92. Academy (5)
92. Academy (5)
Is this what teleporting feels like?
In an instant, my whole body felt weightless, like I was floating, and my field of vision changed in a blink.
I felt a bit of motion sickness, but it wasn't particularly unpleasant or gross. Just a little dizzy, I guess?
Actually, since the scenery in front of me changed in an instant, my first reaction was fascination.
'The Status Window definitely isn't omnipotent.'
It doesn't give me warnings, and to see a Status Window, I have to actually look at the target for it to appear in front of me.
Even when the Status Window appears, it doesn't read it out to me; I have to read the whole thing myself.
Then again, if it were a cheat, Viviant would have realized my true identity by now, and I wouldn't have been caught like this.
'The stench of rotting corpses is overwhelming.'
Our Colony has a separate space for eating humans, and since human scraps get stuck in the walls and floors, the smell of rot is always intense.
The kids don't really mind the smell, but I find it a bit unpleasant.
It's not as bad as our dining area here, but the smell is definitely leaking out to some extent.
"That aside, where is this—"
Click—!
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, something caught around my neck.
I felt around my neck with my hand, and it was obviously a slave collar.
I turned my head to look at the person who had put the slave collar on me.
There was a student who had approached me asking for help.
That student's appearance began to shift, sharrrk.
The school uniform that had smelled fragrant just a moment ago instantly turned into a robe reeking of rot, and the handsome face shifted into that of a middle-aged man worn down by life.
"If you don't want to kill your friends, heal them all."
I nodded and activated the Status Window toward the man.
<Information>
Name: Georda
Race: Human
Affiliation (Country): -
Affiliation (Group): -
Gender: Male (45)
Height/Weight: 169.6cm / 55.8kg
Alignment: Neutral Evil
<Stats>
Strength: 23
Durability: 42
Agility: 15
Stamina: 30
Mana: 90
<Unique Ability>
-
'Boring...'
That was the thought that crossed my mind as soon as I saw the man's status.
'No. Still, he's the human who caused that massive explosion, so this can't be all there is to him.'
"Don't think about doing anything funny here. It definitely won't end well for you."
With that, the man locked the door and disappeared.
I first took a slow look at the students who had been dragged here with me.
'Skip, skip, skip, Keep, Keep, skip, skip, Keep, skip.'
Out of the 9 people kidnapped with me, 6 were useless humans, and 3 were decent humans.
I fed all the humans except for those 3 to Raksha, who was mimicking my clothes.
==
The Black Mage Georda prepared the rituals necessary for his grand plan with a heart more excited than ever.
'This much life force is enough. No, it's more than enough, it's overflowing!'
Having finished all preparations for the ritual, the Black Mage headed toward the prison to use the freshmen who were on the verge of death as sacrifices first, while thinking of the woman he had captured.
'She had the kind of looks that would be loved by a Goddess. Hehehehe. I shall enjoy to my heart's content the woman that the Goddess loved.'
The Black Mage, who had been kneading his hands in the air as if touching breasts, stopped walking.
"What the?"
Georda felt something was strange about the number of freshmen visible inside the prison.
'It's not just strange. They've disappeared. They've clearly disappeared.'
The group of 10 people had shrunk to 4 in an instant.
'A Magic Tool? No, there wasn't a single trace of mana. If that were possible in the first place, everyone here would have disappeared. Then, could it be—'
Georda shifted his gaze to the only student standing.
'Don't tell me she can use teleportation magic!? No, no. If that were the case, she would have run away first—'
Georda slapped his own head.
'That woman is the one chosen by the Goddess. It wouldn't be strange at all if she sacrificed herself to save her other friends!!!'
Bang!!!
"St—!!!"
Splash.
As soon as he entered the prison, he lowered his head at the sound coming from the floor.
"This is..."
There was a puddle of fresh blood on the floor that had been neglected for a long time.
That wasn't the end of it.
The smell wafting from the prison.
Georda's face, well-acquainted with this smell, began to contort.
'Why does it smell like corpses where there are no corpses?'
No, there must have been corpses.
There are no corpses, but I can tell. Because right now, the pool of blood formed on this prison floor.
It's an amount that could never exist from just one person.
'At this volume, it's blood from at least 5 humans. That means...?'
Georda's gaze shifted from the pool of blood to the student standing there nonchalantly.
'This is absurd. Isn't that woman a human blessed by the Goddess? Could such a person have really killed her own fellow Academy student friends... no, killed them and even disposed of the bodies?'
It would be more plausible to say that the Demon King revived here, killed the Academy students, and ate the corpses.
The sight of the woman covered in blood from head to toe would make anyone think that she had eaten all the missing students.
The student standing alone opened her eyes and looked at Georda, who had returned.
"—!"
'W-w-what is this killing intent!?'
Gulp.
Georda realized his body was trembling.
Georda, who had never felt fear in his life as a Black Mage, was flustered by the terror he hadn't felt in a very long time.
'H-how can this be killing intent that a human can emit!?'
"I was waiting. I suddenly got curious, you see?"
The student slowly approached Georda.
"How do Black Mages use life force? Do humans without life force taste bad?"
Step. Step. Step.
Georda backed away in time with the approaching student.
But that retreat didn't last long.
Thud.
"W-what on earth are you!!!"
To Georda, who was shouting in a fit, the student grinned and said.
"I am a freshman who entered Padix Academy—"
"Don't bullshit me! How can a mere human like you do this— Aaaaaah!!!"
A red light erupted from Georda's body.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
Consumed by fear, Georda momentarily used a fast and powerful spell at the cost of the vast amount of life force he had accumulated in his body until now.
"Huff...! Huff...! Huff...! W-what? Did she die just like that...?"
Thump.
The lower body, with its upper half gone, lost strength and fell backward just like that.
Seeing the student die so emptily, Georda thought, had he been seeing hallucinations all this time?
==
Is the value of all living things the same?
From a human's perspective, the value wouldn't be the same. I had been thinking that way from the start, too.
Because humans eat countless lives without a second thought just because they taste good.
What would it look like from God's perspective?
Perhaps they see humans, animals, monsters, magical beasts, demons, etc., all as equal lives?
I'm not talking about the Goddess, but that God of creation.
The reason I'm talking about this is because I died.
To be precise, my body did.
'No matter how I look at it, my ability seems too much of a cheat.'
It's not just that I control the consciousness of all Creatures.
Hive Mind.
A single mind that dominates multiple individuals.
Countless living things move as if they were one.
One is the whole.
The whole is one.
That is the Hive Mind.
My life is also the whole and the one, and the one and the whole.
Even if I die, I can resurrect again at the cost of one Creature's consciousness.
In other words, as long as all the Creatures aren't exterminated, I can keep coming back to life.
But even if I can keep coming back to life, dying still feels unpleasant.
Death, which I felt again after having my head blown off by Gwen. No, should I call this death?
My head just exploded. I'm not human, I'm a Creature. Furthermore, I am the Queen.
Even if my head just explodes, I don't die. It just takes energy to restore my body.
One might ask, 'Is it okay to be attacked like this when I'm the Queen?' but since I don't die easily and it's not particularly difficult to resurrect even if I do, death isn't particularly scary or frightening.
So, I don't feel any emotion about being attacked.
I can resurrect in my original body or in the body of another Creature.
Oops. I died? If I think, 'I'll just die again if I resurrect,' I can just resurrect as a Creature in a different location.
Of course, it's not without risk.
But I wonder if this should even be called a risk.
It's just that my mind is being chipped away, and the Creature Queen's mind is gradually encroaching on my mind.
But now, I don't really have any thoughts about this either.
Because I've realized that it's just my way of thinking changing, not my consciousness disappearing.
Anyway, once you come to this world, your way of thinking is bound to change.
This place is different from Earth.
There are Monsters, hierarchies, Mana, a Goddess, Adventurers, Knights, etc., and most of the knowledge from Earth is useless.
So—
Wouldn't it be fine to eat that human?
It's not that there's no burden in reconstructing my body.
It's clearly an act that consumes energy.
I consumed a considerable amount of energy restoring my head after it was blown off by Gwen.
It's the same this time.
However, this time, not just my head, but my entire upper body was blown away.
It's possible to restore my body by using the children's consciousness as a sacrifice through the Hive Mind ability.
However.
I got attacked because of my own mistake.
I don't want to sacrifice my children because of my mistake.
Until now, I didn't eat humans simply because of the thought, 'I am human.'
Repulsion?
I haven't even felt that recently.
Rather, the problem was that it smelled too delicious.
If I eat humans, I don't have to sacrifice the children.
Anyway, now my children, the Creatures, are more precious to me than humans.
So, I must correct the mistake I made.
That is what a cool human does.
I'm not eating them because I want to.
I'm eating them for my children.
This isn't anything grand.
Just as humans eat animals, Creatures just eat humans.
Crunch—!