Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 163



Only Noblemtl

Ep. 162

“Huh, Captain? Kkaaaak!”

“Damn, everyone fall back!”

“Hee, heeeeek!”

The cyborgs who gathered in the situation room after hearing the captain’s words screamed in terror as soon as they saw me. Unlike some cyborgs, they didn’t have their eyes modified, so they recognized my presence right away.

‘Sometimes it’s better not to know.’

The actions taken by the cyborgs who saw me were quite varied.

“S, save me, save me, save me… ugh!”

The kind that lost their will to fight. They got on their knees and begged until their hands were worn out, and then I had their throats ripped out.

“Fuck! You traitor to the Star Union! I’ll punish you myself… Aaaah!”

A group that expresses their anger at the captain who betrayed them. They ran towards the captain, but were cut by the bone blade on my back, separating their upper and lower bodies.

And lastly.

“Everyone, take cover!”

“We have to subdue him!”

There were a few cyborgs who attacked me without losing their fighting spirit. They hid behind the computers and mechanical devices in the situation room and attacked me.

Bullets from a pulse gun using depleted uranium bullets rain down on my body.

Every time that happened, the outer skin, or rather the ‘scales’ inside the fur, shook like waves and absorbed the impact of the bullet.

“Synthetic Scales: Replace your outer skin with synthetic scales. You can use the synthetic scales to harden certain areas.”

Currently, all of the outer skin that used to cover my body has been replaced with tiny scales. This is thanks to the new trait I gained from eating Screamers, ‘synthetic scales’.

The true value of this trait lies in its ability to harden weak points in the body. When a physical impact occurs, the scales in that area can be rearranged to temporarily greatly enhance defense.

‘With this trait, you can protect the monster’s tentacles and auxiliary organs.’

In the current hunting state, the auxiliary organs are covered with a shell and hardened, but in the normal state, this is not the case.

I approached the cyborgs, dousing my body with a hail of bullets.

“Fuck, shit! My attacks aren’t working at all… AAAH!”

“Everyone, retreat! Retreat!”

The cyborg, who had been bravely spraying bullets at me even as I got closer, was slaughtered by the four bone blades under my jaw.

The cyborgs, who knew that bullets were useless, tried to escape while their comrades were being hit. Their tails flew towards the enemies who turned their backs to escape.

“Ahh!”

A cyborg who was relatively close by was hit by my tail and flew away, crashing into the wall. At least he died without any pain, so it’s okay.

“Hey, let go of this aaaaaaaah!”

The cyborg struggled as it was caught in the pincers at the end of its tail, but soon screamed as the pincers tightened around it.

The pincers are enough to crush even the sturdy metal frame of a Screamer. There’s no way a cyborg could survive.

The cyborg, who had vomited out bodily fluids mixed with internal organs, quickly became a corpse and lay there. I threw the corpse away carelessly and chased after the cyborgs who were running away.

“Okay, wait wait wait wait, aaaah!”

“Hee, heeeek, that, that’s it… Knock knock! Knock knock!”

Before the hunt was over, most of the cyborgs inside the ship were cleared out, with a few exceptions.

‘Because I have to plant parasites.’

The maximum limit for the ‘Parasite Colony’ enhanced by the type effect is 10 people. With one in the Heavenly Mother, only 9 survivors remain.

“Keu, keueu, bird, bird I will follow my master.”

Above the situation room that had become a sea of ​​blood, cyborgs controlled by parasites knelt before me.

There are two reasons why they were kept alive.

There are still a lot of androids and drones on this ship right now. It’s to neutralize them all. My kids and I can go around and destroy them, but there’s no reason to waste energy on things we can’t even get genetic essence from.

‘And you can use it as insurance when Star Union comes chasing you.’

In order to deceive the pursuers, the captain and other ship leaders must remain behind. This is because the other side may want to examine the vital signs of the captain or senior crew members.

‘With this, preparations for taking control of the ship are complete.’

It didn’t take long to take control of the warship, perhaps because it had become much stronger than before. Except for encountering an unexpectedly strong enemy called the Screamer, it ended without any major variables.

‘If you think about it, Screamer also had a bigger immediate advantage.’

Not only did we get a clue about the Star Union players, we were also able to secure a new genetic essence.

In the game, Screamers are classified as machines, not living things, and thus do not gain genetic essence.

However, the improved Screamers on this ship were not like that. Since they were Screamers made from Hulk mutants, they were able to obtain several types of genetic essences.

‘It’s lucky that I got the trait of Coldblood here.’

Coldbloods are a race with a reptilian human base and a moderate amount of beetle-like insect characteristics. They look like an NPC race, but they are one of the playable races.

Despite their scary appearance, they are a highly intelligent race with a tragic background, and have gained a cult following.

In the setting, the Coldbloods were once rivals for supremacy over the universe alongside the Cult, but are now completely fallen beings. They made a deal with the Vortex Ones to gain power, but in return, the fate of their entire race was put on the line.

‘Now they have been reduced to slaves sold to cults that worship Vortex One or to other races.’

Players who choose Coldblood will have the goal of liberating and saving their suffering compatriots.

‘Someone said this in the community before. It’s the dinosaur version of Exodus.’

Anyway, due to this setting, Coldblood is spread out little by little throughout the universe. If you’re unlucky, you may only see him in the later stages when he can roam freely in space.

So I figured it would be a long time before they get their traits.

‘There are a lot of Coldbloods on the supply line, but I don’t know why.’

All the internal organ related traits I have obtained are from Coldblood.

I don’t know yet whether Coldblood’s genes played an important role in the development of Screamer, or whether the manpower supply ship I ate had a particularly large amount of Coldblood on it.

‘Whatever the cause, it ended up being beneficial to me.’

The synthetic scales that can protect your weaknesses and the ‘revenant organ’ that can be used as a trump card at a crucial moment were unexpected gifts.

‘Of course there are some parts that are a bit disappointing.’

I did gain a few extra traits by eating the Screamer, but the rest were all traits I already had.

Usually, Hulk mutants are made up of different genes, but these Screamers were not like that. They were all made up of the same genes, like clones.

‘It may have been standardized on purpose to be used as screamer material.’

Because their genes are identical, their appearance and taste are identical.

‘… When I think about it, I get a strange feeling.’

The Hulk mutant used as Screamer material tasted truly horrible. I felt the urge to open my jaw and scratch the inside of my mouth with my fingernails without realizing it.

Based on my experience so far, the more genes a creature has combined, the better it tastes. That was the case with Sihyeon Eugene, and the Knights of the Edgerton family.

But this time, that formula was broken.

‘It tasted terrible.’

It tasted similar to the taste I had when I put a handful of toothpaste in my mouth and drank orange juice. To be exact, it tasted like I had added salt on top of it.

I understood why Adhai was scratching the tentacles with his forelegs. It was definitely not a flavor I would want to eat often.

‘But it’s fortunate that the calories themselves were high.’

The taste wasn’t that great, but the energy content was ridiculously high, as expected of a Hulk mutant. Even now, my stomach feels full.

‘With this level of satiety, the symbol of hunting is over… Ah, it’s time to end now.’

They say even a tiger will come if you call it.

As smoke began to rise from my body, my physical structure began to change. The symbolic effect of the hunt was over.

My body, which had grown to about 8 meters long including my tail, returned to 5 meters. The hair that had grown long had shrunk to match my body size, and the bony blade arms on my back had shrunk drastically.

Soon the bone blade arm became like calluses peeling off the skin and crumbled. The same change occurred in the bony shell that covered the accessory organ under the jaw.

After all the changes were over, I quickly stuffed the cyborg corpses in the situation room into my mouth. It was to relieve the hunger that always came after the representation ended.

But something was strange.

‘Are you not that hungry?’

It’s true that I feel hungrier than usual, but it’s not enough to make me lose my mind. I think I could quickly appease my hunger by eating a few cyborg corpses.

‘Is this also thanks to the clever underdog effect?’

As expected, after eating three cyborg corpses, the side effects of the symbol were immediately resolved. Perhaps, as a special state specialized for survival, it also drastically lowers the energy consumption rate.

‘I thought it was bad because the fighting power was reduced…’

It was a merit that I could use the symbol of hunting without looking back. In addition, it seemed to fit well with the characteristic of consuming a large amount of energy stored in the body.

‘Like the whirlwind of God.’

The ‘God’s Whip’, obtained by preying on the cult’s orbital weapon ‘Brain God’, is the most powerful long-range attack weapon I possess.

Unlike the original, it does not have the 14-day limit, but instead has the disadvantage of its power being reduced by less than two-thirds and consuming a huge amount of energy.

But what if you become a smart underdog here? You can use the divine scepter more freely than usual.

Although it may not be possible to fire indiscriminately, it would be a much-needed rain for me, who lacks long-range attack methods.

It’s just a shame that it can’t be operated that way yet in normal conditions.

‘Don’t regret it. You can get it later.’

Having relieved myself of the side effects of the hunting symbol, I sat up. At that moment, Mother in Heaven entered the situation room with her children.

“You went wild. What are the side effects?”

[Zuz …

She was hiding in a corner of the boat with the kids in case I ran wild.

I gave her a brief explanation of the effectiveness of the clever underdog. She nodded in admiration.

“It’s certainly a good trait, but the range of applications isn’t usually that wide.”

[Zuzuzu zuuzu zuuzu zuuzu zuuzu zuuzu (The weaknesses when infiltrating have been greatly improved)]

“It would be nice to stab the players in the back of the head. They won’t know about this.”

She’s right. There’s no feature in the game that I know of that artificially changes the size of an Aimorph. If I don’t know about it, then it’s likely that other people don’t either.

The enemy has built up a powerful force that can operate a fleet and use orbital weapons. Since my power is not enough to subdue them, I must respond with infiltration and deception tactics.

While I was talking about my traits with her, Number 26 and Adhai approached me.

“Big baby. Do you not need to eat any more rice?”

[Z zu zu zu zu zu zu zu (I’m full so let’s eat together)]

Number 26, who understood my wavelength, extended his tentacles to the corpse. Adhai was also about to follow Number 26 to eat, but then he suddenly saw me and came closer.

[Zu zu zu (What’s wrong?)]

“Big Adult” “Before” “Difference”

[Zuzuzu zuuzuzu zuuzuzu (It’s different from before?)]

“Before” “Ugly” “Now” “Charm” “Incomprehensible”

Adhai, wagging his tail and shooting out thought waves. His gaze was directed at the scales inside my fur.

“Now” “Good”

‘I guess it’s because of the scales.’

Although Adhai usually tells me that I’m cool, my appearance itself is far from that of a Gallagon. The gliding membrane can hardly be called wings, and the carapace or outer skin on my body is far from the scales of a Gallagon.

It seems that the change of the outer skin into scales suited Adhai’s taste.

The guy looked at me for a moment, nodded with satisfaction, and soon went over to number 26.

The Heavenly Mother saw this and said a word.

“It’s really pouring down.”

When I looked into her crescent-moon shaped eyes, I felt embarrassed for some reason.

[Zuzuzuzuz zuuzuzuz zuuzuzuz zuuzuzuz zuuzuzuz (Stop talking nonsense. Do you not have to eat it?)]

“You know, eating cyborgs won’t help me. So it’s better for the kids to eat them.”

She, too, is in a state where she must consume the flesh of a powerful enemy in order to grow, and her growth will probably be stagnant until she reaches the Dragon’s Nest.

‘I’ve already cleaned up all the annoying stuff anyway.’

Now that we’ve roughly finished reviewing the characteristics of the clever underdog, it’s time to move on to the next step.

I nodded to the children who were eating and left the situation room.

The time has finally come to take on this ship number 98.

–

“What on earth is my intention?”

“What do you mean?”

“That cult! We have mountains of things to prepare for our cause, and yet we listen to those guys and go on a treasure hunt!”

Sihyeon Eugene’s butler Minseok Eugene didn’t like his master sitting there with a calm expression.

After the failed assassination of Akira Eugene, there were many things about Sihyeon Eugene that he couldn’t understand.

We need to recruit the remaining elders of the Eugene family on Earth as soon as possible and build an anti-Akira force, but they are currently floating around space peacefully.

Originally, Akira Eugene was not very active outside. Except for the work that the CEO had to do, he spent most of his time on Earth.

The reason they were so determined to destroy the TNC Special Trade Center was because he rarely went out.

“With the civil war breaking out, it’s easy to plan an assassination! So why do you say it’s not possible?”

“I would say that it is because we cannot eliminate Akira with our current strength.”

Sihyeon and Eugene speak casually. She always says the same thing whenever Minseok protests.

It is impossible to kill Akira.

She had personally infiltrated the Eugene family’s flagship to assassinate Akira. Minseok could trust her to that extent. As proof, she had brought the Code Blue dagger.

But what happened after that was the problem.

“Are you still saying that Akira has conquered the shadow? That’s impossible!”

Min-seok was Si-hyeon’s closest confidant, so he knew well how much power the shadow had. And how powerful Si-hyeon, when in perfect condition, was.

That’s why I couldn’t believe that she had been subdued by Akira and barely escaped.

“I can’t believe it. No matter how much I think about it, there seems to be a reason I don’t know about.”

Si-hyeon’s eyes narrowed as Min-seok continued to distrust her.

“I am your master. You have not forgotten that, have you?”

“… … .”

Minseok kept his mouth shut. At that sight, Sihyeon abruptly stood up from her seat.

Minseok flinched at the sight, but did not avoid eye contact.

“I’ll ask you one last time. Answer carefully.”

“… … .”

For a split second, his hand stopped as it was about to reach for his pants pocket. Si-hyeon didn’t miss the sight.

“Minseok Eugene. Who do you serve?”

“… I am Sihyeon Eugene, the rightful successor to the Eugene family.”

Loyal to the rightful successor, Sihyeon Eugene.

At first glance, it seemed like a sign of submission to her, but Si-hyeon noticed that he had chosen an ambiguous expression on purpose.

That’s because she was Sihyeon Eugene and at the same time not Sihyeon Eugene.

In other words, Min-seok was saying that the object of his loyalty was the ‘original’ Si-hyeon Yu-jin, not the ‘copy’ in front of him.

Sihyeon read that point, but didn’t bother to point it out. No, to be exact, he couldn’t point it out.

“Go back. I have work to do.”

“…yes.”

Minseok also didn’t protest any further, perhaps because he thought today wasn’t his day. He said goodbye or something and tried to leave the office.

He muttered to himself as he grabbed the doorknob and tried to leave.

“… And to keep a competitor by your side. What are you thinking? Tsk.”

After Minseok left the office, Sihyeon, who was left alone, sat down on the chair. She muttered to the air.

“You look ugly.”

Then, the metal suit standing in the corner of the office moved. The suit, with its bizarre design that mixed the features of a reinforced suit and a walker, was 2.5 meters long and its color was black, like the space outside the spaceship.

Moreover, the metal suit was a full-body suit, like the armor worn by the Silver Lion Knights of Edgerton. It spoke in a robotic voice, resembling an android from the Star Union rather than a human being.

“No. It was a more informative experience than I expected. I learned a lot of information I didn’t know.”

“Bad taste. Layla Chamberlain.”

The identity of the person wearing the black metal suit was Laila Chamberlain, the former general manager of the TNC Special Trade Center.

“It looks like the inside of the suit is quite comfortable, since you have the time to acquire information.”

“Yes. I can’t tell you how great it is not to have to sleep, eat, or do anything.”

A dry voice contrasting with her calm tone. Currently, her vocal cords are completely damaged, making it impossible for her to speak without the help of a machine.

Infected with a deadly virus that cannot be cured even by genetic engineering, she would not be able to survive for more than a few seconds without that life-saving suit.

And the vision that gave her the suit was essentially holding Layla’s lifeline.

“I made a slip of the tongue.”

However, Sihyeon lowered his head instead. Layla continued speaking as if she found that interesting.

“You’re more interesting than I thought.”

“What does that mean?”

“As far as I know, anyone who has undergone shadow therapy becomes a psychotic. A bloodthirsty murderer, a war maniac, an extreme obsessive compulsive disorder patient, etc. Of course, you are no exception.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“What do I say about you? You’re not even more Noble Capital-like than Akira Eugene. The way you treated the butler earlier was like that, and the way you treat me is like that.”

“I just did it because it was necessary. If you want something, you get it by any means necessary. Isn’t that the principle of Noble Capital’s behavior?”

“Hmm, I wonder what it will be like.”

Layla didn’t seem to believe it, but the vision was real. A goal that she couldn’t tell anyone was growing quickly in her heart.

Her own goal, not Sihyeon Eugene’s or Minseok’s.

But there is no need to talk about that here. Sihyeon changed the subject.

“There must be a reason why you came to see me.”

“Oh. I forgot.”

Layla opened the backpack attached to her suit and pulled out a white mechanical device. It was a half-broken, non-functional drone.

“I found it while I was scouting outside. I took it out when it was about to break down, mixed in with the rock cloud.”

“This is a Star Union drone. Why is it here?”

Sihyeon felt strangely uneasy when he saw the number 98 engraved in small letters on the surface of the drone.

I had a strong feeling that there was some very important information inside that drone.

“What about other drones besides this one?”

“It seems like everything was destroyed when we met the rock cloud.”

“I need to check if the data information has been corrupted.”

“Is that okay?”

“Because there might be important information.”

She unplugged the cable from her desk in her office and connected it to the drone.

Soon after, broken holograms began to appear on the desk.

“!”

“What, what is this?”

And the two who confirmed the contents could not help but be shocked.