Ch.10Eating

Lee Han-yeong placed her hand on my chest, stopping my trembling.

At that moment, the monster looking down at me from the highest point heightened its vigilance and made the surroundings reverberate.

In response to the threatening warning, I immediately transformed into a monster again and positioned Lee Han-yeong beneath my body.

“Good… kitty… heh, hehe…”

As if she knew that my action was meant to protect her, she spoke in a sorrowful voice.

What need was there to protect a dying human, something no different from a corpse?

This was my prey; saliva dripped from my mouth at the appetite stimulated by monster senses.

Despite the emptiness and monster instincts, a powerful resistance kept my will firmly intact.

“Can you… win…?”

In response to Lee Han-yeong’s words as she weakly moved her lips, I examined the giant wolf.

An overwhelming aura—now that we had both transformed and revealed our powers… my instincts were stimulated.

That thing right now is stronger than I am.

Though the difference is slight, for monsters this is a fatal gap. I cannot win in a fight against it.

[It’s stronger than me.]

“That’s… not good… many people… will get hurt…”

A superhuman with limited combat ability, a rescue worker.

The Lee Han-yeong I had observed while processing monster corpses was a good person.

A human who hated seeing people get hurt, who wanted to rescue as many as possible to give them hope, who used her superpowers beyond what was necessary to thoroughly search every corner underground.

Even if there might only be corpses, she gave her all for the sake of those who would want to find even those remains.

“You’re… a monster… aren’t you…”

When I nodded slightly, the wolves mistook it as a sign of attack and bristled their fur.

Knowledge of monsters forcibly injected into me, information that researchers had mumbled around me while I was drugged replays in my memory.

Monster wolf Vargr, an anomaly aimed at becoming Fenrir, who swallows everything with its massive mouth.

If these reach Annihilation-rank, they would certainly become monsters worthy of the name Fenrir.

A special ability that can swallow the sun, that can swallow everything.

“Please… fight…”

[I can’t.]

As if she couldn’t bear to watch such monsters harm people, Lee Han-yeong reached out toward my front paw.

Like a plea, a request, I refused her appeal.

[That thing is stronger than me.]

I don’t want to die.

In this, the monster’s instinct overrode my will.

When there’s no way to win, escaping is victory; surviving, the one who remains alive is the winner—that’s how to become stronger.

[I still want to eat many delicious things.]

“Ah, haha… really… ah…”

When I told her my reason for not wanting to die, Lee Han-yeong burst into laughter with her pale face.

With a small murmur about how saliva was still dripping, she closed her eyes.

Weakly, and from her mouth came a voice not much different from usual.

“If you… eat me, would you still not be able to win…?”

I couldn’t answer Lee Han-yeong’s question.

Due to monster instincts, my appetite had reached its limit; even now saliva was dripping from my mouth.

If I were to eat Lee Han-yeong, perhaps I could handle one of those wolves… but with two more, that would be…

The moment I thought that, I felt a superhuman emitting a powerful wave from far away.

A threatening wave like that of a monster, a call alerting monsters to their position.

A will stating that if they don’t come now, they will come here to fight.

The giant wolf, Vargr, with an unpleasant growl, gestured with its chin to the two wolves.

As if it could handle someone like me sufficiently even without those two.

Nevertheless, it was still watching the surroundings cautiously, checking if there were any variables from other heroes.

To Vargr, I was just prey, not even worth being wary of.

Vargr’s thinking was correct.

As I am now, I still cannot defeat Vargr.

But if Vargr were alone…

[I can win.]

If I eat Lee Han-yeong, I will win.

When I coldly stated that fact, Lee Han-yeong smiled brightly.

“Please, eat me.”

I…

I hate seeing humans die.

“Eat me and win, please…”

And even more than that,

Breaking the request of a dying human…

‘Help people’

…is difficult.

[…Imagine.]

I opened my mouth toward Lee Han-yeong and stopped resisting my instincts.

The laboratory that kidnapped me, what the researchers in the lab fed to other test subjects, what they said to humans.

Research aimed at deliberately creating powerful monsters.

[The way to kill that monster—imagine the strongest thing you can think of. Leave that as a curse.]

All monsters grow stronger when they eat humans.

Not just their flesh, but by eating their knowledge, their thoughts.

Not just images of despair, but images of strong creatures…

Eating their minds.

[I eat your head, your thoughts, and grow stronger.]

After hearing my explanation, Lee Han-yeong slowly clasped her hands together.

“A curse… that’s…”

As if in prayer, her hands met, and the scent grew stronger.

“You’ll… eat my wish and win for me… right?”

A scent that strongly stimulates appetite—a human’s heart.

“It’s a wish.”

As I opened my mouth toward her, we had our final conversation.

“I have… a request. When the fight is over, please… eat the rest of my hands…”

There’s no need to eat a human completely to gain superpowers.

Even if a monster eats a superhuman, it doesn’t gain the hero’s ability, and the origin of superpowers is not in the hands but in the head.

But… Lee Han-yeong’s superpower was activated through her hands.

Perhaps this was a ritual, wanting me to fully accept her power.

As she spoke while tightly gripping her hands, I found it hard to refuse such determination.

[I promise.]

“Ah… I wanted… to eat dumplings…”

[Let’s go eat some, after I eat you.]

On the weekend, together.

This is a promise.

At my answer, Lee Han-yeong smiled brightly.

And then I…

tore off Lee Han-yeong’s head.

The crunching sensation, the monster’s taste buds intensely exploding,

A crunchy texture, sweet flavor, like chocolate cream bursting with rich taste.

Ah… so this is what humans taste like to monsters.

Then, thoughts exploded in my mouth.

The address of the dumpling restaurant she wanted to visit together, her surprised emotion when she first saw me, what she thought first when the monster transformed into me.

As my human form overlapped with the frightening monster appearance, it was covered with worry for the heroes.

Hoping they wouldn’t die, wouldn’t get hurt.

The precious and gentle human heart was wearing away.

The monster’s ability to dismantle everything tore apart Lee Han-yeong’s thoughts.

A powerful image, a way to become stronger in the dismantled memories of a human by monster instinct.

The direction of evolution, the destination, the strongest monster, the most fearsome one, monster… to a monster, the most… powerful superhuman.

Yu Anna.

An endlessly burning storm of light.

The strongest, the most powerful creature in Lee Han-yeong’s mind was… Yu Anna.

Endlessly burning flames, light burning with extreme heat.

To face a monster trying to become a wolf that swallows the sun.

The brilliantly shining… image of the sun.

What arose was flame, a storm of fire that would burn everything.

The infinite phoenix that burns even death, the immortal bird.

That form, on my body.

“Grr, OOOOOOOOOOH!!”

As the monster core devoured the human’s thoughts, it rapidly expanded.

Power spreading throughout my body, the sense of omnipotence it conveyed, pleasure, the desire to destroy.

The target for all of this was the monster before my eyes, Vargr.

I, who had become a bird of fire, rode the updraft and looked down at Vargr.

It was bewildered at the sight of me.

It knew that the momentum had completely changed from just moments ago.

The instinct of a monster facing a stronger being made it step back.

[Vargr… you don’t know.]

As Vargr fled, I immediately spread my wings and pursued.

Vargr ran between buildings to somehow block my pursuit.

My body of flames would melt buildings just by touching them, which would hinder my movement slightly, just as Vargr intended.

[Monsters evolve most dramatically when they eat humans for the first time.]

But I passed through the buildings.

The power to freely cross the boundary of non-substance, the ability to transform things that touch the body into a fluid form.

Lee Han-yeong’s superpower, fluid movement.

[That’s common sense for humans, and… this is common sense for monsters.]

Did Lee Han-yeong… somehow know about my abilities as a monster?

That couldn’t be, so it was a strange coincidence.

Ability absorption, an anomaly that endlessly digests.

That was me, the one hundred and eleventh test subject, CXI’s nickname.

[The weak are eaten by the strong.]

“GROOOOOO! KYAOOOOOOOO!”

Before long, Vargr, caught by my burning claws, bit my body in resistance.

I didn’t even avoid Vargr’s attack and simply offered my body.

Considerable pain—if all three had attacked, I would have struggled, but… just one.

The flames burning my wounds regenerated my body faster.

[Go ahead, try to swallow me again.]

The wolf that swallows the sun, the wolf monster trying to become Fenrir, Vargr.

But it had not yet become Fenrir.

I could feel it.

The despair of a monster that couldn’t swallow the sun.

[Then… it’s my turn.]

The current Vargr was not my enemy, but my prey.

I opened my mouth toward Vargr.

I had been curious anyway.

What a Despair-rank monster would taste like.

#

“What is… that…?!”

“Code α is showing abnormalities! Its form… e-evolution? I don’t know! It hasn’t become Annihilation-rank!”

Yu Anna and the other heroes, who were subduing the two Disaster-rank wolves, frantically communicated about the scene before their eyes.

Clearly, the Despair-rank monsters here were the same as the observation data for Code α and 0.

0 with a head similar to a wolf, α with the form of a feline predator.

But suddenly, a burning giant bird soared into the sky.

The presumed 0, which appeared to command two Disaster-rank monsters, was now being overwhelmed by the transformed α and was being torn apart.

A one-sided hunt that could hardly be called a fight.

The bird of fire devoured even the abilities that the resisting wolf fired, and when it finally reached the core, the wolf stopped moving.

This scene, more like a meal than a battle, took place on top of a building, in a location visible to everyone.

The current damage was limited to about ten buildings—too minimal for a fight between two Despair-rank monsters.

On top of the building, the bird that had torn out the wolf’s heart transformed into a tiger before everyone’s eyes.

The form of a burning tiger, which leaped from the building and began to fall, prompted Yu Anna to rush out.

“Two Disaster-ranks! I leave the rest to you! I’ll hunt the remaining Despair-rank!”

The two Disaster-ranks were already in tatters; the remaining heroes could sufficiently subdue and cleanly resolve the situation.

Yu Anna felt a sense of clarity in her mind as she watched the Despair-rank monster falling like a burning comet.

“So it’s amorphous after all!”

If so, the previously observed Code 0 and Code α might originally have been a single entity, or the wolf monster that appeared this time might be a new species.

An independently acting amorphous monster, Code 0, a tricky opponent… but it must be dealt with here and now, surrounded by heroes.

However, as Yu Anna flew toward the monster, she continued to feel a sense of incongruity.

Having already killed a Despair-rank worthy of being a match, a target of caution, it should be rampaging to fill its stomach… yet the downtown area was too intact.

Despite a Despair-rank monster appearing, it was as if a cat had come out for a walk and was lightly stepping on a fence.

In Yu Anna’s mind, the moment when Code α had blocked her attack flashed.

As if protecting a person, throwing its body in front of her attack.

Black Cat, a monster that protects people.

Could such a thing exist?

It shouldn’t be possible, but truly, if such a thing did exist.

The monster blew away such concerns of Yu Anna in an instant.

“Crunch… crunch… crunch…”

The monster that had descended to the ground was eating a human.

The corpse of a woman whose neck had been severed and lower body was gone, leaving only the upper body.

The clothes she was wearing, rescue team, superhuman.

With superhuman vision, the name tag reading Lee Han-yeong was visible.

Yu Anna also recalled the face of the hero she had met before.

“You, you, BASTAAAAARD!!”