Ch.68Bug Commotion

Humans and heroes are still unaware of the parasites’ existence.

When humans infected with parasites see me, they commit suicide, and beetles devour the corpses without leaving a trace.

Only Gu Seo-ryong and I, two Despair-rank monsters, know about the problem now established in W City.

Thinking it would be difficult to handle this alone, I revealed myself on a high rooftop and waited for Starlight.

“This is Sector 6, Black Cat sighted… Huh? Something seems off.”

“What is it? It’s the same Black Cat as usual… Wait, you’re right. Why is it just standing there?”

“Grrrr…”

“Whoa! This is Sector 6, Black Cat is attacking… well, not exactly attacking, but pushing us away as if telling us not to come closer?”

When I, who usually nap during the day, bared my teeth and pushed them away with telekinesis, the heroes quickly called for Starlight, sensing something unusual.

Shortly after, Starlight urgently came to the rooftop where I was and pulled something out of her bag.

“W-what is it? Are you hungry? You want some treats? Here’s a treat?”

“Woo…”

I gestured with my chin for Starlight to send away the other heroes while she held meat in one hand and a treat in the other.

Perhaps sensing the unusual atmosphere, Starlight dismissed the other heroes, leaving just the two of us on the rooftop.

[Parasites are multiplying in W City.]

“Parasites? Are you saying there are government officials you want to kill? Like those orphanage directors?”

[No.]

Why does she immediately jump to government officials when I mention parasites? Could there be more people like those orphanage directors?

Frowning at this sudden question, I decided to address the urgent matter first.

[The parasites I’m talking about are monsters. I can’t handle them alone.]

“What…?”

At my mention of monsters I couldn’t handle, Starlight realized the gravity of the situation.

“Don’t tell me, Annihilation-rank? But there haven’t been any movement alerts for observed Annihilation-rank monsters.”

[They’re Homicide-rank. No, below Homicide-rank…]

“Monsters below Homicide-rank? But… you say you can’t handle them?”

[Hide your presence and follow me.]

Thinking it would be faster to show her than explain, I had Starlight follow me as I flew across the skies of W City.

However, even after circling almost every sector once, the creatures didn’t show themselves.

“Black Cat? How long do I need to follow you?”

[…This is strange.]

The beetles that had been hiding in the clouds high in the sky were now concealing themselves, and infected humans weren’t appearing either.

Could they be detecting the hero?

[…If I sound my core, how quickly can you get here?]

“Huh? Depends on the distance… maximum 10 seconds?”

[Go away.]

After I shook off Starlight and started moving around again, infected humans finally revealed themselves.

“Black Cat! Help me!”

“Lord Black Cat! Save us! Help us!”

“Aah…! Lord Black Cat!”

Unpleasantly, the way infected humans call me is gradually changing.

Those who worship me are not W City citizens but outsiders, while those seeking help without worship are W City citizens.

It’s as if the two groups are communicating somehow, as the number of people asking for my help increases.

“Aaaah… Black Cat… please, I’ll give you meat, so help me. Eat me, eat me~”

A W City citizen plunges a knife into their heart with ecstasy, white worms wriggling from the wound.

I landed in front of one of the corpses and loudly sounded my monster core.

With the evidence secured and the monster alarm blaring loudly, Starlight flew in from the distance.

“W-what is this?!”

At that moment, with a loud buzzing sound, beetles flew in from all directions.

An enormous number, ignoring the monster alarm, filled the sky as a startled Starlight unleashed her ability, turning the entire city sky red.

The beetles fell like rain of fire under her intense firepower.

Meanwhile, the beetles frantically rushed to the corpse, devouring the human remains.

I quickly jumped onto one of the corpses, protecting it from the beetles.

[Starlight, come here first.]

With a whoosh, Starlight, who had been burning the beetles en masse, dropped down in front of me and intensified her firepower.

The human corpse then began to melt.

Faced with the body rapidly dissolving from the acidic poison released by the worm parasites, Starlight looked at me in confusion.

“You didn’t kill it just now, did you?”

[That’s right.]

I never expected the parasite could commit suicide too.

As I moved away from the corpse that had turned into bubbling brown liquid, the beetles that had cleanly devoured the other corpses scattered in all directions, shutting off the monster alarm.

“This is Starlight. Operator, respond.”

[Responding.]

“All personnel, emergency alert. Eliminate the insect-type monsters spreading from Sector 7. Evacuate surrounding areas immediately. These are swarms of sub-Homicide-rank monsters that don’t register on detectors. Detect them manually.”

[Confirmed.]

Startled by the sight of insect monsters hiding in building crevices, sewers, and throughout W City, Starlight urgently called for other heroes.

Then, after stopping her pursuit of the insect monsters, she demanded an explanation from me.

“Can you explain? What was that just now?”

[Parasites, and beetles.]

“Those flying things were beetles, and the parasites…”

Starlight frowned as she looked at the brown liquid spread across the ground.

I explained to her about the parasites.

[As you said, there are strange humans who worship me. They have parasites in their bodies that make infected humans commit suicide.]

“What…?”

[The parasites are too weak to detect. They reside in the beetle-form insect monsters and in the bodies of those who call me a divine messenger. And now, the parasites are spreading to W City citizens.]

“W-wait… hold on.”

After a moment of silence from the sudden news, Starlight gathered her thoughts and spoke.

“So there are parasites in the bodies of those monster cult members, and these parasites make people commit suicide? And they’re spreading to W City citizens, plus they’re so weak they can’t be detected, so we don’t know who’s infected?”

[That’s right.]

“Why… didn’t we know about this at all?”

[The corpses of those killed by parasites are eaten by beetles. No trace of the bodies remains, and the parasites transfer to the beetles’ bodies.]

“And what we just saw… if the parasites can’t transfer to the beetles’ bodies, they dissolve themselves?”

[Probably.]

As I nodded, Starlight’s face hardened.

With them hiding themselves so thoroughly, it’s impossible to know what’s happening unless witnessed directly.

Moreover… these creatures were even avoiding heroes.

Very unlike monsters.

“Parasites that make humans commit suicide, with sub-Homicide-rank beetle monsters and the monster cult as vectors…? The monster cult has a history of temporarily taming Homicide-rank monsters. Did they get infected with parasites while taming monsters? This seems more like a virus than a monster…”

After muttering rapidly, Starlight raised her head and asked what I was also curious about.

“Is there a cure? A way to eliminate the parasites inside the body?”

[I don’t know.]

“Right, you’re a monster, so you wouldn’t know that much… I understand.”

Starlight put her hand to her ear again and urgently commanded someone over the communication network.

“Process this as top priority. From now on, W City is closed, train stations shut down, no movement between sectors. Arrest anyone who resists… and detain anyone suspected of being part of the monster cult. Also, tell all W City monster researchers to come up to the conference room.”

After ending the call, Starlight looked at me with a tense expression.

“First of all, thanks for telling me. Unlike with the Bad Cats… thanks to you, we can respond faster.”

[Can you handle it?]

“…With this many insect-type monsters, there must be a leader. Creatures that move in swarms follow a central entity like a queen bee or queen ant. We need to find it.”

[A central entity?]

Is there such a thing? I’ve only ever seen individual monsters at the laboratory, so this is new to me.

“It’s a bit stronger than the others, so it shouldn’t be hard to find. If we eliminate all the beetle monsters that act as vectors and isolate the monster cult members… we should be able to handle this.”

Find and kill the leader entity.

A solution to eliminate the insects that I didn’t know about.

I quietly nodded, thinking I had made the right decision in alerting Starlight.

[Be careful, eating insects or corpses will lead to parasite infection.]

“No… humans don’t eat such things.”

In response to my warning, Starlight chuckled despite the situation and summoned her ability.

The conversation was over; now it was time to eliminate the insect monsters spreading throughout W City.

“Thanks for your help, Black Cat.”

With those words, Starlight flew into the sky, spreading her ability’s wavelength.

The wavelength was much denser than usual to ensure not even the weakest monster would escape.

Not just Starlight, but all heroes in W City began eliminating the insects hiding everywhere.

The beetles rapidly decreased in number, and infected humans were no longer visible.

However, the insect commotion didn’t end.

No matter how many they caught, the beetles wouldn’t disappear.

There was no leader here.

#

As the insect commotion in W City continued, heroes increased their control over citizens.

To root out remaining monster cult followers in the city, to isolate humans infected with parasites.

Although it was a choice made to protect citizens, their discontent only grew.

[Why did W City suddenly become a hero dictatorship?]

[Are they benchmarking A City?]

[Real-time tracking of movement info and banning groups of more than 4 people is a bit strange, isn’t it?]

[Was controlling access to Black Cat just a test of citizen reactions?]

[Does anyone know why they’re blocking travel outside the city? I need to go on a business trip.]

[Seems like it’s because of monsters.]

[No, Black Cat is fine, so what monster requires travel restrictions? Why are they doing this when Black Cat could finish it in a day?]

Eventually, as complaints grew louder, Starlight appeared before cameras again.

Looking extremely tired, Starlight and the heroes released some of the controlled information to explain the current situation and prevent public confusion.

“This situation briefing will be kept as brief as possible due to time constraints.”

“Swarms of insect-type monsters continue to circle around W City. These monsters carry special parasites…”

“These parasites eat parts of the brain and settle there, causing infected people to commit suicide. When exposed to the wavelength emitted by heroes’ abilities at close range… they release acidic poison, killing their human hosts, according to our investigation.”

“The current population control measures are to isolate infected humans. While we have successfully isolated all infected individuals, the insect monsters that carry the parasites keep flying in…”

“The parasites have been identified to spread rapidly through physical contact, especially mucous membrane contact, and may spread between humans even if we block the insect monsters.”

“The insect monsters are weak, below Homicide-rank, and all heroes are doing their best to exterminate them. We ask citizens to comply with control measures until the situation calms down.”

The heroes, with voices drained of energy essentially saying “We’re tired from protecting you, so please just listen,” left the press conference immediately without answering reporters’ questions.

Afterward, citizens’ complaints vanished instantly.

In their place came fear and disgust.

[Hiiieek what the f***? Brain-eating parasites?]

[Aaaah! Please control more! Please!]

[I’m not leaving my house from today…]

[Isn’t 4 people too many? Limit it to 2.]

[But if it’s contact transmission, I should be safe?]

[It’s not just sexual contact]

[Still should be safe?]

[Ah]