Chap 134-Do You Know This Maggot? 2

 

A slender hand gracefully lifts the hem of a skirt.

As if dancing, or inviting to dance.

Fira, exhaling a long breath, carefully takes a step with her high-heeled foot, and something rises from the ground, following her toe.

Around Fira, dozens of enormous branches of fire shoot up into the air from the bubbling ground.

At the same time, the ground explodes.

-Kwaaaang!

The ground, bubbling like lava, erupts all at once except for the exact spot where Fira stands, and at the center of the explosion, trees are shattered and the bodies of mimic bugs approaching leisurely evaporate.

Alice watches the scene with wide eyes.

The blast sends bubbling stones and burning soil flying towards Alice, but before Alice can do anything, Theresa’s mechanical tendril blocks all the aftereffects.

Looking around, Alice is aghast.

This isn’t something that can be caused by a simple high-level fire magic or inferno magic alone.

‘…Is that a First-Class Overseer?’

No.

This goes beyond the realm of a First-Class Overseer.

It’s not like Alice has been lazing around since returning.

She has been studying the Ark and acquiring knowledge in her own way.

Becoming the Governor-General of the lower layer has given her more authority, making it easier to access the Ark’s information network and the internet, so she is well aware of the capabilities of the average Awakened and Overseer.

‘Magic stacking…?’

And Alice instinctively realizes that Fira hasn’t used just one formula.

Alice, who once lived as a Demon Lord and used all sorts of magic as naturally as breathing, may not know it intellectually, but the realm engraved in her instincts and soul is unconsciously drawing Fira’s enormous magic formula in her head.

【Inferno lava magic is manifested in multiple layers, and based on wind magic, oxygen, carbon, and some water magic are mixed to maximize the range and reaction.】

However, the tendril mimic bugs are not easy opponents either.

[Hunt, hunt, hunt, flesh]

[Meat, meat, fat]

[Want-to-eat-fat]

[Us too, us too, us too, us too!]

Of the 10,000 mimic bugs, only a few hundred seem to have died from the inferno magic.

“Hmm?”

Fira furrows her brow, sensing something is wrong.

Normally, when such a wide-range high-level magic is unleashed, more than half of the lifeforms should evaporate.

Moreover, Fira’s casting speed allows her to activate magic at a near-instantaneous speed, no matter how long the incantation or spell, even with hundreds of maggots manifesting simultaneously.

‘But too few died.’

[Khee, heehee!]

[Haha! Haha! Haha! Fat! Fat! Fat!]

[Your fire-doesn’t work!]

[We, know you! Know you!]

Even though the wide-range inferno magic didn’t kill many mimic bugs, Fira doesn’t panic and gently waves her fan.

At that moment, numerous holograms appear in Alice’s glass eyes.

The mimic bugs’ equipment and prosthetic body systems are identified in Alice’s vision.

“Fira! Their weapons and prosthetic bodies have a Flame Formula Resistance System! Looks like they came prepared?”

“Ah, I see… So there were prosthetic body technicians even in the Abyss? I have more to report.”

Hearing Alice’s words, Fira realizes who visited the mimic bugs.

‘Our Dunhill Family’s troublemaker must have seduced these mimic bugs.’

The troublemaker was sure that Fira would come after them and told them some of her abilities.

In fact, Fira mainly uses instant inferno flame magic for general missions and executions.

Fira’s passionate atmosphere and disposition go well with inferno magic, and it is actually her main magic used in the Outer Expedition Team.

The Dunhill Family’s troublemaker knows that, so they must have advised the mimic bugs in advance to prepare for Fira’s magic.

In the first place, the mimic bugs may have lost their humanity, but their intelligence and martial prowess are at a level that allows them to survive in the Abyss.

Fira’s magic is threatening, but only some of the closest ones died, and most of the others used protective magic specifically targeting inferno magic or protected parts of their bodies with the protective systems of illegally modified prosthetic bodies.

“Fira, I’ll do it.”

Alice has no intention of just receiving help, so she takes out a mechanical tendril from her spine.

It will consume quite a bit of energy, but she can manage up to octa-casting.

Even if not, she can hack into the equipment they are wearing and shut it down all at once.

“No, no. Our Alice came all the way here because of me, didn’t she? You even guided me here, so I can’t trouble you for nothing~”

However, it is true that the mimic bugs are unharmed by inferno magic, and Fira can only use inferno magic right now.

Fira’s vertically split face closes.

‘Then… I just need to change.’

Fira looks down at her hand.

Beneath the white and beautiful hand of a noble lady, numerous maggots wriggle.

Fira is the descendants of Beelzebub’s greatest masterpiece.

The King of Gluttony.

One who constantly eats and makes others eat.

One who smiles while devouring even her own flesh and blood.

So if necessary, she can eat not only her blood relatives but even herself.

‘I’ll enjoy this.’

At that moment, a huge change occurs inside Fira.

-Crack!

Inside Fira, the maggots that have been honed to perfection to cast inferno magic are all eaten by the maggots right next to them.

And the maggots that ate the maggots capable of casting inferno magic begin to pupate.

All of Beelzebub’s descendants are in the form of maggots, but even if they go through the process of metamorphosis, they cannot become Lord of the Flies.

They just become maggots with new flesh.

And the maggots that make up Fira’s body abandon inferno magic and pupate for new magic.

Of course, there is no external change.

The predation and metamorphosis are over in a few seconds, with Fira’s shoulders trembling slightly or staring blankly into the air for a moment.

[Khee, heehee]

[We, know, you.]

[Maggot. Maggot. Maggot. Maggot!]

[Tasteless maggot!]

“…Oh my, you knew about the girl?”

[Same thing as you-maggot-came]

[Came to us!]

[Won’t, be fooled-again. Haha-haha!]

[Will devour!]

[That maggot-missed, but will devour you!]

[Hunt, hunt, hunt!]

[Cook! Cook! Cook!]

From the maggots’ remarks, Fira can be sure that a runaway from the Dunhill Family, whether it’s her cousin or someone else, has also come to this Abyss Leviticus layer.

“Since you’ve tasted the fiery flavor…”

Fira’s face splits vertically again.

It was different from before.

When she cast inferno magic, there was a subtle red light, but now there is a subtle blue light.

“Now it’s time for you to taste the dizzying flavor~”

From Fira’s vertically split face, the gleaming teeth of insects shout.

Thousands of maggots simultaneously begin to chant incantations, spells, and magic words, and the result is not small.

-Kwaang!

The huge branches of fire that pierced through the ground of the Leviticus layer all begin to freeze.

“…!”

The boiling ground and the evaporating lake are instantly frozen.

Alice’s eyes widen at Fira, who casually switched to the diametrically opposed great magic.

‘Theresa, magic analysis. Is it possible?’

【Already doing it. Human.】

【Formula-based analysis】

【Initiating magical engineering framework analysis procedure】

【Implementing mana circuit imitation】

The ice doesn’t stop at freezing the vicinity.

The mimic bugs only grasped the information that Fira was proficient in fire magic, so they didn’t even prepare for freezing countermeasures and froze as they were.

Thousands of mimic bugs that had been heated up all froze at once, and the illegally modified prosthetic bodies’ defense systems, which had been consumed to block the wide-range inferno magic, couldn’t block the suddenly manifested cold.

[This-this-retreat!]

[Run-run-run!]

[Retreat-retreat-retreaack!]

[Cold! Cold!!!]

The mimic bugs, not knowing that Fira would instantly cast wide-range cold magic without even casting time after the wide-range fire magic, turned around and tried to run away.

However, the speed at which Fira’s cold overtakes them is much faster.

It can’t help but be fast.

Hundreds of Fira’s maggots are chanting spells at the same time.

Watching the scene, Alice now understands why Fira became a First-Class Overseer.

She now understands why that seemingly frail noble lady took on the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Outer Expedition Team.

‘Now I get it. Each of those maggots filling Fira’s body is a First-Class Overseer.’

Alice thought that after achieving unity with Gaia, she could win against a decent First-Class Overseer if she went all out.

In fact, that wasn’t wrong.

But Fira was on a different level.

Each of the maggots residing in Fira’s body can manifest abilities at the level of a First-Class Overseer, and Fira, who contains tens of thousands of such maggots in one body, is on a completely different level even among First-Class Overseers.

Hundreds of maggots simultaneously manifest high-level fire magic, including inferno, and some others additionally cast magic to maximize the reaction of inferno magic, as Theresa said, so it’s no wonder such destructive power is produced.

With such things contained in one body by the thousands, Alice is almost about to call her ‘Sis’ without realizing it.

Originally, anyone older and stronger than me is unconditionally ‘Sis’.

It’s not a body that gives me the creeps to call ‘Unnie’, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

Alice didn’t just stand still either.

-Stab!

[Kakh!]

[Aak!]

Originally, the easiest opponent to deal with is one who is fleeing.

They are defenselessly showing their backs and running away, so just stab them with the Mantis Blade.

Oh, there are tentacles and mimic bugs swarming inside?

Will stabbing them with a knife even kill them?

But Alice had her trump cards, the Holy Sword and the Demon Sword.

Originally, even if you stab a mimic bug with a knife, the mimic bug doesn’t die.

At best, the tentacles or bugs under the skin that were unlucky enough to be hit by the knife are injured.

To kill a mimic bug, you needed high-grade attribute magic like Fira.

However, the moment Alice’s Holy Sword and Demon Sword enter the mimic bug’s body, fragments vibrate and turn the inside into a mess.

There’s no need to stab deeply.

Just slightly cut the skin, and the fragments of the Demon Sword and Holy Sword vibrate and resonate inside, exploding~!

Originally, you would have to enchant the knife with explosion or flame to easily kill the mimic bug, but in Alice’s case, the fragments of the Holy Sword and Demon Sword kill the mimic bug on their own without her having to infuse magic power, so Alice just has to run around diligently and swing the knife a bit.

Besides, her proficiency with the Mantis Blade itself has increased quite a bit lately, so it’s easy to quickly pass by and swing the Mantis Blade slightly.

[Scrap-scrap-scrap-damn scrap!]

[Get out of the way-get out of the way!]

If I told you to get out of the way, would you?

In front of them, there is a storm of freezing that freezes even the whole body and the internal mimic bugs if they are touched, and behind them, Alice is chasing after the fugitives.

The mimic bugs, with a strong sense of defeat, immediately began to flee, and Alice detonated the electromagnetic force of the mechanical tendril to quickly chase and kill the fugitives.

There weren’t many fugitives.

The cold magic, which was much wider than inferno magic, spread out as if it would cover the entire Leviticus layer.

The cold, spreading like an epidemic, could quickly clean up the mimic bugs.

Thus, 837 mimic bugs were burned by the unlucky inferno magic.

9101 mimic bugs were frozen by Fira’s attribute-switching cold magic.

Alice stabbed and killed 61 mimic bugs who were running away.

And so, only one remained.

[Kakh!]

Still, they had to interrogate him.

Alice cut off the limbs of the mimic bug that seemed the strongest among the fleeing ones and brought him to Fira.

In the first place, there weren’t that many mimic bugs left.

And they didn’t seem to be able to communicate properly.

[We, did we do-so wrong?]

What is this nonsense?

Alice looked down at the last remaining mimic bug.

He stutters less than the other mimic bugs, so he seems to have higher intelligence and strength than the others, but even so, it was grotesque to see him flailing with his limbs cut off.

[Haha! Haha! We-we are. Just envious-envious of you!]

“Envious?”

[You-enjoy everything under the sun.sun! We-like you humans, also deserve to breathe clear air! Like you. humans-take the benefits of civilization for granted-we just wanted that!]

“Oh my, is that so? Then let me ask you just one thing.”

Fira, who had approached, opened her mouth with a smile to the mimic bug.

“What did you have for breakfast this morning?”

[The head of a lost kid? No, was that what I ate yesterday?]

“Ah.”

-Pop!

The moment Fira’s fan opened and closed, the mimic bug’s head exploded.

She compressed a small lump of ice into a bullet-sized piece and then fired it at supersonic speed.

“You failed to pass the simple human assimilation test, which only requires proving your humanity. Then, you are not qualified to become human.”

Fira always showed Alice a smiling face, but the face Fira showed to those who were not human was extremely cold.