Chap 139-Great Public

 

Fira, swallowed by the wave of blood, opened her eyes in a secluded space.

All around her was something tinged with red.

‘Blood… a True Ancestor’s barrier…?’

The abilities and magic of a True Ancestor are fundamentally different from the universal aspects of the Ark.

The achievements of humanity and those of the True Ancestors differ from their very foundation. Human magic is for survival, while the True Ancestors’ achievements are purely for hunting, play, and pleasure.

Even trying to interpret it is difficult because the very basis of the formula is different. Magic that uses blood instead of mana was difficult for even Fira to decipher in a short period.

If it’s a makeshift barrier made of blood by a True Ancestor, not a physically real world, then she can’t escape until she kills the owner.

‘It’s cut off from the outside?’

Of course, a skilled person like Fira could simply break through it with brute force, but the owner of the barrier wouldn’t just stand by and watch.

If they didn’t intend to hold her, they wouldn’t have brought her here in the first place.

At that moment, something was caught in Fira’s senses as she quietly analyzed the barrier and surveyed her surroundings.

Fira quietly folded her fan and turned her gaze to the space where she felt the strange sensation.

“Hello.”

At that moment, a white girl emerged from a pool of blood.

The girl, wearing a pure white dress, had skin even whiter than the dress, and her hair, eyebrows, and even her pupils were dyed white.

It was an unnatural and ghostly figure, as if all the colors of the human body had been deliberately changed to white.

A True Ancestor she’s never seen before.

True Ancestors can freely alter their appearance, so their form has no meaning, but at least this one wasn’t a True Ancestor recorded in the Ark’s central administration system.

“You…”

“I’m usually called Milady… but since I’m in a good mood today, I’ll tell you.”

The girl, stepping lightly on the pool of blood with bare feet, said,

“Call me Nihilus.”

Fira, gauging Nihilus’s capabilities, immediately frowned.

‘She could easily destroy ten layers.’

The reason all True Ancestors are called calamities is because they never truly die, and they can instantly regenerate and transfer through blood and flesh.

However, it’s not impossible to kill them.

Alice’s energy Drain completely blocks regeneration and resurrection, making her a natural enemy. If you project firepower that surpasses the True Ancestor’s regenerative power and destroys even the cells, it is possible to kill them.

In fact, Fira had killed seven True Ancestors while working as a First-Class Overseer. They were all difficult opponents, but not impossible to kill.

‘But Nihilus, even excluding the characteristics of a True Ancestor, has power and abilities that can’t be measured. Perhaps she’s a primordial calamity.’

Primordial calamity.

The worst disaster that pushed the Ark to the brink of destruction, and the origin of all disasters.

The True Ancestors living and breathing in the Ark and the Abyss are all parts and descendants of the primordial True Ancestors, and Nihilus may be a being infinitely close to the origin.

“Just one question. Are you the Milady Luichella mentioned?”

“Maybe?”

“Maybe?”

“The other kids call me Milady too… I’m not exactly their master, and we don’t have family ties like humans, but they treat me with surprising respect. I honestly don’t know.”

“If things go wrong, you’d kill even other True Ancestors, wouldn’t you?”

“No, I wouldn’t do that. I just eat them. Sometimes, when I get tired of human blood, I drink the blood of beastmen, and when I get tired of that, I drink the blood of elves or androids… and when I get tired of that, I eat the blood of my own kind.”

That’s worse than just killing them.

For a True Ancestor, physical death is just a shell that can be resurrected at any time, but being eaten by someone means that the True Ancestor Virus cells, the source of their being, are being devoured by another.

That’s why Alice’s energy Drain is the natural enemy of True Ancestors, and in other words, this Milady called Nihilus is a powerful being who can easily devour her own kind.

It’s highly likely that even a decent First-Class Overseer wouldn’t be a match for her.

“…Haa, what a bothersome mosquito. So, you’re the one who coaxed the runaway puppy from my house?”

“Ah, yes. You mean Luichella Dunhill? If that’s the case, then you’re right. Maybe.”

“Why? Don’t tell me you’re sympathizing with some nonsense about turning the world into a true world of calamity and monsters?”

“Don’t be silly.”

The girl called Milady giggled.

“You know, don’t you? How ridiculous it is for children to shout about trivial causes in a world where all that happens is endless killing.”

“You find that ridiculous? How truly distasteful.”

Nihilus, the very person who helped Luichella and bestowed the Blood Contamination’s power, treated Luichella’s words as nonsense.

“The gods who reside in those high places and the owners of this planet don’t care what happens on the ground. Whether it’s us, calamities, monsters, or even insects.”

“What do you mean?”

“Humans don’t pay attention to what happened in the past. Then they repeat the same mistakes, and that’s the same for us calamities and monsters. It’s even worse. Even though intelligence exists, there’s no reason or ego, so there’s no humanity. But the great star doesn’t care anyway. Because to them, ants, humans, and calamities are all the same.”

“Aha.”

Aha, I see.

This crazy mosquito is talking nonsense right now.

Fira finished analyzing her opponent.

How many True Ancestors are there who act as if they’ve transcended the whole world?

It’s always the same with not only True Ancestors but also monsters.

Living is beautiful and wonderful in itself. Disgusting monsters who are born strong laugh at the beauty of desperately striving and living.

Fira hated and despised that laughter very much.

Of course, Fira herself was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but Fira didn’t disregard human life, and she became an Overseer to protect that human life.

“I’ve often seen mosquitoes who don’t even try to understand the lives of humans who struggle to live, spouting nonsense about how humans and ants are the same.”

“Is that so?”

“Those arrogant bastards who are born without achieving or protecting anything, only taking, can’t possibly know the meaning of overcoming adversity and trials to continue living.”

“Ah- that’s right. Even if you say that, I was born to take, so I can’t understand at all. Honestly, I don’t even want to know.”

As she said that, round lumps of blood floated around Nihilus.

“But a promise is a promise… I’m going to keep you here as promised and take your blood.”

“Try it if you can.”

-Crack!

Veins popped out on Fira’s face with a ‘crack’.

Oversaturated mana was rushing violently through her shell.

Her skin cracked, and her tendons and blood vessels became unsightly due to the sudden surge of mana, but she didn’t care.

After all, the shell that took the form of a human can be repaired, and Alice doesn’t have to see this unsightly appearance, so Fira didn’t care.

“When the promise is over, I should probably take that child with me too.”

“That child?”

Fira realized that ‘that child’ Nihilus was referring to didn’t mean Luichella Dunhill.

In the first place, Nihilus has no interest in Luichella Dunhill.

Luichella made some kind of interesting proposal or deal to the True Ancestor to obtain the Blood Contamination’s power and made a promise to isolate Fira, but that’s about it.

“Alice, was it? That child… I haven’t had a taste of her blood yet.”

“…….”

Fira’s mind raced.

Nihilus speaks as if she knows Alice.

Alice has met True Ancestors twice.

Once, when the True Ancestor Virus was accidentally activated at the Barrier Agency.

And the other time was when a True Ancestor named Agatha invaded the lower layer.

Alice succeeded in hunting Agatha, so Nihilus must be the main body connected to the True Ancestor Virus that occurred at the Barrier Agency.

One more reason to kill her.

Alice isn’t here.

It’s a True Ancestor’s barrier, so I need to go back quickly.

“But I’m looking forward to it. They say she’s the masterpiece of the maggots? I have no doubt she’ll show me something pretty amazing.”

“Ahahaha, you don’t even consider that you’ll be the one getting wrecked?”

“There’s no need to worry about things that haven’t happened yet.”

“That’s the problem with mosquitoes. They’re too arrogant.”

And Fira’s skin melted.

It wasn’t that the True Ancestor did something.

Fira herself melted her own skin, which was just a shell.

“I-didn’t-want-to-do-this.”

As her skin melted, what existed inside was maggots.

Thousands, tens of thousands of maggots were taking Fira’s form, but they weren’t complete maggots.

“Oh, dear.”

This time, Nihilus’s face hardened.

She was surprised by the more hideous and grotesque appearance than any ordinary calamity, but that wasn’t the reason Nihilus was surprised.

“I thought you were called the masterpiece of the Dunhill Family… or the descendant of the Lord of the Flies…”

-Weeeng.

The sound of wings is heard.

The sound of a fly’s wings.

A noisy, disgusting, polluted, and dirty sound.

“It’s all a lie. You’re not the masterpiece of the Dunhill Family, and you’re not human.”

-Weeeeng

-Weeng

-Weeeeng!

What was hidden beneath Fira’s skin was flies.

The maggots had already completed their metamorphosis.

They are the cursed maggots of the Dunhill Family who cannot become flies, but Fira was an exception.

“Primordial True Ancestor Nihilus Karmasia, I offer you my greetings.”

Nihilus bowed elegantly like a noble lady.

She had to show respect because she had been shown the most interesting and grotesque sight she had seen and experienced in decades.

Apart from the blood that began to boil around her and the aggressively surging mana, Nihilus was full of smiles.

A great stimulus has arisen in her boring life.

“Good evening. Archduke Beelzebub.”

“You-must-die-here-today.”

The chilling chorus of flies became Fira’s voice and echoed loudly.