All For The Host
Chapter 32
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[Ding! Your |Pincer Attack| has leveled up from (Lvl 5) to (Lvl 6)]
As soon as this pop-up materialized in front of Astaroth, the approaching organisms had the color of their tags change. From red to yellow and yellow to green, their threat danger tier drastically changed with just a single ability upgrade.
"Hmm," Astaroth mused with a contemplative expression. "I guess I should focus on the same species of organism if I wish to upgrade certain abilities from here on out."
Skid. Skid. Click. Clack!
Turning his head from his thoughts, Astaroth witnessed dozens of Trilobites and Jawless Fish swarm him with the intent to kill. The Trilobites were Lvl 5 and Lvl 6, while the Jawless Fish were Lvl 2 and Lvl 3, making them a relatively evenly matched force.
They were a force so terrifying that any number of lower-level sea creatures would be trembling in fear right about now, but...
|Web Swing| X4
|Pincer Attack| X25
Like a flash of white and red, Astaroth swung through the pincer attacks and headbutts. Then, with utter ruthlessness, he spammed his Lvl 6 Pincer Attack and ripped apart his enemies one by one!
As he bathed in the blood of those who saw him as prey, the system notifications were lucrative and plentiful!
[Ding! You have absorbed 32,000,000 Energy from a Lvl 2 Jawless Fish!]
[Ding! You have received the Abilities: [Head Butt (Lvl 2)], [Tough Skin (Lvl 2)], and [Tail Burst (Lvl 2)]]
[Ding! You have absorbed 12,000,000 Energy from a Lvl 5 Trilobite!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 11,000,000 Energy from a Lvl 5 Trilobite!]
[Ding! You have…]
[Ding! You have passed 100,000,000 Energy and reached a point of Energy Overflow! Would you like to go through with the evolution process?]
"Yes, I would," Astaroth answered plainly.
BLING!
While chopping up and dissecting dozens of powerful critters, a pearlescent glimmer expanded from his core existence and covered his spider body.
Seeing as it was capable of temporarily shielding him from all outside attacks, the opposing organisms were left at a loss over why their attacks did absolutely nothing to break past that shield…
Oooom…
The light around Astaroth's body died out, and an even more terrifying spider emerged from its shell. No longer appearing anything like a Bell Spider, he could only be synonymous with that of a spider from the deepest pits of hell!
And the worst part about this evolution was that it wouldn't be the last one he had for his Bell Spider path…
"I think it's time to finish off the lot of you, then move onto the stronger ones," Astaroth said coldly.
"???" "???" "???"
As soon as those thoughts left Astaroth's frontal lobe, the Trilobites and Jawless Fish were already dead… headless and deformed, they were all cut up in an instant…
Fwooop!
Adjusting to his new level of speed, Astaroth lightly tapped against the water and came to an abrupt stop. He then looked behind him and saw the remains of what would've once been insurmountable enemies to him.
"How times change," he said whimsically. "But in the end, they were strong. And even in death, they will serve a grander purpose than they had in life."
|True Absorption|
Sending out dozens of black, slimy tendrils, Astaroth devoured all the scattered corpses and took their stored energy for himself.
[Ding! You have absorbed 120,000,000 Energy from a Lvl 3 Jawless Fish!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 330,000,000 Energy from a Lvl 6 Trilobite!]
[Ding! You have absorbed 240,000,000 Energy from a Lvl 3 Jawless Fish!]
[Ding! You have…]
[Ding! You have leveled up the following Abilities: [Chronic Fart (Lvl 5) → (Lvl 6], [Hardened Armor (Lvl 5) → (Lvl 6], [Tough Skin (Lvl 2) → (Lvl 3)], [Tail Burst (Lvl 2) → (Lvl 3)], [Head Butt (Lvl 2) → (Lvl 3)]]
"Ahh, that is a lot of Ability level-ups," Astaroth said jokingly. "Oh, and how do ability level ups affect my energy mass? Could I potentially have a bunch of high-level abilities and a comparatively lower energy mass, making it so my battle power is extraordinarily high?" He asked.
[Yes, that is possible. But by the time you get your abilities to that high of a level, you will already have reached a point of Major Energy Overflow. And more often than not, a Major Energy Overflow will cause most of your previous evolutionary abilities to become useless.]
"...When you put it like that, everything I'm doing seems kind of pointless, no?"
[Ding! The journey is not about the end; it's about how you get there! And even though abilities and system features will oftentimes be deemed useless, they still had their purposes when they were useful.]
[Nothing starts at the very apex. There must first be the building blocks of the foundation before there can be a tower that ascends to the heavens.]
[Although all abilities will eventually fade into obscurity, they will have served the host knowing that he could not reach the next stage of evolution without first making use of them!]
"Ahh, that definitely puts it better into perspective. Thanks," Astaroth said with a tinge of appreciation.
[It is the system's pleasure, dear host! Oh, and multiple black-tagged Giant Octopuses are speeding toward your direction!]
"!!!"
Heading the system's heads up, Astaroth looked toward a certain direction to the east and saw five absolutely massive shadows nearing his location!
Though he couldn't clearly make out their appearances from this far away, he knew without an ounce of doubt that he would instantly die if they got a hold of him!
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