I Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 183

Ep. 183

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The player group that Jason belonged to was a group that viewed everyone except themselves as NPCs.

Although their tendencies were similar to those of the group whose goal was to clear the game, there was one important difference.

They had no great interest in leaving this world. Unlike the real world, here they were kings and mythical beings themselves.

Jason was a person who lived a healthy life in real life, but that didn’t mean he was more satisfied with his life than here. Other than that, the situation was somewhat similar for the others.

In that respect, it can be said to be similar to players who have chosen to live assimilated into the space survival world.

Of course, what Jason’s group wanted was not assimilation but domination.

And Jason got off to a particularly good start in the group. Luckily, he was able to adapt to this world very smoothly thanks to being part of the Staghorn Cult, which can be considered the nobility of cult society.

Not only that, but he also had the privilege of boasting excellent synergy with the cult.

People around him support him, and his own power goes beyond the limits of the cult. Naturally, self-consciousness is bound to become stronger than necessary.

After learning that this was a space survival world, he literally lived like the main character in a comic or novel.

Just like collecting unique characters in a game, you made useful NPCs your own and eliminated everything that stood in your way.

Sometimes, when I see a girl I like, I use a mind control technique like ‘Ultra Control’. Because of this, he had over 20 ‘lovers’ within the empire. There were so many slaves that it was difficult to count the number of slaves who were not even treated as lovers.

To him, this world is a playground within a game. Except for my group mates, the rest were just toys. When I got tired of the toy, I handed it over to Chloe or Zubaka to use it as experiment material.

A tyrant who views even his own people as slaves rather than equal human beings. That was the essence of Jason.

In fact, this life was disproving the fact that the person who seemed to have everything was actually a very lonely person, but he did not know it.

Anyway, is it because I have lived without any deficiency for a long time? Jason was very unhappy with the painful reality that had been coming to him recently.

Moreover, the person who encouraged this situation was Moff Park, whom he hated the most.

He killed his 17th lover with his own hands, and the temple guardians he had raised and cared for were buried alive.

While he is diligently blocking the collapsing ceiling, his appearance is changing. Gray bones and carapace are sprouting on the body of the all-black swordsman, and the body itself is growing at a rapid rate.

The name of that talent is ‘Bone Beast.’ It is one of the combat characteristics that Morphbak likes to use in the game.

Having fought it many times, he knows how dangerous that trait is.

‘I can’t do this.’

It might be hard to handle being dragged around by Mop Park any longer. He decided to use his ‘third privilege’.

Four years ago, there was an incident in the cult community known as the Vortex One cult purge operation. Although it was known externally as such, in reality it was a war between players.

Jason and Chloe Cynthia worked together to successfully hunt down the Cold Blood Ranker, and in the process, Jason gained new perks.

‘It’s a bit early, but…’

Jason activated the third perk, using reflection to block falling rocks and ice.

Then, something like a golden translucent shadow appeared behind him.

The golden figure had deer antlers sprouting from its head, making it look like it was wearing a fancy crown. Gold energy particles continued to flutter around the arm, making it look like a hem of clothes. There was no separate lower body underneath, but instead it was connected to Jason’s spine.

The head of the all-golden figure had a single purple eye. When that single eye looked at the temple guardians being controlled, something strange happened.

The cult members’ bodies turned into golden particles and merged with the golden shapes.

The golden figure that absorbed all 11 cult members became much more vivid than before. As Jason raised his arms up, the golden figure did the same.

And their bodies rose upward with a tremendous light.

–

‘What did you just do?’

While my body was changing, my auxiliary organs caught an abnormal phenomenon.

It was the first type of energy I felt since coming to this world. It resembles psychic power, but feels much more concentrated.

The enemy player used that power to break through the collapsing cavity head on. He flew upward through the ceiling, leaving me alone in the basement.

‘I can’t feel the movement of other cults.’

Before the player left, a mysterious energy absorbed all the psychic power around him. It was easy to guess what happened to them, as there was no sense of cult-specific energy.

‘The ability to absorb energy?’

It’s not that such creatures don’t exist, but it’s not something a cult can do. It was clear that means unknown to me were used.

‘I didn’t see any equipment that I didn’t know about.’

The equipment the player wore was a dragon slayer set that could be obtained as a quest reward. Other than that, no other equipment was detected.

‘I’ll have to go out and see for myself for more details.’

It is dangerous to fight carelessly when there is insufficient information about the enemy. This is even more so if the opponent is a strong enemy.

Aside from his bullish demeanor, the player seemed to be skilled at using psychic power techniques. The perks that only players receive seem to be very powerful.

‘…Still, this fight cannot be avoided.’

He is the one who came to this remote planet after me. Even if you run away, they will chase you somehow.

‘So let’s handle it here.’

After completing my transformation, I began to break through the piled up chunks of ice with my arms, which were overwhelmingly larger than before.

The ice chunks that seemed infinitely large before activating the Bone Beast now looked like snowballs held by a child. Even Ice Horror’s bones, which were big enough to cover my body, no longer gave me that overwhelming feeling.

Of course. Because my body was almost 100 meters long. It’s not just the size that’s gotten longer. The thickness of the carapace that covers the body and the size of the dense synthetic scales have also increased.

In addition, my body was double-covered with a carapace made of the same material as the bones. A gray exoskeleton-like carapace was covering and protecting my black carapace.

The gray exoskeleton was studded with bone spikes resembling scythes, so it looked quite threatening to me.

To briefly summarize my appearance, it is safe to say that it is the existing Aimorph wearing an exoskeleton armor made of animal bones.

‘It grew in size from there.’

It had an appearance that could be called a truly gigantic monster. I’ve seen this bone beast countless times in games, but this feeling I felt with my own body was definitely new.

‘I’d like to take a closer look.’

Ahead of this is a fight against a powerful enemy.

I climbed upward, breaking the ice and rocks. The blunt bone spines that protruded from various parts of the body functioned as picks or shovels, making it easy to dig through the ice.

I came up onto the ice plain at a much faster speed than when I came down.

When I came outside, there were a lot of gray clouds in the sky. The snow field I stepped on could no longer be called an ice plain. This is because the middle is sunken, creating a sharp curve.

A pile of snow and ice full of twists and turns. And there was a thing under the dark sky.

A player with a strange-looking golden figure hanging on his back. He was waiting for me.

‘Is that it?’

What catches my attention is not the player himself, but that strange entity on his back.

Made of golden particles, it seemed like an intangible shadow, yet somehow felt three-dimensional. Thanks to Aimorph’s uniquely developed senses, he was able to see that it was forming a single entity through extreme concentration of energy.

The golden figure’s body itself was similar to that of the player, but the deer antlers protruding from its temples were intertwined, making it look like it was wearing a laurel wreath.

There was nothing on his face other than his single eye, which glowed vividly in purple. Around the arm, the particles swayed like a haze, giving the appearance of wearing long silk.

‘It seems like a summoning-related skill.’

In space survival, ‘summoning technique’, contrary to the word, is actually closer to the possession or descent of a high-dimensional being. Coldblood or heretic cults following the Vortex One cult route can draw on the power of Vortex One.

‘If it were to be materialized to that level, the price would be enormous.’

Summoning is an extremely high-risk, high-return technique, so it is difficult to use. The opposing player is glaring at me as if he’s going to kill me, but it doesn’t look like he paid a huge price to summon that being.

‘Is it an effect of the equipment? Or…’

Is it due to special abilities?

Either way, it looks unusual.

‘…I guess he had some tricks up his sleeve.’

Even when I used God’s whip, he seemed relaxed. He probably decided that he was confident.

‘Generally, summoned objects that are integrated with the user cannot move independently.’

It is likely that it is a type specialized for assisting cult combat or a summon specialized in long-distance combat. Maybe it’s both.

That’s not the only problem.

The golden shape was foreign, so attention was focused on it, but the dragon slayer set he was carrying was also a difficult weapon to deal with.

For example, that black armor that protects its body. This armor is made from Black Gallagon’s scales and leather, so it has considerable defensive power.

Although it is evaluated as one level lower than Ice Horror’s Carapace, it is great to be compared to someone with extremely high defense in the first place.

‘Right now I don’t have the means to destroy that armor in one blow.’

It might be a symbol of hunting or a body strengthened using the king of bone beasts and monsters.

Also, the dragon slayer set includes not only armor.

The player who was glaring at me pulled out a silver stick from his belt. The golden figure also imitated pulling something out from around its waist, just like the bastard.

In that state, he grabbed the stick and pressed down with his thumb, and black flames spewed out from the end of the stick. The burning black flame gradually died down and was refined into a thin sword shape.

The weapon that resembles that torch is ‘Purification’, a weapon part from the Dragon Slayer set. It is a device inspired by the space weapon that appears in the space opera movie that was famous before I was born.

I wish it would end there, but it’s no different.

The golden arm behind him changed into a weapon similar to Jeonghwa.

The guy who drew his weapon swung his sword diagonally in my direction. The golden figure also moved exactly like the player. Then the sword with the shape stretched out and flew in to cut me.

‘Tch!’

I quickly turned around and dodged the attack. Sword energy flying in the form of golden particles grazed the upper arm of my upper fighting arm.

As it became a bone beast, its double-covered carapace was cut off very cleanly. The sword energy did not stop even after cutting me, but flew backwards for a long time.

After dodging the first attack, I rushed towards him.

Every time I stomped on the ground with my fighting arms, pieces of snow and ice flew upward. A tsunami of snow and ice created by the movement of a 100m large figure hit me and the player.

‘How do you plan to respond?’

Is it reflection or another psychic power technique?

But the cult player did something completely different from what I expected.

No, not him to be exact, but the golden figure behind him.

‘Ugh?!’

I felt an eerie feeling for a moment from the monster’s tentacles on the back of my head, and immediately lowered my head forward. Then a golden arm shaped like a whip passed over my head.

I lowered my head as if I was falling forward and, in that position, vomited acidic fungus toward the spot where he was standing.

The green fungus flying between the snow and ice was blocked by a golden shield that radiated brilliant light.

Beyond the scattering snowstorm, I saw a golden figure holding a sword and shield, protecting the player. The cult player, protected by the summon, was looking at me with the corners of his mouth raised.

‘…indeed.’

I don’t think it will be easy to fight him.