I Became an Evolving Space Monster Chapter 136

Ep. In the 136

game, the size of the Sea Demon is approximately 20 to 30 meters. In other words, you can think of it as being as big as my body length.

You might think it’s small for a semi-boss level creature, but there’s a catch.

The Sea Demon can adjust its size and shape as desired.

In normal mode, the Sea Demon is only about 20m long, but when it enters battle, it can stretch up to 100m. The saw blade tentacles, a threatening weapon, grow to fit the body, and the range of the Sea Demon’s unique characteristic, ‘Fear of the Deep’, also expands.

As can be seen from Issue 26, Sea Demons usually have high intelligence. It means that one actively uses one’s abilities even during battle.

Therefore, the number of factors that players in charge of tanking have to calculate is bound to increase tremendously.

‘Even taking that into account, this guy is really big.’

Is it because I lived so long? At first glance, its corpse was well over twice the size of a normal Sea Demon. It was so large that it surpassed even the 50m-sized Pale Mask.

In addition, there were large and small scars left all over the pink exterior, clearly showing that it was not an ordinary person.

‘If it weren’t for the spaceship crash, there’s no way I could have died so easily.’

As evidence, there was a scar on his torso that was longer than my body. Even though he was a powerful monster, he had not yet recovered from the injuries sustained during the collision with the spaceship.

As I was looking down at the Sea Demon’s body from a little distance away, No. 26 approached me. Dozens of tentacles came out from its body and attached themselves to the corpse.

‘What are you doing?’

I thought it might be a memorial service, but looking at the atmosphere, I don’t think that was the case. It attached all the tentacles that came out of its body to the corpse and stayed still.

After a while, purple light began to flicker on the surface of the huge corpse. The energy was so tremendous that even I, wearing super-power reflective gloves, felt tingly inside my body.

Purple energy moved along the surface of the corpse. The tentacles attached to No. 26 were where the massive flow of psychic power was directed.

A purple glow came from No. 26, which used its tentacles like straws to suck up energy. The intensity of the light was no different from when he expressed his emotions, but my auxiliary organs denied it.

There’s a huge amount of psychic power swirling around in this guy’s body. The amount of energy it has absorbed is enough to overwhelm my psychic breath.

And cracks began to form on its body like a cracking egg. I was shocked for a moment when I saw that.

It was a shame that he didn’t seem to be in pain, otherwise I would have intervened.

‘It might be important.’

I quietly watched him change.

The cracked outer shell soon broke and the thing with concentrated psychic power swelled greatly. While confined in the research base, his body, which had shrunk to 3 meters, grew rapidly and grew to around 10 meters.

The psychic power was so strong that even with the auxiliary organs, its appearance could not be clearly felt, but at first glance, it resembled the appearance of a dead Sea Demon.

‘indeed. It was like this.’

Many players assumed a relationship between the Sea Demon and the Bubble Amoeba in the game. This means that the two organisms are closely related genetically.

Among them, there were players who thought that the bubble amoeba would grow up to become a sea demon. The theory that the weakest of marine life grows to become the strongest has its own basis.

Most wild NPCs in the space survival world have a mechanism to grow from cubs to adults. If so, the Sea Demon would also have a fluid stage.

Numerous players searched every sea planet, but no one found the fluid sea demon. As a result, it is inevitable to say that a bubble amoeba that looks similar in appearance may become a sea demon.

‘Of course, few people took it seriously.’

Many players have kept bubble amoeba as pets. Everyone knew that nothing particularly changed even as the bubble amoeba grew.

‘That’s right.’

Seeing the scene unfolding before my eyes, it seems difficult to say that the growth theory is completely wrong.

Number 26, or Sea Demon’s offspring, looks almost identical to the bubble amoeba. The tentacles and fins can be hidden inside the body, making them invisible and small in size.

The Sea Demon, in a fragile fluid state, lives among the bubble amoeba swarm and protects them. In this process, they hunt the predators that threaten the herd and grow little by little. Then, if something happens to inherit the power of the seed demon, then it will transform into an adult.

‘This is why everyone has no choice but to not know.’

Bubble Amoeba is a pet, not a combat support creature. Even if someone is lucky enough to obtain the Sea Demon’s body, it cannot be grown because it will not fight.

Even worse, taking him into battle with that powerful sea monster, the Sea Demon?

If you were a bubble amoeba with no fighting ability, you would think that 100 would kill you. Unless you are a person who finds pleasure in killing your pet, of course you will not take it.

You must meet the condition of rescuing a Sea Demon baby that looks exactly like a bubble amoeba and bringing it to the corpse of a dead Sea Demon. This is a method that is virtually impossible to verify.

While I was lost in thought, No. 26 continued to suck up Sea Demon’s legacy.

However, at some point, the absorption rate began to slow down. Even though I still had a lot of energy left, my speed was gradually decreasing.

Then it stopped absorbing energy. A 10m-sized purple luminous object attached to the corpse slowly fell.

The psychic power remaining in the Sea Demon’s body gradually faded and disappeared.

‘It’s a shame.’

I felt a little disappointed because I lost the essence of pure psychic power right in front of my eyes. I scratched my head with my broken and restored fighting arm.

Number 26 was still glowing even after the energies disappeared. The light it was emitting gradually became smaller.

No, not only was the light decreasing, but the body itself was decreasing.

From 10m to 5m and 1m. The guy who seemed to be getting infinitely smaller stopped at about 50cm.

‘huh?’

It was exactly big enough to ride on top of my head. Its appearance has also returned to its slime form, except for the fins that come out for swimming.

‘There’s a pattern.’

The biggest difference from before the change was that patterns appeared on No. 26’s body. Light purple spiral waves were gently swaying on the dark pink skin.

Since this is the bottom of the trench, no light comes in, but I think it would shine like a pink sapphire if it were exposed to sunlight.

After completing its transformation, it approached me with its fins fluttering.

[Zuzuzu (Are you finished?)]

“Yes!”

Number 26 responded with a lively wave as usual.

｢Now that my friend is dead, I will have a new friend to protect my family.｣

[Zuzuzu (new friend?)]

｢Yes. I can’t because I have other family. “I only ate a little to give it to my other friend.”

Listening to what he said, it seems like the energy that was dispersed earlier was mixed in the water and passed on to other Sea Demon entities.

People were saying that they should have just eaten it all without paying attention, but there was no need to say that even though it reached the middle of the monster’s tentacles.

Thanks to the Sea Demon and his consideration, a new monster will be born somewhere in this deep sea.

｢Friend’s work is done, so the big baby can eat.｣

[Zuzuzu zu (Is it okay?)]

A guy who lights up his body with positivity.

In this respect, number 26 is clearly different from humans. If it were a person, it would try to collect its friend’s body.

‘Are mourning the death of one’s compatriots separate from corpses?’

Clearly, No. 26’s appearance was closer to that of a highly intelligent wild animal with social skills than to a human.

I gently stroked him with my fighting arms. It seemed to feel good after being petted for the first time in a long time, and its body was shining.

I patted him once and looked at the Sea Demon’s corpse.

‘You can use the symbol of hunting, but…’

Due to the ‘Nightmare Horizon’ effect, the duration of the symbol of hunting has been increased to 20 minutes. This is enough time to eat the head of a Sea Demon that is nearly 50 meters long, but there is a problem.

‘You have to go upstairs and eat the Pale Mask.’

It took almost an hour to come down here. Even if one’s physical abilities are greatly improved due to the symbol effect of hunting, time is too short to reach the top.

‘Besides, I didn’t kill the Sea Demon.’

After crashing into the spaceship, he was unable to heal the wounds he suffered and died in agony. And it’s been a while since he died.

‘If you just eat it, the chances of gaining the trait are very low.’

Of course, due to the very low temperature due to the nature of the deep sea, the corpse itself has hardly decomposed, but since I did not kill it, the probability of predation is extremely low.

Even if I wear the symbol of hunting and eat it, any creature I did not kill myself is treated as the same as a genetic sample. Also, if you eat a sample while in the state of hunting, you will not be able to fully acquire the trait and will only receive 0.5 traits.

‘On the other hand, it’s not a pale mask.’

This is the trophy I hunted with my colleagues. If you use representations, you can get the characteristics close to 100% as you have done so far.

‘Let’s postpone the representation.’

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to eat the Sea Demon’s body like this.

Even if you use the symbol of hunting, the loss is greater than the benefit. Even if you eat the Sea Demon here and get a 0.5 attribute, it would be a disaster if you don’t get to the water in time and miss the Pale Mask.

‘The symbol of the hunt has a cooldown of one week, so it is impossible to eat it over time.’

The archipelago region we are in has a near subtropical climate. In just two days, let alone a week, the Pale Mask’s genetic essence will be completely damaged.

‘It’s unfortunate, but let’s just count this as nutritional supplementation.’

I approached the Sea Demon’s body and swung my fighting arms. I cut through the water and sank my sharp claws into the Sea Demon’s shell.

‘As expected, it’s solid.’

Despite its soft appearance, the Sea Demon’s outer skin is quite thick and strong. The durability is more than that of the Pale Mask, so if you bite into it like this, your teeth won’t get stuck. Until I gain the jaw or teeth-related traits, I have to use my arms to tear off meat and eat it.

‘Erosive tentacles are good for swallowing, but their cutting power is poor.’

Now is the time to use primitive methods. I used my sharp nails like a knife to cut into the Sea Demon’s corpse.

I wondered if No. 26 would feel uncomfortable, but he didn’t care at all what happened to the bodies of his compatriots. They just play around by tapping the thorns at the end of my tail with their fins.

After losing interest in him, I tore off a piece of Sea Demon’s flesh. No blood flowed. This is because he died a long time ago and has already solidified.

‘Once in a while.’

I put the piece of flesh in my mouth.

‘hmm.’

The meat of this terrifyingly powerful sea monster had a taste as amazing as its strength.

The texture itself resembled a jellyfish at first glance, so I thought it would taste like lamb skin or cold jellyfish, but it wasn’t. The flesh felt closer to salmon sashimi. Would you say it has a slightly oily taste compared to traditional salmon sashimi? Additionally, it had a fragrant scent similar to lime.

‘Overall, it feels luxurious.’

One thing that’s a bit disappointing is that it’s not as special as I expected.

Is it because it’s not a freshly caught sea demon? Other than the impressive tangy lime scent, it seemed like nothing more than a delicious meal.

With that in mind, I tore off other pieces of flesh and put them in my mouth.

‘hmm?’

The moment I ate that part, I had to admit that I had just made a very rash judgment.

‘The taste is different here again?’

Surprisingly, the taste of each part of the Sea Demon was very different. The meat from the part I just ate tasted exactly like snail soup. It was the same taste I had at the buffet when I was young.

What they have in common is that this area also smells like lime.

‘This is really interesting.’

I began to eat the Sea Demon’s meat with admiration.

Compared to the outer shell, the deeper you go inside, the deeper the taste.

It’s a shame that the blood has coagulated due to the passage of time since the person died, and the overall temperature is low, so the taste can’t be felt properly.

After a series of surprises, I was able to eat the entire head and brain of the Sea Demon, excluding the fins.

‘Tsk. It didn’t show up in the end.’

With the Essence Harvester’s Jaw effect, I can gain the same predation effect by eating just the head as if I were eating the entire body. Even though the whole head was eaten, there was no predation effect.

The conditions were so bad that I expected it wouldn’t happen, but it was still difficult to shake off all my disappointment.

[Zuzuzu (let’s go now)]

｢Don’t you want to eat any more?｣

[Zuzuzu (it’s okay)]

Parts of the body and fins were left behind without being eaten.

The meat I’ve already eaten alone far exceeds my body size. Any nutrients beyond this are unnecessary.

With that, No. 26 and I left the remains of the Sea Demon and set off again.

As we left, bubble amoebas glowed behind us to see us off. Number 26 said goodbye to them and swam by my side.

“It’s nice to be with a big baby.”

[Zuzu Zuzu (Me too)]

The size of No. 26 is much bigger than when I first met him, but just looking at the proportions, it feels similar to carrying him on my head.

Is it because I was swimming while thinking about the past? Even though I went back the way I came, I didn’t feel particularly bored.

After swimming for an hour, we were able to get back on the island.

What greeted us as soon as we came up was the corpse of Pale Mask, with about a fifth of its body missing. Next to him was the Mother of Heaven, lying down and straightening her hair.

“It took more time than I thought.”

Heavenly Mother looked at me and gave me a greeting. I turned my head and looked around.

[Zuuuuz (Aadhai?)]

｢I was lying down just a moment ago, but suddenly she ran over there.｣

A large rock in the direction she nodded. Aadhai was sensed hiding behind it.

You can feel his heartbeat through an accessory organ under his chin. Seeing that he is running wild, he is currently in fear.

‘Why are you acting like that all of a sudden?’

I didn’t know why it was doing that even though there was no danger, so I was looking for the cause when Aadhai’s thought wave touched my tentacle.

｢Adult｣｢Danger｣｣｢Escape｣｢Impossible｣｢Danger｣｢Danger｣｢Danger｣

[Zuzu zuzuzuzu zuzu zuzuzu (There is nothing dangerous here. What’s wrong?)]

｢Kind people｣｢This place｣Find Ohm｣｢I｣｢Adult｣｢Death｣｢Death｣｢Death｣ A

wave of thoughts that shakes uneasily. I thought for a moment and realized why Aadhai was scared.

‘Could it be because of No. 26?’

Number 26 may look cute, but it has absorbed enormous psychic power. Although it has not yet become a full-blown adult, it still has enough strength to fight against White Gallagon, a normal psychic creature, on its own.

Adha is very sensitive to psychic power. It would not be unreasonable to mistake No. 26 for White Gallagon or the next level, Black Gallagon.

Number 26, who was overhead, probably thought the same thing as me, and called Aadhai.

“Little baby! “It’s me.”

“Little adult?”

“I ate a lot and got stronger! So you don’t have to worry!”

After hearing that, Adhai stuck his head out from behind the rock.

｢Little Adult｣｢Right?｣

｢Yes.｣

After the conversation continued for a few more minutes, Adhai came out from behind the rock feeling relieved.

｢I｣｢Memory｣｢Little Adult｣｢Big｣｢Now｣｢Small｣｢Unintelligible｣

｢Now it can get bigger or it can get smaller. Isn’t it fascinating?」

“Me” “Amazing” “Amazing”