Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 381
Only Noblemtl
The dragon’s heart is working in the main body, pumping out energy. There is also a lot of residual energy left in the ship.
‘Should this rather be considered a mental problem?’
The feeling I have now is similar to when I’m hungry and my nerves are on edge.
‘It’s more annoying than I thought.’
In the game, if you were starving and your energy was depleted, you would lose control of your body. So I thought that if you didn’t run out of energy, there would be no problem.
I had no idea that it could have such annoying side effects as it does now.
‘I need to eat something in between.’
As long as I have the heart of a dragon, it is unlikely that I will lose my mind. Still, it is not good for this state of nerves to continue for too long. It is to the point where I feel anxious as if someone is chasing me.
I think we should stop and take a break along the way.
‘While you’re at it, feed the mountain crawler too.’
There is no separate food for mountain crawlers, although they do have a small amount of meat stored in their stomachs. They can survive for long periods without eating minerals, but they do not like to starve.
‘You can just give him a meteorite floating in space.’
I should look for any pirate ships or merchant ships wandering around nearby.
As soon as I stopped traveling at superluminal speeds, the pressure that had been weighing me down was instantly relieved.
“Eimov? The engine seems to have stopped. What’s wrong?”
“I have not yet reached the ‘White Stone’, but I have confirmed that hypersonic travel has been interrupted. Is there a problem?”
“Is it hard, big baby? If it’s hard, you should sleep. It’ll get better if you sleep!”
“There’s no way that monster would have a hard time with something like this.”
“Rest?” “Me.” “Outside.” “Can I go out?”
As I stopped, the kids who were having their own time all over the ship started saying something.
[Zuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu (I’m going to take a break. You can go out if you want.)]
“Me” “Pretty Child” “Together” “Flight” “Training” “I Will”
“Huh? Wait, you want me to do it too?”
“Pretty Child” “Weak” “Training” “More” “A lot” “Must Do”
After informing the kids that I was going to take a break, I called PS-111 and Sechan over here.
[Zuzuzu zuuzuzu zuuzuzu zuuzu (Are there any pirates operating around here?)]
“The constellation has no owner. Research has shown that 1.2% of all merchant ships registered with Megacorp have passed through the constellation. There is an 82% chance that criminals are active there.”
From what I’ve heard, it seems like ships do go there, but not very often.
In fact, a place with too many ships coming and going is not good for Spacedog either.
‘If we are pursued by the great powers, we are finished.’
I turned my gaze to Sechan.
“There are no cartels based here, but I have heard of smaller cartels looting here.”
The guy who had half his brain stolen by a parasite looked at my body with blank eyes and answered.
‘It looks like pirates are active.’
It just so happened.
I am currently in the process of encroaching upon the ship and taking control of it. Thanks to this, it is displayed as a normal ship in the detection system. Its appearance is identical to that of Megacorp’s warship, except that it is black.
I would look like tasty prey to pirates. If there are pirates here, they will definitely come after me.
[Zuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu (Is there anything else I should be careful of?)]
“After analyzing the ship data, we have confirmed that there are no other threats besides pirates.”
[Zuzu (really?)]
Well then, I guess it wouldn’t be a big problem to wander around a bit.
[Zuz …
I called the kids outside and started moving slowly.
This place felt very different from the constellation where Asuka 44 was located.
The scenery of the Dorane constellation was very splendid thanks to the red giant star Olga. The blazing red star and the contrasting pitch-black space. It was an atmosphere reminiscent of space photos and illustrations I had seen during the human era.
On the other hand, the atmosphere here is very static. There are no impressive stars or beautiful nebulae. There is just endless darkness.
‘Actually, most of space is like this.’
As I was moving with that thought in mind, I sensed something in the black mucus covering the surface of the ship. There was some movement occurring in the space quite far away.
‘Is it a pirate ship?’
The movement feels bigger and bigger. It’s flying towards me.
‘I thought it would take more time… huh?’
Just as I was about to think that everything was going well, I had a strange feeling. The pirate ship approaching me moved differently from other ships.
I focused my senses on the outer wall of the ship. Just like when I linked with the nest, my sensory area expanded, and parts that I couldn’t detect with my auxiliary organs were transmitted to my brain. Even the movement of an approaching being from afar felt more distinct than before.
‘Three big ones, and….’
There were so many small objects that it was difficult to count even with developed senses. The large ones were surrounded by things like grains of sand.
The large object is definitely a ship. The problem here is the identity of the small objects surrounding the ship.
‘Metallic Gremlin?’
Tens of thousands of silver monsters were gathered in one place and were attacking the ships.
All three ships were flying towards me at high speed, so I thought they were trying to make a surprise attack, but that wasn’t the case. They were not attacking, but asking for help.
‘Why are they here?’
To intelligent beings who have ventured into space, a swarm of metallic gremlins is nothing short of a living disaster. That is why Megacorp and Star Union always record the locations where space raiders appear.
PS-111 has not found any special records, so one of two things can happen.
Either they came here from another constellation, or there were no survivors from the ships they attacked during that time.
‘Whatever it is, it’s better.’
I was just really hungry at the time.
Three ships and a metallic gremlin.
This amount of food should be enough to satisfy your hunger.
–
“All guns on the right side, from number 3 to 12, are out of action! On the left side, guns 1 and 11 are also out of action!”
“What the hell! Carrier-based aircraft! Where did you sell the carrier-based aircraft?”
“Huh? You want me to send a carrier to fight the metallic gremlin?”
“You son of a bitch, you want to die here? Get me out of here quickly!”
“Oh, I understand!”
The inside of the pirate ship’s situation room was incredibly noisy.
Many people fear space dogs, but there are more terrifying things in space than pirates.
The metallic gremlin that suddenly appeared was one of those beings.
Those little demons with metallic skin are a scourge to space travelers.
Their sharp teeth can easily cut through even the toughest alloy armor, and the unique wavelengths emitted from their skin can easily neutralize the detection capabilities of drones and torpedoes. A swarm of hundreds of metallic gremlins is an opponent that even the latest battleships should be nervous about.
However, the number of enemies rushing at the pirates now is at least tens of thousands. Even Frank, the head of the Shinomitsu Pirates, has never seen a group this large.
“Communication Officer! What happened?”
“Oh, our communications are down due to interference! We can’t contact other ships either!”
“You idiot! Then why don’t you just get out of the transmission range right now!”
“Rear propulsion damage exceeds 65%! Speed is decreasing rapidly!”
Metallic Gremlins are obsessed with refined metals. They raid ships not to eat people, but to feast on alloys.
Although they have bodies much smaller than humans, they have a fearsome appetite. The moment they attach themselves to the ship, this ship, which is over 100 meters long, will disappear into their stomachs in no time.
And Frank, having lost his pirate ship, will be left to wander through space and die.
‘Damn, it was definitely a safe planet!’
The reason he came here was because he heard that there was a chance to catch a rare creature. It is true that he came because he thought it was a chance to make money.
But before coming here, I checked to see if there were any dangers. This is an area where trade ships and mining ships only come infrequently. There is no reason for the Metallic Gremlin to come here.
‘But why are those kids coming out here?!’
If I had known this would happen, I would never have come here.
“Boss! Those guys are moving strangely!”
At that moment, when I was regretting it later, my subordinate shouted in a embarrassed voice.
“No, they’re getting away!”
“what?”
Frank quickly checked the holographic map. The dots that were about to attack the pirate ship were moving to another place.
‘That’s…?’
An unidentified ship’s markings were floating in the direction the space raiders were heading. Due to the radio interference, only the ship could be identified, and no other details could be confirmed.
“Fuck, I don’t know what this is, but it’s okay. I have to run away while I have the time….”
The moment I decided to escape while they were fighting, the ship suddenly rocked violently.
–
‘Coming this way?’
A group that was about to swallow three ships is flying towards me, as if I am more important than them.
The ship surrounding my current body is a fusion of organic tissue and alloy. From the perspective of the metallic gremlin, I am not particularly an attractive prey.
‘Well, I’m grateful that you came from over there.’
When I got ‘Nightmare Horizon’, I fought the Metallic Gremlins for the first time in this world. I remember winning by a narrow margin despite the fact that they were a medium-sized group.
‘But not anymore.’
I transformed my stomach to create the ‘Fever Thorn Armor’. Contrary to its name, spikes similar to a spear were created on the front.
And when the temperature of the thorns reached their limit, they were fired at the three ships. The red thorns flew one after another and hit their targets.
‘Because you can’t run away.’
There’s no getting out of here, since the propulsion is completely disabled.
Having prevented the ships from escaping, I prepared to fight the approaching horde.
You can’t use powerful attacks because you have to eat enemies to fill your stomach. Instead of using the cannons mounted on the ship to erode them, you have to engage in close combat.
‘There are good qualities for that.’
I applied the powerful defensive trait ‘Destroyer’s Carapace’ to the ship. In the case of the main body, it is always applied regardless of my will, but for the eroded ship, I needed to activate it at my own discretion.
The shape of the black mucus covering the hull changes rapidly. The surface that was smooth like obsidian swells up into a bumpy shape and changes to resemble the outer skin of a magmasaur. When the characteristics of the heat-spiked back plate are added, large spikes sprout from the entire ship.
I reflected the traits that could be used in turn onto the ship. The front of the ship split open and mutated into an elongated snout with fangs, and a tail with huge pincers sprouted from the back.
Now no one will look at me and think I’m a ship. My current appearance is closer to that of a giant monster floating through space.
“■■■?”
Those who were closing in on the ship hesitated when they saw the ship that had turned into a monster.
“■■!”
I thought they were trying to run away, but they weren’t. The bodies of those who had paused for a moment glowed blue. The ‘Warp Boy’ mixed in with the group had used the large-scale hyper-light navigation technology, ‘Warp Guide’.
Soon, hundreds of metallic gremlins burst out of the space around me, their swirling mouths gaping wide as they try to bite me.
‘Where!’
I opened the ‘harvester’s mouth’ on the front. The mouth of the 500m-long ship was tens of meters wide. I charged at the enemies with my mouth wide open like a whale eating a school of fish.
“■■■■?!”
The enemies that were accelerating to stick to me were unable to dodge and ended up in my mouth. I closed my jaw and swallowed the enemies that entered my mouth.
“Predation effect activated!”
Perhaps because I swallowed dozens of them in one breath, the message in the text window appeared, and my hunger subsided just a little.
Meanwhile, metallic-colored marauders latched onto me, trying to sink their sharp teeth into the destroyer’s carapace.
“■■?”
Unfortunately for them, the shell surrounding the bioship is very thick. While it is not difficult to damage the surface, penetrating the interior is another story. It takes a long time for them to get inside.
‘I won’t wait until then, though.’
I swung my long tail and swept it across the carapace. Only pieces of flesh remained where my tail passed.