Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 131: "Self"

The first to rush in was Savage.

He only seemed to be able to reproduce his appearance and did not use a 'tail' or magic.

Before I could get in time, I bit his neck off with my left arm.

The Savage, which had lost its head, passed by me with the same momentum with which it had lunged at me.

The next two guys who ran into me were a pair of guys.

Um, what were their names? They must have been the first Holy Temple knights I had under my command.

...I remember now. Alex and Dylan.

Swords from the left and right... or is that it?

They were slashing at me with weapons that looked like they were made from some kind of shell or something.

It seems that they could not reproduce the white armour and swords.

...It moves worse than I remember.

It's just a fake, after all.

At least, they seem to be working together at the very least, and have subtly shifted their timing.

After pulling back just in time, take a half step back and duck, then grab one of them by the head and crush it in a fist.

Throw them at the other in the grip.

Where they fall on top of each other, stomp on them collectively and crush them.

"Shah!"

Something flies at me, so I tilt my head back and let it pass.

I check with just my eyes and see a circular blade... ah, a chakram, right?

The one that threw it - I've missed you, second class goblin-kun, right?

I catch the returning chakram and throw it back.

There is a light sound, and the chakram crumbles down, deeply pierced in the forehead.

It's too fragile. I don't remember it being so unresponsive. Well, that's okay. Yes, next.

A few icicles come flying.

Fatima. I saw her a little further away, holding her wand.

"Oops."

I take a half step back and a dagger passes where my neck used to be.

Before I know it, it is Heidi who has moved in between us.

She is expressionless and tries to slash further with the dagger in both hands, but as she steps in, I close the gap and grab her by the neck and lift her up.

As it was, the neck was crushed and broken, and Fatima rammed it into the additional icicles that were shot at her as a shield.

Pillar after pillar of ice pierced Heidi's body.

I thought about crushing Fatima as it was, but the black-robed men of Darzain got in between.

I threw Heidi's corpse, which was now well ventilated by the icicles, at them and swung my left arm at them.

Several of them were cut in two, up and down.

I saw several upper bodies spinning around in the air, but ignored them.

In a corner of my mind, I thought, oh, the fake ones don't explode, what does it matter?

When I lowered my gaze, Trust, who had lowered himself from the shadows of the lower halves of the black-robed men, stepped in at once and made a flash.

Aimed at the neck. Again.

Harden the neck area to prevent slashes.

A front kick is struck to the face as the slash flies in.

Without releasing my foot, I kick out with my weight, crushing the Trust's head between the ground and my foot.

The plant zombies aaaaahhhh and grab at me, but I've already seen how to deal with them.

With the combined technique of [Water Ball II] + [Blizzard III], I put them in ice after pouring water on them.

Yes next--.

I clicked my tongue, jumped backwards and deployed [Wind Shield III] while keeping my distance.

At the same time, a yellow smoke-like substance hits the shield.

When I looked ahead, there was another nostalgic planted dragon.

Was that a breath attack earlier?

In a cave, but in an open place like this, it's not so scary.

The planted dragon rushes towards me with a howl and attacks with a breath again.

I switch magic.

[Tornado II] A slightly larger tornado is generated between me and the Plantation Dragon.

It spins up the breath.

When there is a good pause, extend the left arm.

The centipede wraps around the neck of the planted dragon and twists it off.

Before it can move away, Hundred Feet opens its mouth wide and sprays dissolving fluid at it.

The headless plant dragon dissolves into a soggy mess, belching smoke.

Just as I was about to brace myself for the next one, I felt a crushing pressure on my entire body.

[Heavy pressure]?

At the same time, a sword swung heavily from above - Rick, who had done a foolish thing in Oldia, came slashing at me.

The icicles flew from the front, perhaps timed to coincide with the attack.

Moreover, there were many of them. It seems he chanted well.

In the space slightly in front of me, Rick was caught by gravity in mid-air and fell vertically, instead of drawing a parabolic line.

His concentration is broken and I can move, so I stomp down on Rick's head, which has crawled unceremoniously on the ground.

The flying icicle was also caught by gravity and didn't reach me.

A slight vibration on the ground.

...I can already read it.

I turn my body as fast as I can and kick it backwards behind me.

I hit the Death Worm that was aiming at me from the ground, causing its huge body to turn on its back.

Part of its armour pops off and flutters in the air. This one is also poorly reproduced, too fragile.

I finish it off by hitting the exposed part with an [Explosion II] at point-blank range.

Not bad.

My movements are very sharp.

The choice of means of attack is smooth.

Is this also the effect of separating from that thing?

...And? What is that thing doing?

When I look up, the ones that are still flying in flight are up there looking on from a high position.

The numbers are gradually decreasing.

I close the gap at once and finish off Fatima.

Is that all you got?

I let out a small breath.

You're too weak, no matter how much you try.

You haven't reproduced half the power of the original.

On top of that, the coordination is too weak.

If only one of them was perfect, I might have struggled a bit more.

That thing may think it can afford to, but its face is slightly drawn.

It's trying desperately to be strong, but no matter how you look at it, it looks like it's losing its composure and is in a state of panic, you know?

If you look closely, you can see that his presence is fading.

...It seems that creating a reanimated monster is quite exhausting.

I sigh inwardly in disgust.

You're licking your chops too much.

The idea of trying to overwhelm quality with quantity is not bad, but you should switch tactics when you don't have the quantity to overwhelm the crucial factor.

There's a limit to how stupid you can be... no...

When I think about it calmly, I was certainly a man who thought like that before I was born.

I was a man with a head full of pride who believed in what he wanted to believe in, and once he succeeded, he got a strange taste of it and stuck to the same methods.

He had a poor ability to judge the situation, and made the bad move of splitting up his own body without hesitation.

The result is unnecessary exhaustion. What is this idiot doing?

Didn't you watch me the whole time? You've seen me, and now you're doing this in reference to me?

...I'm beyond sad and in despair.

Is this me?

The one who was me?

I can't believe it. No, I don't want to believe it?

I'm not kidding, look at your eyes ---- Oh?

That thing in front of me is definitely the me I remember.

Then ...... then what's the me I'm thinking about right now if it's ......?

I certainly have memories.

The grief, anger and despair of my life are firmly etched in my mind, but I don't feel ...... it.

Like all the other stolen memories, the colour has drained out and fallen away.

"Ha ha..."

I let out a laugh.

There were quite a few clues if you think about it.

A form of thinking that diverged from my personality before I was born.

An ethic that allows me to kill people with impunity.

A social nature that cannot empathise with the human heart.

When I think about it, that thing's behaviour somehow makes sense.

That thing is acting like a big man, but it's afraid of me - no, it's afraid of destroying the human form.

Ah, ah, I see what this means.

Understanding is advancing at a tremendous rate.

To who I am.

-After all. That's why I was nothing.

That would be a thin kind of desire.

The source of desire itself is borrowed and imitated.

That's why it's so thin.

But I also felt refreshed.

I also feel better because I know I'm not like that thing.

There's a great saying in my memory of that thing.

I think, therefore I am, Cogito ergo Sumu?

I doubt it all, but I don't doubt myself for doubting it.

Then I have to trust in myself and the path I've taken.

There are a lot of things that bother me, but I'm honestly happy with this fact.

Now, the only thing left to do is to erase the rubbish in front of me.

It's a good opportunity. Let's try various things.

"Ha! You're doing your best, aren't you? But hey, I can still get it out!"

The thing scatters the root mass again to create a regenerative monster again.

I have a rough idea of how to create a reanimated monster.

This place called Hengoku is probably made of something like souls.

In short, it is no ordinary object.

The basis is those zombies.

No wonder I didn't get any memories when I ate them, because I didn't have any in the first place.

Energy efficient?

Of course not. It's a mass of energy, like a soul. They must be highly nutritious.

They're like the digestive organs of this world, springing up to digest foreign substances that have wandered in like us.

I don't know why they're in human form, but it's the only conclusion that makes sense with the information I have.

Whether it is aware of this or not, the thing is spreading its roots around, focusing on the characteristics.

The scattered roots do their best to absorb the energy of their surroundings and build up their bodies.

After that, the appearance and abilities pulled from memory are applied, and the reborn monster is complete.

...but there seemed to be a limit to the amount that could be allocated, and the quality, which is crucial, seems to have dropped drastically.

Well, I have no intention of imitating them.

Now, let's finish off those in front of me.

Overwhelming individuals against the numbers. There is no need to stick to the human form.

The unconscious brake is gone.

It is probably because of that that I stubbornly kept the human form except when I was not forced to do so.

It is an unconscious fear of deviating from the human form.

...Well, that disappeared just now.

The first step was to reconfigure the lower half of my body. With the change, the coat around my waist comes off.

The two legs become multi-legged, reminiscent of insects.

The hundred legs of the left arm move to the waist.

The surface of the body is a sturdy shell.

The upper half of the body is slightly enlarged so that it can efficiently reap enemies while maintaining its humanoid form.

It has a total of six demon eyes of various types and demonic origin.

The completed body is, to put it mildly, a monster.

The total length is about five metres.

That's enough.

Now let's continue to optimise it as I use it.

"It's disgusting, you monster! Get rid of it!"

That thing is screaming at me up there.

If you have a problem with it, come on down.

Well, that's all right. Let's get started.

The hundred-legged one at the waist rushes in with a gaping mouth, slashing at the nearest enemy with its feet from one end to the other, and corroding them with the dissolving fluid it spits out.

I, the main body, run around in the wilderness, moving my legs at high speed, tearing people I pass with my arms, skewering them with my legs, weathering them with my magic eye, burning them with my magic, and making use of all the attacking methods I can think of to make them bleed one after another.

The odd number of Heidi and Fatima must be that guy's hobby.

They're fakes anyway, and I don't mind killing them at all.

Ha ha. Fakes should die quickly.

The enemies destroyed will be burnt or weathered and thoroughly crushed.

Once the meat and roots have been contaminated by that thing, I have no desire to absorb them again.

It would also be a nuisance if they were to resurrect.

You will disappear here without a trace.

A few more small fry jump at me.

Are you trying to force me to stop them? It's useless.

I rotate my upper body 360 and shake them off while slashing and chopping.

I think of my body as a body, so my movements are restricted.

Then, if I remold my body in a form that follows the movements I want to make, it will naturally take an efficient form.

Ha ha.

I notice that all the small fish have been wiped out. I look up and the thing is twitching its face.

I flex my many legs and leap.

I kick in the air and leap further.

"Hih!"

I extend my hundred legs at the waist and slam it down.

The thing, which is standing on a stick in the air, takes a decent hit and falls to the ground.

It hits the ground and bounces and rolls a few times.

I kicked it further in the air and gave chase.

The thing sees this and, with a look of horror on its face, turns away and starts to run.

"Oh, you guys! Protect me!"

The thing spawns more small fry and lets them get in between, but I swing my hundred feet and reap them.

Well, it's a development that's too predictable to be a surprise.

And you can guess why I was stomping around behind the mooks, can't you?

I know you too well, you know.

You successfully took my body from me, and then, feeling good about it, you tried to get rid of me.

So far, so good.

But the only and biggest miscalculation for that thing is that it's pain-sensing.

If you think about it calmly, we're completely fused.

It's no wonder I can feel pain.

The only reason I didn't notice it before was simply because I was insensitive.

...I'm sure you've been put off by the unexpected pain, right?

The rest is easy to understand.

You don't like pain, so you made your men fight, and the reason you didn't touch me is because you were afraid the point of contention would be directed at you.

How can you say whatever you want like that?

Err?

Buy a slave in need and have a harem party?

Ha-ha-ha. What's the fun in having a dead-eyed woman as your lady-in-waiting?

In the first place, when you call it a harem, you're being self-centred.

Showing power and authority?

What are you talking about with a mentality that runs away at the slightest punch?

You should know your place.

Territorial development with modern knowledge?

Do you have the knowledge to develop your territory?

At least get to a student level of education before you start talking about it.

To put it bluntly, the spider monster you called trash was much better than you because it was moving on its own.

Or rather, it's as if you were calling yourself less than rubbish.

Are you an idiot?

...You're finished.

"Hi! Ku, don't come!"

He tries to escape by crawling on the ground, but I stretch out my hundred legs and hold him down.

"Hey, wait! Wait! Hey, I'm sorry. We're the same in the first place, so let's get along from now on. You won, so I'll follow your instructions. Hey! Not a bad deal, right? We're the same on the inside, but we have the same specs. We're useful! So, you know?"

I cover my face with my hands and look up to the heavens.

I can't help it.

"For God's sake, just go away already. I can't bear to watch."

I pick up the club monster, which seems to have been taken off me when I fell over, approach it and slowly lift it up - and then.

"Hey! Wait! We've come to another world! You can have fun with it! We have special powers..."

- - swung down.

The shattered head scatters.

The remaining torso twitches and moves to regenerate, but its movements are feeble.

The movement of the roots is uncontrolled. It appears that the main body has been crushed.

The remaining torso is magically disposed of, and the remains of the small fish are disposed of in the same way.

I exhale after thoroughly scrutinising my own body and confirming that the remnants of the guy are completely gone.

It was something that had been bothering me for a long time, but when it was over, I was stunned.

Gaze blankly at the area where the person who was me, who had been erased, was located.

"............... heh."

What came out of my mouth was a sneer.