It’s Not a Meeting, It’s an Invasion! 6

Fira is quite talkative.

Her affection for Alice, and the loyalty Beelzebub had for the Demon King, were inherited as is, so Fira always harbored emotions that were hard to express even with the word “love.”

So, naturally, she becomes talkative when she’s next to Alice.

She ends up blabbing about things I’ve experienced, things I wanted to do, and even bad things that happened in the Dunhill Family.

Among those stories was the story about the Dunhill Family’s hatchery.

“The Dunhill Family has something called a hatchery, you see~”

“What does it do?”

“It’s a place brimming with the desires of Satan’s offspring who have abandoned all morality.”

The hatchery.

A massive artificial body generator that the Dunhill Family had painstakingly created over hundreds of years to create the incarnation of the masterpiece, Beelzebub.

The hatchery accelerates the regeneration time without side effects, advancing the time of birth, and the mana and life force abundant in the hatchery bestow immense talent and innate mana adaptability upon the soon-to-be-born life.

The reason why the Dunhill Family members, except for Fira, all possess powers that could be called monstrous is also due to the existence of the hatchery.

Of course, it’s not used for good.

Children born from the Dunhill Family’s desire to create a masterpiece are given a brainwashing magic spell at the genetic level, and the identity of this formula is an order to devour all life before them.

Driven by a formula that transcends instinct, the children unconsciously activate mana and unleash aggressive abilities to commit slaughter as soon as they are born.

The target is their own blood relatives in front of them.

Killing their blood relatives makes them stronger by taking their blood and flesh, and each time they devour their siblings, their internal mana affinity and ego depth increase.

With a minimum of 50,000 to 100,000 insects born at once, the few children who ultimately survive the fratricidal strife are recognized as powerful and excellent members of the Dunhill Family.

That’s how the Dunhill Family, which Fira loathed and despised so much, was established.

By using the countless blood and flesh of their family members as fertilizer.

“If I ever have the chance to burn this family down with my own hands, I’ve vowed to destroy this hatchery first…”

And that hatchery now belonged to the True Ancestors, not the Dunhill Family.

“I never thought we’d be reunited like this…!”

The smell of blood wafting from all directions.

Not the smell of human blood, but the vampiric maggot’s peculiar taste and the True Ancestor Virus’s unique, thick blood scent filled the surroundings.

-Squeak!

-Ggrck!

-Ggrrr…!

-Squeak… Ggrrr!

The center of the blood scent was, of course, the grotesquely shaped insects with a reddish hue.

What should have been born as the descendants of the Fly Demon King were infected with the True Ancestor Virus, emitting a blood scent so unpleasant it made one want to vomit.

Normally, by human aesthetics, both maggots and mosquito-mutated maggots would be hideous creatures, but considering that at least the existing Dunhill Family’s maggots were on the side of humanity and were treated as humans, the current situation was a terrible and lamentable thing.

“Should I call them vampiric maggots?”

Alice frowned as if troubled, looking at the mutated maggots.

They were truly disgusting, and the thought that these disgusting things possessed their own intelligence, individual abilities, and all sorts of magic formulas within their bodies, and were infected with the True Ancestor Virus, made it seem like they wouldn’t be easy to deal with.

A total of 3,582.

That was the number of vampiric maggots that had resisted and survived the flames of the explosion that Fira had unleashed with hundreds of maggots in her body.

“Fira, any you want to spare?”

“My siblings are not guilty, but…”

Fira delivered a calm sentence with a chilly gaze.

“They were originally scheduled for annihilation anyway, but now that they’ve mutated into mosquitoes, I can’t spare them even more~”

-Kkyaaaaaaa!

Did they understand Fira’s words?

At the same time as those words, the vampiric maggots rushed towards Fira and Alice all at once.

Their speed was also extraordinary.

If they were existing maggots or insect-shaped monsters or creatures, they would have at most jumped like grasshoppers or shown simple movements using their mass.

But these True Ancestor, no, the movements of these vampiric maggots were different.

“Flesh Scattering.”

Fira’s hand split vertically, centered on her middle finger, and immense power flowed out from the gap.

The magic of body modification scattered widely, and the maggots that were approaching Alice and Fira split vertically all at once and slumped to the ground.

Even though they were split vertically, the maggots didn’t die.

As if that’s how it was supposed to be, they simply squirmed on the ground, unable to even scream, split vertically.

“Alice, be careful. Thanks to being infected with the True Ancestor Virus, their vitality seems to have been strengthened to a considerable level. It seems that cutting or mutating them won’t work, so we’ll have to freeze or burn them.”

“It’s okay.”

And Alice smiled slyly and snapped her fingers.

“They’re food for me.”

【Gluttony is opened.】

At Theresa’s words, countless metallic tentacles spread out along Alice’s spine.

“Oh my…!”

For some reason, Fira blushed at the sight of the countless tentacles.

Um, it’s not like that.

Anyway, Alice had regained her complete Demon King body, but its foundation was modifiable magical engineering metal cells.

She could create anything she needed from within her body by modifying the metal cells, and the most versatile and convenient form was that of numerous tentacles.

Coat the tentacles with mana.

Apply enhancement formulas.

Good.

Now that they’re strong, finally apply the power of Gluttony.

The tentacles that sprang from Alice’s small and slender body ravaged the surroundings.

-Thwack!

The tentacles, shot out like porcupine quills, pierced the still-moving, incapacitated vampiric maggots at supersonic speed, and the power of Gluttony was activated on any maggot whose body was pierced by Alice’s tentacles, stealing all of its mana and life force.

“Haa… It’s a bit greasy?”

Just making a wound without killing them or directly inserting the tentacles, and the power of Gluttony can be exercised from there.

The Demon King’s body is good, indeed.

However, the vampiric maggots weren’t just taking it.

They seemed to rush in all at once, but then scattered and fired multiple magic bullets. They also simultaneously detonated various magic formulas inherited from the Dunhill Family’s bloodline.

Even though they hadn’t learned anything yet, the instinctive aggressiveness left in their genes was driving them.

It was as if wolves, when cornering prey, surrounded it, used terrain, or objectively assessed their abilities and made full use of them.

The vampiric maggots, even while screaming and consumed by appetite and bloodsucking instincts, still possessed their own intelligence and abilities, so they were able to corner their prey quite efficiently.

If their opponents weren’t Fira and Alice, that is.

“Younger brothers and sisters.”

The fan in Fira’s hand fluttered gracefully.

“Please resent me to your heart’s content.”

-Kkyaaaak!

-Ggrrr!

Each time the end of the fan fluttered, hellfire danced along its tip, and from the opposite hand, a coldness containing poison froze even the air.

Different types of formulas intersected dozens of times per second.

The maggots that Fira carried in her body were all incarnations of Beelzebub and masterpieces of the Dunhill Family.

Newly born mosquito and fly hybrids couldn’t possibly be a match.

Even if Fira froze and burned them, the vampiric maggots didn’t die completely.

The Dunhill and mosquito hybrids had more tenacious vitality than expected, and if they had time, they might have been able to hide and aim for regeneration.

So, the remaining life force was all Alice’s share.

Make wounds or pierce them with tentacles.

And the power of Gluttony is activated, stealing the life of everything that touched the tentacles.

Life force is the root and source of the True Ancestor.

As what constitutes the body is taken away, the vampiric maggots, who were still alive even when halved or turned to ashes, finally slumped.

The vampiric maggots’ specs themselves are high.

Even if they turn to ashes, they still move, so their vitality is tenacious, and their individual unique abilities and physical abilities are also not to be ignored.

But just as the power of Gluttony is the natural enemy of the True Ancestor, the vampiric maggots also confirmed their helplessness in the face of Gluttony, so Alice no longer had anything to hold back.

“Theresa, activate!”

【Acknowledged.】

Alice jumped into the swarm of vampiric maggots.

The vampiric maggots thrust their mutated snouts or mosquito-like body parts into Alice’s body, but Alice’s body was not just simple metal cells, but magical engineering metal cells, with formulas engraved in each cell, giving it a defensive power like a moving fortress.

Naturally, the vampiric maggots couldn’t even scratch her skin and were either repelled or broken, and Alice didn’t miss the gap, plunging her fingernails into the maggots’ plump flesh.

-Crack!

“Haha! Eating them directly is even tastier!”

Exercising the power of Gluttony indirectly with tentacles was good, but absorbing life force through direct contact was much more efficient and tasted better to Alice.

It reminded her of the first time she tasted mint chocolate electricity when she first went to the Ark’s lower layer.

These maggots now had a slightly greasy, well, if she had to express it, it tasted like a greasy squid ink risotto with a lot of cream.

It was greasy, but the taste itself was excellent.

So, there was nothing to hold back.

-Crack!

-Thwack!

Alice’s body moved here and there in a dazzling and grotesque manner, like a spider moving its sharp legs to hunt prey.

She had a human form, but there was no need to be limited to a human form, so Alice’s body changed from moment to moment.

Her fingernails lengthened, and she bent in directions impossible for human joints to avoid and counterattack the maggots’ attacks.

The tentacles still shot out in all directions, finishing off the maggots that Fira had seasoned, and even the vampiric maggots, who had lost their reason, began to show signs of defeat, and some began to retreat one by one.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

If you were going to try to suck my blood, you should have been prepared to be sucked dry!

Alice’s body, which had been trampling, piercing, and hunting the maggots, bent to its limit and was launched, slamming down on the backs of the fleeing maggots.

As the power of Gluttony was activated, the greasy life force flowed through Alice’s hands once again.

At this point, the vampiric maggots understood in their heads and hearts that they couldn’t save their lives by each looking out for themselves and running away.

So, there was only one method left for them.

-Kkyaaaaaaaak!!!

One of the maggots let out a chilling scream.

Fira’s face hardened slightly when she saw it.

At the same time, the vampiric maggots unleashed a massive magic wave all at once.

Already over a thousand had died, but the mana scream unleashed by the remaining two thousand or so maggots gave off considerable destructive power and intimidation.

“Oh my, they’re already doing that…?”

“What is it?”

“It’s fusion.”

Fusion?

The same thing I was doing?

In fact, it was the same fusion that Alice was doing.

However, even though life seems to be different living beings, becoming a colony organism is a scene quite often seen in nature.

If you had to say, Fira was also a multicellular animal in which will and intelligence were integrated into one, even though she was also a fusion of hundreds of maggots.

In simple terms, the Dunhill Family treated it as fusion when things born as one maggot took on a human form for stronger and more efficient power.

And countless maggots began to gather one by one, centered on one screaming vampiric maggot.

Five gathered to become fingers, and ten gathered to become legs.

A hundred gathered to become a heart, and five hundred gathered to become a brain and head.

The speed at which they took on human form was very fast.

In the blink of an eye, it grew and developed, and before she knew it, the maggots had a human form made only of red muscles without skin.

“Oh, oh. Oh, oh…”

The fused being looked like a gaunt old man, and it also looked like a young woman.

However, one thing was important.

Alice was feeling an even stronger sense of intimidation than when she faced the True Ancestor.

‘It’s definitely stronger than that True Ancestor who invaded the lower layer I was in, even though I don’t remember her name…’

The performance of the hatchery must be that certain.

And this hatchery wasn’t the only one in the Dunhill Family’s mansion.

I’m screwed.

Does this mean that these guys are popping up like mushrooms after the rain?