Chapter 39
—---------
Inside Astaroth's subconscious.
Three luminescent blue and golden screens appeared in the vast, boundless skies above. And all of them had a series of words on them. Or, to be more specific, they were choices…
"I get choices for my own evolution path?" Astaroth asked in confusion.
[Yes, that is correct! Your choices are—>]
[CRAB SPIDER] - (Rank 2)
[BIRDEATER] - (Rank 2)
[BLACK-STRIPED PIKE] - (Rank 2)
[The first is a direct evolution of the Bell Spider. The second one is a start for the snake path. The third is a start for the carnivorous fish path. And all are Rank 2 species.]
"So, different evolutions have ranks? Does that mean there will be some variation in evolution choices in the future?"
[Affirmative! The host will need to depend on both his luck and the abilities he possesses before a Major Energy Overflow to determine the selection of evolution paths he can choose from. However, for now, the host has three paths to choose from, and all have an equal number of pros and cons.]
[Do note that if the host chooses the last option, he will need to either go through another Major Energy Overflow or stay around in the pond long enough to acquire abilities that allow for survival in the outside world.]
Astaroth nodded his head in understanding. "I think I've made my choice," he said after going through the lengthy descriptions of the evolution paths. "I'll become a Birdeater spider."
[Ding! The choice has been made, and the evolution will now start!]
BLING!!!
Exploding out of the pillar's very epicenter was a shimmering light more dazzling than all the times before!
An organism was evolving! It was becoming something far superior to what it once was!
This was the birth of a Birdeater!!
BLING…
After the light faded from around Astaroth, his new form was displayed in plain view for all to see.
His body was covered in coarse, black hair, and his eight thick legs moved with an unsettling grace. The sharp, venomous mandibles on his face twitched with hunger, while eight gleaming eyes watched for any sign of prey.
As Astaroth moved around in the water, his steps left only faint impressions. If on land, birds would fall silent, and small creatures would flee in his presence.
A patient hunter, a deadly menace, leaving nothing behind but silence and fear.
Astaroth had become and embodied the essence of a Birdeater!
"Time to feast," he said as his mandibles moved in an eerie way.
Without even opening up his system interface to view the changes, Astaroth bent his legs and sprang into the air like a broken coil.
While hovering above the sea of snakes opening their maws in an attempt to swallow him whole, he, too, stared at them with a voracious glint in his gaze.
Although similar in their instinctively savage natures, the only difference between him and the Water Snakes was that he… would not be dying today.
|Toxic Surge Fall|
Using the newly upgraded Lvl 8 poison ability, large globs of green energy accumulated in the pit of his stomach and then shot out of his mouth. One after the other, dozens of huge, spiraling spheres of poisonous energy shot out of Astaroth's mouth and spun in the water above him.
It was only after well over five hundred poison spheres were hanging in the air that the ability had been fully activated. Having only taken two seconds to reach this point, the ability itself had shown the vast disparity between its current form and what it used to be.
Still, the delivery of the ability had only just begun…
"You all," Astaroth began with an apathetic tone. "I can see that you are hungry; that is why you were so deep in sleep. And with my new size, I likely appear beyond delectable to every single one of you…"
Astaroth stuck up his two front legs and forced the poison spheres to spin even faster than before.
WHIRL! WHIRL!
"Even though I can relate to the hunger that you all feel, I just can't find it in myself to prioritize your survival over my own," he said coldly. "Yes, I have killed tens of thousands of your kind, but for survival, that was necessary."
Astaroth lifted his front legs to an all-time high as a deathly cold glint flashed past his eight, predatory eyes. "As mindless and savage as you all are, I'm sure you can understand why I'm about to do what I'm going to do," he said, emotionless.
OOOM!
The pressure being emitted by the insanely fast spinning of the hundreds of poison spheres caused the pond water to ripple and twist. It eventually became so severe that the looming poison spheres created miniature underwater tornadoes that came together and clashed with one another, forming one large green tornado!
"This is the way of this new world of mine," Astaroth uttered, voice like ice. "I was human. Now… Now, I am a monster. An evolving monster."
|Toxic Surge Fall| – |Full Activation: Acid Evaporation Rain|
"This is the end," Astaroth declared.
As if in slow motion, he watched hundreds of poison spheres suddenly have tiny holes appear on their sides. Then, like the breaking open of a dam, the holes multiplied and expanded.
Like the fall of heaven, acid rain poured from the skies!
"HSssSsss!!!"
The first Water Snake fell to the acid rain as searing hot holes were drilled throughout its entire scaly body.
[Ding! You have absorbed 0.002 (G16) Energy from a Lvl 8 Water Snake!]
"Let death and evolution ensue."
—--------