Chapter 285:

There was an old movie I once watched.

It was a thriller with the premise that beneath the Earth’s surface, there were human replicas identical to those on the surface.

The encounter between surface-dwelling humans and their underground duplicates did not end well. It was like the doppelganger legend, where meeting someone who looks just like you spells death.

That’s exactly the situation I find myself in now.

The man before me screamed in terror. He was the ‘me’ from when I was still human.

‘...First, I need to try talking.’

I mimicked a human voice using my mimicry organ to calm him down.

But the sound that came from my mouth was nothing like I expected.

「Grrrr?」

‘What?’

A beastly growl escaped from my maw, sharp fangs protruding. It must have seemed like a threat because ‘I’ gasped.

‘Why isn’t my trait activating?’

Was it because this was an illusion? Or because my body was in the middle of metamorphosis within a cocoon? The mimicry organ wasn’t functioning at all.

On top of that, my body was currently only the size of a human. I’d been able to fit into this cramped studio apartment only because I had shrunk.

Perhaps taking my confusion as an opportunity, the other ‘me’ kicked my head.

「Grk?!」

‘Ugh?!’

If I were in my original form, I wouldn’t have even flinched, but now it was different. A searing pain surged through my head as if I’d been hit by a main cannon from a battleship.

Reeling from the unexpected agony, I stumbled and fell onto the desk where a computer was placed. While I was down, ‘I’ dashed out of the apartment.

‘What’s happening?’

I rubbed my head with my winged arms to dull the pain.

‘This isn’t an illusion?’

The throbbing in my head, hit by that kick, was proof that this was real. I had never felt such pain during the hallucinations I’d seen in the cocoon before.

As I massaged my head, the pain gradually subsided, but anger began to boil up instead. The urge to smash the computer in front of me and chase down my fleeing prey surged within me.

「Grrrrrr...」

‘...No, calm down.’

I forcefully quelled the quickening rage.

Thinking back, there had been sensory triggers even in my previous illusions. The strong chemical smells I’d encountered in the hospital and those mysterious facilities, for example.

If I could smell, then I could probably feel pain too. I just hadn’t noticed it before because there was no one to attack me then.

The real issue was that the one who first managed to hurt me in this illusion was none other than ‘me’.

‘I have to catch him.’

There was no way the human version of ‘me’ had appeared without reason. To understand why this illusion was happening, I needed him. Even if I couldn’t communicate, I had to capture him and find out.

I stepped out of the apartment to chase the fleeing ‘me’.

A gray hallway and tightly shut doors greeted me.

Just in case, I grabbed the doorknob of the room across from mine, but it wouldn’t open. It wasn’t just locked; it felt as if the doorknob had been attached to a wall.

‘He went for the stairs.’

Unless he entered another apartment, there was only one place he could have gone. Each of my six elongated arms thudded against the hard floor, echoing down the corridor.

As expected, the door leading to the staircase was ajar. Inside, the light from the ceiling illuminated the steps.

‘Did he go this way?’

Given that the sensor light had been triggered, ‘I’ must have gone down the stairs.

As I was about to descend the stairs, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

If that being really was ‘me’, how would I react when faced with an unavoidable monster?

Would I simply run away, terrified as I am now?

Or would I...

‘Behind me!’

“Die!”

The elevator door on the opposite side of the stairwell opened. Without looking back, I quickly ducked my head. A broken mop handle flew past and pierced the carapace at the back of my head.

‘Damn it!’

“Damn it!”

I pulled my head back to conceal it and swung my tail at the enemy. The claw at the tip of my tail swept the dust off the floor as it slashed forward. But by the time my attack failed, ‘I’ had already leapt away.

The clawed tip of my tail passed just under ‘me’ as I hung in the air. The soles of ‘my’ shoes scraped against the claw, making a sharp noise. Evading the low-flying attack by leaping, ‘I’ landed on the opposite staircase and descended.

As ‘my’ figure disappeared, I grabbed the broken mop handle that was still lodged in my head carapace and yanked it out.

The toughest parts of my body were the head carapace, the thorax, and the tail claw—three areas resistant even to battleship cannon fire. Yet this makeshift spear had managed to puncture one.

「Grrrrrrr」

My seething anger reached its breaking point. Before I knew it, I was gnawing on the broken mop handle and spat it out in frustration.

This persistent rage clouding my mind had grown uncontrollable. I wanted nothing more than to catch the other ‘me’ and tear its head apart.

‘Calm down, calm down. Breathe.’

I struggled to suppress my fury, replaying what had just happened.

‘It read my actions.’

Now I was certain. This ‘me’ wasn’t just a visual replica. It thought exactly like me.

‘Me’ had anticipated that I’d check the stairs and had hidden in the elevator for an ambush. If I had been human and encountered an Amorph in real life, I would have acted just like that.

Because I, the human version of ‘me’, knew exactly what an Amorph was. Amorphs, by nature, were flesh-eating monsters that couldn’t be reasoned or negotiated with. Fleeing from one wasn’t an easy task, and I knew it.

‘This isn’t right. I need to talk.’

Grabbing the flailing ‘me’ with my winged arms, I wiped his blood away with the small arms on my chest. Then, I wrote on the ground.

“What, what is it?”

‘Conversation.’ The two characters caused ‘me’ to tremble. But soon, he started squawking.

“C-cock! Lies! What conversation can an Amorph have? There’s a monster here! Someone, please help me!”

I felt irritation welling up inside me again, but I suppressed my emotions forcefully. I was careful not to apply too much strength, fearing it might cause him pain.

With persistence, I continued writing. I aimed to convey that I had no intention of harming ‘myself.’

After a few minutes had passed, ‘I’ had calmed down.

‘Is this the real me now?’

I posed the question to the bowed figure before me.

Who are you?

“Who am I?”

Seeing this, ‘I’ lifted my head.

“You idiot. You should know that better than anyone!”

‘What?’

His blood-soaked face held no expression.

Finally, it seemed he was programmed to replay emotions, as he raised the corners of his mouth mockingly.

“Does it seem like you’re carrying all the misfortune of the world? How many people are suffering out there? You’re just trash. What? Because of a little burn? Do you need family? You’re the one who abandoned your devoted parents.”

Hearing those words, I felt strength leave my winged arms.

Now freed, he stood in place like a marionette dangling from a string.

“Do you like monsters? The only reason you like them is because kids tease you, calling you a monster. ‘Since you guys teased me, I’ll become a real monster.’ Isn’t that it?”

「Grrrrrrr」

“Your taste—if it can even be called that—is nothing more than a pathetic act of self-gratification.”

He berated me while picking up the axe that had fallen in the corridor.

“Your reason for getting lost in games? It’s the same. You’re just escaping reality because you can’t overcome it. Even now, you’re killing people in that world with the same emotions as a game. That’s why you can’t even kill the ‘real me.’ You’re scared it might become true murder.”

He raised both hands gripping the axe high. The blade gleamed coldly, reflecting the light from the overhead lamp.

“Though you’re a pathetic fool, I’m also ‘you.’ I’ll help you. To help you survive reality.”

「.......」

“Then goodbye, coward.”

With his parting words, blood splattered in the corridor. The intense pain made my body involuntarily curl up.

The axe blade lodged in my ‘winged arm’ hurt quite a bit.

“You...?”

[ZZZ ZZZ ZZZZ ZZZ ZZZZ ZZ (You’re not entirely wrong. Except for two things.)]

My monster’s tentacles quivered as they conveyed my intentions. After all, he was human, so he wouldn’t understand my waves, but that didn’t matter.

I seized his wrist with my other arm.

[ZZ ZZZZZZ ZZ ZZ ZZZ ZZZ ZZZZ ZZ ZZZ ZZZ (I cherish every experience I’ve had in ‘that world.’ It’s not an escape.)]

At first, it may have been so.

Out of the threat to my life, I made excuses about wanting to return to reality. But somewhere deep in my heart, I had taken the ‘world of space survival’ as my refuge.

But that is no longer the case. If you were to ask me now whether ‘that world’ is still a refuge, I could firmly deny it.

When I reach ascension, I might have to part ways with the kids. Or I could lose them before I even get there. Perhaps I’ll end up fighting another ranked player and be defeated, or I could die fighting a formidable foe before achieving the necessary conditions.

Even so, I don’t consider the experiences I’ve shared with them to be worthless. No matter how my journey ends, I want to help them live happy lives.

So until then, I absolutely cannot die, no matter what happens.

‘And...’

The reason I won’t kill ‘myself’ here isn’t simply because I fear murder.

[ZZ ZZZZZ ZZZZ ZZZZ (It’s because I’ve determined that you are needed.)]

“You bastard! Let go!”

[ZZ ZZZ ZZZ (You will not kill.)]

Until I determine what this illusion wants from me, ‘I’ will not die. I will simply remain subdued by the Amorph.

Though the one I have grasped flailed about with a demonic expression, it was impossible to escape the Amorph’s grasp.

“You fool! There’s no time for this! Just kill me! Or I’ll die on my own...?!”

Spouting incomprehensible words, he stiffened as if paralyzed. Then, he began to convulse violently. As he trembled, the colors of the corridor around us blurred.

‘Is space disappearing?’

It seems my evolution has completed outside, in reality.

The body of ‘myself,’ held in my grasp, also became indistinct, just like the corridor. The face that had been twisted in a grimace just moments ago was now devoid of expression.

“오■ ■생, ■수■체∫∫⫱⪿....”

Leaving behind these unintelligible words, he vanished.

As ‘I’ disappeared, my senses too were engulfed in darkness.

After a brief slumber, I awakened, submerged in sticky mucus.

Reaching out to tear the cocoon apart, I saw a familiar pink body.

「Hello, Big One!」

Number 26, who had waited beside me until my growth was complete, welcomed me.

A new family embraced me.