10
Ch.10 Eat
Lee Han-young placed her hand on my chest and stopped trembling.
At that moment, the monster staring down at me from the highest point heightened its vigilance and let out a roar that shook the surroundings.
At the threatening warning, I immediately transformed back into a monster and placed Lee Han-young beneath me.
"Good... Cat... Hah, haha..."
As if understanding that this was my way of protecting her, she let out a sorrowful voice.
What need was there to protect a dying human, no different from a corpse?
This was my prey—saliva dripped from my mouth, stimulated by the hunger of a monster.
A sense of futility and the instincts of a monster clashed, but a resistance strong enough to defy it all fortified my will.
"Can you... Win...?"
At Lee Han-young’s weak murmur, I observed the massive wolf.
An overwhelming presence—now that we had both transformed and revealed our strength... My instincts were provoked.
That thing right now is stronger than me.
Only slightly, but for a monster, that difference was fatal. I couldn’t win against it.
[It’s stronger than me.]
"Then... That’s no good... People... Will get hurt... Many..."
A powerless esper, a rescue team.
The Lee Han-young I had seen while disposing of monster corpses was a good person.
She hated seeing people get hurt, wanted to save as many as possible to give them hope, used her powers beyond necessity to search every nook and cranny underground.
Even if there were only corpses, she gave her all to find them for the sake of those who might want them back.
"You’re... A monster, right...?"
I gave a small nod, and the wolves, mistaking it for a sign of attack, bristled their fur.
The forced knowledge of monsters, the information the researchers had muttered while drugging me, replayed in my memory.
Monster Wolf Barg, an aberration aiming to become Fenrir, the devourer of all things with its massive maw.
If these creatures reached Annihilation-class, they would undoubtedly become monsters worthy of the name Fenrir.
The ability to swallow the sun, to devour everything.
"Please... Fight..."
[I can’t.]
As if unable to stand by and watch such a monster harm people, Lee Han-young reached out toward my foreleg.
Pleading, begging—I refused her request.
[That thing is stronger than me.]
I don’t want to die.
This much, at least, the monster’s instinct overrode my will.
When there’s no way to win, fleeing is victory. Survival is victory. The one who lives becomes stronger.
[I still want to eat so many delicious things.]
"Ah, haha... Really... Ah..."
When I voiced my reason for not wanting to die, Lee Han-young burst into laughter despite her pale face.
Even now, drool dripped from my mouth—she closed her eyes with a small murmur.
Weakly, in a voice no different from usual, she whispered, "If you... Eat me... Will you win...?"
I couldn’t answer Lee Han-young’s question.
The hunger driven to its limit by the monster’s instincts—even now, saliva spilled from my mouth.
If I ate Lee Han-young, maybe I could take one of those wolves... But with two more remaining, it would be...
The moment I thought that, I sensed a powerful force far away.
A threatening force, like that of a monster—a call announcing its location to other monsters.
If I didn’t come here now, it would come here to fight.
The massive wolf, Barg, disturbed in its hunt, growled in displeasure and snapped at the other two wolves.
As if to say that even without them, it could handle me alone.
Still, it remained cautious, watching for any other heroes who might interfere.
To Barg, I was just prey—not even worth being wary of.
Barg’s assumption was correct.
As I was now, I still couldn’t defeat it.
But if Barg were alone...
[I can win.]
If I eat Lee Han-young, I will win.
When I stated that coldly, Lee Han-young smiled brightly.
"Eat me, please."
I—
I hate seeing humans die.
"Eat me... And win for me..."
And more than that—
Defying the wish of a dying human is...
‘Help... People.’
...Too difficult.
[Fine.]
I opened my mouth toward Lee Han-young and stopped resisting my instincts.
The lab that had kidnapped me, the researchers feeding humans to other test subjects, the words they spoke.
The research to intentionally creates stronger monsters.
[The way to kill that monster—think of the strongest thing you can imagine. Leave it as a curse.]
All monsters grow stronger when they eat humans.
Not just their flesh, but their knowledge, their thoughts.
Not just the image of despair, but the image of a powerful being...
I devour the mind.
[I will eat your head, and your thoughts, and grow stronger.]
After hearing my explanation, Lee Han-young slowly clasped her hands together.
"A curse... That’s..."
As if in prayer, the scent intensified as her hands came together.
"You’re going to... Eat my wish and win for me, right...?"
A smell that strongly stimulated hunger—the scent of a human’s heart.
"It’s... My wish."
I opened my mouth toward her and exchanged our final words.
"I have... A request. When the fight is over... Eat the rest of my hands too..."
To gain a superpower, you don’t need to eat the entire human.
A monster doesn’t gain the power of a hero just because it ate a superpower human—the origin of powers lies in the head, not the hands.
But... Lee Han-young’s power activated from her hands.
Perhaps this was her way of ensuring I received all of her strength.
I couldn’t refuse the will in her words as she clenched her fists.
[I promise.]
"Ahh... I wanted... To eat dumplings..."
[Let’s go eat them. After I eat you.]
On the weekend. Together.
This is a promise.
At my answer, Lee Han-young smiled brightly.
And then—
I tore off Lee Han-young’s head.
The texture—chewy, crunchy—the intense burst of a monster’s taste buds.
The rich flavor, like chocolate cream, exploded in my mouth.
Ah... To a monster, is this what humans taste like?
Then, thoughts exploded in my mind.
The address of the dumpling shop she wanted to visit.
The moment she first saw me—her surprise.
The instant the monster became me—her first thought.
The fear of a monster overlapping with my human form, drowned in worry for the heroes.
The monster’s ability tore apart Lee Han-young’s thoughts, dismantling everything.
A powerful image—the method to grow stronger, dissected by the monster’s instincts.
The direction of evolution, the destination.
The strongest monster.
The most feared being.
The most powerful hero—against monsters.
Yoo Anna.
The endlessly burning storm of light.
The strongest being in Lee Han-young’s mind... Was Yoo Anna.
The endless blaze, the scorching light.
To oppose a monster seeking to become the wolf that devours the sun—
The most radiant image... Of the sun.
What rose in my mind was flame—a storm of fire that could incinerate everything.
The infinite phoenix, burning even death itself.
I clad my body in that form.
"Grrr—OOOOOOOH!!"
The monster’s core devoured the human’s thoughts and rapidly expanded.
Power surged through my body—the sensation of omnipotence, ecstasy, the urge to destroy.
All of it directed at the monster before me—Barg.
As a bird of fire, I rode the updraft and soared, looking down at Barg.
It was panicking at the sight of me.
It knew—the tide had completely turned from moments ago.
The monster’s instinct to retreat before a stronger foe forced it to step back.
[Barg... You wouldn’t know.]
Barg fled. I spread my wings and pursued.
It dashed between buildings, trying to obstruct my chase.
My fiery body would melt anything it touched—even a slight delay would serve Barg’s purpose.
[When a monster eats a human for the first time, it evolves the most drastically.]
But I phased through the buildings.
The power to traverse the boundary between corporeal and incorporeal—the ability to shift my body into a fluid form.
Lee Han-young’s power—Drift.
[It’s human common sense... And this, is a monster’s common sense.]
Did Lee Han-young... Somehow know about my ability as a monster?
Impossible. Just a strange coincidence.
Ability Devourer—the aberration that endlessly digests.
That was me—the 111th test subject, CXI.
[The weak are devoured by the strong.]
"GROOOOAAARRR!!"
Soon, Barg, caught in my burning talons, bit down on me in resistance.
I didn’t evade—I let it happen.
The pain was intense—had all three wolves attacked, it might have been trouble. But just one?
The flames healing my wounds worked faster than the damage.
[Go on, try to devour me again.]
The wolf monster Barg, striving to become Fenrir—the devourer of the sun.
But it hadn’t yet become Fenrir.
I could feel it—the despair of a monster that failed to swallow the sun.
[Then... My turn.]
Barg was no longer my enemy—it a prey.
I opened my maw toward it.
I’d been curious, after all.
What an Annihilation-class monster tasted like.
***
"What... Is that?!"
"Code α is undergoing abnormal changes! Its form is—evolving. I don’t know! It hasn’t reached the Annihilation-class!"
Yoo Anna and the other heroes, busy subduing the two Disaster-class wolves, exchanged frantic communications at the sight before them.
According to observational data, this place should have held Code α and what appeared to be Code 0, Despair-class monsters.
Code 0, with its wolf-like head, and Code α, resembling a feline predator.
But suddenly, a burning avian monstrosity took to the skies.
The presumed Code 0, which had been leading the two Disaster-class monsters, was now being torn apart by Code α, who had transformed.
A one-sided hunt—too brutal to even call a fight.
The flaming bird devoured every ability the wolf unleashed in resistance until it finally reached its core—and the wolf stopped moving.
The scene, more akin to a meal than a battle, unfolded atop a building for all to see.
Only about ten buildings were damaged—far too little for two Despair-class monsters clashing.
On the rooftop, the bird that had bitten out the wolf’s heart transformed into a tiger before everyone’s eyes.
A flaming tiger—as it leaped down from the building, Yoo Anna rushed forward.
"The two Disaster-classs are yours! I’ll hunt the remaining Despair-class!"
The two Disaster-class monsters were already in tatters—the remaining heroes could clean up easily.
As she watched the Despair-class monster descend like a blazing comet, Yoo Anna felt a strange clarity in her mind.
"So it’s an amorphous type after all!"
Then perhaps the previously observed Code 0 and Code α were originally a single entity. Or maybe the wolf monster was a new variant.
An amorphous monster acting independently—Code 0. A troublesome foe... But it had to be dealt with here, now, surrounded by heroes.
Yet, as she flew toward the monster, Yoo Anna couldn’t shake her unease.
Having already slain a Despair-class threat, it should’ve been rampaging to sate its hunger... But the city was too intact.
A Despair-class monster had appeared, yet it moved as lightly as a cat strolling along a fence.
The moment Code α had blocked her attack flashed in Yoo Anna’s mind.
As if protecting someone—throwing itself in harm’s way.
A black cat—a monster that protected humans.
Could such a thing exist?
It shouldn’t... But what if, just what if, it did...
The monster blew away her thoughts in an instant.
"Chomp... Gulp... Chew..."
The monster, now on the ground, was eating a human.
A woman’s corpse—her head gone, lower body missing, only the upper half remaining.
Her clothes identified her as a rescue-team hero.
Yoo Anna’s superpower human vision read the name on the tag: Lee Han-young.
The face of a hero she had met before surfaced in her mind.
"You... Fucking... MONSTEEEEEEER!!"