The Legacy (1)
In the game, the Sea Demon's body length measured roughly twenty to thirty meters—in other words, about the same size as my own.
You might think that's rather small for a quasi-boss-tier creature, but there was a catch.
The Sea Demon could adjust its size and shape however it pleased.
In its standard mode, a Sea Demon barely reached twenty meters, but the moment it entered combat, it could swell its body up to a hundred meters. Its signature weapon, the Sawtooth Tentacles, grew along with its body—and the range of 'Fear of the Deep Sea', the trait unique to the Sea Demon, expanded right alongside them.
As anyone could see from No. 26, Sea Demons generally possessed high intelligence. Which meant they actively put those abilities to use even in the middle of a fight.
So naturally, the number of variables a tanking player had to calculate against one became absolutely monstrous.
'Even accounting for all that, this thing is enormous.'
Perhaps it was simply very old. Even at a glance, the corpse clearly exceeded the size of an ordinary Sea Demon by more than double. It was so massive it would have dwarfed even the fifty-meter Pale Mask.
What's more, large and small scars marked its pink hide everywhere, making it plain that this creature had been no pushover.
'If it hadn't collided with that spaceship, there's no way it would have died this easily.'
The proof was a gash along its torso even longer than my own body. Even a monster that powerful had failed to recover from the wounds of colliding with a starship.
I was gazing down at the Sea Demon's corpse from a short distance away when No. 26 drifted close. Dozens of tentacles emerged from her body and latched onto the remains.
'What is she doing?'
I wondered for a moment if she was paying her respects, but the mood didn't seem right for that. She simply pressed every tentacle she'd extended against the corpse and held still.
A short while later, a purple glow began to shimmer across the surface of the enormous body. It was such an immense wave of energy that even I, wrapped in my Psychic Reflection Carapace, felt it prickle down to my core.
The violet energy flowed along the corpse's surface. And the destination of that torrent of psychic power was the tentacles No. 26 had attached.
Using her tentacles like straws to siphon the energy, No. 26 began to shine with purple radiance. The intensity of the light was no different from the glow she gave off when expressing emotion—but my auxiliary organ flatly denied it.
A staggering vortex of psychic power was whirling inside her body. The amount of energy she had absorbed was enough to utterly overwhelm my Psychic Breath.
Then cracks began to spider across her body, as if an egg were splitting open. I flinched at the sight.
It was only because she showed no sign of suffering that I held back—had she been in pain, I would have intervened at once.
'This might be something important.'
I quietly watched her transformation unfold.
The cracked outer shell soon burst apart, and the power-saturated creature swelled dramatically. The body that had shrunk to three meters during our confinement in the research base rapidly grew until it reached about ten meters.
The psychic power was so intense that even my auxiliary organ couldn't make out her form clearly, but as best I could tell, she now resembled the dead Sea Demon.
'So that's how it works.'
Plenty of players had speculated about the relationship between Sea Demons and Bubble Amoebas in the game, arguing that the two species were closely related on a genetic level.
Among them were players who believed that Bubble Amoebas grew up to become Sea Demons. The theory held that the weakest creature in the ocean grew into its strongest predator—and it wasn't without supporting logic.
Most wild NPCs in the Space Survival world grew from juveniles into adults. That being the case, Sea Demons had to have a juvenile stage too.
Countless players combed every ocean planet from end to end, yet not one of them ever found a juvenile Sea Demon. And so talk inevitably arose that the outwardly similar Bubble Amoeba was what a Sea Demon grew from.
'Of course, hardly anyone took the idea seriously.'
Lots of players kept Bubble Amoebas as pets. Everyone knew that no matter how big they got, nothing special ever happened to them.
'But still.'
Watching the scene unfold before my eyes, the growth theory no longer seemed entirely wrong.
No. 26—a juvenile Sea Demon—looked almost exactly like a Bubble Amoeba. She could tuck her tentacles and fins away inside her body, hiding them from view, and her size was small enough to pass.
A fragile juvenile Sea Demon lived among a Bubble Amoeba colony and protected them. In the process, it would hunt the predators that threatened the colony in turn, growing little by little—and then, when the time came to inherit the Sea Demon's power, it would transform into an adult.
'No wonder nobody figured it out.'
Bubble Amoebas were pets, not combat auxiliaries. Even if someone got lucky enough to obtain a juvenile Sea Demon, they'd never send it into battle, so it could never grow.
And who in their right mind would bring one along to a fight against the Sea Demon, that overwhelming oceanic leviathan?
People would assume that a Bubble Amoeba, with zero combat ability, would die a hundred times out of a hundred. Unless someone took joy in getting their pet killed, they would naturally never bring it along.
Recover a Sea Demon juvenile that looked exactly like a Bubble Amoeba, and then bring it before a dead Sea Demon's corpse—both conditions had to be met. It was, for all practical purposes, an impossible theory to verify.
While I was lost in thought, No. 26 continued drinking down the Sea Demon's legacy.
At some point, though, her absorption rate began to slow. Even with plenty of energy left in the corpse, her pace kept dropping.
Then she stopped absorbing entirely. The ten-meter violet luminescence that had clung to the corpse slowly drifted away from it.
The psychic power remaining in the Sea Demon's body grew fainter and fainter until it simply vanished.
'A shame.'
Watching such a pure essence of psychic power slip away before my eyes left me a little wistful. I scratched my head with my recently repaired combat arm.
Even after the energy was gone, No. 26 still glowed. The light radiating from her grew steadily smaller.
No—it wasn't just the light. Her body itself was shrinking.
Ten meters to five, then to one. Just when it seemed she would shrink away to nothing, she stopped at roughly fifty centimeters.
'Huh?'
Exactly the right size to perch on top of my head. Her form, too, had returned to that of a slime, aside from the fins she kept out for swimming.
'She's got a pattern now.'
If I had to pick the biggest change from before her transformation, it was that a pattern had appeared on No. 26's body. Across her deep-pink hide, pale violet spiraling waves undulated softly.
Here at the very bottom of the trench, no light reached us—but I suspected that in sunlight, she would gleam like a pink sapphire.
Her transformation complete, the little creature undulated her fins and drifted over to me.
[Zzz (All done?)]
｢Yep!｣
No. 26 answered with the same lively thought-wave as always.
｢My friend died, so now a new friend will be born to protect their family.｣
[Zzzz (A new friend?)]
｢Mm. I can't do it—I have my own family already. So I only ate a little, to save it for someone else.｣
Listening to her, I gathered that the energy she had just released dissolved into the water to be carried to some other juvenile Sea Demon somewhere.
The words 'you should've just eaten all of it' rose halfway up my Monster's Tentacles, but there was no need to say them aloud.
Thanks to the Sea Demon and No. 26's generosity, somewhere in this deep sea a new monster would one day be born.
｢My friend's work here is done, so you can eat the rest, Big Baby.｣
[Zzzz (Really?)]
She brightened her whole body in affirmation.
Seeing that side of her, No. 26 was unmistakably not human. A human would have tried to lay their friend's remains to rest.
'Grieving for a kin's death and dealing with the corpse are separate matters, then.'
No. 26's behavior was certainly closer to that of a highly intelligent, social wild animal than to a person's.
I gently stroked her with my combat arm. Whether it was because I hadn't petted her in a while, she glittered happily all over.
After giving her a good long petting, I turned my attention back to the Sea Demon's corpse.
'I could use my Avatar of the Hunt, but...'
Thanks to the Nightmare Horizon effect, the Avatar of the Hunt's duration had been extended to twenty minutes. That was plenty of time to devour the head of a Sea Demon nearly fifty meters long—but there was a problem.
'I still have to go back up and eat the Pale Mask too.'
The descent to this depth had taken almost an hour. Even with the Avatar's extreme physical enhancement, the time to climb back up was far too tight.
'And besides, I wasn't the one who killed this Sea Demon.'
It had died slowly and miserably, unable to heal the wounds from its collision with the starship. And quite a long time had passed since then.
'Eating it as-is means an extremely low chance of gaining a trait.'
The deep sea's low temperatures meant the corpse itself had barely decayed, but since I hadn't killed it myself, the odds of triggering a Predation Effect were vanishingly small.
Even if I used the Avatar of the Hunt to eat it, any creature I hadn't personally killed was treated the same as a genetic sample. And eating a sample in Avatar form never granted the full trait—only a 0.5-grade version.
'The Pale Mask, on the other hand, is a different story.'
That one was prey I had hunted together with my companions. Using the Avatar, I could acquire its traits with near certainty, just as I always had.
'I'll hold the Avatar in reserve.'
After a moment's deliberation, I decided to eat the Sea Demon's corpse as it was.
Using the Avatar of the Hunt here would cost me more than it gained. Even if I settled for a 0.5-grade Sea Demon trait now, missing out on the Pale Mask because I couldn't surface in time would be the real disaster.
'And the Avatar's cooldown is a week, so spacing out the meals isn't an option either.'
The archipelago we were in had a near-subtropical climate. Forget a week—in just two days, the Pale Mask's Genetic Essence would degrade beyond salvage.
'A shame, but I'll write this off as a nutritional top-up.'
I approached the Sea Demon's corpse and swung my combat arm. My sharp claws cut through the current and sank into its hide.
'As tough as I expected.'
Despite its soft, squishy appearance, the Sea Demon's hide was considerably thick and durable. Its resilience exceeded even the Pale Mask's—biting into it bare-jawed wouldn't have left so much as a dent. Until I acquired a trait for jaws or teeth, I'd have to use my arms to tear off strips of meat.
'The Erosion Tentacles are good for swallowing, but they lack cutting power.'
Now was a time for primitive methods. I wielded my sharp claws like a set of knives, slicing into the Sea Demon's corpse.
I briefly worried the sight might upset No. 26, but she didn't spare the fate of her kinsman's body so much as a glance. She just flicked the barb at the tip of my tail with a fin, playing around.
Done paying attention to her, I tore loose a piece of Sea Demon flesh. No blood came out. It had died long ago, and the blood had long since congealed.
'Let's give it a try.'
I put the morsel in my mouth.
'Mm.'
The meat of this terrifyingly powerful ocean predator carried a flavor as remarkable as its strength.
Its texture resembled a jellyfish's, so I'd expected something like a jellyfish salad or a cold jellyfish dish—but I was wrong. The flesh was closer to salmon sashimi, if you will. Salmon sashimi with just a touch of extra richness. And on top of that, it had a refreshing, lime-like aroma.
'Overall, a pretty refined taste.'
The only disappointment was that it was less distinctive than I'd hoped.
Maybe because this Sea Demon hadn't been freshly caught. Beyond that striking zing of lime, it was simply a decent, tasty meal.
Thinking that, I tore off another piece and popped it into my mouth.
'Hm?'
The instant that piece hit my tongue, I had to admit just how careless my judgment a moment ago had been.
'This part tastes completely different?'
Astonishingly, the Sea Demon's flavor varied wildly from one part of its body to another. The piece I'd just eaten tasted exactly like snail soup. The very same snail soup I'd eaten as a kid at a buffet.
The one thing in common was that this cut carried the lime scent too.
'Well, this is fascinating.'
Marvelling, I set about eating my way through the Sea Demon's flesh.
The deeper I went past the outer hide, the richer the flavor seemed to become.
It was a pity that the blood had congealed with time, and the overall low temperature kept the full depth of the taste from coming through.
After that endless parade of surprises, I managed to finish off the Sea Demon's head and brain—everything except the fins.
'Tch. No dice in the end.'
Thanks to the Essence Harvester's Jaw, eating just the head was equivalent to consuming the entire body for triggering the Predation Effect. I had eaten the whole head—yet the Predation Effect never appeared.
I had expected as much under conditions this unfavorable, but it was still hard to shake off the disappointment entirely.
[Zzz (Let's go)]
｢You're not eating more?｣
[Zzzz (It's fine)]
I left part of the body and the fins uneaten.
The meat I'd already consumed far exceeded my own body's size. Anything more was unnecessary nutrition.
And so No. 26 and I abandoned the Sea Demon's remains and set off upward once more.
Behind us, the Bubble Amoebas pulsed with light to see us off. No. 26 bade them farewell, then nestled against my side and swam along with me.
｢It's nice being with Big Baby.｣
[Zzzz (Same here)]
No. 26 was far larger now than when we'd first met, but proportionally it felt just like when she used to ride on my head.
Maybe reminiscing about the old days was why the return trip, despite retracing our path, didn't bore me in the slightest.
After an hour of swimming, we finally rose to the island's surface once more.
The first thing to greet us on arrival was the Pale Mask's carcass, about a fifth of its body already gone. Beside it, the Mother of the Sky crouched, plucking at her fur.
｢Took you longer than I expected.｣
The Mother of the Sky greeted me with a look. I turned my head to survey our surroundings.
[Zzzzzz (Where's Adhai?)]
｢She was lying down just a second ago, then suddenly bolted over there.｣
Behind the large boulder she'd nodded toward, Adhai's hiding presence registered.
Through the auxiliary organ beneath my jaw, I could feel her heartbeat. It was pounding hard—she was gripped by fear.
'Why is she suddenly like this?'
There was no obvious danger, and I was puzzling over the cause when Adhai's thought-bursts brushed against my tentacle.
｢Adult｣｢Danger｣｢Flee｣｢Cannot｣｢Danger｣｢Danger｣｢Danger｣
[Zzzzzzzz (There's nothing dangerous here. What's wrong?)]
｢Kin｣｢Here｣｢Came｣｢Me｣｢Adult｣｢Death｣｢Death｣｢Death｣
Her thought-waves trembled with anxiety. I thought it over for a moment before realizing why Adhai was terrified.
'Could it be because of No. 26?'
No. 26 looked adorably harmless, but she had just absorbed a staggering torrent of psychic power. She wasn't a fully matured adult Sea Demon yet, but even so, she now carried enough strength to stand alone against most psychic creatures—a White Gallagon, even.
And Adhai was exquisitely sensitive to psychic power. It wouldn't be strange at all for her to mistake No. 26 for a White Gallagon—or worse, the next tier up, a Black Gallagon.
As if thinking along the same lines, No. 26, still perched on my head, called out to Adhai.
｢It's me, Little Baby! It's me!｣
｢Little Adult?｣
｢I ate lots and got strong! So don't worry!｣
At that, Adhai peeked her head out from behind the boulder.
｢Little Adult｣｢Correct?｣
｢Yep.｣
After several more minutes of back-and-forth, Adhai was finally reassured enough to come out from her hiding place.
｢Me｣｢Remember｣｢Little Adult｣｢Big｣｢Now｣｢Small｣｢Cannot understand｣
｢Now I can get big or small. Amazing, right?｣
｢Me｣｢Amazing!｣｢Amazing!｣
｢Look, look. If I do this, I get all big?｣
｢Me｣｢Surprised!｣
While the two of them chattered away in thought-waves and thought-bursts, the Mother of the Sky called out to me.
｢You left the head.｣
[Zzzzzzzzzz (There's plenty of the rest left over too)]
｢...Do you have any idea how big that thing is? It'd take me days to eat.｣
[Zzzz (Fair point)]
｢By the way, you're saying she can transform now? Doesn't that mean she's become an adult Sea Demon?｣
[Zzzzzzz (Not fully, but yes)]
｢...Ha. She really has become a proper monster.｣
The Mother of the Sky shook her head, letting out a sigh that might have been admiration or disbelief—hard to tell which.
'A monster, she says.'
She had no idea. What came next was an even greater monster—now was far too early to be surprised.
[Zzzz (You're about to be much more surprised)]
｢What?｣
Instead of answering, I activated the Avatar of the Hunt.
｢Wh...what—?!｣
The pupils of the Mother of the Sky, who had been crouched there watching me, blew wide as lanterns.
My first use of the Avatar of the Hunt since becoming a Young Adult.
True to its name, my body began transforming into the form optimized for one thing alone: the hunt, and the kill.