Monster Wave (3): "Monsters Are Actually Spirits"
"Monsters are actually spirits," Chang Yeom had said.
"Ether lifeforms that live and move with a core forged from mana as their nucleus. The ones left on the surface became 'monsters,' and the ones banished to the demon realm became 'demons.'"
About the monsters I'd hunted countless times in-game, Chang Yeom revealed their truth.
"What do you think?"
"Don't imitate Chang Yeom's speech and pretend to be her, Kim Penril."
"Ah, busted nyang."
That's what Chang Yeom had said. Penril was mimicking her. Because Kim Penril had been there when she told that story.
"I know that already nyang. That living beings are broadly divided into two categories. One is those born with a core from the start, and the other is those who don't have an organ called a 'core' when they're born but can create one in their heart as they grow."
"The former are most ether lifeforms, and the latter include humans and the ain, right?"
"That's right nyang. Well, even before we were banished to the demon realm, that classification had basically lost all meaning."
Kim Penril stirred the air, whipping up a breeze.
"If ether lifeforms mimic that ether in a way that's structurally identical to human flesh and tissue at 99.99%, can you really say it's not human?"
"Biologically speaking, you couldn't call it the same species as humanity, but if that remaining margin of error is the 'core,' then it's a different story."
"Exactly nyang. It's the presence or absence of the core. If you cracked open a human's heart and a mana stone-like core came out, that means it's not a child born from human mating and reproduction, but a lifeform based on a 'spirit' nyang."
"Modern... academy folk don't know that. Even if you find a mana stone-shaped core in the heart, they just think it's mana accumulated in the heart over life hardening like a calculus."
It's different from kidney stones or gallstones in texture. No human is born with a mana stone in their heart from birth. Yet when it's discovered, it's not mana forming into a mana stone—it's cases where spirits or monsters imitating humans were killed and their hearts split open.
The prime example is the doppelganger.
"Maybe all spirits are something like doppelgangers of specific humans nyang."
"Like if the original doppelganger dies and a long time passes, eventually the flesh continues through the doppelganger?"
"Something like that nyang."
Kim Penril snapped her fingers.
"Dukes like us mostly take the form of priests who once worshipped us, pure virgins offered as sacrifices, or kids we really took a liking to, constructed from mana nyang."
Kim Penril's form shifted moment by moment, finally settling into a cat-eared beastkin woman with black hair and mint-green highlights in her bridge.
"And because we transform like this, the default is a form without reproductive organs nyang!"
Kim Penril struck a pose like she was about to transform. It was like a mannequin standing in that shopping center over there, but right now, Kim Penril had changed her outer appearance with mana without manifesting clothes.
"As one of the seven dukes of the demon realm, could you please maintain some dignity, O Gale?"
"Have you ever seen a beast wearing clothes nyang?"
"Not livestock, but I've seen pets wearing fur coats."
"Ahaha. But there's not a shred of obscenity here nyang. This is what Chang Yeom said to say in times like this...!"
Kim Penril took a running pose and grinned at me.
"It's not bobobokbobo, so why are you so embarrassed? Puhuhu."
"......."
"How was that nyang? Pretty similar nyang?"
"Yeah, sure. For a second, I thought Chang Yeom possessing you was talking."
No matter that this was my mental world, the 'Chang Yeom in the demon realm' couldn't speak to me directly. If Chang Yeom was whispering in my head, it was the residual thoughts from when this body was formed reaching out to me. It was different from the texture of the real Kim Penril summoned from the demon realm.
Seeing her deliberately play ghost like that, blurring below the thighs like Casper or the genie from the lamp while flitting around me—
"Doing that does make you look like a real spirit."
Converting to a spirit body form and looking slightly translucent probably helped—it definitely didn't feel super obscene. You know in fantasy webtoons or games, there are spirits not even wearing dresses. Even if their lines are starkly revealed and make you swallow hard, they don't slap an 19+ rating on it just for that. In the Breadcademy worldview, some 'ghost monsters' didn't even have nipples or down there.
"Ahaha. Then can I walk around in front of people like this nyang?"
"No."
That didn't mean we could cross lines recklessly.
"You're prettier wearing your usual clothes or maid outfit anyway, so hurry up and dress like a civilized being."
"Not because maid outfits are your taste?"
"Either way."
"Ahaha."
Kim Penril laughed and stirred her mana. A green wind swirled around her body, forming what could be called her default outfit—
"What's with the maid-style magical girl costume now?"
"It's the costume Chang Yeom made nyang."
"Oh, then I approve."
Not the black-and-white maid dress, but a magical girl outfit with a maid vibe mixed with true green. I got that it blended various tastes, but it was clearly no ordinary garb.
"Anyway, now for the realistic talk."
Kim Penril stood before me, hands behind her back, staring intently.
"Now that the Demon King's proxy knows monsters are intelligent lifeforms too, what will you do nyang?"
"......."
"Even about those who've lost their intelligence after prolonged exposure to angel power, turning into mere beasts."
"I've got the answer."
I bowed my head to Kim Penril, and she immediately leaped up, riding piggyback on me.
"I'll purify those who regain their senses into spirits, and eliminate those who can't and become angel vanguards trying to kill every living thing around them."
"They're lives too, and killing them is no different from killing humans?"
"Murder's something I've set my mind to for a while."
No mercy in my hands. It was something I'd fully prepared my heart for long ago.
"Whether opponent is human or beast, if they join hands with me for peaceful coexistence, they're neighbors. Even if it's a great archangel or goddess, if they try to kill me or shatter my peace, I'll fight with my life on the line."
I pulled Kim Penril's thighs inward, then spread both hands left and right.
"Even if the massive monster horde north of Hapsderk County are Hapsderk's lingering spirits, or angels crushed by me after descending to the surface in the incident ten years ago, or hunters' souls killed by Ratatosk, unable to wander and bound as earthbound spirits, sensing 'Gale' and reappearing as wraiths."
"Yeah."
Penril gripped my head and pointed around.
"They'll attack you. Why? Because I'm inside you."
Penril snapped her fingers, and the black monsters lurking nearby all turned their heads toward me in unison.
"Gale inside Phoenix. The instinct that devouring that core means they can 'revive' themselves. Even if the human flesh is gone, the primal human instinct that they can be reborn as 'spirits.'"
Kyaaak!!
"In that situation, what will you do, Phoenix?"
"Only one choice."
The sky was clear.
Blue Flame Array
The world would be dyed in blue flames.
"......."
With a clunk, the carriage shook. I opened my eyes to the faint dawn light filtering through the gap in the drawn blackout curtains.
"......."
Only breathing sounds. Unia sleeping peacefully atop me, exhaling. Rydmila with arms crossed and legs folded, shoulders touching, her shallow breaths. Evangeline with her head buried deep in my shoulder, asleep. Beyond the three girls' breaths, one woman made a rustle rustle.
Yurha Silverstar. She'd put on glasses at some point and was looking at something. Noticing I'd woken, she stared at me with surprised eyes, then flashed a grin.
Not good for talking. They were all properly asleep, and the moment I spoke, all three would wake.
-Not yet.
Yurha mouthed softly, starting the conversation.
-About 10 minutes till arrival, so hold on a bit.
I tried to reply by mouthing back, but stopped, afraid it'd wake them all. I just blinked quietly.
-Nothing changed while you slept from exhaustion. We've passed the Old School Building and greenbelt, through the terminal, and are heading down the road to Ludbekia.
Nearly five hours straight in the carriage. While I'd been hashing out countermeasures with Kim Penril in my head about this incident, Yurha Silverstar must've been pondering how to handle the monster crisis.
"...Huh?"
Yurha, who'd been smiling, looked puzzled at her magic panel.
"What... is this...?"
"...What's up?"
Her face was so baffled that, despite the three sleeping against me, I had to ask.
"Just got a report."
Yurha showed me the magic panel.
"......This."
"......."
There was a 'boy' with a black silhouette embracing green winds.
"Seems like the master controlling the wolf monsters that appeared in the contaminated zone."
A wraith of a boy who looked eerily like someone.