Chapter 35: Space Pests

Transformed into Cosmic Horror in a Sci-Fi Universe – 35

“Fire is a gift bestowed by the God! This liveliness, this heat! It is a great gift given with the hand of fire among the six hands!”

“But, but we lit the fire ourselves…”

“You blasphemous beings! It is because the God bestowed it upon us that we can create fire with our feeble strength!”

“Is, is that so…?”

No, why are they convinced? Fire is just a natural phenomenon. Well, if you consider the laws of physics in the universe as a God, then it makes sense…

Right now, I am witnessing in real-time how a cult expands its influence and increases its followers. They enchant people with seemingly plausible stories, making them believe.

Well… the difference is that real cults have leaders who lie to exploit people. These guys genuinely believe in the six-handed elf God.

Fire is a sacred thing bestowed by the God. The hand of judgment strikes lightning, and the hand of fire embraces it to create fire.

…They seem to attribute every natural phenomenon to the God’s hands. At this rate, they might end up with a hand for storms, a hand for the sea, a hand for water… and eventually, they might have more than six hands, like the thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara.

What’s scarier is that these guys… learned the coastal village’s language in an instant, claiming they wanted to spread the God’s greatness. If they couldn’t communicate, they couldn’t proselytize.

“Is that the sea? It looks like a very large pond.”

“We don’t know its end. It is vast and deep.”

“Moreover, it tastes salty. When it dries up, it creates sea powder, which is very delicious when sprinkled on fish or food.”

“We can offer a new sacrifice to the great God!”

They just learned about the existence of the sea and salt, and that’s all they have to say? The potential changes in diet, the advent of trade… The possibilities of what they could do with the sea are endless.

Well, these guys would probably take a small boat and sail across the sea just to spread the greatness of their God. Wasn’t the name of that fanatic leader ‘Rodri’? I had almost forgotten his name, thinking of him as just the leader of these crazy people.

Anyway, I have a feeling this guy will go all the way. He doesn’t have the exceptional skills and charisma of someone like Lasi or Muwan, but… somehow, he seems likely to build a similarly large force.

It shows that it’s not just the smart and charismatic ones who succeed. Muwan’s tyranny, Lasi’s technology, and Rodri’s religion… It feels like an interesting three-way battle is about to unfold.

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Galactic Union

The Galactic Union is the largest organization in the universe, managing an area approximately 20 billion light-years in diameter, divided into 24 sectors. Considering that the observable universe’s diameter is roughly 100 billion light-years, it’s relatively small, but still, the Galactic Union is the only entity managing such a vast space in the entire universe.

Of course, the Galactic Union does not perfectly control the entire 20 billion light-year diameter area. There are certainly unexplored spaces and several species that they have not brought under their control.

Most of the time, they accepted hostile species by either annihilating them or inflicting near-annihilation damage before persuading them. However, there were species they couldn’t subdue.

The ‘Kapteri’ species, led by the Lubaran, is the only blemish on the Galactic Union’s record. The Kapteri use their naturally extremely hard exoskeletons for both defense and offense, and their terrifying reproductive speed means that no matter how many are killed, they always manage to multiply somewhere else.

Their exoskeletons are so formidable that unless plasma weapons or nano-particle weapons developed by the Lubaran are used, it’s difficult to inflict significant damage. Even if just one survives, it will escape to another part of the universe, consume the resources of another planet, and reproduce again.

They are truly like incredibly tough cockroaches that tear people apart. The Lubaran and the Galactic Union have been striving to annihilate these pest species that only bring harm to the cosmic society. However, they always manage to let a few escape, which then reproduce, and when they are found and killed, they escape and reproduce again…

The astonishing part is that these creatures, which seem to act purely on instinct, actually possess a high level of intelligence. Along with their incredibly fast reproduction, another remarkable trait is their rapid evolution. Newly born larvae are mere instinct-driven monsters, but within a few years, their brains develop enough to enable some level of thinking.

By the time they are ten years old, these monsters possess intelligence comparable to most other species. From that point, their characteristics and intelligence levels vary depending on their evolutionary paths. Those that evolve focusing on their brains become commanders issuing orders, while those that evolve focusing on their exoskeletons become frontline assault troops.

When they were first discovered, nearly fully evolved ones were swarming. There were colossal Kapteri that could devour entire buildings, flying ones, those that ambushed from underground, and even supreme commanders with intelligence surpassing the Lubaran. Although now they have been reduced to being perceived as mere space pests, initially, the Lubaran had to wage a war risking everything.

Fortunately, the Galactic Union was already being established, and with the help of other species, they managed to win the war. If it had been just the Lubaran, they would have surely lost to the overwhelming numbers. However, the war with them was not over yet.

“Kirik. Kruruk.”

“Kikikik…”

The Kapteri, now reduced to mere space pests, continued to evolve as they fled. Lifeforms inherently evolve more rapidly when faced with drastic environmental changes and crises. At some point, the Kapteri began to be born with intelligence comparable to most species right from their larval stage.

Their evolution accelerated further, and they developed the patience to hide rather than seek resources to grow stronger.

The Kapteri, born with an instinct to devour the life and resources of planets, exhibited an astonishing level of patience. Using this patience, they hid and began to increase their numbers. In the uncharted regions where the hateful eyes of the Union did not reach, particularly in the secluded corners of Sector G, they started to expand their forces.

“Kikikik… Revenge.”

“Union scum. We will devour them all.”

They prepared for the day when they would exact their revenge on the Union.

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Oh, damn. What is this? In the seven years we ignored this area, those pests laid eggs on nearby planets. The Kapteri, with their exoskeletons, incredible reproductive rate, rapid evolution, and high intelligence, are indeed a troublesome species. They are born to wander the universe, consuming all life and resources they find—true pests.

It seems they are hiding and building their numbers. If they burst out, our Elf planet and Metallica will be in danger. Given their alarming rate of evolution, in 20 to 30 years, they could grow to the scale that once threatened even the Lubaran. At that level, it would be too difficult for the Metalians or Elves to respond.

The Metallica might hold out for a while, but the Elves certainly wouldn’t. Some have just entered the metal age, while others are still using stone tools. I don’t think we can defeat creatures that once threatened the Lubaran in just 30 years. The Metalians might endure, but the Elves definitely won’t.

Just to be safe, we should consider annihilating the planets entirely. The Galactic Union’s eyes don’t reach this far, so they wouldn’t notice a few missing planets. That’s probably why the Kapteri settled here. Unfortunately for them, the location is a bit… bad.

Currently I’m building a civilization right next to them. Just wait a bit, guys. I’ll go over there and burn their nest. There are five planets in total. To be honest, they’re no longer planets, but rather a complete breeding ground for pests.

I didn’t want to use my powers when building a civilization, but I just can’t stand having a cockroach nest near my home. It seems they’re determined to take revenge on the Union and are increasing their numbers. I feel a bit sorry for them, living with the determination to take revenge… No, I don’t.

Pests must be eradicated!

They’re just useless beings in this universe, consuming planetary resources and devouring the life forms that inhabit them. You guys, I’ll teach you what cosmic horror truly is. You’ll feel the overwhelming power of the universe’s Outer Gods, which even a tiny insect like you can’t resist!

Haha, finally, I’ll get to do something cosmic horror-like. Since I’m doing it, I’ll make sure to do it in a terrifying way. I didn’t like insects even in my past life. Mosquitoes, cockroaches, flies… Ugh, just hearing about them makes me uncomfortable. The insects in my past life didn’t have intelligence, so they couldn’t feel fear, but these guys, with their high intelligence, will feel the overwhelming threat and fear.

Kuhuhu, I’ll add my past anger to make them suffer as much as possible and make them tremble with fear. It’ll be a great stress reliever.