[The Aesthetic of the Parasitic]
The aesthetic sense of the parasitic humans is, to put it mildly, quite twisted. For starters, I dismissed the summons for the Sea Cucumber Tentacle. I’d left it out on the rooftop, and it complained that it was cold. It’s a high-maintenance summon. It gave off the distinct vibe of, "I’m not a combat unit, I’m a production unit, so you need to protect me properly! Play with me all day! Keep petting me!"
“Hah...” I’d heard previously that Kashnakas’ tentacles were related to her psyche and complex desires... Could the seventh tentacle be linked to Kashnakas’ sloth? Or maybe her gluttony? Regardless, it was a peculiar summon.
“But this...” I turned my attention to Yang Jisang, who had been completely broken. “Hey, you... what should I call you?”
“Then, from now on... you are Dojisang.”
That was that. I gave the Ghost-Wailing Blade, now corrupted by chaos, a light swing. I was curious to see what kind of changes had occurred.
—Swoosh!!
“Whoa... holy shit...”
The blade whipped through the air like a lash. The flesh embedded between the fractured shards of the blade stretched out, allowing it to be wielded like a Chain Sword. The effective range had increased dramatically.
“Man... this is insane.”
The durability had effectively become infinite. The sword had literally transformed into a type of biological weapon. If it gets cut, I just need to patch it up with the regenerating flesh. Moreover, there were teeth between the layers of flesh, so it looked like it could bite enemies on its own. It had gained a bleeding effect. But the most incredible part was...
‘The sword itself has a will of its own...’
I didn’t mean Dojisang, the fusion of Yang Jisang and Dodomeki. The sword itself had become a living, breathing creature. It even reacted to me with extreme familiarity.
[Remnant of Chaos... a part of me... how could I ever hate you...]
“Ah, Kashnakas...”
[The seventh tentacle will make the army of your companion... even stronger...]
“Aha...”
If I feed it parasitic humans or parasitic tree hosts, they’ll probably become incredibly strong. Mushroom humans, too... but they are dependents of Spenta Mainyu, so would they obediently accept the chaos factor? Regardless, I have to try. If it works, this will lead to an absurd increase in military power. I could even coat the weapons coming out of the Abyss Forge with the chaos factor to turn them into monster weapons.
‘No... is it okay to get this strong...? At this point, I almost feel bad for that bastard Nicholas...’
Can Nick really beat me? My army is growing stronger by the day, like some hellish legion... If that guy Nick finds out about this, he’s going to feel suffocated. It’s absolutely thrilling.
“Hehehe...”
I sheathed the twisted Ghost-Wailing Blade, now evolved into a chain sword, back at my waist. “Now...” It was time to go pick up Mer.
“Mer!”
“Oh, you’re here.”
Mer had just finished showering and was drying her hair. I washed the slime off my hands and hugged her from behind.
“Heh. I suppose you want to pay the price for making me wait eight hours...”
“Yeah... shall I?”
“I’m all for it. Come here, Master.”
I dove straight into the inn bed with Mer. Rolling around with Mer in an American inn room, I felt like I was on an overseas trip with a girlfriend. I spent a pleasant time with Mer for a while.
After heating up the inn room for about three hours, I returned to the Narak with her.
“Do you want to go ahead? I have some business to take care of.”
“Hmm. I could go with you, but...”
“No, you’re tired. Go eat and get some rest. I’ll be there soon.”
“Heh... understood. Then I shall head back first.”
I sent Mer out to the Narak first. From here on out, I was going to engage in some quite heretical acts, and I felt a bit embarrassed and shy to show her.
“Alright... let’s see...”
The Narak had changed a lot. More than half of the Crimson Zone had been demolished, and the Closed Nest was half-collapsed and open. Even the ruins of the Narak had seen quite a few buildings go up. High-rise buildings were out of the question, but various attempts were being made, such as two-story wooden houses and buildings made of mud. Is this some kind of reform? I had brought a Renaissance to the Narak.
“Ohh...!! The Prophet...!! The Prophet has arrived!!”
“Ah!! The great Apostle of the Gods has come all the way here!!”
As I rode a Narak Tick toward the ruins, the parasitic humans, dressed in peculiar clothing, began to bow to me. This... it feels like becoming the king of a dystopian developing country. Yeah... it’s similar to becoming a warlord ruling over a backward African nation. I’d sent Moon Geun-oh in here for about three hours to create a religion... but since three hours in reality is about a week in the Narak, in that week, he’d created a bunch of insane cultists who worshipped me completely.
‘Truly perfect.’
I climbed off the back of the tick and spread my arms wide toward the Narak subjects who were looking up at me. “Everyone, stand up! Today, I have come to bestow upon you a new blessing!! Witness the miracle of the Manma-jeon with your own eyes!!!”
“Oooooh!!! A new miracle!!!”
“Miracle!!! The miracle is coming to us!!!”
“Ah...!! You gave us knowledge, a great forge, and even the ticks... and now, again...!!”
“Please, take me as a sacrifice!! Sob!!!”
“Just how much do you care for the Narak!!! Ahh!!”
The parasitic humans praised me loudly in fluent Korean. This is quite embarrassing. I just did all this to feed myself and survive... but to these guys, I’ve given them a new life... and since parasitic humans share psychic waves, once one starts worshipping me, they endlessly emit fanatical psychic waves among themselves, driving each other into a frenzy of worship. They are literally a race born to be indoctrinated.
“Now, behold. The product of the miracle that will lead you to a new path...”
I summoned the seventh tentacle in front of them.
—Grrr...
—Pffft...
Upon being summoned, the Sea Cucumber Tentacle sent me the feeling of wanting to experience "unconditional happiness" without reservation. It was lazy beyond belief. But at the appearance of such a creature, the parasitic humans shrieked.
“Th-that is...!!”
“So cute...”
“Sob... I want to be eaten...”
“My, oh my... how can it be so cute...”
I momentarily forgot my next line. ‘That... is cute...?’ I couldn’t believe it. Just how twisted is their aesthetic sense? Then again, since there’s a flood of guys wanting to offer themselves as sacrifices, I shouldn’t try to understand these guys from a human perspective. They’ve just been forcibly draped in human civilization and culture; these things aren’t human.
“From now on, you must take care of this miraculous creature!!”
I explained how to use the creature to the parasitic humans who were dying to pet it, and dragged over one fanatic who was shouting my name the most fervently.
“Now, you, come forward!!”
“Ahhh!!! Thank you!! Oh, Prophet!!!”
I fed him to the Sea Cucumber Tentacle. As the new prey entered, the tentacle shivered and expressed its joy with its whole body. Feeding a similarly disgusting parasitic human to a disgusting-looking tentacle made me feel like my own sanity was about to collapse.
‘Ugh... crazy... I’m going to throw up...’
The parasitic human was being eaten head-first. The large Sea Cucumber Tentacle munched away diligently, swallowing the human whole. If normal humans saw such a deranged sight, they’d scream and run away. But these were parasitic humans who used to live by crawling into walls of flesh. Instead, they cheered enthusiastically, blessing the birth of a new existence.
‘Among all these freaks... I’m the only normal one...’
I used to be the biggest freak of them all. I feel strangely at ease. With these guys, I felt like no matter what I did, they’d just clap and love it.
‘It’s a good thing I sent Mer up early...’
No matter how much of a fallen angel she is, it would have been hard for her to endure this collective madness with a sane mind. This is a landscape that would be tough for anyone other than someone like Cheshire, born in the Black Market, or Aila, who has high mental resistance in these areas. As for me, well, I’ve seen worse than this, so it just ends with me feeling a bit "uncomfortable," but the other women would probably be retching.
—Ploop.
Soon, the twisted parasitic human crawled out of the Sea Cucumber Tentacle’s anus. The parasitic human, having accepted the chaos factor, wiped the slime off his body and stood up.
“Ah... this power...”
He looked at his transformed body and thanked me for bestowing such a great blessing. I accepted his thanks half-heartedly and checked his transformed physique.
“Hah...”
His skin had turned purple. There were eyeballs embedded all over his body, and a mouth where his stomach should have been. His arms were covered in protrusions and holes. Something was densely packed inside the holes. I didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t look like anything good for a human.
“Yeah. Co-congratulations...”
“Hehehe!!!”
I told him congratulations. Even if he’d become more hideous... if he’s happy, that’s okay. Afterward, I took a few more candidates and fed them to the Sea Cucumber Tentacle. They all looked similar. It seems that if you put a parasitic human in, they get remodeled into this appearance. I was worried they might all end up looking like a chaotic mess, but that didn’t seem to be the case. It seems there’s a set value for it.
‘If I make too many, the Narak will get too creepy...’
Moreover, they weren’t very suitable for crafting or other tasks. I’ll just organize a separate combat unit and make about 200 of them. If I hail them as a great warrior group, everyone will go crazy wanting to join. Then I can just hold a tournament-style fight and pick out the strongest ones. I’ll have to ask the Seeker of Narak to handle that later.
‘Come to think of it... the statues sold by the Seeker... I recall being able to strengthen parasitic humans with those. I wonder how a strengthened parasitic human would change.’
I’m also curious about how they’d change if I put a human in... would a zombie become a twisted zombie? When I have time, I’ll gather a bunch of materials and experiment all day. For now, I told the parasitic humans to take good care of the Sea Cucumber Tentacle and told the Seeker of Narak to hold a martial arts tournament. I also bought all the Plague Statues from him. Now I can make red, blue, and black parasitic humans.
“Oh, Meiling...” I suddenly remembered her.
Since I spent 8 hours in reality...
“It’s been 20 days...”
I hurried toward the building where Meiling was kept.
“Ugh....”
In a building in the Crimson Zone. Meiling was moaning in a back room. It had already been 20 days since she was trapped here. Although only 8 hours had passed for Jang Jojun, 20 days had already gone by in the Narak. Bella and Ella had taken turns going out to reality and coming back, but Meiling felt like she was going to lose her mind after being trapped in the narrow, boring Narak for 20 days. Her only joy was talking to Yan Hongya, who was trapped in the room across from her.
—Clatter.
Just then, the door to the building opened, and Jang Jojun walked into the Narak prison.
“Hey, Meiling. You alive?”
“Ah. Ahhhh...!”
“What, are you crazy?”
“N-no! Hehe... not at all... I’m perfectly fine... Hehehe... Finally... you finally came to see me... You didn’t forget me completely... Thank goodness. Thank goodness...”
“Uh... yeah. Stop muttering.”
“Yes...!!”
Jang Jojun approached the room where Meiling was trapped. Meiling grabbed the iron bars and smiled brightly at Jojun. Having learned various dating tips from Yan Hongya, who called herself a dating expert in prison, Meiling now knew that showing too much obsession would make the other person feel burdened.
“Hehe... I was waiting so... very patiently.”
So, she decided to act more submissive. That was the only way she could be held in Jang Jojun’s arms. Of course, she still wanted to possess, monopolize, and raise Jang Jojun, but she suppressed those thoughts so they wouldn’t show. She also wanted to kill all of Jang Jojun’s other women and be the only one left with him on top of their corpses... but she decided not to show that either. At least for the time being.