Ch.113Semi-Adult (1)

Deep within the central forest of Saintopia02 continent, there exists a place where electronic devices and communication equipment cannot be used.

This area is protected by powerful energy, making it impossible to observe from space or the sky. One must walk through the maze of the jungle to reach it.

The place is called the “Temple of Forgotten Land.”

Only the Father Land, whom the Volfs of Saintopia02 serve, should know the way to the Temple of Forgotten Land.

That should have been the case, but…

Those standing in the Temple of Forgotten Land now were not Volfs.

Broken statue fragments and corpses of humans and Cult members were scattered inside and outside the temple.

Inside the temple, a group was moving around collecting the bodies.

They were Cult members with horns on their heads and young humans, but they had something in common.

They were all extremely handsome and male.

These intruders were members of the powerful pirate group, Humanity Cartel.

While all the pirates looked tense and tired from cleaning up after the battle, there was one exception.

A Cult girl with deer antlers at her temples had a wide smile on her face. In her hand was a golden short spear.

“Hmm, there’s nothing sweeter than getting important items before others.”

A voice as beautiful as her appearance flowed from her mouth.

Her name was Muriel.

The leader of the Humanity Cartel.

As she examined the spear with satisfaction, a man approached her.

“Boss.”

“What is it, oppa?”

“We, we have some injured men.”

Her gaze turned to the pirates lying behind her subordinate. They had sustained serious injuries from fighting the statues guarding the temple.

“Oppas, are you in a lot of pain?”

“N-no!”

“I’m fine! Just a scratch!”

The injured pirates frantically insisted they were fine.

Muriel approached them and looked them over. Then she frowned.

“This oppa is too ugly to keep.”

“P-please spare me! Gack!”

“This one too.”

“Please… agh!”

Ignoring their pleas, Muriel stabbed and killed each pirate who was seriously injured or had facial wounds.

Strangely, the golden short spear became brighter with each pirate she killed. As if it was rejoicing after drinking blood.

“Thanks to you oppas, the experiment is a great success.”

She nodded with satisfaction as she looked at the spear that now shone brilliantly enough to illuminate the entire temple interior.

After killing all the injured, Muriel led her subordinates out of the temple.

Away from the temple was a temporary camp set up by the Humanity Cartel.

When she arrived, subordinates waiting at the camp came out to greet her.

“You’ve arrived?”

“What about the Sky Mother?”

“She’s being educated as you instructed.”

Muriel entered the camp with her subordinate. In the center of the camp was a 3m-sized beast bound with iron chains.

The condition of the beast, with an eagle’s head and a lioness’s body, was truly miserable.

Its entire body was covered with hardened blood scabs, and its wounds were so rotten that maggots were growing in them.

Thick iron stakes were driven into all four legs, and around its neck was an iron collar with spikes on the inside.

Moreover, its intestines, protruding from a wound in its side, were tied with thick wire connected to a wheel.

Muriel spoke to the beast, which looked like it could die at any moment, in a cheerful voice.

“Hey, Choi Seo… No, I mean Sky Mother. How have you been?”

「……」

When the beast called Sky Mother didn’t answer, Muriel nodded to one of the pirates. The pirate turned the wheel, causing the wire to pull and start dragging out the beast’s intestines.

「Kuaaaack! You fucking bitch!」

“When someone asks you a question, you should answer.”

「Kuuuu… s-stop!」

“I was trying to thank you for the treasure, but why are you ignoring me? Do you still think I’m a joke?”

「Aaaaaaah!」

In extreme pain as her intestines were torn, the Sky Mother even wet herself.

“Huhuhuh, it’s amazing that your transformation hasn’t been undone even after all this.”

「Uuuuu… you…」

“But I wonder how long you can hold out.”

As Muriel was sneering at the miserable sight, a subordinate approached with a terminal pad.

“Boss, urgent communication from the cruiser.”

“I’m busy right now.”

“They say it’s very urgent.”

“…Tch.”

Muriel reluctantly took the pad.

What was displayed on the pad screen were video recordings transmitted from cameras mounted on power suits.

–

‘Whew.’

After the aftereffects of the Hunting Aspect ended, I regained my senses and looked around. I was worried I might have gone outside the cave, but that hadn’t happened.

‘I ate a bit messily though.’

The cave walls and my body were covered in blood. My fingers had remnants of intestines hanging from them, and broken bone fragments and flesh were scattered on the floor.

‘Well, let’s prepare.’

After putting all the prepared prey into my stomach, I left the cave.

Just because all evolution conditions have been met doesn’t mean I can evolve right away.

An AMorph is most vulnerable when it’s in a cocoon during evolution.

If attacked then, I would die without being able to resist at all.

‘So far, it’s taken six hours to evolve.’

It will probably take a similar amount of time or longer to evolve into a Subadult.

To stay safe in this jungle for at least 6 hours, I need to prepare.

‘Let’s block the cave entrance first.’

I went outside and headed to a nearby pirate camp. Since I had already eaten all the pirates, no one was at the camp.

Everything in the camp remained intact, except for some boxes of Caloriba that had been taken by creatures like Wood Devils.

I grabbed a small bomb from the camp and returned to the cave to install it at the entrance. When I detonated the bomb, the cave entrance collapsed, plunging the interior into darkness.

‘Now let’s go.’

There’s a cavity inside the cave that’s wide enough for me to evolve without problems.

Following the wall deep into the inner cavity, I found a suitable spot.

「’Juvenile’->’Subadult’ evolution conditions have been met. Would you like to evolve?」

I’ve waited so long for this.

I responded to the text box waiting for my answer.

I would evolve.

Immediately, an enormous amount of mucus was secreted from my body. Feeling the stickiness all over, I lay down on the cool cave floor.

The mucus not only enveloped my entire body but spread throughout the cavity. Within the mucus, which was gradually hardening and forming an egg-like structure, I quietly closed my eyes.

And then.

‘Hmm?’

I opened my eyes in a familiar space.

‘Where is this?’

The place where I was standing was someone’s room.

A computer with a VR headset in the corner, classic sci-fi movie posters on the wall, a neatly arranged futon on the floor.

I knew what this space was.

‘My room?’

For a moment, I wondered if I had returned to reality, so I looked down at my palm.

What was there was the familiar hand of an AMorph. Only shrunk to human size.

‘What’s going on?’

It was too realistic to be a dream. The musty smell characteristic of a studio apartment and the kimchi stew smell flowing in from outside were too real to be fake.

I approached the computer and turned on the VR headset connected to it.

The screen displayed on the translucent visor inside the device was clearly the login screen for Space Survival.

‘This is different from when I evolved into a Juvenile.’

At that time, I guessed that the space I was in was an imaginary world. That made sense because the space itself felt unreal.

But now the boundary is very ambiguous.

Judging by the weight of the device in my hand, it was difficult to determine whether this was real or unreal.

I put down the VR headset and opened the door.

‘Huh?’

The moment I opened the door, I was standing in another space.

It was some kind of family home.

‘This is…’

A frame hanging in the entrance.

The picture in the frame was one I drew when I was in kindergarten.

As I went inside, I could see a middle-aged man and woman arguing in the living room.

Both had their faces painted over with black paint, and their voices were distorted like they had been modified by a machine, making them unintelligible.

They continued their argument as if they didn’t know I was in the same space.

‘……’

I passed by them and entered the innermost room.

A room with only a bed, desk, and closet. A space that feels more desolate than my studio apartment I saw earlier.

I approached the closet without even glancing at the bed and desk. And opened the doors with both hands.

“……”

Inside the closet was a child covering his ears.

Or more precisely, a child with burn scars on half of his face.

The child looked at me and opened his teary eyes wide.

I instinctively reached out toward the child. The child also extended his hand in the same posture as mine.

When our hands touched, the child’s expression changed.

The moment I recognized it as a smile.

The environment around me changed to deep darkness.

‘I’m back.’

I extended my “sixth arm” and tore the membrane covering my body.

The mucus that had filled the membrane spilled out, and the cold, stuffy air characteristic of the cave enveloped my body.

It was like the pleasant coolness after washing your body with warm water.

I used the strength in my “tail” to slowly raise my body.

Although I couldn’t see anything with my eyes because there was no light in the cave, I could feel it.

Because the auxiliary organs under my jaw, which had increased from 2 to 4, vividly conveyed the changes in my body.

‘So this is a Subadult.’

Hatchling resembling a spider or scorpion.

Morphlet and Juvenile similar to humans or primates, walking on two legs.

Then what animal would a Subadult resemble?

I would say a giant snake. A snake with 8 arms.

The newly transformed me no longer has anything that could be called legs. Since the arms that used to function as legs have been modified into new combat arms, the total number of my combat arms is now 6.

‘Upper arms, middle arms, lower arms, I guess.’

The combat arms are located near the shoulders, sides, and below the pelvis. With the legs turning into arms, the upper body has also become longer than before.

And my lower body, where the legs have disappeared, has been replaced by a tail as thick as a torso.

In other words, if I were to simply describe my current body, it would be similar to the half-human, half-snake monster Naga from Indian mythology.

One might think I’d be slower without legs, but that’s not the case.

From now on, movement is handled by the blunt claws densely arranged on my tail. The power of these tail claws is tremendous, allowing me to run much faster on land than before.

‘And it’s also useful when moving underground or swimming.’

Thanks to these changes, a Subadult can operate much more comfortably in a wider variety of environments than before. I can burrow into the ground for ambushes or pursue enemies who have escaped into water, and so on.

Additionally, since the tail has become an important means of movement and body support, it also has carapaces embedded like scales at the same level as the head.

Although the carapace is finely divided for free movement, its defensive power is not negligible. If I strike an enemy with my tail, it would probably have as much power as my full-force charge.

‘In the past, I killed many enemies by coiling this tail around them.’

Even the Swamp King I ate before evolving wouldn’t last a few minutes if I squeezed its carapace with this tail. Of course, it’s not stupid enough to let me coil around it easily.

As the overall body shape changed significantly, the shape of the ventral carapace, which had become massive due to the Nightmare Horizon effect, also changed slightly. The bulky and heavy ventral carapace has changed to a more elongated and less thick form to match the snake-like body shape.

‘Let’s see.’

From now on, I move not by walking on two legs but by supporting my body with my tail. I tried moving my tail as a test.

Ssssss

‘Oh?’

Honestly, I thought it would be difficult to adapt, but it was surprisingly easy. The sensation of moving the tail was similar to using core strength to bounce around.

‘By the way, I’ve grown quite large.’

My previous body length was 12m including the tail, and 20m when using the Hunting Aspect.

But now, perhaps because the role of the tail has become more important, the length has easily exceeded 25m even without using the Hunting Aspect.

There are other mutations that occurred upon becoming a Subadult, besides growing larger and having the lower body replaced by a tail.

「Grrrr」

I opened my mouth wide. The lower jaw split into two parts, allowing my mouth to open much wider than before.

Inside the bifurcated jaw were sharp teeth densely packed.

‘The tail is powerful, but…’

The true power of a Subadult lies in one particular characteristic newly acquired.

That is this jaw.

「Essence Harvester’s Jaw: You can trigger the predation effect by consuming only the head of targets with genetic essence.」

This means I can trigger the predation effect by eating just the head, not the entire corpse.

With the Essence Harvester’s Jaw, I can obtain genetic essence from enemies very quickly even during combat.

This means I can grow much faster than before.

‘This is why other players tried to kill Subadults by any means necessary.’

Now that I’ve confirmed all the changes, there’s no reason to stay in this cramped cave any longer.

I lowered my body and crawled toward the cave entrance.

The cave narrowed as I approached the entrance, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable. I moved by digging through the surrounding walls with my six combat arms.

After easily breaking through the collapsed entrance, I climbed up a nearby redwood.

By coiling my tail and pushing my body up while also using my combat arms, I climbed very quickly.

Ssssss

The best part is that it makes almost no sound.

Just as a snake moves silently, my movements were the same.

As proof, a Night Stalker lying on a branch didn’t realize I was right behind it. It was yawning, apparently bored while waiting for prey.

I quickly bit off its head with my split jaw.

“Kyung?!”

The headless body of the Night Stalker fell down.

‘There is no being on this continent that can check me.’

As a Subadult, predators like Horned Gigant or Swamp King are no match for me.

The pirate player is the only potential threat.

If she were gone, nothing could stop my evolution.

‘I’ll try talking first, but…’

If negotiations fail, she’ll have to face the consequences.

With her genetic essence.