Kata turned around and saw the cockroach just a few meters away.
The cockroach’s mouth was dripping with green saliva.
Each drop that touched the ground left a small pit, with the soil having been eaten away, creating black goo.
Kata swallowed his saliva at the amount of saliva the cockroach was producing and the large pits the cockroach left in its wake.
Kata ran up a large tree and made a backflip over the cockroach.
The insect, if it could still be called that, bit into the tree.
Its mandibles bit into the tree, and the green saliva ate through the wood in less than a second.
Kata did not look back to see what happened to the tree, but he could feel the tree coming down and the cockroach back on his heels.
Kata was not ready to give up on having a good meal, but even he was not tough enough to eat radioactive cockroaches.
“Blatta Radiata!” Kata cussed out loud.
Scientists back in his past life had long theorized about the possible evolution of insects in a world filled with radiation, and the cockroach now chasing after him appeared to resemble the description.
As he ran, Kata saw a metallic pole on the ground.
It had rusted in more than a few places, but it was better than nothing.
Kata grabbed the pole, and for his trouble, the cockroach took a chunk of meat off his left leg.
He let out a maddened scream as he twisted his body to drive the metallic pole into the cockroach’s head.
The thing spewed out all its saliva, forcing Kata to endure the pain to twist his body further in a bid to dodge the fluid.
It did not work.
The saliva covered him from head to toe, and so did the thing’s other fluids.
“Since I am going to die, I will take you with me!” Kata gritted his teeth as he drove the pole deeper into the cockroach.
He stood up, and even though his leg was throbbing with pain, this was far from enough to stop him from taking his vengeance before death.
He lifted the pole with the cockroach on it and drove the pole into the ground with everything he had.
The cockroach was still not dead.
It kicked and screamed, but Kata had already made up his mind to die with his hated foe.
He formed a fist and struck the cockroach multiple times.
With his power that could shatter rock, the thing’s head was turned into paste, but even this was not enough against the Blatta.
He could not believe that he was about to die, and the cause of death was a fucking cockroach.
The saliva was already eating away his flesh, and the pain was more than any normal man could endure.
Fortunately, he was no normal man.
Even in his past life when he had been a human, he was not just a human.
He endured the pain and continued beating the cockroach to death.
“There is no reason I should turn into a hungry ghost just because of you.
Since you do not want to die, I will eat you.”
He did not think twice before he reached down and ripped off one of the thing’s legs.
He took his first bite of the cockroach, and when he realized that the meat was actually quite tender, he did not think before he took another bite.
He was not just eating a cockroach; he was eating a radioactive cockroach.
He sat down next to the thrashing cockroach and ate the thing as it screeched and squirmed.
Kata was so hungry and the meat so sweet that he did not come back to his senses until the cockroach was completely gone.
Not even a single shard of its exoskeleton was left behind.
This was when he realized that all his wounds had already closed and his skin had grown back.
He was filled with energy.
He was naked, but this did not matter at all.
He got to his feet, and this simple movement made the earth around him sink in.
“What is going on?
Even though the Wena are powerful, this is something new.
Is this the power one gets from eating cockroaches?” he thought.
Kata continued thinking about the situation until he came to a simpler and more logical conclusion.
“It must be the radiation.
Do the Wena have the ability to process radiation to become even more powerful?”
Kata looked around the forest, and he could see that the world was brighter and more fragile.
His muscles were filled with power.
BANG!!!!
“The radiation has enhanced my body, and the cockroach meat has gotten rid of the hunger.
I must understand more about this ability of the Wena.
If I can harness it, I may yet have a chance at dominating this world and perhaps even returning to my empire,” Kata thought as he returned to the small swamp where he had gotten the cockroach.
This time around, he was on the hunt.
Now that he understood that these cockroaches were far more than a simple meal, he wanted as many of them as he could get his hands on.
He was now also at least two times more powerful than a normal Wena.
The first cockroach he saw stood no chance.
He ripped into the thing with a single blow, smashing its head into pulp.
He did not want to be swarmed, and so he left just after capturing ten cockroaches.
He left the swamp and had a feast for himself.
He ate all the meat, and with each bite he took, he could feel his power growing.
His body was being enhanced one cell at a time.
When he was done with the ten radioactive cockroaches, Kata felt like a god reborn.
This was the most powerful he had ever been, even when he considered the scientific enhancements he had gone through in his past life.
Kata was still admiring himself when he suddenly felt his blood boil and his stomach turn over.
He had eaten the meat while knowing very well that there was a possibility of his death, but he had still been decisive enough to eat it.
He began vomiting black blood, and after a few seconds, the black blood or whatever it was began coming out through the pores in his skin.
He collapsed to the ground, and pain moved through every inch of his body.
There was no end to the suffering.
He writhed and screamed.
He wanted nothing more than for the pain to stop.
The pain did not stop.
It went on through the night and even through the day.
It only stopped once the nine moons appeared once more.
Kata was impressed that he was not dead, and even more by the power coursing through his flesh.
He grabbed onto a tree to stand up, and the tree shattered completely, with all its water having been evaporated.
“Bwahahahaha, bwahhaha!” Kata burst into maniacal laughter at his new power.