Lee Han-young placed her hand on my chest, and the trembling ceased.
At that moment, a monster perched at the highest point, its gaze fixed on me with growing wariness, let out a roar that echoed around.
At the threatening warning, I immediately reverted to my monster form and positioned Lee Han-young beneath me.
“A good… kitty… huh, heh heh…”
Perhaps realizing my protective intent toward Lee Han-young, she let out a pitiful voice.
What purpose was there in protecting a dying human, or someone no better than a corpse?
This is my prey. My monster senses tingled and saliva began to flow, stimulated by the appetite for flesh.
But even as feelings of nihilism and the instinct of the monster surged within me, a powerful resistance kept my resolve steady.
“Could we… possibly win…?”
In response to Lee Han-young’s weak mutterings, I surveyed the great wolves looming nearby. Their overwhelming presence was evident; the balance of power was laid bare now that we had both transformed into our monster forms. My instinct was ignited.
This one, as it appears now, is stronger than I am.
Even if only by a little, for a monster, this gap is fatal. There’s no way I could defeat that creature.
[It’s stronger than me.]
“Then… it mustn’t happen… People… too many… got hurt…”
Incompetent as fighters, rescuers with supernormal powers—Lee Han-young, who I’d observed while dealing with monster remains, was a kind person. Disliking seeing people hurt, wanting to rescue as many as possible to inspire hope, using her powers excessively to search thoroughly, corner to corner—all these actions stemmed from her goodwill.
Even if there was a body, she would exert every effort to find it, just in case someone out there might wish for it back.
“Are you… a monster…?”
She nodded slightly, and the wolves, misinterpreting it as a sign of attack, bristled their fur. Memories resurfaced: knowledge forcibly injected, information mumbled by researchers while I was drugged. A lupine monstrosity named Barug, an abomination modeled after Fenrir, the one who swallows the sun. If these entities were ranked as extinction-level, Fenrir must surely deserve its name.
This entity swallows everything; it has the power to engulf the sun.
“Please… fight for us…”
[No, you can’t.]
As if unwilling to allow monsters to harm people, Lee Han-young reached out toward my front paw, her hand outstretched in supplication. I rejected her plea.
[That thing is stronger than me.]
I don’t want to d*e.
My monster instincts had already overtaken my will on this matter.
When there’s no way to win, fleeing is the triumph, survival, and the survivors are the victors. That’s the path to getting stronger.
[I still have so many delicious things I want to try.]
“Ah, heheh… really… ah…”
When I told her why I didn’t want to d*e, Lee Han-young burst out laughing, her face pale. Together with a faint murmur, her eyes closed. Weakly, a voice nearly indistinguishable from her usual tone emerged.
“Even if you ate me, would it not be enough to win?”
I couldn’t answer Lee Han-young’s question. My monster instincts had driven my appetite to its limits, and my saliva was still dripping.
If I ate Lee Han-young, perhaps just that one wolf… Yet, even so, there are still two more wolves.
The moment I considered this, I sensed a powerful superhuman releasing a strong vibration from a distance. A vibration as threatening as a monster’s—perhaps calling to me, revealing its location for a confrontation.
“Come now, or I’ll come to your location and attack.”
The great wolf Barug, irritated by the interruption, growled unpleasantly and signaled to the other two wolves with its jaw. As if to imply that even without them, it could easily deal with me.
Still, it warily monitored its surroundings for potential interference from other heroes.
For Barug, I am merely prey, not even worth guarding against.
Barug’s assumption was correct.
Even now, I cannot defeat Barug.
But if Barug were alone, I could win.
[Then I could win.]
If I ate Lee Han-young, I would triumph.
Upon this cold realization, Lee Han-young chuckled brightly.
“Please… eat me.”
I don’t want humans to d*e.
“Eat me, and win this fight for us.”
And more importantly,
Breaking the plea of a dying human…
‘Help people.’
Is difficult.
[…Just envision it.]
I opened my mouth toward Lee Han-young and ceased resisting my instincts. The research institute that had abducted me, the food the lab technicians fed the other test subjects, the words they spoke to humans.
Experiments aimed at creating powerful monsters.
[Imagine the strongest way to defeat that monster. That’ll become your curse.]
Every monster grows stronger by eating humans— not just their flesh, but their knowledge, thoughts, the image of their despair, and the image of powerful beings…
They consume their hearts.
[I will consume your mind to grow stronger.]
After hearing my explanation, Lee Han-young slowly clasped her hands together.
“A curse… it’s…”
As if in prayer, her hands touched, and the scent grew stronger.
“You… fulfilling my wish by eating it, doesn’t that mean…?”
The appetizing aroma, the heart of a human.
“A wish,” she said softly.
I opened my mouth toward her as we held what would be our final conversation.
“There’s one request… after the battle, please also eat my hands…”
To gain superpowers, one doesn’t need to consume an entire human. Eating a superhero doesn’t grant you the same abilities either, as the origin of their powers lies in the head, not the hands.
But Lee Han-young’s powers were activated through her hands.
Perhaps that indicated her will, that she wanted me to fully absorb all her powers. I found it hard to refuse the determination in Lee Han-young’s clenched hands.
[Promise.]
“Heheh… I wanted to eat some dumplings…”
[We’ll go eat after I’ve eaten you.]
On weekends, together.
That’s a promise.
At my reply, Lee Han-young smiled.
And I…
Tore off Lee Han-young’s head.
The crunching sensation, the powerful taste explosion of a monster, the crunchy texture, the sweet fragrance, the rich taste like bursting chocolate cream. Ah… is this what humans taste like to monsters?
The explosion in my mouth followed soon after.
The address of the dumpling shop we planned to visit together, the shock she felt upon first seeing me, the moment I transformed into a monster, and what came into her mind first.
My form as a human superimposed over the terrifying monster’s appearance, overshadowing concerns about the heroes. The monster’s power tore apart her thoughts entirely.
The potent image, broken down by the monster’s instincts from Lee Han-young’s memory, contained a method to grow stronger.
The direction of evolution, the destination, the strongest monster— the most fearsome opponent, a monster to… the most powerful superhuman…
Yuanna.
An endlessly blazing storm of light.
The strongest being in Lee Han-young’s mind… Yuanna.
Endlessly burning brilliance, a fiery heat.
To oppose a monstrous wolf destined to devour the sun, an image of infinite light blazed brightly…
Of the fiery storm. The inextinguishable bird of fire that burns even d*ath, the phoenix.
And its form rose within me.
“Grrr, OOOOOOOOohhhhh!”
The monster’s core ingested human thoughts, rapidly expanding. The surging power coursing through my body, the omnipotence it conveyed, the pleasure, the urge to destroy.
The ultimate target of all this was the monster before me: Barug.
Becoming a bird of fire, I ascended on thermals and looked down at Barug, who looked startled.
He knew that my momentum had completely changed from just moments earlier. The instinct of monsters in the presence of a superior foe made him retreat step by step.
[Barug… you don’t know yet.]
As Barug fled, I immediately spread my wings in pursuit. Barug ran through the forest of skyscrapers to obstruct my tracking.
The fiery body would likely melt the buildings it touched, though this would slightly hinder my movements.
[Monsters evolve the most when they first consume a human.]
But I passed through the buildings.
The power to freely transverse solid and insubstantial boundaries, the abnormal ability to alter anything my body comes into contact with into a liquid state.
Lee Han-young’s ability, fluidity.
[Human common sense, and… this is monster common sense.]
Was Lee Han-young somehow aware of my monster abilities?
That couldn’t be possible, merely an interesting coincidence.
Ability consumption, endlessly digesting everything—that was me, Experimental Subject No. 111, CXI.
[The weak get eaten by the strong.]
“GROOOAARRRR! KYYYYYYYYAAHHHH!”
Not long after, the captured Barug resisted by biting onto my burning claws. I didn’t dodge but let my body take the hit.
An immense pain, but if three wolves attacked simultaneously, I might have struggled—just one wolf was bearable.
The flames burning the injuries regenerated my body faster than the damage could be inflicted.
[Go ahead, try eating me again.]
The wolf monster Barug, aspiring to be the wolf that devours the sun— but he had not yet become Fenrir.
I can feel it.
The despair of monsters who cannot devour the sun.
[Then… it’s my turn.]
Barug is no longer my enemy, he’s prey.
I stretched my mouth towards Barug. I was already curious about its taste.
The taste of an extinction-level monster.
#
“What in the world is that?!”
“Code Alpha anomaly detected! Shape… z, evolving? I don’t know! It’s not yet at the extinction level!”
The heroes, including Yuanna, suppressing the two disaster-level monsters, were busy exchanging communications at the bizarre sight before them.
Clearly present were Code Alpha and its counterparts, the despair-level monsters according to observed specifications.
Wolf-like heads, Code 0, and the feline predator form of Alpha.
Sudden flames erupted as a fiery bird soared into the sky.
The two disaster-level monsters that previously appeared to be led by Code 0 were now overwhelmed as Alpha’s form shifted and dominated.
A one-sided hunt rather than a fight.
While the monster resisted, flinging its abilities, the firebird tore through everything, eventually reaching the core. Once it reached that point, the wolf stopped moving.
The combat was reminiscent of a meal, taking place at the top of a building within plain sight.
Of the current damage, merely ten buildings were affected— too minor a loss for the presence of two despair-level monsters.
Transforming into a tiger on the building’s rooftop, the fiery cat-like predator leapt down.
Recognizing the fiery tiger’s figure, Yuanna sprang up from her seat.
“Two disaster-level monsters! Rest assured, I’ll take the remaining despair-level one!”
The other two disaster-level monsters had been greatly weakened and could sufficiently be managed by the remaining heroes.
Watching the despair-level monster fall like a blazing comet, Yuanna felt a clear-minded sensation.
“Indeed, it must be an unstable form!”
So perhaps the originally observed Codes 0 and Alpha were a single entity, or this newly emerged wolf was a new species.
An independent unstable-type monster, Code 0—a difficult opponent, but needed to be handled here and now under the heroes’ encirclement.
However, as Yuanna flew towards the monster, a growing sense of strangeness persisted.
Even though the despair-level foe, an adequate prey for filling her belly, had been dealt with, the city seemed unusually intact.
The emergence of a despair-level monster usually left destruction, yet this felt more like a cat casually leaping across fences on a walk.
The thought of Code Alpha blocking her attack in Yuanna’s mind reemerged.
Protecting someone, throwing its body against her attack as if shielding a human.
Could a monster really protect humans?
Impossible, but yet, if such a thing existed…
The monster’s actions wiped away all Yuanna’s thoughts in one moment.
“Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…”
On the ground, the monster was eating a human.
The remains of a woman, her neck severed and lower body missing, leaving only the torso behind.
Her attire bore the insignia of rescue personnel, a superhuman.
Through her superhuman vision, the nametag reading “Lee Han-young” came into focus.
In Yuanna’s mind surfaced the face of the hero she had encountered before.
“You! d*mn… bird… KYYYYYYYYYAAAAAH!”
