Chapter 736: Nausea

“Ghk.......”

Once it finished taking full control of the body, it raised itself up.

Pain came from the back of the head that had struck the floor.

'Pain.'

Feeling that pain.

The parasite blankly stared at its own hand.

'A concept I never had.'

Pain was originally a sensation that existed to avoid death.

When placed in a lethal danger that might lead to death.

The thing that warned you so you could avoid it was pain.

Ironically, that meant pain was a concept for the sake of life.

On the other hand, parasites infested corpses.

They were beings that moved by reviving only part of a corpse’s functions.

Naturally, a warning system like pain, which was only supposed to operate for the living, had no meaning to them.

And yet the fact that this pain was being felt now meant.......

'The host’s brain is functioning.'

The brain that had entered a coma and had most of its functions shut down.

It meant the functions that had stopped in that brain had synchronized with the parasite.

'In that case.'

This sensation was information coming from a human brain.

The parasite moved its own body and thought.

'Am I this human, or am I an insect?'

The memories and sensations contained in the brain.

The instincts it possessed as an insect.

The two were mixed together, making it unbearably confused.

The insect could no longer even be certain what kind of being it was.

If there was anything that could define itself at all.

“I want to live.”

It was the desire rooted in its heart.

The fact that it was a being that longed for life.

The parasite realized that it had become a being somewhat different from its own kind.

***

After that.

The insect began its activity for now.

Rather than a rational judgment on its part, it was closer to an instinct it could not refuse.

“Grrr.......”

In the case of others of its kind, their abilities were not high immediately after they succeeded in parasitizing.

Most of a corpse’s bodily functions were already broken, and the parasite’s own abilities were low as well.

That was why, after taking root inside that body, the parasite evolved and gradually revived its physical abilities.

But he was different.

“Phaaaaaah.......”

When only a few hours had passed since he began acting.

Something like smoke spewed from his mouth.

Spores expelled by parasites that had successfully settled in order to give birth to the next generation.

The body he had settled inside was in a state where every bodily function was still alive.

A body capable of moving and living like a human.

And yet, for all that, the defense mechanisms that obstructed settlement had been weakened, so taking root was easy.

After that, he went through evolution.

His main body gathered information about its surroundings and, through the calories inside that body, opened an evolutionary route optimized for this world.

That speed was not slow either.

By the time more than a year had passed.

He had become one of the strongest among his kind, belonging to the leading group.

'The memories in this brain are helping me.'

The memories contained in the brain.

Those must have helped him grasp this world, allowing him to achieve rapid evolution.

From there, he could not help thinking one thing.

'If the brain’s memories are helpful, then others of my kind would benefit from reading their hosts’ memories and evolving quickly as well.'

For some reason.

Among his kind, he could not see any being that had read its host’s memories.

They revived the brain functions and used the body’s abilities, but they did not make contact with the part corresponding to memories.

Unless that tremendous number of his kind were deliberately doing that.......

'My kind were [designed] not to restore the host’s memories.'

If there was a reason such a design was necessary.

There was only one thing he could guess.

'To prevent the birth of beings like me.'

A being with emotions.

A being that {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} questioned its own identity.

A design meant to prevent the emergence of such beings.

If it were simply for survival and evolution, it would actually be advantageous to contact the host’s memories instead.

The fact that they did not meant there was some other reason.

Perhaps it was because of what he now held within himself.

'This feeling of wanting to live.'

There was a glimpse of an intention.

That this must not arise.

'My species is.'

The owner of this body had not been an intelligent person, but he had possessed common sense.

And the insect that had occupied that body had the ability to make rational judgments.

The insect began reasoning by borrowing the human brain.

And the result was simple.

'They are far too strange.'

The native species of this world and his kind were far too different.

He had wondered if this world was the strange one.

But even compared to beings from other worlds that had invaded this world, the behavior of his kind...... of the insects, was far too bizarre.

A species unlike ordinary lifeforms, whose foremost objective was not the propagation of the species.

A species that evolved at high speed, turned all other beings in the world into hosts, and in the end could only face extinction themselves.

The insect soon reached one conclusion.

'We are lifeforms created by someone.'

And that fact.

'......Displeasure.'

Among the many emotions borrowed through that brain.

It stirred up one emotion.

A purpose too blatantly obvious.

They were a kind of cleaner.

Cleaners that eradicated the lives existing in other worlds without leaving a trace.

At the end, they themselves would also disappear, so there would be no need for cleanup afterward either.......

'Tools.'

At that fact.

He felt an immense rage.

The problem was.

'Would there be any meaning in getting angry?'

He looked at the other zombies around him.

Over the long passage of time.

The country where he had appeared had been completely devastated.

And around him were many individuals that had evolved to a level where they could possess reason.

And they.

“More corpses.”

“More hosts.”

Faithful without limit to the instincts designed into them.

They gave birth to more of their kind, and for those of their kind to act, they took many lives.

He, who had the thought that he wanted to live, was only a mutant.

Most of his kind merely acted according to the commands engraved into their genes.

Even if they were nothing more than tools created for a purpose, they had no thoughts or resentment about it.

They simply repeated the actions determined for them, like tools should.

'......How pitiful.'

To the insect, that sight looked unbearably pitiful.

But he knew that persuading them was impossible.

If there was any method at all, there was only one.

'A higher evolved body can interfere with lower evolved bodies to a certain extent.'

An instinct that seemed to have been made to make it easy to fight against many enemies.

If he used this instinct, he wondered whether it might be possible to resist the fate determined for them.

But that possibility was also far too low.

“Our kind have increased.”

“Powerful members of our kind.”

Among those of his kind that had regained reason, a certain level of information exchange and cooperation occurred.

He knew well about the strong among others of his kind.

“The achievement of the Sword Demon.”

And among them.

He also knew there existed a strong one he would not be able to deal with.

Individuals that possessed strength above a certain level were given names by which to call them.

And foremost among them was that goblin.

'The Sword Demon.'

A small, frail goblin.

The host’s physical abilities belonged to the weaker side, but its main body was different.

If geniuses existed among humans, then similar beings existed among the insects as well.

The insect inside that goblin was truly not lacking at all to be called a genius.

The speed at which it grasped this world was astonishingly fast.

And its skill in handling the power it had obtained through the evolution it achieved was also excellent.

'When enough time passes, those of our kind whose lifespans have reached their end pass their evolutionary information to stronger kin and are eaten.'

When that process repeated.

The individual with the highest probability of remaining until the very end, more than anyone else.

The insect was certain that his chances of winning against that one of his kind converged on zero.

Even though he himself had achieved rapid evolution through human knowledge.

The gap was so distant that it could not be narrowed.

'.......'

His kind were being used only as tools, yet they held no doubts about it.

Even that genius would ultimately vanish meaninglessly in the end.

When he saw that sight, the emotion he had felt when he first obtained those memories.

A tremendous pain came flooding in.

'There is no way to resolve it anyway.'

He turned his eyes away from it.

To take the risk of challenging an issue he could not resolve.

'My own survival is more important.'

He.

Had an even stronger desire for his own survival.

***

Even after that.

He continued a life similar to that of the other zombies.

The only difference was his longing for life.

The instinct for survival was something the others of his kind did not possess.

In that case.

'This can become my weapon alone.'

Others of his kind threw away their lives without hesitation when the situation required it.

But he could make choices in order to survive.

At least in terms of survival, he possessed a strength no other member of his kind could match.

There was the issue of lifespan.

But as time passed and the lifespans of his kind ran out, they fed themselves to stronger individuals.

If he ate the energy left in their bodies, absorbed their evolutionary information, and grew stronger.

He would be able to survive for at least several decades.

If he was lucky enough for someone like that Sword Demon to die...... he might even be able to survive until he ate all the others of his kind and remained alone in this world.

'.......'

Eating his kind and surviving.

The moment he thought of that.

“Urgh......!”

That body reacted instinctively.

Even though he had never eaten anything because he was acting through the power inside the insect.

Nausea rose as if something inside that body was trying to come out.

'Disgusting.'

The general lifespan of his kind, two years, had not yet passed.

That was why he had never eaten any of his kind.

But merely imagining it.

Merely imagining the scene of using as his own nutrients those who were fated to be used only as tools and die.

Made it difficult to control his body from disgust.

But.

He turned his eyes away from even that self-loathing.

'It cannot be helped.'

No matter how disgusting it was.

He turned his head away and avoided things he could not resolve.

If the insect dwelling inside that goblin was a being that, in human terms, could be called a genius.

Then in human terms, he would probably be a cowardly ordinary citizen.

The insect sneered inwardly at his own cowardice.

But even that cowardly life was better than death.

However.

An incident occurred that would bring a small change to his life.

“More hosts.”

The intelligent zombies cooperated with one another and continued ruling this land.

The speed was so steep.

That now, the energy of living beings surviving on this land had become almost impossible to sense.

If things continued like this, three weeks at the latest.

Within that time, all life would be changed into their kind.

And during that process.

The time came for him to go out on another hunt.

“......Sword Demon.”

The being he would cooperate with this time was that goblin called the Sword Demon.

It was a rare thing.

But it was not his first time cooperating with the Sword Demon.

“Move.”

The two confirmed each other’s faces.

Then immediately went out to hunt.

As they moved to hunt like that, the insect thought.

'There was a strange conjecture among our kind.'

This world was divided into several regions by walls of heat.

But according to some of his kind.

There was an expectation that if they cleaned up the place they were heading to hunt this time, that wall might open.

[1. Parasite B-36S Mutant Type 99%]

He did not know whether that expectation was truly correct.

But if the wall opened as they said, they would be able to spread into a wider world.

If there were still regions his kind had not yet dominated, they would be able to advance there as well and turn everything into hosts.

That was likely why a member of his kind on the Sword Demon’s level had stepped forward.

'This hunt will be easy.'

Most living beings in this land had already become members of their kind anyway.

And those who remained were mostly beings that had given up resisting and hidden themselves.

There would already be few strong enemies, and now even that Sword Demon had joined as cooperation.

The insect was pleased, thinking he would not have to worry about dying during this hunt.

“D-damn it.”

......Yes.

At least.

“It’s them!”

“The corpse bastards found this place!”

Until they discovered the beings hiding there.