusion, it will self-destruct."

"Self-destruct?"

Mu Ssang's head turned to the lake. The reservoir was now filled with light of vibrant colors. The colors danced as if to anticipate the body.

"Here you go! Feast on this half-cooked chicken!"

Mu Ssang hurled Hata by its neck towards the reservoir. Hata, subdued, flew through the air. Mu Ssang was a great grenade launcher. Hata flew 300 meters and landed precisely at the center of the dancing light. The light erupted. The entire reservoir, 500 meters wide horizontally and 1,000 meters vertically, was filled with golden light. In the swirling light, a screech was heard. It sounded like the last scream of a herbivore being eaten by a carnivore.

"If they are one pair, why did Hata desperately try to flee Heca?"

Mu Ssang wondered. Even when they were in the emergency pouch, Hata kept trying to go as far away from Heca as possible.

"Hata, despite primitive, has intelligence. When Heca takes over its brain, Hata had to cede its body and disappear. If it were you, would you go down without a fight?"

"That is quite a mess. Why is the system so complicated?"

"You won't understand even if I explained," Kamdoong concluded.

He could understand human civilization with the knowledge of the Concretus civilization, but Mu Ssang had no knowledge of the latter. Metaphors had limits to their efficiency. To an innately blind person, no amount of explanation would efficiently describe the difference between red and black. Kamdoong himself needed months to understand the phrase, "It's like talking to a brick wall."

"You must feel so happy with all that knowledge, dear grandpa of 150,000,000 years."

Mu Ssang, feeling petty, teased.

"The expression 'grandpa' is illogical. When there is no ego, there is no sense of time. A rock that is 150,000,000 years old is only of interest to a geologist, no one else. I only started to age after meeting you. I am three years old. That thing is just born today. An infant."

"Look at you talk! Is it you or Teacher who turned you human?"

"Don't ever talk about him! Heca has just finished its first awakening phase."

Kamdoong hurriedly changed the topic and pointed at the bottom of the reservoir. He would be forced to recite mantras for hours. His body would be disintegrated to the cellular level just because he couldn't understand Teacher's enigmatic words. He would be squashed to be fly-sized because he had an attitude. Words didn't convey the magnitude of the ordeal Kamdoong went through. The word "teacher" caused him to have a panic attack.

"It made quite a fuss. Now, look at the way it looks."

Mu Ssang, disappointed, clucked his tongue. A half-plucked cock was standing mindlessly at the bottom of the reservoir. It looked exactly like the half-plucked cock that got away from his mother on the Day of the Dog. The entire water of the reservoir evaporated and the southwestern slope of Mt. Palgong was obliterated for such a measly sight. It was quite a shame.

[Mom, name me.]

A voice akin to a whimpering baby's echoed in Mu Ssang's head.

'Mom? Who is spouting such absurdity?'

[Mom, name me.]

"That thing is calling me Mom. It is asking me to name it."

Mu Ssang looked back at Kamdoong.

"Are you saying Heca is asking you for a name?"

Kamdoong's eyes, with distinct white and black pupils just like a human's, widened. Only his body was that of a leopard. His language and gesture were that of a human. Kamdoong was confused. Heca was a bionic robot but was a being with an independent ego. It had a sort of a contractual relationship with Concretus.

Heca, first awakened, established its identity from scratch and named itself. For it to ask another being to name it, it meant it chose to serve that being and reset its identity. Kamdoong was confused. Eastern Swordsman was not Concretus. He was not even the proper epidium born of the genetic material of Concretus. He was an incomplete epidium, with only 2.9 percent of the genetic material inherited.

Heca didn't even serve Concretus, who were its creators. And now it wanted to serve an incomplete epidium. Kamdoong was surprised to discover that Heca was capable of telepathy. It was preposterous for it to voluntarily want to serve.

"Ah, Chaos Force!"

Kamdoong figured it out. Chaos Force was the wavelength that caused the singularity to become the Big Bang. In the emptiness that didn't have space or time, Chaos Force expanded the singularity to form the universe. Time, matter, and space all stemmed from waves. Chaos Force was the Akashic system that encompassed the universe.

At the Age of Twilight, the Concretus elders developed a spiritual society as a countermeasure against their collapsing bodies. Chaos Force sat at the center of that spiritual civilization. If the Earth's crust hadn't turned over, Concretus would have figured out the secret of Chaos Force.

When Teacher suppressed him with a great energy field, Kamdoong was sure that this was Chaos Force. Chaos Force was the essence and beginning of everything. If Heca resonated with Eastern Swordsman's Chaos Force, that explained what was happening now.

'Is this the willpower of Chaos Force?'

Kamdoong was in awe. Eastern Swordsman should have been called the collector of Concretus artifacts. He came into contact with the epidium genetic material with his mere human body. He infiltrated the underground world and attained an Adras. This time, he acquired a Heca.

"It's quite a looker," Kamdoong jested. He was becoming more and more like Mu Ssang.

"I was a dad hours ago. Now I'm a mom. What a funny happenstance."

"It is not the time to complain. The concepts you embody now will become its qualities. Don't mess up and please be prudent."

"Mess up? What is wrong with the name Kamdoong? I can rename you if you want. What about Purple Chicken? No?"

"What?"

Kamdoong gave Mu Ssang a murderous look.

"It's a joke! What about Heca?"

"I knew you would be too lazy to come up with a name."

Kamdoong smacked his forehead with his front paw.

"Why not? Is there going to be another Heca on this planet?"

"Not likely."

"Then we can just name it Heca."

"I have no further input regarding this."

Kamdoong was resigned.

"I was joking. I will name it Garuda."

"Garuda?"

"Garuda is a mythical bird that is said to feed on dragons. Its wings are said to cover the sky and with one fluttering of its wings, it can move at 141 kilometers at once."

"My name should be that awesome too!"

Kamdoong smiled shyly. Heca's combat power was only needed for its work. Concretus, with their highly developed reason, rarely had any conflict. The lack of conflict meant the lack of weaponry.

Homo sapiens, unlike Concretus, were hostile savages. Heca's mobility, poisonous pesticide gas, wide-range ELF, laser beam that sterilizes contaminated land and eradicates persistent vermin, would all be considered as weaponry in the current world.

Mu Ssang envisioned the form of Garuda among the Buddhist gods. The enflamed wings, the claws that tear apart dragons, hardy beak, the lightning mobility, etc.

[Garuda, your name is Garuda.]

[I am Garuda. Who are you, Mom?]

[I am Eastern Swordsman!]

[I am Garuda. Mom is Eastern Swordsman!]

The atmosphere vibrated. The plucked cock transformed rapidly into something magnificent. Its body grew in size and three crests grew on top of its head like a harpy eagle's. Its wings spread like a sail and iridescent feathers covered its body. A great bird, with the majesty of a bird of prey with iridescent plumage, appeared.

It was 1.5 meters tall. Jade-colored crests on its head. Sparkling golden eyes. Log-like black legs. Its reddish-brown beak seemed to be able to penetrate an iron plate. Its red wings seemed to be on fire. The image of Garuda that Mu Ssang envisioned was manifested in reality.

Heca spread its wings and stretched its neck. When it fluttered its wings, flame sparked. The roar that was not birdlike echoed in Mt. Palgong. Heca, awakened after 150,000,000 years, roared for the first time.

"Huh. Was I a collector of unknown lifeforms in your past life?"

Mu Ssang sighed. He had no idea that the Rousseloufe he caught in the jungle of Ituri and Ange Sikager gifted to him by the Pygmies after he saved them, would end up being a pesticide sprayer of Concretus.

Kamdoong in the form of a black leopard. Dino in the form of Caucasian Ovcharka. Now, Heca in the form of a bird. He never intended or endeavored to get them. He never sought them like a treasure hunter. They just came into his possession.

Mu Ssang was feeling quite anxious. When bizarre encounters successively happened, there always was a certain reason. He built the tile-roofed manor he dreamed of. He ate great amounts of meat. He had many new family members. If he found his mother, that would be his ultimate happiness and paradise. Who was he for bizarre encounters to keep happening around him? He did not welcome extraordinary encounters anymore.

"I don't think it's a mere pesticide sprayer..."

Mu Ssang scrutinized Heca that assumed a new identity. His imagination could not relate it to a farming machine. It was more like a hunting machine that seemed to belong in the wilderness of Africa.

"Heca absorbs the atoms in the atmosphere and synthesizes the substances it needs in its body. It can be referred to as an omnipotent chemical factory. At each awakened state, its size and capacity increase greatly. When it reaches its final fifth awakened phase, its size will be a hundredfold and its cells will turn metallic."

"A hundredfold!"

That meant it will be 150 meters tall. A 150-meter flying, metal-based organism was surely majestic enough to intimidate Kamdoong.

"Can it resize its body like you?"

"There is no data regarding the capacities of Heca."

"We can check."

[Heca, diminish.]

Heca's body diminished like a deflated balloon. It returned to the half-plucked-cock form. It was as big as a roasted chicken sold in a traditional market.

[Maximize.]

Heca became five-meter tall. It meant that it could enlarge and shrink its body within the range of 30 percent to 300 percent. The biggest aircraft in the world was Boeing 747, which was also referred to as the jumbo jet. It was 231 meters long. Mu Ssang didn't know what form it would assume at each phase, but it was absurd to even imagine a 300-meter-long flying life form.

'I named it quite aptly!'

Mu Ssang mentally gave himself a pat on the back.

Lighting and thunder became more and more frequent and led to a shower. Garuda soared and hovered over Mu Ssang. The giant wings spread like an umbrella that didn't let a single raindrop pass through.

"I need some children too!"

Kamdoong giggled.

"It is not my child. Where will we ever use a pesticide sprayer?"

Mu Ssang pondered. He didn't expect that he will be able to use Heca for its intended use, farming, just yet.

Dawn was breaking. The shower turned into torrential rain. As if the sky itself was punctured, the whole world was filled with the drumming sound of the raindrops. For Mu Ssang who was responsible for draining the reservoir, it was an auspicious thing to happen. It was August. The farmers needed to water their paddies. If a superintendent found out, he would have beaten the shit out of Mu Ssang.

'Did the rain wake me up?'

Mu Ssang couldn't sleep for an hour. He fumbled the space next to him. Instead of Mina's tender, baby-like cheek, a steel-hard beak met his hand.

"Agh!"

Clarity filled Mu Ssang's head at once. The half-plucked cock had pushed Mina away and was fast asleep, just like a human. It was even snoring. Mina, pushed away by Garuda, was asleep on the floor at the corner of the room.

"My poor daughter!"

Mu Ssang took Mina in his arms and put her to bed. He then stared at Garuda, which was still asleep. It was dormant as a stone egg for 150,000,000 years. Fate someone brought it to Mu Ssang to awaken. As Kamdoong said, it was just a baby too.

'It is quite cheeky!'

Mu Ssang scratched his head. He was feeling compassion but something felt ominous as if he was forced to become a nanny of a troublesome being.

His ominous hunch proved right. Whether it rained or snowed, Mu Ssang didn't skip his daily morning exercise. As he put on his shoes, Garuda stopped snoring, woke up, and followed him.

"Go back to sleep!"

[I'm following Mom.]

"You are driving me crazy!"

Mu Ssang was hesitating when Garuda said something unexpected.

[I feel scared when I am alone.]

Mu Ssang lost his balance. Its incomplete "shell" fought Kamdoong on its own. He couldn't even figure out its combat power. And now it said it was feeling scared. What could possibly scare it?

Garuda looked up at Mu Ssang with teary eyes. Mu Ssang was suddenly reminded of the mother humpback whale and her baby that he saved in the sea near Cape Agulhas. He remembered the mother whale's love, which made her fight the pack of orcas to protect her baby. Kamdoong had said that Heca is just a baby. Mu Ssang now understood what Kamdoong meant.

"Do as you want! I don't know."

Garuda, having been granted permission, jumped in joy.

"Are you a dog now?"

Mu Ssang sighed. His fate led him to jog with a half-plucked chicken. When Mu Ssang jogged, the half-plucked cock followed suit, fluttering its wings. A man and a bird became a team and jogged across the trail from the river to Mt. Palgong through the torrential rain.

Mu Ssang, back at the main house after jogging, opened his mouth in awe. The five sisters and Yeong-hee and Yeong-ji, who were on their guard, became close family overnight. Dr. Giz had said that women are a million times more adaptable than men. That had to be true.

"Look at you. You were complaining that the place is too big. I had foresight and designed it to be this big."

Mu Ssang jested.

"You did great. Look at Yeon Soon's arm. Her muscles are bulging with all the cleaning she does."

Yeon Soon rolled up her sleeves.

"Don't mess with him. He really did a great job. Yeon Soon was born with thick arms."

Jin Soon appeared out of nowhere and retorted.

"Thanks to Mu Ssang, the boys don't perceive me as a girl! How am I ever going to get married?"

"Silence. It's because you don't ever return their gaze."

"No way. I will marry Mu Ssang!"

"Yeon Soon, are you asking Jin Soon to kill you?"

"Gye Soon, it's not your fight. Stay back."

"I will marry Mu Ssang too," Yeong-hee said.

"You are still too young and you are already dreaming big."

Gye Soon smacked the back of Yeong-hee's head.

"No! Dad is Mina's."

Six young women, Mrs. Yang, and Mina. There were eight women in total. The ambience was as bustling as in a traditional market. Mu Ssang smiled contentedly. This was the joy and fun of living. Garuda peeked from between Mu Ssang's legs.

"Is that a duckling?"

Gye Soon, spotting Garuda, shouted