KEG 31

“Squeak-!”

“Damn.”

Thud!

I grabbed the neck of the monster that was charging at me with its mouth wide open.

“Keh, khk–”

As I tightened my grip around its neck, it flailed around, trying to break free.

Squeeze-!

“Squeak-…”

I wrapped both hands around its neck and squeezed with all my might. The sensation of its pulse and stiff fur dug into my palms. The monster soon went limp.

“My attacks actually work on monsters…?”

I tossed the limp rat monster aside and looked down at my hands. It was certainly much smaller than the ones I’d encountered in the city, unauthorized copy but a monster is a monster. As an E-class Guide, it should have been impossible for me to kill it with my bare hands, so what happened?

“Could it be… because it was a baby?”

My confusion didn’t last long.

“Me-Meeh–”

Clack, clack

It was because the baby goats were scrambling up the steep, treacherous slope to approach me.

And not just one or two.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.

“Me-Meeh–”

“Me-Meh.”

“Meeeh–”

It was a dense, repulsive swarm that must have numbered at least three hundred. The way they wriggled and crawled unauthorized copytoward me looked exactly like a swarm of maggots surrounding a corpse.

***

I ran with all my might and kicked the baby goats along the way.

Thud! Thump!

“Meeh–…”

They were countless, but their attack power was nonexistent, so it wasn’t hard to fend them off and move forward. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t stop them from closing in on me.

No matter how many I killed, more would spawn from somewhere, and their numbers never decreased, they only grew. They were impossible to shake off, and their endless proliferation felt like the shadows of dusk crawling toward night. I was overcome with a new kind of fear – the fear that the entire world would soon be engulfed in darkness.

“Coo-coo-!”

Smack!

“Fuck…!!”

Amidst the chaos, a goat that had transformed into a pigeon monster flew in. It felt like I’d been struck by a hammer.

Though it hit my left arm, the pain radiated from there up my spine and spread throughout my entire body. The damage spread, like broken pottery, ​visit our site​and it felt as if I were about to shatter into pieces.

“Coo-coo–….”

Grab!

I grabbed the pigeon monster that flew at me, ready to attack again.

Crunch-

The monster’s neck pulsed hot beneath my grip.

The sensation of bones shattering as I tore through its coarse feathers.

The feeling of its life being cut short came through with brutal clarity.

Thud!

“Fuck this.”

I hurled the monster to the ground and cursed.

I’m not a butcher.

The sensation of killing living creatures with my bare hands wasn’t pleasant.

It was probably just a matter of getting used to it, but right now, I felt like the moral standards I didn’t even know I had were falling apart.

Just how many more do I have to kill and kick before this wall crumbles and I become numb?

“Meeeh–”

Munch, munch.

A baby goat had somehow snuck up on me and was chewing on my pant leg. Fortunately, it was a baby, so it had no teeth.

No matter how hard it chewed, my pant leg didn’t tear or get damaged, it just got a little wet with saliva.

But.

“Me-eeh–“

“Me-eeh–“

“Me-eeh–“

It was a different story when a dozen or so of them swarmed me all at once.

Once again, I kicked the defenseless creatures. I had to do it to move forward.

The warm body heat I felt on my shins and the soft, delicate feel of their fur made me feel sick. It wasn’t the baby goats that were repulsive, it was myself.

If I left these baby goats alone, they would become monsters, and if I let that happen, they would attack me. To survive, I had to strike before they could strike back.

‘The monsters themselves aren’t that strong. It’s just that there are too many of them.’

Sergeant Lee Seungmin’s words suddenly came to mind.

A situation where I have to kill creatures weaker than myself just to survive.

Does that mean the Hunters and Espers thrust onto the battlefield have all grown accustomed to this?

How is everyone else so fine?

No, maybe they aren’t fine, but they’re all just pretending to be okay to get by?

“Meeeh–”

“Please…!”

The incessant bleating gave me a headache, so I clutched my head.

I’d certainly not lived a blameless life. I’d beaten up innocent people, and I’d even sent opponents to the hospital after getting into a brawl.

But this felt very different.

If they had been cockroaches instead of baby goats, would it have been this agonizing?

“Ugh…”

Was my so-called morality just a shallow facade that reacted to appearances?

It’s disgusting.

I find myself utterly disgusting.

“Me… aaah…”

Suddenly, the sounds around me shifted into something alien.

“Waaah.”

The cry of a small child pierced my head, which was growing hot with thoughts.

“Waaah, waaah.”

“Waaah–“

The baby goats cried with human-like sounds.

Rub–

“Waaah-”

And one rubbed its head against my leg.

“…….”

I thought of cigarettes. But there were none in my pocket.

I looked up at the sky. Hidden by the leaves, it was just pitch black.

I did nothing.

I didn’t want to do anything.

I was trapped on all sides, buried in soft fur and the cries of babies. Countless damp, wet gums gnawed at me bit by bit.

Puff, puff, puff.

Strange pulsations began from all directions.

Countless baby goats surrounding me were writhing, trying to transform into monsters.

Would I feel a little better if I just died right here?

“…I won’t die.”

I won’t die.

“Even if I shed blood, I’ll stay in this world.”

Desperately. Tenaciously.

I’d rather kill than die.

Thud! Thump!

I started running again and kicked the baby goats as I went.

Every time a pigeon monster or a rat monster latched onto me, I moved forward by strangling, stomping on, and smashing them.

In the face of survival, notions like compassion or bioethics are a luxury.

I must live.

Only by living could I think, ask questions, experience things firsthand, and be shattered. I would survive by any means necessary and claim the rights of the living.

“Waaah—”

“Shut up!”

Grab! Crunch–

I grabbed a baby goat leaping down from the treetops, [stolen content]shoved my hand into its mouth, and tore its lower jaw and head apart.

The resistance of muscle and cartilage against my fingertips.

Black blood splattering my body.

Suddenly, I recalled the sensation of an IV bag bursting and splattering my body in the hospice ward.

Yeah, you’re just leather pouches filled with liquid.

Dog-like monsters whose sole purpose is to confuse me.

A crystal-clear answer.

“…Ha, this really sucks.”

My head cleared.

I stopped running. Now that I had someone to blame, rage surged through me.

Why do I have to go through this?

I turned around and walked toward the herd of baby goats that kept coming at me, seemingly tireless.

“If you want to die, keep coming. You fucking bastards.”

I saw my reflection in their pitch-black eyes.

“Will you all be torn to pieces first, or will my arm fall off first?”

There is no law or order here, and I am the only human.

Right and wrong do not exist. It is the law of nature for living beings to sacrifice others to survive.

My original self is useless. I keep changing and living on.

I am here.

That is the only truth.

***

How much time had passed?

The dark, eerie forest was now unauthorized copy silent. The only sounds were my labored breathing and the pounding of my heart as I sat exhausted on the ground.

“Crow.”

The voice came from the entire forest surrounding me. It was less a sound and more like a message transmitted directly into my mind.

It was as horrific and eerie as the sound of nails scraping a chalkboard. It was repulsive.

“Why did my children have to die?”

The tree trunks writhed and moved like tentacles. And at the tips of those tentacles were the maws of beasts, dripping mucus as each one let out a sound.

“You humans attach so much meaning to life.”

“Blessing the birth of life while condemning slaughter as a sin.”

“Why do you deny my children even a chance?”

Eyes sprouted all over the tree roots, which were tangled on the ground like thousands of snakes, and they all stared at me.

“Ah, human nature is truly repulsive and vile.”

My body was soaked through with black liquid. [visit our site]Black liquid mixed with sweat dripped from my hair. I mustered all my strength to move my hand and brush it back.

“You’re the one who’s more disgusting for throwing me into a place like this.”

Splatter–

In an instant, blood gushed from every orifice in my face.

This intense sensation…

[The offering has been completed.]

[His blessing is bestowed.]

[Mental contamination immunity has increased.]

“I have no need for those who won’t embrace me.”

The voice rumbling in my head drained me of all strength. Even so, my defiance refused to waver.

After all, I was the kind of bastard who’d say what I had to say before dying.

“…Urgh, then either let me out or get the hell out of here.”

The ground beneath my feet gave way, and for a moment, my vision went dark.

When I came to, I was back in a corner of the subway passageway where I’d been before. Slung over my shoulder was the modified rifle for Espers that Sergeant Lee Seungmin had handed me.

“Hah… Ugh, ugh.”

Before I could stop it, groans escaped my lips. When I sat up, the wounds I’d sustained in the forest and the liquid that had soaked my body were gone. But the memory of my overworked muscles remained.

My body was fine, but it was hard to move.

Above all, my arms wouldn’t move properly.