Ch.149149. Mechanical Armored Insect

The form had evolved a bit from its caterpillar state. It wasn’t quite like a pupa transforming, but there were definitely changes to the caterpillar’s body.

It was only natural that Park Tae-sang was struggling. After all, he couldn’t attack freely because of the hostages, not because of the monster itself.

‘Oh Chang-min. I’ll definitely save you!’

In front of him, several brainwashed individuals were facing the giant caterpillar.

The caterpillar had grotesquely sprouted numerous legs, while spines and tentacles chaotically waved about on its body.

The direction of its evolution was completely unpredictable.

Park Tae-sang gripped his horn flute and began to aim his sound.

But suddenly Oh Chang-min rushed to his side and thrust his sword.

“Hmm! Still clumsy! Oh Chang-min! You need to learn more!”

Park Tae-sang easily blocked the attack, but soon other caterpillars were dropping from above.

He dodged.

But the giant caterpillar seized the opportunity to attack with its long tentacles.

“Hmm!”

Park Tae-sang’s horn flute sounded once, and the attack scattered strange powder right in front of him.

“This is…”

In an instant, his body began to stiffen.

‘Poison, huh.’

He could endure it, but the enemies were attacking relentlessly without giving him a moment to rest.

“Jung Ha-ru! Where are you?”

[The caterpillars have become more ferocious! Should I rush over there myself?]

Hearing the voice from the radio, Park Tae-sang quickly scanned his surroundings.

“I’m enough on my own. The ground here has become a mess. Prioritize rescuing people.”

Park Tae-sang was on the verge of unleashing his priest powers.

“As expected, these monsters are getting stronger the further we go!”

The moment Park Tae-sang transformed into a priest, three brainwashed humans in front of him suddenly collapsed.

The caterpillars rushing toward him all burst according to his rhythm, and even the giant caterpillar’s tentacles were shattered.

It began to regenerate with powerful force, but the tide of battle had already turned. If only there weren’t hostages.

“Aaaagh!”

Park Tae-sang could hear screams coming from all directions.

Including the voices of his guild members.

“Oh Chang-min! Lee Seok-hee!”

The moment Park Tae-sang turned his head, powder was sprayed again.

Of course, this wasn’t much of a problem for Park Tae-sang in his priest form.

What he saw was the caterpillars reversely draining energy.

But with his hands full protecting Oh Chang-min and Lee Seok-hee, he was caught off guard.

“These bastards…”

Oh Chang-min had thrust his sword at his abdomen. Of course, he blocked it.

It was just that, amid the attacks from his brainwashed subordinates and his own urgency, he was hit by the caterpillar’s absorption attack.

“Ugh!”

He tried to break free immediately, but this time Lee Seok-hee blocked his way.

He couldn’t kill them. Park Tae-sang gritted his teeth and settled for knocking his subordinates unconscious.

‘So this is how it moves? It’s more intelligent than ordinary monsters?’

And then Park Tae-sang heard a bizarre sound. Something was cracking from the caterpillar’s direction.

“Hey, at least transform into a pupa.”

As Park Tae-sang laughed incredulously, the insect that had absorbed energy finally began to evolve.

It had absorbed the energy of Park Tae-sang, who possessed the power of a priest. It began to change more rapidly than anything else.

Two massive wings spread from the caterpillar’s body like a beautiful butterfly.

The chaotic tentacles and spines reduced to long, arm-like tentacles and spines on its back and body.

It had finished organizing itself.

Then it immediately flew up and scattered powder. This powder was incomparable to what came before.

It was even effective against Park Tae-sang.

The tingling sensation in his limbs was something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Of course, even at this moment, Park Tae-sang could have caught the monster. He just didn’t have time.

“Arrrgh!”

Oh Chang-min and Lee Seok-hee screamed, and screams echoed from all around.

Their limbs were contorting as they groaned in pain.

“No!”

The debuff was so powerful it was causing people pain.

And not just that, but the surrounding area too.

‘Damn it, if it weren’t for that thing, I could save them right away.’

Ten hands wouldn’t be enough. That saying came to mind.

As the monster went on the offensive, Park Tae-sang had to both rescue and fight.

While evacuation was the priority, that butterfly monster was incredibly dangerous right now.

With allies in danger every moment, Park Tae-sang desperately began rescue operations.

The roar of a helicopter could be heard.

‘A helicopter… No. This is…’

It was subtly different. But it was undeniably just as majestic a sound.

Something shot past above Park Tae-sang.

‘A blade?’

Park Tae-sang thought it looked like a sharp sword.

A single blade flew like an arrow and engaged with the butterfly monster right before his eyes.

“…Is it another monster helping that person?”

He didn’t know where it came from. But he wasn’t foolish enough to miss this opportunity.

‘I’ll leave it to you for now.’

As he began rescue operations, he noticed something unexpected.

The contorting bodies had suddenly calmed down.

Park Tae-sang turned his gaze to the monsters fighting in the air. Some kind of powder was falling from there as well.

*

What to transform into? First, I needed speed and the ability to block the enemy’s attacks.

Given the forest terrain, evolving into an insect was perfect. Simultaneously, I needed to handle tools.

I needed an outer shell to counter the enemy’s characteristics. Absorption itself could be blocked with defense.

My entire body needed to be as sharp as a blade, allowing free use of both hands.

Going back to human form. This was easy since it was already in my genes.

More additions were needed.

[Adding Characteristic]

-Machine

[Main Card]

-Species: Machine Insect Human, Name: Half-Insect Half-Machine Asura, Growth Form: Adult

Characteristics: Stored Forest Power (2 rank increase in forest areas, skill power increase, stored power usable for 10 minutes in non-forest areas), Full Body Transformation (can transform into a mode with penetration and cutting effects (ignores enemy defense skills)), Compound Eye Vision (detects movement, reduces enemy skill power, increases own skill power), Adaptive Evolution (ignores debuffs for a certain time and reverses them into buffs), Human Operation (1 rank increase to all stats regardless of sub-card type, additional stat increases depending on type)

Strength: SS(3)

Agility: SS(7)

Resistance: SS(5)

Magic Resistance: SS(4)

Energy: SS(6)

Magic Power: SS(3)

Skills: Double-Edge Cutting, Wave Dance, Powder Spreading, Wing Flapping, Stealth, Spine Battery, Analysis, Output Deployment

[New Sub Cards]

-Forest Adaptation (can use fire attribute and has resistance to that attribute’s attacks)

-Machine Body (covers the body with enhanced armament compared to current form. All ranks increase by 1)

-Insect Swarm (increases output with magic power and machinery to attack enemies with maximum energy)

A sleek silver and green body appeared.

I transformed. My body was like steel, sharp as a blade.

My arms already had sharp metal blades extended, with spines protruding from my hands and knees.

Behind a mask that looked like a miniaturized version of a ferocious insect Asura’s face, the situation was being analyzed like a program.

[Characteristic]

-Compound Eye Vision

First, the terrain came into view, followed by people and the current situation.

Including the fact that the evolved butterfly was spreading powder.

-All stats increased by 2 ranks due to characteristic

-Can convert enemy’s paralyzing powder into own powder, changing it to a buff

I saw the analyzed situation and Park Tae-sang entangled with his two subordinates.

Normally, that human could have caught it alone, but now the butterfly was setting a trap.

“I should help.”

-Adaptive Evolution

Here, I used the skill Powder Spreading to cover the area again.

I was stopping the pain of the paralyzed, suffering people with my powder.

After this, honestly, all I could think about was combat. I wasn’t worried about how Park Tae-sang would react.

A veteran like him would know what to do.

[Sub Card]

-Forest Adaptation

Being able to use fire, which insects are typically vulnerable to, was good. Flames began to rise from my spines and blades.

The powder visible before me burst as it burned in these flames, and I rushed toward the enemy with a flap of my wings.

Two long tentacles flew at me menacingly, but they were detected by my compound eye vision.

[Listen carefully. The movement of a whip is unpredictable, but it eventually has to rotate. Also, the power decreases significantly the closer you get to the inside. If you’re confident in your speed, dive in. If not, aim for when the rotation ends.]

I recalled what Oh Chang-min had taught me. I’ll use it well.

Of the two tentacles, only one reaches me first due to distance. I deliberately go up to measure the tentacle’s length and wait for the next tentacle to move.

[Skill]

-Output Deployment

The boosters on my back, in addition to my wings, ignited, allowing me to approach the tentacle faster than before.

As my hand blades grew larger, I cut the tentacle before it could rotate and turned to the enemy’s side.

With my compound eye vision, I saw the next tentacle pass by me and then retract—at that moment, I cut the other tentacle too.

The severed tentacles danced futilely in the air.

Next, I opened my palm and fired the spine battery.

The flame-engulfed spines pierced through the strange aurora the enemy had set up.

That aurora was probably full of debuffs, but my characteristic ignored them.

The moment I broke through the aurora barrier, various debuffs and absorption occurred, and my characteristic activated.

[Adaptive Evolution]

-Converts debuffs to buffs

-Agility increase, Energy stat increase, Strength increase

I aimed at the enemy with the blades on my arms.

[Skill]

-Double-Edge Cutting (can crush enemies by bringing both hands together)

I swung both hands toward the enemy.

My blades extended over 1m, carrying flames.

I split it in half. The feeling wasn’t bad, but suddenly the cut parts stretched stickily.

[Analysis]

-Can slow enemy regeneration with fire attribute

But it didn’t die. Rather, it was trying to recover with regenerative abilities.

At the same time, its spines were fired and suddenly swelled like a chestnut burr.

It has all sorts of functions.

While I was cutting those down, the enemy began to gather magic power with its dangling body.

It spread numerous powders like an aurora and concentrated magic power within.

You’re going to shoot me with that?

“I’ll have to go out in style.”

Here, I unleashed a characteristic I hadn’t used yet.

[Full Body Transformation]

A technique added due to the machine characteristic. At this moment, my body began to transform.

Bending at the waist, bringing both hands and feet together, the machines were combining.

[Mode Change]

-Agility, Strength, Energy rank increase

-Penetration and cutting effects

-Enemy debuff removal

Like becoming a sword, magic power erupted from my back.

I flew toward the enemy as a sword engulfed in flames. The moment this body collided head-on with the aurora barrier, the aurora was torn like a curtain and left behind me.

My body collided with the enemy’s magic power.

[Penetration]

Literally, I was piercing through the enemy’s magic power. The Charge card would have been perfect here.

But this was enough for now.

The moment I saw the enemy through the light of magic power, my body had already passed through.

[Cutting]

-Neutralizes regenerative abilities

For a brief moment, I could see the enemy shattered to pieces.

-Monster Points: 4 acquired

-DNA Points: 5200

I finally succeeded in defeating it. I released the transformation and turned my head to see Park Tae-sang already gathering people and looking at me.

It’s proper etiquette to leave right away. Besides, they’ll be looking for me, so I should move as quickly as possible.

How do I rejoin them? I just need to sleep somewhere nearby.

They’ll find me while searching.

And indeed, when I woke up, Seol Yu-hwa and the others were around me.

“Jong-hyun! Are you okay? What… happened to me? I suddenly can’t remember.”

“Yeah. The brainwashing is gone.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you got caught while trying to save me. I should be thanking you.”

Seol Yu-hwa was hugging me and sniffling. A truly dramatic finale. But I’m glad it worked out… or so I thought.

At that moment, my eyes met with Geum Do-hyun’s, and his gaze was somehow strange.