Ability Combinations, Medium-Sized Spore Cells
Chapter 12
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"Hmmm… What is that?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Astaroth saw something moving, and it was moving fast!
Before he was allowed to gauge the severity of the situation, that fast-moving thing paddled against the sponge surface and leapt at him!
In the center of its body, there was a large gaping hole, and this hole was aiming straight for the rogue Spore Cell!
"What the-" before Astaroth could finish his exclamation, he was forced to swerve out of the way and just narrowly dodge the harrowing chompers that passed by his head.
The thing that attacked him was a Spore Cell, just like him, but instead of still and defenseless, this Spore Cell had already started to tread the path of evolution. The first time it devoured something, it did so by accident, but every time after that was done with complete awareness of what it was doing.
In this world, animals and anything of the sort could evolve. From the smallest of spores to the largest of magical beasts, everything was capable of evolution through devouring. The general way of life was the strong taking advantage of the weak, and the evolution chain was no different in this way of thinking.
Even though the Spore before him had not even the slightest bit of intelligence, it still knew when there was food to be had.
However, for some odd reason, its food didn't enter its mouth… This was odd.
It didn't understand.
It would try again.
Scuttering from its original position, the hostile spore kicked up some dust particles before lunging at its food source once more!
"Hmm… Do you really think you can catch me by surprise again? With the same attack?"
Astaroth didn't know what he was expecting from something lacking even a brain cell, but in the end, it was nice to have a sparring partner, albeit a very dumb one…
Splish. Splash. Splish. Splash.
As the two spore cells danced among the top of a baby sponge, their battle quickly escalated. For some reason, the hostile spore cell was feeling something called 'frustration'. And it was through this frustration that its attack patterns became even more vicious and erratic.
But no matter what it did, nothing seemed to be able to touch the body of the other Spore…
Even though it was six times the size of its prey, it made no difference…
|Spore Slash|
Out of nowhere, the hostile spore felt something cut through the left side of its body. Though it wasn't capable of thought and its pain receptors were still underdeveloped, it instinctively knew that it had been injured.
This realization put it into an even more savage state; nothing was holding it back, and its attacks were becoming extremely dangerous.
"Hmm… One was not enough, so I will just throw a few more…"
Each cast of Spore Slash used up 0.001 Energy from his Energy Storage, and though Astaroth couldn't use it indefinitely, there was still enough energy to throw it about 34 more times.
However, if he did end up going past 10 times, the energy consumed would exceed the amount stored outside of his Evolution requirements. After which, the energy used in the attacks would be taken from his 'Evolution Energy'. This loss of energy would be permanent, but he could always get back more, assuming the reward was better than what needed to be paid.
In this case…
|Spore Slash| |Spore Slash| |Spore Slash|
Casting the ability three times in a row, Astaroth was willing to take the gamble and kill this spore cell no matter the cost.
Though no blood came out of the body of the Spore Cell, just the visual damage to its exterior was enough to disable its right side. Now no longer able to paddle from that side, it had to rely solely on the jumping force from its right side. Still leaping at its prey with everything it had, it failed to notice the deep cut marks appearing all over it with each passing second.
By the time it even reached its prey, three fourths of its body were scattered throughout the water molecules that they had been fighting in…
Now just a lump of meat and undeveloped cartilage, the hostile spore cell tried to make one last leap at its food. But with a final cast of |Spore Slash|, the last of its body was sliced straight in half…
|Spore Propulsion|
Swimming toward the remains of the hostile spore, Astaroth then simultaneously used |Unlimited Energy Absorption| and |Energy Absorption|.
[Ding! You have absorbed 0.08 Energy from a Medium-sized Spore Cell!]
As this system notification rang out, Astaroth also felt his body increase by 7 times its original size, allowing for a substantial zoom out of the surroundings.
After his brief size amplification process was done and over with, he immediately moved his focus toward dozens of spore cells, all hostile, just like the last one.
"It seems like from this moment onward, I will no longer be able to get by with some free meals that are incapable of fighting back…"
Looking around at the hostile spore cells, Astaroth saw that all of them were of varying sizes, with some even being nearly a hundred times his size!
"If that one gets too close, I think I'm screwed," he muttered.
|Spore Propulsion|
Activating this movement ability, Astaroth dashed around all the incoming hostile spore cells. Then, with a constant casting of |Unlimited Energy Absorption|, he sucked up all the energy of a spore three times his size, and it only took three blinks!
|Spore Slash| |Spore Propulsion| |Spore Slash|
With his new energy level, he used Spore Slash and Spore Propulsion in quick succession. Traveling around the sponge surface, he both shot away from his opponents and shot things at them. Then, with ease of mind, he devoured everything that was killed…
[Ding! You have absorbed 0.38 Energy from a medium-sized Spore Cell!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 0.97 Energy from a medium-sized Spore Cell!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 2.5 Energy from a medium-sized Spore Cell!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 6.2 Energy from a large-sized Spore Cell!]
From tiny spore cells to large spore cells, Astaroth was devouring them all the same, and within milliseconds, he was already at the point of his next breakthrough!
There were still hundreds of Large Spore Cells still chasing after him, but after going through with the Energy Overflow, they would all be consumed anyway. With this in mind, Astaroth confirmed the usual question asked by the system.
BLING!
An iridescent light similar to the previous one's erupted from his body, and then everything was sucked in all at once, allowing Astaroth to evolve once more!
From a Spore Cell, he would become something far larger and far superior!
But with greater power, there would naturally come greater adversity…
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