Chapter 418
‘….’
My head is complicated.
A changed ending mission, Amorph suddenly appearing, and even beings called ‘them’. These are all things that cannot be treated lightly.
That guy called the Information Agency didn’t provide any explanation that was really necessary for a topic that was chock-full of important information. The information itself is very small and fragmentary. It was difficult to infer anything based on this.
The only thing I could guarantee for sure was that the boss in charge of the ending trials had turned into a being similar to Amorph.
‘I’d like to catch you and ask you…’
To meet him, I have to go into a situation where my body is reorganized, that is, into a cocoon. And the only way to enter the cocoon is to fuse the unique characteristics.
‘I can’t create unique characteristics right now.’
Currently, the only attribute synthesis formulas I have unlocked are two. One of these requires the characteristics of Arcane Orca, so it cannot be synthesized yet.
The other one has gathered all the ingredients, but among them is ‘Harvester’s Maw’. Thanks to the harvester’s maw, I was able to enjoy the predation effect just by eating the enemy’s head.
One of the reasons I came here is to bring Arcane Orca’s body to Adhai. If you hunt Arcane Orca without Harvester’s Maw, you must give up one of the two. Either I don’t feast to save Aadhai, or I eat.
If you choose the latter, there is a very high possibility that the lives of Aadhai and the Gallagon group will be in danger. Finding a new Arcane Orca will take quite a bit of time.
The ideal scenario would be for the unique characteristic to inherit the effect of the material, but this cannot be expected. Because I have no idea what the result will be.
‘The only way left is….’
Going to Earth as the information body said.
He said there was a being on Earth who could answer my questions.
‘He’s probably a ranker who survived the strategy battle.’
There is one being that I can guess at the moment.
A human ranker who fought against the former boss, ‘Observant Shadow’. He fought his enemies by changing his body at will. Among the rankers I fought, there is one with the same ability.
‘Akira Eugene, CEO of Megacorp.’
Although they look completely different, the other person has the ability to transform. The appearance can be changed at any time.
‘…Damn, I should have caught it then.’
I felt fortunate to have obtained the Hiveformer, but I was wrong. Even if it was overkill, I should have eaten his real head. If so, it would have been a big help this time.
‘Whew.’
I shook my head to shake off my worries. Dried mucus and cocoon shells fell from my head.
It has already passed. There is no point in regretting it now.
‘Once this hunt is over, I’ll have to get ready to take him out.’
Entering the solar system directly is not a good idea.
The solar system, Megacorp’s core territory, has a very strong security level. The level of armament is so high that even a single crisis management team member uses plasma weapons and reinforced suits as standard equipment. Space fortresses are spread throughout the star system, and each fortress has a large fleet deployed.
‘If I lead the entire Gallagon group, I may be able to break through…’
Instead, it is clear that Gallagon will also suffer damage close to annihilation.
In that case, it would be better to lure Akira somewhere other than the solar system.
‘The problem is how to entice them.’
He was defeated by me several times in the game, and was defeated once in real life. If you try to use a foolish inducement, it will only increase your vigilance.
It would be better to gather information related to Akira and then make a plan to bring it out.
‘Come to think of it, Shino Group’s ranker might know something.’
Cartels named Sino are supported by the great powers. If you are a ranker who leads a group, there is a high possibility that you are also acquainted with the CEO of Megacorp.
‘There are more reasons to eat pirates.’
Their heads became necessary to collect information.
Anyway, I decided to think about what I saw in the fantasy and what to do next. Whatever it is, it’s something that can be resolved after hunting Arcane Orca.
‘How then…’
It is time to check out the newly acquired unique characteristics and changes in the body.
I wiped the mucus from around my eyes with my arm and then opened my eyes.
As soon as you open your eyes, you see white wing arms instead of a reddish black carapace. All tentacles created by the hiveformer effect were colored a dull white. The same was true for the carapace inside the tentacles.
‘what?’
It’s not just the color that has changed. The eye level is much lower than before entering the cocoon. The overall size of the body has decreased significantly.
The length from the tip of the middle head to the tip of the tail decreased to approximately 30 m. In addition, its two tails and three necks took up a large proportion, so its body length was less than 10 meters.
‘This is my first time being this small.’
To take a closer look, I stretched my arms and slightly raised my body.
When I stretched out my folded arms, I saw that they were much longer than I expected. It seems like each arm has an additional joint. Thanks to this, the length of the originally long wing arms exceeded 10 meters. The part that functioned as a leg before entering the cocoon also changed into the same shape as a fighting arm.
In contrast to the thin and long arms, the torso is short and thick. The back and carapace were abnormally swollen in order to store body organs related to such characteristics as tentacles and limbs.
Longer arms, still long and large neck and tail, and a relatively short and thick body compared to that. It has a body shape similar to that of a snow crab or a tarantula.
‘It seems similar to an octopus.’
The sight of tentacles similar to the color of fog fluttering all over the body was reminiscent of marine monsters that appear in horror novels.
「Grrrr?」
「Grrrrr」
Belatedly, both heads also woke up.
‘what?’
The moment the two heads raised their necks with a low growl, something strange caught my eye. Only the areas submerged in black mucus were stained black. The tentacles covered in black light continued to shake even if they were not conscious of it.
As if trying to imitate the appearance of liquid accumulating in a nest.
‘Is this the effect of this trait?’
After a while, the entire body changed to resemble the discolored area. It was such a perfect camouflage that I couldn’t recognize it even though it was my own body.
That’s not all. I lifted my arm and waved it around. The tentacles delicately swayed in sync with the movement, maintaining camouflage.
‘It’s not just about hiding.’
There are many types of characteristics that change the color of the body and camouflage it as an object. However, this is the first time I have seen a case where it is maintained even when moving the body as it is now. The hiding effect was so excellent that it even mimicked the shaking of the water surface.
The effect of maintaining camouflage while moving is a pretty good feature. It can be much more useful if combined with an attribute like ‘Dark Shroud’.
‘but….’
I felt a little disappointed.
The unique characteristics created using the transcendence system all showed unprecedented power. This camouflage ability is impressive enough, but compared to the characteristics previously obtained, it is boring.
‘There are pros and cons to the reduced size, so I’ll skip it. ‘Isn’t there anything else besides this?’
I haven’t checked the text box yet.
I was trying to check if there were any additional effects that I didn’t know about, when I suddenly heard the sound of water. MPS-03 is approaching.
Eventually, he stopped in front of my arm.
“cocoon. doesn’t exist? doesn’t exist?”
Even the mini screamer, which had replaced its eyes with a camera, did not recognize me right in front of it.
“search. necessary.”
It looked around for a moment and then started climbing my arm with its metal legs. It seems like they want to go up high and check it out.
‘How do I unlock this?’
Like the ‘protective color’ trait, it is not a trait that can be released by moving. I focused my senses on the moving bundle of tentacles.
Consciousness unfolds in an instant like a net thrown over the surface of the water. The moment the tip of the mentally woven spider web touched the tentacle, it turned white again and my stomach relaxed.
“Aimoff! discovery! discovery!”
MPS-03, which was climbing above me, was startled. I caught the mini screamer that was about to fall and placed it on the nest.
“End of growth? size. Reduced.”
“Yes, but I gained new powers instead.”
“Camouflage, interesting. “The principle is unknown.”
It nudged the tentacle with its metal leg. Some of the tentacles reacted, turning chrome and then returning to their original state.
“Are you here to check if the cocoon has awakened?”
“Positive. Middle baby, port. Waiting.”
It seems that the Mother of Heaven has already arrived here.
‘You came earlier than I thought.’
Before entering the cocoon, I told PS-111 to call Heavenly Mother here. Still, I didn’t expect it to come so quickly.
“I need to check something for a moment. “I’ll be there in a bit.”
“check.”
I sent him first and checked the text box.
「Scary Mimic: A wise predator knows how to take advantage of its prey. Gains an always-on camouflage effect. You can use the ‘metamorphosis organ’ to transform your body by taking advantage of powerful prey.
*’Metamorphosis organ’: Create a new part or organ by reanalyzing the marks left behind by powerful prey. Up to two tokens can be targeted. You must wait 30 days to change the applied certificate to another certificate.
*Caution: Once a certificate has been reanalyzed, it cannot be reanalyzed.
*PS: Selection and adaptation. “It’s another name for evolution.”
A text box that instantly caught my attention.
After reading what was written there, I could only nod my head.
‘…It can’t end so boringly.’
The unique characteristics created using the transcendence system always surprised me with their unconventional effects.
This time too, there was no exception.
“Watch next episode”