Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 403



Only Noblemtl

“Evolution? Ah!”

The Heavenly Mother opened her pumpkin-colored eyes wide when she heard my words.

“Interesting observation, but I think it is different from the growth process that has been previously recorded.”

“No, maybe something else is right.”

If you think about the being that is trying to become Aadhai now, it would be normal for it to be different from before.

“This is the first time he’s challenged a full Red Gallagon.”

“Red Gallagon?”

“This is a Gallagon that has fully grown. It is the most superior being among all Gallagons.”

PS-111 nodded as if he was interested in the existence of Red Gallagon, which he was hearing about for the first time.

“Similar to Aimorph, if mutations occur at the genetic level, it is advantageous to have a means to protect the body. In fact, the substance secreted by the little baby is suitable for minimizing the risk that occurs during the mutation process.”

“okay.”

“But that’s not all. If Red Gallagon could be created simply by supplying energy, it wouldn’t be this rare.”

It’s just as she said.

It’s too easy to just enter the red crystal and absorb its energy. There are obviously other conditions. Conditions that would be very difficult for a normal Gallagon to achieve.

Then Isabel joined the conversation.

“I heard about the Red Gallagon from Sister Penelope before.”

“From Penelope?”

“Yes. Gallagon said they tend to believe that they are descendants of the stars who inherited their power.”

Certainly, even if you look at Adhai, there is a tendency like that. When I use dragon power or when I swing my strong power, he expresses it as the power of the stars.

“Then how can one become the most superior Gallagon? It would be to eat a shining star.”

“Eating stars? That’s physically impossible.”

PS-111 denied it, but the moment I heard the expression ‘eating stars’, something came to mind. Heavenly Mother must have had similar thoughts as she met my gaze.

“It’s almost impossible to eat that ‘existence’.”

“Even if there are dozens of Black Gallagons, it will be difficult.”

If you can’t eat the star directly, you can eat a creature that absorbs the star’s energy instead.

And I know what that being is.

‘Arcane Orca.’

A top apex creature that survives by preying on the energy of stars, and is the owner of the ‘Ether Core’ trait.

He is the sacrifice for the growth of Red Gallagon.

Apex refers to creatures that are at the top of the ecosystem in Space Survival. Although it varies depending on the case, they usually have excellent combat capabilities.

And even within the Apex, there is a hierarchy. The creatures at the top of the Apex possess such terrifying power that it can be said to have transcended the laws of nature.

Red Gallagon, the only entity in the game that can use ‘Dragon Power’, Vortex One, who has the power to ignore the laws of physics and change reality, etc. These are powerful enemies that require multiple players to join forces to take them on.

Likewise, the Arcane Orca is a very powerful creature. Like its close relatives, the Skywhale and the Starshark, it has specialized abilities in energy manipulation.

Of course, you shouldn’t think of it as being on the level of Skywhale. It’s a dangerous creature, just like Vortex One. It’s much stronger than the imperfect ‘Ring of Agony’ that you fought before.

“Arcane Orca. It won’t be easy.”

The Heavenly Mother let out a wave of thought mixed with distress.

He must have reacted that way because he was well aware of Arcane Orca’s notoriety.

‘It can’t be helped.’

One of the difficulties in conquering the Arcane Orca is ‘finding it’ itself.

Since it feeds on the energy of stars, it rarely approaches planets. And instead of settling down in a single star system, it constantly roams around in search of new food. In fact, the entire universe can be considered its stage of activity.

‘That’s why it’s so hard to find.’

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to fight when you actually find it. It’s at least twice as strong as the Imperfect Vortex One I fought here.

‘Let’s put aside the fighting issue for now. Time is more important now.’

We don’t know how long Adhai will be in that state. If he returns to normal along the way, that’s great, but that might not happen.

In addition, the guy is currently sucking up all the energy around him. This is the nest where the Gallagons reside. Many young Gallagons and their eggs survive on the energy leaking from the ground and minerals.

‘If the hunt goes on for too long, we’ll all starve to death.’

I looked at Ham Ort. The black gallagoon that had brought food for his daughter was not taking its eyes off the red crystal.

[Zzuzuzuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzuzuzu zuzuzuzu (How are the babies? Aren’t they starving or something?)]

“New nest” “Food” “Abundant” “Everyone” “Full”

[Z (really?)]

“But” “Great Adhai” “More” “A lot” “Eat” “Food” “Power of the Stars” “Exhaustion” “Dangerous”

[Zuzuzu zuuzu zuuzu zuuzu zuuzu (How long do you think you can hold out?)]

“Star of Fire” “Twice” “Until You See It”

This planet has a very brief daylight cycle once every 30 days. It is said that the fire star, that is, it can last until the fixed star is visible twice, so we should consider it to have a grace period of about 60 days.

‘It’s close.’

Just finding a constellation where Arcane Orca might be located takes up a considerable amount of time. Even if I start preparing right now, there won’t be enough time. If there are variables that I didn’t anticipate in the middle, that time will be shortened even more.

‘for a moment.’

When I thought about variables, something suddenly came to mind.

Number 26, who had recently consumed a great deal of psychic power. There was still a lot of energy left in his body. I called out to Number 26, who was emitting a dark light and expressing his sorrow.

[Zuz …

“Little flapping? Yeah.”

[Zuzu zuzuzu zu zuzuzu zuzuzuzu (I can endure it longer because of this guy)]

“Thank you”

If No. 26 could provide energy to the Gallagon herd, it might buy some extra time.

I then asked Isabel to stay here too. With her special ability, the Heavenly Eye, she would be able to quickly tell if there was any trouble with Adhai and Blue Gallagon.

“Okay. I’ll contact you if there’s any problem.”

“thank you.”

That’s all we can do here.

Since we don’t have much time, we need to start preparing to hunt the Arcane Orca right away.

“Let’s go back to Gigacracker.”

Before leaving the room, I looked at Adhai sleeping in the red crystal for the last time.

I made a promise to myself while watching the crystal that didn’t move at all from beginning to end.

No matter what happens, Adhai will definitely be taken out.

‘Just bear with it a little longer until then.’

With that thought in mind, I left the nest with the kids.

After returning to the Gigacracker, PS-111 went straight to the situation room to check the data stored on the ship’s computer, as he had little information about the Arcane Orca.

I decided to talk to my Heavenly Mother about where the bastard might be.

“I think you and I both know a little about Arcane Orca.”

“Yeah. I’ve caught them a few times because of the equipment.”

The Arcane Orca’s body is used to create extremely powerful equipment and superweapons, so the large clans would periodically organize search parties to track them down.

From what I remember, after her clan was disbanded, she worked as a mercenary in another clan’s scout party. She must have gained information and know-how while working with them.

“I’ll be honest with you. The way I track things doesn’t fit this situation.”

I have tracked and killed Arcane Orcas myself, but I did not do so in a very efficient manner.

There were two main strategies I used: either going around and checking the status of the stars directly, or sneaking behind the clan that was chasing the Arcane Orca.

Considering the current situation, the former is not possible because it takes a long time, and the latter is not possible because it is uncertain whether there is a pursuit team.

So this time I need her help.

“Well, if you go your way, it seems like it’ll just take more time to prepare.”

She also nodded, understanding what I was trying to say.

“There is some information that is not well known.”

She continued, scratching her beak with the talons on the tips of her wings.

“Usually when tracking Arcane Orcas, you mainly look at the traces left on the star, right?”

“Yeah. It’s common to see electromagnetic waves left behind when a thing absorbs stellar energy.”

“There was a player in the tracking team I was a part of who tried a unique investigation method. Instead of investigating the star itself, we investigated the planets affected by the star.”

“A planet?”

“There are cases where primitive civilizations or NPCs in colonies on planets leave records of abnormal phenomena occurring on the star.”

Investigating NPCs on the planet? This is the first time I’ve heard of this.

“In particular, general merchant ships are sensitive to abnormal stellar activity, so they frequently collect this information. After gathering this, they selected only the relevant ones and created the Arcane Orca’s movement route.”

“Is that possible?”

“I didn’t know until then, but it worked.”

“But how did that fact not become known?”

“The first Tracking Clan that tried it soon collapsed due to internal strife, and the clan members also quit the game. I haven’t seen anyone try this method since then.”

I don’t know whether I should feel sorry or thankful that the information isn’t spreading.

“Then I guess I’ll have to check the routes you know in the game.”

“That part will be taken care of by me and PS-111. If it’s him, it’ll be over in a few days.”

“Please.”

“Don’t expect too much. If it’s different from what I know, it’ll take a long time to investigate.”

“If you need to investigate a planet, I’ll go.”

“It’s better for me to go than that… Ah.”

Her glowing amber eyes were fixed on my tentacles. She seemed to have been flustered due to Adhai’s work, but now she seemed to have noticed my transformation.

“Where did you get the Hiveformer?”

“I got it while fighting Akira.”

“… Even in the game, my heart sank whenever I saw those tentacles, and I see them here too.”

“Have you seen this before?”

“We even set up a forward base on the planet to catch the Arcane Orca, and then you came and caused a ruckus. Don’t you remember?”

“ah.”

When she says it, I remember.

I once secretly followed the punitive force and saw them descending to the planet, and immediately prepared to commit terrorism. Now that I think about it, I guess she was also in that punitive force.

“But now that we’re on the same side, aren’t you relieved?”

“Oh my, I can’t even speak.

She glared at me with narrowed eyes and then sighed softly.

“The first time I saw a dead human being consumed by the Hiveformer, I almost got really traumatized.”

“It does change in a rather peculiar way.”

“To be honest, this is more horrible than you skinning me and hanging me up.”

She shuddered as if an unpleasant memory had come to her mind. Judging from the fact that the feathers on her body stood up stiffly, she must have really hated it.

‘Not to that extent.’

I admit that it’s a bit disgusting, but I didn’t know I would hate it this much.

“When I investigate the planet, I will go down alone.”

“…I have to work hard to make sure you don’t end up on the planet.”

Her grumbling thoughts brought the story of the Arcane Orca chase to a close.

Heavenly Mother left for the situation room where PS-111 was, leaving me alone in the storage room.

Originally, I was planning on checking the text box, because I had quite a bit of income from battles other than the Hiveformer.

However, since it was my first break after such a fierce battle, I was really tired. Before I knew it, I lay down on the hard metal floor and laid my head down.

‘It’s not urgent. Let’s wake up and take a look.’

After some thought, I decided to give in to Suma’s temptation.