Ahahaha…
She laughed.
Hana just laughed.
For the first time, the slimes that had infested Hana’s body realized what it meant for a human to be ‘losing their mind.’
Even with their sanity intact, their reason and intellect were being drained in real time. A horrible retch upturned their insides.
“Hahaha, slimes? Empress? Shia, what do you mean all of a sudden?”
“Hmm, so that’s how it comes out?”
“I don’t quite understand what you’re saying to someone who seems perfectly fine…”
Was she just lucky? Hana, the slime, momentarily lost her grip on her sanity due to Shia’s shocking words. Thanks to that, she could more naturally show human-like reactions.
It was ironic that letting go of her sanity allowed her to display more human traits.
‘Act as if nothing’s wrong. Act as if nothing’s wrong…’
On the surface, Hana pretended to be indifferent, but inside, she felt as if her blood were drying up in real time.
Slimes didn’t have blood, but perhaps because she had become human, the emotional turmoil was much more intense.
However, Hana also knew.
‘If the humans decided to scan our bodies, we would surely be found out…!’
Hana did not know much about the situation outside.
But she had witnessed her mother turn into a horrible, delicious cold noodle before her very eyes, and from the knowledge imprinted in her brain, it was clear that with her mother gone, the 21 S-grade hunters and hundreds of A-grade hunters stationed in the Blood Swamp Dungeon meant the extinction of her kind was just a matter of time.
Hope was already lost to the Blood Slimes. The only reason they could still exist was that they had killed Kim Hana and taken her place.
“Fuhuhu, I see. I see. Since I’m treating you with a smile, do you think you’re an easy target?”
“……..”
Ah, no. I wasn’t thinking that…
“Ahahaha, I can see how that might be the case. I’m the Seongnyeo, after all. I want to forgive everyone as much as possible. Whether you’re a person…”
Or not a person.
“So, where should we start…?”
W-What do you mean by starting…?
“E-eh…!?”
Saying that, Shia gently wrapped her arm around Hana’s shoulder.
As if to say not to go anywhere, Shia’s grip was firm, and although it didn’t seem like she was exerting any force, Hana found herself unable to move from that small touch.
No, even if there was no force at all, Hana wouldn’t have been able to move.
‘W-What? Is she going to torture me…? gulp…’
Having fully assimilated into a human body, if physical torture were to be inflicted, both Hana’s body and the slime within would feel the same pain.
And through Hana’s brain, the slime had just realized how horrifying and cruel human torture could be once the humans decided they wanted to torture her.
‘W-How can humans torture other humans without hesitation…? A, no way. She can’t really be planning to torture me, right?’
It was terrifying.
Before becoming human, Hana had hated and despised them out of fear of the unknown, but now that she had assumed a human body and brain, she found them all the more frightening and terrifying.
‘I never knew human emotions could be this difficult… I never realized how sensitive humans were to mental pain! Humans are so weak and feel pain so easily, yet they’re also skilled at all sorts of horrifying tortures and interrogations. It’s terrifying…!’
It was scary.
Scary.
Humans were scary.
Humans that could mercilessly torture even fellow humans were terrifying.
So cruel.
So harsh.
So excessive…!
‘Ah, no. I must pull myself together..! I still have no material proof that I am a slime! Externally, I definitely resemble the human ‘Kim Hana.’
I won’t panic too much.
Hana slapped Shia’s hand off her shoulder.
“Excuse me. You seem to be a bit too close for comfort. Could you tone it down a bit?”
“Close for comfort?”
“Yes! Close for comfort! I’m grateful that you rescued us from the shipwreck, but I haven’t done anything wrong, so I shouldn’t be acting submissive to you…”
“Oh, so you needed a reason?”
Hana understood that a reason couldn’t be easily fabricated.
Also, unless they had concrete proof that they were monsters, no human would casually torture or interrogate someone.
Kim Hana nodded her head and steeled herself.
Yeah, it’s fine.
Besides, Shia and all the humans here were unaware of the slime’s ‘parasite ability.’
The slimes that attacked the hunter’s stronghold during the monster wave attacked only physically, and even if Shia suspected Hana, at least superficially, there would be no problem.
If Shia and Hana had been close from the start, there might have been a subtle sense of discomfort, but the three hunters who had their bodies taken by slimes, including Hana, were not even acquaintances of Isia.
There were no issues in terms of speech and outward appearance.
“Do you remember what you first said when you saw me?”
“Huh?”
W-What did I say…?
Hana rummaged through her brain, searching for the fragments of her memory.
What did I say at first…?
What did we talk about…?
[‘Why are you whispering since earlier?’]
[…Ah, sorry! I apologize, Hunter Isia.]
[‘You know my name?’]
[‘Hahaha, I’ve been watching Shia’s broadcasts.’]
[‘Really!? You were also part of the Mangji Group?’]
It was nothing special.
Nothing at all.
No dangerous words or awkward conversations had taken place.
Even if there had been a sense of discomfort, it wouldn’t have been appropriate for such a trivial conversation to be a reason to torture or interrogate herself.
However, as if sensing Hana’s thoughts, Shia pushed Hana against the wall and leaned in closer to her face.
Shia, being quite tall for a woman, cast a shadow over Hana’s face.
“No, that’s not it.”
“Huh?”
As if accusatory, Shia looked down at Hana as if she could read her mind.
“[Yeah, judging by your reaction, it seems you haven’t been caught, brother.]”
“….What?”
“[Forget human titles and share your methods, brother.]”
Hana had never said that out loud.
It was solely a sound that communicated among the slimes.
Slime sounds were indecipherable in human language.
The slime occupying Hana’s brain turned her brain cells upside down, but there was no knowledge of a human understanding slime sounds.
‘H-How did she understand our sounds…!?
“Is this not enough?”
“Y-Yes…?”
“[Should I kill you here?], [That’s right, brother. S-grade hunters are dangerous. Being suspected by them is perilous.], [Understood, brother. Then we should act naturally together for now?]”
With each of Shia’s words, cold sweat trickled down Hana’s spine, and her body trembled like a quaking aspen.
She found out.
Everything was overheard.
“You’re using me, aren’t you?”
“Hii, grk…!”
When did she find out…?
“You said you were going to turn me over to your mother?”
“…Ahh…!”
No, surely not…
From the very beginning…?
“You’re saying you’re human?”
“…….”
“But you’re not a human?”
“T-That’s… that’s…!”
“Ahahaha. You lied to me, didn’t you?”
At that statement, Hana realized why Shia had left the hunters alone.
From the start, Isia knew that the hunters she met, including Hana, had their bodies seized by the slimes.
In fact, it was strange that the Seongnyeo, who was sensitive to the malice of monsters, didn’t recognize the identity of the humans who had their bodies taken by the slimes.
Moreover, Shia was the Seongnyeo who could hear the wishes and desires of souls.
Having once gone to assist the Deep Sea Palace after hearing the wishes of mermaids, Shia could eavesdrop on the whispers of the evil ones who had stolen the bodies of humans.
Eventually, Hana was pushed against the wall, trembling in Shia’s shadow.
Although the LED lights inside the train didn’t cast a dark shadow on her, the fear inside Hana began to swell, and that trivial shadow began to feel like an evil and massive terror.
“Did you really think you could come out of this unscathed?”
Shia approached Hana, tilting her head as if she couldn’t understand.
By now, Hana found herself unable to say anything.
Only silence.
Whatever she said would be seen through.
She didn’t know what trick Isia had used, but once Shia had understood the voices of the slimes, there was no more hope for Hana.
All the excuses and justifications she thought of to get out of this situation had all gone to waste in an instant.
No matter what reasoning she put forth, Hana’s fate was left with nothing but torture, interrogation, disassembly, and research.
“Ah, ah… ahh….”
She would surely experience a fate worse than death.
First, she would be neutralized by the human hunters.
Trapped in a lab, she would be exposed to unimaginable pain forever, being a live test subject as they sought to grasp the nature of the mutant parasitic slime.
The researchers at the monster laboratory would undoubtedly keep her alive for a long time to study the features of this mutant slime that could inhabit human bodies.
Perhaps even longer than her mother’s fate.
A fate sweeter than her mother, who became cold noodles and was desecrated in her last moments, awaited her.
“Why are you acting all pitiful? You’ve killed people, haven’t you?”
“……”
“Of course, the hunters tried to kill you too. There might be people who entered this dungeon aiming for a quick fortune. There might even be people who felt no guilt about killing you. It’s the relationship between monsters and humans. You might hate and loathe me for killing your mother… Yeah, that might be justifiable.”
But, you know…
And Shia’s face was more expressionless than ever.
No, it was so expressionless it felt chilling.
Menelapie, Yane, Teresa, Yoonjeong, Yeonhwa, even Lirisia.
Shia had never shown such a cold expression to anyone.
“Killing someone isn’t the point. Stealing their body and brain, deceiving the very existence of life before the Seongnyeo? Did you really think you could get away with it?”
“Ah, aah… hik…”
Shia looked down at Hana with an expression of genuine bewilderment.
Yet, within that innocent expression, the slime occupying Hana’s body felt even greater terror.
“If you were planning to devour someone, you should prepare to be devoured too. If you were preparing to kill someone, then you should have expected to be killed.”
“I, when I eat someone, I also prepare to be eaten, with respect and full effort.”
With those words, Shia’s smile appeared exceptionally kind.
That’s why it was even more terrifying.
Why, at this moment, is she smiling with such kindness?
Hana couldn’t understand it.
It was unknown.
Humans were unknown, but Isia was even more unknown.
“But to deceive the very existence of life and mock death itself, did you prepare for your own death to be mocked?”
In truth, there was no need to go this far.
Normally, monsters that killed humans wouldn’t receive anything worse than death.
But Shia wanted to hold these mutant slimes accountable for not being satisfied with human death, for stealing their flesh and ensuring they didn’t even meet a complete demise.
Crack.
Smash.
Crack.
Suddenly, tentacles erupted from Shia’s spine, breaking free.
The flower-like tentacles wrapped around Hana’s waist, entwining her legs and arms, ready to chew her up any moment, snapping their jaws together.
“From what I see, it doesn’t seem like you’ve prepared at all.”
It was terrifying.
Terrifying.
Terrifying.
Terrifying.
Terrifying.
The fact that she might not die, that it seemed she would face an even worse fate, was more terrifying.
Eventually, Hana shed a single tear of fear.
Shia wiped Hana’s falling tear with one hand and licked it with her tongue.
Slurp. The sound echoed beyond Hana’s ears and seemed to resonate with the souls of the slimes hiding within her body.
“You know, Hana? I can’t bring back the dead.”
“What’s that all of a sudden…?”
“You might not know this, but I’m the Seongnyeo, you see. As long as a soul hasn’t departed, as long as one doesn’t die… I can bring them back. But once a soul has departed, no matter how well you fix the body, it won’t truly be alive.”
And by now, it was too late for the human body you took over.
“But thanks to you, you’ve made human death ambiguous and mocked it. It’s hard to say they’ve died… and hard to say they’ve truly lived. But the souls have already departed, so I can’t bring them back. How unfortunate.”
“S-Sorry…”
“Quiet.”
“…Huh, kgh…!”
“This isn’t something an apology can solve, you understand?”
Then Shia raised a finger to Hana’s lips as if to shush her.
“Since you’ve killed a person, we should, in turn, kill you?”
“…….”
“You’ve mocked death. That’s too merciful. Death is just a reward for you.”
Death is mercy.
Mercy that is fair to all.
But why should I extend mercy to you?
To a mocker?
“Alright! Then you have two choices.”
Shia wore a harsh yet thick smile.
“One. Do you want to receive punishment for mocking death? Just to warn you, it won’t be over quickly.”
The punishment would be so long and painful that it would be etched into your soul as ‘death is mercy.’
“Or, the second. Do you want to live as a human… and become the Slime Empress?”
“S-Slime… Empress…? And a human life…?”
Hana couldn’t understand Shia’s words at all.
The Slime Empress was a monster that didn’t exist in the first place.
That knowledge was imprinted in the instincts of the slimes, but there was no entity named ‘Slime Empress’ in Hana’s brain.
And a human life?
That part was even harder to fathom.
Wait, are you telling me to live as if I’m human…?
“Back when I went on a short business trip to the Daesanrim, there were Chaos Ant mimics acting like elves, hiding among the elves? But later on, those mimics ended up establishing their identity as elves themselves. The elves even accepted those mimics as members of their community.”
“So…?”
“While the soul and inner self are important, what truly matters is how you perceive yourself.”
Shia smiled gently again and gazed out the window.
“If it were up to me, since you’ve mocked death before the Seongnyeo, I would love to make you pay the price.”
“Hii, hick…!”
“But the hunters out there… the ones whose bodies you’ve stolen must have families and friends who depend on them, and there might be others they’ve promised a future to.”
So for their sake, you will be human from now on.
“Live as a human. Act as a human. While also living as my own Slime Empress, wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Y-You’re contradicting yourself! How can I be a slime while being human!? I don’t understand!”
“If you kill someone and take over their body and brain, you must take responsibility for it. Their debts, their life, and everyone’s life interconnected with theirs. Just like you’ve lived until now, you should be seen as human and act like a hunter, earn money, live among others. And if it’s found out that you’re a monster, you’ll have to live with the fear of possibly dying.”
“D-Don’t joke with me!!”
Finally, Hana exploded with anger at Shia’s words.
“That’s a deception! Are you really the Seongnyeo!?”
“As long as the hypocrisy isn’t discovered, it ultimately remains as good. I see hypocrisy as a form of goodness. And when the original body’s parents are still alive and well, you’ve stolen their daughter!”
“You took my mother from me!!”
“What do you think I heard you say?”
To kill, you must be prepared to be killed.
To eat, you must also be ready to be eaten.
And you didn’t prepare for your own mocking even after mocking death, did you?
“Oh, and this is also somewhat of a merciful act, you know? I simply don’t want to relay the grief and bad news to the families of those who’ve lost their loved ones. And… wearing a human shell and pretending to be that person, is that deception? Like you’re saying you don’t deceive at all? I heard your plan about invading the Hunter Train to deceive everyone into expanding your host.”
“Ugh…!”
Hana thought for sure, but she really had been overheard…
“So, what? Are you feeling wronged? You should have never stolen their bodies. If you had let them die peacefully, I wouldn’t have done anything worse than ‘death’ to you.”
“…….”
Now, choose.
Do you want to atone?
Or do you want to pay the price?
‘Should I… run away…?
Hana… No, to be precise, the slime inside Hana thought that for now, she would obey Shia’s words and immediately abandon this body to escape.
Though her mother had passed away, the dungeon wouldn’t collapse.
Other kin remained alive. Although her mother’s death was truly sad and regrettable, if she returned to the blood-soaked Blood Swamp, she could somehow continue living.
It would take a long time, but someday among her kin, a being could be born who would fulfill the role of a ‘mother.’
‘S-So for now… I just have to get through this crisis…!’
It’s fine.
Although she thought she lost everything…
She hadn’t lost much.
Her life was still intact.
The Blood Swamp was still red, dark, and slimy.
Yeah, let’s run away.
If I just get through this crisis…!
As long as this dungeon remains intact!
As long as my homeland is unscathed!
As long as that red swamp remains… I’m still fine…
Boom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Huh?”
“….Huh?”
At that moment, Hana and Shia shifted their gazes toward the massive explosion happening outside the Hunter Train window.
Something had exploded in the distance.
Or maybe it wasn’t even confirmed it had exploded.
If an explosion occurred, they would have clearly seen it, but it felt more like an earthquake shaking the ground.
‘Something has brightened…?’
And the moment both of them realized that the visibility of the dungeon, which had been shrouded in darkness, had lightened a bit, something colossal began rising from the depths of Blood Swamp’s ground.
‘A tree…?
A tree was growing.
A gigantic tree.
Bigger than a house.
Bigger than a building.
A tsunami-sized tree started spreading out in all directions across the Blood Swamp.
The tree sucked up the rich nutrients of the blood swamp in an instant, smashing the ground down. It grew and grew, devouring the surroundings.
The earth was soon hidden beneath countless roots and branches of the trees. The slimy blood swamp began to disappear, starting to completely push away the darkness that had taken over it.
It wasn’t just in one spot.
A great and dense forest sprouted all across the dungeon as if the world itself was being rewritten.
“W-What the heck is this…?”
Hana couldn’t comprehend the sight before her.
Why?
Why was this happening?
My home…?
My hometown…?
Why…?
“Ah, Olga unleashed the Nergalpu?”
“……?”
What on earth is that?
“Hahaha, it seems she got tired of exploring the dungeon and just decided to turn it into a forest. She probably wanted to let in more sunlight too.”
“…………”
Hana recognized her path had vanished.
Having been caught by an unreasonable being. Her homeland to return to had been instantaneously erased by whatever ‘Nergalpu’ was.
Why?
Why?
Why…?
Why is this happening to me…?
Thud.
“Huuaaaah!”
Having lost everything, Hana began to wail.
