Chapter 29
Chapter 29
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Victor's Feast
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A spider lily blooms on a sheet of black drawing paper.
Sihyun Yujin, a hole blasted through her head, sprays blood as she drifts toward the void of space.
'Can't let her get away.'
It'd be a shame to take down a tough opponent like her and walk away empty-handed.
I extended one of my upper arms toward her. A sawblade tentacle shot out like an arrow loosed from a bow, coiling around her waist.
Bones snapped with a crack, folding her torso nearly in half—but she was already dead. I didn't give it a second thought as I reeled in her corpse.
｢Baby! Help!｣
'Oops.'
Specimen 026 couldn't hold on any longer and was starting to drift away. Before it could wander forever into the black abyss, I snatched it up with another arm.
A slender tentacle, unlike any I'd seen on it before, sprouted from its body.
I knew what that tentacle was. And I knew Specimen 026's 'true' species, too.
'Think about that later.'
First, I had to get out of here.
｢Yeah.｣
The research ship had bulkhead doors sealing off each section. I was in the nest—the power district packed with facilities tied to the ship's reactor. A bulkhead door to seal this area wasn't far.
One arm clutching the corpse, the other cradling Specimen 026, I made my way to the door.
Using a smaller arm to tap the terminal beside it, I heard air hissing as the bulkhead slammed shut. From the other side came the faint wail of the environmental control alarms.
'This ship's done for.'
A hole the size of a person had punched through the hull. The enviro systems could only stabilize the interior for so long.
If there were enough crew left, they'd seal off the breached section. But aside from the pirates, only a handful of sailors remained—and they were hiding from me, clueless about the chaos unfolding.
｢Baby? What's wrong with your arm?｣
'Huh?'
Glancing down at my lower arm as Specimen 026 spoke, I saw the spine-launcher organ changing. Four fingers emerged from the barrel, its length shrinking to match my other arms. The heavy pressure weighing down my whole body was lightening, too.
The Psionium's effects were wearing off.
'Too bad.'
At least it faded painlessly. With the injuries from fighting Sihyun, adding evolution pain on top might've knocked me out cold.
'But I got something even better as a reward.'
The high-risk, high-return payoff lay right in front of me.
Top Mega Corp rankers typically held over a hundred genes. It might not sound like much, but those were from ultra-rare creatures impossible to acquire through normal means. Even a small number packed immense value.
Sihyun Yujin wasn't quite ranker-tier, just upper-echelon player level. Still, her body should hold a decent haul of genes.
'No different from sampling, so probably three at most.'
The upside? No duds here. Honestly, even one would do—if it was Galleron's Claw.
'Let's dig in.'
Had to scarf this down quick and deal with that cyborg in the situation room.
The moment I leaned in to start eating—
｢I was devouring the corpse.｣
｢When only the lower half remained, a massive energy blast engulfed me.｣
｢I died.｣
'The bomb!'
Predator Sense had triggered out of nowhere, snapping me back to a forgotten detail. I'd tuned it out amid the fight with Sihyun, but the boss's reactor bomb was still ticking.
'How much time left?'
In the vision, the bomb blew after I'd eaten most of Sihyun down to her lower half. A full-grown male corpse took me 10 to 15 minutes to devour completely. Sihyun, being female and smaller, would go faster.
That left roughly five minutes.
Rush to the reactor and disarm it? Or bolt from the ship now?
I weighed the options.
'No time to defuse.'
I'd disarmed bombs as an Aimorph player plenty of times, but an unfamiliar model would eat up precious minutes. No way was I risking my life again after finally bagging Sihyun.
No more time to deliberate. The bomb's clock was ticking relentlessly toward doom.
I made my choice.
'Ditch the ship.'
Pity about the cyborg and the boss's uneaten genes, but not worth dying for. Sihyun's were overwhelmingly better anyway, and cyborg chow time would come eventually.
The shuttle was docked at the runway. The path through the corridors would take five minutes—they twisted like a maze, with the runway opposite the reactor.
Too late to launch normally, but I knew a faster way.
'Gotta use that.'
Tucking Specimen 026 against me, I bolted for the cooling chamber nest.
Arriving swiftly, I snatched the Plasma Launcher propped in the corner.
｢Flashy-flashy!｣
Specimen 026 shifted its body to match the green energy bolts of the Plasma Launcher. It didn't grasp the concept, but it remembered the green flashes and the explosions that followed.
Plasma Launcher.
It resembled the ultimate weapon from old-school FPS games—over a meter long, weighing more than 50kg. No normal human could fire it handheld, hence the mount. I didn't need that, so I'd ditched it.
'Not aiming at people this time, though.'
Gripping the launcher, I headed into the corridor and targeted the nearest spot to the outer hull.
｢Charging 10…20…50…80…100%｣
Tapping the mounted terminal, the launcher hummed as it charged. Specimen 026 clambered onto my shoulder to watch.
Seconds later, charge complete. I pulled the trigger.
Massive recoil jolted my arm as a green beam erupted from the muzzle. The destructive energy ray punched through the corridor wall and the outer hull beyond.
Like a vacuum sucking air, the gaping hole pulled us in. I rode the rush, hurtling out into space with the escaping atmosphere.
Before the ship drifted too far, I fired a tentacle to latch onto its hull.
I knew exactly where the hangar was, even from outside.
Reeling myself in, I landed atop the hull and raced toward my goal.
｢Whoa! Fun!｣
Specimen 026 marveled at the endless night sky. We stood on the ship, a white paper afloat in a black sea devoid of oxygen or gravity.
A six-legged beast dashed across it, a woman's corpse and Plasma Launcher slung at its hip, a pink balloon perched on its shoulder.
The surreal journey, straight out of a drug-fueled hallucination, didn't last long.
Less than two minutes later, I reached the hangar and fired the launcher again. The green beam melted the thick outer wall like a torch through ice.
Before the backlash flung me away, I anchored both hands with tentacles. The spent Plasma Launcher sailed off into the void.
'Good work.'
Powerful weapon, but I wouldn't miss it. Plenty more where that came from.
I crawled through the hole it left.
Hangar full of serviced fighters and shuttles.
｢Fun.｣
Carrying the delighted Specimen 026 from its space sprint, I approached a shuttle. Its hatch stood open—someone had prepped to flee.
'Saves me the hassle.'
｢Okay!｣
This shuttle screamed high-rank officer—plush interior fit for brass. Leaving Specimen 026 to gawk at the fancy decor, I settled into the cockpit.
'Let's see.'
I'd piloted Mega Corp small craft before. Luckily, this shuttle's controls were straightforward.
'Aside from my tail making the seat a pain.'
I smashed the uncomfortable chair and flipped switches on the panel, prepping for takeoff. The hangar doors parted, runway lights blazing.
'Here we go.'
Yanking the stick, the shuttle rocketed forward. Through the reinforced glass, cold metal walls gave way to a starry rainbow void.
The place where I'd first set foot in this world.
Farewell to the research ship—the foundation of my growth and evolution.
"F-Fuck, thought I was done for."
Elchen shuddered, recalling the reactor chaos moments ago.
Dragging his still-numbed body there, the timer had shown exactly two minutes left. He'd disarmed it with five seconds to spare. Any later, and his own bomb would've vaporized him.
'Those goddamn monsters...'
On the way, he'd sworn the ship itself was screaming—something he'd never imagined. A steel behemoth over 200 meters across, trashed by two tiny specks not even a fraction its size.
Elchen had never considered himself weak, but those two were exceptions.
So he'd abandoned killing them himself. As one of Space Dogs' most notorious brutes, though, letting them off wasn't an option.
"Heh, fuckers. Die together."
He'd set the bomb to auto-explode, reset the timer to 10 minutes. By the time he escaped in the shuttle, those monsters would be cosmic ghosts with the ship.
That was five minutes ago.
He was nearly at the hangar.
'Damn. Legs are back, but my eyes...'
His upgraded Hulk mutant body had purged the poison, but the ruined heart was the issue. Destroyed auxiliary heart damaged the brain, wrecking his senses—especially vision, locked in extreme farsightedness.
He'd nearly blown himself up fumbling blind for the buttons.
No time to waste, he hurried on. The earlier racket had gone silent. One monster must've won.
'Whichever croaked, the other's toast too.'
A wind-like whoosh from space? Imagination, he shrugged it off. Then—footsteps.
'Huh?'
Subordinate? No, the figure at corridor's end was the last person he expected.
"Eek! P-Pirate?!"
"Huh? It's the captain?"
The ship's captain, Yuseong Samuel.
Thought he'd bailed early, but here he was. Elchen panicked.
Yuseong looked nothing like Maanle's description—hair a mess, dark circles under bloodshot eyes, reeking of booze.
His pitiful state clicked for Elchen.
'Planned to shuttle out but couldn't ditch the ship cheap. Hid instead.'
No Mega Corp exec was free of greed, worse the closer to Noble Capital. Samuel clan was Third Capital tier—money over life.
'Came out once it quieted down.'
Oblivious to Elchen reading him like a book, Yuseong trembled, pulling a small object from his coat.
Elchen snorted at the pistol.
"Ha. Gonna shoot me with that?"
"D-Don't come closer! It's a Plasma Pistol!"
"Hey. Plasma my ass—disengage the safety first?"
"Uh, wha? S-Safety?"
As Yuseong fumbled the barrel toward himself, Elchen charged. The massive bulk slammed him; the pistol flew from limp fingers.
"Fucking prick, scaring me. Idiot, Plasma Pistols got no safety."
Yuseong realized the bluff too late, face crumpling in despair.
Elchen sneered, scooping up the pistol. It'd cracked worse on the floor, but his vision missed it.
"Got time, I'd skin you. But I'm in a rush."
"Eek! M-Mercy! M-Make me your minion!"
"Pass. Bye."
He squeezed the trigger. Green light flared.
Had his heart been intact, Elchen would've spotted the pistol's flaw. Or skipped killing Yuseong for the hangar—he might've lived.
Arrogance. Cruelty.
His flaws led to two fatal mistakes in a row.
The Plasma Pistol, an ultra-light version of heavy plasma arms, had crap durability. Already cracked from the monster dropping it, the added impact broke it.
Charged plasma couldn't pass the shattered barrel—it exploded on the spot.
Elchen's upper body shredded, his remains crumpled to the deck.
Yuseong stared blankly at the pirate corpse. His face twisted slowly. Then he burst into mad laughter.
"Huh? Ha, haha, hahahaha!"
He knew it—his judgment was spot-on.
Yuseong hadn't truly abandoned ship. He'd planned to shuttle out while soldiers bought time. But boarding sparked regret.
This research vessel wasn't cheap. Cheaper than his life, sure, but what if he waited a bit?
'Soldiers might kill the monster. Or another ship passes by.'
Terror had shattered his sanity, but crazies think they're sane. He deemed it rational.
Sacrificing troops, he guzzled the shuttle's liquor, clinging to vain rescue hopes.
Then—miracle. Screams and shakes stopped.
Debating exit, he finally stepped out.
And Yuseong Samuel survived.
Through monster assault, pirate raid—he endured to the end.
Titan's mighty descendant, Samuel heir Yuseong, swelled with pride, arms wide.
"I'm invincible!"
With those words, white light from the reactor engulfed him.
'Whoa.'
｢Waaah! Baby!｣
The reactor finally blew, a colossal shockwave rattling the shuttle. Heeding the alarms, I adjusted the controls.
My tweaks worked—warnings faded, shuttle stabilizing.
Specimen 026 had smacked into the wall and knocked itself out. No mortal danger, so I tucked it onto the shuttle's bed.
'Whoa, someone hit the bottle?'
I kicked aside rolling liquor bottles, tidying the interior.
Time for the meal I'd postponed—needed a clean space.
Sihyun Yujin's corpse, shoved in the corner. Feast time at last.
Switching to autopilot, I hauled her out.
Ripping off a plump leg, I took a massive bite.
'...'
Hundreds of creatures devoured so far. I knew what made something tasty.
Best so far? Kisaragi Yujin—delicate, precisely balanced like gourmet kaiseki.
Probably gene-tweaked. So I'd expected similar from Sihyun.
Wrong.
Sihyun Yujin was top-tier—among the best I'd eaten, and would eat.
'...Gotta visit Earth sometime.'
Mega Corp capital was a late-game plan, but this meat was tempting me early.
Shaking my head, I bit again.
Strange. Usually first bite's the best—but her? Opposite. The more I ate, chewed, the richer the umami flooded in.
Just me and unconscious Specimen 026. No interruptions. I savored her flesh like a leisurely French haute cuisine course.
As eternal bliss waned, a translucent window announced the banquet's end.