Death… And Me

Chapter 4296: This Should Do

In any case, the truth was that Rean was right. The Godly Predator had no interest in Godly Spawns. That’s exactly what Roan looked like with the amount of Godly Pressure he could release. Even if Roan wanted to look like he was a Godly Beast, he simply couldn’t release enough Godly Pressure to make that happen.

Roan began to move forward again, now aware that the Godly Predator could sense his presence. Considering the distance, it was pretty obvious the Godly Predator could feel him from much further away than Roan could feel it. ’That’s something to keep in mind. We already knew Godly Creatures could feel each other’s presences from long distances, but it seems like they only act when you get within a certain range of them. The higher their level, the bigger that range.’

He finally got to the clearing and was able to see what was happening. Wurshan and the others were indeed still alive. They were also envelopped in some kind of dark liquid, the same one Roan could see dropping from that distorted mouth of the Godly Predator. The dark liquid around the cultivators occasionally bulged, as if something beneath it stirred.

The Godly Predator lay near them, but its good eye watched Roan closely. It still seemed to have no interest in Roan, though. ’What does it want to do with Wurshan and the others...’

Godly Predators should still have no intelligence. Since it kept the cultivators alive, there had to be a simpler reason. ’Food for later...? No. With its strength, it can kill as many as it wants to feed itself.’

Roan suddenly received a question from Celis. ’Can you release your Godly Sense again and share what you feel with me through Sister Orb?’

Roan narrowed his eyes. Maybe Celis had an idea. Roan did just as Celis said, and for a short moment, he felt all the cultivators.

Celis quickly gave Roan an answer. ’Their life energy is being absorbed together with their reserves of Godly Energy. It seems to be feeding something under that black liquid. From the form of energy I saw there, it is likely a bunch of eggs.’

’So that’s actually a female... Still, eggs?’ Roan didn’t expect that result. The Carcatira Alligators lay their eggs in other areas and leave straight away. They do not require extra energy to hatch, or so Wurshan showed Roan earlier. It seemed weird that it needed to do it now.

’This is obviously a different Carcatira Alligator,’ Rean contacted Roan. ’I checked the network for different types of Godly Creatures from the same race. From the looks of it, that is an aberration.’

Roan and the others got curious, so Rean continued his explanation.

It turns out that Godly Pressure can cause all kinds of changes when things go wrong. Although rare, an aberration can sometimes appear within a race after a breakthrough. Some aberrations take a different form straight away; others keep the same form initially, but over time, they slowly change, as aberrations have a strong imbalance of energies in their bodies.

There wasn’t much information about aberrations for obvious reasons. There were simply not enough examples. Some of the information also pointed out that aberrations often died pretty fast, once again, because of the imbalance of energies in their bodies. So, the few examples that existed would rarely ever get to join a Godly Creatures Horde as they died before that.

The Carcatira Alligator in front of him was definitely the latter. It likely reached that form after being left alone for a long time. Since it was a female and it was laying eggs, it made sense that it was not found. It probably stayed inside the egg-laying area where the cultivators didn’t go.

Eventually, it changed so much that it began to kill other alligators. To be more specific, Godly Beasts. The reason it selected Godly Beasts was the same one as before: It gained nothing from the Godly Crystals of Godly Spawns. Only Godly Beast Crystals or above could provide it with the necessary energy.

’But why rob the cultivators of their life and godly energies?’ Roan asked in the end, finding it hard to understand the alligator’s intentions. If it wanted life force and godly energy, the Godly Beasts were still the best choice.

Rean shrugged. ’That I don’t know... but I can make an educated guess.’

’Which is?’ Roan, Celis, and Kentucky asked.

’The life force of the Godly Creatures doesn’t match the energy the eggs need to grow,’ Rean said. ’It is obvious that this Carcatina Alligator Aberration is using them to feed her eggs. There has to be something within a cultivator’s life energy or godly energy that the Godly Beasts could not provide. You saw all those bodies before. She definitely tried it out with them already.’

Roan hasn’t forgotten the dead alligators covered in the same black goo. ’It makes sense.’

Roan kept his distance from the center of the clearing, staying close to the trees of the swamp. The aberration wasn’t coming after him, nor did it have interest in Roan’s energy. Still, it definitely had its eyes on him. It’s instinct to protect its own eggs was still working just fine, it seemed. If Roan tried to approach, he was pretty certain the aberration wouldn’t just ignore him anymore.

In the end, Roan shook his head and turned around to leave.

’Hey, are you leaving them in the end?’ Rean complained again.

And Roan rebuked. ’Shut up! I have a plan.’

The hunting grounds that the mission assigned to them were only so large. The territory of the alligators was thousands of times bigger, so Roan decided to enter another area. Fortunately, it was a lot closer than the place where he found the Godly Beast Corpses, which allowed Roan to get there in a little less than an hour.

He walked around, and there were obviously many more Godly Spawn Alligators everywhere. This probably would be the hunting grounds of a future mission for the marrows.

Roan ignored those alligators, and they ignored him due to his disguise. Eventually, Roan found what he wanted. ’This should do...’