Chapter 23
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In a medium-level area of the Spongescape.
SLASH!
[Ding! You have absorbed 6,070 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 4 Young Adult Sponge!]
After finishing up the last of a group of Lvl 4 Young Adult Sponges, Astaroth pulled up his system interface and saw that he had 70,000 of the 1,000,000 (G11) Energy that he needed for his next Energy Overflow.
"Hmm… Hey, system, can you pull up the info on all my new abilities?" He asked.
[Ding! Certainly!]
{[Infant, Adolescent, and Young Adult Phase Sponge Abilities:]}
[Chameleon's Deceit: Alters one's appearance to mimic other sea creatures or objects, deceiving enemies or luring prey into its trap.] - (Active)
[Rapid Renewal: When wounded, can use Sponge Energy to speedily regenerate and repair damage up to a certain extent. |600% Regenerative Booster|] - (Active)
[Venomous Blast: Releases a toxic mist that poisons enemies who come too close. Can also be used to ward off enemies with its caustic touch. |1200% Poison Damage|] - (Active)
[Ripple Sense: Attunes oneself to the slightest movements in the water. Can be used to sense and locate other moving objects or organisms.] - (Active)
[Hyper Water Beam Blast: Condenses and launches a powerful beam of water. |800% Water/Energy Damage|] - (Active)
"Only one full damage ability out of the bunch, but the rest are very good for auxiliary abilities, so I don't really mind the lack of damage abilities."
After perusing his most recent abilities, Astaroth put his focus back on the Sponges. From multiple different sides, dozens of Lvl 4 Young Adult Sponges got right up in his face and snarled.
Astaroth was forced to use |Hyper Water Beam Blast| to take out the closest ones. The next thing he did was use his movement abilities to shoot away from the relentless demon sponges.
From there, he activated |Venomous Blast| and spread out a highly potent poison. The poison left his body as a dark purple color and seeped into the agape mouths of the Sponges. It then did its magic and infected the Lvl 4 Young Adult Sponges from the inside out.
Before long, they were frothing from their mouths and drifting off into the sea, lifeless and hollow.
[Ding! You have absorbed 13,000 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 4 Young Adult Sponge!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 18,000 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 4 Young Adult Sponge!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 21,000 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 4 Young Adult Sponge!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 17,000 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 4 Young Adult Sponge!]
[Ding! You have…]
As Astaroth killed more and more of the Sponges, the system notifications never stopped coming…
Before long, he was already half of the way to his next Minor Energy Overflow.
Then it happened…
[Ding! You have passed 1 million (G11) Energy and reached a point of Energy Overflow! Would you like to go through with the evolution process?]
"Yes," Astaroth answered while slicing up ten different Sponges with one cast of |Razor Cross Slash|.
BLING!
In the midst of dodging and weaving out of the way of hundreds of speedy sponges, Astaroth's body underwent the same iridescent light-up show as all the times before. Somehow, this was able to keep the Lvl 4 and Lvl 5 Sponges at bay.
It held up just long enough for Astaroth to emerge from the iridescent encasing and put his new and improved form on full display!
Now in possession of sixteen spiraling goat horns and dark red in body color, Astaroth had regained what he had in his previous Evolution Stage, and then some!
"!!!" "!!!"
The Young Adult Sponges and Adult Sponges had no idea what just occurred with their prey. But after a moment of momentary confusion, they returned right back to their savagery.
Skid! Skid! Skid!
They jumped Astaroth like hoodlums in Harlem, expecting to divvy up his corpse among themselves after they killed him!
However…
SHING! SHING! SHING!
After hearing the wind crackle and whistle more than once, the Lvl 4 and Lvl 5 Sponges were surprised to find that their senses had been split into multiple pieces. Or, to be more precise, they were diced up and shredded like confetti…
The only ability that Astaroth received for his Evolution into the Adult Development Phase was something called |Horned Sever|.
It was an ability that came with a singular attribute affecter, |2000% Slash Damage|.
After the various percentile reductions to his previous Evolution Stage abilities, this ability became the most powerful one in his arsenal!
And the difference wasn't even close!
"Slashing abilities… They just make me feel something that none of the other abilities can provide me with… It's almost transcendental…"
For some reason unbeknownst to himself, Astaroth felt a certain connection with anything that had to do with a sword. It was almost like the intent behind the essence of the sword was calling out to him.
It was very hard to put into words and yet as simple as breathing; it was difficult to describe without deep contemplation.
Skid! Skid!
Interrupting his thoughts were the appearances of ten more Lvl 5 Adult Sponges, all of whom wanted him for brunch.
Though they tried to pincer attack him and split him among the five of them, in the end, all it took was a little spin attack by Astaroth to have them sliced up like the ones that came before.
Promptly and bereft of emotion, the sponge killer used True Energy Absorption and took all their energy for himself.
[Ding! You have absorbed 1,800,000 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 5 Adult Sponge!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 1,900,000 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 5 Adult Sponge!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 5,000,000 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 5 Adult Sponge!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 9,000,000 (G11) Energy from a Lvl 5 Adult Sponge!]
[Ding! You have…]
As he needed exactly 100,000,000,000 (G11) Energy to take the last jump into the Elder Development Phase, it was fair to say that Astaroth had a lot more genocide to dish out.
Doing just that, he shot water out of his many holes and zipped through the body of water, finding any and all Adult Sponges. As they ranged from Lvl 5 to Lvl 7, he had to go through multiple iterations of evading the higher-level ones and going for the weaker ones.
Call it cowardice or stupidity, but for Astaroth, it was simply what he had to do to survive.
Growth and evolution waited for no one. And if he just sat there and idled, the dangerous Sponges would come to him, and they were the furthest thing from magnanimous.
In seconds, he would be ripped to shreds, and not a single damn thing would have ever even known of his existence.
"It's an eat or be eaten world, and I am starving."
An evil glare formed in Astaroth's gaze, nudging him further and further down the path of no return. In this life, he was born a monster, and to survive, he had to play the role to perfection.
There was no room for friendship, no room for procrastination, and no room for excuses.
The only thing on his mind was survival.
In a world where everything was against him right from the start, survival was the requirement, and evolution was the goal.
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