Chapter 639 – 639. Breeding Catastrophe (4)
The inside of the burrow reminiscent of a spawning ground.
“Woo-wook… !”
Seeing the scene, Delia couldn’t overcome her disgust and poured out her gastric juices.
Rio Delia and Cha Han-sung didn’t show as much reaction as Delia, but her stiff reaction made her feel the seriousness of her situation as much as she did.
Of the four, Eun-hyeon was the only one who looked around and grasped the situation.
“Ah… Eww…”
Dilated pupils and slurred speech.
Compared to the convex abdomen, the overall appearance was very dry.
The impression frowns at the deformed state as if all the nutrients inside the body are concentrated in the abdomen.
“…”
Eunhyun continued to observe naked women with convex abdomens like pregnant women.
She found equipment strewn among eggshells nearby.
Equipment in a severely damaged state was stained with the bodily fluids of monsters.
Eunhyun looked at the equipment and guessed the identity of the women.
“… Are they adventurers?”
And it’s not just adventurers.
The dozens of women scattered around could not be explained only by the number of missing female adventurers.
Perhaps the territory of Tyrnis, or a small village nearby.
Or, more likely, merchants.
There is no other way to explain that only adventurers’ damages were reported, other than that they were lucky.
In general, it is very rare for merchants and small villages to meet a terrible end by being attacked by bandits or demons.
But it’s not something that can happen at all.
“Didn’t you kill them all?”
Before going under the sinkhole of the huge pit, Riod recalled the corpses of a male adventurer party found by Eunhyeon and Erin.
“Because I didn’t have to.”
Responding to his answer, Eunhyeon pointed her finger at one corner of the ant nest.
There, along with eggshells, dirty white corpses were piled up.
Riod and Cha Han-seong observed the number, size, and equipment of the white bones and realized that the bodies were all male.
All the men were killed and eaten, and the reason why only the women were spared can be easily guessed without asking.
“Conceived… Is it for?”
Conception (受胎).
The act of carrying a child in the womb.
Cha Han-sung’s voice trembled as he spoke the words.
Cha Hanseong frowned.
This sight is so repulsive and stirs up nausea.
“… I guess so.”
When Eunhyun nodded, Leo also looked at the serious level of the cave and frowned.
This is because I realized why the grasshoppers I met in the ant nest were based on human figures.
The fetus created by forcibly mating with a human woman is the result of being active in the ant nest.
“This… Is this possible?”
Cha Han-seong asked Eun-hyeon with an expression of incomprehension.
The naked women who seemed to be in a state of fascination were all insane.
It’s horrifying to see them so lifeless that it wouldn’t be strange even if they died right away.
The question Hansung Cha asked was how a woman’s abdomen can grow as if it is full-term in just one month.
In general, it takes a period of about 40 weeks and 10 months on average for a human woman to have a child in her belly and for the fetus to grow and come out through childbirth.
However, the period from the detection of abnormalities due to the disappearance of the adventurers to the present is about 4 weeks, about 1 month.
It was impossible to understand with Cha Han-sung’s common sense that he gave birth to monsters enough to fill this ant nest with eggshells in a short time of only one-tenth of the time.
“You didn’t have a baby, did you?”
“That…”
Cha Han-seong didn’t understand Eun-hyeon’s brief explanation, but he couldn’t speak anymore.
Hearing the nervous voice for the first time, Cha Hanseong flinched.
It was because he saw Eun-hyeon’s face with an unusual expression.
‘… Are you angry?’
Cha Hanseong made a surprised expression that Eunhyun was showing passionate emotions for the first time.
Eun-hyeon, who always shows a calm and relaxed appearance and skillfully handles any task, is to the point of admiring Cha Han-seong, who is from the same district.
Even when he trained himself with Riod in the forest of elves, and even threw himself into the depths of the anthill to help Riod, he did not lose his cool and made a reasonable judgment even in this isolated situation, he was the first to show his anger. Revealed
He hadn’t seen a man named Eun-hyeon often, and like Eun-hyeon and Riod, even though he wasn’t close to Eun-hyeon, Cha Han-seong, who was from the same district, thought he knew Eun-hyeon quite well.
He was always relaxed, he thought that nothing was impossible for him and he was confident.
No matter how big things happen, he doesn’t get angry and he’s a cool-headed person who manages his emotions well.
But he realized that it was his own illusion.
In Eun-hyeon’s hardened face, the energy flowing from his whole body was very rough, as if representing passionate emotions.
Even indirect contact with a part of that energy makes the skin all over the body tingle to the point that chicken skin appears.
Dangerous.
Cha Han-seong instinctively imprinted it in his mind.
‘If you seriously bump into that person…’
Just imagining it made his heart beat fast and his whole body stiffened.
[… That’s terrible.]
Belldandi, who was beside Eunhyeon, frowned at him and turned his head away from the horror in front of him.
Soon the goddess also noticed the passionate flow of emotions harbored by her own apostle.
[Hey. Calm down.]
“…”
[Hey.]
‘… I know.’
Eunhyeon answered Belldandy’s voice calling her again.
Eun-hyeon, who had countless thoughts running through her head, realized that she couldn’t hide her anger and annoyance, and it was revealed on his face.
‘He looked ugly.’
[Okay. I am…]
Belldandi laughed and shook his head.
However, the smile of the goddess was far from a smile of happiness, relief, or joy.
Rather, her evasions to hide her concern for her own disciple are more her laughter.
[Is the child okay?]
‘… It’s okay.’
It’s a lie.
Belldandi saw through it right away.
But she didn’t bother to point it out.
I can’t help but point out
It was because Eunhyeon was trying hard to endure it.
Belldandi, worried about her Eun Hyun’s condition, held her anxious heart in her heart and watched him.
“Whoa.”
As if trying to ventilate the heavy atmosphere, Riod asked Eunhyeon, who let out a small sigh.
“What do you mean you didn’t have a baby?”
“Literally. It means that I did not give birth to a normal human baby. The seeds that go into women’s stomachs do not belong to humans.”
“Then…”
“It is the seed of a non-human monster. It must be insects, to be exact.”
“Ah…”
Cha Han-sung and Delia sighed lightly.
Come to think of it, the process of childbirth is also different.
The egg shells that fill this ant nest have nothing to do with human childbirth.
If so, it is understandable that the monsters roaming the myriad of ant nests have the characteristics of grasshoppers and other insects in the form of humans.
In particular, the huge monster that the four of them faced, with the upper body of a human woman and the lower body of a spider, was probably a monster born from this egg.
“Because insects have a very short period of time to become adults compared to ordinary humans. Besides, even the number is different.”
I was able to get a rough idea of the identity and purpose of this ant nest, and how many adventurers went missing.
“… Unidentified dungeons weren’t the problem.”
This ant nest dug in the ground is the real cause.
Not just adventurers.
Perhaps the villages around here, or the adventurers or merchants passing by were all targets, and they would have suffered considerable damage.
Human females are kept alive as seeds to give birth to monsters, and males are eaten and nourished.
The monsters that broke out of the shell from the conceived eggs gradually grew and went out, and there is no doubt that they would eat more humans.
“That… It’s a big deal.”
Cha Hanseong recalled the stampede phenomenon that occurred when a large number of magical beasts overflowed in Eunhyeon’s explanation.
The catastrophe and character are similar.
However, the stampede phenomenon is a catastrophe that occurs when the dungeon is not able to attack the dungeon, as the inside of the dungeon is released to the outside when the monster’s capacity exceeds the limit.
On the other hand, no matter how I looked at this ant nest, I couldn’t get rid of the impression that it was ‘made’.
It was more like a malicious and artificial space created by someone through terrible thoughts and ideas.
Fortunately, the monsters born in this anthill found this anthill before they grew up and crawled out.
Eunhyeon slowly walked towards the women spread out on the floor with a stiff face.
A small dagger was clutched in his hand.
Delia, who had emptied her stomach juices and watched Eun-hyeon’s actions in a daze, came to her senses and reacted in surprise.
“Lord, are you trying to kill me!?”
In order to urgently stop Eun-hyeon from acting, Delia called out to Eun-hyeon, raising her body.
“Yes.”
Eunhyun’s answer was short and concise.
How monotonous he was, his voice full of savagery.
When Delia heard Eunhyun’s cold voice, who always smiled and showed a relaxed side, her body shuddered.
“Kko, you don’t have to kill it!”
“No. You must kill them.”
However, Eunhyun’s answer was firm.
Then, with his fingers, he explained while looking at the women who had lost their reason like mutes.
“It’s most efficient to quickly deal with the monsters in those eggs before they come out.”
“That…”
Delia glared at Eunhyun with a shocked expression.
As a woman, she felt anger at the situation they were subjected to, and her sense of justice as a knight was rejected for killing innocent victims.
How could she say that she should be killed so easily?
If efficiency is needed, is it okay to kill people so ruthlessly?
Delia said she couldn’t understand Eun-hyeon’s way of thinking and she didn’t want to empathize.
“How could you say such a thing!?”
“The life force of the whole body is already being used only to conceive monsters. If you go on like this, you will die anyway. And at the end… It will be abandoned like that.”
The skinny corpses of human women, leaving only bones and skin, are a miserable word in front of women who have laid countless eggs of monsters.
Even if they are alive, they are not alive.
Both in the process of raising eggs and in the process of laying eggs, a considerable amount of vitality is quickly consumed and constant pain continues.
“To finish it now is the only salvation that can free them from pain.”
“For you… Blood and tears for you…”
As a person, as a woman, as a knight, when Delia, who couldn’t understand Eun-hyeon’s way of thinking and explanation, couldn’t overcome her passionate emotions and tried to cross her line.
“Stop.”
It was Lyod who dried Delia.
“… I will join you too. I don’t make that burden only on you.”
Riod didn’t say anything and walked beside Eunhyeon and drew his own longsword from his waist.
He was greatly surprised and disappointed that none other than his respectable superior had the same thoughts as Eun-hyeon.
“Captain… !”
“…”
However, Riod did not answer Delia’s call with a stiff face.
“Delia.”
Rather, it is her Cha Han-seong who called her to persuade her.
“Seniors… Please… They’re not guilty of anything. I can’t die here. That… That’s so pitiful please two…”
Even though she begged earnestly, Cha Han-seong also shook her head with her sad face.
“You two know. Perhaps you feel the same way.”
“Then why…”
“This ant nest is very wide. There are probably countless rooms like this. We have no time to delay here.”
If even one monster hatched from another oyster breaks its shell and attacks people, it is the Artia Knights’ mistake.
There was no way Eunhyeon and Riod would not feel anything after killing innocent people.
But nonetheless, this is what you have to do.
Cha Han-seong immediately recognized Eun-hyeon, who put priority on what he had to do while killing his emotions as much as possible.
“… I’m sorry.”
Soon after, Eun-hyeon approached the women with the monster eggs in their stomachs and started talking to them.
Even after hearing Eunhyun’s voice, the women did not show any reaction.
Eunhyeon continued to talk to the women who were spread out on the floor in a daze as if they had lost their souls.
“If only we had figured out the situation sooner… If only I had noticed the existence of this ant nest earlier… Such a catastrophe would not have happened. Come late… Because I couldn’t save you… I’m really sorry.”
Eun-hyeon, who got down on one knee and continued talking, lowered her head.
It was an apology to the women and at the same time a self-reproach blaming herself for not grasping the catastrophe in advance.
If the appearance of this ant nest, the presence of monsters, and this ugly situation full of malice were not his fault, Eun-hyeon felt a deep sense of responsibility for the innocent people who were sacrificed without being able to save them.
“Ah…”
When Delia listened to Eun-hyeon’s words, she realized that she was thinking wrong.
Eun-hyeon did not become numb to killing innocent victims.
He held the nauseous feeling firmly in his chest and desperately endured it.
“Even now… I hope you have a comfortable trip.”
Eun-hyeon slowly thrust daggers into the necks of the women who had the monster eggs in their stomachs and cut off their breath.
There was no hesitation in the action and it was natural.
Cha Han-seong and Delia realized that this was not the first time Eun-hyeon had been through something like this.
How many times
How many times must I go through to act like that?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find an answer.
“Big… Flaw…”
With a dagger blade stuck in her neck, the woman’s head turned belatedly to meet Eunhyeon’s gaze.
The vocal chords where the knife was inserted had already lost their function, but the shape of the woman’s mouth clearly communicated her intentions to Eun-hyeon.
‘Thank you.’
Her voice could not be heard, but Eun-hyun, who confirmed the woman’s heart, closed her eyes tightly while holding the handle of the dagger stuck in her neck with both hands.
In the midst of her unreasonable situation, she was greeted with gratitude for her innocent life that she had taken away.
‘I thought it would be okay.’
It’s still shitty and exhausting.
[Hey…]
Realizing that her heart, which had been recovering little by little lately, had begun to shatter again, Belldandi looked at Eun-hyeon worriedly.
Eun-hyeon stood up and tried to insert the knife into her second woman’s neck as well, but Rio de’s longsword was already stuck in her second woman’s throat.
“… This is how it feels.”
Liod pulled the longsword from the woman’s neck and, like Eunhyeon, muttered softly with a face as if he had bitten an insect.
He also felt like a beggar like Eun-hyeon at taking the life of an innocent person.
“Leod. Are you okay. This is just me…”
“No. I would have said.”
However, Riod refused Eunhyeon’s favor.
“Now I won’t leave you alone with this burden.”
