Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 140



Only Noblemtl

Ep. 140

A strong smell woke me up.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt a strong chemical smell. It was so strong that my lower jaw started to hurt.

‘Here?’

As soon as I opened my eyes, what I saw were countless coffins. Inside the dark cavity, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of green glass tubes that looked like coffins.

The sight was more reminiscent of an ancient catacombs than a research facility.

‘Why am I here?’

I had visions when I was growing from a fluid to a subadult, and when I was growing from a subadult to a semiadult. The former was a vision of meeting Aimorph, and the latter was a vision of meeting memories from my childhood.

Both are different types of fantasies, but they are based on elements I have seen or have in my memories. But this place is a completely unfamiliar place that I have never been to, either in reality or in a game.

‘Besides, this has never happened during Transcendence.’

Is there something different about the second stage of Transcendence from the first stage? Does showing hallucinations like when evolving mean that you have grown that much?

‘… It’s a place I don’t remember going, but it might be an important clue.’

There would be a lot of time left until the transcendence was complete anyway. I approached the nearby glass case.

The glass tube was filled with a thick green chemical. The liquid was so cloudy that it was impossible to see what was inside, but the auxiliary organs thought otherwise.

There’s something in that liquid.

I put my face close to the test tube.

The moment when the slender auxiliary organ is about to touch the surface of the tube.

The space where I was standing suddenly turned into a white space. The glass tube in front of me shattered and disappeared in an instant.

The colorless white space was transformed into the interior of a hospital in the blink of an eye. Instead of harsh chemicals, a familiar smell of disinfectant was felt, and the sound of life support machines weighing the patient’s life could be heard.

I know where this is, but what I saw a little while ago bothered me more.

‘What was that just now?’

Before the test tube disappeared, the object inside was briefly exposed.

The object was a baby of some kind of creature. A baby of a creature that looked familiar somehow.

“If you hadn’t taken me that day, this wouldn’t have happened!”

A sudden scream, as if trying to erase my thoughts.

Two adults whose faces are not visible are arguing in the hallway in front of the hospital room.

“Is that what you’re talking about to me right now? Do you know who’s paying for the expensive medical treatment?”

“Huh? Medical expenses? You don’t even care about the child.”

“what?”

“You’re talking nonsense in front of the camera, my little cutie. Have you ever held a baby at home?”

Their conversations are the same ones I’ve heard since I was a child. They always fight with the same repertoire.

There are more important things than that right now.

The test subject I saw earlier was clearly similar to Aimov’s hatchling.

‘It’s not exactly the same, though.’

The number of arms and the presence of auxiliary organs were very different from the Aimorphs I knew. The creature’s arms were less developed than those of the Aimorph hatchlings, and there were no auxiliary organs under the jaw.

As I was thinking about that creature, the door to the hospital room in front of me opened halfway. There was a child beyond the open door.

A child with his face wrapped tightly in bandages. Looking at that image, I suddenly remembered something.

‘Ah. Was that it?’

This hallucination I am seeing is one of the turning points in my life.

When I remembered that fact, I could no longer continue thinking about the organism in the test tube.

This is the day I realize that I have gone from being a precious gift to a burden to a family.

The child closed the door as he saw the nurse walking down the hallway.

I unconsciously reached for the doorknob. The moment my fingers touched the doorknob, my mind fell into darkness again.

–

Saintopia 02 A forest on the continent.

This place, filled with giant redwoods that rivaled high-rise buildings and towers, was quite dark even in broad daylight, as the light was blocked by the thick branches and leaves.

In the middle of that dark forest there was a group of people.

There are a total of 10 people. All of them wear a full-body suit-type reinforced clothing, and on top of that, they wear a poncho with a special pattern on it.

The pattern of a purple diamond inside an ivory inverted triangle was the symbol of the cult’s military, the ‘Warrior Corps’.

As befitting their name, the Warriors carried a variety of weapons. From cold weapons like axes, swords, flails, and spears to long-range firearms like bows, rifles, and net guns, and defensive and support equipment like alloy shields, shield activators, and medical kits.

The Cult Warriors are always thoroughly prepared to deal with any enemy they encounter. That is why they are heavily armed to deal with any difficult opponents they encounter.

“This is the General Race. What happened over there?”

“This is Edrin. The village has been completely burned down. There are no survivors.”

“Again? What the hell is going on? How are the other villages?”

“This is Olai. I checked the memory site, but nothing came up.”

This warrior group, belonging to the imperial carrier ‘Judgment of Damos 08’, received a secret order from the captain and came down to Saigil 08 in advance.

The order was to capture and bring in the native Wolf before the purification operation began. However, even after several hours of arriving on the continent where the Wolfs live, not a single Wolf was found.

“Do you think they knew we were here?”

“No way. It would be impossible for a primitive race to detect the superluminal speed of an imperial carrier.”

“A structure made by monkeys wandering outside Saigil 08. Could that be the cause?”

“There is no confirmed intelligence that Megacorp is in contact with the Wolfs of this planet. The cause is unknown at this time, so do not jump to conclusions.”

“yep!”

“Since there is still time, Edrin and Olai, both of you continue the search.”

“Understood, Commander.”

“yep.”

“The fleet bombardment will commence in six hours. Check within two hours and return if you don’t find anything.”

The warrior leader pressed a button on his helmet to terminate the telepathic link. The helmet he wore was quite different from the powered helmets worn by the primitive races.

Although it was the same shape that protected the front of the face, the cult had horns on its head, so there was a gap at the temple area.

And the helmet had its own shielding and telepathic capabilities. Thanks to the devices inside, it could communicate with allies from a distance without the aid of special communication devices.

However, the downside is that it consumes a lot of mental power, so you cannot always keep the telepathy function on.

As he ended the call, his deputy chief warrior, Isabel, approached him.

“Sir, you still haven’t found it?”

“I don’t understand. It’s as if someone had wiped out Wolfman. Why would they do that?”

At first, they thought it was a pirate operation, but Race judged it to be unlikely.

Wolf slaves are not expensive enough for pirates to covet. They can be found quite easily and cheaply on some of the more popular planets of the Cult.

If the wolves on this planet aren’t anything special, capturing other creatures would be a lot more lucrative.

For example, rare predators such as the Gel Arma, which lives in swamps, or the Horned King Manuk Arma, which lives in volcanic areas.

By the way, Manuk Arma, the creatures that humans call Hond Gigant, were alive and well. Before Race and the warriors came to this forest, they first stopped by the Wolf Village near their habitat to confirm this.

“Even the captain, who usually detests slavery, asked me to bring Wolf. Aren’t the natives dying out? I think Wolf here might be worth eating.”

Her dirty jokes caused laughter to leak out from the helmets of the other warriors nearby.

Race frowned at the sight.

“Vice-Chief Isabel, warrior. That statement is an insult to the captain and is tantamount to denying the cult’s ‘providence.’ Please refrain from doing so.”

“Oh, sorry, I’m sorry!”

At the words of the cool race, Isabelle quickly lowered her head. The other warriors followed Isabelle and immediately stopped laughing.

Race clicked his tongue at the sight.

“It looks like everyone has had enough rest, judging by all the useless chatter. Let’s get moving again.”

“yes!”

The warriors who knew that their superior was in a bad mood quickly picked up their equipment and stood up. The sight of them moving in an orderly manner was the very image of highly trained warriors.

But Race was not happy even after seeing his well-trained subordinates.

He knew why the captain of the Imperial Carrier had sent them to this planet, even to the point of breaking his own beliefs. The captain had prepared a gift to ask the cult powers for the future of his subordinates.

Race was astonished at how these young warriors, unaware of the captain’s noble intentions, were merely joking.

‘If I go up, I’ll have to start over from the beginning.’

While Race was thinking about how to manipulate his men, the warriors went deeper and deeper into the forest.

There were times when Wood Devils and Night Stalkers would rush in, but the warriors were not at all flustered.

They are professional fighters and full-fledged regular soldiers. There is no creature on this continent that can harm them, except a predator as big as Manuk Arma.

Moreover, their sights were linked using a psychic power technique called Soul Link, so surprise attacks were not possible.

So the warriors under Race searched for the wolves that were somewhere in the forest.

About 30 minutes after they started moving again, the leader, Leisure, carefully looked between the rocks and branches to make sure he didn’t miss even the smallest trace.

Then something strange caught his eye.

A pink balloon appeared between the thick trees. He used his psychic power technique, Clairvoyance, to get a closer look, but by the time he was readying his technique, the balloon had already disappeared.

“Chief of Staff?”

All ten of them here shared their vision through Soul Link. Race tried to ask his subordinates about what he saw.

That moment.

“Ugh?!”

“Eww!”

The race and the warriors grabbed their helmets at the sudden noise. The sound lasted only a short time, but it was so loud and eerie that it made one dizzy the moment they heard it. Some warriors even fell to their knees in dizziness.

Race, who saw the sight, immediately gave an order.

“Permission is granted to use the power kit! Inject the cure and psychic defenses in case the noise just now has any effect on your mind!”

Upon hearing the order, the warriors quickly opened the medical kits on their chests and took out the syringes. Race also took out a syringe like his subordinates and injected it into his thigh.

“What was that just now?”

“… I don’t know. Deputy Chief Warrior Isabel. Check for any abnormal signs in the warriors.”

“Yes, Commander.”

They waited there for about five minutes. Some of the warriors had blood coming from their eyes and ears, but other than that, they had no other special injuries.

“You never know when the enemy will show up. Be sure to check carefully so you don’t miss even the smallest thing.”

“All right!”

The warriors each grabbed their weapons and went into a state of maximum alert. They were much more nervous than before and walked through the forest with cautious movements.

About five minutes after starting, Race suddenly felt something strange.

‘…It’s too quiet.’

Before the noise incident, there were occasional sounds of wood devils attacking or birds chirping.

Now, it was as if the entire forest was dead.

The only sounds that could be heard were the footsteps and breathing of the warriors present.

Race wasn’t the only one who had these thoughts. The other warriors’ breathing was also mixed with discomfort.

An unknown sense of unease was creeping up on the warriors, when suddenly one of the warriors opened fire with the purple spray gun he was holding.

Since their vision was shared via Soul Link, Race could see what his subordinate was shooting at. His aim was a tree a few dozen meters away from them.

And there was nothing on the tree.

“Stop! Cease fire!”

Race shouted the order to cease fire. His subordinates, who had been frantically blasting psychic flames at invisible targets, only came to their senses after hearing the order.

“What on earth are you shooting at! There’s nothing there!”

“Uh, uh, that, that….”

The warrior could only stammer and not continue speaking to the demanding Race. Race, who noticed that something was wrong with his subordinate, took off his helmet.

Inside was the face of a cult member, terrified like a child.

“There was a monster! There were, there were countless eyes watching me!”

“Eyes? What eyes?”

“The pink one, even now, it’s me… hic?!”

Race asked again, but the warrior only replied with the words ‘eye’ and ‘pink’.

With no choice, Race took a tranquilizer from his kit and forcefully injected it into him.

This tranquilizer, developed by the cult, is very effective in calming soldiers who are in a state of panic during battle. The warriors who are administered the tranquilizer have blurred vision and their body tremors have stopped.

However, despite the powerful sedative effect, a shadow still remained on his face.

“Are you calmed down?”

“…yes.”

“What did you see a little while ago?”

The warrior shuddered again at his question, but did not panic as completely as before. The subordinate, trembling with fear, tried to convey the information somehow.

“Well, it might be hard to believe, but there was a monster that looked like a balloon.”

“balloon?”

“At first I thought I was seeing things wrong, but then suddenly countless eyes grew out of its body and started glaring at me.”

A monster that resembles a balloon.

Race remembered what he had seen before the ear-splitting noise erupted.

‘no way?’

“I’ll check the sight! The rest of you, let your guard down… huh?”

Race, who was checking the warriors’ sight once more through Soul Link, realized that one was missing.

There were ten people in this place, including him. However, the field of vision currently confirmed was only eight people.

“Koshey? Where did Koshey go?”

“Oh, you were behind me… Huh? You were behind me just a moment ago?”

The warrior guarding the rear panicked when he realized that his comrades who were supposed to be behind him had disappeared.

While everyone’s attention was focused on the mentally unstable subordinate, another one disappeared.

“…Isabel. Contact the mother ship.”

“yes?”

“The Race Warriors are currently under attack.”

“Oh, I understand!”

It was just as the race said.

Unidentified beasts hiding somewhere in the forest.

Their offensive has already begun.