Chapter 285
Episode 285 – Fable (2)
There was something like that in a classic movie I saw a while ago.
It was a thriller genre film with the setting that there are clones of humans inside the Earth who look exactly like humans on the ground.
The results of the encounter between humans on the ground and clones underground were not good. Just like the doppelganger legend, where people die when they meet someone who looks exactly like them.
That’s the situation I’m in right now.
A man screaming at me. He was ‘me’ when he was human.
‘…I’ll have to start talking first.’
I tried to calm him down by imitating human voices with my mimicry organ characteristics.
But the sound that came out of my mouth was completely different from what I expected.
「Grrr?」
‘What is it?’
A beastly growl came out from my snout, where sharp tusks protruded. ‘I’ must have judged it to be a threat and held my breath.
‘The trait doesn’t activate, right?’
Is it because it’s an illusion? Or is it because the body is transforming in the cocoon? The mimicry organs were not activated at all.
Besides, my body right now is only about the size of a human. The reason I could easily fit into my small living room was because my body became smaller.
Another ‘me’ probably thought my embarrassment was an opportunity and kicked my head.
「Really?!」
‘Ugh?!’
If it had been my original body, it wouldn’t have moved, but now it doesn’t. An intense pain dominated my head, as if I had been hit by the main guns fired by multiple battleships.
I fell onto the desk where my computer was sitting, struggling in unexpected pain. While I fell, ‘I’ quickly ran out of my room.
‘What is this?’
I rubbed my head with my wing arm to relieve the pain.
‘Isn’t it an illusion?’
The head that had been hit by the kick kept throbbing, as if to prove that this was real. I have never felt such pain as I do now when I see visions in the cocoon.
The more I stroked my head, the less pain I felt, but on the contrary, my anger grew stronger. The desire to destroy the computer in front of me and chase down the runaway prey arose.
「Grrrrrr」
‘…No, let’s calm down.’
I forced my rapidly burning anger to subside.
When I think about it, there were elements in my previous fantasies that stimulated my senses. Things like the strong chemical smells I smelled in hospitals and unidentified facilities.
If you can smell, you can also feel pain. I guess I didn’t know because there was no one attacking me at the time.
The problem is that the first person to harm me in the fantasy was ‘me’.
‘I have to hold on.’
‘I’ in human form could not have appeared for no reason. I need him to know why this vision appeared. Even though we don’t understand each other, we have to catch him and ask him somehow.
I followed ‘I’ who had run away and went out of my room.
Gray hallways and tightly closed doors welcomed me.
I grabbed the doorknob of the room across from me just in case, but the door wouldn’t open. It didn’t just feel like the door was locked and couldn’t be opened. It felt like there was a doorknob attached to the wall.
‘I went to the stairs.’
Unless he goes into another house, there is only one place for him to go. The hallway rang every time the six long arms touched the hard floor.
As expected, the door leading to the stairs was slightly open. Inside, there was a staircase illuminated by electric lights.
‘Did he go there?’
If you see that it is turned on by the detection sensor, ‘I’ must have gone down there.
The moment I was about to go down the stairs, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
If that being is really ‘me’, how will I respond when I encounter this unavoidable monster?
Should I just get scared and run away like I do now?
Or…
‘Back!’
“die!”
The elevator door on the other side of the stairs opens. I quickly lowered my head without turning around. The broken straw bag flew out and pierced the back of my head.
‘shit!’
“shit!”
I pulled my head back to hide it and swung my tail at the enemy. The claws at the end of the tail flew away, sweeping up the dust on the floor. However, ‘I’ was already throwing myself away when the attack failed.
The claws of the tail intersect with the thing floating in the air. The soles of his shoes made a sharp sound as they were rubbed by the claws. The guy who avoided the low-flying attack by floating his body went down the stairs on the other side.
While the guy disappeared, I grabbed the handle of the pushing stick that pierced the back of the head and pulled it out.
The hardest parts of my body are a total of three: the head, carapace, thorax, and tail pincers. The part that was resistant to being hit by a battleship’s main gun was barely punctured by this flimsy spear.
「Grrrrrrr」
Fierce anger boils to the limit that can be tolerated. Without realizing it, I bit into the broken wheat sack, chewed it, and spit it out.
The anger that had been disturbing my mind ever since. It was now difficult to control. I wanted to grab another ‘me’ right now and rip off my head.
‘…stay calm. composure.’
I tried to control my anger and replayed what had just happened.
‘I read my reaction to that action.’
Now I feel confident. ‘I’ am not just the same as myself in appearance. My thoughts are the same as mine.
‘I’ predicted that I would check the stairs and hid in the elevator at the back and made a surprise attack. If I were human and met Amov in real life, I would act like I do now.
Since I am someone who is fascinated by monsters, I know very well what Amorph is. Amorph is a man-eating monster that cannot communicate or compromise due to its setting. There’s no way he doesn’t know that it’s not easy to run away when targeted by such a being.
Then there is only one way left. It’s about fighting back.
‘I aimed for the head.’
Aimorph dies when its heart or brain is destroyed. If I hadn’t noticed his attack and lowered my head, the handle of the rolling pin would have pierced my brain.
‘Grr, next time I see you, I’ll have to subdue you first.’
Just as he can read my thoughts, I can tell what he is thinking. He’s probably waiting for me somewhere down the stairs with a weapon.
‘I probably should have brought an ax for fire extinguishing.’
If you go downstairs to the hallway, there is an ax and a fire extinguisher placed there. My head carapace is weak enough to be pierced by a push spear. The fire ax cannot withstand it.
Mine is much superior in size, but in this case, it’s hard to say it’s an advantage. This means that the area hit becomes wider.
The guy with the weapon is most likely hiding behind the door leading to the hallway, not the stairs. There are sensors on the stairs, so it’s not a good idea to hide yourself. The space is small, so it’s inefficient to fight a big enemy like me.
I looked at the stairs he ran from. Then I turned my gaze towards the elevator from which the guy had come out.
I stretched out my wing arm and pressed the elevator button, and the door opened with a ding sound. Inside the brightly lit elevator, there was a broken mop of a push pin.
I had a good idea.
I got into the elevator, hooked my tail to the door, and pushed the stainless steel ceiling with my wing arms. The stainless steel was separated with a rattling sound.
I climbed through the elevator ceiling and into the passageway. Of course, don’t forget to press the downstairs button with the tip of your tail.
‘The place where he waits is probably behind the door that leads to the stairs and hallway.’
The elevator beneath my feet descended with a clanging sound. I moved the separated stainless steel back to its original location.
‘There are sensors on the stairs that detect movement, so they will see that and respond.’
And on the other side of the stairs, you can see the elevator right away. Even if I use the elevator, I can see it right away. No matter which side I go down, he’ll be ready to immediately chop my head off with an axe.
‘But you don’t know this.’
“Grrrrr”
I wiped the drool that was flowing down with my hand. A strange sense of elation is taking over my body, and I don’t know if it’s hunger or anticipation before the battle.
The elevator stops with a light sound. The moment the door opened, there was a thumping sound from below.
The fire ax must have been swung just in time for the door to open.
“what?”
His actions were in vain. I hit the stainless steel with my tail as hard as I could. A strong pin pierced the middle of the thin elevator ceiling.
“!”
The embarrassed guy steps back. I grabbed the fire extinguisher he left on the floor with my tail.
The bright red ax blade he was holding cut through the surface of my tail.
“…Tch!”
The guy running away towards the hallway. I crawled down from the ceiling and grabbed the fire extinguisher with my small arms against my chest.
And I did what he was trying to do. Spraying a lot of fire extinguishing agent in the hallway.
“Cough?! “Holy crap!”
Powdered fire extinguishing agents filled the hallway like a fog. The guy was coughing violently, as if he couldn’t help it because of his physiology.
I took advantage of the guy being neutralized and ran out into the hallway.
“go away!”
The ax cleaved the fire extinguishing agent powder with a violent sound. His target was slightly above my head. If I had gone upside down on the ceiling, the ax blade would have stuck straight into my head. Actually, I did that a lot when I played as Amorph.
However, on the contrary, I was moving so low that my lower jaw was touching the floor. The ax he swung struck the back of my head.
Because it is so deeply embedded, it is impossible to remove it easily. The guy flinches for a moment. I’m wondering whether I should pull it out with force or retreat.
The important thing is that worrying about it itself is a mistake. I swung my wing arm and hit the guy.
“evil!”
The thing lets out a short scream and falls against the wall.
The moment I smelled that guy’s blood, only one thought filled my head.
I want to kill that guy. I want to drink the blood that flows from its body. I want to stick my snout into its stomach and chew its intestines. I want to swallow everything, even the tips of his toes.
You must obtain the genetic essence by eating ‘me’.
“Save me! Someone please help me! please!”
The guy is bleeding on the floor. I raised my nails and stabbed him in the thigh.
“Aaaahhh!”
‘I’ screams pathetically. That sweet singing voice whets the appetite.
‘Grrrrr’
I held him tightly with my wing arms and opened my mouth.
I see his face soaked with tears, snot, and blood. Soon its head will be finely chopped and become food for my body.
「■Child■! An■!」
「■■■ ■■!」
The moment I was about to bite the guy’s head off with my teeth.
Unknown messages and uninterpretable waves took hold of my body.
‘What did you just do?’
The message and the waves disappeared in an instant, but the shock continued to linger in my head like an echo.
‘what?’
I let go of my enemy, not another ‘me’.
‘Why did I do that?’
It finally comes to mind now. My plan was to get him to talk about what this vision meant. It wasn’t an attempt to eat ‘me’.
“Hee hee! monster! die! “Die!”
He’s trying to pull the ax out of my carapace. I pushed his hand away and instead pulled out a fire ax and threw it away.
‘It’s not like this. We need to talk.’
I caught the running ‘me’ with my wing arms and wiped away his blood with my small arms on my chest. And wrote on the floor.
“What is it?”
‘conversation’. My eyes shake when I see the two letters. But soon it started screaming.
“Fuck you! lie! What kind of conversation is Aimorph! There’s a monster here! Please someone help me!”
I felt annoyed again, but I suppressed my emotions. I was also careful with my wing arms because I was afraid I might accidentally apply more force and cause him pain.
I persevered and kept writing. To convey that you have no intention of harming ‘me’.
How many minutes have passed since then? ‘I’ have suddenly become calmer.
‘Is it real now?’
I asked him a question as he lowered his head.
Who are you?
“Who am I?”
‘I’ saw that and raised my head.
“You idiot. “You know that best, right?”
‘what?’
There was no expression on his blood-covered face.
Eventually, he raised the corners of his mouth and chuckled, as if replaying programmed emotions.
“Does it seem like you are embracing all the misfortune in the world? How many people are suffering in the world? You are just trash. What about just one burn? Do you need a family? “You are the one who abandoned your parents who devoted themselves to you.”
When I heard those words, I unconsciously lost strength in my wing arms.
Once free, he stood tall in place like a wooden doll hanging by a thread.
“You like monsters? There’s only one reason you like monsters. Because the kids made fun of me and called me a monster. ‘You guys made fun of me for being a monster, so I’m going to turn you into a real monster,’ you know?”
「Grrrrrrr」
“It’s not your taste, it’s embarrassing to even call it a taste, it’s just a miserable act of masturbation.”
He lashed out at me and picked up an ax that had fallen in the hallway.
“The reason you fell in love with the game. It’s the same too. You just couldn’t overcome reality and escaped into the game world. Even now, in that world, people are being killed with a game-like sensibility. So, you can’t kill ‘real me’ either. “It’s because I’m scared that it might actually be a murder.”
He raises both hands holding an axe. The blade of the ax shines coolly with the light of the electric lamp.
“You’re such an asshole, but I’m also ‘you’. I will help you. So that we can live in reality.”
「….」
“Then goodbye. coward.”
After he finished speaking, blood splattered in the hallway. My body suddenly cringed due to the excruciating pain.
The ax blade stuck in the ‘wing arm’ was quite painful.
“you…?”
[Zuzzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzu (You’re not completely wrong. Except for two things)]
My monster’s tentacles tremble to convey my message. After all, he’s human so he won’t understand my wavelength, but it doesn’t matter.
I grabbed his wrist with my other arm.
[Zuz zuzu zuzuzu zuzu zuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu zuzu zu zuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu (I cherish all the experiences I had in the ‘other world’. It wasn’t an escape or anything like that)] It might have been like that at first
.
I made the excuse that I was achieving my goal of returning to reality due to a life-threatening situation, but somewhere in my heart, I was using the ‘world of space survival’ as an escape.
But not anymore. If you were to ask me now whether ‘the other world’ is still a place of refuge, I would firmly deny it.
When I reach Ascension, I may have to separate from my children. Or you might lose them before you get there. Or, I may lose while fighting another ranker, or I may die fighting a strong enemy before I meet the conditions.
However, I don’t think that what I experienced with them was worthless. No matter how my journey ends, I want to help them live a happy life.
So until then, no matter what happens, you can never die.
‘And…’
The reason I don’t kill ‘me’ here isn’t simply because I’m afraid of murder.
[Zuz, zuzu, zuzu, zuzuzu, zuzuzu (because I decided you needed it)]
“You bastard! “Let go!”
[Zuz Zuzuz Zuzuz (You do not kill)]
‘I’ will not die until I determine what this fantasy wants from me. It’s just that he’s been suppressed by Eimoff.
He was grabbed by me and ran wild with a devil-like face, but it was impossible for him to escape from Aimov’s arms.
“You idiot! There is no time for this! Kill me! Or did you fall for me…?!”
He said something incomprehensible and his body stiffened as if he had been paralyzed. Then my body started convulsing wildly. As the creature began to tremble, the colors of the surrounding hallway faded.
‘Space is disappearing?’
Outside, in reality, it seems like my evolution has been completed.
The body of ‘my’ being held in my hands became blurred, just like the hallway. He, who had had an ugly expression just now, had an expressionless face.
“Oh■ ■life ■water■ body∬⫱⪿….”
He disappeared, leaving behind unintelligible words.
As soon as ‘I’ disappeared, my senses were also immersed in darkness.
I fell asleep for a while and when I woke up, I was submerged in sticky mucus.
I stretched out my arms and tore open the cocoon, revealing a familiar pink body.
「Hello big baby!」
Number 26, who waited by my side until my growth was complete.
My new family welcomed me.