Ch.73No Need to Endure

# I

I ran in the opposite direction, avoiding the host returning to the cathedral.

There was no need to fight it directly.

The hive mind, the parasites—they were all part of its body.

The host was merely its claws and teeth. Targeting soft flesh while avoiding hard bones is the basics of hunting.

“Grrrr…”

The host tried desperately to chase after me as I swept through an entire sector, but at its current speed, it couldn’t catch up.

Its decision to create distance in order to devour me and become stronger was the worst possible judgment.

“O-Oh, Apostle of God…!”

“Th-Thank… AAAAGH!”

THUD! I landed on the ground, shattering the pristine white concrete surface as I spread my shadow wide.

Teeth surged from within my shadow, devouring the infected who had obediently knelt before the monster.

Amid the crunching of flesh and spurting juices, fragments of memories from the perforated infected slowly pieced together.

[Becoming one? What kind of crazy cult is this…]

[Still, it’s comforting… the idea that death by monster isn’t the end.]

[I want to see you again. If baptism really lets me meet you again, I want to believe it even if it’s a lie.]

The final memories before becoming infected, preserved in brains deteriorated by parasites.

Some were swept up in the atmosphere, others felt something was wrong but were happy anyway, drawn in by envy. After the number of infected grew, others were forced to join.

All the infected roaming D City had joined the hive mind by drinking holy water—parasite-infested water—from the Three Principles Church.

After that, memories contained nothing but repeated feelings of happiness.

A daily life where everything desired was fulfilled and regulated by the hive.

Even when things didn’t go as wanted, they felt happiness from the hive; when things did go well, they felt even greater happiness.

Happy to die by monster, happy not to die, happy to live, happy to die.

Indeed, this was death.

Just then, the voice of the host pursuing me flowed from speakers.

[What are you thinking? Even if you don’t understand our purpose, how could you harm humans like yourself?]

[Humans?]

What nonsense was this thing spouting? Calling the infected “human.”

Did it intend to call these human-shaped biological drones—whose thoughts were freely manipulated by monsters—human?

Already consumed by monsters, with parasites ready to flip the suicide switch at any moment, they couldn’t possibly be human.

[I only wish to save you from your ignorance.]

[Ignorant, huh.]

Curious to hear what it had to say, I devoured more infected who were fleeing from another sector.

Monsters don’t need to converse.

Just swallowing them brings understanding.

“Urgh…! Urgh…”

Memory fragments scattered like powder reorganized inside me.

The terror of the monster era, humans as the weak, the need for unity to protect the weak.

Pain is the fear of separating from the collective one, true liberation from fear comes from truly becoming one.

Surrendering oneself to a powerful collective through the hive mind.

[Stop resisting and become one with us. You’ve eaten enough to understand. This is God’s choice for you. You are destined to be blessed as an apostle, to become an angel protecting this holy land!]

In a unified world, death isn’t the end; one’s death becomes nourishment that increases the hive’s power.

Therefore, there’s no need for sadness, no need for fear—only joy exists.

In exchange for offering one’s body, the powerful hive mind maintains life as it was before unification, guaranteeing eternal rest, happiness, and peace both before and after death.

After devouring the rotting corpses of D City, I understood what this thing was saying.

[Accept it. Joining God’s grand plan is the reason you were created!]

Is this how they phrase it?

[That’s enough bullshit.]

In the end, it’s just asking me to surrender both consciousness and body to a monster with the special characteristic of a hive mind.

The only one benefiting is Experiment No. 3, the monster controlling the hive mind.

I can’t help but laugh at this monster pretending to care about humans.

[God doesn’t exist in this world.]

[Such ignorance…! God does exist!]

[Where exactly? This God?]

Only monsters and humans exist. If there were an absolute being like God who protected and loved humans, a world where humans became monster food would never have come to be.

Mocking it, I started running again, slicing through the necks of kneeling citizens and white buildings like harvesting crops. The host’s angry voice spread through the speakers.

[I am God! You failed spawn of Satan who cannot recognize the great divine plan before you!]

Simultaneously, amid the noisy monster alarm, a bell-like announcement spread.

[Attention all humans! Black Cat is not an apostle of God! The monster that has come to D City is not an apostle of God!]

DONG! As the bell sound rang loudly after the announcement, the gratitude and worship disappeared from the infected’s alien eyes like being washed away.

What remained was only fear. These beings, made more human through inhuman processes, fled toward shelters like citizens of other cities.

“KYAAAAA!”

“God! Oh God!”

It must have decided it couldn’t chase me with telekinesis, so it’s letting its human prey flee.

How stupid. Has this thing never properly faced a Despair-rank monster before?

Before a Despair-rank monster, humans are just humans, no matter how they flee.

CRASH! As I ran, crushing buildings like crackers, humans fell to the ground from the impact alone.

A storm of blades followed, tearing bodies into dozens of pieces, decorating the white concrete floor like strawberry sauce on whipped cream.

Between them, fragments of parasites scattered like sugar pieces.

These aren’t humans.

No need to hold back anymore.

Thump. The suppressed monster core amplified its wavelength.

Instinct and reason agreed.

Kill all the infected in this city.

The infected who no longer thought of me as God’s apostle tasted better than before.

Not the tasteless emotions of gratitude and worship, but the sweet taste of terror and fear.

Although the contents were no better than rotting, crumbling corpse fragments, the monster core that had swallowed so many thoughts at once pulsed with joy.

At maximum output so far, I expanded spatial manipulation in a circle, increasing density. With a creaking sound, the ground compressed with heavy thuds.

Buildings and corpses crushed under the heavy gravity. Mimicking Starlight’s impressive technique, I ran through D City.

“Ah, AAAAAAAH!”

“UGRBP!”

“GEURK!”

With this technique, it didn’t matter whether they fled or not.

Infected who barely escaped to shelters died like contents bursting from compressed cans, while those who couldn’t escape died like salmon roe crushed between fingers.

Crunch. Clean buildings became soiled with blood and dust, scattering like cookie crumbs.

The city, beautiful even in death, was returning to its true form.

[No more mercy! Only divine punishment exists!]

And it wasn’t just the city returning to its true form.

Woong, woong, woong. Its wavelength spread like ripples from a stone skipping on water.

The resonating wavelength sent a specific signal to the infected.

“Urk, uh, UAAAAA…!”

“God, G-God…!”

Before I could kill them, infected with skin dyed in garish colors died on the spot, spewing monsters of Homicide-rank or lower from their bodies.

Existence evolution—parasites hatching from infected bodies transformed into complete monsters.

Familiar monsters: beetle-shaped bugs, shrimp-like creatures with insect wings, round worm-like things filled with acidic liquid. Seeing them, I could barely contain my laughter.

Being used as bug eggs whenever needed without any will of your own—that’s happiness and peace?

D City was a monster nest, and I was facing fragmented monster pieces.

In the end, monsters move only for themselves.

I pulled out rebar from the soiled buildings and formed an electromagnetic field to fire bullets.

Mimicking a quite powerful ability, I fired bullets that instantly vaporized the bugs shooting acid at me.

Afterward, a vertical line was drawn across three sectors as if slashed by a giant beast.

“You, CXI!”

Meanwhile, the host that had chased me using the brief time bought by the bugs unleashed telekinesis at me.

In response, my fox tails flickered, increasing telekinetic output.

After devouring a significant number of infected, my ability output was evenly matched again.

Escaping the surprised creature’s telekinesis, I sank into the shadows and fled elsewhere.

“S-Stop!”

THUD, BOOM! The ground distorted as it chased me, but its ability activation was too slow.

Was it just the parasite after all? It seemed able to increase ability output but not application skill.

Far too slow compared to Starlight’s abilities, I quickly escaped and headed to another sector, concealing my presence.

Then I sensed numerous superhuman infected spreading throughout the city from around it.

Since I would rush in and kill infected before the host could absorb them, superhuman infected spread out in a fan shape, too many for me to cover alone, killing other infected.

The creature that had been making wrong choices until now finally made a decent judgment.

But this was like tearing off and eating its own arm.

Superhumans who had devoured infected were merely A-rank to B-rank; even with parasites boosting their cores, they couldn’t damage me.

So I devoured the superhumans who had devoured infected, strengthening my S-rank superhuman body.

Since infected died when parasites left them, this was a choice that reduced valuable superhumans with each use.

Is this what they call a pyrrhic victory? The host, with increased output, created a telekinetic catapult in the air and shot toward me at high speed.

“Unforgivable… this holy land, my believers, like this…!”

With its head half-crushed from the output, quickly patched with parasites, it couldn’t even maintain human form as its entire body writhed ceaselessly.

Beetles filled the sky, toxic sac bugs caught in their feet, and shrimp-like creatures flying around them.

Painful screams echoed everywhere, humans bursting into bug eggs, humans burning from abilities.

D City, until recently a paradise for the dead, had shed its outer packaging to reveal its rotten, crumbling flesh.

“Evil Satan!”

The disgusting creature shouted, dripping parasites from its mouth.

KWANG! Easily dodging the powerful telekinesis, I hid in the ground again and fled.

Above the ground where I sank, acid rained down from bug monsters, and round toxic sac bugs fell and exploded like bombs.

Perhaps not expecting me to flee again, waves of angry emotion transformed into telekinetic wavelengths, vibrating the surrounding air.

“Stop running! Fight me!”

Doesn’t this thing know? It even sent parasites because it wanted me.

I am the fleeing monster, the body called Black Cat.

Now is the fun game of tag with infected toys.

The monster core pulsed with joy.