NOVPUBTrapped in a place with nowhere to run, the infected are being eradicated at a rapid pace.
Now, the parasite mass, with its upper nose and knees crushed to a pulp, desperately resisted using telekinesis and spoke urgently.
“Wait, Cage, you... you would understand me. Let’s join hands. Help me devour Blaccky!”
“Oh... should I say that a monster is speaking now?”
A voice filled with amusement.
When Cage spread his hands and momentarily halted the compression of the containment field, the lips formed by the parasites let out a desperate voice.
“In this world, only superior transcendents should lead humanity. You must think the same! Isn’t it exhausting to lead humans who don’t obey? I can help you.”
“Is that so... indeed, ruling humans through parasites. Leading humans who’ve lost their will would be simple. An efficient method of control.”
Cage quickly grasped the essence of what the parasite was saying and felt a sincere sense of admiration.
Immediately afterward, Cage clenched his fist, and the speed at which the containment field compressed the parasites accelerated.
“My answer is no, you filthy monster. It is superhumans who lead humanity, not transcendents who are no longer human.”
“Kugh, aaaargh! Why! I can! I can make you the god of this world!”
“In this world, gods are dead.”
“Gods exist. No, they will exist! We will...!”
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.
Like a can being crushed under immense pressure, the containment field kept shrinking until it was the size of a ping-pong ball.
Within the monster’s senses, the consciousness of Experiment No. 3 completely disappeared.
And only a small core remained.
“A monster that speaks, huh. The research department guys will surely regret losing such a sample.”
Cage’s ability completely separated the boundaries inside and outside the containment field.
Unable to activate its consciousness transfer ability, the hive mind’s master died.
After confirming the death of the hive mind’s master, I shifted my gaze to follow the core Cage threw.
Thud. Cage caught the core again and raised his ability, staring at me.
“Well then, Blaccky... if you want to fight, come at me.”
Cage appeared sturdier than when I last saw him. He thrust his spear into the ground and stretched his hand toward me.
Ready to clench his hand and form a containment field around me at any moment.
Behind me, Electrice, who had just fried all the infected, was squatting atop the rubble of a collapsed building, pulling out rebar.
“The countermeasures against telekinesis are already complete. This won’t go like last time.”
“It’s different from last time. The strongest spear and shield of A-City... though the last one is missing, two S-Class heroes from A-City are here together.”
Ah... so the plan is to trap me in Cage’s containment field and have Electrice attack me from the outside with her railgun.
Until I break through the wall that blocks abilities, I’ll be a sitting duck. And even if I do break through, there’s a high chance of being trapped in another containment field.
However, Cage’s ability was no longer a significant threat to me.
Space manipulation ability — piercing a hole from a higher dimension, disregarding reality and linking Point A to Point B.
With that alone, I could move in and out of the containment field as I pleased.
And... there was no reason for me to fight two S-Class heroes using space manipulation.
Cage, driven more by curiosity than by the intent to kill.
Electrice, overwhelmed by fear rather than the will to fight.
I could smell the emotions seeping from within them, and as I yawned, I returned to my usual form.
The monster core within me, which had been stirred up in excitement, was forcefully calmed, simmering in frustration.
As my chaotic, multi-layered form stabilized back into that of a feline predator, Cage adjusted his posture as if he had expected this.
“You don’t plan to fight?”
“Huff, huff...”
Cage, seeing me yawn, completely withdrew his killing intent, and Electrice let out a sigh of relief.
“...Just as Starlight said, you might really be a monster that can be tamed.”
If it were an ordinary monster, the moment a hero adopted a combat stance, it would immediately go berserk.
Confirming once again that I wasn’t an ordinary monster, Cage made a sudden proposition.
“In that case, come to A-City.”
What the hell is he talking about?
I pricked up my ears, and Cage’s eyes glinted with anticipation.
“Look around you. You suit A-City more than W-City.”
With a sweeping motion, Cage gestured at the ruins of D-City.
“If necessary, you can kill humans too. Eliminating them to prevent further spread of infection — that’s not the kind of choice an idealist like Starlight can make. You must feel stifled there.”
Hmm, I didn’t think Starlight’s ideals were bad.
Trying to prevent even a single casualty — isn’t that what being a hero is about?
“The moment you reach the Extinction Class, aren’t you afraid of no longer being yourself? In A-City, even if you go berserk, we can certainly put you down.
I’ll give you everything you want... a cat tower suited for your body, ball toys, beef, and if necessary, even humans.”
“Grrr...”
What the hell does this guy think I am?
I bared my teeth, annoyed at being treated like some oversized cat, and Cage chuckled.
“Is that a no? Heh, that’s too bad. You really do have a soft spot for Starlight, don’t you?”
With a casual flick, Cage tossed Experiment No. 3’s core toward me.
“Eat it.”
“Are you serious? You’re just giving it to me?”
“That’s Blaccky’s prey. I only dealt the finishing blow to a weakened target. Taking it would be in poor taste.”
“You’re kidding! You’re just going to make that monster stronger...!”
“Are you scared?”
“S-Scared? Ha! Do whatever you want!”
I caught the parasite core, its incessant pulsing echoing through my hands.
I enveloped my body in flames and bit down, crushing it.
The parasites inside struggled to take over my body, but they burned away and vanished.
Even in its near-dead state, the core was still resisting.
How fitting for a parasite.
If any other monster had swallowed it, it likely would have taken over that monster’s body and resurrected.
Swallowing the core, I felt «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» myself rise another level as a monster, slowly opening my eyes.
Though it was rotting and deteriorated, it had accumulated a significant amount of curses, fear, and despair.
Extinction Class — I could feel that the threshold wasn’t far off.
While I was devouring the core, Cage meticulously shrank the containment field.
The barrier’s properties changed, preventing anything that contained monster fluid from passing through.
The barrier, now finely controlled, allowed only me to pass, slowly condensing into a palm-sized, transparent cube.
“As expected, simply touching the ability doesn’t cause immediate suicide. The parasites distinguish between the wavelengths emitted by a human heart and those of a monster. With this, we’ve secured a sample for future research,” Cage muttered as he rotated the case filled with parasites, the containment barrier effectively blocking the wavelengths.
“If you’re done here in D-City, you can leave, Blaccky. We’re about to start investigating what happened here.”
Upon hearing that, I scattered electromagnetic waves around, creating a guideline toward the underground facility where the survivors were located.
A superpowered being’s extrasensory perception — and for an electric ability user, it would be even more acutely felt.
Electrice flinched, visibly alarmed.
“...So, that’s where the survivors are trapped. Electrice, it seems Blaccky’s sensing ability is sharper than yours.”
“That bastard... completely... my ability....”
“There was a trace of destruction in the city that resembled a railgun strike. He must have copied that too... The direction points to the government building.”
Was it because I revealed the location of the survivors, or was it because I was systematically replicating Electrice’s abilities one by one?
Electrice looked at me as if I were some kind of monster, then crackled with electricity and disappeared in the direction of the government facility.
Well then, there was nothing left for me to do here.
Might as well head back to W-City.
After running wild like that, I was starving.
I needed something delicious to wash away the taste of rotten meat.
“Monster weaponization, huh....”
Cage muttered, his voice tinged with a sense of displeasure and bitterness.
I left D-City behind, abandoning the two S-Class heroes, and vanished.
****
News about the parasite monsters tormenting W-City was a topic that every citizen across the cities was paying keen attention to.
According to W-City’s official statement, the number of exterminated monsters classified as Kill-Class or lower had already surpassed 100,000.
The parasites were spread via flying beetles, transmitted through physical contact, and once infected, it was as good as being dead.
Even worse, the monsters couldn’t be detected by warning systems.
Fear of a monster that could infect at any moment.
For citizens who could only hide in shelters and wait for the situation to end whenever a monster appeared, the mere act of reading news articles about the parasites instilled a fear greater than that of an Extinction-Class monster.
However, at the same time, there were those who mocked W-City for struggling against mere Kill-Class monsters.
Not even reaching Kill-Class, with a body strength that even an ordinary human with a hammer could potentially defeat, the casualty count in W-City barely reached double digits.
Among them, there were quite a few heroes who reveled in their superiority as superhumans, seeing that none of the casualties included heroes.
And then, the moment they watched A-City’s emergency announcement, all those people froze.
[...D-City is gone?]
[1,200 survivors? How many people died?] 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
[Wasn’t D-City’s population around 110,000?]
[Holy shit; Has there been a disaster of this scale lately? In this era, even Extinction-Class monster attacks barely exceed 1,000 casualties, right?]
[Are you telling me that these so-called Kill-Class monsters managed to do this?]
The very Kill-Class monsters they had ridiculed had already infected an entire city.
Even S-Class heroes had been infected.
The shocking news prompted anyone who had been to D-City — whether hero or civilian — to be urgently quarantined in every city.
[Breaking news. A suspected parasite infection case has been discovered in B-City.]
[Announcement from C-City. Citizens are advised to stay indoors. After the citywide quarantine, heroes will visit each household to inspect for infection. Please stay indoors.]
[Dear citizens of G-City, rest assured, our city is safe!]
Every city was plagued with fatigue from the relentless search for the invisible parasites.
Only then did people finally grasp how much of a nuisance the parasite monsters were.
Citizens who had been busy ridiculing W-City were now chattering nonstop about how W-City managed to handle quarantine, infection tracking, and vector extermination all at once.
[W-City has been doing this all along?]
[God, that’s infuriating;]
[Why is my food ration delayed? What am I supposed to eat today?]
[Seriously, so terrifying; They say if a parasite senses it’s been detected by a hero, it’ll melt itself and kill the infected host instantly.]
[Goddamn it, G-City mayor, is this for real? You’re saying that if a hero finds an infected person by spreading ability waves, that person is just gonna die on the spot?]
[No cure? I’m scared.]
[Shit, what do I do? The manager from our partner company melted to death.]
In some cities where extreme measures were taken, the infected melted to death upon being detected, further escalating the citizens’ fear to its peak.
The only solace was the news that the parasites would no longer spread.
After the quarantine concluded and citizens emerged from their fear, they were busy chattering about the reason behind the end of the parasite’s proliferation.
The reason there were no more parasite outbreaks was that the infamous Blaccky of W-City had completely destroyed D-City.
It was a story so unbelievable that public opinion across various cities was divided.
