Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 409



Only Noblemtl

“what?”

The triangle on the map pointed ahead of him, but when he looked around, all he could see were computers, wires, and a small external terminal.

‘for a moment.’

He was staring at the floor when a sudden thought occurred to him. His head slowly rose toward the ceiling.

“?!”

There, a woman’s head was hanging upside down. ‘It’, with its blood vessels-like, blood-red eyes, was glaring at him.

As Alex was taken aback by the appearance of this completely unexpected being, ‘it’ opened its mouth wide.

“■-!”

“Ugh?! ”

Alex stumbled back at the sudden pain in his ear.

I felt an intense pain, as if I had been stabbed in the ear with an awl. Something flowed out of my ear and down the back of my neck.

Alex roughly took off his helmet. When he looked inside the helmet, he saw that the speaker area was charred and covered in blood.

‘What the fuck!’

Even though he clearly swore with his mouth, no sound was heard at all. It was clear that his hearing was damaged.

At that moment, something the size of a person’s head passed in front of me. As soon as I saw it, I immediately fired my Gauss rifle.

A light flashed from the muzzle of the gun, and the aligned computers fell over, flashing electric lights.

‘I’ll kill you!’

Losing his senses, he threw away his broken helmet and chased after the unidentified being. The triangle mark on the holographic map moved quickly.

Amidst the broken machinery, a woman’s head can be seen moving, her hair fluttering. It moves so quickly thanks to the multiple legs that protrude from beneath the head.

If he was naked, it wouldn’t have been easy to track him down, but he was wearing a high-level reinforced suit. Alex used his enhanced physical abilities to destroy the computers and follow the signal.

‘Got it!’

Just before ‘it’ could escape through the vent in the wall, a tungsten bullet fired from a Gauss rifle hit the thing in the leg. The main body disappeared into the vent, dropping the broken pieces of the leg.

Unfortunately, it missed, but we can just chase after it anyway. Thanks to the building map, we can clearly see where the vent leads.

‘I’m afraid I’ll miss it.’

Alex returned to the entrance of the information processing room to go to the room connected to the ventilation shaft. The moment he opened the closed door, he couldn’t help but doubt his eyes.

‘Hey, what is this?’

The hallway I had just walked through a few minutes ago was thick with fog. It was the same fog I had seen outside.

And beyond the thick fog, something stirred.

‘helmet!’

His instincts screamed. That fog, no, that gas, was extremely dangerous. Alex hurried to find his helmet to avoid the gas.

“Team leader.”

A familiar voice suddenly came. Alex was startled when he saw those who appeared with him.

“You’re here, Team Leader.”

“I searched for a long time.”

The identity of the owner who spoke was that of a subordinate who should have been at the guard tower. They were armed with reinforced suits and were calling out to Alex.

It was just as Alex remembered. He was holding his Gauss rifle ready to fire, but he carefully lowered the gun.

“It’s dangerous here.”

“We need to get out of here quickly.”

His subordinates stood in the fog and urged him on.

Alex also let his guard down and followed them out of the information processing room.

“The situation is not good because of the terrorism of separatists.”

“They even dragged the Sino Group into it.”

“The other guys are stalling for time, but I don’t think they can last much longer.”

“This way.”

As I followed my subordinates down, something felt strange. The location of the information processing room was clearly on the second floor of the management office. It only took a few minutes to get out of the management office.

But now they were just continuing to go down the stairs. The subordinates seemed not to notice this change and continued to converse naturally.

“■■, ■■ ■… ■?”

When I tried to call my subordinate, my voice didn’t come out. No, to be exact, my voice came out of my mouth, but I couldn’t hear it. My hearing, which was damaged by ‘that’ earlier, didn’t come back.

“Why are you doing that?”

“There’s no time for this. We have to go quickly.”

“… … .”

Come to think of it, he and his subordinates are wearing reinforced suits. I’ve heard the heavy mechanical sounds and footsteps so many times since I came here. There are three beings wearing reinforced suits here now, so it can’t be this quiet.

“■, ■■■, ■■?”

‘You, you guys, what are you?’

The subordinates who had been ahead of Alex stopped in their tracks at his question.

“I don’t have time for this.”

“I have to go quickly.”

Their heads turn slowly. Their faces are visible, their eyes obscured by the visors on their helmets.

“There is no time for this.”

“You have to go quickly.”

The familiar faces of the subordinates crack. Like glass on the verge of breaking, the cracks spread across their faces and bodies. Something black is seen boiling and shaking through the cracks.

“

Come on, let’s do this together.

”

“

Come on, let’s do this together.

”

The hell guides hiding inside the shell attacked Alex.

–

“Danger. Eliminated.”

MPS-03, hearing screams from downstairs, crawled out of the ventilation shaft. As soon as it came out, it checked the broken leg.

“Damage, minor. Temporary repair, possible.”

PS-111 and ‘Aimorph’ gave MPS-03 two abilities when they were created.

One is the sonic attack ability created by applying the genes of the Cavegoyle, which mainly lives in ice caves and underground. The ability, which Aimorph calls ‘destructive sound wave’, can easily damage the hearing of even heavily armed enemies.

The remaining ability is ‘heat emission’.

MPS-03 picked up a piece of broken leg with its thin, long legs reminiscent of a spider’s legs. As it held it against the broken part and left it there, the part began to glow red.

“Recovery, complete. Complete!”

Mini Screamer shook the leg that had been joined using high heat a few times. It wasn’t perfect, but it was still able to move.

“Operation. Check. Check.”

MPS-03’s mission was to transfer some of the data stored here to the terminal received from Aimov. Now that the intruders along the way have been dealt with, it’s time to return to the mission.

It crawled along on its metal legs, licking its lips, and began copying the data again.

After that, about ten minutes had passed. All the data requested by Aimov had been copied. MPS-03 bit the external terminal in his mouth and tried to go outside.

As it crawled towards the door, it suddenly stopped in front of a computer as if it had another thought.

“Intruder. Computer, use.”

I know that the other person entered the security code to get here.

This building is an important place that handles various information. We need to check what the other party has done.

“Usage details, purpose, confirmation. Confirm.”

Maybe this information will be helpful to Aimov too.

After checking all the computers used by the saboteurs, MPS-03 left the area.

“great job.”

The tiny screamer, MPS-03, approached. It crawled up to my head and spat out the terminal it was holding in its mouth.

“Mission accomplished! Complete!”

“Are your legs okay?”

In response to my question, the guy moved his patched leg and assumed a saluting pose. It looked a bit awkward, but he didn’t seem to have any particular problem moving it.

‘PS-111 can be fixed later.’

I stroked the back of my finger gently. The guy jumped around on the nest like he did when No. 26 and Adhai were happy.

Every time he jumped, the black cysts on the ground would burst and release a cloud of gas. At first glance, they looked similar to the toxic vapors that were automatically spread around the nest, but their composition and effects were completely different.

That’s because the black cysts and gas are a characteristic of the condition.

‘It’s been a while since I got the Ghost Nest, but I’m finally using it properly now.’

The nest-related fusion trait ‘Ghost Nest’ was previously obtained from the cult star, Berzan02. I just kept it because I never had a chance to use it until now.

‘It’s not a good trait to use alone.’

This is because of the working mechanism of the ghost nest.

When this trait is applied, black cysts are created in the nest as they are now. The white gas released by the cysts contains psychic powers that promote various abnormal phenomena.

Once you inhale this, you will experience all sorts of strange things. Hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, cognitive impairment, and sensory distortions all come as a gift. As time goes by, it becomes difficult to distinguish what is real and what is not.

As the name suggests, it is being possessed by a ghost.

That’s why the soldier who attacked MPS-03 suddenly started acting strangely.

The one who lost his helmet due to the ‘destructive sound wave’ inhaled the gas flowing out of the nest. That’s why he didn’t attack the Hiveformer even when he saw it. He probably mistook it for his comrade.

The gas-addicted one followed them to the underground nest without knowing anything, and it became the Hiveformer’s new hideout.

‘The two traits do go well together.’

The Hiveformer alone is not easy to deceive the enemy due to its unique appearance and movements. However, if it has a Ghost Nest, its weakness is offset. The Ghost Nest’s characteristic is that it shows its true value when combined with other characteristics.

‘The problem is that it has many shortcomings when used alone.’

For example, if the target that entered the nest has resistance to psychic power or did not inhale the gas properly, the effect will be very low. Also, psychic gas only has the effect of distorting the target’s senses, and cannot cause physical damage.

You can tell by looking at the dead soldier. Before he took off his helmet, he was walking around the nest without any problems. It was after his helmet was broken that he started to be affected. The possessed one was eliminated by the Hiveformer’s attack, not the gas.

As such, the Ghost Nest also does its part by having a means to physically finish off the enemy.

‘I got the Hiveformer, so I need to collect more nest-related traits.’

Since becoming an adult, I have rarely used my nest in battle. This is because I have mostly fought by sneaking into enemy lines or being surprised by enemies rather than drawing them in. There were no conditions for using my nest.

‘I used nests a lot in the game.’

It also had a bad reputation because of that. It’s not as famous as Morphbak, but it’s a nickname that those who enter the nest throw around every now and then.

‘Well, that’s okay.’

I happened to have a chance to get a sample. I picked up the terminal that MPS-03 had brought.

This terminal contains a list of samples currently being stored in the complex, as well as various information about what is happening on this planet.

‘Let’s check.’

I lay down on the ground and connected the auxiliary organ to the nest. A hiveformer that received my will crawled over. It took the terminal and connected it to the holographic playback device in the nest.

‘Being big is also a problem.’

It was difficult to operate a small computer or terminal with this body, so I had the Hiveformer put on a human shell.

A moment later, a series of letters appeared above the holographic device. It was a list of genetic samples and Hulk mutant test subjects.

Not only were the names of the creatures listed, but the planets on which they were captured, the names of the people who captured them, and even their storage conditions were all listed in detail.

However, many of the samples and test subjects were marked in red. They were secretly stolen by the administrators guarding AG-01.

Of course, there were still quite a few samples left. There were a similar number of them as the space fortress I had previously cleared.

‘If I do this well, I’ll get a new unique trait here.’

There are currently three unique trait synthesis recipes that I have unlocked. Among them, there are some that require trash traits like ‘Hunger’ or ‘Dwarfism’.

｢’Transcendence’ Material List: Dwarfism (not acquired), Starvation, Sensory Deterioration (not acquired), Slow Life (not acquired), Reclusive Tendency (not acquired)｣

‘Dwarfism, slow life, and sensory deterioration are not hard to obtain. Reclusiveness is the challenge.’

Of the four traits, ‘Hermit Orientation’ can only be obtained from certain creatures, like Hunger. You’ll need some luck to obtain it.

‘Still, with this many samples, it’s worth a try.’

I briefly glanced through the long list and then moved on to the next one, which was a record of stellar activity observed in AG-01.