Desire: A LitRPG Adventure (Volume 3), page 15
It took him a day to absorb all of the destroyed spacecrafts. When he absorbed the last one, a new form appeared in his mind. It was a spaceship shaped differently than his own. He smiled as a glob exited his body and transformed into two spaceships. One was the one he purchased from the tattoo shop, and the other was from humanity.
He tested them against each other. When humanity’s spaceship destroyed the other one, Vorg nodded slightly, “It’s better. It’s slightly faster, has better defenses, and has stronger weapons.”
Vorg moved on to the lifeless corpses. Over 90% of them were humans, while 10% were orcs. Some had missing limbs, or their heads were gone. They weren’t in good shape. Vorg stood before a human corpse and began to absorb it. Almost immediately, Vorg’s body trembled. His transformation into Ace was disrupted and was on the verge of collapse. He stopped the absorption process immediately.
He shook his head, “Strange. Why can’t I absorb this body?”
Vorg moved onto an orc body and was able to absorb it just fine. He tried absorbing other human bodies, but half of them harmed his lifeforce. Some human bodies he could absorb, others he couldn’t. Vorg found this strange, but couldn’t find the answer. He absorbed all of the bodies he could and felt his powers recover. Eventually, he was at his peak state, and then went beyond it.
Soon, the only thing left to be absorbed was an arm. Vorg felt more power coming from this arm than anything else, even the clone of Ace he absorbed. He was filled with greed as he began to absorb the arm. Immediately, the same backlash he felt before occurred, except this time it was more powerful. The tentacles he used to absorb the arm exploded, and the arm was sent flying backwards.
Vorg snarled in frustration, “WHY?”
He ran over to the arm and looked down at it, wondering why he couldn’t absorb it. If he absorbed this arm, he would become much more powerful. He would even gain the abilities of the owner of the arm. That strange invisible attack he couldn’t see. It was very powerful, and he couldn’t wait to use it.
Vorg didn’t give up this time, he watched closely as he tried to absorb the arm. Strangely, his intense focus allowed him to see inside of his own body. He didn’t know, but this was his soul! He was alarmed, but cautiously continued the absorption process. The essence of the arm slowly began to become one with him, but the same thing happened. It was rejected, and another explosion occurred.
Vorg’s eyes lit up as he laughed, “Ahah! I found it. There is a strange energy in my body and a strange energy in the arm. When they met, they are attracted to each other and explode!”
Vorg turned his senses inward and found that same energy in his body. He recalled that this energy appeared when he absorbed Ace’s clone. Realizing that he couldn’t have both powers at the same time, he discarded Ace’s essence. The arm was more powerful than the clone, after all.
Once that was accomplished, Vorg tried absorbing the arm again. This time, it worked perfectly. The arm was absorbed, and his powers grew. He even felt like he was in command of a formless, invisible energy. He waved his arm, sending that energy blasting outwards.
The ground in front of Vorg instantly disintegrated. The wave of invisible mana continued onward for a few hundred feet before running out of energy. Vorg laughed gleefully, “Good, good, good!”
Vorg turned his attention to the tattoo on his arm. Because of the nature of his abilities, he could feel the tattoo imprinted on his very essence. No matter how hard he tried to discard it, the tattoo didn’t budge. Still, he wasn’t frustrated. The tattoo granted him powerful abilities, so he tolerated its existence.
Vorg beamed as he looked at his points. He had killed thousands of people, which gained him over a few billion points. He used those points to increase his stats. With all of that done, he was itching for another fight. With each battle, he would grow stronger. He hoped that Ace would last as long as possible, or else it would be a waste.
He waved his arm as 500,000 spacecrafts appeared. They were the new upgraded ones, so they required more of his body to reproduce. The stronger something was, the more resources it took to transform into. He couldn’t do anything about it, it was the law of the universe.
“Try this move, Ace!” Vorg sent the spacecrafts towards Earth.
A few days later, the military once again detected a hostile force approaching. This time they were more prepared. The clone master, Anderson, had used 50,000 clones to pilot the cheapest spaceships. He sent his clones beyond the Oort Cloud on patrol. Once he detected the enemy spacecrafts, he relayed his findings to the military.
Because of this, the military gathered together to face Vorg’s forces in time. 400,000 fighter ships and 900 frigates remained. In addition, all of earth’s strongest experts were gathered together. Vincent had healed Dragon’s arm after the first battle, so Dragon was itching for revenge.
Ace’s eyes had a mysterious gleam to them. This fight wouldn’t be the same as last time!
Chapter 137
“What?!” Ruth couldn’t believe it. He participated in the last battle and knew better than most what specs the enemy spaceships had. They were inferior in every regard. Now, though, he could see that they were identical to his own.
Lucas’ voice was heard in Ruth’s cockpit, “Looks like the rumors were true. The enemy can absorb and assimilate anything. It’ll just get stronger after every battle.”
“Uhh,” Ruth’s face was pale. This wasn’t encouraging one bit.
Similar conversations were being had throughout the fleet. Morale was dropping. Why fight? The enemy would just become stronger. General Tott understood what was going on with his subordinates, so he sent a message throughout the fleet, “Keep in mind the enemy has no pilots, so the strain on the enemy soul is tremendous. This time, we have the upper hand. Everyone is gathered. Leave no survivors!”
“Leave no survivors!” The pilots repeated, their morale raising.
Ace, Vincent, Dragon, and Sasha moved first. The enemy ships couldn’t threaten them in the slightest, even if they were surrounded. The fleet followed behind them. The void of space lit up with blue light as thousands of beams of light shot forward. The frigates fired as well, creating beautiful but deadly beams of light.
The battle became chaotic as both sides engaged one another. Ace, Vincent, Dragon, and Sasha were reapers of death. Every time Ace punched, a spacecraft was destroyed. With every slash of Dragon’s sword, a ship was cut into tiny pieces. With every wave of Sasha’s hand, a ship froze.
Most terrifying of all was Vincent. All he did was look at a spaceship and it exploded in a bloody mass. Because the spaceships were lifeforce transformed into something else, he could take direct control of the ship.
Their presence on the battlefield was so terrifying that Vorg intentionally avoided them. As a result, they chased more than they killed. It was true that Ace and Vincent could create clones, but they didn’t summon them. The enemy might absorb them, so making clones was off limits.
Even though they couldn’t fight as efficiently as they could because they had to chase, humanity was still on the winning side. Though their spaceships were equal, Vorg couldn’t compete with the skill of the pilots and the firepower of the frigates.
Vorg’s main goal was absorbing a frigate during this battle, so he kept an eye on them since the start. Humanity knew this, so they kept them heavily guarded. Even if Vorg destroyed a frigate, humanity would never let him absorb it.
After 30 minutes, Vorg’s forces were on the verge of being wiped out, so he retreated. Humanity barely suffered any losses in this battle due to being grouped up. Anderson’s early detection of Vorg was of significant help. If they didn’t have him, they would have had to spread their forces throughout the Oort Cloud.
A while later, Vorg stood on the desolate planet, trembling in rage. He had underestimated humanity and thought that with every battle he would grow stronger and stronger. Alas, they caught onto his weaknesses and didn’t let him absorb anything. He only acquired 300 corpses from this battle.
Vorg began to absorb them. He had to recover every bit of strength he could before planning his next move. As he did so, he calmed down and began to think. Perhaps he should flee and recover? Or maybe try to infiltrate earth secretly?
“Ah, here you are,” A familiar voice interrupted him.
Vorg looked up in shock. He saw four people standing side by side in the air. They were all people he wanted to avoid the most, but at the same time, absorb them. Vorg clenched his hands as he growled, “Ace! How did you find me?”
“Why should I tell you?” Ace smiled slightly as he glanced at the corpses on the ground. Inside the corpses was a wisp of his qi. He used it to track the bodies. He felt angry that he lost allies, but he was much more mature than the past. He didn’t let it cloud his judgement.
Ace narrowed his eyes, “You won’t escape this time.”
Vorg fell silent. He was still in a weak state, but he still wanted to test himself.
Dragon’s eyes widened in surprise as he felt a familiar force. Mana with the law of wind infused into it. This creature in front of him must have absorbed his arm. Dragon shouted anxiously, “Look out!”
Vorg didn’t move at all, but he had already attacked! A wave of invisible mana instantly reached Ace. Each mana was shaped into a blade. If they made contact with human skin, it would be torn apart.
“Hmph,” Ace snorted slightly as he stepped forward. He didn’t avoid the mana at all. The only thing that happened was that the qi covering his body flickered slightly.
Dragon was disappointed as he thought, “There’s still this much distance between us?”
In one movement, Ace appeared in front of Vorg. Vorg couldn’t react at all as Ace’s fist slammed into him. At the same time, the qi on Ace’s fist exploded. Vorg’s body was ripped to shreds. All of this happened in a split second. Ace was so fast that Sasha and Dragon could barely see his movements.
The shredded parts of Vorg’s body suddenly trembled as they transformed into humanities spaceships. Their engines roared as began to fly away. Ace calmly placed his palms against each other as he muttered, “Universal Pull.”
With Ace as its center, everything within a thousand feet began to be pulled towards him. The spaceships began to move in reverse, and the planet underneath him began to break apart. Vincent, Dragon, and Sasha were unaffected due to Ace’s meticulous control.
For the first time, Vorg felt fear. Before absorbing Ace’s clone, he’d never felt any emotions. After that moment, though, he felt happiness, anticipation, and all sorts of positive emotions. But now… now all he felt was fear. It filled every fibre of his being, telling him that he was going to die!
The only thing he could do was activate faster than light travel. Suddenly, the pull of gravity on the ships lessened. They slowly disappeared as they entered another layer of space. Vincent, Dragon, and Sasha exploded into action. While Ace held the ships in place, they unleashed all of their abilities, destroying thousands of ships in a mere second.
“Faster, faster, faster!!!” Vorg roared. The amount of ships under his control fell. 100,000, 50,000, 20,000, 1,000, 100, 10. When there was only one ship left, he disappeared. He successfully entered faster than light travel and escaped.
Ace was solemn. What could Vorg do with one ship? His main body was completely destroyed and was no longer a threat to humanity. Still, it was best to be cautious.
Chapter 138
The group of four returned to the solar system with great news. They had successfully caught Vorg off guard and wiped out most of his body. He was no longer a threat to humanity, but it was best to stay alert. Ace, Vincent, Dragon, and Sasha stayed on earth for a few years in case Vorg showed up again.
After five years passed without a single appearance, they decided that one of them should stand guard while the rest go back to completing mercenary missions. Sasha was chosen to stand guard first, then Dragon.
Ace and Vincent met up with Vero and caught up with one another. After a few days of getting back into the mindset of being a mercenary, they once again began to complete missions.
Meanwhile, in the milky way galaxy, stars were common. Some were large, some small, some radiated intense heat, while others were colder. The vast number of them were staggering.
In front of a large yellow star was a red blob. It absorbed the star’s heat, transforming it into lifeforce. This red blob was Vorg. After suffering a catastrophic defeat at the hands of Ace and his crew, he fled to a nearby star to recuperate. He was like a plant, constantly absorbing the star’s energy, except his efficiency was much greater.
Still, it would take him hundreds of years to reach his previous strength at the current rate. Vorg thought to himself, “If I could directly absorb this star, I would recover in a matter of months. It’s too bad I can’t touch the star or else I’ll melt.”
Just as Vorg was once again about to hibernate, his thoughts churned, “Wait… perhaps the tattoo has a way?”
Vorg interacted with the tattoo and browsed through the shop. After awhile, he found exactly what he was looking for. He had leftover points from killing humanity, so it was without hesitation that he purchased the ability.
10,000,000
Low Tier Heat Resistance. Gain the ability to slightly resist heat.
100,000,000
Mid Tier Heat Resistance. Gain the ability to greatly resist heat.
1,000,000,000
High Tier Heat Resistance. Gain the ability to massively resist heat.
All of his points disappeared, but he wasn’t concerned. It was with great anticipation that he flew closer to the star. He reached out with a tentacle as he thought, “Come on, just a little bit closer. A little bit more… A little more…!”
Just as his tentacle was about to touch the surface of the star, he felt tremendous pain. Almost instantly, the tentacle caught on fire. He immediately pulled back his tentacle to a safe distance. Vorg was disappointed. He was this close. This close! If he could absorb the star directly, his power would greatly increase.
Just as he was about to go back into hibernation, he realized something. Just because this star was too hot, it didn’t mean all stars would. As his thoughts reached this point, Vorg transformed into a thousand spaceships. This was his current limit after five years of recovery. The spaceships split up and began to explore the milky way. As he tested star after star, he went through great pain.
Two months later he finally found what he was looking for. A weak red star. He gathered all of the spaceships before trying to touch the surface. When all of them gathered, he once again stuck his tentacle out. The heat from the star brushed against him, but he only felt a cool breeze.
When his tentacle made contact with the star, it turned black, but that was it. Vorg felt pain shooting through his tentacle, but he could bear it. After the test was complete, Vorg flew forward. He placed his entire body onto the surface of the star. As pain swept through him, he felt like he was about to lose consciousness.
“Ace, ace, ace. I WILL absorb you!” It was only through thinking about revenge that he could continue on.
Vorg began to absorb the star. He felt a powerful energy flow through him. His strength was returning! Although he was absorbing the star, it was only a small amount. The star was millions of times bigger than his body.
Time continued to flow.
After a year, the star was noticeably smaller, while Vorg was much larger. He had recovered to his peak, and then surpassed it! He was multiple times stronger than before, but he had reached a bottleneck. He had absorbed the surface of the star, revealing the layer underneath. Even though he was stronger, he couldn’t resist the heat. He couldn’t use this method until he raised his resistance to heat again, but the cost was too great. Master tier heat resistance was 100 billion points. He would only be able to afford it if he did one thing. Consume humanity!
It was with this goal in mind that he made his way to earth. There were no tricks this time. No secret infiltration, no tactics or strategy, nothing. Why? He was too powerful! A head on assault was all that would be needed. Humanity would be crushed like dried twigs.
During the last six years, humanity repaired and upgraded their defense systems. After their battle with Vorg, they realized the probes detected the enemy too late. They needed an earlier warning. Humanity was still inexperienced, but they were improving.
As a result, when Vorg arrived at the Oort Cloud, humanities fleet was already prepared. In the lead was Sasha. She had informed Ace, Vincent, and Dragon to return as quickly as possible, but it would take them an hour to teleport back. The defense was left up to her!
As she laid sight upon Vorg’s main body, her pupils shrunk. His body was much larger than what Ace had told her. It was almost the size of earth! A giant red mass the size of a planet was barreling towards the fleet.
