Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 182



Only Noblemtl

Ep. 181

I have never seen myself transformed into a mimetic organ.

The mimetic organ is an organ that emits pheromones from numerous slits in the outer skin to confuse the senses of other living things. It has no effect on me, the producer of the pheromone.

That’s why I don’t know how others see me with my mimetic organs activated.

Judging from other people’s reactions, the mimetic organs seem to be a bit unpleasant. It’s like something non-human imitating a human.

It might not be noticeable at first, but if you keep using the mimetic device several times, even enemies who aren’t fools will start to notice something strange. If the opponent starts to doubt, the effectiveness of the mimetic device will drop significantly.

It’s like Red Mist, who was once a target of fear for imitating players, is now a thing of the past.

‘But it’s too precious to throw away like that.’

I put a lot of effort into overcoming the weaknesses of the mimetic organ and the awkwardness inherent in it. I practiced vocalization and gathered information about the subject to be changed.

As a result of many trials and errors and training, I was able to act quite convincingly even when I was seeing someone for the first time.

Like now, for example.

“What’s wrong with you all? I need your help.”

A group of temple guardians stand in front of me, their faces wide open. They look nervous, and they carefully hold their weapons in their hands.

Those wielding Gallagon’s Claws took a step forward, while those wielding Demolishers aimed at my head from behind.

“Why are you doing that?”

“… … .”

Every time my voice echoes through the hallway, the members’ eyes waver. When they hear the voice alone, they feel like they are colleagues, but the cult’s uniquely sensitive senses reject it.

The being before them is not ‘Cult Celone’.

“How do I do it?”

As one of the cultists who was aiming at my head asked, a female cultist who was glaring at me from the side opened her mouth.

“… I will subdue them first and then check.”

I saw that the only one in the group had a yak horn on her head, so I guess that cultist is the leader of this group. She was confused when she first saw me, just like her subordinates, but she seemed to have regained her composure now.

The cultists, under the leader’s command, approached me little by little. Three cultists holding demolishers were aiming at my head or the area above it.

‘Hmm. Interesting.’

The reason it’s aiming at my head is simple. It doesn’t see me as Celone. It probably thinks I’m hallucinating.

Creatures that exhibit high levels of hallucination, such as Red Mist and Sea Demon, can even fool their senses. They can die from hallucinations without taking any physical damage.

However, the hallucinations shown by the mimetic organs are not at that level.

They knew that my supposedly hallucinatory abilities did not reach the realm of sensory control, so they responded in this way. Even while they were afraid of me, they must have discussed telepathically how to deal with me.

‘Not a bad response, but….’

Unfortunately, this is not the best response.

The effect of the mimicry device is to use pheromones to embody the appearance of another intelligent being. It does not physically transform my body.

So what about the parts of my body, like the erosion tentacles?

The answer is simple.

‘I can’t see it.’

The erosive tentacles extending from my back were already above the heads of the cultists holding the demolishers. They were completely unaware of what was above their heads.

“… … .”

The cultists wielding Gallagon’s Claws approach me, their gaze fixed on me. They extend their hands, which have activated their Champion Shields. They are about to cast the psychic power technique ‘Binding’ on me, which blocks the enemy’s movements.

That’s when all the cults in this place focus on me.

Erosion tentacles swarmed the cultists behind them.

“omg?!”

“Ugh… Ugh!”

The six appendages on each tentacle spread open and grabbed the upper bodies of the cultists, while the mouths inside the appendages swallowed their heads.

The mouths of the erosion tentacles are densely packed with sharp teeth. Even if they are wearing strong, reinforced clothing called Yongrinbok (龍鱗服), they cannot overcome the prison of razor blades that are squeezing them from all sides.

They couldn’t even scream, their upper bodies were crushed to death.

“This is… damn it! He’s hiding, so prepare yourself!”

As soon as I attacked the members holding the Demolisher, the enemy leader shouted loudly. The cultists approaching me flinched in surprise and quickly raised their shields.

Unfortunately, my plan to sweep away the enemies with a single blow of my tail failed. The enemies were hit by my tail as I swept the ground, but they blocked it with their shields, so the damage was not great.

‘It’s pretty good.’

I guess that leader is the most skilled of the Guardians of the Temple who came here. He must be at least one of the top 5 Guardians of the Temple.

‘It actually turned out well.’

It would have been dangerous if I had joined the cult players. I charged forward while maintaining my mimicry.

The target was two cult warriors moving to retrieve the demolisher. As soon as they saw me running towards them, they quickly retreated.

My heavy body trampled over a demolisher that resembled a harpoon gun. The cultists who narrowly managed to retrieve two demolishers rolled over to avoid my attacks.

It was a bold move that would be praised if it were an ally rather than an enemy. Even though he couldn’t properly recognize my overall appearance, he guessed my size and dodged.

The two cultists who had half-raised their bodies immediately aimed their demolishers at me. I could tell how much experience they had from the way their movements flowed like water.

The only problem they have is that they are the other party.

The Tooth Fairy nest near my waist burst open, and black man-eating fleas burst out all at once. Their mouths were aimed at the faces of the cultists who were aiming at the Demolisher. The Tooth Fairies clacked their teeth that resembled human teeth as they rushed at the cultists.

“Keep, keep going!”

“Get out of here… ugh!”

While the cultists were standing still, their vision blocked by palm-sized man-eating fleas, I swung my tail at them. It was to take out the cultists and tooth fairies with the demolisher in one blow.

But this time my intentions were blocked, as the enemy leader, the yak horn cult, ran up and slapped my tail with the champion shield he was holding.

‘hmm?’

Normally she would have bounced off, but surprisingly she managed to deflect my tail. The claws on the end of the tail struck the far side instead of the target.

The walls of the ice passage shook violently from my attack. The cult leader was completely unfazed, and struck my tail with the axe he was holding in his other hand.

‘this.’

“Are you okay?”

“it’s okay!”

“Everyone, get into formation!”

I immediately withdrew my tail as the pain surged from it. I looked at the part where her axe had struck and saw that the hard shell had been damaged.

‘Tsk.’

That black axe in the cult leader’s hand is a weapon I know. It’s one of the rewards the cult can receive when they clear stage 10 of the quest.

‘Was it the Dragon Slayer quest?’

The name of that axe is ‘Conviction’. According to the setting, it is an axe forged from the horn of a Black Gallagon, and is one of the parts of the Dragon Slayer set. The player who came here probably gave it to that woman.

‘It’s annoying.’

The effect of the condemnation is simple: it increases the wearer’s physical abilities to Gallagon-level.

The problem is that the buff is by no means ridiculous. You can see it just by looking at the way he slapped my tail with Champion Shield a little while ago.

‘…There’s one more reason why we shouldn’t waste time.’

You never know when a cult player might change their mind and come running here. Judging by the fact that she’s holding a Condemnation, there’s a good chance that she’s wearing a Dragon Slayer set.

What this means is that it is difficult to fight while caring about such annoying people.

I quickly ran towards the cultists who had already lined up.

One of the warriors fired a Demolisher at me. The Demolisher’s signature blue energy bullet flew towards my head.

I quickly turned my head, but it just grazed the back of my head and passed by. As expected from a weapon that decomposes matter, the part it touched evaporated.

I ignored the attack and rushed forward to crush the cultist with the demolisher. The cult panicked and dodged to the side when it didn’t stop even after I hit it.

‘Where.’

I blasted an erosion tentacle and hit him.

“Ugh!”

The circumference of my tentacles is as thick as a log. No matter how sturdy their armor is, they cannot absorb all the impact. The cultist who was hit by the tentacles vomited blood and rolled around on the ground.

Another tentacle flew out to finish him off, but another cultist intervened. The cultist leaped high and cut my tentacle with a white blade made from Gallagon’s claws. There was an eerie sound as the hook scraped against the glass window, and small sparks flew from the tentacle.

My body is covered in synthetic scales on every part except my shell, so I have high defense. The small scales on the surface of the erosion tentacles absorbed the impact, so I only got a small scratch.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, though. I slashed at the tentacle and grabbed the cultist inspector who landed on me with my combat arm.

“Hey, let go of this!”

Before he could put strength into his sword-wielding arm, I clenched my hand. Then, there was a sound similar to that of a water balloon being thrown from a high-rise apartment building. Warm juice flowed out from between my four long fingers.

I shook my hands absentmindedly and lowered my head toward the cultist who had fallen to the floor earlier.

“Oh, oh, oh!”

He tried to crawl away somehow, but it was too late. His lower body was completely crushed by the demolition and my head.

“Fuck!”

The other cultists cursed at the sight of their fellows dying, but they did not rush in. Instead, they played the card of a cult-only strategy: psychic power attacks instead of melee combat.

Two cultists with goat horns simultaneously aimed at me with their arms outstretched. My body became as heavy as water-soaked cotton.

‘Is it gravity control?’

It is a psychic power technique that manipulates gravity, and is a fairly versatile control technique. It can be seen as being similar to the ‘binding’ technique that No. 26 likes to use.

The ground I was standing on cracked and my upper body was thrown downwards without me knowing. While the goat-horned cultists blocked my movements, one of the goat-horned cult warriors and the leader launched a psychic power attack at me.

The warrior’s blast was a psychic whip, and the attack the leader fired was a pain spear that resembled a purple spear.

Pain Spear is a psychic power technique with high penetrative power, while Psychic Whip has a wide range of power depending on the user’s skill.

Both are techniques I had previously used when fighting against the shadow of the Eugene family, Code Black, in the space city. Those techniques that pushed my life to the brink are now flying towards me again.

‘but….’

A purple whip lashes out at my fighting arm, and a long spear pierces my skull. The synthetic scales covering my arms peel away, and a hole is ripped through my head.

‘I am very different now than I was back then.’

‘Super Reflective Gloves’, a trait previously obtained by eating a Swamp King.

The effect is to reflect 30% of the damage taken when attacked by a supernatural attack.

The whips and spears that had struck and stabbed me began to fly towards the cultists as if time had been turned back.

“What?!”

“this!”

The leader quickly raised his champion shield, and the ram-horned warrior rolled to the side. That choice would determine the fate of both.

“Huh!”

As expected of a Pain Spear with high penetrative power, it pierced the Champion Shield, but only slightly wounded the Leader’s left arm.

But it wasn’t the warrior with the goat horns. The reflected psychic whip mercilessly struck his crouching upper body.

“Eww!”

He screamed in agony as his left shoulder blade was torn open from his chest. The goat-horned cultists’ eyes shook at the sight of his miserable appearance.

Taking advantage of the gap, I cast ‘Gaze of Terror’ on one of the cultists who was casting Gravity Control.

The eye-shaped symbols on my skull glowed ominously.

A downgraded version of Deep Sea Terror, the Terror of the Eye is a trait that shows a terrifying illusion to one opponent. It is very effective when used in situations like now where the enemies are confused.

The color drained from the faces of the cultists who had been caught in the gaze of fear.

“Ugh, ugh! Aah! Seriously, senior! I was wrong! I was wrong!”

“Hey, hey! Hey! Come on!”

He sat down on the spot, his head in his hands. The weight pressing down on my body became lighter.

I raised my head and looked at the goat horn cultist with the tip of its snout still remaining. The goat horn cultist gritted its teeth at me, but there was nothing he could do.

I opened my lower jaw wide. A green mass shot out quickly from the back of my throat.

The mass, filled with horrible acidic fungi, was headed towards the palm of the goat horn cult. It was within the area where gravity was manipulated, so it couldn’t fly far, but it didn’t matter. As long as it touched any part of his body, that was it.

And the fungus touched the enemy’s right hand.

“This is moose… kk, kkaaaaaaah!”

As the fungus began to erode, his hand quickly melted away. The ivory dragon robe tried to repair it somehow, but the missing hand could not be restored.

A person who can retain consciousness despite losing his right hand in an instant would be considered normal among living beings.

Finally free from gravity control, I looked at the last remaining leader.

“Coolook, creak, creak…”

“Heeeeek! Senior! Please don’t hit me! It was my fault! Heeeeek!”

“Ugh, ugh, ugh…”

“… … .”

Her eyes quickly scanned her panicked colleagues. She felt the strength in her right hand, which held the scepter.

The cult leader seemed intent on burying his bones here.

‘You’re not running away?’

Her heartbeat was still pounding, but it had calmed down a bit compared to before. There was no fear in her eyes as she glared at me.

Rather, I felt a sense of relief.

‘Wait, maybe?’

When I saw that, I realized why she was acting like that.

‘The player sent telepathy!’

It must have been that he had asked for time because he was going to go. Perhaps the change in the cult’s tactics earlier was a signal that the player was coming.

I’ve checked the area around here with my assistant. No particularly strong energy currents have been detected yet.

‘…I have to move.’

This is not a good place to fight him. I turned around and retreated.

As I expected, the cult leader didn’t chase after me. Instead, she tended to the wounded.

‘That leader is finished anyway.’

I still have one more hidden trap. It’s a trait that I got a long time ago but never had a chance to use.

If it ‘explodes’, that woman dies.

I ignored the leader and ran down the dark corridor.

–

‘…shit!’

When she could no longer sense the bastard’s presence, Eliyah sank to the ground. She had fought powerful monsters so far and her life had been in danger more than once.

It is only natural that the Temple Guardians would come out when a monster that is difficult to subdue by normal means appears.

But today was the first time I was as scared as I was.

Her lover, Jason’s words were true. The bastard was a terrifying monster worthy of being called a demon.

As she saw it, the true power of the ‘Three-Headed Demon’ was his brilliant strategy. He fought while being several steps ahead of her, a veteran member.

It is the same now. He could have killed her, but instead he chose to retreat. He must have read in advance that her lover was coming to this place.

‘He is a threat to the empire.’

After collecting the wounded, she approached Billone, who was leaning against the wall.

Elya knelt before her. Vilone, paralyzed from the neck down, had bloodshot eyes and was shedding tears of blood.

‘Jason said he was being manipulated, but….’

Billone must return alive for the sake of Elia, and indeed the Empire. She is the one who has survived the longest with the ‘Three Headed Demon’. She cannot be left to die until the necessary information is extracted from her head.

Villone opened his mouth, perhaps sensing the love and hate in Eliya’s gaze.

“Hey, Alya, I’m, I’m sorry… .”

“We are saving them because they are helpful to the Empire. There is no need to apologize.”

Alya spoke coldly, but there was something strange about Villone’s reaction.

“Sorry, sorry… sorry, sorry, woof, woof!”

“huh?”

Billone kept vomiting and then lowered his head.

“Hey? What’s going on…?”

The moment she got close to Billone, her head snapped up.

The sight of Billone raising her head was no longer that of the woman Aliya knew.

Billone, with bright red vines growing from every orifice of her face, including her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and more. The moment she saw that sight, a telepathic message flew into Eliya’s head.

‘Fuck! It’s a tetanus vine! Allie! Get off me!’

‘yes?’

Before she could understand what her lover had said, the head of what had been Billone exploded. Small pieces of red vines flew towards Alya, shattering into small fragments.

“How did this happen…?”

Elya wiped away the vine fragments and unknown red liquid that had splattered on her torso. She looked down at the headless corpse with a bewildered face.

In the section where the neck was cleanly blown away, red vines were wriggling and moving like earthworms.

Before she could even feel disgust at the sight, Alya felt a tickle on her left shoulder.

“Why all of a sudden… Huh?”

I thought it was because the wounds I got from fighting the monster earlier were healing, but that wasn’t the case.

The tickling sensation was fleeting, and soon severe pain began to occur not only in my shoulder but also throughout my upper body.

“Ugh, ugh?! Gyaaaaah!”

It was as if countless bugs were crawling inside the blood vessels inside her skin. She raised her fingernails and scratched her upper body as if tearing at it.

“Kkaaaaaaah!”

Because of the protective effect of the dragon’s armor, scratching was useless, so she took off her armor and started scratching. Her pale, soft skin was soon covered in blood.

Maybe that’s why she didn’t notice the thin vine-like things writhing inside the bleeding wound.

‘Apapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapapap!’

Only then did she realize why Billone had become like that, and what her own fate would be.

“AAAAAAAHHHH!”

“Aliyah!”

While she was losing consciousness, she heard the voice of her lover. Despite the great pain, she ran towards the direction of her lover’s voice.

Is it because of an instinctive love, or is it because of the orders of the beings crawling inside the body?

Whatever it was, there was no way she could know.

“Fuck… .”

The unknown words were heard again. The moment he heard those words, Elijah no longer felt pain.

To be exact, I felt no sensation other than pain.

“Morp Baki Lee Yi Lee!

She couldn’t understand what her beloved boyfriend meant.

It can’t be helped.

Even if it’s a cult, if it doesn’t have a head, it dies.