69
Ch.68 It's a walk.
The citizens, dominated by an instinctive fear of the brain-eating insect monsters, voluntarily complied with control measures and avoided contact with others.
This behavior was possible because they believed that the heroes would eventually deal with the monsters.
Thanks to this, isolating the infected became easier, but the fundamental problem of eradicating the insect monsters did not progress smoothly.
No matter how many they eliminated, swarms of insect monsters kept flying in, and there was no leading entity among them.
Based on the direction the insects were coming from and past incidents, Yoo Anna formulated a hypothesis.
These insect monsters might be controlled by the Monster Cult.
“Where’s the senior?”
“She’s communicating with D-City again this time.”
“…Do you think what the senior said makes sense?”
“Well, there’s talk that the Monster Cult once nearly tamed a Terror-class, right? If it’s below Terror-class…Maybe it’s possible?”
Perhaps because of the unique entity known as the Black Cat, the heroes of W-City had shifted from the absolute belief that monsters could never be tamed to considering that it might be possible.
Yoo Anna contacted D-City to confirm.
She planned to cooperate with D-City’s heroes to investigate the Monster Cult.
However, when Yoo Anna sought to collaborate with D-City to locate the leading monster or the one controlling the monsters within the Samwonkyo Cult, she received only a cold response.
“This is driving me crazy, seriously.”
“What happened?”
“Same as before. D-City says they haven’t seen any insect monsters at all and that even if we investigate the cult directly, there’s no trace of it.”
Leaving the communication room, Yoo Anna angrily grabbed a cold sandwich prepared in the operations room and ate it.
The other heroes, who had been resting briefly alongside Starlight as she prepared to head out again, sighed.
“And they just went and told them we’re suspicious? Those D-City guys, what they’re doing makes no sense.”
“At this point, shouldn’t we start considering the worst-case scenario?”
“…I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
The W-City heroes pieced together all the strange things they had noticed while dealing with the insect monsters, adding hypothesis upon hypothesis.
Humans infected by the parasites acted almost normal at first glance, but if the topic of the Black Cat came up during conversation or if they were shown an image of the Black Cat, they began behaving abnormally.
The parasites’ target was the Black Cat—the same as the Monster Cult’s objective—and all members of the Monster Cult were infected with the parasites.
They had no choice but to assume the parasites had been planted by the Monster Cult.
The reason no leader was visible among the insects in W-City was because the leader was hiding somewhere far away.
That leader was in the Monster Cult—in D-City.
If that were the case, there was no way D-City was unharmed.
Even the heroes who spoke like normal humans might already be infected.
“D-City has always been known for having little interaction with outsiders.”
“If the entire city has already become a monster nest…Then it makes sense why these insects keep coming endlessly…”
The problem was that even if that were true, there was nothing they could do about it in the current situation.
Humans infected by the parasites behaved as if nothing was wrong as long as their special target, the Black Cat, was not visible.
Even if you knew about the parasites and tried to examine them closely, the parasites would spew acidic fluid and commit suicide along with their host the moment they were exposed to the energy waves of an ability that threatened their lives.
They erased the evidence themselves.
Unless you already knew about their existence and investigated accordingly, detecting the parasitic monsters was impossible.
But how could they declare D-City an infected monster nest based solely on a hypothesis, with no evidence, and request hero reinforcements?
Especially from W-City, not D-City? When D-City’s heroes were communicating rationally, refuting the claims, and even getting angry?
The justification was too weak to act on mere suspicion that they might be infected.
“What kind of monster even is this?”
“This is what we get from a monster that’s not even Terror-class?”
“Sigh…I’d rather be toyed with by two Despair-class monsters—at least that was easier on the body.”
Currently, the strongest armor protecting the parasites was not the beetle monsters, but the system of human society itself.
Moreover, even if they stripped away that shell, it wouldn’t solve the current situation.
This crisis wouldn’t end unless they killed every last monster.
If D-City had truly become a nest of insects, with even the heroes infected, was it acceptable to kill the already infected humans?
Or should they hold out indefinitely, waiting until they found a way to kill only the parasites without harming the humans?
Could a human whose brain had been eaten and whose mind was no longer their own still be considered human?
If you killed the parasite that had replaced the eaten brain, could the human return to normal?
They still felt hunger, fear, and seemed like living humans even under the heightened senses of superpower humans—but because they were parasitized, did they have to be killed?
To make any of these choices, they would have to strip away the shell of human society.
But that would take far too long.
“Any word from the research department? Still no cure?”
“They said they can’t even get a grasp on it yet.”
Seeing the hero shake their head, Starlight sighed.
If possible, everyone protecting W-City wanted to save even the humans infected by the parasites.
But their stamina was already at its limit—they couldn’t hold out much longer.
Heroes were still human.
While they hesitated over the citizens of D-City, who were likely infected, the citizens of W-City could be infected and die.
Once again, the pressure of choice weighed heavily on Starlight.
Should they kill the few to save the many, or struggle to save everyone and risk losing them all?
To survive in the Age of Monsters, humans had to make choices.
If they didn’t make the right one, they would die.
***
The speed at which the heroes were eliminating the beetles was slowing down.
Even superpower humans were still human—physical limits were unavoidable.
Yet, the damage hadn’t spread further because in W-City, the heroes weren’t the only ones hunting monsters.
Including myself, three Despair-class monsters hunted the insect monsters in areas left vacant by the heroes late at night.
During the hunt, I spotted Sagugu chasing beetles across the night sky and landed in front of Gu Seo-ryong, who was perched on a building.
“Heh…The more I see, the more fascinating it is. Truly amazing.”
“Dissecting again?”
“Oh, dear, you’re here?”
“Meow!”
The two monsters, leisurely smiling and greeting me, returned to their tasks—Sagugu to it hunting game, Gu Seo-ryong to dissecting parasites.
Gu Seo-ryong, holding a small glass plate, carefully split the parasite with her sharp nails, her vertically slit pupils widening as she examined its organs.
“What can you learn from dissecting it like that?”
“All sorts of things~ Like how its organs are structured, how it retains monster fluids without a core, how it controls humans. When you don’t know how something works, dissecting it is the easiest way to find out.”
“…You sound like a researcher.”
“Hehe, I learned by watching. It’s hard to focus, so why don’t you go over there for a bit?”
“Sagugu, come here.”
“Huh? Meow-ack!”
While Gu Seo-ryong dissected the parasite, I called over Sagugu, who was foolishly gnawing on a beetle corpse, and burned it mouth with fire to cleanse it.
Sagugu spun in circles in pain but, realizing I had removed the parasites for it, nuzzled it head against me.
“To think they can control humans like this…It’s crude, but effective.”
Gu Seo-ryong, fascinated, sliced the parasite’s corpse into small pieces.
Over time, Gu Seo-ryong’s reasons for catching parasites and beetles had changed.
At first, it was disgust and discomfort—now, it was curiosity.
The monster’s instinct to grow stronger and human curiosity intertwined.
After a while, Gu Seo-ryong neatly arranged the dissected parasite on a small disk, wrote the date on it, and pocketed it.
“Gu Seo-ryong.”
“Ah~ I know, I’ll tell you.”
I had been waiting quietly for her to finish her examination. When I called her name, Gu Seo-ryong giggled and lay down on Sagugu’s back.
“With this many samples, I’m pretty sure. Do you want the complicated, detailed explanation or the simple one?”
“I hate complicated stuff.”
“Then simply put—there’s nothing you want in these things. That’s it.”
The reason I had waited quietly for Gu Seo-ryong to finish dissecting the parasite was to find a way to detect them and kill only the parasites without harming the humans.
According to what I’d heard from Starlight, even the heroes hadn’t found a method yet.
If even this much research yielded no answers, then perhaps the infected humans were already as good as dead.
There was no way to restore humans whose bodies had been taken over by parasites.
“…We’ll have to kill them.”
Humans consumed by parasites could not return to being human.
If I encountered an infected human, I would kill them before they could commit suicide.
If I swallowed them in my form of flame or lightning—powerful energy constructs—I could kill the parasites while consuming the humans.
A monster that mimics humans.
Monsters…Must die.
“Are you going now?”
“Mhm.”
“Well…It’s not like you’re in any danger, but I’ll at least worry enough to tell you to be careful.”
Having steeled my resolve, I nodded and transformed into my monster form.
Gu Seo-ryong, already knowing what I intended to do, stroked Sagugu’s chin and spoke.
“Remember what we talked about?”
These parasites have no males or females.
They’re not hermaphrodites, nor do they reproduce by division.
The fact that they’ve multiplied so much without reproducing means there must be a separate mother entity birthing them.
Not a leader of the same species, but something higher—a being that endlessly spawns these parasites.
The reason all the parasites are targeting me is on the mother’s orders.
The mother’s location is nowhere but the Samwonkyo in D-City.
“Given the current situation, the nest is likely already complete. And if they’re targeting you, they’ve probably already anticipated your arrival.”
The danger level of a monster entrenched in its nest rises by at least half a grade.
Especially if it’s prepared for a specific target—it’s even worse.
Back when Gu Seo-ryong’s nest, the Guryongseong, was still standing, Gu Seo-ryong—far weaker than Starlight at the time—had momentarily overwhelmed her for the same reason.
I turned my back to Gu Seo-ryong, ready to leap away, but left one last warning.
[Stay put.]
“Yawn~ If you want that, then finish up and come back quickly. Running around every night because of these bugs is ruining my skin.”
Gu Seo-ryong, completely unbothered, covered her mouth as she yawned and waved.
I quietly ascended into the sky, increasing my speed.
No matter how many insect monsters and parasites we exterminated, there was no end.
Before more monsters attacked, I would find and kill the one far away.
I had confirmed this method’s effectiveness when clearing out the underground monsters.
As long as I remained in W-City, they would keep coming.
Until I killed the mother entity or left W-City.
As if to confirm my prediction, insect monsters began following me as I raced across the sky.
As expected, this is the only way.
Late at night, I quietly left W-City.
My destination: D-City, the Monster Cult.
For me, it’s just a slightly long walk.