Planet Nox-4: Craving
“Rwaaaar!”
A massive basilisk—no, a xenoform—shook the earth with its roar as it charged.
Its 30-meter bulk barreled forward like a tank.
I read its trajectory and twisted aside with ease.
Boom! The rock wall it slammed into crumbled into dust.
I glared at it through the dust cloud, my mind racing.
Something… keeps feeling off.
It wasn’t just brute strength overflowing. My heart pounded wildly, something itching inside my veins.
It was suffocating. Like a thin membrane wrapped around my entire body, an unpleasant sensation. An urge boiled in my chest to rip it apart. What the hell was this bad premonition?
To buy a moment to think, I launched a kick at its jaw.
“Krong?”
Its massive head reeled. Seizing the opening from the momentary concussion, I pulled back.
Irritation’s building. An itching discomfort so bad I wanted to claw open my chest right then.
Was this the constellation power Nahibi mentioned? This sensation was impossible to describe.
“Kraaaar!!!”
The xenoform shook off the daze and charged again, jaws wide. Nahibi must’ve telepathically told it to go easy, but after taking so many hits, the thing had lost all reason.
This bastard!
Killing intent burned in its eyes. Pure intent to rip me apart with everything it had. Normally, dodging a mindless charge like that would be the smart play. No need to clash head-on.
But.
I don’t want to dodge.
Something inside me whispered. Don’t run. Take it. Crush it. Time slowed to a crawl.
Its jaws opening in trajectory. Saliva spraying. The foul breath wafting between razor teeth.
Everything framed in vivid detail, frame by frame. I didn’t dodge. Instead, I thrust both hands toward its gaping maw.
The impact cratered the ground beneath my feet. My hands clamped its upper and lower jaws.
This is insane. Even transcending limits with the stone Eve gave me for the sword, holding back a monster this size’s bite force head-on is impossible.
My reason screamed. My arm muscles screamed too. Bone-crushing pressure transmitted through.
My arms began bending under its bite force.
Just pointless stubbornness?
Crisis gripped me.
At this rate, my arms get severed, upper body devoured.
That’s when it happened. Finally in true peril, the damn itching power in my chest burst like a dam breaking, surging from my heart through my entire body.
A sensation like a dam collapsing. Heart energy exploded through my veins. The pressure that had been agonizing vanished like a lie.
“Finally!”
Relief from the suffocation brought an incredible rush. My lips curled into a grin. I poured strength into my grip on its jaws.
“Grraa…?”
Its eyes shook. The jaws it tried to close with its own power were being forced open by mine.
I tore its mouth apart with all my strength.
Riiip—shraaak!
A gruesome tearing sound. Skin ripping, muscles snapping—as its jaws wrenched open at an unnatural angle.
“Kraaaagh!”
Jaw unhinged, it thrashed in agony and staggered back. Dark red blood fountained out, soaking me.
I stared at my blood-drenched hands.
That explosive power that just shredded its mouth. It receded deep inside, its role done. But the afterglow lingered intensely.
Again.
One taste, and I craved that omnipotence again. A thirst worse than combat drugs. This was addiction. Primal addiction to power, to destruction.
Luckily, it wasn’t dead yet. Jaw dangling, it rolled on the ground trying to regenerate.
I grinned and approached the xenoform again.
The airlock hissed open, and Bani, Lydia, and Eve stepped inside the ship.
A musty mold stench hung heavy from long abandonment. But the interior was far worse.
“Bani… can this thing even fly?”
Lydia eyed the wrecked interior. Wires dangled severed from the ceiling; the floor was covered in mystery slime and vine plants overtaking the machinery.
Like the ship itself had become a giant planter. Bani surveyed the devastation grimly.
It hadn’t been this bad when he escaped. The basilisks must’ve treated it like a dog bone.
“Hard to say. Gotta check the main room and run an AI diagnostic first.”
Bani sighed and led the way.
“Alright, let’s go then. Eve? What’re you doing by yourself again?”
Lydia glanced back. Eve was picking something up near a bundle of fallen wires on the floor.
“Little snake!”
Eve held it up innocently. Not wires—a green snake that had slithered inside the ship.
“Hiss!”
The snake flicked its tongue from her hand.
“Kyaaah!”
Lydia shrieked in horror. Six spider legs burst instinctively from her back.
Shwick! Snap!
One sharp leg sliced the snake clean in half in an instant.
Its corpse thudded to the floor.
“Eve! I told you not to pick up weird stuff!”
Lydia huffed, still rattled.
“Hiiing… it was cute…”
Eve pouted.
“Spider sis!”
But she spotted the legs on Lydia’s back and beamed innocently again.
Even boiling mad, that pure smile melted her anger away. Lydia felt disarmed.
Lydia’s spider legs lifted Eve into the air.
“You little troublemaker. What am I gonna do with you?”
She pinched and wiggled Eve’s nose.
“Tickles, tickles! Hee hee hee.”
“Anyway, Eve. No more grabbing critters. From now on, sis’ll carry you like this, so stay put. Got it?”
“Yes!”
Lydia spun silk into a cat’s cradle to distract her as they pushed through vines to the main room. Bani wiped dust from the console and powered it up.
Lights flickered on, but over half the panels blinked red warnings.
Bani’s face hardened.
“From that look… not good, huh?”
Lydia asked.
“Right. Ship’s OS is intact, but the power source is toast. Reactor cooling’s destroyed, thrusters overrun by vines. Can’t fly like this.”
Bani shook his head. It was scrap metal now.
“No repair kits?”
“Wish there were. Needs new parts, and this ain’t a dock.”
Bani manipulated the panel bitterly.
“At least… the nav data’s safe. Silver lining.”
He extracted the data chip and pocketed it. Ship lost, but the real prize lived.
“Guess we ditch this and head back to the Night Raven.”
“Yeah… looks like I’ll be adventuring more with Kal and the kid. My ship’d blow before the Wild Space gate.”
“Mmm~ what’s with that thick regret in your tone? You almost had 2 billion credits easy, and now that disappointed face?”
Lydia teased.
“That obvious?”
“Plastered on your face, explorer man.”
“Heh heh, gotta practice poker face next time. But Lydia.”
Bani eyed her, then Eve playing cat’s cradle in her spider legs. His gaze deepened. He started to say something, then stopped.
“Nah.”
“Silly. Anyway, grab the data and go help Kal. Too quiet out there—makes me uneasy.”
“Right.”
Bani and Lydia rushed to back up key data, grabbed a few supplies, and exited.
Outside, they stood speechless.
“Good lord.”
“Well, now…”
The canyon mouth looked like a natural disaster hit. Ground upheaved, rocks pulverized to dust, massive trees uprooted and scattered.
At the devastation’s heart: a blood-soaked giant basilisk sprawled, Kal perched atop it, waiting.
“Kal~!”
Eve leaped from Lydia’s spider legs and tackled him with a body slam.
“Hey hey! Eve, you’ll fall again—careful.”
Kal caught her effortlessly.
His bloodied hands were spotless now.
“Ung!”
“Your ‘yes’ sounds like you didn’t get a word~?”
“I did!”
“Yeah? Up we go.”
“High high!”
Kal bounced Eve in his arms and waved to the stunned Bani and Lydia.
“Bani, Lydia!! How’s the ship??”
They snapped to and approached.
“Total wreck! Power’s gone.”
Bani eyed Kal’s state.
“Kal, you… really okay? Clothes are rags, but you’re fine.”
“Just scratches, as you see. Tough hide’s my thing.”
Kal brushed it off with a grin.
“More importantly, this basilisk… dead?”
Bani prodded its huge head cautiously.
No twitch. Jaw twisted grotesquely, body bruised black and blue.
“Knocked out for now.”
“What? Knocked out? Why not kill it?”
Bani gaped. Common sense: finish the monster. It could wake and backstab.
“Mid-grapple, my vibro-knife snapped, gear broke. Bare hands, no kill method—put it to sleep.”
Kal lied smoothly.
He could’ve killed it a hundred times, but kept that quiet.
“Huh… knocked out barehanded? Man… makes me really curious about you.”
Bani whistled.
“It’s out cold awhile. Let’s head back to the ship. Lingering draws more.”
“Yeah. Night Raven it is. Done here.”
We left the fallen beast, trekking back through the jungle.
We made it safely to the Night Raven. Airlock sealed, fresh air pumped in—tension eased.
“Haa… alive.”
Lydia shed her torn hazmat and flopped on the sofa.
“What a dynamic day. First time in my life this thrilling.”
“Good work, everyone.”
Bani looked beat too. He caressed the data chip tenderly.
I settled in the cockpit for takeoff.
“Alright, lifting off. Next stop, Bani?”
“Wild Space gateway: Echoes of the Dead Nebula.”
Bani inputted new coords.
“Through there, true unknown—no Federation reach.”
“Got it.”
Engines ignited.
The Night Raven broke Nox-4’s gravity, soaring to space. I watched the green planet recede, clenching and unclenching my fist.
The destructive sensation still tingled in my fingertips.
Constellation power.
Sweet, dangerous poison.
Gotta train with Nahibi ASAP.
…But damn, what a shame to leave it.
Kal rocketed into space, savoring the memory of pounding that xenoform.