Volume 9 / Chapter 250
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
A vast jungle full of lush trees.
It is the Amazon crossing through South America. The place called the Earth"s lungs.
As a place where virus A runs rampant, it is now a paradise for mutants. Though it is a large habitat for mutants, it has become more beautiful ever since the man-made environmental destruction disappeared.
Whole forests and trees do not become monsters just because they are contaminated with virus A. It is just that the outside is fine and the inside has changed.
A secluded area of the Amazon.
Uplands that are higher than average. There are unnatural structures that create a large clearing.
"The other is dead. It hasn"t been long since it was sent out, but it"s already dead? Even if it is weaker, it should be as strong as Vanessa."
A naked woman laying on a roughly carved altar.
She looks similar to the human version of Evil Queen that Cha Jun Sung killed in Mexico.
No, she"s the same. She must be. She is South America"s Evil Queen herself. The one here is the main body and the one she sent out is an alter ego.
The two are tied with kind of telepathy. There is no way to explain the principle behind it, but Evil Queen felt the alter ego"s death from a signal. The alter ego shouldn"t be underestimated. It held half of the main body"s strength.
Even Vanessa would have to risk death.
Evil Queen shifts her position.
She is deep in thought. The altar she is laying on was originally the Natives" tombs. It is like a sanctuary. Of course there are no Natives. They are all dead.
Though they can live with the forest as friends, humans are just humans. They cannot live in a h.e.l.l with ma.s.ses of mutants.
"What am I supposed to do if the puppet dies? My plans are ruined."
Evil Queen grumbles.
She speaks in jest as if she doesn"t care, but it is a serious matter. It will take time to get out of here.
It would take least a few years, maybe many times more.
She needs to cover the eyes of the 4 sisters and other Disasters until then, but it has been ruined from the start.
Speaking of which, it has been quite a while since she has heard from the 4 sisters. She isn"t completely sure of their state, but it seems they died like the alter ego.
"Hm. What is this?"
Evil Queen didn"t feel sadness from the death of the 4 sisters.
It was a pity.
Children are precious to mutants as well.
But where there are those who are tied with affection, there are those like Evil Queen who are unconcerned.
The death of the 4 sisters and her alter ego are along the similar vein.
"Since I can"t move now, I"ll shrink."
The time she needs is the time to transcend completion. She is going through that process now, albeit slowly.
"Anyway, that means there are five combining my daughters and alter ego. Does that mean those Lifers have developed that much? It"s dangerous. It"s different from what I"ve heard."
Though Evil Queen is a mutant, it isn"t hard to find out information on Lifers. When she caught a few and asked, they told her everything.
It is just pure curiosity.
Humans hunting mutants?
It became the opposite. This thing called Life Mission is similar to a game she used to play as a human when she got bored. That"s why she was able to understand the principle behind it easily.
Whether it was a single person or a group, it doesn"t matter. If they have the ability to kill Vanessa and her alter ego, she needs to keep an eye on it.
"It"ll be boring until I get out, but what can I do? Right honey?"
Evil Queen talks to herself.
She is alone, but she is using an expression used to speak to a lover. The only honey Evil Queen has is Bon Load.
The pieces of bone wrapped around Evil Queen like an armor respond to her call. They are like tree roots. Some even dug into her skin. Disgusting foreign matter is scattered all over Evil Queen"s white and soft skin like veins.
"It"s curious that something like you exists."
Something that formed from nothing.
That is Bon Load.
Evil Queen saw something like this for the first time as well.
He is a living thing, but it"s hard to say that he is a living thing.
Bon Load was born out of the graves where the Natives" corpses were gathered.
Right here.
He is spread wide here like tree roots.
His personality is on the quiet side, but that doesn"t mean he"s gentle.
If he feels a threat on his life, these pieces of bone gather and create a form that can go into battle.
It is another interesting ability that is separate from full body mutation.
He has reason, but he cannot express himself freely like Evil Queen can. But he"s still strong. Of all the mutants that Evil Queen has seen, he is second to Black Lord.
He must have been born with the advantage of strength and the disadvantage of unclear reason because he wasn"t born normally.
Evil Queen was able to find him through effort and coincidence. It is the result of thoroughly searching through the Amazon for strong mutants.
Since he is a powerful mutant, she was able to produce high quality children by mating with Bon Load. Even without having to consume all of her nutrients.
Bon Load is a giant lump of nutrients.
Like a plant, he gets energy from sunlight and from planting himself into the ground.
Because of this, there was little burden on Evil Queen even after giving birth to seven children.
"Give me more strength."
Evil Queen didn"t come to have children.
She is trying to bring Bon Load out into the world through herself as a medium. He isn"t a parasitic type, but he is an unborn mutant so he could if he had a medium that could play a housing role.
"The world is becoming strange. There"s no meaning if we don"t get stronger."
Mutants and Lifers alike, there are enemies everywhere.
Before this happened, when law and order were destroyed as the world fell into pandemonium, the weak died no matter what. Strength was the only justice.
"Shall we try sleeping? The kids are watching the area nearby."
It will take a long time to get Bon Load out. It wouldn"t be short to humans, but for Evil Queen to whom sleeping itself is meaningless, it is just a moment.
The only two things she needs to handle are boredom and risks nearby.
The three brothers born through her mating with Bon Load are guarding the vicinity. There is a pretty large distribution of mutants as well, so there"s no need to worry.
They can rest because finding the location is a problem and she has left several devices in place.
Evil Queen"s breathing becomes constant.
That is how the world came to face a catastrophe without knowing it. The first start began in Africa.
Living things have feelings. Whether the subject is superior or not.
How would it be if the same routine was repeated every day?
It would be boring.
A human would be able to express that boredom, but a bug cannot express it even if it feels that boredom.
But their abilities to feel boredom are the same.
Why?
Because they are living beings.
This is Africa"s Libya.
It has been several years since White Queen and Cruel King took their subordinate mutants and engaged in a total war in which they risked their lives.
White Queen did what she needed to do, took the seriously injured t.i.tan and Medusa to Europe, and a few stayed behind in Africa.
Red Eye, Inferno, Blood Lord, and Beholder are the members left.
To stabilize the occupied territory?
No.
They aren"t staying for Africa, but because of the coc.o.o.n that hasn"t hatched for years.
They had thought that it would take a couple months at most. They didn"t know they would be waiting 10 times that.
They are about to ascend into boredom. The subordinates did nothing but hang out lazily, but the four of them took turns standing guard over the coc.o.o.n.
There was nothing they could do.
The coc.o.o.n was strong at first, but it was about enough to be able to take the four of them on if they combine their strength.
But as time went on, it surpa.s.sed that and had now reached the peak. They can"t help but be nervous.
Beholder, who can calculate its strength, said a few days ago,
"If that wakes up and has other thoughts, everyone needs to run away."
What could that mean?
It means they can"t win. The four of them are a pretty good mix.
Though it would have been better if Blood Lord had left and Medusa had come in.
They can"t communicate with him because he leans more toward his instincts than reason. He is stubborn. When it is his turn to watch the coc.o.o.n, he pushes that duty onto subordinate mutants and goes around Africa to play.
Red Eye is also a mutant with personality, but he faithfully completed his duty because he can be reasoned with.
The showy gold coc.o.o.n swelled and shrank repeatedly over several years, and has settled into a fixed size for some time now. The color is also getting more concentrated, so it looks like it will give off light. And the outer coat has become taught like a balloon, so it looks like it will hatch at any time.
"Stay alert. It"ll hatch within a few weeks. Be ready to run away since we don"t know what will happen."
Beholder used his telepathic abilities to estimate when the coc.o.o.n would hatch. It isn"t exact, but he said the margin of error would be give or take about a week.
It isn"t a joke when he tells them to run away.
They don"t know if it will be Cruel King or Parasite King, but the energy coming from it feels pure and clean.
That"s how Beholder reads it.
It is more accurate to say that he read the energy.
Being pure isn"t just good.
It is ambiguous. It is like a baby.
It can be influenced to anything. As they waited in worry and expectation, the hatching period approached.
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Volume 9 / Chapter 251
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
Boom boom!
The coc.o.o.n rocks like a heartbeat, emitting its own vitality. Powerful mutants are watching from hundreds of meters from the coc.o.o.n. Red Eye"s group is among them.
They are in the last position.
In the front, Blood Lord created a wall with his subordinates.
Shouldn"t they be at the frontmost position?
No.
Beholder said that when the coc.o.o.n wakes up, they need to figure out how much strength it has and what it is thinking before it makes contact.
To do that, they need to be in a safe place. What if it has the strength of White Queen and impure intentions?
They need to run away.
They created the wall in order to buy time to run away.
"Hey. Stop moving."
Beholder speaks while on Blood Lord"s back.
When Blood Lord moved, it felt like he was riding a large wave. Beholder is slow, so he needs to get on Blood Lord"s back if he wants to run away. Blood Lord had refused in the beginning, but later allowed it after much convincing.
"Is it finally coming out?"
"I don"t have a good feeling. I feel like something"s going to happen."
Inferno looks at the coc.o.o.n negatively.
It is disagreeable.
There"s no guarantee that it will become their ally as it had done before.
There isn"t a guarantee that something will happen, but their feeling that it is the latter is stronger.
"Hee hee! We wouldn"t have worried like this if Her Highness had been here, right?"
Inferno nods. There is trust in his action.
"It"s ripping."
Red Eye spreads his wings. Inferno and Blood Lord also got ready. Whether it is to run away or for battle.
Beholder focused his mind.
The beating grew stronger and a clear liquid seeped out from the ripped gap. As more rips formed, the amount of liquid increased.
It looks similar to the amniotic fluid that bursts out of a mother when a baby is born.
Flap flap flap!
Red Eye flaps a huge pair of wings and flies near the coc.o.o.n. He is trying to capture any oddities from a wide view.
Through the rip, something similar to an organism"s eye pa.s.sed by. Red Eye hadn"t been able to figure out what it was either because it went by hurriedly.
"Is it him?"
The only thing inside the coc.o.o.n is Parasite King. If what Red Eye saw isn"t wrong, it will be Parasite King"s eye.
The coc.o.o.n swells. It inflates like a balloon right before it is about to pop. It is a close call. Red Eye looks at it in suspicion.
Mutants are generally born when they rip out of their eggs and coc.o.o.ns. It is far from the concept of exploding like this.
There are individual differences and this wild appearance could be a process of its birth, but could it be from instinct?
It doesn"t feel so.
The expanding coc.o.o.n wriggles.
It looks like veins hidden inside the skin are moving. It isn"t constant. They move around at random.
Boom boom boom!
The coc.o.o.n rips like fabric because of the intense movement.
Has it reached its limit?
Red Eye saw the form through the rip.
"A bug?"
Parasite King, the king of helminths.
The helminth he produces has the basic appearance of a bug.
That"s right. It is a bug.
There are other parasites besides Parasite King inside the coc.o.o.n.
He suddenly wondered why.
There doesn"t have to be a reason for why a king is creating a family, but Red Eye still thought about it.
"It"ll expand and burst. If it bursts? What about the parasites?"
It will burst. That means it will explode. What if it explodes? They"ll scatter.
Parasites scattering?
Red Eye looks down.
Blood Lord"s family that has created a defensive line, and Inferno"s group behind them. They are in danger.
"Get back!"
Bang bang bang!
Did it read Red Eye"s mind?
As soon as he opened his mouth, the coc.o.o.n exploded and spit out tens of thousands of parasites.
Parasite King experienced various stages of turmoil when he absorbed Cruel King. Looking at the results, Cruel King is just his host.
But according to the order of the ecosystem, Parasite King is the prey and Cruel King is the predator.
That means the weaker body ate the stronger body. In a world where the future isn"t clear, a reversal situation isn"t surprising. Even with an ultra high level mutant.
Cruel King is strong, but Parasite King isn"t weak. A lucky level 1 beat an unlucky level 2.
There was no issue absorbing the body.
The problem was mentality.
He had already taken over, so it wasn"t overwhelming to take over a level 9 body or mind, but the real fallout came after absorption.
An ultra high level mutant"s powerful sense of self. Cruel King is dead, but everything he saw and felt is contained in his brain. Parasite King absorbed all of this during the fusion process.
Because of that, Cruel King"s sense of self had a large impact on his own self of self. Parasite King was normally not very greedy. Mutants are living beings too. Personalities differ between friends and family members. The reticent Parasite King likes quiet.
But Cruel King is the complete opposite. He is oppressive, ambitious, and selfish. He hates the world, so he doesn"t trust anyone.
That strong sense of self went into Parasite King. He didn"t become Cruel King or anything like that because he is still the subject of the mind and body.
Ambition - what he gained was ambition.
No matter how much he likes the quiet and peaceful life, he is bound to have at least a single ambition.
Even if it is a small one. Cruel King"s sense of self tampered with that.
Survival and reproduction.
Parasite King"s fate to live in conjunction.
Parasite King realized what other equal level mutants thought of him while he traveled to Africa with Red Eye.
Other species liked that his parasitic ability was convenient, but that was it.
To them, parasitism is just seizure.
A species that cannot survive without parasitism, there"s no way to change the way he was born.
He just wants to live as other mutants do. As he wants without being wary of others. If he wants to do that, he needs to make it into the parasites" world. Fusion was completed already, but he needed preparation. It is too late if he hatches and then prepares. So he produced parasites with the nutrients he was supplied with.
As many of quality that he could.
Parasite King produced about 20,000 parasites. They are all level 5, and a few are even beyond that.
He prepared for a whole year. He was inside the coc.o.o.n, but he knew that the mutants he had come with had been watching him. There are a lot of underlings as well.
They are densely nearby, so it was perfect to create a commotion. If he aims for a moment that they aren"t expecting to hatch, he will be able to have the most effect.
"This is my land."
Pure craving.
He will make Africa into his paradise no matter what.
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