The Devouring Menace - 021 (Patreon)

'The Anteverse.' I thought as I marveled at the beauty of the strange domain with kaleidoscopic hues.

My eyes drank in the vast, almost limitless reaches of the barren dimension within a few seconds, and couldn't help but feel exhilarated.

This subterranean space didn't have 'water' like the environment above the Breach.

I think it operated under some sort of artificial gravity that kept me suspended in the air even without necessarily using my wings.

The sky was reddish yellow as a result of the blinding illumination from the eye-like celestial object over the horizon. That 'thing' reminded me of the Tolkien "Lord of the Rings" antagonist, the almighty dark lord, The Eye of Sauron.

I had watched the movie trilogy long before finishing "The Hobbit" when I was a mere kid. My favorite had been that covetous pale-skinned Gollum because… he always wanted the ring and was funny, pfft.

That aside, as I gazed at that source of light, my overthinking mind couldn't help but come up with another speculation surrounding its nature.

What if it was just a Dyson Sphere bloating out a portion of the sun of the Anteverse? It seemed realistic that the Dyson Sphere was small making it look like the pupil of the Sun.

At another angle, the black sphere also looked like a… blackhole, sort of. I know I know it wasn't realistic. Blackholes were that overpowered and could have already devoured the whole dimension and its denizens.

So the thought of the Precursors controlling a blackhole was impossible.

All in all, I had a certain urge to eat that sun even though I knew that it was impossible at my current level. Such a pure energy source made me almost drool.

As I slowly gravitated down, I saw a few alien entities emerging from the cloning facilities.

Their multi-eyed faces gazed at me in scrutiny, curiosity, and hostility.

They stood at 12 feet tall and the low screeching sounds they were producing among themselves as a means of communication reminded me of insects.

To me, these Precursors seemed to have a mishmash of features between an insectoid and an anthropoid.

The [Hive Mind Connection] made me aware of their varying emotions but I couldn't pinpoint what they were thinking or if they had telepathic links between themselves.

One thing I was sure of… The Precursors were hostile toward me for invading their home and their fervent gazes told me everything I needed to know if they ever got their hand on my corpse or at least, my genetic composition.

I could understand their point of view but I was also there by my own volition in my pursuit of evolutionary transcendence.

Zzzzz

I heard the mechanical sounds of machines being jump-started into action and it really sounded dangerous. Like the sci-fi kind of danger.

'Their facilities are also equipped with weapon systems as expected of an alien race.' I looked over at the technologically advanced cannons being aimed at me. They had some semblance with the molecular disruption devices from Ender's game but sort of miniaturized versions. They simply screamed bad news.

'The smell of nuclear and heat.' I growled lightly as my dorsal plates shone a deep yellowish red within a second.

Having watched numerous sci-fi movies, my instincts and analysis told me that those were nuclear-powered plasma cannons.

'Danger.' I came to such a conclusion immediately.

Without further ado, I opened my mouth and instantly used [Thermonuclear Breath] to destroy those cannons as I directed the beam across the buildings.

BOOM!

The cannons exploded and the explosions further devastated the buildings into ashes.

ZZZZZ…

The humming of scintillating plasma energies cut through the air and my ears twitched incessantly, capturing the auditory signals clearly but I was a step too late to stop the Precursors from sneak-attacking me.

It was a super fast attack that caught me by complete surprise.

Three-quarters of my left wing had been cleanly cut off my back by an ultra-destructive laser beam.

It stung like a bitch but it didn't disrupt my reasoning due to my high pain tolerance. I was annoyed by my own carelessness and the Precursors that seemed to be full of surprises.

Their pool of technological resources wasn't something to scoff at.

The reason I had been injured without being given sufficient time to react was due to the Hyper cannon laser gun being held by one of the Precursors.

You might be wondering how I knew the name of the weapon, right? Well, I… just do. I was a natural at giving names to things that I saw for the first time.

I didn't worry about the lost organ, as it would heal completely in a matter of minutes, and directed my predatory gaze at the culprit.

Being one-winged surprisingly didn't make me lose my stability as I used one of my prehensile tails to coil around the guilty Precursor.

It tried to struggle against the constriction but all resistance was futile as the sounds of multiple bones cracking and flesh being squeezed into alien juice echoed.

After that Precursor died, I threw it into my waiting mouth and swallowed it whole.

There were four left in the vicinity and I didn't waste my time savoring the taste of alien brain matter. I immediately fried them up into a barbeque with 30 million volts of electricity before devouring them.

If those cannons operated under the same mechanisms as the hyper cannon laser guns, then I felt at ease that I had destroyed them before they were fully deployed.

If I had acted late, I didn't know what could have happened. Could [Superior Regeneration] have saved me from multiple matter disintegrating cannons? No.

Light-speed attacks were still too much for me to evade.

Just thinking about it made a chill pass up my spine. It was good that all those thoughts were within a simulated reality of my mind.

Now then, what do I get from these suckers?

***

[Detected consumption of an intelligent alien race!]

[Analyzing the Precursors' genetic composition…]

[Splicing up the 'monomolecular gene trait' into the claws]

[Traits combining and mutating…]

[Modifications completed!]

[<Monomolecular Claws> gained!]

[Prehensile Tails are also undergoing modifications…]

[<Prehensile Monomolecular Tail> gained]

[<Metallurgic bioprocessor organ> gained!]

[Basic Telepathic skill gained!]

[Accessing Genetic memories…]

[Kaiju Creation Knowledge and Blueprints successfully imprinted into the host's mind!]

***

Telepathy? What the-?

Breathe in, breathe out.

I did everything to calm my excited mind as I gained information about the skill.

***

[Telepathy(Basic level): capable of sensing minds and thoughts within a 100-meter radius. With this unique skill, you can be able to lock your thoughts from foreign telepathic intrusions. In a situation where your mental barriers are breached, then you can only blame your luck.]

***

'So basically another version of occlumency but better.' I mused as I shifted my attention to another boon.

***

[Monomolecular Claws: Your claws have been modified and strengthened to be able to cut through anything at a molecular level.]

***

'Wow, cool.' I wondered if I could cut through Captain America's Vibranium shield.

'It's one of the strongest metals on earth but under my claws, will it still remain sturdy?'

I pushed the speculative thoughts away as I wiggled my three tails in excitement.

I didn't need information for them after reading the previous prompt. It was pretty self-explanatory. The Prehensile Tails had now gained monomolecular edges and sharpness, capable of piercing and slicing through virtually anything.

They currently resemble those of a Xenomorph and Slattern giving them a chimeric allure.

As for the Kaiju Creation Knowledge, it was currently useless to me but still had a promising future. The Precursors were truly masters of biomechanics. I had to give them that.

I put [Kaiju Creation] on hold due to many reasons.

Anyway, what I found surprising about the genetic material of the Precursors was how complex it was that I was unable to access all of their genetic memories.

It was as if their original genetic make-up had been tampered with by something… or someone?

I didn't understand.

Was there more to the Precursors than they let on?

***