Ch.138The Beast of Saigil 08 (1)

What is the strongest land creature on the Saintopia02 continent?

The distinguished scholars of the Cult unanimously declare:

The king of the swamps, ‘Gel Arma’, known in human language as the Swamp King.

Innate strong resistance to psychic power, nimble movements despite its size, hard carapace, high intelligence, and even the ability to neutralize protective gear. It possesses all the troublesome conditions that make it difficult for Cults to deal with.

If you ask whether its abilities alone are strong, that’s not the case. The swamp where the Swamp King lives is the most dangerous place on this continent. You must fight this powerful monster while enduring the swamp’s poison that penetrates even protective suits.

Any visitor in their right mind would never set foot in the swamp.

Fortunately, the Swamp King is a creature with extremely strong territorial instincts. This means it doesn’t care much about what happens outside its territory.

But now.

That common knowledge was being shattered by a mysterious visitor.

–

The Swamp King, sleeping deep inside the swamp, suddenly heard a sound.

Though it was the first time hearing this sound, its unique rhythm was somehow familiar. It resembled the sound made by the delicious prey it had fortunately caught and eaten when it was young.

The creature raised its four eyes, resembling bright flames, above the water’s surface to check its surroundings.

“■■me. Who ■ ■■■…”

Hearing that sound again, it became certain.

Delicious prey was wandering around its territory.

Normally, it would hide in the swamp and ambush approaching enemies, but not this time.

The highly intelligent Swamp King remembers. These prey never travel alone. This time too, they must be moving in groups.

It needed to go first and devour them all before other competitors could take them.

Deciding it was time to hunt for prey after a long while, the creature raised its massive body.

It clicked its pincers attached to the front of its body and followed the prey’s crying sound. Ten long legs diligently moved, stepping on the swamp bottom according to their owner’s will.

“Is anyone there!”

The sound came from not too far away. This time it was clearer than before. All four eyes turned toward the direction of the sound.

“Please… I don’t want to live like this!”

The sound was coming from an area full of rotten tree trunks. It was a place where the swamp water level was low, somewhere the heavy-bodied Swamp King rarely visited.

“Giiiiiii”

The creature hesitated briefly. It wondered if that prey was worth the risk.

After a few minutes, its legs began to move. The prey it remembered, those with four appendages, had tender flesh and were nutritionally rich.

Moreover, they had the habit of moving in groups of dozens. After one feast, it could comfortably sleep for about a month due to the high-calorie meal—it couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Every time its legs, over 10m long, moved, tree trunks were shattered.

As it led its heavy body forward, an open swamp appeared before it.

“Someone please kill me!”

There was the source of the crying sound.

However, its form was quite different from what the Swamp King remembered.

Originally, prey should have a body with four appendages attached below the head. But the prey in front of it now was somehow embedded in a dark purple tree trunk, with no body in sight.

“Gii?”

No, it thought it was a tree trunk, but that was wrong.

After all, tree trunks don’t move. On the tree half-buried in the swamp’s mud, sharp teeth and two white eyes were visible.

Moreover, beside that tree trunk, there were familiar objects.

“Eek! It’s here again! It’s here again!”

They were the corpses of Swamp Kings. Three corpses of its kind with their heads and internal organs hollowed out were piled up next to the tree trunk.

Only then did the Swamp King realize it had been lured by an unidentified enemy.

And then “it,” resembling a tree trunk, opened its mouth.

“That’s.Four.”

The Swamp King couldn’t understand the meaning, but it knew one thing.

That sound did not bode well for it.

–

‘This makes the fourth one.’

Despite its dull appearance, the Swamp King is a very intelligent animal. According to its setting, it never forgets the smell, movement, or sound of prey it has once remembered.

Then it probably remembers eating Cults that visited this planet. Surely it knows that Cults taste very good.

I decided to experiment using their high intelligence. With the “Human-Faced Beast” trait I acquired two days ago.

And my experiment was successful.

“You came! I did what you said, now kill me!”

The face attached to my back wails.

That face looks almost identical to the MCAE pilot I last devoured at the research base. Except for being a bit more pale-faced.

The parasitic organism trait of the original, Pale Mask, and the Human-Faced Beast trait applied to AMorph have completely different effects. The Human-Faced Beast on an AMorph’s body can’t use hypnotic waves or shock waves.

‘Instead, it has two effects.’

One is copying some habits and memories of high-intelligence beings I’ve eaten, like humans or Cults, as shown now.

Even if the predation effect doesn’t appear, the genetic essence of the target is stored in my body. And I use the acquired genes to create a Human-Faced Beast.

Similar to the mimicry organ, only the information of the last eaten being can be used to create a Human-Faced Beast, but there’s a difference.

While the mimicry organ uses pheromones to perfectly replicate the target’s pre-death state, the Human-Faced Beast copies the memories contained in the target’s genes.

Simply put, it’s like a cloned human with only the head remaining.

That’s why the face on my back can talk loudly as if it has its own consciousness. Needless to say, I have control over it, so I can silence it whenever necessary.

‘When mixed with the parasite colony, it’s quite helpful for espionage.’

The Human-Faced Beast trait can be well-utilized when information is needed. Although a significant portion of memories is lost when acquiring genes, most recent memories are preserved.

Thanks to this trait, I was able to complete preparations for the research base—that is, the spaceship—before returning to the continent. Once my cooldown ends, I can leave this planet on the spaceship anytime.

Anyway, in addition to the information acquisition function, the Human-Faced Beast has an effect directly related to combat.

‘Sound wave attack that paralyzes enemies.’

Pale Mask’s hypnotic wave has the ability to seal some of the enemy’s skills. Unlike that, the effect of my Human-Faced Beast is very intuitive.

It temporarily paralyzes enemies through sound waves. The paralysis time ranges from a few seconds to a few minutes. Even at its longest, it doesn’t exceed 5 minutes.

You might think it’s relatively short, but it’s not.

In a fight against a strong enemy, a technique that prevents them from taking any action for a few minutes is significant. It might seem similar to the psychic power technique “Bind,” but the Human-Faced Beast’s paralyzing sound wave attack completely ignores the opponent’s psychic resistance.

‘Though it doesn’t work on enemies without ears.’

Such enemies don’t exist here. Especially the crab-like monster in front of me, the Swamp King, has excellent hearing.

“Giiiii?”

Its four eyes wander. It must be confused. The body floating on the water’s surface is much smaller than itself, yet there are three corpses of its kind nearby.

‘It must be debating whether to flee or attack.’

Unlike it, I’m not particularly worried. Just as the previous three did, this one will make the same choice.

I waited leisurely, confident that it would charge at me.

“Giiiiiii”

And the choice it made was somewhere between attack and retreat. It summoned corpse eels to attack first.

White eels emerged from under its carapace and plopped into the swamp.

‘Clever.’

All three I’ve fought so far either charged straight in or turned and fled, but this one seems to be a relatively intelligent individual.

‘The corpse eels created by the Swamp King can attack ignoring defense.’

Although my carapace’s defense has increased dramatically since becoming a subadult, it’s useless against the digestive acid of corpse eels.

I responded by pulling out corrosive tentacles from my back, which was protruding above the swamp. Every time the long tentacles whipped the water’s surface, corpse eels turned into pieces of meat.

“Gi, giiiiii”

Seeing that I didn’t bring out other attack methods, the Swamp King seemed to think it had a chance. It approached me quickly, its body much larger than my upper body.

The two pincers attached to the front of its body clicked threateningly. It probably intended to tear off my head with those pincers.

But things wouldn’t go as it wished.

‘This should be enough.’

Judging that it had entered an appropriate distance, I initiated my true attack.

“No…keegiiiiii.”

The Human-Faced Beast under my control made a bizarre sound and opened its mouth wide. From inside its mouth, a second mouth in the shape of a vortex emerged.

Invisible sound waves were fired from this grotesque second mouth.

“Gii?!”

The Swamp King stopped in its tracks. It remained motionless with its pincers spread. After paralyzing it, I launched my second attack.

My lower body and tail, buried under the swamp, writhed greatly. My body, hidden underground, shattered the ground where the Swamp King stood and shot upward.

“Giiiiii?”

The Swamp King, as heavy as a Pale Mask, was momentarily lifted into the air after being hit by my tail. It barely managed to support its body with its rear legs, preventing it from flipping over.

But its posture was already compromised. My tail and lower body quickly wrapped around it.

Although the Swamp King is quite massive, it’s no match for my body. Even without using the Hunting Aspect, my body length exceeds 20m.

After wrapping my tail around its carapace once, I used the muscles in my waist to position my upper body above it. Then I grabbed all ten of its legs with my corrosive tentacles and combat arms.

“Giiiiii!”

The Swamp King’s leg carapace is very hard. Even as a subadult, methods to break its leg carapace are limited. Currently, the only way is to strengthen my body using the Hunting Aspect and then smash it.

But there’s no need to break the legs. I just need to immobilize them.

After confirming that I had firmly grasped its legs with my tentacles and arms, I began to tighten my tail around its ventral carapace.

“Giiiiii”

Among the Swamp King’s carapaces, the ventral carapace has the lowest physical defense. Realizing its life was in danger, it screamed and struck my back and tail with its pincers.

‘It’s useless.’

Previously, I would have sustained considerable injuries from this attack. In fact, when I charged at it using the Hunting Aspect during my juvenile stage, my arm on my back nearly broke because of its pincers.

But now I’m a subadult. This level of attack can’t inflict effective damage on me.

‘Though it still hurts.’

It’s bearable enough to endure. Ignoring its resistance, I applied force to my tail wrapped around its ventral carapace.

“Gi, giiiiii! Gi, gigikkk”

A cracking sound similar to a walnut shell breaking emanates from its ventral carapace. The panicked Swamp King screams. It probably never dreamed it would be crushed to death by a larger being in its lifetime.

It frantically struck me with its pincers like beating a drum, but it was insufficient to prevent the encroaching death. After a few minutes, its ventral carapace was completely crushed, and it died, spilling its internal organs.

It was a truly pathetic death for something called the king of the swamps. After confirming it had breathed its last, I unwrapped my body.

‘I hope it works this time.’

This is the fourth Swamp King hunt.

I came here to obtain materials for a nest-related fusion trait.

The others are in the nest I prepared in the forest.

The reason I’m hunting alone is that No. 26 is the only creature that can withstand the swamp’s poison. Adhigh and Sky Mother also have resistance to poison, but not high enough to pass through the swamp.

No. 26 has high enough resistance to swim through the swamp, but it’s not suitable for fighting the Swamp King. Although it has grown strong enough to be close to an adult C-Demon, it’s not enough to break the Swamp King’s psychic resistance.

With no one from my group able to come along, I had no choice but to hunt alone.

‘Please, this time.’

I’ve already collected corpses for each member of my group. If a predation effect appears from this one, especially if it’s a trait I need, today’s hunt is over.

I tore off the Swamp King’s ventral carapace and buried my head inside.

‘It tastes good, but…’

Chewing on meat with a flavor reminiscent of king crab is certainly enjoyable, but this is already the fourth time eating the same food. Even the most delicious dish becomes tiresome if you eat the same meal three times a day.

After forcing myself to eat about half, the text box I had been hoping for appeared.

“Predation Effect Activated! Successfully acquired Pincer Gene Essence.”

“Stole the trait ‘Pincer’ from ‘Swamp King’.”

“Apply ‘Pincer’?”

‘Ah.’

While the pincer is a very useful trait in combat, it wasn’t the result I wanted. I applied the trait with an internal sigh.

As the pincer trait was applied, the shape of the two arms attached to the bottom of my upper body changed. They became large and solid pincer hands like the Swamp King’s, though smaller in size.

These pincers also inherit the psychic resistance effect possessed by the Swamp King. Therefore, they apply cumulatively with my “Psychic Reflection Armor” trait. These pincer hands are probably the parts of my body with the highest psychic resistance.

‘Anti-psychic pincers.’

I clicked my newly formed pincer hands together, savoring the taste. Getting a predation effect on the fourth try was good news, but only half a success.

Unlike in the game, Swamp Kings aren’t infinitely generated here.

‘I wonder how many more Swamp Kings are left.’

At most, there might be two more. If they don’t yield what I need even after catching the remaining ones, I’ll have to consider eating other creatures to obtain fusion traits.

Since I’m looking for nest-related fusion traits as materials for Transcendence Stage 2, I don’t necessarily need to create a good trait.

Having modified my plan, I headed deeper into the swamp, grasping the Swamp King corpses I had secured so far with my corrosive tentacles.

And exactly 14 hours later.

I was finally able to obtain a nest-related fusion trait.

–

The “Judge of Damos08,” one of the Cult’s planetary purification weapons and mass-produced motherships.

The ship’s interior, usually as quiet as outer space, was now bustling with busy crew members rushing about.

“We depart in two days, everyone prepare!”

“How’s the psychic engine calibration coming along?”

“Calibration complete for operation in two days.”

“Carrier pilots who have completed simulation training, don’t forget maintenance work!”

“The fleet sent by the council says they want to participate in the purification implementation!”

“Grant them permission to join for now and tell the captains to come to the mothership’s office. I have something to say.”

“Understood!”

The captain watched the complex situation room with a satisfied expression.

Although all crew members were moving frantically, focused on their respective tasks, they had one thing in common. They all had vibrant expressions on their faces.

The captain had always found it regrettable that such talented individuals were stuck in this remote location, spending their time idly. Moreover, since they had voluntarily followed him, a war hero, he couldn’t help but feel more apologetic.

‘Tsk. After this purification is over, I should visit the capital.’

He was here because he was fed up with the council’s political machinations, but his subordinates were not. Letting the empire’s talents rot in such a place was nothing short of a crime against the empire.

‘I hear the Priest of the Providence faction is said to be intelligent. Should I seek him out?’

As the captain recalled, the Providence faction was just an old faction with little significance until the Priest appeared. The hegemonism advocated by the Providence faction was an ideology that didn’t consider the emerging powers of the universe like Megacorp or Star Union, making it difficult to gain support.

Rather, the Innovation faction, which emphasized interaction and enlightenment with intelligent beings, was much stronger.

All that changed with the appearance of one Cult royal. He instantly made the Providence faction the top faction in the council. Looking at just this, one might think he was a Cult good only at politics, but surprisingly, he also had outstanding military talent.

He was unanimously appointed as Priest by the council for brilliantly defending against the Outspacer invasion.

The captain, with his not insignificant experience leading Imperial Motherships, knew how capable the young Priest was.

‘Though there are rumors about his poor relationships with women.’

There were rumors circulating about him sexually abusing female slaves, but the captain didn’t believe them. It’s natural for successful individuals to be envied.

‘…Hmm. Still, just in case, maybe I should go down and look for slaves before starting the operation.’

A few days ago, the captain researched information about Psygil08. On one continent of that planet, Volfs maintaining a primitive level of civilization live.

If the rumors about the Priest are true, female Volfs would make a good gift to win his favor.

‘They’ll all die anyway once the purification operation begins.’

Perhaps becoming slaves would be salvation for them. Their civilization would be extinguished, but isn’t living better than dying?

‘I should tell my aide.’

The captain pondered how to win the Priest’s favor until the captains of the support fleet arrived.