Chapter 96
Episode 96 - Evolution, Not Corruption (4)
When Kang Do-Yeon began causing chaos.
Reina, who had recovered her body using the power of the Infection Fungus, ran wildly to escape the area.
'You want revenge, don't you?'
'I'll show you how.'
'I'll show you now.'
"Ugh... Aaaah!"
Running on trembling legs, she grabbed her head and screamed, tears streaming down her face. She could not reject the powerful mental interference that directly struck her already dominated brain.
While fleeing with others, she collapsed to the ground, convulsing and rolling her eyes back.
In her eyes at that moment, part of the mind of Eve, the Hive Mind of the Legion, was being shared.
It was something Eve had never done to Kang Do-Yeon. After all, the level of information was not something a human brain could accept.
Although it carried the risk of completely destroying her ego, Eve wanted to show Reina something, even if it meant taking that risk.
"Hah..."
Reina, barely regaining her senses, panted heavily. The people around her were still too busy running or panicking to pay her any attention.
What she saw was part of the Legion itself. Her trembling face turned pale.
"They can never win..."
At the same time, a sense of fear surged within her. The fragments shown through Eve's Hive Mind revealed everything—the Legion's power, which had completely Nestified the remote outskirts, and the extent of its explosive strength.
The endlessly sprawling Nests, the countless Legion Soldiers.
'Join us.'
At that moment, a fatal whisper echoed in the mind of the trembling Reina.
Her trembling gradually subsided.
'We know the hatred you harbor.'
'We also know the potential you possess.'
'And we know what you need.'
"What I... need..."
Reina tightly grasped the stone ground. Her pale, slender hand bore no wounds, and the nails that had been torn out and broken had already regenerated.
'All you need is that will and hatred. The Legion lacks only that. Everything else you are missing—we can provide it all.'
"Everything..."
Reina rose to her feet once again. Her heart was still burning with rage—against the rotten beings who had taken even her last chance.
'Do not hesitate. This is not corruption. You will now evolve and show them what true magic is, cast by this vast neural network.'
The final words drove the nail in. Reina's gaze, as she lifted her head again, no longer wavered.
She quickly moved her steps and left the city. Thanks to the chaos, there was no interference, as she had hoped.
She then hid nearby, watching the turmoil in Menas until Kang Do-Yeon came to pick her up.
"Fools."
She cursed them with genuine scorn as she watched.
Those who had acted so arrogantly toward her now seemed so pitiful and foolish, helplessly flailing about.
"Ahaha!"
And when she heard faint screams and saw a large explosion, she laughed in delight. To Reina, they were no longer her kin.
They were her enemies, the defeated ones who deserved to be weeded out.
Thus, when Kang Do-Yeon flew to her, extending a monstrous hand, she no longer felt fear.
"Are you like me? Disappointed and angry, have you given up on everything? Is that why you became one?"
She grabbed the hand and muttered vacantly.
"Once."
Kang Do-Yeon, who had only removed the mask covering her mouth, gave a single reply and grabbed Reina's hand, soaring into the sky in an instant.
"Welcome."
"This... this can't be..."
It was late evening when Kang Do-Yeon returned with Reina.
Reina was shocked twice—once by Kang Do-Yeon's face as she removed her mask and again by Eve's face, who was waiting with her mask off.
"You already know everything, don't you? Do you see that puddle? Enter it yourself. Then... you will become 'one' with us and lead the vanguard to kill the Mages."
Eve pointed to a mucus puddle in one corner of the Nest, directing the frozen Reina. It was a puddle where the Legion's Omnipotent Cells were infinitely cultivated, meant to decompose and reconstruct her body while preserving her ego, making her a complete part of the Legion.
Reina's eyes wavered. She couldn't fully understand, but she could tell it was akin to sacrificing her life.
"...I'll do it."
"Good."
Eve raised the corners of her lips in satisfaction at the faintly trembling voice. From the start, the experiment would be meaningless without voluntary participation.
Following the instructions, Reina removed all her clothes and began immersing herself in the rippling mucus puddle.
"Ah, it's not... nothing..."
At the strange sensation, Reina turned around in surprise.
In that moment, she lost her balance and fell into the puddle with a splash.
"Gah..."
Instinctively trying to flail and struggle, she was horrified. Her legs, which had been submerged in the mucus, had completely disappeared.
In the end, she was helplessly submerged in the mucus.
Her trembling hands, flailing in the air, were the last to disappear into the mucus.
"It's the same as needing to digest her first."
"...Don't tell me, me too?"
At Eve's nonchalant remark, Kang Do-Yeon grimaced, pointing alternately at herself and Reina.
The puddle containing Reina began to tremble, and the Flesh Wall moved to envelop it.
The form, mimicking a human womb, was identical to the Nest Kang Do-Yeon had torn her way out of.
"Once the Second Commander of the Legion is born, we will immediately execute the operation."
"...If the birth is successful, that is."
Kang Do-Yeon frowned as she looked at the writhing pink Flesh Wall.
She knew better than anyone. Becoming one with the Legion ultimately meant being reborn.
Enduring the sense of dissonance emanating from every single cell in her body being replaced was no easy feat.
If one couldn't endure that dissonance, they would go mad, and their ego would collapse. In such a case, the Commander of the Legion Eve desired would not emerge.
"That's why, paradoxically, I believe only humans can become our Commanders. They are beings who can extract indomitable will while defining their existence flexibly, without unnecessary pride."
Eve murmured as she gently stroked the vibrating Flesh Wall.
Eve believed Reina could endure. Kang Do-Yeon did not deny it. She already knew how steadfast Reina's mental strength was.
"The plan?"
"A full-scale offensive."
A map unfolded in Eve's mind. An aerial map, detailed down to the destination of Menas, created using the Flying Species.
"From here to the southwest, there are 621 major cities and approximately 2,800 small and large villages. The estimated human population is over 150 million."
Eve listed the calculated figures. The appearances of countless cities preparing their defenses were visible.
Of course, from Eve's perspective, the defensive postures they had prepared were beyond laughable—they were disappointing.
"Attack them all at once. For maximum efficiency, finish it quickly before humans from other regions can arrive to support."
The Legion possessed overwhelming power. And it could control all of that power simultaneously.
There was no reason not to operate it all at once. To swallow them whole before the enemies even had time to react.
"You depart first. The detailed plans have already been transmitted to your brain. Your junior will be deployed immediately upon completion. It feels good. She's growing very well."
"...Fine, I got it."
After receiving nutrients and fully recharging her Core Engine, Kang Do-Yeon let out a small sigh and rose from her seat again.
With nutrients, the Legion never stops. It can march and fight at any time.
Kang Do-Yeon's mission was to capture a city to serve as an interim base.
The troops assigned to her had already departed for that location long ago.
"Once we establish a Base Nest there, I'll let you rest while defending it."
"...Thanks for the consideration. That must have been your brother's order, right?"
Just before leaving, she smirked at Eve's words.
Eve affirmed through the Hive Mind. This special body made of the Legion's Omnipotent Cells does not tire as long as nutrients are supplied. But mental fatigue is a different matter.
It was something Eve could never understand, but Shin Woo, who had been watching all along, had ensured it was taken care of.
*
"Mayor, complaints are growing around here. People are asking how long we need to stay on alert because of these invisible monsters."
"I feel the same. But what can we do about orders?"
At the aide's words, the City Mayor in the office frowned.
The current city was on high alert. The reason was the unidentified monsters that had attacked the nearby regions.
The horrifying accounts from survivors who barely escaped those monsters, which only knew massacre, massacre, and more massacre, and the news that the summoned Defense Forces had been defeated, were certainly not matters to be taken lightly.
However, that was the story back then. It had already been several days since the monsters disappeared entirely, and the continued silence was causing dissatisfaction with the ongoing control measures.
"Mayor! There's a message from the Council!"
"Oh! What does it say? Is it permission to lift the blockade?!"
"Huh? Ah, no. They said to strengthen the vigilance further and prepare for the highest-level response under the guise of wartime measures!"
Another aide, who had rushed in, blinked nervously and held out a crystal sphere in their hand. The mayor, stunned by the shocking content, snatched the crystal sphere and read the official document that had arrived.
"Extremely dangerous and sinister monsters of abyss and darkness, presumed to be the successors of the Demon of Destruction, have crawled out from the Ancient Labyrinth. Therefore, until the army dispatched from the Center arrives, focus on the highest-grade defense measures."
The mayor's hands trembled uncontrollably. The aides could only exchange uneasy glances.
"...Moreover, these monsters astonishingly possess the ability to steal and use allied magic. The magic confirmed so far includes those of the Blakel Academy and Stas Academy. What on earth is this?!"
Holding the now-deactivated communication sphere, the mayor looked at the aides with a dumbfounded expression.
Honestly, the information just delivered through the crystal sphere was beyond common sense.
"Mayor, what about that monstrous creature of enormous size...?"
In the meantime, the aide who had brought the crystal sphere muttered hesitantly while glancing around nervously. Even the testimonies from survivors and Austin about the over-sized species were hard for them to believe.
"D-Don't worry. No matter how large it is, the walls of Herem are taller and sturdier. Besides, the magic-enforced barrier..."
"What is this?! An earthquake?!"
The mayor, wiping away the cold sweat running down their face, was trying hard to regain their composure.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently. And the vibrations grew stronger and stronger.
"...It's coming."
The mayor, sensing something instinctively, let out a sigh without realizing it.
Something massive and colossal was cutting through the ground and approaching precisely toward where they stood.