Ch.51Three

“Grr!”

[Nyaaagh!]

[Kugh?!]

When I charged at Gu Seo-ryong, the two monsters leaped and collided with each other.

I could taste the special ability brushing inside my mouth—the sensory confusion ability had reversed both monsters’ directional perception.

As I immediately tried to tear at Experiment No. 3’s throat, poof! With a puff of smoke, he was caught beneath my feet.

This confusion also resulted from altered directional perception. Not missing the opportunity, I stomped on his shoulder with my foot. Meanwhile, 499, who had rushed in to help Experiment No. 3, ran past me.

[Let go of my brother! Huh? I missed!]

[You stupid girl! You can’t aim properly!]

Swoosh! The moment 499 planted her feet on the ground to stop, click, click, click… Gu Seo-ryong snapped her fingers repeatedly, spreading her ability.

Visual flickering, sensory dulling, auditory confusion.

[Ugh, ah…? I can’t see! Brother? Brother! Where are you? Where are you!]

[Ugh, aaaah!]

[B-blood! I smell blood! Brother, brother! Aak…!]

I tore at Experiment No. 3’s throat, while Gu Seo-ryong approached 499, who was standing dazed with her mouth open, and thrust her finger into her head.

Even with their sense of direction gone, they could still claw and bite around when attacked.

The two critically wounded monsters swung their front paws widely toward the sides of their heads.

They probably aimed for Gu Seo-ryong’s and my necks with their spatial cutting ability, but that ability ended up directed at each other’s throats.

The two monsters, their wounds worsening, tried to escape with poof, poof explosions of smoke, but unable to escape their confusion, they kept hitting their heads on the ground and collapsing.

“Ahah, ahahahaha! How cute, look at what they’re doing!”

[…They’re pitiful.]

I had only intended to ask Gu Seo-ryong to handle one of them to buy some time, but I never expected her ability would work this well.

An ability that’s merely ticklish to me works differently on them.

I almost feel foolish for having struggled against them until now.

“Have you fallen for me~? Want to make babies after we clean up these kids?”

[But, you’re still weak.]

Gu Seo-ryong’s ability can confuse the two monsters, but it can’t deliver a fatal blow.

Proving this fact, Gu Seo-ryong doesn’t attack them directly, only using abilities that help me.

“It’s not that you’re weak, but that you have good compatibility with me, wouldn’t you say?”

[There’s no monster that doesn’t have good compatibility with your ability.]

“Does that mean I’m the most desirable woman?”

Click! Snapping her fingers and bursting waves of ability, Gu Seo-ryong walked casually to pierce Experiment No. 3’s neck and thrust her tail tip into 499’s stomach.

Then, raising one hand high above her head, click…! The two monsters, who had been baring their teeth, staggered with blurry eyes from the ability that exploded right beside them.

At that moment, as I prepared to rush in for a chance to inflict a fatal wound, Gu Seo-ryong extended her hand to stop me.

“Is this woman crazy?”

[She’s turned all abilities toward regeneration.]

Sensory confusion is a poison that works on the mind through monster waves. There are two ways monsters resist poison and confusion abilities.

Either evolve to strengthen mental barriers so they don’t work at all, or quickly regenerate the brain that’s being manipulated to restore it.

Both experiments have considerable regeneration, with 499’s being particularly fast.

Confident in her regeneration speed, 499 shattered her own brain with spatial manipulation.

The quickly regenerated brain is free from confusion abilities. We could apply the ability again, but she gained a moment’s time.

[Nyaaaaa!]

With a cry, 499’s eyes flashed as she simultaneously used blade storm and space-tearing abilities.

Whoosh, Gu Seo-ryong jumped silently into the air, landing in front of me after losing both arms that had protected her torso.

Swish, as she swung her arms and quickly regenerated new ones, Gu Seo-ryong prepared her ability by snapping her fingers together. 499 crouched, ready to charge at us.

[Brother! Run…!]

At that moment, Experiment No. 3 severed 499’s neck.

A single strike in a moment of carelessness—not a misaimed attack due to confusion.

As I frowned at the ability that had precisely targeted 499’s neck, Experiment No. 3 pounced on the critically wounded 499 and shouted.

[Stay still! You stupid girl!]

[Br…other? Aaaah! Brotherrr!]

[I’m the one who’ll become a success…! Not you! Give me your core! Now!]

“My goodness? This one’s even crazier?”

Experiment No. 3’s tail blade and spatial manipulation ability tore open 499’s chest.

Sudden cannibalism among the same kind. 499, who had barely regenerated her neck with skin still attached, struggled and resisted.

It’s obvious what Experiment No. 3 is after.

He probably thinks if he eats 499 and gets even slightly stronger, he might escape from here.

[499! Just, get, eaten by meee!]

[N-no… nooooo!!]

“Hmm, disgusting. These modern experiments have no dignity.”

To think I’d get distracted while facing monsters—such a choice only guarantees death.

As 499 screamed, Gu Seo-ryong curled up her lips and aimed her finger like a gun, flicking it.

Click! As I rushed in to end Experiment No. 3’s life, Gu Seo-ryong followed right behind me.

[D-don’t comeee! Aaaah!]

Experiment No. 3, who had been biting 499, shot a storm of blades at me, but they curved sideways and hit nothing but empty air.

Crunch! The moment I bit into Experiment No. 3’s neck again, part of his existence was swallowed by me.

Beside me, Gu Seo-ryong stomped on the head of the struggling 499, strangling her neck with her tail and thrusting the tail tip into her head.

[Br…brother…mo, therrr….]

“Ahahng…you miss your mommy~?”

Gulp…gulp…probably injecting venom with her tail movement. 499, lying sideways on the ground and weakly moving her four limbs, had eyes that gazed at some distant place, growing dim.

Confirming that Gu Seo-ryong had completely subdued 499, I continued to tear apart Experiment No. 3’s vital points.

Crack, crunch, ribs breaking, skull being crushed.

[Mom…mom…don’t abandon me….]

[Aaaah! 499! What are you doing, you useless girl!]

499 couldn’t recognize Experiment No. 3 being torn apart right before her eyes. The space around me was being ripped apart in various directions, but nothing hit my body.

Ice spikes spreading around also failed to extend straight, branching out in all directions, showing that all of Experiment No. 3’s senses were in complete disarray.

A taste like cotton candy sprinkled with bitter coffee powder—Experiment No. 3 was being bitten all over by me, bleeding profusely.

His regeneration had already reached its limit.

All that remained was to be eaten.

[Ugh, aaaaa!!]

Crunch, crunch, I began searching for the core while chewing on Experiment No. 3, who could hardly be called an enemy anymore.

A monster’s core exists in a location separate from vital points like the heart and brain.

That location varies slightly depending on the monster, so it needs to be found…but in Experiment No. 3’s case, probably here.

I put weight on my front paw and tore open the spot he had been digging into when attacking 499, revealing organs soaked in blood.

Inside, as I hooked my claw into the core, Experiment No. 3 screamed in fear.

[S-save, save me! I’m, I’m an experiment! Just like you, I was captured…! You, you…weren’t a monster that ate…others like us…?]

[You are different.]

Experiment No. 3 cannot control his instincts.

He doesn’t understand conversation at all. If he doesn’t understand someone, he tries to understand by eating them. He kills children, kills the one he called sister, kills everyone, pursuing only his own strengthening.

A complete monster.

[Monsters must die.]

[Ah, aaaaaaaa!]

I bit into Experiment No. 3’s core and crushed it.

Crunch, as the hard shell of the core broke, the monster’s life faded away.

A rich, savory taste filled my mouth as the ability at my core decomposed and digested the core.

Memories exploded right after swallowing various abilities—the human memories of Experiment No. 444.

‘Mom…? You’ll really come back after sleeping for 100 days…?’

Experiment No. 444 embraced his sleeping younger sister and parted with an older woman in front of an unfamiliar building.

‘It’s because of you that I was abandoned too, because of you!’

‘Waaaah! Waaaaaaah!’

Everything that abandoned him was because of his young sister. They loved him until his sister came along. If only his sister hadn’t existed.

‘You’re an obedient child.’

‘Hey, as promised…don’t do anything to my sister….’

‘Good. But for that…you know what to do, right?’

Laboratory, injections, monster cells, adaptation, synthesis—various words swirled in his head.

Exhausted from monsterization, in a heavy sensation, the researchers’ voices tickled his ears.

‘For both siblings to withstand CXI’s cells, impressive.’

‘Indeed, it seems there are bloodlines that can adapt to cells and those that cannot.’

‘No, the siblings 404 and 472 had one die.’

‘Is the difference simply the determination to adapt? When we tell them both families won’t be touched if they succeed, the success rate increases dramatically.’

Thump, thump, hearing that the researchers had also touched his sister, his heart raced, but soon calmed.

The cold injection flowing through his blood calmed even the emotion of anger itself.

‘Well then, is it time to put on the collar?’

Shhh, as a different injection from the one in his body entered his head, the monster’s core began to gradually chew and swallow the memories and emotions from when he was human.

All that remained was the monster’s instinct.

‘He can’t take any more, it’s his limit.’

‘So this is as far as it goes….’

‘444 is particularly inferior in quality, compared to 499’s ability aptitude….’

‘Tsk, if only 499’s obedience imprinting had worked properly, we would have disposed of him already.’

‘You only managed to break her mind trying to force obedience. Those Alphabet guys, do they have no intention of making proper brainwashing drugs?’

He hates his sister.

If only his sister hadn’t existed, he wouldn’t have been abandoned.

If only 499 hadn’t existed, he wouldn’t have been compared like this.

‘Why is CXI still alive? Starlight should be able to kill CXI for sure?’

‘CXI is getting closer to humans.’

‘CXI must be killed.’

‘If you swallow his core, you will no longer be failures.’

If I just eat CXI, I’ll become the strongest monster.

I can be praised, become a successful experiment, become stronger.

I won’t be abandoned anymore.

‘Black Cat, stop, stooop!’

‘Don’t do it! Black Cat, don’t do it!’

Why doesn’t this woman abandon her child?

Why does a mere human dare to confront a monster?

Why doesn’t this human child want to kill its parents?

‘Don’t eat!’

‘I’m hungry!’

‘499, I told you not to eat!’

‘Hungry….’

Because 499 becomes stronger by eating humans.

I’ve just caught up to 499 after eating a human for the first time, I can’t fall behind again.

So, at least my sister.

I didn’t do anything to her.

Please….

[Huff….]

Crunch, after completely chewing and swallowing the core, I slowly breathed out to dispel the unpleasant feeling circulating in my body, and used my newly acquired ability.

Woong, as the space-tearing ability made the empty air ripple, Gu Seo-ryong, who had been sitting on 499’s head with her tail wrapped around her neck, applauded.

“Congratulations, Deun-deun, you’ve become a bit more solid now?”

[Mm.]

I licked my lips, recalling the curse that Experiment No. 3 had left me.

In his moment of death, what Experiment No. 3 feared most was 499’s death.

Because of this, my monster core evolved in the direction most specialized for killing 499.

[Grrrr….]

[Br…other?]

The wave of my growl became slightly, but noticeably, similar to Experiment No. 3’s.

Just before, 499 didn’t resist at all when Experiment No. 3 attacked, only submitting.

As I frowned at this unpleasant evolution that exploited that fact, Gu Seo-ryong aimed her fingertip at 499’s head trapped under her bottom.

“Now it’s my turn, right? Fufu, I’ll enjoy this?”

[Gu Seo-ryong.]

Hearing those words, I used telekinesis to grab Gu Seo-ryong’s wrist.

“What?”

[The monster, Experiment No. 3, I killed.]

“So?”

[499 cannot be killed.]

“Hmm….”

At my words, Gu Seo-ryong made a dissatisfied expression and thrust her tail deeper into 499’s neck.

I quietly looked at Gu Seo-ryong, raising a killing intent heavy with warning.

[Ugh, ah…ah….]

“So, you suddenly call me here, make me work this hard, and there’s not a single reward?”

[That’s right.]

“Isn’t that too much, honey? You ate the core all by yourself, and that’s it?”

[It was Kim Su-yeong’s last request.]

Kim Su-yeong was Experiment No. 3’s human name. Flinch, the surprised 499 looked at me with blank eyes.

Then, Gu Seo-ryong, who had been quietly looking at me, shrugged her shoulders and made a tired expression.

“Hmph, fine, I don’t really like eating experiments anyway—it feels unpleasant.”

[…Is that so.]

True to her words, eating an experiment was more unpleasant than expected.

As if proving that the experiment had been human, unlike when swallowing monsters, human memories came in intact, telling me that what I had eaten had been human.

The unpleasantness and dissonance coming from the fact that I too could be in the same position as the experiment I had eaten.

“Honey, is this your first time eating an experiment? You seem a bit sensitive?”

[The memories were read.]

“So? Are you shocked?”

[It’s unpleasant.]

“‘It’s unpleasant,’ he says~”

What should I call this emotion?

As I licked my lips at the unpleasant aftertaste, Gu Seo-ryong snapped her fingers click, click as if telling me to look at her.

“Get a grip, CXI, we’re monsters. Not humans, right? You know? That the core has already eaten us. Reading memories is like when a monster swallows a human corpse it had in its mouth—some memories get read.”

[I see.]

“…If you weren’t this kind of monster, I would have been eaten at the laboratory long ago.”

[Have I fought you before?]

“That’s too much? You can’t even remember?”

[Sorry, I don’t remember weak monsters.]

“That’s really too much~? Anyway, fine, you want to grant Kim Su-yeong’s request? Then we’ll agree not to kill this one.”

Talking with Gu Seo-ryong made me feel a bit better.

Gu Seo-ryong, who had spoken words we could empathize with as fellow experiments, gulp, gulp, wiggled her tail and injected venom into 499’s neck.

“Instead…this much is okay, right?”

[What are you doing?]

“Mental manipulation. I don’t know what they did at the laboratory, but she’s conveniently a complete mess right now.”

[Ugh, ugh, ugh….]

Shh, Gu Seo-ryong, who had withdrawn her tail tip, stroked 499’s jaw and kissed her forehead with a smooch.

“It’s okay for me to have a cute bodyguard, right? Right?”

[Do as you please.]

“Yay~♥”

Kim Su-yeong’s last request was not to kill 499, nothing more.

I left Gu Seo-ryong and 499 behind, entering through the torn space and departing.

With this, there are two Despair-rank monsters remaining in W City.

No, it’s become three.