111

Ep. 111

–

"Do you know who Rick is?"

"Rick the talker? Of course I know. Why him?"

"They said they lost contact with their camp."

"what?"

Even though it was broad daylight, the pirates at the camp were on strict guard.

This was because the order came from a cruiser that could be said to be their base.

"Recently, I heard that other campsites have lost contact again?"

"I guess that's why we're also on guard at this time."

"…Ha, wasn't the area around here safe?"

The pirate standing guard stiffened at the ominous sound of his colleague. Then my colleague continued, as if to reassure me.

"Don't worry. "I heard from above that the boss will be back in the cruiser the day after tomorrow."

"okay? That's a good thing. "But what did you do when you went out for so long?"

"They didn't teach that. "There was a rumor that it was because of a prisoner captured not long ago."

"I want to hear more, uh…"

"I want to tell you more, but I don't know anything…huh?"

"ok?"

The pirates who were chatting looked at each other when a voice suddenly interrupted them.

They are the only two people standing guard here.

Their gazes went up.

There was "it" there that imitated the voice of a pirate.

–

Today is a week since I came to Saintopia 02.

In the meantime, I robbed several campsites in the forest to get information about the player.

A pirate at the camp said that the mask of indomitability I have was originally given to the vice captain by the pirate leader.

In other words, the cult pirate I killed before was the vice leader of the Humanity Cartel.

Among the campsites that were later raided to obtain information, there was a large camp where many pirates were stationed. There, I met someone wearing cult quest reward equipment similar to the owner of the Indomitable Mask.

That made me half-confident.

The leader of the Humanity Cartel is either a player or someone closely related to the player.

This meant that I faced a very serious threat.

I interrogated the pirates and obtained additional information about the leader.

Summarizing what the pirates said, there were three main characteristics of the leader.

The race is a cult, the gender is female, and they keep bringing in unique artifacts through unknown methods.

As pirates, their opponents can never be called good, and they possess cruisers and various equipment.

Therefore, the power gap between me and the pirate leader is not small at all.

'No matter how well I fight in the jungle, it's not easy when the gap is this big.'

And if the pirate leader is really a player, there is a high possibility that he knows about me, and if so, there is a high possibility that he knows many of my tactics.

I may say this with my own mouth, but the strategies I used in the jungle, such as corpse bombs and skinned corpses, are so famous that most users who have been playing the game for a long time know them.

'The good news is that the boss isn't here.'

I don't know why, but my subordinates say that the leader has gone far away and will return to the cruiser in two days.

The cruiser also did not respond in any way, as if they were trying to catch me after the boss came.

Just like the pirates said earlier, I just warned them that I was going to attack the camp.

'The intention is probably to collect my information.'

The intention would be to throw the camp as bait to get as much information as possible before the boss comes, and then launch an all-out offensive to catch me when the boss comes.

Of course, the situation is not entirely unfavorable to me.

'There's time before the boss comes.'

Usually time is not on my side, but this time is an exception.

'It must evolve into a sub-adult within two days from now.'

I activated the semi-transparent text box while chewing on the loot I got from the camp.

｢Some of the 'subadult- >subadult' evolution conditions have been met.

｢Races capable of transformation 20/20 (achieved)

Humanoid races 20/20 (achieved)

Races that use psychic power 20/20 (achieved)

Types possessed 2/4 (not achieved) ｣

'Playable races The condition for catching and eating it has been completed.'

What remains is the number of types.

In order to evolve into a semi-adult, a total of 4 types are required. I have already acquired the physical enhancement type and the superpower enhancement type, and there are a total of three types that can be acquired in the future.

｢Types that can be specialized (3)

Infection enhancement type (6/8) Special defense enhancement type (4/4) Nest enhancement type (1/4)｣

｢There is 1 'type' that can be specialized.｣

｢'Special defense Would you like to unlock the 'enhanced type'?"

Over the course of a week, in addition to pirates, I also ate other wild animals whenever I could, so I acquired two new characteristics.

'Disease Resistance', a special defense-related trait obtained from Night Stalker, and 'Hallucination Bug', an infection-related trait obtained from 'Red Clown', a carnivore similar to mushrooms.

Thanks to this, the special defense enhancement type became unlockable two days ago, but it is still being postponed.

'Once you acquire a type, the number of characteristics required to acquire other types increases.'

For example, if I obtain the infection enhancement type now, the number of characteristics required to obtain other special defense enhancement types and nest enhancement types will increase to 8 each.

Therefore, in the current situation, it is advantageous to acquire the infection-enhanced type first.

'If you look at this, it looks like we're still far from evolution.'

I have a secret weapon.

Today marks one week since I took control of the spaceship with my eroding tentacles.

In other words, you can use the symbol of hunting.

'You need to activate the predation effect as much as possible for 20 minutes.'

If this were another planet or another continent, it would not have been easy to collect the genetic essence needed for evolution.

But this is Seintopia 02 continent. It is a place teeming with creatures possessing rare genetic essence.

'There's a place that's suitable to use the symbol of hunting.'

There is a place in this forest that I want to go to.

To be honest, it is a very dangerous area for me right now, but it is a place where I can obtain a large amount of the characteristics I need.

'Swampland.'

From here, if you go south along the river, you will come across an enormous swampland, where a large number of fearsome creatures live.

'To be precise, it is not because each animal is strong, but because of its compatibility with the surrounding environment.'

Monsters in the swamp area commonly contain extremely powerful poisons and viruses.

Even if you are an experienced player, it is impossible to attack unless you make a lot of preparations for poison and virus defense.

If it were a game for me too, I would have tried to attack it only after it became a sub-adult or adult, and would not have thought about entering the swamp as a sub-adult.

'It would have been like that originally.'

After eating all the pirate corpses, I left the camp.

Now I have everything I need to attack the swamp area.

First of all, I have the disease resistance trait that grants resistance to all types of diseases.

'If it had been a game, I would never have accepted it.'

When it becomes a semi-adult, it automatically becomes immune to all biochemical attacks as an evolution perk.

Therefore, it is difficult to see disease resistance as a useful trait, but it is a very useful trait if you are in a situation where you have to enter a swamp area right away, like me.

If you use the symbol of hunting here, the attribute effect will be strengthened, so you will receive little damage even if you enter the swamp area.

And since the symbol of hunting itself strengthens all of my physical abilities, I won't have much trouble fighting monsters in the swamp. Although they are strong, their direct combat power is lower than those like Horned Gigant.

'And this.'

A small hand on his chest holds a half-broken Mask of Indomitable. This silver death mask grants the wearer immunity to poison and mental attacks and a stealth target detection effect.

The important thing is that this mask is made of metal.

In other words, it is subject to metal absorption.

'Because it can absorb all metal materials except first-class equipment.'

If you can get the mask's poison immunity effect, it will be a great help in conquering swamp areas.

After all the preparations were completed, today I take on the challenge of conquering the swamp area.

'We're almost there.'

The wide, blue river gradually became narrower, and yellow moss and aquatic plants began to stand out on the water.

The surrounding area was filled with rotten and broken old trees, mushroom spores emitting toxic fog, and brightly colored insects.

A foul smell crept into the air, and poison seeped through the thick skin.

'It's a shocking space any time you see it.'

I looked around while enduring the tingling pain I felt throughout my body.

There are no imposing giant trees reaching hundreds of meters in height in this swamp, but instead there are mushrooms measuring between 5 and 10 meters, leeches the size of an adult man, and stink bugs the size of a bus.

Among the movies that came out before I was born, there is one with a giant ape as the main character. In the movie, there is a scene where explorers are shipwrecked in a valley, where ugly bugs attack the explorers.

According to a rumor going around in the community, the swampy area of the St. Foy 02 continent is said to be inspired by the valley area that appears in that scene.

In other words, bizarre pests carrying toxins and viruses appear in all kinds of places.

Thanks to this, many high-level players avoid this place not only because of its difficulty but also because of its disgusting visuals.

'But it's very good for me now.'

It can be said that it is truly a treasure trove of genetic essence.

I activated metal absorption and took a bite of the Indomitable Mask.

There was a tickling sensation near the outer skin, and soon the stinging pain disappeared.

I might have been mistaken, so I decided to check it one more time.

I grabbed a stick the size of a person's head crawling next to me and swallowed it.

The official name of this hump-backed insect is mischievous bug. It is a creature that has poison in its body that causes itchiness and gives a debuff to the victim.

Even though I ate the frog bug, my insides were fine.

'Poison immunity has been applied.'

After completing the confirmation, I put down the Indomitable Mask and activated the symbol of hunting.

My body, which had already evolved once through Nightmare Horizon, transformed into the form of an even more perfect predator.

Two new arms pop out from my thick and heavy back. The bone blade attached to the end is extremely hard and sharp, so it can easily cut through even the hardest metal.

Then, all six erosion tentacles hidden inside the back came out.

The tentacles only grew in size and their shape did not change much. Instead, the six appendages at the end turned into claws on my fighting arms, becoming vicious weapons in their own right.

The bone-blade arms and the back, which had released all the erosion tentacles, shrunk rapidly and turned into a slimmer body compared to before.

Of course, there were still nests near the waist where the cute tooth fairies lived.

The body itself may have become slimmer than when Nightmare Horizon was applied, but the overall size has become much larger.

My current height is 12m. In terms of apartment size, it is almost 4 stories tall.

The length of the tail has also increased significantly, so my entire body is now slightly less than 20 meters long. In terms of size alone, it can be said to be almost equal to the Horned Gigant.

In addition, as always, details such as the shells attached to the fighting arms and legs were strengthened.

Sharp thorns appeared on the carapace of the arms and legs, transforming into a lethal form that can cause significant damage even when struck by an enemy.

Finally, the transformation was complete as the carapace of my head covered my eyes.

｢Grrrr｣

It is a symbol of hunting on the horizon of nightmare.

Its enormous body, which is as tall as the fourth floor of an apartment building, is filled with tremendous power.

The power to literally do anything.

I lightly swung my tail and hit the old tree behind me.

Although it was rotten, the old tree, which was 5 meters in diameter, was shattered like a broken branch. The large centipedes nesting inside were startled and ran outside.

'good.'

I swung my tentacles and caught the fleeing bugs. Hook-shaped appendages cut the insects' bodies.

The erosion tentacle sucks in the food and continuously pops up a translucent text box.

As I watched it, I took a deep breath and roared loudly.

｢ ———!｣

The air bursts out like an explosion, and the polluted water in front of me splits in an instant. Cat-sized mosquitoes flying over the swamp in front of me were hit by my roar and disappeared without a trace in the air. lost.

'Then let's get started.'

The goal is to obtain enough essence to evolve for 20 minutes.

It's been a while since it's time to feast.