Chapter 976: Delivering a Star Beast
Ethan was already in a terrible mood, and now Yaya was being hunted.
Out of all the little ones he’d raised inside his Mindscape, she was the only one still awake. Moonbeam was still unconscious, and the thought alone had been enough to keep his nerves stretched thin ever since they arrived here.
So how could he not be furious? He stepped forward.
Whoosh.
He’d intended to fly toward her, but before he could even react, something slammed directly into his chest.
"AHHH!"
A clear, frightened cry exploded right in front of him.
Ethan froze.
’What the hell?’
He’d teleported straight into Yaya’s path. She’d been running blindly through the starfield and crashed into him headfirst without even realizing it.
She shrieked in panic, trapped between the monster chasing her and the sudden figure blocking her escape. Then her eyes focused properly.
"Big brother!"
Relief and grievance flooded her face all at once, her voice trembling like she was about to cry.
"Run!"
Ethan had just started smiling, about to reassure her, when she suddenly shoved both hands against his chest.
Or at least, she tried to.
Instead of moving him even an inch, the rebound sent her own body flying backward toward the Star Beast.
"AHHHHH!"
Now she was genuinely terrified.
Ethan let out a helpless sigh, took a single step forward, and caught her around the waist before she could tumble away.
"Big brother, you..."
"Relax. It’s fine."
He cut her off calmly.
Yaya stared at him in disbelief while Ethan casually raised one hand and slapped the incoming Star Beast.
The creature was over fifteen thousand kilometers long, charging through space with bloodshot eyes and pure murderous fury. Yaya had apparently provoked it while it was in labor, and the beast had completely lost its mind from the pain.
Then another human appeared. And unlike the first one, this one didn’t run. He simply raised his hand.
No aur and no overwhelming pressure. Just a soft-looking slap aimed directly at the beast’s face.
Compared to the creature’s colossal body, the motion looked laughably insignificant.
Star Beasts were naturally arrogant creatures. Their bodies were unbelievably durable, and most of them firmly believed nothing in existence could break their defenses.
Especially not something this pathetic. The beast opened its jaws.
CRACK.
Space itself fractured from the force of its mouth opening.
It lunged straight at Ethan, intending to swallow him whole, but Ethan’s body shifted like smoke, graceful and impossible to follow, moving alongside the momentum of his own slap in a bizarre arc through the void.
The giant jaws snapped shut. A chunk of shattered spatial barrier vanished into the beast’s mouth.
At the same moment, Ethan’s palm landed squarely on its nose.
The difference in size was absurd. It looked like a mosquito trying to hit a whale. Except somehow, the whale was the one that lost.
SMACK.
The Star Beast’s entire body went rigid from nose to tail. Then, one second later, its fifteen-thousand-kilometer body began spinning violently through space.
"Holy shi..."
Ethan immediately dropped lower.
’Fast.’
Because that spinning body meant the tail was now whipping directly toward him. It wasn’t even attacking anymore. The thing had simply lost control of itself.
Like a gigantic top, the beast spun wildly through the starfield before finally slowing to a stop.
"That hard?"
Ethan looked down at his own hand, then back at the beast’s nose.
Not even a scratch.
The Star Beast, meanwhile, looked completely ruined. Its eyes had drifted in opposite directions, crossing so badly it looked dizzy enough to throw up.
Ethan slowly raised his right hand.
"Panther Form. Shred. Compress."
SHRRRIIINK.
A blade of light nearly a kilometer long extended from his palm.
"Die."
He raised it to strike.
"Big brother, no!"
Yaya grabbed onto his shirt with both hands.
Ethan paused.
"Don’t kill it. Star Beasts normally aren’t like this. They’re actually gentle creatures. It’s only attacking because it’s giving birth. It’s trying to clear the area and protect its baby."
"So because it’s in labor, it gets to slaughter everything nearby? That’s your definition of gentle?"
His eyes narrowed coldly. He still had no intention of letting the thing live. At the same time, another thought ran through his mind entirely.
’Damn. I’m ridiculously strong now.’
This blade alone was only a compressed version of a single Panther Form skill. Before this, even after stacking over a dozen compressed abilities together, the best he could manage was a blade a few meters long.
Now? It was a kilometer. And it felt effortless.
"Before giving birth, Star Beasts usually search for empty regions of space they’ve already explored beforehand," Yaya hurriedly explained. "We just happened to appear here afterward. Once the baby is born, the mother becomes extremely weak. Anyone could kill it then, so it’s trying to protect itself."
The Star Beast had mostly recovered by now. The bloodlust in its eyes faded slightly, but its massive body was still trembling violently. Its swollen abdomen rolled unnaturally, something inside shifting around in frantic movements.
Like a giant ball bouncing against the walls of its stomach.
"I see."
Ethan lowered the blade slightly before pointing at the beast.
"We’re leaving. If you chase us again, I’ll cut your head off."
At the moment, he genuinely felt invincible. Once he returned to Earth with strength like this, he could probably flatten the entire world by himself.
The Star Beast stared at him warily but didn’t move. Ethan turned to leave, but at that moment...
ROOOOAR!
The entire starfield shook violently. Ethan spun around instantly, his light blade flaring back to life.
So it really wanted to die.
But before he could move, Yaya suddenly tugged on his sleeve again, her face turning red.
"Big brother... help it. I think it’s in trouble."
"Help it?"
Ethan blinked. Why was she blushing?
The Star Beast’s body convulsed violently again, and its eyes slowly started turning bloodshot once more.
"It’s... it’s having difficulty delivering the baby," Yaya muttered awkwardly. "Big brother, help deliver it."
Ethan stared at her in complete disbelief.
"You want me to deliver a Star Beast’s baby?"
What kind of insane request was that?
This thing had been trying to kill her five minutes ago, and now she wanted him to play midwife?
"I’m not a veterinarian..."
That was honestly the best response he could come up with after several seconds of silence. Unfortunately, he lost the moment she looked at him with those pleading eyes.
Every single time.
"...How do I even do this?"
Yaya immediately became serious.
"First, restrain it."
"Restrain it?"
That sounded easier said than done. The thing was fifteen thousand kilometers long. Holding it down without accidentally tearing it apart was a challenge by itself.
Ethan thought for a moment before switching forms.
"Owl Form."
His eyes sharpened.
"Bramble Bind. Compress."
Vines materialized out of thin air, piercing directly through the surrounding spatial barrier before wrapping around the Star Beast from every direction.
Within seconds, the gigantic creature had been tied up like an oversized turkey.
Normally, Bramble Bind was a channeled control skill that would instantly collapse if the target resisted too violently or took enough damage, but after compression, the vines felt absurdly sturdy, more like divine steel cables than plant matter.
The Star Beast struggled furiously, but it couldn’t break free.
"Now what?"
"The baby missed the proper birth window," Yaya explained while watching the beast writhe helplessly. "Its life force is dropping too quickly. If it gets enough energy, it should be able to come out on its own."
"That’s all?"
Ethan sounded surprised. That didn’t seem difficult at all.
"For now."
The way she said it made him immediately realize there was definitely a second half to this nightmare.
Ethan switched forms again.
"Tree Form."
Rejuvenation.
Healing Touch.
Wild Growth.
Swift Healing.
Lifebloom.
Five separate skills compressed together into a spiraling sphere of green energy swirling above his palm like a miniature storm. He pushed it directly into the Star Beast’s body while extending his Soul Sense inward to guide the energy.
Inside, the baby was weak. Earlier, it had been bouncing around frantically, but now it barely moved at all.
Ethan carefully directed the life force straight into the infant while deliberately avoiding the mother. The effect was immediate. The baby recovered almost instantly, its heartbeat strengthening rapidly.
"Okay," Yaya said carefully. "Now comes the hard part."
Ethan suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Big brother... cut open its stomach, take the baby out, then immediately heal the wound. If you don’t..."
"If I don’t, the mother dies."
Yaya nodded silently.
Ethan stared at her for several long seconds.
A C-section... on a Star Beast. What the hell was his life anymore?
What if he cut too deep? What if he slipped and killed both of them by accident?
But at this point, backing out wasn’t really an option anymore.
He extended the light blade once more while his Soul Sense mapped every inch of the creature’s internal structure. Slowly, carefully, he pressed the blade against the Star Beast’s abdomen and began cutting little by little.
ROOOOOAR!
The beast screamed in agony and thrashed violently against the vines. Only then did Ethan fully understand why Yaya had insisted on restraining it first.
No anesthesia, no numbing. Just getting sliced open while fully conscious.
’Yeah. That definitely hurt.’
His hand nearly slipped from the violent movement, but he steadied himself immediately.
’Focus.’
One mistake, and everything was over.