Chapter 15
【Unique Entity Information】
＊Species: Multi-Mouthed Predatory Insect
＊Classification: Mutant Species
＊Body Size: 59.3 cm
＊Growth Stage: Mature
＊Predation Rank: Intermediate Predator
＊Special Notes: Adapting to Evolved Body
＊Threat Level: Extremely Dangerous
While reading the information about the creature that had appeared in its field of vision, Nereia noticed something unusual.
It was.
‘Adapting to Evolved Body?’
From that, Nereia could tell that the creature had yet to adapt to its evolved body.
So Nereia observed it more closely.
As a result.
‘I’m sure of it. It still hasn’t fully adapted to its evolved body.’
Some of the tentacles positioned around its body weren’t moving properly.
There were also patches where the black exoskeleton had faded in color, and it would occasionally twist its body as if something felt uncomfortable.
The clearest evidence of all was.
‘Its mana is unstable.’
Was it called a Multi-Mouthed Predatory Insect?
Nereia sensed the mana coming from it wavering intermittently and grinned.
Normally, Nereia would have had to give up.
The creature had already evolved into an Intermediate Predator, while Nereia was still only a Lesser Predator.
But.
‘If it’s not at full strength, I have a chance.’
This was an opportunity.
The creature was undoubtedly an Intermediate Predator.
But it wasn’t yet a complete one.
And all Nereia had left to fulfill its evolution conditions was devouring the core of an Intermediate Predator.
In other words.
‘I’ll eat it and evolve.’
The Multi-Mouthed Predatory Insect.
It was no longer Nereia’s rival.
It was.
‘Nothing but prey.’
Of course, Nereia still wanted to study it.
But that was fine.
Nereia didn’t need to tear the creature limb from limb to study it.
That’s right.
‘I can just eat it.’
So Nereia would devour it.
Nereia would devour the creature to meet the final condition for evolution, and study it by eating it.
Having reached that conclusion, Nereia disappeared, melting into the darkness of the deep sea.
Nereia used a fusion trait created by combining the traits it had gained by preying on ghost jellyfish.
The trait was called Ghost Camouflage Membrane.
It was a new trait formed by combining the Ghost Jellyfish’s Mana Concealment Membrane and Optical Distortion Membrane. Its abilities were as follows.
【Ghost Camouflage Membrane】
＊Suppresses mana reactions.
＊Conceals the body by refracting and distorting the surrounding light.
＊Concealment efficiency increases dramatically when movement is minimized.
As its name suggested, the Ghost Camouflage Membrane was a trait specialized for stealth.
It allowed Nereia to hide itself by suppressing its mana reactions and refracting the surrounding light.
Of course, given the nature of the environment, it couldn’t prevent the currents from shifting whenever it moved. Even so, the Ghost Camouflage Membrane was an exceptionally powerful trait.
Using the Ghost Camouflage Membrane, Nereia slowly approached the creature.
10 m.
5 m.
2 m.
Holding its breath and using the deep-sea currents to move as stealthily as possible, Nereia reached point-blank range and suddenly swung its Predation Arm.
Its target was the head.
Or, more precisely, the space between the head and torso.
The tiny gap between the exoskeleton covering the head and the one covering the torso.
It aimed for the area corresponding to the back of a human neck, where the nerves were densely packed.
‘It’s fine if I can’t kill it in one strike. If its nerves are concentrated there…’
Being a living creature, it couldn’t avoid being incapacitated.
Certain of that, Nereia swung its Predation Arm, but.
Crack—!
BANG—!
The vibrations and shock traveled through the deep-sea water.
At the same time, the creature that had been struck by the Predation Arm thrashed wildly.
Was it flustered by the sudden ambush?
Or had it been startled by an intense impact unlike anything it had ever experienced?
Whatever the reason.
‘Tch. This is unexpected.’
Nereia backed away from the rampaging creature and muttered inwardly.
Even if it hadn’t adapted yet, an Intermediate Predator was still an Intermediate Predator.
The creature belatedly noticed Nereia’s ambush and blocked the strike with the horn growing from its head.
As a result, the Predation Arm aimed at the back of its neck failed to unleash its full power.
‘It reacted in that split second. Impressive.’
An Intermediate Predator was still an Intermediate Predator, after all.
But.
‘It’s fine. Even if things didn’t go as planned.’
Nereia had managed to break one of the creature’s weapons: its horn.
Besides, even at reduced strength, its Predation Arm was powerful enough to turn solid deep-sea rock to dust.
The creature had sacrificed its horn and still failed to block the strike completely.
With a pained scream, it thrashed about, revealing openings that Nereia hadn’t seen before.
As if determined not to let those openings go to waste, Nereia swung all four Predation Arms at the creature again.
Splaack—!
The tips of all four Predation Arms swung toward the creature split into five prongs each, revealing sharp, sawtooth-like protrusions.
These sawteeth weren’t simply for grabbing and tearing apart an opponent.
The sawtooth-like protrusions were bona fide predation organs in their own right. If they could pierce the creature’s outer shell and lodge inside, they could immediately inject digestive fluid and melt it from within.
CRUNCH—!
As the Predation Arms, split into twenty prongs in total, coiled around the creature’s entire body, Nereia clicked its tongue inwardly.
‘It’s tough.’
Unfortunately, the sawtooth-like protrusions at the ends of its Predation Arms couldn’t pierce the creature’s outer shell.
Even though Nereia had aimed for the faded patches as much as possible, it had only managed to leave cracks in the creature’s shell.
It was frustrating that Nereia couldn’t melt the creature from the inside, but.
‘At least I know its shell isn’t impossible to break.’
That was enough.
From now on, all Nereia had to do was focus on the parts of the creature’s shell where it had already made cracks.
Besides.
‘The impact of the ambush has kept it from moving properly. So…’
It could hunt the creature easily enough.
Just as Nereia became certain of that.
CRUNCH—!
A chilling sound suddenly rang out.
At the same time, a horrible pain hit Nereia.
‘Gyaaaah—!’
Nereia screamed and hurriedly pulled back the Predation Arms wrapped around the creature.
One of its four Predation Arms was now mangled.
As if some beast with sharp teeth had torn into it.
After checking the wound on its Predation Arm, Nereia turned its gaze back to the creature.
That thing…
‘Is it smiling?’
The creature had no face, so naturally, it couldn’t have an expression. But the more Nereia looked at it, the harder it was to shake the feeling that it was laughing at Nereia.
But there was another, more serious problem.
‘The cracks… they’re fading. Right, so it has regenerative abilities too.’
The creature had regenerative abilities.
Just as Nereia used mana to heal its wounds,
the creature regenerated its own injuries by digesting what it ate through the mouths on its tentacles.
The moment Nereia confirmed this new information about the creature.
【Information on the unique entity has been re…】
【Analysis of the unique entity…】
‘Don’t block my vision—!’
Nereia shouted at the system, which had reacted immediately, and moved.
It charged toward the creature with a sudden burst of speed from its High-Speed Multi-Axis Propulsion Sac.
If the creature could regenerate by eating its own flesh, Nereia could heal its wounds with mana.
So.
'Let’s see whose regenerative power runs out first!'
Of course, Nereia’s mana wasn’t infinite. And even if it was still adapting, the creature was already an Intermediate Predator. But Nereia didn’t back down.
And so.
BANG! BANG!
KABOOM—!
CRUNCH! Crack!
Munch, munch.
Nereia’s swinging Predation Arms battered the creature’s body, forming cracks.
In return, the creature’s tentacles tore at Nereia’s Predation Arms, eating them to repair the cracks in its outer shell.
Nereia, too, healed the wounds scattered across its body with mana.
It was a downright vicious brawl.
Striking. Constricting. Crushing.
Tearing. Chewing. Healing.
A savage fight with no end in sight.
But the longer Nereia fought, the more it realized that victory was tipping in its favor.
Even though the creature was an Intermediate Predator.
‘Its regeneration is slowing down!’
Nereia’s eyes gleamed as it exclaimed inwardly.
Maybe the fierce battle had caused some kind of problem while it was still adapting to its evolved body.
Its tentacles grew sluggish, and their movements became more repetitive.
Its regenerative power also began to slow noticeably.
Of course, Nereia’s own regenerative power had weakened compared to the beginning, too.
Even so, Nereia didn’t retreat. Instead, it attacked the creature even more relentlessly.
It doggedly pursued the creature as it tried to put distance between them, forcing it to keep fighting at close range.
As a result.
‘An opening!’
The creature finally left itself exposed.
Some of its tentacles had stopped moving completely, and its defense had shifted to one side.
Nereia didn’t go for that opening right away.
Using its three battered Predation Arms, whose recovery had slowed, as bait, it swung all its remaining healthy Predation Arms at the exposed opening.
In the process, the three Predation Arms it had used as bait were completely ruined, but Nereia didn’t care.
Meanwhile, the creature belatedly realized what Nereia was up to and hurriedly tried to move some of its tentacles to defend itself, but it was too late.
KABOOM—!
Nereia’s swinging Predation Arm tore through the deep-sea water and slammed into the creature’s torso.
Vibrations and shock traveled through the water.
A heavy thud rang out through the Predation Arm.
The creature’s body lurched violently from the impact of Nereia’s Predation Arm, and the black exoskeleton covering its entire body shattered.
But even then, the creature didn’t die.
An Intermediate Predator was still an Intermediate Predator, after all.
Despite most of the black exoskeleton covering its body being shattered, the creature still moved.
No, it wouldn’t have been strange to call this a final struggle.
A tentacle shot out from beneath the shattered exoskeleton.
Compared to the tentacles with mouths, it was much thicker and longer. A hard, sharp claw jutted from its tip.
At a glance, the tentacle the creature had newly brought out looked like a trump card.
But that was absolutely not a trump card.
Considering what Nereia had learned about the creature’s structure during their fight, there was no way it could bring out that tentacle under normal circumstances.
It could only force the tentacle out when most of the shell covering its entire body had been destroyed.
That was why Nereia thought of it not as a ‘trump card,’ but as a ‘last-ditch effort.’
At the same time, the significance of that tentacle was…
'Mutual destruction.'
No sooner had Nereia muttered those words inwardly than the creature unleashed its final attack.
The tentacle that had burst through its shattered exoskeleton whipped toward Nereia, its hard, sharp claw aimed at taking Nereia’s life.
Whoosh—!
The hard claw cut through the deep-sea water.
As it came hurtling toward Nereia, intent on taking its life, Nereia could feel the creature’s spiteful malice, as if it wanted them to die together.
But.
‘Idiot. Who said I’d die with you?’
Nereia easily dodged the creature’s final desperate attack, aimed at its biological core.
As if it hadn’t expected Nereia to dodge, the creature seemed alarmed. Nereia sneered at it and said.
‘I already knew you had claws. Since they weren’t visible, I figured you must have hidden them somewhere.’
That’s right. Nereia already knew the creature had claws.
Nereia had figured that out from the traces it had followed while searching for the creature.
The claws might have disappeared during its evolution, but Nereia had never let down its guard.
Thanks to that, Nereia was able to dodge the creature’s clawed tentacle.
Of course, Nereia hadn’t expected it to be meant for mutual destruction.
Meanwhile, after even its final desperate attack failed in vain, the creature began to flee.
It desperately moved its ruined body, struggling to get as far away from Nereia as possible.
Its attachment to life was impressive, considering it had just tried to take them both down with it.
Nereia grinned at the creature as it fled for its life and said.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
CRUNCH—!
Swinging its four Predation Arms, which had recovered somewhat, Nereia tore the creature’s already mangled body to shreds.
* * *
【You have devoured the unique entity 「Multi-Mouthed Predatory Insect」.】
【You have devoured the biological core of an Intermediate Predator.】
【All evolution conditions have been met.】
By hunting the creature and eating its biological core, Nereia had fulfilled all the conditions to evolve into an Intermediate Predator.
There was more.
【Unique Trait 「Trait Predation」 activates.】
【You acquire a new trait through the unique entity’s biological core.】
【You have acquired the new trait 「Multiple Predation Mouths」.】
‘Multiple Predation Mouths… Does that mean the mouths at the ends of its tentacles?’
Nereia murmured as it checked the new trait it had acquired.
Those mouths certainly looked useful.
They would surely be more efficient than piercing an opponent with sawtooth-like protrusions, injecting digestive fluid, and sucking up their melted insides as Nereia did now.
But beyond its victory over the Multi-Mouthed Predatory Insect and the acquisition of its new trait, there was one thing more important than anything else.
That was.
【Fulfillment of evolution conditions confirmed.】
【The unique trait 「Mutant Evolution」 is activating.】
The evolution that would let Nereia become an Intermediate Predator was beginning.
【Analyzing the biological-core information of the unique entity 「Multi-Mouthed Predatory Insect」.】
【Analyzing traits possessed.】
【Searching for new mutant evolution paths for the ■■■■ system bearer.】
….
Endless analysis. Analysis. And more analysis.
How long had Nereia waited for the analysis for its evolution to finish?
【All analysis is complete.】
【Providing the available options for this individual’s new mutant evolution.】
‘What?’
Nereia cried out in surprise at the system’s message that it was providing options for a new mutant evolution.
This had never happened before.
Though saying ‘before’ was a stretch, since it had only evolved once. Still, it hadn’t been given any choices during its first evolution.
Nereia had thought that this time, too, it would evolve into a deep-sea creature suited to it.
And yet, out of nowhere, it was being offered choices.
But the system seemed unconcerned by Nereia’s confusion and simply displayed the available evolution options.
【Viewing mutant evolution options.】
＊Deep-Sea Multi-Predator
└An evolved form specialized in close-quarters combat and predation.
＊Deep-Sea Ghost Predator
└An evolved form specialized in concealment, mobility, ambush, and predation.
＊■■ ■■ ■■■[Locked]
└■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■[Locked].
Unlike the first two options, the last one was locked, making its information impossible to view.
Just as Nereia was briefly taken aback, the system responded.
【Confirmed information-access authorization for the ■■■■ system bearer.】
【Providing information on the final evolution option.】
‘What the…’
It was only an option for its next evolution. What was all this about access authorization?
Faced with the absurd situation, Nereia let out an incredulous laugh without meaning to, then checked the final, previously locked evolution option.
＊Primitive Mutant Merfolk
└A mutated individual of the primitive merfolk, the ancestral form of all merfolk.
Primitive Mutant Merfolk.
That was the final option among the three evolution choices the system had shown Nereia.