Ch.56Loot (2)

After the battle at the apartment complex, I hadn’t eaten intelligent being flesh often.

The female reporter I ate several hours ago—last night, actually—was the most recent human flesh I’d consumed.

Perhaps that was why I was feeling the backlash now.

Jade with his paralyzed body, the heavy gunner with most of his bones broken, and the Cult corpse.

Today, I had acquired many new prey.

‘Once I finish this, the hunt will be complete.’

I was currently at the location where Jade’s group had fought with the Mountain Crawler.

In front of me lay a young Mountain Crawler, breathing heavily as it collapsed.

The creature, which had been under my parasite’s control to buy time, had sustained serious injuries from the enemies.

Three of its six legs were severed, and two were broken. Its soft underbelly, vulnerable compared to its back armor, was torn open from sniper fire and grenade attacks, with intestines spilling out.

Mountain Crawlers have no healing abilities. Death was all that remained for it.

‘I don’t particularly hold any ill feelings toward it.’

I injected poison into the fatally wounded Mountain Crawler to ease its pain.

As the paralyzing toxin spread throughout its body, its expression seemed to improve, likely no longer feeling pain.

Its breathing gradually slowed until it eventually stopped. Then, the parasite emerged from its ear.

When I brought my arm closer, the parasite returned to where it had originally come from.

‘Someone might get suspicious if parasites keep appearing at every incident.’

Unlike with Sander, where I couldn’t retrieve my parasite because the hospital morgue was difficult to access, this time was different.

After safely recovering the parasite, I moved away from the Mountain Crawler’s corpse.

In other circumstances, I would have eaten the corpse to dispose of it, but the situation wasn’t that relaxed. The police and androids would have already been dispatched here because of the heavy gunner on my shoulder.

No matter how quickly I ate, I couldn’t finish a 6-meter prey before the police arrived. If I couldn’t consume it completely, the predation effect wouldn’t activate, so it was better to use it for another purpose.

‘I’ll make it look like smugglers tried to extract the Mountain Crawler but failed and fled.’

The creature’s corpse, fatally wounded by grenades, and the traces of battle scattered around would serve as evidence.

‘That’s why I didn’t eat the cyborg either.’

His role would be that of a smuggler who, unlike his companions, failed to escape. I placed the cyborg’s head, which I had removed earlier, inside the Mountain Crawler’s mouth.

‘This should be enough, right?’

Of course, the police would eventually realize something was off as they investigated. But the chances of them suspecting another monster was present at the scene were slim, especially since they weren’t even aware of my existence. They would likely just search for the smugglers who were already dead.

‘Good. Let’s gather what we need and leave quickly.’

My auxiliary organ warned me. Footsteps were approaching from outside the port district.

I picked up the paralyzed heavy gunner again. Next, I needed to collect the Cult’s corpse.

After retrieving the Cult’s body while avoiding the police and androids, I returned to where the children were.

During my absence, No. 26 and Adhigh Orr had finished their meal. I removed the reinforced suit from the sniper’s corpse, which had become a headless mummy.

‘I’ll take this and examine it later.’

Checking the enemy’s equipment status was crucial. Especially if it contained information I didn’t know, I needed to verify it as soon as possible.

‘If it’s not a unique reinforced suit, it could be mass-produced, so I need to prepare for that.’

After collecting the suit, I picked up Jade, who was still paralyzed.

‘Having four combat arms is certainly convenient at times like this.’

I could carry one person on each arm. But apparently, the others didn’t see it that way.

No. 26 called out to me, perhaps thinking I looked burdened carrying three people plus the reinforced suit.

“Need help?”

I was about to decline but changed my mind after seeing his size.

‘He should be able to carry the reinforced suit at least.’

When I handed it over, he extended his tentacles and wrapped them around the suit. He secured it firmly, making it look like spaghetti wrapped around a fork, and then revealed fins he had hidden inside his body.

He tested walking back and forth a few times with the fins moving, then flashed his body as if to indicate there was no problem.

“Done. Let’s go.”

Honestly, I had expected growth in combat aspects, but it seems his utility aspects have developed impressively as well.

‘What a good kid.’

I wanted to pat him, but I refrained for fear of dropping the reinforced suit. Seeming to understand my feelings, he flashed his body as if to say he accepted the thought.

After finishing our preparations and before returning to the nest, I called William and instructed him to handle the aftermath.

With the Mountain Crawler’s corpse and traces of smugglers, manipulating the situation wouldn’t be difficult.

Besides, William had been tracking the smuggling incidents in the port district. No police officer would find it strange that someone like him would be here at dawn.

“…Understood.”

After giving William instructions, I headed to the nest with the children.

And so, the dawn hunt ended.

We didn’t encounter any enemies on our way home. With police attention focused on the center of the port district, security in the outer areas was more lax than usual. Thanks to this, we were able to enter the underground easily.

Upon arriving at the nest, I put down Jade and the heavy gunner. They would die from the toxic gas if left there too long, but that didn’t matter.

They would be eaten by us before they could suffocate from the gas anyway.

[Zzzz zzzz zzz (This prey is yours.)]

“Adult” “Thank you”

I handed the heavy gunner over to Adhigh Orr. The paralyzed man looked at Jade with pitiful eyes, but there was nothing he could do.

He could only watch his comrade’s demise with sad eyes.

“Uh, uuuh! Uuuh!”

Adhigh Orr spread his mass of tentacles and covered the man’s face.

The suction cups at the ends of his long, thin tentacles attached to various parts of the heavy gunner’s head. Then, the small, sharp teeth on the suction cups mercilessly dug into his skin.

“Kk! Kkuuk! Kkk!”

The tentacles moved vigorously, sucking blood like someone drinking through a straw.

As expected of a baby Gallergorn, it seems he was still hungry even after eating one person.

No. 26 appeared to be full already, showing no interest in Adhigh Orr’s meal. He leaned against a corner of the nest and quietly went to sleep.

While the children were busy with their own activities, I picked up the Cult’s corpse. Since I had killed her by slashing her abdomen with my claws, her intestines were spilling out.

‘Normally I’d start with the head, but…’

There’s no need to stick to the same eating method every time.

I tore out the Cult’s intestines and put them in my mouth.

‘Not bad.’

While human meat has a strong meaty taste, the Cult had a complex yet unique flavor.

‘It’s like jelly, and also a bit like tripe? An interesting texture.’

Unlike the cyborg’s fruity sourness, it was closer to the sweetness of sugar. The texture was softer than human flesh, but not completely mushy.

‘That’s a relief. I was worried since I’ll need to eat many more Cults in the future.’

It might be unique to her, but if other Cults taste like this, I’d be happy to eat them.

I consumed the Cult’s corpse completely, leaving nothing behind.

As I chewed on the last piece of her broken horn, a translucent text box reported that I had satisfied part of the evolution conditions.

‘Finally completed one Cult.’

The predation effect didn’t activate.

It would have been nice to acquire her Soul Link technique, as it would have diversified my tactical options. A pity.

While I was eating the Cult, Adhigh Orr had already finished his meal and was sleeping.

Until yesterday, when Adhigh Orr was with No. 26, he would hold No. 26 in his arms. Now it was the opposite. Since No. 26 had grown larger, he was the one embracing Adhigh Orr as they slept.

‘You worked hard.’

After glancing at the sleeping creatures, I stood before my last prey. Jade had slightly recovered from the anesthesia and was crawling on the floor, having flipped over.

‘I don’t think I need to anesthetize him again.’

I grabbed him and lifted him up. He smelled terrible, as if he had wet himself after watching his comrade being eaten.

Of course, I don’t discriminate in my diet, so I opened my mouth wide to bite off his head.

“W-wait…!”

Just as I was about to bite his head, he shouted loudly.

“Y-you can understand human speech, right? I can help you! If you spare me, I’ll serve you!”

Jade desperately cried out.

‘Hmm.’

This is a fresh response.

Until now, the reactions of those I was about to eat were mostly similar. They just begged for their lives, but this is the first time someone has offered a deal.

‘What should I do?’

While holding Jade, I considered what benefits I might gain from keeping him as a slave.

‘He could provide information about Siheyon Yujin, but…’

She has long been dead and absorbed as my nutrients. If Siheyon were still alive, I could get useful information from Jade, but in the current situation, his information is useless.

‘What merit is there in just using him as a slave?’

Judging by his clothes, he didn’t seem to hold a high position in this city. It was impossible for someone who had escaped prison and was hiding in the city to have a proper job.

‘Unless he was a police officer like William or worked in a specialized profession, Jade’s occupation wouldn’t be helpful to me.’

And Jade was too dangerous to control with my parasite.

As a subordinate of Siheyon Yujin, he would have seen various genes and their effects. He might know about parasite-related genes and how to resist parasite control.

After considering again, I made my decision.

‘I don’t need him.’

Jade is not useful to me. His only value is his flesh.

“W-wait…!”

Ignoring his final cry, I bit his head.

My reinforced jaw crushed his head in one bite. The contents flowed out and down my throat.

‘Hmm.’

It was an interesting taste, different from the Cult. This one tasted like it was heavily seasoned with artificial flavoring.

‘It’s not that it tastes bad…’

It was like a dish made with good ingredients but where each ingredient stood apart. Like when an unskilled chef uses all sorts of precious ingredients but then adds too much seasoning.

‘Still, it’s not inedible.’

The Cult had less meat, so it felt slightly insufficient. Thanks to my moderate hunger, I was able to cleanly finish Jade’s meat as well.

Once I had eaten everything:

“‘Juvenile->Subadult’ evolution condition partially fulfilled.

Shapeshifting intelligent beings 2/20 (not achieved), humanoid intelligent beings 14/20 (not achieved), psychic power using intelligent beings 1/20 (not achieved)”

“Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired ‘Metal Absorption’ gene essence.”

“Stole ‘Metal Absorption’ from ‘Metallic Gremlin’ biological characteristics.”

“Apply ‘Metal Absorption’?”

A translucent text window appeared.

‘Metallic Gremlin?’

The Jade I ate was definitely human. Metallic Gremlins look much more hideous than humans and are smaller in size.

The fact that he was counted as a humanoid intelligent being confirms I wasn’t mistaken.

Then there’s only one conclusion. Jade, like Siheyon Yujin, was a genetically modified being.

‘No wonder his taste was strange.’

Unlike Siheyon Yujin, who was perfection itself, Jade’s taste was quite odd, likely due to improper genetic modification.

‘Well, if he had Metallic Gremlin genes implanted, that would make him extremely vulnerable to me.’

Metallic Gremlins are a species with unique abilities like eating metal, paralyzing electronic devices, or blocking equipment effects. This makes them terminators against cyborgs and androids, but extremely disadvantaged against AMorphs or Outspacers who don’t use electronic equipment at all.

‘Jade was unlucky.’

His abilities would have been very useful for terrorism, but unfortunately for him, his opponent was me.

‘Metal Absorption, huh.’

Metal Absorption is an ability that allows me to temporarily reflect some of the properties and effects of metals or equipment I consume onto my outer skin.

For example, if I consume Black Silver, which has resistance to psychic powers, while Metal Absorption is active, my outer skin will temporarily gain high resistance to psychic abilities.

This seems like a very good trait, but unfortunately, it has two drawbacks.

First, the duration of Metal Absorption’s effect is short. The basic duration is 10 minutes, which can be extended to 20 minutes with physical enhancement effects, but it’s still not very long.

Second, once an effect is used, it automatically disappears after the time limit. If I want to enjoy that effect again, I need to reactivate the trait and consume the same metal again.

Because of these drawbacks, it’s a trait that needs to be used carefully and thoughtfully to be worthwhile.

‘Despite its significant drawbacks, it’s a trait I need right now.’

For someone like me who is vulnerable to ranged weapons, traits that increase defense can never be enough. There are many ways to utilize it, such as increasing my defense when enemies concentrate fire on me.

‘And Metal Absorption is classified as a physical trait.’

Currently, I have a total of 12 physical traits, and with Metal Absorption, it will become 13.

That means it’s time to try the transcendence system.

With an excited heart, I accepted the application of the new trait.