## Chapter 156 – A Will to Resist
– Kkyuiiiiiing!!
I went to greet Vivian and the kids upon hearing news of their return from scouting. I found them emerging from the mouth of a giant Kernel Worm that protruded from one of the Kernel Worm platforms on the fourth basement floor.
I had been helping them through the spiders since about halfway through, already aware of what had happened. I was worried that one of them might have gotten hurt.
“I’m back…”
Vivian, having spotted the tentacle dangling from the ceiling, scurried over and hugged me tightly, her voice whispering softly into the tentacle.
“I’m back too!!”
“Master!! I missed you!!”
Lanie and Aurora, who were with her, rushed over and hugged the tentacle, showering it with kisses.
The tentacle, swaying under the weight of the three women, collapsed to the floor, squashing beneath them like a cushion.
‘I guess I don’t have to worry after all……?’
After that intense reunion, I faced the rest of the group who had returned with them, offering a slightly awkward greeting.
‘It’s been a while.’
“…… It’s been… a while……”
‘You must have suffered a lot outside.
The kids have lost too much weight.’
Vivian had retrieved Pina, who was about to start working at the brothel, and all the children she had been hiding, bringing them back to the lair.
“I’m sorry…… I can’t…
survive out there on my own……”
‘If you did all you could, there’s nothing to be done.’
I had heard about what happened beforehand, so I was able to welcome her back.
Pina was one of the few who could communicate with me directly, so I was relieved that she had returned.
“Lady Rhea sacrificed herself to save us……
But we couldn’t even escape properly… sob… ”
Pina started to cry, and the beastkin girls hugged her tightly, trying to comfort her.
But it seemed like there was some misunderstanding, so I couldn’t help but say something to her.
‘Rhea is here, though?’
“Hic… Huhu…? What……?”
‘That lady is inside here, I’m telling you?’
Pina, who had been crying, stopped immediately and looked at me with wide eyes, as if I were some nagging old woman who would give you cancer.
“What… did you say…? Is… is that…
really… true…!! Huhu!!
She fell from the wall… and was captured again…!!
But she’s really here……?!”
She stuttered as she stumbled over and grabbed the tentacle, shaking it. I was about to answer when.
“Yes, I am here.”
Rhea’s voice came from the fourth basement floor. Pina’s head snapped in the direction of the sound.
Rhea, who had apparently come out of her spiderweb house, was walking towards them, her footsteps clicking. She glared at Pina with a stern expression.
“Fool… I went through so much to send you out……
Only for you… to come back here on your own……?”
“Hic… Huhu… I’m sorry… I’m sorry……”
“Now you’ve been captured again…
I don’t know anything anymore……”
Rhea stood in front of her, looking down at Pina and scolding her in a sulky voice.
Her voice and expression sounded like she was blaming Pina, but I could sense the emotions hidden within, so I felt awkward about interfering.
The two met as predator and prey.
But whatever had happened, they had become people who could secretly wish for each other’s safety.
Pina was clinging to one of Rhea’s long, black legs without realizing it.
And Rhea’s eyes, which Pina probably couldn’t see because she was too short, were glistening with moisture.
“Unnie!!”
“Waaah!!”
The children ran to Rhea and clung to her legs, startling her. Pina, who had been crying, burst out laughing.
I decided not to disturb their reunion, leaving Aurora and Lanie to guide Pina and the children. I started to stroll through the fourth floor with Vivian, who followed beside me.
I hadn’t been watching them all the time, so Vivian began to explain what had happened.
“Things seem to be working out better than I thought.
I made contact with a cartel in the back alleys.
I need to keep an eye on them, but I think I scored some points.”
‘It could be dangerous to show yourself and move around.’
“I changed my appearance temporarily.
It could be a problem if I revealed my original face…
But I don’t think I’ll be exposed like this.”
I was drawing letters on her palm when I noticed a scratch on her arm and some swelling.
“Ah…… this…”
Maybe she got scratched while arguing with the minotaur.
Or maybe she strained herself trying to subdue him.
I knew what she had done for me, what she had gone through.
“It’s nothing. It’ll heal soon.
I know you’ll heal it. Right?”
I gently licked her arm with my tentacle. Soon, the scratch disappeared without a trace, and the swelling went down. Vivian smiled at me.
“Thank you. It doesn’t hurt at all anymore.”
‘Still… it’s dangerous.’
“You don’t have to worry.
I was prepared for this…”
Vivian smiled brightly, her hands behind her back as she walked. Her smile seemed to be etched into my memory.
“I’m not worried either.
Because you’ll heal me like this when I come back.
So… I’m not scared at all…”
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Maybe I was being complacent.
As a human who had lived in the peaceful 21st century.
Had I forgotten how reforms had historically taken place?
‘People get hurt. I forgot that…’
Every transformation involves bloody wars and struggles that leave only victims.
Didn’t I get hurt fighting Rhea myself?
Of course, my pain was quite mild compared to the injuries, and I could regenerate easily, so it didn’t matter.
And my fight was for myself, wasn’t it?
If I wanted to survive, I had to fight myself, and getting hurt was a natural consequence.
‘But……’
In this world where people wield swords and use magic for battle, why had I forgotten that these women, who said they would give me the world and fight with me, could get seriously hurt?
‘I need a plan. To prevent them from getting hurt……
No… at least to keep their lives out of danger…’
I summoned the lair’s engineers, the Parasites, and began to gather the ideas that surfaced in my mind, injecting them into the Parasites.
The Parasites, receiving my thoughts and hopes, gestured and gesticulated among themselves.
‘I have to protect them. So they don’t get hurt.’
It was probably a vague order.
Even as a company employee, if a client gave me such an ambiguous order, I would have wanted to grab them by the collar.
‘But somehow… I don’t have no idea how to do it……’
Since I had become Enic, many things had changed within me.
Was it because my body had changed?
Just as I knew what I could do when I was human.
What I, as Enic, could do was becoming clearer over time.
What I was trying to do, at least what I ‘had to’ do now, was not.
‘I am Enic.’
A being that lusts after and exploits females, not a being that protects them.
The Parasites seemed confused and disoriented by my actions, which were trying to reverse Enic’s ruthless instincts and exploitative nature.
‘Let’s make something like that.’
If what I had done so far was just ‘what Enic can do,’ I was going to create a new evolutionary process according to my will for the first time.
Just like Pina and Rhea could be together, defying the destiny of the food chain.
‘I have to try everything I can.
Using everything I can.’
Even if I couldn’t walk someone’s thorny path for them, I could walk with them.
With the heart to walk together on the thorny path she was about to walk, I began to present more concrete plans to the Parasites.
My mind was filled with excitement for the unknown, and a new spirit of challenge that I had never felt so desperately before.
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