Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 282
Only Noblemtl
Episode 282 – Clean Up (1)
After the metallic gremlin retreated, the shield protecting the fortress was lifted. My Heavenly Mother and I returned to the fortress through the military port.
“Where should I go?”
Since entering the fortress, the Heavenly Mother has reverted from her winged griffon form to a water creature.
On its back, which was woven with dense muscles, wings sprouted. It had become much smaller than when it was in griffon form, and when folded, it only reached to the area around its thighs. Of course, the flowing movement of the agate color remained the same.
She asked me, with the golden spear of the priest resting on her shoulder.
‘Originally I was supposed to go to the 2nd Command, but…’
It’s unlikely that Cynthia will be idly wandering around on top of the damaged silo. She’s likely already moved on to board another command’s transport ship.
‘He must have gone to the 1st Command.’
She’s a cult ranker, so she knows the structure of Kesha Arma as well as I do. She must know what the oxygen shortage she’s been experiencing means. She must have judged that the Third Command, which oversees the fortress’ life support facilities, has already fallen to me.
So, they probably moved to the 1st Command, which was deemed relatively safe.
‘I might be fighting with the kids by now.’
During the battle, I asked No. 26 to take Adhai and attack the 1st Command. If Cynthia had gone to the 1st Command, she would have already encountered them.
‘If we are together, we may not win, but we will not lose.’
Both No. 26 and Adhai are notorious sea demons and Red Gallagons, powerful psychic creatures. From the cult’s perspective, this is the worst matchup.
It would be dangerous if Cynthia had powerful offensive abilities like Jason, but she doesn’t have those kinds of offensive capabilities.
[Zuzuzuzuzuzuzuz (Let’s go to the 1st headquarters)]
I sent a wave to the Heavenly Mother and pulled out the membrane hidden inside the shell of my wing arm. Since the ‘Bone Beast’ was not released, my body size was still huge. As the membrane spread wide like the sail of a sailing ship, the objects around me were pushed away.
“It’s really big.”
She, who was slightly impressed, also spread her wings. Although smaller than when she was a griffon, she still spread her beautiful wings and flew up before me.
I followed her and flapped my wings. As my two huge wings, each measuring 100 meters in length, flapped, everything beneath me was swept away.
With each flap of the wings, the ruined buildings were destroyed, and the bodies lying on the ground were swept up and lifted into the air. Among the numerous wreckage was a hover bus. The wreckage of the bus, half of which had been left behind, was blown away by the wind and crashed into a building.
As we began to fly over the ruined areas, a cylindrical, elongated building came into view. We landed in front of the First Command Center, surrounded by a shield wall.
“I see they’re already fighting?”
As she said, there was a very large hole in the shield wall, as if it had been drilled with a drill. From inside, the screams and gunshots of the pirates could be faintly heard.
‘First, we need to widen the entrance… .’
The moment I grabbed the hole in the shield with my wing arm to expand it, the sound coming from inside suddenly stopped. And then familiar waves and thought-waves flowed out, tickling the tentacles of my monster.
“I feel like a big baby!”
“Big man” “Right” “Let’s go out”
“Okay! Let’s go!”
After a while, the guys showed up. No. 26 had grown large, as if he had been fighting, and Adhai had his head and forelegs dyed red.
“The big baby is big!”
“Big man” “Transformation?”
[Yeah]
They had seen me use the Bone Beast a few times, so they weren’t surprised to see me of such enormous size.
However, since this was the first time they had seen the Heavenly Mother with wings, they both reacted in surprise.
“Does the middle baby also flap its wings? Does it happen when it grows up?”
“Yeah. Just like you said, I grew up and got wings.”
“Amazing! I want one too!”
“Ugly Friend” “A Little” “I’m Better”
“Then shouldn’t we leave out the word ‘ugly’?”
“Tail” “Thin” “Ugly”
“…You said you would protect me, and now you just leave and say something like that?”
“Anyway” “Growth” “Almost” “It’s Over” “I Know” “So” “It’s Gone”
“You don’t lose a single word.”
The two seemed quite impressed with the new Heavenly Mother. Number 26 gently touched her wings with the tip of his tentacles, looking amazed. Adhai, contrary to what he said, seemed to think her wings were okay, as he walked around her and nodded.
‘I thought you were fighting?’
Looking behind them, there were many corpses that were difficult to recognize. Cynthia couldn’t have died already, so she probably hadn’t arrived here yet.
Even when focusing on the auxiliary organs, no movement of a living being was felt.
‘Where did you go? Did you go somewhere else?’
[Zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu zuzu (Have you seen any strong enemies on your way here?)]
“Strong enemy?”
[Zu zu zu zu zu zu (Yeah. The enemy I fought with)]
No. 26 also fought with me and left midway, so she will remember Cynthia. If she hid somewhere other than here, it will be difficult to find her.
But the guy’s answer was far beyond my imagination.
“I beat up a bad guy with my little girl!”
[Huh?]
“A little kid beat up a bad guy who was flapping his wings while wearing a hard shell!”
“Agreement” “Power of the Stars” “Use” “Horned Man” “Raid” “But” “Horned Man” “Strange Power” “Use” “I’m Not Dead”
“That’s why I broke it! Break it!”
Number 26 changed the form of one of its thick tentacles. A sharp sound rang out as the tentacle, which had become thin like a needle tied to a thread, stabbed the air.
[Zzuzuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzuzu (You two killed Cynthia together?)]
I asked again, getting unbelievable answers from both of them.
“Yeah. I scolded him and ate it.”
“Taste” “Stable”
“That’s right! It was delicious!”
“Wait a minute. You two killed and ate the rankers? ”
[Z(wa)]
Judging from their reactions, it seemed like they really had done something to Cynthia. They didn’t just subdue her or buy time. It was clear that they had killed her and eaten every last bit of her body.
‘Come to think of it, metallic gremlin.’
The guys who were rushing at me like crazy showed strange movements before running away. I thought it was because they were afraid of the psychic breath.
But now that I look at it, it seems like that wasn’t the cause, but rather something else. When Cynthia died, something went wrong with the tool she used to summon the Metalleg Gremlin.
‘That’s right.’
Even though the combination of Sea Demon and Red Gallagon is said to be the best of both worlds, their opponents are rankers. They have hunted boss-level creatures many times in the game, so they naturally know the strategy very well.
I knew those guys would keep Cynthia, but I never thought they’d just beat her to death and eat her body.
‘Ha. The two of you are catching the rankers.’
As I thought about it, a strange feeling welled up in my chest.
Because the guys lost their privileges by eating the rankers? Because they lost the information source they needed?
Not all. This emotion that touches my heart has nothing to do with negative things like anger or regret.
[Zuzu zuzuzu zuzu zuzuzu (Both of you did well. Really great)]
It was a joy.
“Wow! The big kid praised me!”
“Me” “Great” “Great Adhai!”
The guys who sensed my emotions from the waves created by the monster’s tentacles were delighted. No. 26 jumped up and down in place without thinking about his increased size, and Adhai also jumped up and down on my back.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with Cynthia’s special features and information, but the guys’ growth was worth it.
The guys planned the operation and caught Cynthia without my help or direction. That means a lot.
I don’t know how many more rankers I’ll have to fight in the future. Right now, there are two factions that are hostile to me: the faction that Jason belonged to and the ‘Returning Faction’ that Cynthia belongs to. I don’t know how many people belong to each faction yet, but it’s definitely not a small number.
‘If these guys have ranker-level skills, it will be much easier to fight enemies in the future.’
While I had such practical thoughts, I also had a feeling that was difficult to explain in words.
When I was very young, I once imitated an actor in front of my parents.
My mother, who was a famous actress at the time, was always a strict person, but that day was different.
My mother, who usually has little emotional ups and downs, smiled silently at me. It was a genuine smile, not the smile of an actor she would give when meeting reporters or standing on set.
‘… I was really happy back then.’
Why am I remembering my mother’s smile now, even though I’ve never seen it again since then?
Maybe this feeling I have is the same feeling my mother felt when she saw me as a child.
“So there are no more threats?”
What woke me up from my immersion in an emotion that I couldn’t tell if it was a thought or an emotion was a thought sent by Mother in Heaven.
[Zuzu zuzuzu zuzuzuzu (Yeah. Because the ranker died)]
“Looking at the state of the fortress, I think they’ve already taken care of the genetic essences. All we have to do is catch the remaining pirates.”
[Zzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzzz (PS-111 has taken over the life support system. They won’t last long)]
“… Did you do the same thing you did in the game here?”
[Zuzu zuzuzuzuzu (That’s efficient)]
The pirates and survivors remaining in the fortress are practically on a time limit. Those wearing enhanced suits will have oxygen capsules so they can hold out a little longer, but even then, it will only extend their time by a few dozen minutes.
Once we sort them out, there’s no need to stay here any longer.
‘The conditions for adult evolution have already been achieved.’
Thanks to the underground storage, I have collected all the material properties required for the synthesis of two unique properties. Once these are completed, I can evolve into an adult right away.
‘Oh, now that I think about it, it had a predatory trait earlier.’
As I was thinking about the characteristics, a forgotten memory came to mind.
The predator effect appeared on the Warp Boy who ate the Titan Boss instead of trying to catch it.
I haven’t checked yet because I’ve been distracted by Cynthia. There’s only a few minutes left until it’s automatically canceled.
I just popped up a text box.
“Predation effect activated! ‘Warp Creature’ genetic essence acquired successfully.”
“Steal the ‘Warp Creature’ from the ‘Warp Boy’s’ creature characteristics.”
“Do you want to apply ‘Warp Creature’?”
‘oh?’
It’s been two unexpected events in a short period of time.
The ‘Warp Creature’ trait is so useful that it would not be an exaggeration to say it is a near-essential trait for Aimorph. Having this trait will dramatically increase the speed at which you prepare for superluminal travel.
‘It’s a pretty good ability to run away.’
Now that I have acquired the ‘Monster’s Reinforced Wings’, I can use superluminal travel alone. However, the reason I don’t use it during battle is because the speed at which superluminal travel is prepared is very slow. Since I have to stay still for almost 5 minutes, I become vulnerable to enemy attacks.
Gaining the Warp Creature trait here will cut the time it takes to enter superluminal travel in half.
‘I got such good qualities from here.’
The odds of getting a warp creature from Warp Boy are very low, so I didn’t expect much, but luckily I did.
I gladly chose to accept.
and….
“The special abilities of ‘Jason (Jason Turningham)’ stored in the token storage facility and the ‘Warp Creature’ can be fused.”
“You are eligible to use the trait enhancement system. Would you like to use the system?”
The text box once again displayed a message that was not what I expected.