Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 349
Only Noblemtl
After arriving at the hangar, I asked Alshas some questions I was curious about.
He answered as best he could to satisfy me. There was not a trace of the mockery he had shown me in Verzan02.
In addition, he must have really hated dying because he confessed everything about not only Cynthia but also his colleagues. Thanks to that, I was able to learn a lot of interesting facts.
‘The 4th and 7th places joined forces.’
As expected when Alshas received support from Outspacer, Outspacer Ranker and 7th-ranked Cult Ranker Beomho were in a cooperative relationship. Outspacer and Cult are incompatible, so it was unclear what they were cooperating for.
According to him, Beom-ho persuaded the fourth person to join his side.
‘It’s been over 30 years since the 4th came to this world. This is a big deal.’
The 4th place in the game was the type that steadily grew the colony and overwhelmed the opponent. Outspacers are a race that is weak as individuals, but quickly becomes stronger when many gather together. The 4th place can be seen as having a playstyle that best suits its race.
The size of the colony is much larger than you can imagine, as it has grown steadily over the long period of 30 years. It is also said that the 37th ranked Outspacer player has joined the 4th ranked colony.
With the two rankers joining forces, it may be possible to take down the Cult Empire in one fell swoop.
‘I too have become an outlier, but I must be careful.’
You will have special privileges with the genetic essence that you have accumulated over 30 years, so you must be fully prepared if you are going to fight.
‘Anyway, with this I’ve confirmed who the members of the Return Party are.’
Alshas said that there are two more rankers besides himself, the two Outspacer rankers, and Beomho. Among the two, Wolf ranker said that he manages the faction’s equipment.
“If you’re a Wolf Ranker, are you talking about 9th place?”
“Ninth is dead. Someone else is in charge of our equipment.”
The 9th ranker is the highest ranked among the Wolf Rankers. Unlike the Heavenly Mother who is good at fighting while transformed, he is the type that prefers to fight by operating a fleet in the form of a beastman.
Seeing that he claims to be dead, I wonder if he was killed by the Returners.
“Where is he hiding?”
“It’s in Asuka 44 in the Dorane Constellation. It’s an unknown volcanic planet.”
“It’s a volcanic planet.”
I was planning to make Wolf’s special equipment for the Heavenly Mother, and it just so happened that I already had the most important material, the Vortex One’s body, so I could just get the rest of the mineral materials there.
‘It might be a good idea to stop by while you’re at it to get Isabelle’s pistol.’
“Okay. We know where Wolf Ranker is. Where is the other one?”
“I, I, I don’t know the details. I just know that he went to do something else under Beom-ho’s instructions.”
As I scraped the hangar floor with my battle claws, the thing hurriedly added:
‘It looks like Beomho is taking on the role of brain.’
I expected that to happen.
He is good at using various variables to catch the enemy off guard. He is similar to me in that he enjoys using unconventional tactics.
“Where is Beomho’s base?”
“He’s a friend who always wanders around, so I don’t even know where he is right now.”
“What are his special privileges?”
Alshas answered my question hesitantly.
“I, I’ve never really had a deep conversation before….”
“okay?”
I was told that I didn’t know, but I wasn’t particularly disappointed.
Beomho is a player with similar tendencies to me. Even though we are in the same faction, I already expected that he would not share his information.
“You follow someone you don’t know anything about. You trust people more than I thought.”
“That’s not it.”
“No?”
“Beomho knows how to return us to the real world. That’s why I also follow the cause of the return party.”
“If you were to say a way to return, would you mean the ending?”
Alshas shook his head at my question.
“It is impossible to see the ending the way it is in the game.”
“Impossible? How do you know that?”
“Before the Return Sect was created, Beom-ho attempted the final mission with other rankers and failed. The 9th ranker also died at that time.”
Come to think of it, I’ve heard a similar story from Mother in Heaven.
It is said that in the past, many rankers, including the number 1, challenged the final mission.
At that time, they used some method to meet the conditions for challenging the mission. Looking back, I think they may have used the special privileges that each ranker received.
But I heard they failed, and then the strife among the rankers began.
“Interesting story. How do you plan on seeing the ending?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“You don’t know?”
“Beom-ho is the only one who knows the method perfectly. It would be a problem if the plan was leaked.”
“It’s not wise to lie in front of me.”
“No, that’s not a lie! Beom-ho tells me parts of the plan whenever he needs to, so I know almost nothing!”
I have several ways to detect lies from others. I can use parasites or make them into human-faced insects.
There’s no way Alshas, a ranker, wouldn’t know that, so he wouldn’t lie or try to deceive.
However, aside from the fact that he didn’t lie, there is one question.
‘I don’t think Cynthia or Alshas would trust others easily.’
Cynthia was a double agent, and Alshas sold out his comrades to survive. It won’t be easy to gain their trust.
‘Or is there something else at play?’
There might be something about Beomho that even Alshas himself isn’t aware of. Maybe it’s a special ability, or some brainwashing technique that I don’t know about.
‘I don’t know what it is, but I have to be careful.’
First of all, I’ve confirmed most of the important things.
I asked the bastard one last question.
“Have you ever had a vision while clearing a quest?”
“yes?”
“They say that as you get closer to the ending, memories from the real world start to appear as illusions. Who do you become in the illusions?”
The man who heard me was silent for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“I became the human form. In this world, in my mansion, I killed the enemy who was embodied in the cult.”
He was the opposite of Jason, because Jason had a vision of killing his ‘human self’ in the cult’s body.
“At what point did that happen?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“I don’t think it’s your place to ask questions.”
“… I saw it when I cleared stage 10 of the quest.”
Jason also said he had a vision at level 10. They both had the same vision at the same time, just with different choices.
“And after that?”
“According to Beomho and the 4th Empress, from then on, you will have illusions about returning to real life.”
“Real life?”
“He said he was preparing us to adapt safely.”
I asked the question without much expectation, but the answer I got was unexpectedly interesting.
Three members of the Returners have had visions related to reality. It is almost certain that there is a connection between the faction and visions.
‘Moreover, it is said that fantasy plays a role in helping people adapt to reality.’
Perhaps, as you get closer to the ending, the fantasy you see will change depending on your chosen identity. If you choose human form, you will see life in the real world as a fantasy, and if you choose this world, you will see life in space survival as a fantasy.
‘I’ll have to talk about this when Isabel wakes up.’
“Okay. I have no more questions.”
“Is that so?”
That was enough information to help me. I got up.
Alshas, who was lying in front of me, looked up at me with eyes full of anticipation.
“Hey, you promised, right? If you answer the questions, I’ll spare your life.”
“okay.”
“Well, then I guess I’ll be going now.”
The creature, which had lost all of its limbs and parts of its lower body, crawled towards the airship that remained in the hangar.
I blocked the crawling creature with my fighting arm. The creature tried to move aside with a forced smile, but I was faster.
I picked it up with my four long fingers. And I opened my mouth wide with the head in the center. The face of the thing suddenly turned pale when it saw my wide-open mouth.
“Didn’t you promise to spare my life?”
“Yeah. I promised.”
“I won’t attack you again! I won’t go against your will, Aimoff!”
I brought the remaining body of the bastard to my mouth. The bastard, dangling from my fingers, struggled to get away.
‘It’s meaningless though.’
“T-Tell me, please let me go! Lord, I don’t want to die!”
“You will not die.”
“yes?”
“The form and character will be a bit different though.”
“Sir, really?”
I meant it when I said I would spare his life.
However, since we don’t know when he will betray us if we leave it like this, we are just trying to take ‘a little action’.
“Gyaa, gyaaah! I, I hate those human-faced bugs! I hate them! Please don’t do this!”
The guy is jumping around like a fish out of water. But there’s no way he, who couldn’t run away even with arms and legs, can run away now.
The face that was once so beautiful, as expected of a cult, was stained with tears, saliva, and other secretions. The dignity of the ranker who had been scorning me while looking at me from Berzan02 was nowhere to be found.
I threw the bastard into his wide-open mouth.
“Oh, no! I don’t want to die like this….”
As soon as I closed my mouth, the screaming stopped. A sweet scent spread to my tongue, the roof of my mouth, and every corner of my teeth. It was a scent that made me feel good, like eating a cool peppermint candy.
I wish I could keep it in my mouth, but I can’t do that forever. I swallowed what was Alshas.
and.
“Predatory effect activated! ‘Alshas (Olivia Green)’s special privilege successfully stolen!”
“Can be fused with the ‘Three Heads’ and ‘Smog Tower’ you have. Please select a trait. The result of your selection will be affected by the trait used as a material.”
“P.S. You are at a crossroads with a major choice. Please choose carefully.”
「Time left until trait selection: 24:00;00」
“You are eligible to use the trait enhancement system. Would you like to use the system?”
A text box seen in the dragon’s nest in the past.
A new ‘Mark of the Enemy’ awaits my choice.
‘It’s been a while.’
It’s the first time since Jason was eaten on the ice planet.
At that time, I combined one of the two traits with a player privilege to create a new enemy’s mark trait. The ‘Abyssal Color’ was created in that way.
‘Even back then, we required materials with different personalities and characteristics.’
I chose the latter between the infection-related trait ‘Space Bacteria’ and the superpower-related trait ‘Flame of Hallucination’ to create the color of the abyss. If I had chosen the former, I would have created a completely different form of a strong enemy.
‘This time, you have to choose between a physical trait and a nest-related trait.’
The former is the ‘Three Heads’ trait, a reward trait received upon evolving into an adult, and the latter is the general trait ‘Smog Top’.
As before, both are completely different character traits. You have to choose carefully because you can’t predict what the outcome will be.
‘I hope that a trait similar to Alshas’s special ability will appear.’
He could create a clone that could use the original’s abilities. If he were to obtain those abilities in the current situation, he could use them for a variety of purposes.
‘What should I choose to make it look similar to the original?’
Three heads among the materials are physical traits. It is thanks to this trait that Aimorph adults can have multiple heads.
The left and right heads are controlled by the central head, but they also move independently. This characteristic may be reflected and reborn as a characteristic that creates a ‘new Aimorph’. It has a similar effect to Alshas’s special ability.
‘That would be really great, but there’s a problem.’
The point is that having three heads is a trait that is not easily obtained.
To get three heads again, you must target Aimorph adults or certain types of Vortex Ones.
First of all, meeting an Aimorph adult is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Even if we exclude the former, it is not easy to aim for the latter, the three-headed Vortex One. It is a more dangerous creature than the Ring of Agony, so it would be difficult to win even if we fought it now.
‘If you use it as a material here, it will take a long time to get it again.’
Just as the ‘Harvester’s Jaw’ received while growing into a semi-adult was upgraded to the ‘Harvester’s Mouth’, the three heads also fuse with other characteristics to become more powerful characteristics.
The fusion trait of creating three heads is quite powerful, so it would be a shame to waste it here.
‘On the other hand, the smog tower does not have such risk.’
This trait of casting toxic fog on the nest isn’t a trait that’s very important to me at this point. Also, the trait itself isn’t that hard to get again.
However, there is a high probability that it will be far from the result I want. Like the color of the abyss.
Jason’s original ability was to create a golden figure by expelling a special substance from his body. If I had used space bacteria as a material, similar properties would have emerged.