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Chapter 114: Space Monster
🕑 Added 2023-02-20 17:36:01 +0000 UTCJack was in space. He was floating and covered in a thin film that protected him from the lack of pressure and heat, as well as the radiation. The Trampling Ram awaited behind him, several faces watching through the main room’s glass walls. The ship was standing still, of course; they’d stopped their flight to let the space monster approach.
Jack had never been outside the ship before. He didn’t know what to expect besides the obvious.
The moment he stepped into space, even the obvious fled from his mind. He immediately lost his balance and started rotating head over heels. He had nothing to grab onto, nothing to give him leverage. He was simply floating in space—and mid-rotation, he could see flashes of a purple bubble approaching, waving three tentacle-like appendages and shrieking.
Space Monster, Level 53
Experts speculate that, when large quantities of the Dao are left undisturbed for a long time, they can spontaneously coalesce into a Space Monster. While this is a very rare occasion, the vastness of the void lends itself to the phenomenon. Space is filled with such monsters, especially outside System space.
However, due to the phenomenon’s relative rarity and the requirement of long-time undisturbed Dao, it has never been observed in controlled environments. The exact procedure of a Space Monster’s birth has never been documented in the Immortal Archives.
Space Monsters are mostly mindless existences that seek only to feed on sources of the Dao, like natural treasures or cultivators. They grow larger and more intelligent in proportion to their strength.
Jack skimmed over the description, then grimaced as the monster’s shriek somehow crossed the void to reach his ears. In the same way, the captain’s voice rang in his mind.
“Fighting in space is different than anything else,” he explained leisurely, as if there wasn’t a purple monstrosity hurling at Jack. “Even moving is difficult at first, until you get the trick.”
“What’s the trick!?” Jack shouted, but the sound was confined inside the thin, multi-colored film covering his body.
The space monster reached him. It was roughly spherical in shape. It towered over him, the size of a small hill. Each of its appendages was many feet long and partially transparent.
When one of them tried to slap him, he didn’t wait to find out what would happen. He smashed out a Meteor Punch, hurling a beautiful line of purple that exploded on the tentacle. The recoil of his punch sent him spinning backward into space.
“Ahhh!” Jack shouted.
“There’s the trick!” the captain’s voice reached him again. “Good job. Now go beat it up.”
Jack thought he saw people laughing from the window. The space monster ignored the starship, perhaps sensing the immortal inside, and lunged for Jack instead. Its three tentacles flailed wildly.
Jack fired a weak Meteor Punch to steady himself, but he miscalculated, and now he was spinning forward instead. “Son of a—” A tentacle smashed into him, sending him flying back. To his horror, Jack realized he wasn’t decelerating. He quickly sent a Meteor Punch backward to stop his flight, then another to shoot forward. He was spinning the whole time, but at least now, he was doing it slowly enough to focus. His fighting style could help incorporate the rotation into his moves.
Jack eyed the purple monster again and gritted his teeth. Its tentacle was singed where he’d hit it before, but still swinging. Not for long.
With a roar, Jack smashed out a Meteor Punch, then a second, then a third. At the same time, he used his Dao to counterbalance the recoil. Having reached the E-Grade, he now had fine enough control over his Dao to send small bursts out of anywhere in his body. It was like using Meteor Punch to shoot meteors, but way too ineffective and unfocused to be used in battle.
Those bursts left his body like small clouds and dissipated almost immediately, but it was the act of leaving his body that mattered. If Meteor Punch could propel him backward, then using the Dao of the Fist through his butt, feet, or elbows was enough to propel him forward.
He also jumped in random directions, as this was too difficult to control at once, but at least he wasn’t flying into the stars anymore.
Even mid-battle, he realized he was farting Dao. He chuckled.
The three meteors crashed into the purple blob, making it shriek wildly yet again. There were dents in its form now. It reached Jack. The three tentacles fell on him at the same time.
Two tried to slap him. He met them with both with Meteor Punches, ricocheting them backward, but the third tentacle had time to coil around his waist. It grabbed him and tried to crush him like a constrictor snake.
Jack felt the pressure. His face paled, his ribs tightened…but they didn’t break. The Iron Fiend Body held strong.
There were a few different ways to escape this grasp, but only one was suited to the Dao of the Fist, to the Field of the Iron Fist.
Jack reached for the tentacle with both his arms, grabbed it, and ripped it apart. It felt like jelly. He roared. The space monster shrieked, waving its stump of a tentacle and the two whole ones, but Jack was slowly acclimating to battle in space, and he was far stronger than this monster.
Ghost Step.
Suddenly, he disappeared. His form darted sideways at tremendous speed, and of course, didn’t stop decelerating. He flew off into space again.
Cursing, Jack used Ghost Step again in the opposite direction. He accelerated explosively. This time, when he arrived behind the confused space monster, he used a Meteor Punch to stop himself, then unleashed a barrage of attacks. Meteor Punches fell into the monster like rain. Its bubble-like form was covered in deep dents, parts of it dissipating into nothing.
It turned around and whipped its tentacles at Jack again. This time, he knew what to expect. The Iron Fist Style activated at full throttle. Jack leaned past a tentacle, then grabbed the second mid-swing and used it to swing the monster around. It shrieked again.
As they were spinning in space, he roared and punched the tentacle twice in the same spot until his fist penetrated it completely, sending the tentacle monster careening in a random direction. He decided to call it “down.”
A burst of Dao shot him downward, dodging the tentacle stump that tried to take his head off, and he shot up again to dodge another tentacle. Suddenly, he was above the creature. A hail of Meteor Punches fell again, a Meteor Shower, and how could this little space monster resist? Even Rufus Emberheart had been felled by this attack.
Its top bulged inwards, about to pop like a bubble. Suddenly, a hole appeared under Jack, revealing a hollow interior. The monster shot up, swallowing him. The hole closed.
For a moment, the monster stayed still. Then, its body bulged outward from multiple spots. Jack was going berserk. It did its best to remain steady, it even used its tentacles to keep the largest bulges down, but it was useless. Its form warped as Jack tried to break it from the inside, attacking recklessly in all directions.
In the end,here was only so much punishment the space monster could take. The force inside it became too great. With a loud popping sound, the monster broke apart. Its skin was rags floating in space, quickly dissipating, as were the remains of its tentacles.
Jack was left hovering where the space monster used to be, covered in a purple substance that resembled chewing gum—which was also dissipating, thankfully. He was panting, and the protective film covering his body was flickering.
Level Up! You have reached Level 51.
Finally! he thought, grinning despite the disturbing bodily fluids all over him. The battle with Rufus had given him a lot of experience, and one weak space monster was apparently all he needed to advance.
Well, weak compared to him. They were around the same level.
Still grinning, Jack used bursts of Dao to reach the starship’s secondary exit, then passed through. He immediately stumbled. Gravity had returned, and that took him a second to process.
At least the remains of the monster had completely evaporated. He was clean again.
He took off his helmet, placing it on one of the glowing pedestals that would recharge it, then opened the door to return to the main room. Brock and Vlossana were clapping. “Bravo!” she shouted.
“That was a…showy fight,” captain Dordok said.
“Thank you, Captain.”
“It wasn’t a compliment. Getting swallowed by space monsters is not a good idea. If this one wasn’t much weaker than you, you might have been in trouble. Their insides are highly corrosive.”
Jack cringed. “Yeah, I felt that. I will be careful.”
“Good.” Then, the captain’s expression melted into a smile. “Other than that, good job. It was like watching an experienced space wrestler. Not bad for a first time.”
“You mean, when I wasn’t flying around like a kite?” Jack replied, laughing.
“That happens to everyone, but not everyone wins. Achilles here, for example, needed me to rescue him on his first space battle.”
“Captain!” Achilles, the second feshkur after Vashter, cried out. Dordok only laughed in return.
“So, at least you weren’t the worst. But don’t forget the feeling. This was just a weak opponent to get you used to the movements. Next time, you’ll have to fight for real.”
“Yes, Captain!” Jack said, sticking out his chest. “Can I practice on our downtime? Without space monsters, I mean.”
The captain shook his head. “We cannot stop the ship for you to practice. Best save the time for when space monsters appear. It’s more effective then.”
“And more dangerous.”
“So what? Are you afraid of danger?”
“No.”
“Good. That’s the least I expect from my crew.”
Captain Dordok then turned around. “The show is over, everyone. Get back to work—or cultivating, or whatever it is you were doing.”
Somehow, everyone had gathered to watch Jack fight, from Vlossana and her father, to the two feshkurs, to Bomn the minotaur. As everyone was dispersing, Bomn approached Jack and clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. Jack had to look up—Bomn was as tall as the feshkurs. Truly, in this crew, he felt like a dwarf.
Despite the large greataxe on Bomn’s shoulder, his horns, or his large physique, he didn’t seem intimidating. There was a sense of calmness radiating off him that put Jack at peace.
Bomn looked into Jack’s eyes and said only one word: “Good.”
Then, he kept walking, disappearing into the bridge. Jack still hadn’t been to that room, but he tried to sneak peeks whenever anyone opened the door. This time, he spotted a glowing circle on the ground, as well as something radiating green light from outside his vision.
“Thanks!” he shouted behind the minotaur’s back as the door closed.
He then looked around. Even the captain had left, perhaps going to cultivate in his cabin or to read a book, leaving only Brock beside Jack.
“Whew,” Jack said. “That was quite something, bro. When you reach the E-Grade, you will be able to step into space yourself.”
“Bro!” Brock shouted. Jack inspected him out of habit.
Brorilla, Level 37 (Elite)
A gorilla variant from planet Green. Brorillas usually live with Gymonkeys and train them in the ways of working out. It is due to the Brorillas’ unmatched pecks that Gymonkeys use poop to fight—they consider themselves too weak for anything else.
Brorillas are usually calm, measured animals. However, if anyone harms their little cousins or invades their territory, they go bananas.
This particular brorilla is a variant that visually resembles a gymonkey. Though not weaker than other brorillas, the members of this variant are often shunned due to their lack of bulging muscles.
That is not the case for this specimen. Through intense determination, it has achieved greater strength than its species’ norm, as well as a Dao Root. Despite that, it remains an adolescent. Due to this specimen’s potential, taming or slaying it are advised.
A new paragraph had, at some point, appeared at the end of Brock’s description. Jack didn’t enjoy it. Brock was his friend, but the System was treating him like…an object.
Besides that, Brock kept growing in size. He now reached up to Jack’s waist. If he kept at it, he might soon resemble his dad, Harambe.
I wonder what everyone is doing on Earth… Jack thought, letting his mind wander. Are they still alive? Are they fighting, or is Sparman protecting them? Is the Flame River still standing? Is there a war?
He had no way to find out, at least for now. Master Shol had mentioned a telepathy System function for people of the same faction, and Jack could only hope the Professor would find a way to buy it, because he sure couldn’t. When he’d checked the faction shop, it cost ten million credits. A whopping number.
But the professor was smart, and she had Edgar, too. Perhaps they’d find a way.
In the meantime, all he could do was cultivate, train, and get stronger as fast as possible. If he wanted to save them, there was no time to waste.
Besides, if he delayed, even Brock might catch up to him. He was already a Level 37 Elite, growing at a prodigious rate. Soon, he would be as strong as the black wolves that guarded the Forest of the Strong, and then…
Well, who knows how far Brock would reach.
With that thought in mind, Jack took Brock and headed back to his room. If he wanted to reach the C-Grade in less than a year, he only had a couple months to spend at the E-Grade at the most. He should fuse the Dao Root of Indomitable Will into his Dao Seed as soon as possible, then decide how many and which Dao Roots he was going to pursue.
There was no time to waste.
However, the moment he stepped out of the main room and headed right, to the ladder leading to the lower deck, a whisper came from behind him.
“Psst.”
Jack paused.
“Pssst!” the whisper insisted. “Jared. Over here!”
He finally turned around to find Vlossana waiting at the other side of the door, sticking to the wall. “Psss— Oh, you saw me! Finally.”
“Hey, Vlossana,” Jack replied tiredly. “What is it?”
“Not much. I just wanna talk. What do you say, Ja…” She paused for a moment. “...red.”
Jack sighed. So, she does remember my real name. Crap. He looked back at her, who was wiggling her eyebrows in a sketchy manner.
“Okay,” he said with resignation. “Mi casa, su casa.”
“What?”
“Nevermind. Let’s go to my room. I suspect what you have to say won’t be fit for the main room.”
She grinned. “Now you’re talking!”
