Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 193



Only Noblemtl

Ep. 192

“I feel like something has changed.”

This is what number 26 said to me when I woke up this morning.

As always, No. 26 immediately noticed my change. It must be because he saw me as someone he had to protect.

Strictly speaking, it’s more of a relationship where they protect each other, but I don’t feel particularly bad about it. It’s rare to meet someone who gives unconditional love like No. 26, either in reality or in a game.

I gave a brief explanation as I picked up some plants growing at the base of the tree.

[Zuz …

“It’s amazing how fast the baby grows!”

[Zuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuzuz (Thank you. Eat this)]

“huh!”

The creature took out its tentacles and swept up the mushroom-like plants in one go.

“Grow up quickly and bring the little one too.”

[Z (Yeah)]

As I petted the strangely playing creature, its pink body glowed brightly.

At that time, PS-111 woke up from hibernation to receive nutrition. I created a Tooth Fairy and gave it to Heavenly Mother and PS-111.

“Uh, um, I’m good.”

“thank you.”

Heavenly Mother shuddered and shook her head at the sight of the Tooth Fairy. Instead, PS-111, who was standing next to her, took everything that was hers.

“Are you in a new transformation state?”

Could it be because of the psychic power of No. 26? PS-111 also showed curiosity about the appearance of my tentacles.

[Zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu (No. This is a permanent change)]

“The waves of energy that are not registered in the database are distorting the light.”

The boy swallowed the tooth fairies in one gulp, his eyes shining with interest.

“If you could give me a sample… .”

[No way]

I don’t know what kind of ability ‘Color of the Abyss’ is. I can’t give that to him. Not only might it cause some side effects to him, but it’s also not good for us.

‘If something goes wrong and becomes uncontrollable, it’s a headache.’

When I flatly refused, the guy sullenly chewed on the tooth fairy.

After a quick breakfast, I explained to the kids what the plan was for today. I told them that we would have to act alone since we had to test the new enemy tokens we had acquired.

“I want to go with the older child too.”

[Zuz …

We don’t yet know how this trait works. Uncontrollable traits are hard to know if they’re a minefield or not until you try them out.

I don’t want to go with him for no reason and put him in danger.

[Zuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzu (Help the middle child instead)]

“Why the middle child?”

[Zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu (I will find a nest and food while I am away)]

Yesterday I had a brief chat with Heavenly Mother about what to do in the morning.

She said that while I was doing my experiments, she would look for a place to make a nest. She said that since she had the best eyesight, she would be the best at finding a place.

‘That’s right.’

She has quite a bit of experience fighting me in the game, so she knows where Aimov nests. She could probably find a place for us to hide.

Also, even if there is a Gallagon wandering around, it will not be difficult to avoid it if you have No. 26 and PS-111. The two can sense Gallagon’s psychic power.

[Zuzuzu (Be careful)]

“Don’t worry. I’ll be as careful as possible.”

[Zuzuzuzuzu (Please)]

“You, be careful too.”

She hesitated, then added a word and turned away. Perhaps because she still had memories of yesterday, her attitude toward me seemed awkward.

If I told her not to worry about it, she would be even more uncomfortable. I nodded in response.

So we parted ways to go about our respective tasks.

I ran between trees that spread out higher and higher as they went up. The branches stretched out countless times and were entangled with other trees, so that there was hardly any light inside.

All I can hear is the sound of the air passing through the branches, like the growling of an animal.

It was already dark, and the snowstorm outside was raging nonstop, so the atmosphere was quite gloomy.

I ran for a long time in the dark forest.

It’s not just to distance myself from the kids. Right now, I’m looking for traces of some ‘creature’.

‘There must be someone here too.’

In the game, Gallagon’s Nest is classified as a difficult hunting ground to conquer. It is difficult to enter because it is only found on planets with extremely low temperatures like the one I am on, or on volcanic planets with boiling lava.

Even if you come in well prepared, problems still remain.

‘The area around the dragon’s nest is a magical realm.’

Near Gallagon’s nest, there are many creatures as powerful as Gallagon or even stronger than Gallagon. These creatures either become food for Gallagon or serve the function of controlling the Gallagon’s population.

Simply put, the planet where Gallagon’s nest is located can be considered to be teeming with Apex-level creatures.

‘There are other creatures here, too, judging by the presence of Ice Horrors and Winter Walkers.’

I already know what kind of monsters live on the ice planet where the dragon’s nest is located. I’ve already cleared it out in the game several times before.

While the four legs were busy moving, the auxiliary organs under the jaw were also busy looking for traces. Then, movement was felt from afar.

I crouched low and slowed down.

Since I haven’t released the ‘Smart Weakling’ status, my body, including my tail, is so small that it doesn’t exceed 5m. If there’s a large rock or thick tree, I can hide my body.

I approached cautiously in the direction where I felt movement, using terrain as cover.

After a while, the figure appeared between the trees.

Standing at 4m tall with a skinny build, abnormally long arms and legs, and a black face unlike his white body. He was Winterwalker, a hunter in the snowy fields.

However, the nickname of the hunter was meaningless, and the bastard’s actions seemed very sloppy. His white eyes were hazy as if covered in fog, and he seemed completely oblivious to my presence.

Winterwalkers are creatures that are at the bottom of the planet’s food chain. As such, they are known for not neglecting their surroundings.

There’s a reason why that guy acts so strangely.

‘smell.’

On a rainy day, the air was filled with a delicious smell, as if someone was frying pancakes next door. He was walking toward the source of that delicious smell.

‘That’s good.’

I followed the guy while keeping my distance. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, and he walked with a languid manner, as if he were under a spell.

‘In some ways, it might be hypnosis.’

As I followed him, the surrounding scenery began to change little by little.

The biggest change was the color of the densely packed trees. The trees, which were previously a brownish-black color, were now covered in red moss, as if their veins were bulging.

Even the snow on the ground was red, as if syrup had been sprinkled on it. Not only that, but it even smelled sweet, as if it were real syrup.

‘I found it.’

That red moss, with its dizzyingly delicious smell, was the trace I was looking for.

Winterwalker, who had also smelled the same way as me, licked the moss on the tree greedily. Every time his tongue touched the moss, his body trembled like an addict who orgasms from inhaling drugs.

That red moss is a toxic substance created by an Apex-class monster with extremely powerful powers. However, it is not the type of poison that causes pain or hallucinations to those poisoned.

‘It’s closer to drugs than that.’

Just as a Venus flytrap attracts insects with its sweet smell, the red moss attracts nearby creatures with its fragrant scent of food.

Even for me, who has the ‘perfect immunity’ trait that provides immunity to poisons and viruses, the smell is too alluring to bear. Winterwalker, who has almost no immunity to poisons, would absolutely not be able to endure it.

‘That alone won’t be enough.’

As expected, the one who had his head stuck in the tree had an even more thirsty look on his face.

It can’t be helped, because that red moss has an incredibly powerful narcotic effect. If you ingest even a little of that substance, you will instantly become a slave to this forest.

As if his lethargy up until now was a lie, he quickly entered the red moss-covered forest.

I followed him, keeping my distance just enough to barely keep up with him.

You can’t go too deep. If you make a mistake and can’t get out, it’s over.

As I followed along slowly, my whole body on edge, I began to see other creatures around me, one by one.

From weak creatures like Winterwalker and Cavegoyle to strong creatures like Green Gallagon.

Although the species was different, the appearance was the same. Except for the head, the body was stuck in the ground in the shape of a red moth cocoon.

The stem connected to the ground continued to pulse, injecting something into the creatures. Every time the stem twitched, the creatures caught in it drooled with happy expressions.

This is a food storage. Those caught in the red stems are all carefully selected prey by the owner of the red forest.

‘Glacier Find.’

It is a monster with an upper body resembling a stag beetle and a lower body shaped like a plant with numerous stems. Before settling down, it uses the wings on its back to move around in search of places with abundant food.

Then, when it finds a suitable place, it puts down roots in the ground and produces a red substance that attracts prey. Even under the frozen ground where I am standing now, there must be a lot of its roots.

That is, this entire vast red forest is the bastard’s territory.

A Glacier Fiend that has successfully planted itself in the ground is a very powerful enemy. It can control other creatures with its red substance.

‘To be precise, it’s about inducing behavior with narcotic substances.’

Even the creatures trapped in that cocoon know who is giving them the drugs. So when the Glacier Find designates a target, they obey with the will to die.

If Glacier Finds were to try to kill me here, all the monsters in that cocoon would jump on me.

‘I think this will suffice.’

I stopped chasing Winterwalker and moved to a place where the red stems were as little as possible. The owner of the food cache is very slow, but his slaves are not.

What I’m going to do from now on is something the owner of the food storage will really hate. I have to secure an escape route so that I can easily escape if the need arises.

‘I’m thinking of experimenting with psychic breath.’

The shooting target is the prey hanging from the stem and experiencing orgasm.

I took a seat in a place where I could easily escape and activated the abyssal color. Then the hairs covering my body stood up stiffly as if they were electrified.

‘Why is it like this?’

I raised my fighting arm in confusion and saw that the fur inside the shell was colored strangely.

It was purple, or green. All sorts of colors were writhing as if alive. Not just the arms, but the whole body was seething with strange lights.

‘It doesn’t feel like a part of my body. I can’t even sense energy.’

Unlike the human face, the colors flowing over the body were clearly heterogeneous. It felt like it was wearing the skin of some other being.

I have a strong feeling that it won’t be good to keep it for too long.

I focused my senses on the monster’s tentacles covering my neck and jaw joint area.

Then, the colors that had been fluttering around quickly began to focus on the tentacles. The tentacles, which had been dyed purple and green, became much more vivid.

The tentacles that had been hanging limply rise into the air, ignoring the laws of physics. The colors covering the tentacles spread into the air like a drop of paint dropped into water.

If the sphere created when using psychic breath was like a purple sun, then this sphere in front of me now was completely different. It was a sphere that barely contained an eerie light, a feast of colors.

I threw the ever-seething sphere of chaos onto the red crater. The way it shot out in the form of a sphere was completely different from the psychic breath that had previously been in the form of a purple heat ray.

And the moment the sphere reached its target, I couldn’t help but be amazed.

The countless lights inside the sphere began pouring out and swallowing up the red cocoons. The cocoons that were directly hit by the light and color lost their original form and changed into the same shape as the sphere I had shot.

The newly born sphere of chaos lunged towards another prey nearby, and the same process repeated itself.

An uncontrollable chain attack. That was the effect of the psychic breath imbued with the colors of the abyss.

“Goooooooooooooooooooooooooo”

As the psychic breath spread and engulfed all the red goblins, a roar was heard from inside. The owner of the warehouse was furious.

As soon as the roar ended, the movement of various creatures was felt.

‘How many more warehouses are there around here?’

I moved away from the slaves of Glacier Find.

Unfortunately for him, the experiment isn’t over yet.