## Chapter 165 – Birth (2)
Trying to protect something with a body that couldn’t protect itself was more difficult than I had imagined.
It would be nothing but a futile effort to tell someone to fly and have them try a hundred times, wouldn’t it?
But despite that, humans created airplanes and rockets, even sending people into space.
Humans cannot fly. That is an immutable truth.
But humans are beings who know how to cheat better than anyone else.
If they can’t do it themselves, they create something to do it for them, achieving their goals.
And that thing that had been nothing but a curse, exhausting me with loneliness and isolation.
For the first time, I was grateful that I was that kind of human.
‘Development stage?’
– Lower moon. Lower moon.
Additional development period required until the new moon.
Perhaps because they had grown quite a bit, the Parasites were now able to communicate their intentions with short, concise words.
Hearing their answer, which calculated the stage according to the shape of the moon, I sighed inwardly.
If it was the lower moon, roughly 70-80% of the stage between the crescent moon, the starting point, and the new moon, the end, could be calculated numerically.
Of course, from the perspective of someone digging a well because they were thirsty, this level of completion could be considered excellent.
With the immediate situation being urgent, I couldn’t afford to be picky just because it wasn’t 100%.
‘But… it’s still not enough…
At this rate… eventually…’
However, the low level of completion meant that the performance I wanted wouldn’t be achieved.
Even if it went as I wanted, even if it went as I thought, the situation was already incredibly precarious.
But the stiff, eerie voice that followed added a word as if to give me hope.
– Aiming for minimal function maintenance.
Limited activation possible.
‘Okay. Do it for now.’
– Acknowledged. ‘Nemea’ prototype, proceeding to implantation stage.
The Parasites, the owners of the voices, began to roll their bodies sideways like wheels upon hearing my command.
In the direction they were rolling, Laniée was lying on the floor, gasping for breath and shedding tears as if she were about to die at any moment.
Was it because her abnormally swollen belly was preventing even the blood that should have been circulating in her body from flowing properly?
Even her lips were turning blue, and despite her tanned, darkened skin, I could feel her becoming pale.
As I watched Laniée’s precarious state, with her complexion considerably faded, I observed one of the Parasites surrounding her slowly beginning to attach itself to her body.
One might wonder if a C-section could be performed with the Parasites from the start, but the role of the Parasites is the reconstruction of the body, not surgery.
If an arm were to be severed, the Parasites could seal the cut area to stop the bleeding, or they could melt and reattach the severed arm.
But if I were to recklessly melt the cells and open her severely swollen belly, and a rupture occurred that the Parasites couldn’t handle…
If her internal organs were to become a mess and even spill out, it would be a disaster in this den where there wasn’t even a proper doctor.
One Parasite, wriggling and settling between her heavy breasts, on her solar plexus, soon began to adhere to that spot as if it were being absorbed.
Whether she was feeling that sensation or not, Laniée’s expression was contorted.
‘Quickly… quickly…’
How much time had passed?
It couldn’t have been that long, but the fact that it felt like half a day had passed was probably because I was getting impatient.
Unable to wait any longer, I couldn’t bear it and began to extend my tentacles, and at that very moment.
– Implantation complete.
Along with the Parasite rolling down from Laniée’s solar plexus with a short word, I could see something black wriggling in her solar plexus.
‘It’s… done…?’
The smooth appearance, reflecting the surrounding light while embedded in her solar plexus, resembled a beetle, while the wriggling appearance resembled a snail.
That thing, which had been wriggling for a while, began to overflow from Laniée’s solar plexus and spread in all directions, as if pouring more water into a full cup.
As it spread throughout her body, completely surrounding Laniée’s swollen abdomen, groin, and thighs, I could only stare blankly at the scene.
‘It’s done… it’s done…’
The appearance of that being, with its tough elasticity like skin-tight leather and its smooth luster similar to latex, was remarkable.
It slowly began to cover Laniée’s lower abdomen, which had risen to a dangerous level, and embraced it tightly as if compressing it.
As I saw Laniée’s expression gradually becoming more comfortable, I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Her still pale appearance hadn’t changed much, but relieving the pain from her bursting belly was as good as half the problem solved.
From now on, only things that I had to do myself remained.
‘Sorry… it seems like this one…
I still can’t let it be born in the den…’
A new Colony Member that even Laniée, who was accustomed to the birth of Colony Members, couldn’t handle.
There must be another way to handle something like that.
‘Someday, a way will come…
So for now…’
Maybe not right away, maybe not this one in Laniée’s belly right now.
‘If I were to do it, there’s only one way…’
The thought that I might have to resort to abortion, which I had only heard about, was making my worries deepen.
Killing and dismembering a baby, a terrible and inhumane act.
Of course, I wasn’t human anyway, and Colony Members were beings close to tools for my needs, so there was no psychological impact.
However, there was no one to replace Laniée.
Someday, someone to replace her might appear, but at least at this moment, there was only one Laniée.
Besides me, there was someone else who would pretend not to be sad if Laniée died.
‘First… I have to save Laniée.’
The gently raised tentacle slowly began to transform, changing into the shape of a sharp hook.
Although I didn’t have specialized knowledge in this area, I was confident that I could do it because of the advantage of being able to look inside through the tentacle.
If I could do it as carefully as possible, I could end it without Laniée getting hurt.
“Ah… euheuk… Aah!!
Don’t… do it…”
Laniée, who had regained consciousness as the pain subsided, shook her head with a sad expression, wondering what she was thinking as she looked at the tentacle.
But unfortunately, I couldn’t do anything that was beyond my ability.
And that ability may have included the feeling that I couldn’t prioritize Colony Members over the life of Laniée, who clung to me affectionately and craved affection and attention.
That may have been the conclusion I had reached.
Vivian would have made the same choice even if she had gone through the same thing, and perhaps Carla and Yui too.
Maybe, just maybe, I would have thought the same about Aurora or the Suin females.
No human could value someone else more than themselves.
But if I could save the relationships that were responsible for one axis of my new life by offering a price less than my own life?
‘I don’t think I need to worry about that kind of thing anymore.’
Following Laniée’s belly, which was covered with a pitch-black membrane, I slowly swept down the hook-shaped tentacle and began to slowly insert the tentacle through her open vulva.
“I… can… do it…!!
So… please…!!”
Normally, she would have struggled to get closer, but now Laniée was trying to escape from me in any way she could.
Her movements, writhing her body, were already completely blocked by the tentacles that were binding her limbs.
Was she guessing that something bad would happen to the being she was carrying in her belly?
Knowing that she was not enough, Laniée’s cries, trying to force herself, echoed in the den.
“Aheuheuk…!! Don’t… do it…!!
You… promised… to name… it… Heuk…!!”
At that moment, my tentacle, which had been shaken by her cry, stopped as it touched the cervix.
And perhaps it was because I was careless at that timing.
Dangerously, her actions of forcibly straining her belly caused the gap in the cervix where the tentacle was about to enter to be completely blocked.
As a result, I had no choice but to pull the hook tentacle out, and I looked at Laniée with a bewildered feeling.
‘At this rate, both of us are in danger…’
“I’ll… try…!! I’ll try…!!
Euheuk…!! Aah… Aah…!!!!”
Her eyes, filled with tears, were wide open and bloodshot.
At the same time, blood was pouring out of Laniée’s vulva, who was screaming as if she were being torn apart by the unbearable pain.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!! Aaaaaaaa!!
Aaaaaaaak!! Aeuheugeueheu!!”
‘Stop!! Don’t do it…!!’
Even in her unstable state, as if she were about to roll her eyes back, I could only silently dissuade her or cheer her on in my heart.
But perhaps it was because I knew that it was impossible for something that had grown so large that it made Laniée’s slender belly swell as much as a mountain, not just a normal pregnancy, to come out of the vulva in a normal way.
I was just hoping that she would give up quickly.
Until that very thing happened.
‘She’s… enduring…?’
Is it even possible for a human body to do such a bizarre thing?
‘It’s stretching…
Clearly… this is really…’
Although the bleeding was severe, her body was clearly stretching like an elastic rubber band.
‘This… really…?’
Her vulva, which had been steadily widened as if someone had planted a large log in that spot, was gradually widening.
And inside, the cervix, which had also been gradually widened, was now showing a size that could probably fit a soccer ball.
And it seemed that the black membrane that had spread to the vaginal wall, as if supporting it so that the flesh would not tear, was finally doing its job.
‘Nemea is working…
It’s functioning properly…
No… this is beyond expectations…!!’
The situation was still urgent to be happy, so I took the opportunity to quickly insert the tentacle into her widened vulva.
Then, the thick amniotic sac, which was finally showing its face outside the greatly widened cervix, was revealed.
‘This… this was the problem…
This is… an egg…?’
It was different from the egg surrounded by a hard shell that is commonly thought of, but it was also an unknown existence that did not look like a normal amniotic sac.
The amniotic sac, which was so thick that it was difficult to tear easily, no matter what it was for, could be seen as an egg itself.
Then, what was inside that egg must be truly important.
‘Quickly…!!’
When I quickly tore the amniotic sac with the tentacle, the excessive amount of amniotic fluid that had caused Laniée’s belly to swell began to burst out in an instant.
Laniée’s abdomen, which had been gradually returning to its normal size, was now pouring out amniotic fluid as if water was gushing out of a hose.
At the same time, as the cervix and vulva were also gradually closing, I quickly snatched the torn amniotic sac, which was the source of this tough and tenacious situation, and carefully began to pull it out.
After finally pulling it out completely with the trembling tentacle, I roughly threw it aside and was able to quickly cling to Laniée.
‘Laniée, you really did it…!!
So please come to your senses…!!’
I was blocking and treating the wound where Laniée’s blood was flowing out with the tentacle, and applying mucus to the vulva and cervix that were about to become tattered.
Although there was a new development, it was only a temporary measure.
Thanks to that, she didn’t die, but it was inevitable that her body was actually damaged a lot.
“Ra… Wool… ia…?
Or… is it… Reu… Neya…?”
Laniée, who dropped a tear of relief and was exhausted, fell into a deep sleep with just a silly joke.
I was watching her breath, which had been weak, gradually becoming stable, with a trembling heart until the end.
After watching her condition, which had been restless and worried, improve considerably, I was finally able to let out a sigh of relief with difficulty.
‘Let’s not do this again…
I thought it was really over…’
After wiping the sweat from Laniée’s forehead, who was sound asleep, and laying her on a particularly soft and squishy tentacle bed so that she could rest comfortably.
After everything was finished, I was finally able to turn the tentacle towards the source of this incident.
Perhaps it was because it was the guy who had caused me such a hard time, my annoyance and anticipation were doubled.
I gently lifted the amniotic sac, where that guy was still wriggling inside, and began to complain.
Looking inside the amniotic sac, I was speechless at the sight of the existence I found inside.
‘What the hell are you…!!
Eh…? Eeh…? Eeeh…?’
