73
Ch.73 No Need to Hold Back
I ran in the opposite direction, avoiding the host returning to the cathedral.
There was no need to fight that thing head-on.
The hive mind, the parasites—they were all part of its body.
The host was merely its claws and fangs. In hunting, the basics are to avoid the hard bones and target the soft flesh.
"Grrrr…"
The host struggled to chase me as I swept through the district, but at its current speed, it couldn’t catch up.
Its decision to distance itself to grow stronger and devour me was the worst judgment it could have made.
"Ah, a-apostle of the divine…!"
"Th-thank you… Aaahhh!"
Crash!
I landed on the ground, shattering the pristine concrete surface, and stretched my shadow wide.
From within it, fangs surged forth and swallowed the infected humans kneeling obediently before the monster.
Crunch, squelch—
Amid the sound of chewing and splattering flesh, fragmented memories of the infected humans pieced themselves together in my mind.
[Become one? What kind of insane cult is this…?]
[But… It's comforting. Even if we die by the monster’s hand, it’s not the end.]
[I want to see you again. If receiving the sacrament truly lets me reunite with you, I’d believe even a lie.]
The last memories lingering in their brains, ruined by the parasites before they became infected humans.
At first, some were drunk on the atmosphere, some sensed something off, but still felt happiness—then, as the infected humans grew, they became a force.
Every infected human roaming D-City now had joined the hive mind by drinking the holy water from the Samwonkyo Cathedral—water laced with parasites.
After that, their memories were nothing but repeating euphoria.
A life where everything they desired was granted and controlled by the hive.
Even if things didn’t go their way, they felt happiness. And If it did go their way, even greater happiness.
Happy if killed by the monster, happy if not. Happy living, happy dying.
This… Was death.
Then, the voice of the host chasing me echoed from the speakers.
[What are you thinking? Even if you don’t understand our purpose, how could you harm fellow humans like this?]
[Humans?]
What nonsense was this thing spouting? Calling the infected humans human?
Did it seriously consider these human-shaped bio-drones, whose thoughts were overwritten by the monster, to be people?
Already eroded by the monster, with parasites ready to flip their suicide switch at any moment—how could these be humans?
[I only wish to save you, ignorant as you are.]
[Ignorant?]
I considered listening to what it had to say, then chewed up the infected humans fleeing in another district instead.
There was no need to talk to the monster.
I’d understand just by devouring them.
"Ugh…! Ugh…!"
Scattered fragments of memory, like powder, reassembled inside me.
The horror of the monster era. Humans were weak. To protect the weak, all must unite and combine their strength.
Pain was the fear of being separated from the whole. True unity would free them from all fear.
They entrusted themselves to the powerful collective of the hive mind.
[Stop resisting and become one. By now, you must understand. This is the divine choice bestowed upon you! The blessing of being chosen as an apostle, the fate of becoming an angel guarding sacred land!]
In this unified world, death was not the end. Their deaths would nourish the hive’s power.
So there was no need for sorrow, no need for fear—only joy existed.
In exchange for their bodies, the hive mind granted them strength, maintained their lives before unity, and promised eternal rest, happiness, and peace before and after death.
Having devoured the rotting corpses of D-City, I finally understood what this thing was saying.
[You will accept it. Joining the grand design of the divine is the very reason for your existence!]
Was this how it was supposed to sound?
[Enough of this bullshit.]
In the end, wasn’t it just demanding that consciousness and body be surrendered to a monster with the unique trait of a hive mind?
The only one benefiting was Number 3—the monster ruling the hive.
I couldn’t help but laugh at the monster’s logic, pretending to act for humanity’s sake.
[There is no god in this world.]
[To be this ignorant…! God exists!]
[Then where is it? This god of yours?]
Only monsters and humans existed. If there had been an absolute being like a god, one that protected and loved humans, the world would never have become a feeding ground for monsters.
Mocking it, I began running again, slicing through the necks of kneeling citizens and pristine white buildings like harvesting wheat.
The host’s furious voice boomed through the speakers.
[I am god! A failed spawn of Satan, blind to the grand design of the divine!]
At the same time, amid the blaring monster alarms, a chime-like notification rang out.
[To all humans! Black Cat is not the apostle of god! The monster now in D-City is not the divine apostle!]
Deng!
As the chime resonated, the gratitude and worship in the infected humans’ eyes washed away.
All that remained was fear. Having regained some humanity through an inhuman process, they fled toward shelters like citizens of any other city.
"Aaaahhh!"
"God! O god!"
It must have decided telekinesis alone couldn’t catch me, so now it was trying to make my prey run away.
How stupid. Has this thing never faced a Despair-class monster before?
In front of a Despair-class, running made no difference. Humans were still just humans.
Crunch!
Shattering buildings like crackers underfoot, the shockwave alone sent people tumbling.
The storm of blades chasing after them shredded dozens into pieces, decorating the white concrete like strawberry sauce on whipped cream.
Amid it all, parasite fragments were scattered like sugar crystals.
This wasn’t humanity.
No need to hold back anymore.
Thump.
The suppressed monster core amplified its wavelength.
Instinct and reason were in agreement.
Kill every infected human in this city.
The taste of the infected humans, no longer seeing me as an apostle, had improved.
Not the bland emotions of gratitude and worship, but the sweet flavor of terror and fear.
Though their contents were little more than rotting corpse fragments, the monster's core trembled with joy as it swallowed countless thoughts at once.
Maximum output so far.
Expanding spatial manipulation in a circular form, I increased its density. The ground creaked and compressed under the crushing gravity.
Buildings and bodies were flattened. Mimicking Starlight’s signature move, I raced through D-City.
"A-aaaahhh!"
"Ugh—!"
"Ghk—!"
With this technique, it didn’t matter if they ran or not.
Those who barely made it to shelters burst like compressed cans. Those who didn’t were crushed like salmon roe under a finger.
Crack.
Pristine buildings, now stained with blood and dust, crumbled like cookie crumbs.
The city, beautiful even in death, returned to its true form.
[No more mercy! Only divine punishment remains!]
And it wasn’t just the city reclaiming itself.
Hummm, hummm, hummm—
Its wavelength spread like ripples from a skipped stone, moving in succession.
A resonating signal, transmitting a specific message to the infected humans.
"Ugh… U-aaaahhh…!"
"God… O god…!"
Before I could kill them, the infected humans—their skin dyed in grotesque colors—died on the spot, their bodies spewing forth swarms of sub-despair monsters.
Existence Evolution.
The parasites incubated within the infected humans transformed into full-fledged monsters.
Familiar ones—beetle-like insects—along with shrimp-like creatures with insect wings, bloated orbs filled with venom, and more.
I could barely hold back my laughter.
This was their happiness and peace? Having their bodies used as insect eggs against their will?
D-City was a monster nest. What I faced now were scattered fragments of the monster’s flesh.
In the end, the monster only moved for itself.
Tearing rebar from the ruined buildings, I magnetized it and fired.
Mimicking a particularly effective ability, the projectiles vaporized the acid-spewing bugs in an instant.
Then, a massive slash—as if clawed by a beast—carved a vertical line across three districts.
"You—CXI!"
In that brief moment bought by the bugs, the host caught up and unleashed its telekinesis.
Reacting, my fox tails flickered, amplifying my own output.
Having devoured so many infected humans, my ability was now on par with its own.
Breaking free from its panicked grip, I sank into the shadows and fled elsewhere.
"St-stop!"
Boom!
The ground warped as it chased, but its ability activation was too slow.
So this was the limit of the parasites? It could raise output but not refine control.
Escaping its sluggish telekinesis—far slower than Starlight’s—I hid my presence and moved to another district.
Then, I felt it.
Countless awakened infected humans are spreading throughout the city from the host’s location.
If it tried to absorb the infected humans itself, I’d just kill them first. So instead, it sent out awakened in numbers I couldn’t handle alone, fanning out to slaughter the infected humans.
For once, it made a decent decision after a string of failures.
But this was like eating its own arm.
Awakened who consumed the infected humans were, at best, A or B-rank. Even with parasite-assisted cores, they couldn’t harm me.
So it had them kill the infected humans, then consumed them to strengthen its S-rank awakened.
Since infected humans died when parasites left, this was a losing trade, depleting precious awakened with each use.
Was this what they called educational sacrifice?
The host, having boosted its output, created telekinetic catapults midair and launched itself at high speed.
"I will not forgive you… Defiling this holy land, my believers…!"
Its head half-crushed from the strain, it hastily patched itself with parasites, its human form now barely intact as its body writhed endlessly.
Beetles filled the sky, venom sacs clutched in their legs, shrimp-like creatures darting around them.
Screams of pain everywhere, humans bursting as insect eggs, others burning from abilities.
D-City, once a paradise of the dead, had shed its facade, revealing its rotten core.
"Wretched Satan!"
Disgustingly deformed, it screamed, parasites dripping from its mouth.
Kwaaaang!
Dodging the telekinetic blast with ease, I slipped back into the ground and fled.
Above where I submerged, acid rain from the insect monsters, round venom sacs falling and exploding like bombs.
Had it really expected me to run again?
Its raging emotions transformed into telekinetic waves, vibrating the surrounding air.
"Don’t run! Fight me!"
Did it not understand, even after sending parasites to claim me?
I was the fleeing monster—the body called Black Cat.
Right now, this was just a fun game of tag with infected humans as toys.
The monster's core trembled with delight.