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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 462
The hallucination after so long was surprisingly brief. At least, that's how it felt though in real time, a considerable amount may have passed.
‘What was that scene at the end?’
The faceless woman, and the child she held in her arms. I had never seen either of them, yet somehow they felt familiar.
‘And that last thing she said…’
Just before waking from the illusion, the woman said something. It seemed important, but I can’t recall it. My mind is hazy, like trying to force myself to remember a half-forgotten dream.
What’s odd is that, while I have no memory of what was said, the feeling I had when I heard it remains vivid.
It was a clear sense of closeness. Even now, just awakened from the cocoon, residual feelings about them linger.
As if someone had secretly implanted those emotions in me.
‘Could it have been the work of the information function entity?’
It's possible. Instead of appearing directly, maybe it was trying to communicate something.
‘Though I have no idea what it was trying to say.’
These hallucinations were always difficult to understand, but this one was more inscrutable than usual.
‘No leads at all. There’s no point in dwelling on it further.’
It seems I’ll need to wait for my next evolution. Maybe then, if I hallucinate again, I’ll get a new clue.
‘For now, I should check what’s changed about my body.’
Cutting off pointless thoughts, I examined my transformed form.
‘My shape’s changed a lot.’
My skin and carapace were still a pale white, but my physique had completely altered. I was almost like an entirely different species.
The once snake-like body had shortened and grown wider. Except for the tail, my torso was as short as my head.
Unlike the shrunken torso, my neck, which supports three heads, had grown much thicker.
｢Grrr?｣
｢Grr｣
The two freshly awakened heads smacked their lips. Looking beneath their jaws, I saw large sacs attached.
Likewise, a sac had appeared under the central head too. Formed from patched-together small carapace plates, it extended down from my jaw, past my neck, and along my torso.
‘It’s like a pelican’s pouch.’
I examined my throat pouch, and gently inhaled a bit of air.
It puffed up slightly. The carapace plates clicked together.
‘Is this an organ for storing food?’
The pouch connected to the mouth; when I ate something, it flowed in here as well.
‘So it’s a storage organ.’
Being able to store food for later is an advantage, except that it’s almost excessively large.
‘It also seems weak defensively.’
With the pouch’s formation, the carapace that once protected my chest and abdomen was gone.
Even if the pouch is tough, it’s surely not as sturdy as thick carapace. My defenses are definitely lower now.
‘Still, there’s some improvements too.’
Apart from the change in shape and the new throat pouch, the biggest difference was my arms. Former vestigial battle arms had grown much larger.
‘But can I even call these arms?’
I put strength into the arms no, tentacles sprawled on the floor. Six thick, long tentacles, reminiscent of tree trunks, slowly moved at my will.
Aside from a small pair at the chest, all my former battle arms had turned into tentacles. At each tip were four fingers ending in sharp claws.
I curled one tentacle and flexed the fingers.
‘Similar to my erosive tentacles, but feels different.’
Comparing how they move, these are easier and more natural to control.
The erosive tentacles feel awkward, like intricately manipulating wing bones. But these are closer in sensation to moving arms or legs.
‘At least it’s not difficult.’
Just as I felt relieved, one testing tentacle smashed through some test tubes and punched right through the wall.
‘…Clearly I’ll need to get better at using them.’
Even if they’re not as tricky as the erosive tentacles, these new tentacle-arms are still hard to control. I’ll need some time to get proficient.
The last major change was the tail. After getting the "Twisted Abomination" applied, the pincer that was previously sealed by a taboo had returned.
Amid the tentacles sprawled on the floor, my right tail now ended in a hefty claw. On the left, I saw the ‘Black Glutton Cannon’ mounted.
‘They look longer…’
Maybe they just look large compared to my shrunken body, but in reality, they haven’t grown much longer. The tails are about 15 meters long, shorter than my erosive and tentacle arms.
‘That’s about it for major changes.’
Big transformations were always the norm when fusing unique traits, but this one was pretty extreme.
A body even shorter than my head, a massive throat pouch, six erosive tentacles, six tentacle-arms, and two long tails dangling down.
How can I even describe this form? With all these limbs right under the heads, it’s almost like a cephalopod.
‘A giant octopus monster, several dozen meters long.’
It brings to mind the eldritch gods of classic horror stories a giant with an octopus head and bat wings.
Of course, my overall shape is only octopus-like; my heads haven’t changed into anything like that.
Multiple horns, bio-pipes, monstrous tentacles, and the auxiliary parts below my jaws all the same.
‘My body color’s different, and I don’t have wings, either.’
Unlike its clawed tail, the wings and arms did not return. The bindings that had been placed earlier were not completely released.
I’ll have to check the text box directly to confirm this.
‘Wait a moment.’
As I tried to check the changed text box, something felt off. It was like I had forgotten something important.
‘What was it… Ah.’
I realized why I felt this way.
‘Parasite signal.’
On this planet Nox, where the secret base is located, there was a human infected intentionally for safe infiltration. When coming down here, the infected were left in the floating city on the water’s surface.
But the parasite that should be on the infected’s head is not detected.
That means the host is dead.
And that’s not the only problem.
I am not the only one at this secret deep-sea base. The others came with me this time.
Just now, the noise from smashing the wall with my tentacle arms was loud. At least Number 26 and Adhai should have rushed over immediately.
But there was no sound at all. It was as if no one was here.
[ZZZ (Hey, guys?)]
｢Grrr｣
｢Grrk｣
The wave generated by the monster’s tentacles spread outside the laboratory. No answer returned.
‘Could it be?’
Everyone knows that I become very weak when inside the cocoon.
Even knowing that, the fact they left me behind means they must have had a good reason.
The others aren’t here, and the infected who should be above water is dead.
What these two things mean is obvious.
‘Someone tried to enter this planet, this secret base.’
They must have detected it and gone to intercept the enemy. By now, a fierce battle must be raging up there.
‘Now isn’t the time to waste.’
Only a select few would come looking for the secret base on Nox.
The leadership of Prime Capital Edgerton, or the ranking elites of the Dominion faction.
‘If it’s the former, that’s better; if the latter, it’s dangerous.’
Rankers can create various unexpected variables. I have to get to where they are as fast as possible.
The bio-pipes on my head, which received my command, began emitting an energy field.
An invisible, intangible energy field spread across the floor, supporting my massive body. The tangled tentacles and the lab’s debris floated in midair.
If not for the emergency, I would have turned back the way I came, but there’s no time.
‘Let’s break through as is.’
I can guess why the enemy wants to come here. They want to recover the genetic samples and research data stored in the base.
All the former is already inside me, but the latter remains.
‘Better to destroy it than let them get their hands on it.’
PS-111 must have backed up important data.
I released the energy field while preparing my psychic breath.
The white tentacles floating as if swimming in the energy field darkened to purple. A purple psychic power flowed like a river, gathering beneath the carapace of my head.
｢Grrr｣
｢Grr｣
The left and right heads did the same. In the dark center of the lab, three purple suns rose.
All the monster’s tentacles shining brightly under each head pointed their tips upward at once.
Then, they released all the power they had stored.
A purple flash lit up as the ashen ceiling vanished. The concentrated force, my psychic breath, crushed every obstacle ahead into dust as it surged forward.
Soon, a roaring sound echoed through the base, shaking the building violently. The entire base was rapidly collapsing due to pressure changes and incoming seawater. I slipped through the hole I had made and escaped outside.
Leaving the crumbling secret base behind, I cut through the water’s flow using my twelve tentacles and tail fin.
How long had I been out? A faint light spread around. I swam upward with all my strength and reached the surface far faster than when I descended.
When my head broke the surface, the dark sky greeted me. On the black canvas-like sky, blinking lights flickered and vanished.
‘The battle’s still raging, after all.’
I rose out of the sea and soared toward the sky.
The infinite space as dark as the deep sea quickly approached.
Wreckage of broken warships drifted in space. Some passed by me and crashed onto the water-covered planet.
‘Has a Megacorp Ranker come?’
They had to arrive just as I infiltrated the base. If the timing had been even slightly off, it could have been dangerous.
‘Where are the others?’
I looked around.
In the middle of the battlefield where green plasma heat rays rained down, a figure shone red alone. Adhai, clad in her Red Armor. She fought fiercely between the ships, taking on enemies one after another.
Not far from her was Number 26, the Sea Demon, transformed into battle mode. It wrapped PS-111 and Isabel in its fins while swiping approaching ships with its tentacles.
‘Huh? What’s that?’
Among the enemies, there were some ships that weren’t Megacorp’s. Monsters with biological cannons on their backs, or terrible claws and teeth, swooped on nearby ships.
Outspacers, Megacorps, and the kids, all three factions were tangled in a chaotic brawl.
‘What is going on?’
Megacorps I can understand, but Outspacers coming here?
Their 4th-ranked master is an extremely cautious person. He never launches an offensive unless things go his way.
Before coming to Nox, I killed the parasites he had planted in the gateway city of the star system.
So I assumed they wouldn’t enter for a while. This is unexpected.
‘No. Worries can wait.’
Right now, joining up with the kids is a priority.
As I flew toward where they were, something strange happened.
The space where Adhai had been shimmered like a heat haze. A being who detected it slightly later accelerated like lightning. Right after, the entire space folded up like crumpled paper.
Adhai barely escaped, but the ones chasing her did not.
A long warship’s middle section vanished without a trace, splitting it in half, and smaller destroyers lost either their front or rear sections cleanly.
It looked as if invisible scissors had cut those parts out.
On the other hand, the Outspacers caught between the fleets were all unharmed. Some of them attacked the surviving ships, while the rest retreated to the rear.
In the place the monsters had withdrawn from, there stood a bizarre being.
It had countless black wings, an image resembling an angel from religious scriptures.
Of course, this is no angel. If this is the being I know, it’s quite the opposite.
‘…Why the hell is that here?’
Its name is ‘Wings of the Heavens’.
One of the two creatures possessing large-scale teleportation abilities in Space Survival, it’s a Vortex One that controls space.
A powerful cosmic demon now moves alongside the Outspacer mob.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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