Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 293
Only Noblemtl
Episode 293 – Goal (2)
“… It’s even more hideous now that it’s an adult.”
The Heavenly Mother shuddered when she saw the anthropomorphic creature with Jason’s face.
She had seen the human-faced bugs many times in games, but seeing a 10-foot-tall insect monster in real life seemed burdensome.
‘Then shall we begin?’
I used my ‘mimetic organ’ to ask Jason in a human voice.
“How many stages of the quest have you cleared?”
“I cleared up to stage 10 and am currently working on stage 11.”
The Cult has its own unique system called ‘Quest’. The quest consists of a total of 12 stages, and a reward is given for each stage cleared.
The armor and weapons that Jason brought when he fought me were the ‘Dragon Slayer Set’, a stage 10 clear reward. So I expected it to be around that level, and it was as expected.
‘It takes quite a while to clear from level 11 onwards.’
Anyway, if you’ve cleared up to stage 10, you’re pretty close to the ending. So, it’s highly likely that you had a similar experience to me.
“Have you ever seen visions of your human days while clearing quests?”
“Yes. I saw it every time I cleared each stage of the quest.”
“You mean things that happened in the past?”
“Yes.”
It was as expected. He had the same experience as I had seen in the past.
“When you see the vision, are there any strange parts? Like only bad memories being listed, or distorted parts?”
He paused at my question. Jason’s face twisted into an eerie grimace, as if he was recalling a bad memory.
The man with the face who had been answering obediently until now hesitated for a moment before answering.
“There was no distortion in the memories shown by the vision. Everything was exactly as I had experienced it.”
“Then it must have been an unfortunate memory.”
“Yes. When my father was drunk, he always called me a faggot. My mother and I couldn’t resist him at all. We just got beaten by him every day.”
Jason’s face was wrinkled and unlike his face, he continued speaking in an extremely dry tone. Heavenly Mother, who was listening from the side, frowned. Judging from what he said, it seemed that Jason had not lived a very smooth life either.
“In addition to that, I also saw memories of being alone because I couldn’t adapt to school, and having to return to my hometown after failing to get a job.”
The memories he spoke of were all memories from his time as a human.
‘Similar to me.’
“Is that the end of the fantasy? Is there anything else besides the memories of being abused?”
“No. I had a different vision when I cleared stage 10.”
“Another fantasy?”
Jason’s distorted face slowly began to straighten up.
“The vision began and I woke up in front of my room. I was standing there in the cult’s body.”
The situation where I stand in front of my room in reality with the body I obtained in this world. It’s exactly the same as when I saw the ‘me’ in reality.
“I opened the door and the real me was there.”
“What did you do with him?”
“I killed him.”
He calmly said that he killed his real self. His expression looked very comfortable, as did his voice.
“You killed him?”
“In reality, I have lived a failed life. But here, I am different. Perfect looks, great strength, power that everyone looks up to, and women who only look up to me. Those are much more valuable than someone like Jason Turningham!”
He was pouring out his passionate speech as if he was completely intoxicated. It was the first time I saw him this excited since he became a human-faced insect.
‘You seemed strong.’
This was something I didn’t expect. He didn’t lose his arrogance until he died. I thought he would be like that in real life, but I didn’t know he was such a self-loathing person.
‘Is this a backlash against the unpleasant reality?’
If it’s the Staghorn Cult, he’s the highest-ranking noble in the empire. Not only that, he’s a priest, a key position in the empire’s power. That’s why he was able to let Muriel into the holy land, which no one else could enter.
‘It’s a life that is completely at odds with the miserable reality.’
That’s why he chose to kill his human self.
In that sense, Jason and I have something in common: we both hate the real me.
I almost killed myself in my fantasy. Something stopped me at that moment, otherwise I would have eaten myself.
‘Even Mother in Heaven didn’t like the past very much.’
If she were to ascend to a higher level of deification later on, she might have a similar experience to us.
‘Is fantasy meant to force us to remain in this world?’
I wonder if they are intentionally emphasizing only the negative aspects of reality to prevent us from returning to reality.
‘So did Jason and the other factions have different hallucinations than we did?’
Cynthia, who I met at the Space Fortress, said that her goal was to see the ending and return to reality.
That means she and those in her power are very attached to reality.
‘Is it because their reality is not as unfortunate as ours?’
So, is the vision they saw different from ours?
While I was lost in thought, Mother in Heaven, who had been watching our conversation from the side, opened her mouth.
“I have a question.”
“… … .”
“Why did you choose this world because reality was painful, and then cause pain to others?”
“Answer her questions.”
The human-faced creature is like a part of my body, so it only obeys my orders. Only after I urged it did Jason break his silence.
“Because that’s what happens.”
“what?”
“If you have power, isn’t it natural to use it? If you use this power, you can get whatever you want whenever you want, so why should you care about the suffering of others?”
“Have you ever thought about using that power to protect those who love you?”
“Everyone loves me even if I don’t do that, so why would I do something like that? It’s a bit of a shame when the girls I raised die, but it’s not a big loss. I can raise them again.”
“What do you think of the lives of those who sacrifice themselves for you?”
“It’s a toy. I am the owner of the toy.”
The Heavenly Mother was speechless at Jason’s short words. She was speechless because she was so dumbfounded.
“Rather, I’m the one who doesn’t understand you. Why do you insist on coexistence?”
As she just stared silently, the human-faced creature turned to her and asked her a question.
“…They’re not just NPCs. They’re residents of another world. If you’re going to adapt to this world and live there, then you should naturally get along with them, right?”
“Adapting to this world and treating NPCs as individuals are two separate issues. Even if they are truly alive, I, the strong one, have no obligation to help them.”
“I can’t understand how you think of this place as reality and treat all other creatures as slaves.”
“And you, too, didn’t you keep the wolves as your pet toys? You were worshipped as gods by them.”
“I was trying to protect them!”
“The same goes for me. My power is beneficial to the Empire simply by existing. I only received a small reward for it.”
The argument between the two was running parallel.
Both Jason and Heavenly Mother are the same in that they chose to adapt to this world rather than reality.
But the process was completely different. Jason chose to abuse and dominate other beings, while the Heavenly Mother tried to live with the Wolfs.
“I heard that the reason the Coexistence Faction failed was because of people like you who were overly obsessed with NPCs. It’s because that stupid Muriel failed, if not for that, you would have been my surname too…”
“stop.”
“■!”
I had to force Jason to be quiet when he tried to cross the line.
“My Heavenly Mother is my precious friend. Do not insult her.”
The guy looked at me with bewildered eyes and lowered his head.
“are you okay?”
“… That bastard, ahem, that guy hasn’t changed at all even after becoming a human-faced insect.”
The Heavenly Mother glared at the gagged man-faced insect, then sighed.
“I’d like to give you a beating, but then you’d die, right?”
“You can hit me if you want. It can be regenerated anyway.”
“When you say it like that, it’s really harsh?”
Contrary to her words, she had no intention of punching the human-faced insect, and sat down on the spot. There was still annoyance in her amber eyes, but she seemed calmer than before.
After I was sure she had calmed down, I released the restraints again to allow Jason to speak.
“I heard there are people who aim for the ending. Do you know anything about them?”
“Yes. They call themselves the ‘Returners’.”
“And you mentioned the ‘Coexistence Faction’ earlier. Are they the ones who chose to remain in this world like you?”
“They are very different from us, but I think our goals are similar.”
The return faction has a clearly different goal, and the coexistence faction is similar to Jason’s faction, but has a big difference in direction.
The reason the three factions cannot coexist with each other is because of the vast differences in perception between reality and the world of space survival. There may also be differences in the fantasy that sharply contrasts the two factions.
Knowing what the difference is can help us understand why illusions exist and how they affect us.
‘And you’ll be able to tell if your illusions are dangerous or not.’
The idea that we have to see the ending to find out why we were dropped into this world remains unchanged.
But if it’s not something I decided on my own but something that forced me to do, I’ll never follow it.
‘I guess I’ll have to find another way instead.’
“Last question. Do you know where the members of the Return Party and the Coexistence Party are?”
After hearing my question, Jason took a moment to collect his thoughts and then answered.
“I know of three people, two from the Return Party and one from the Coexistence Party.”
“say it.”
“The 4th place Outspacer player, the 7th place Cult player Beomho, and the 22nd place Coldblood player. The first two are the Returners, and the Coldblood player is the Coexistence Player.”
“4th and 7th? Those two are the returnees?”
“yes.”
I know both of them well.
‘The only ones who are left are those who are truly difficult.’
The 4th ranked player is a skilled player who controls a huge amount of material very well, as expected from the best player in Outspacer. He also knows a lot of information about the game, to the point where it’s similar to my knowledge.
‘And 7th place.’
Jason called him by his name, as if he knew him. The name ‘Beom-ho’ doesn’t fit with a cult, so it must be his real name. The 7th place is the only Korean among the cult rankers, as far as I know.
‘He was the most annoying one among the cult.’
The highest ranked cult ranker is #2. It would be easy to think that those with lower rankings would lack skill, but that is not the case at all.
‘2nd place is simple and ignorant, so it’s actually easy.’
On the other hand, the 7th ranked Beomho was the one with the best sense and strategy among the cultists I know. If you just look at his battle sense and sense of planning, he is better than me. So if you fight in this world, you really have to risk your life.
‘The two returning members are having a hard time in their current state.’
Since neither of them are particularly smart, there’s a high chance that they’ve already noticed my presence.
In particular, the 4th rank also knows that Outspacer is included in the evolution conditions of Amorph. As long as I am in this world, I am sure that I will be fully prepared for the day when it comes to taking my life.
‘Then what’s left is….’
Coldblood player of the Coexistence faction.
“Where is number 22?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I missed the 22nd, and only caught his comrades. All I know is that the 22nd is hiding somewhere in the Empire.”
The territory of the Cult Empire is even larger than that of Megacorp. Numerous constellations are part of the Empire’s territory, and to say that it is hidden somewhere among them is tantamount to not knowing.
“Because Beomho’s whereabouts are unknown, I can only tell you the location of the fourth.”
‘… It’s starting to get annoying.’
It is never easy to fight the 4th without knowing the location of the 7th. Since the two are from the same faction, it is possible that they are together.
What if the two of you come together to catch me?
‘That’s the end of it.’
Even if I take all of Gallagon and Giga Cracker, I’m sure I’ll lose.
As my worries deepened, the Mother of Heaven rose from her seat.
“I have something to say.”
“huh?”
“… There is a way to know the location of the 22nd place.”
“what?”
“But promise me one thing.”
Her amber eyes turned to me, shining like lanterns.
“When you meet that kid, don’t attack him right away, but talk to him first.”
“They might attack first?”
“He’s a coward, so he probably won’t do that. If you find it hard to believe, I’ll try to convince him first.”
Judging from the way she spoke, she seemed to know number 22. No, it seemed like they were on closer terms than just acquaintances.
‘But I don’t know if that’s still the case now.’
The Heavenly Mother has been away from the Cult Sanctuary for a long time without meeting any other players. It seems like it was before she met the 22nd, but will she still be able to maintain the same relationship as before?
I thought about it for a moment and then agreed to only half of her request.
“I will initiate the conversation. If I judge that there is even the slightest danger, I will attack immediately. I have many children to protect. I cannot leave any element that could be a threat.”
“…okay.”
“If I determine that it is not dangerous, I will only subdue it without killing it.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
She realized my intention and expressed her gratitude. If I could subdue her without killing her, I could use the symbiotic spores to cure her. Just like I did when I first met her.
‘We’ve decided where to go next.’
The next place to go after the nest where Adhai’s group is.
The 22nd is a hidden cult empire.