Chapter 144
Chapter 144
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Fruit of Good and Evil
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Jenny dragged in the massive corpse of the Guider, grunting with effort, and it reeked just as badly as you'd expect from something that size.
Nephyr and I immediately pinched our noses and groaned in disgust, but Jenny didn't care one bit as she dove right in and started tearing into it.
"Th-that thing looks like it'll give you a stomachache..."
Of course, I had no doubt about the toughness of Jenny's stomach... but I couldn't help worrying anyway.
Jenny really would eat anything she got her hands on. Last time, she even devoured those sandworms like they were nothing.
Every time she killed and ate something big and strong, she grew at an irreversible pace.
She was already a dangerous existence,
and she showed no signs of stopping.
That wasn't all. It was getting hard to spot any childish traits in her anymore.
The baby fat that used to cling to her soft cheeks was gone, leaving her with the figure of a fully mature woman. She was even taller than me now.
We used to be about the same height,
but now she was nearly as tall as Amy.
She wouldn't keep growing in that state, would she?
There had to be some limit to her height and size, right? If she kept ballooning like this, would she end up as a colossal beast like the sandworms or the Guider...?
"Ugh, tastes awful."
Jenny, oblivious to my worries,
crunched away at the Guider's body while giving her honest opinion on the flavor, clearly enjoying her meal.
"Still, it feels healthy, you know? Not bad."
"Oh... good to hear..."
I left Jenny to her feast and looked up at the sky once more.
The light scattered across the world was fading bit by bit. What fate had that blinding cosmic expanse in store, too bright even for my darkened eyes?
"Elder, did you finally take down the moon?"
"...I hope so, but I really don't know."
Nephyr and I clung to a sliver of hope.
But Amy didn't blink, her gaze fixed steadily on the glow above her head. Only she could detect the physical phenomena unfolding far away.
"Dr.,"
Amy said to me.
"Half success."
She could observe both the moon struck by the Ember Cannon
and Rophuk's escape rocket shooting off beside it.
"Still... meaningful result."
As Amy said,
we were soon enveloped by the encroaching darkness once more.
"Moon not perfect. For escape, target right after attack. Like this time."
As the Ember Cannon's light died down,
night returned to the desert.
The planet's sole satellite.
Usually curled up in lonely orbit, but right now, writhing its tentacles in rage at its foe...
"...Yeah, the rocket got away. Moon didn't die."
I could see the moon.
A massive hole gaped in its rocky surface, and through it, I glimpsed the monster inside squirming about, but it was still alive.
What a bizarre sight. Back on Earth, the night sky held only a silent moon.
Here, a monster mimicking the moon clutched the hole in its body, glaring down in fury.
"...Ugh, damn it."
My body shrank back involuntarily. The deeper I peered into that hole, the more a chilling unease crawled up my spine.
Was the Ember output insufficient? Or a flaw in the cannon's design? Or maybe the moon's surface was tougher than expected, surviving the single shot?
"Elder, don't look up. It's fine."
Nephyr and Amy came over, massaging my shoulders comfortingly and wiping away my cold sweat. Yeah, it wasn't a total failure worth despairing over.
The moon's vigilance would just intensify from now on. Nothing too serious.
That colossal monster didn't seem likely to come crashing down to squash me like an ant.
Rophuk had said it, after all.
The moon wanted to hold its orbit.
Despite its unreal size and power, it clung to the practical role of a [satellite].
Why?
I didn't know the reason yet,
but one thing was clear.
It was my enemy,
and I was its enemy.
One of us had to die,
yet it survived Rophuk's lifelong creation, the Ember Cannon.
A fight stacked entirely against me.
But I had no intention of losing.
Someday, I'd kill it completely. That resolve burned in me.
Rophuk was gone,
but his half-finished vengeance lingered by my side.
Maybe I should even thank the moon.
It was pure evil.
It had drawn all my comrades here,
and every male we'd met.
It made this planet overrun with female natives.
So,
I could kill it without a shred of guilt.
No matter its backstory, it dies.
No question.
"Dr., sorry to interrupt your contemplation. But you need to see this now."
As my declaration of war against the moon wrapped up,
Amy gently tugged my arm and pointed at something.
"What is it?"
Following her lead, I saw Jenny still happily eating away.
She'd eaten so much her belly bulged out,
but somehow, before even fully digesting, her unique stomach seemed to absorb every nutrient completely.
Come to think of it, even as a kid, Jenny excreted far less than she ate. Did she squeeze every last bit until it was powder...?
"Not Jenny, Dr. Look there."
Amy redirected my gaze.
I thought she was pointing at Jenny, but no—she indicated the upper part of the Guider's corpse.
"What the...?"
Something strange had sprouted there, something I hadn't seen before. It definitely wasn't there when Rophuk fought it.
"Amy, can you scan it?"
"Already did. Structure made of unknown material. Not certain, but similar wavelength to Ember."
We approached together to examine the odd object. Up close, it looked just like...
"...A fruit?"
A fruit—specifically, an apple.
Most things on this planet evoked Earth memories,
yet carried a unique, alien unease. Like this fruit.
"Dr., I think—"
Amy carefully plucked the fruit and held it out to me in both hands,
then said something peculiar.
"It's for you, Dr. Will you consume it?"
"Huh? Eat it?"
Amy, who'd been overly cautious about my safety so far, suggesting this?
I hesitated in confusion and took the fruit from her,
and Amy added her explanation.
"Since you left me behind, Dr., I've detected [anomalous phenomenon]. Light captured on my lenses, unrecordable on video, unanalyzable. But I think it's trying to help us."
"Helping us?"
"Yes. It says it's a substance you absolutely need."
It was suspicious, sure,
but hadn't the entity I called the [Finger]—the Guider—helped me in various ways before?
If Amy was experiencing the same, it made sense enough.
Still, questions lingered:
Why contact Amy instead of me? Why help us? What was it?
"..."
And,
why couldn't I see it?
But peering into Amy's eyes, I spotted something strange.
A shimmering light.
A subtle ripple.
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
I couldn't fully trust this entity yet,
but I trusted Amy.
She might overstep boundaries at times, but she wouldn't lie about something like this.
She'd learned a thing or two.
Life in the desert had changed Amy a lot.
"Alright."
I swallowed hard and brought the fruit to my lips.
I wasn't scared anymore. After eating so many alien substances on this planet, no need to hesitate now.
But then.
"Nyaaam—"
"Huh?"
Jenny, who had been gorging on the Guider's rotten flesh from afar, had sneaked right up beside us and...
swallowed the fruit whole.
It was there, then gone. Right in my palm.
"J-Jenny! Spit it out right now!"
"Eeeh—but I already ate it."
I knew she had a huge appetite,
but apparently, this [mysterious fruit] was tempting enough to hook her curiosity and nose completely.
"I'll cut open her stomach immediately."
"No! What kind of talk is that?!"
"It was yummy! Dad, got any more like this?"
I barely stopped Amy from drawing her blade on Jenny, while prying at her mouth to somehow extract the fruit.
"Agh! Open your mouth! Spit it out now!"
"Mmph—don't wanna—"
Her grip was insanely strong; she wouldn't budge.
I had no idea what to do with this idiot who deserved a hundred flicks on the forehead. Seriously.
Thus, another total chaos erupted,
and Nephyr watched from afar, sighing heavily...
Things in the desert had wrapped up for now, but my journey was still packed with bewildering variables.
I was already worrying. A little rest would be nice, but traveling with these women seemed like it'd wear out my body and mind completely.
"...Sister."
Yeah, the variables...
Too many variables.
"Sister, sis...?"
The Jenny who ate the Guider and its fruit,
Amy starting to see strange lights,
Nephyr watching me pitifully, gauging the mood,
and...
"What is all this? What the hell happened...?"
The succubus, left behind at the hideout to recover after her heart was ripped out,
finally catching up to us, tears streaming down her cheeks.