Ep. 174
「Some of the evolution conditions from ‘Semi-adult’ to ‘Adult’ have been met.
APEX 1/30 (not achieved) 」
‘Phew.’
I sighed when I saw the Ice Horror lying on the floor.
Although I succeeded in capturing one Apex, I didn’t feel very at ease.
‘It’s definitely difficult.’
Even in the game, Apex hunting wasn’t easy. If you look at the creatures classified as Apex in the first place, the only ones that are prominent are Gallagon and Sea Demon.
But it’s just a game. The death penalty in space survival is quite large, but it is not comparable to death in real life.
Fighting for your life is not as easy as you think.
‘It would have been difficult without them.’
Adhai, who had helped me in this fight, landed next to me. Number 26 and Heavenly Mother, who were riding on his back, also got off and came to my side.
All three were of great help in catching Ice Horror.
“Big baby, doesn’t it hurt? The big one got hurt a lot.”
[Zuzuzu zuzuzuzu (It’ll be okay after a while)]
Number 26, who returned to a small size, was worried about me first, as always.
「Force Enemy」「Hunting」「Success」
“…I never thought we would catch this.”
Adhaj climbed on top of the corpse and jumped around. The Heavenly Mother was looking at the corpse in disbelief.
[Zuz zuzu zuzu zuzuzu zuzu (Let’s all eat quickly. We don’t have time)] The
underground cavity we are in is barely holding on. Ice Horror and I are at loggerheads, so we never know when things might fall apart.
‘If this place collapses, it will affect the outside as well.’
It was clear that if this place collapsed, the ice plain above would also collapse, creating a huge sinkhole. Gallagons would also be suspicious if they saw the intact ice sheet collapse.
Besides, I don’t have much time left.
The duration of the symbol of hunting is 20 minutes. Since I spent most of my time fighting him, I only had about 5 minutes left.
After hearing what I said, Heavenly Mother looked at the cracked wall and nodded.
“surely. Looking at the wall, I can’t hold on for long.”
[Zuz, zu, zu, zuzu (Take out your heart first)]
“Okay.”
I picked up the priest’s golden spear submerged in blood and threw it at her. She easily received the spear and walked inside the wound I had made.
“You’re the middle child. I’ll help you.”
“…Thank you.”
While No. 26 and Heaven’s Mother entered the creature’s stomach, I prepared to eat Ice Horror’s head.
‘The shell is hard, so you can’t eat it straight.’
I opened its jaws and crawled inside. As I passed the sharp teeth and hard protrusions into the back of the throat, soft flesh greeted me.
All of the flesh surrounding my body is edible. I got down on my stomach and started tearing at the meat that was lying everywhere.
‘hmm.’
Because its carapace was so hard, I thought the meat would be tough, but surprisingly, it wasn’t. Even though half of his teeth were broken, the piece of flesh slid down his throat without much resistance.
However…
‘It’s spicy.’
Ice Horror’s meat boasted the spiciest taste of any food I had ever eaten. If Aimov had tear ducts, it would be enough to bring a little tear to his eye.
‘Is it because of the poison?’
The poison the Ice Horror spits out is much more powerful than the neurotoxin I possess. I wondered if this was the case in other parts as well, so I tasted the flesh deep inside.
‘It’s a little less here.’
From what I could see, only the area around the throat and esophagus where the venom glands were located was like this, other areas seemed to be fine. None of the creatures here are immune to poison.
So I think it will be okay, but I need to warn the kids just in case.
[Zuzuzu Zuzu Zuzuzuzu Zuzuzu (Be careful because the meat is poisonous)]
「Why was it so spicy, but was it because of the poison?」
The Mother of Heaven was eating the heart of the collected Ice Horror. Her appearance detected through auxiliary organs was in the form of a griffon. After tasting it in beastman mode, he realized that it was poisonous and transformed into a resistant griffon.
Currently, none of us are immune to poison. Number 26 and I have the highest tolerance, but the other two can eat Ice Horror meat as long as it is not in a dangerous area.
However, the spiciness did not work, and the waves and thoughts of No. 26 and Aadhai poured out indiscriminately.
“spicy! sick! It hurts, but it’s delicious!”
“Exhilarating” “New”
No. 26 seemed to keep eating even though it hurt, while Aadhai seemed happy to feel new sensations.
‘I’m glad everyone looks happy.’
To be honest, I wanted to see No. 26 eating spicy food, but I still have work left to do.
The entire head must be eaten before the symbol of the hunt is over.
‘What will come out this time?’
Since it was hundreds of meters long, its head was well over 20 meters. I ate half my body’s worth of meat at a furious pace.
As I started eating from the neck and worked my way up to where the brain was, Heavenly Mother called me.
“Come out for a moment when you finish eating.”
[Zuzuzu (What’s wrong?)]
“I found a screamer in its intestines.”
[Zu (What?)]
The moment I heard her words, I was shocked.
“don’t worry. “Because all that remains is the remains of the Screamer that has already stopped.”
Her next words reassured me slightly, but I was not yet completely relaxed.
[Zuzuz, zuzuzu, zuzuzu, zuzu (Do you think they are around?)]
“That’s probably not true. Looking at the state of corrosion, a considerable amount of time has passed. Almost 3 weeks.」
[Zuzzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzuzu (He was on the ship for 3 weeks?)]
「Looking at the remaining metal skeleton, it looks similar to the one we saw earlier.’
After hearing the story, I found out that the new, modified Screamers are in this basement. I think I’ve been in there too. Then they encountered the Ice Horror and were all wiped out.
‘Is the guy I saw in the forest on the ground the one who ran away from here?’
If you think about it, his condition didn’t seem that good even when we met. At the time, I thought it was because I was fighting Winter Walker, but maybe it was because I was chased by this guy.
‘I’m curious, but…’
For now, eating comes first. I told her I knew and resumed my predatory activities.
After speeding up and eating frantically, I was able to take off the guy’s head with exactly 10 seconds left.
and.
“Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired the ‘Giant Creature’ genetic essence.」
「Taken away the ‘Giant Creature’ among the creature characteristics of ‘Ice Horror’.」
「Can be fused with the existing ‘Bone Axe’.」
「’Giant Creature’ and ‘Bone’ The ‘axe’ characteristics are fused together. Evolve with the ‘Bone Beast’ trait! 」
「Bone Beast: Inherit and strengthen the existing giant creature traits. Once a week you can transform into a very powerful ‘Bone Beast’. The transformation lasts 60 minutes.
*Caution: Cannot be used with ‘Emble of Hunting’.
*PS: Exoskeletons are not exclusive to certain species.”
“A new message has arrived.”
With the arrival of a new message, the famous trait ‘Bone Beast’, loved by all Aimorph players, has arrived in my hands.
–
Jason of the Ashre tribe.
He was a cult figure with many nicknames.
A respected ‘priest’ of the empire and the ‘head of the Providence Sect’ who protects tradition. A ‘hero of national salvation’ who protected the capital city from attacks by Outspacers.
It was a fitting title for him, who ranked 10th.
However, recently his compatriots called him by adding one letter before the title.
The letter is ‘Jeon (前)’.
Due to a mistake he made not long ago, he went from being an object of envy to being a villain who shook the stability of the empire.
Actually, I was able to tolerate it up to that point. Although he is a cult in body, he is human in spirit. As long as we are human, we are bound to make mistakes.
But what truly drives him crazy is the very existence that contributed greatly to his downfall.
Ranking 5th place is Morph Park.
Whether in reality or in this world, he was the being that Jason hated the most.
The bad relationship between Jason and Moffak lasted quite a long time. Even in real life, I don’t know how many times I’ve developed new characters because of him.
The reason why he came to this world and worked so hard to stop Amorph’s seed is because he suffered a lot from Morphbak. Even though he knew that that action would hinder the completion of the quest.
Still, he survived. No, they didn’t just survive, they really fucked him up.
The day he heard the news that the imperial carrier and carrier battle group were destroyed, he realized.
The fact is that he won’t be able to sleep comfortably unless he stuffed Moffak’s head and hung it in his bedroom.
So, unlike his colleagues, he decided to take action himself.
One-of-a-kind equipment that can be obtained by clearing late-stage quests, loyal subordinates who follow him, and even a dedicated warship. We prepared thoroughly enough to be able to catch even an adult Amorph without difficulty.
That’s not all. There is even Black Gallagon, a semi-boss level creature supported by Akira Eugene. At this point, it seemed strange that I would lose to this guy unless I intentionally watched him.
Until he first set foot on the cold ice star, he was full of confidence that he would finally be able to kill Moffak.
However, that thought was shattered after encountering the Black Gallagon ‘Great Odd Grad’, introduced by Akira Yujin.
“Damn it! When on earth are you going to come out in person? “He’s not an opponent that a normal Gallagon can beat!”
Jason, wearing dragon armor made from gallagon, was screaming loudly in the vast cave.
He didn’t suddenly go crazy and scream alone. In front of him lay a very large being.
A black gallagon lying face down on various sparkling minerals. He was none other than the great Od Grad, the lord of the dragons that inhabited this planet.
「Od Grad」「I told you」「Important Great Work」「I see.」
Od Grad answered leisurely as he ate the food caught by the young gallagons. Seeing that carefree yet lazy appearance made Jason feel hot, but he barely suppressed it.
‘You stupid lizard! If you go directly to White Gallagon, you can immediately suppress him!’
When Jason arrived, Od Grad’s group was divided.
When gallagons grow older and become adults, or black gallagons, they gain the right to challenge the leader of the group.
For a long time, he was the only Black Gallagon in the Od Grad group, but there was a problem.
The female White Gallagon, who was second in line, had begun to take his place. Originally, it was common to become Black Gallagon and then challenge him, but the reason why this happened was because no new Black Gallagon came out after Odd Grad became the leader.
“If you just come forward, everything will be sorted out. Why are you delaying?”
「Od Grad」「Speak」「Traitors」「Gathering」「Waiting」
Currently, among the group, there were beings who were questioning why the adult Gallagon did not appear. They were protesting because they thought Od Grad, the only Black Gallagon, was up to something.
As Odd Grad had told Jason, he planned to use this opportunity to wipe out the Gallagons who opposed his reign. Pretending to stay in a cave was also intended to catch the enemy off guard.
But that’s the Gallagons’ situation.
To Jason, who knew that an unprecedented danger was approaching from the 5th place Aimoff Ranker, it was nothing more than a pathetic piece of politics.
‘When Amorph grows up, you’ll all be finished! ‘You stupid skink bastard!’
While Jason was cursing Od Grad in his mind, a Gallagon flew in from outside the cave.
Gallagon, with his white scales, folded his wings and bowed his head in front of Od Grad.
「I」「Great Od Grad」「What you said」「Report」
“What does that mean?”
「Od Grad」「I speak」「A lowly being」「What I want」「Young one」「I have found it」
“What? “Is that true?”
He called himself a lowly being, but Jason didn’t care. Rather than that, catching Amorph was more important right now.
「Od Grad」「Great Work」「Preparing」「Great Minister」「A lowly being」「Young one」「Follow me」 “
…I won’t go until the end, right?”
With those words, Odd Grad raised his front paw and waved it around. It meant that I had nothing more to say so I should leave.
Jason gritted his teeth as it looked like a king beckoning to his servants. He really didn’t like the idea of Akira Yujin’s pet coming out so arrogantly, but there was nothing he could do about it.
With Jason’s strength, he can kill Od Grad, but then he will have to fight all the Gallagons here. If they fight, Jason and the others will suffer tremendous damage.
‘After that, we’ll all be defeated individually by Moffak!’
There were many cases in the game where clan alliances were destroyed due to his outbursts. He had no intention of recreating what happened in the game in real life, so he left the cave without saying any more.
If the traitors are expelled anyway, the unlucky Black Gallagon will have no choice but to help him. Since it was Akira’s order, he also has a duty to help Jason.
However, there is too little time to wait for help from Od Grad. If Moffak is really on this planet, it is no exaggeration to say that they are in a very dangerous situation right now.
“Hey, the place I just told you about to that lizard bastard. “Guide us.”
「Understand」
So now you have to act first, even if you are on your own.
Jason headed to the camp where his men were located with White Gallagon.
–
I was lying in the nest concentrating on recovery when I opened my eyes.
‘I’m having a hard time sleeping these days.’
It’s not because of a nightmare or unresolved concerns like last time. This is because of the message I received after gorging on Ice Horror during the day.
After unlocking Transcendence Level 2, a new system called ‘Characteristic Enhancement’ was unlocked. At the time, I forgot about it because it was not activated even though it was unlocked, but it was activated today.
‘I never thought it would be such a system… huh?’
I was about to look into the trait enhancement system when my auxiliary organ detected movement.
There are no other creatures in the nest other than us. I quickly linked to the nest to check what the moving object was.
‘No. 26?’
This guy said he would go to bed early because he consumed a lot of energy during the day.
I thought it was because his lifestyle was messed up because he went to bed early, but his behavior was strange.
Number 26 came out of the nest and disappeared beyond the passage.
‘what?’
Normally, he rarely acts alone. Unless there is an urgent battle situation, he tells me everything he wants to do and what he wants to do.
It was clearly suspicious behavior for him to sneak out at night.
I got up and carefully followed behind him. He was so caught up in something that he didn’t even notice that I was following behind him.
It moved a considerable distance away from the nest and suddenly stopped in place. And then something started to come out of my body.
“Eat this.”
“PS-111. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to our newly registered Main Controllers for their dedication.”
I could no longer hide from the voice I heard in front of room 26. I quickly approached number 26.
“uh? Is it a big baby?」
[Zuzu Zuzu(What is that?)]
‘Oh, this is that.’
Number 26 was unusually hesitant, but I couldn’t pay attention to that fact.
A small object in front of him. It was very similar to the one I saw a while ago.
“PS-111. Unknown creature detected.”
It has mechanical parts and tubes attached to the face of a human woman.
It was a new Screamer with only the head remaining.