The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak

Chapter 1154: The Demon: Parasite

"If you think you have a chance of defeating me, then you’re wrong," Vashno said coldly, his golden gaze piercing down at the three experts. "I’ll show you the difference between our levels."

The instant his words fell, his figure blurred into golden light.

One of the three barely caught a flash before his world spun—Vashno’s hand clamped over his face like an iron vice. Panic surged through him as he raised his foot in a desperate kick.

Swoosh!!

A massive golden wing swept out, the sheer force splitting the air.

Jehlin and the other Sixth Shackle Realm expert froze for half a breath, their eyes widening at the sight of their comrade being utterly dominated. They shot forward immediately, desperate to intervene.

Vashno released his prey and shot higher into the sky. His wings spread wide, golden light pouring from them until the heavens themselves seemed to ignite.

Ohm!!

"[Fallen Golden Ray]!!"

Hundreds of blazing rays descended like divine punishment.

Jehlin and her allies scrambled, twisting through the air to evade. Yet amidst the radiant storm, none of them realized Vashno himself was diving down, cloaked within the falling rays.

By the time they noticed, it was too late.

"Shit!!" Jehlin cursed.

Vashno blurred once more, crashing into one of the Sixth Shackle Realm experts with relentless strikes.

Bang! Bang!

The man reeled under the ferocity, blood spraying as his defenses buckled.

Jehlin and the other expert roared, charging in at high speed. Their weapons glowed fiercely as they unleashed their most destructive arts.

[Great Earth Flash]!!

[Ember’s Burning Slash]!!

But Vashno had already sensed them.

With ruthless precision, he seized his battered opponent by the face, swinging him into the path of the incoming attacks.

Jehlin and her comrade’s eyes widened in horror—but there was no turning back. They could only grit their teeth and drive through their own ally.

The man’s scream was drowned out by the explosion of power. His body convulsed, his defenses shattering as both enemy and ally tore through him simultaneously.

Blood erupted, staining the skies crimson.

Jehlin and her fellow expert surged forward, but Vashno moved with merciless grace. He stepped on the dying man’s body, anchoring himself as he shifted just enough to let their weapons pierce into him.

Steel bit into his flesh—yet he shielded only his vital organs, allowing the rest of his body to take the punishment. His eyes glowed with unshaken resolve, his aura surging even fiercer.

Vashno did not care about pain. He only cared about crushing them.

Vashno gritted his teeth, forcing himself to ignore the pain tearing through his body. His flesh writhed unnaturally—then, with a sickening surge, countless black-golden tentacles burst out of him in an instant.

Swoooosh!!

"What?!" Jehlin and the other experts recoiled in shock.

Before they could even react, the writhing mass engulfed them. Tentacles lashed out from every direction, striking relentlessly, giving them no room to breathe, no chance to counter.

Vashno’s once-majestic form twisted into something hideous—an abomination clad in golden wings, radiating both divinity and monstrosity.

This was the power of the Parasitic Essence Eater.

Most experts of Astros who bore its mark no longer cared about injury. Pain was irrelevant when the parasite constantly repaired their bodies, feeding on destruction as easily as breath. But Vashno had discovered something deeper.

The parasite itself... was not just a tool.

It was a lifeform. A treasure chest of evolution waiting to be unlocked.

If it was alive, then it could grow.

Was it a monster? An elemental lifeform? Or something beyond those classifications entirely?

If it was alive, then like all life, it must carry shackles. The truth of the world was clear: every being—human, monster, or elemental—was born bound by shackles. Only the legendary No God Emperor stood outside that law.

Every strand of flesh that twisted through his veins was the will of a being older than the mortals who wielded it. Its growth was not bound to the limits of its host—rather, the host was the vessel through which it sought its own evolution.

And if it was alive, then like every lifeform born under the laws of the cosmos, it carried Shackles.

Shackles were the chains that bound existence—the natural law that prevented mortals, monsters, and even elemental spirits from rising without limit. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and onward—their very path was written by the breaking of those chains.

So what did it mean... if the parasite too bore shackles?

It meant the parasite could evolve.

It meant the parasite had a future.

The moment the King Parasite and Queen Parasite resonated, a door was forced open. The hidden potential of this abomination—once thought only a weapon of flesh and corruption—revealed itself as a race capable of walking the same path as gods, monsters, and emperors.

The Parasitic Essence Eater was not a parasite at all.

It was a new species.

Perhaps... even a predator meant to devour the world’s hierarchy itself.

And Vashno stood as its harbinger.

"I’ll show you."

Vashno channeled his energy into the parasite. The strength it provided erupted violently, far beyond anything he had ever drawn from it before. Power surged through his body like molten gold, twisting his flesh, sharpening his instincts. For the first time, he felt as though he had stepped into a new realm entirely.

This was what he had been probing, studying, and controlling within the Guardian Fortress.

The parasite was more than a weapon. It was something far greater.

Jehlin and the other Sixth Shackle Realm experts were drowning under the unending tide of writhing tentacles. Their defenses shattered in mere seconds, blood spraying in the storm of flesh.

...

In the Guardian Fortress.

Torkez’s eyes went wide as he gazed at Vashno’s warped figure. Tentacles writhed and snapped in every direction, tearing through the sky, while golden wings blazed behind the abomination.

"What... what is this...?"

A shiver raced down his spine. He felt it—his own parasite throbbing violently, pulsing as though it recognized the power before him. It was reacting.

"The power of the Parasitic Essence Eater...!"

Torkez clenched his fists. He remembered—the day he had first unearthed this nightmare. He was the one who had discovered the parasite and seized its power to challenge the Great Astley Empire. Yet, even with that monstrous strength, they had been crushed. The empire’s legions broke them, and the parasites were seized, scattered, weaponized.

But now...

Vashno had done something none of them ever dreamed possible. He had forced the parasite to reveal another path, a truth hidden deep within its flesh.

An evolution.

The other hosts in the fortress felt it too. One by one, heads turned toward Vashno, their eyes wide with disbelief. Inside their bodies, their own parasites trembled violently, resonating with his transformation.

A terrible thought clawed its way into their minds.

If the parasite could evolve...

then what would become of its hosts?

...

Boom!!

Vashno, drunk on the torrent of power in his veins, lunged like a predator unleashed. His golden wings snapped open, cutting the air with blinding arcs of light that shredded the crawling tentacles in his path.

For a heartbeat, Jehlin and the last expert saw freedom. The tentacles had been severed, the air clear before them.

But then the blur descended... a radiant shadow streaking down upon them.

Boom!!

The collision rattled their bones. Blood burst from their mouths as they staggered back, only to watch in horror as the severed tentacles writhed, slithered, and stitched themselves back into Vashno’s flesh.

His hand warped, bones splitting, veins pulsing, flesh peeling back. What emerged was no longer human... a grotesque, spiraling drill of raw muscle and bone plated with golden light, spinning so fast it screamed against the air.

Vashno sneered.

"Die."

He thrust.

The drill tore forward, the sound a nauseating grind as it chewed through the atmosphere. Jehlin and his comrade froze. Despair swallowed them whole. They could see it... their deaths, rushing in a blur of gold and gore.

CRRRUNCH!!

The drill slammed into them. Flesh splintered instantly, ribs snapping like brittle twigs. Their screams were strangled as their bodies were dragged into the spiraling maw, ground apart inch by inch.

Blood sprayed in violent torrents, splattering the sky with crimson mist. Organs burst, bones shredded into shards, and their faces twisted in silent agony before being mangled beyond recognition.

BOOM!!

The drill erupted through their backs, spraying chunks of meat and shattered bone into the air. Their consciousness faded in an instant, snuffed out as their very essence scattered into nothingness.

There were no corpses. No whole bodies left to bury. Only torn, shredded remnants raining down from the sky.

Vashno withdrew his arm with a wet schlk, the grotesque drill dissolving back into flesh. His wings folded regally around him as though nothing had happened.

"Weak," he spat with disdain, eyes cold, voice sharp as a blade.

To him, killing two Sixth Shackle Realm experts was effortless. His body still brimmed with strength, his parasite pulsing with hunger. He could fight more. He could slaughter more.

Vashno looked down at the last Sixth Shackle Realm expert, who was barely clinging to life.

He raised a finger.

In the next instant, hundreds of tentacles erupted from his body, writhing like a tidal wave of flesh.

"NOOOO!!" The expert’s scream echoed, only to be smothered as the tentacles wrapped around him, dragging him into a suffocating abyss of flesh and darkness.

Moments later, his voice was gone. His body was gone.

Nothing remained.

The three Sixth Shackle Realm experts of the Jehlin Mercenary Group had perished.

Their deaths shattered the morale of the survivors. Eztein and Doranjan seized the moment, leading their forces to slaughter the remaining mercenaries. A renowned group—once feared, with three Sixth Shackle Realm powerhouses—was erased on this battlefield today.

Jehlin, broken and desperate, had hoped Ray Borg or one of the other factions would intervene. But they had watched in silence until the very end.

Vashno turned his gaze on those gathered groups, his voice cutting across the field:

"Who’s next?"

Silence.

No one moved. No one dared step forward.

They kept their distance, eyes fixed on the Guardian Fortress, waiting, calculating. They knew it wasn’t yet the time to act.

Ray Borg scanned the crowd. Seeing no one eager to fight, he shrugged and began retreating.

"In less than an hour, more groups will arrive. Someone among them will start the attack," he muttered to himself.

Thousands lingered at a distance, their collective presence heavy with fear and anticipation as they watched the fortress.

When no challengers emerged, Vashno turned away and calmly returned to the Guardian Fortress. The other Astros experts followed, retreating back to their base.

On the deck, Vashno landed and was greeted by Torkez, who was still coordinating the soldiers.

"What was that just now? The parasite inside me reacted," Torkez asked, his tone sharp with suspicion.

Vashno’s expression was calm, almost indifferent. "In simple terms, my parasite has grown stronger. It’s reached a higher stage."

"A higher stage..." Torkez frowned, the gears turning in his mind. "So it can evolve. That would make sense, parasites are living beings after all."

"Exactly. We can already store mana in them, but it’s more than that. Think of it like feeding a pet inside your body. The more you nurture it, the stronger it becomes. When consuming high-quality resources, like mana fruit, don’t let your body absorb the nutrients. Let the parasite feed instead."

Torkez’s eyes narrowed. "I see... Is there a classification for these stages?"

Vashno considered for a moment before answering.

"We can make one. You’ll feel it when your parasite evolves... it’s a qualitative change, almost like our own rank advancements. For now, let’s call the standard one the common parasite. When it evolves, we’ll call it... the captain-class parasite."