Paradigm Parasite

The sounds of battle and the shouts of those fighting are becoming more intense as we get closer to our destination.

By the looks of things, the monster hasn't moved that far from where it first came from, has it?

"What do you think the monster's purpose is?"

Heidi suddenly asks me that.

Speaking of which, that's right.

I wonder what they want to do by running amok in the middle of the city like this.

I looked at Peggy, but she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know."

Savage is just munching on his food and not listening to me.

He's eating something again.

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea."

"Yeah. This is just my hunch, but is it really a monster that appeared here?"

What?

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know how to describe it, but it seems to have acted impulsively."

You mean to tell me it just moved on the spur of the moment? A monster so human... or are you trying to tell me that it's not a monster?

"...You think the guy who created this situation is a human being?"

Heidi shakes her head.

"I don't think a human could do all this, but maybe he's a near-human monster..."

Well, I'm sure it's an oddball.

"If..."

Heidi was about to say something when she widened her eyes a little and jumped to the side.

The next moment, a person flew into the place where Heidi was.

His neck was almost shredded and crushed by the impact of being slammed to the ground, and various other terrible things happened to him.

[Hmph! There's no way I'm going to let a little fish like you guys get me.]

The next voice I heard instantly made me realize what was going on.

Heidi raised her eyebrows at the voice we heard.

It was a large spider at the auction house.

About 2 meters in size, it had human arms and legs, and it walked on two legs.

It looked like something you would see in a special effects movie.

It was a spider monster, after all.

The Spider Monster is making adventurers bleed one after another.

The spider monster is using the spider legs on its....back? to slit the throats of the adventurers who come at it. The adventurer whose throat was pierced collapsed with a gasp from his neck.

[Hey, hey. I'm all alone. That's all you got? What a joke?]

He punches the adventurer nearest to him, knocking him down and biting him on the neck.

The bitten adventurer slowly got up and attacked his friends.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"No, no. My body just..."

[Yes! Successful taming! Hey! Kill each other with your friends!]

The spider monster has been saying whatever he wants for a while now, but people probably don't understand.

Of course they don't. He is speaking in Japanese. There is no way they can understand him.

There is no doubt in my mind that this guy is the one. He is a reincarnation of my kind. And he's Japanese.

Despite his dim-witted words, his strength was great.

He moved around at high speed on the ground using his spider legs, and he could jump on top of buildings like an American comic book hero with strings coming out of his tail.

The adventurers, on the other hand, seemed to be aiming for a close encounter while fortifying their defenses with magic, but it was tough.

It seems that it is difficult to hit it with offensive magic because of its movements.

Those spider legs are too nasty. There are too many moves, and if you hit it, you will get a wind tunnel in your body.

Moreover, if they get separated, they will be caught and manipulated, so it seems that the only way to protect themselves is to stay on the defensive.

"What's the point of struggling against just one of me? Well, it's only an event battle in the beginning. Nothing to talk about!"

I lead the others to hide quietly in the shadows.

Let's see what's going on. Heidi and the others followed my instructions with quizzical looks on their faces.

But what is he talking about? Is it an event battle?

[Well, how did the work go?]

The Spider Monster looked back and saw a well-dressed old man undoing the collars of the women who were wrapped around with spider silk.

"Hey, you guys, hurry up and help them! I said I'll pay you! Damn, my body's moving on its own..."

The well-dressed old man is screaming in desperation as he releases the collars.

"Shut up! This is not the time for that!"

The adventurers are defending themselves from the spider monster while dealing with the attacks of their manipulated friends.

"Oh... shit! My slaves..."

There was the sound of metal shattering and all the slaves' collars came off.

"Oh, it looks like it's over. Now let's see my wives' faces. Oh, old man. I don't need you anymore, so shove off and die. No need for the man."

The old man screams, pulls a knife from his pocket, and plunges into the adventurers.

The spider monster heads toward the slaves who are bound by threads and seems to check each one's face.

"Hmmm. Well, well, well. This one is... ohoh! Lolitaaah! I'm gonna dye you my color!"

...... Wow...this guy is crazy.

He thinks I don't understand his words, so he says whatever he wants to say without hiding it.

The pain is so great that it even penetrates me, and something black and dusky is rising up from my chest.

Ah...it's been a long time since I've felt this. Oh man...I want to kill that guy so badly.

To be honest, it pains me to look directly at it.

While I felt the discomfort flooding my chest, the calm part of my head wondered if I used to be like that, too. I felt like killing my old self.

To be honest, I remember it too well.

No, I'd like to believe I was better than that.

I felt a little sorry for his parents in Japan. If I had to deal with people like that on a daily basis, I'd be very hard on them...but I haven't forgotten what they did to me, and I'd kill them if they showed up in front of me.

I have parents, but no family.

[What? What are you, an old woman? I'm so annoyed. Here, I'll tame you out of pity, so go fight.]

"No, please, stop..."

"Mama, mama!"

Oh, come on. The woman you called an old hag is the mother of the child.

The mother ran toward the adventurers crying.

The child is crying, calling out to her mother.

[Shut up from now on. I saved you, so you should be a little happy.]

The spider monster looks at the crying child displeased.

No, most children will either cry or pull away if you approach them with that look on your face.

And he's talking so selfishly about how he saved the child.

"Shit! Shut up, you little brat!]

"What the...?"

Heidi gasped next to me. Even I was a little taken aback.

The spider monster kicked the child. The child was coughing up blood and stopped moving.

Hey, hey, hey. I thought you did this in the name of saving her.

I've seen what I need to see. I step out of the shadows.

I have a pretty good idea what's going on with the spider.

It seems that the spider thinks this world is a game or something.

...So he saw the slaves and impulsively jumped in to help (laugh).

I guess pushing kindness is nothing but a nuisance.

And what's going on when they don't react the way you want them to?

...Anyway, seeing as how he doesn't understand the language, perhaps it hasn't been that long since he arrived?

Or is it because he hasn't absorbed humans?

From the looks of it, it's a spider that has been repeatedly remodeled.

In my experience, it takes some time to be able to do that....

Well, ......... that it. I'm curious about a lot of things, but I think I'll just kill him and pull out his memory.

I don't think I'm going to be able to talk to him. I don't want to have a conversation with him.

"Heidi, I want you to deal with the people who are being controlled. I saw something around their necks, so you might want to check that out. If you can't, break their limbs and disable them. The rest of you will work with me to get rid of the monsters."

"Okay."

"All right."

I tell Peggy and Savage to coordinate with each other via comms.

Each nodded. That's about it for preparation.

[Oh, man. Here we go again.]

When the spider monster noticed us approaching, it clicked its tongue...

[[Oh? Oh! Main heroine kitaaaa!!!]

He started to get excited when he saw Heidi.

Wow...this guy is intense.

[Oh-ho! She's soooo beautiful.]

"What...what...?"

Heidi was taken aback by the spider monster's sudden excitement.

[What is it? What are you? Why are you surrounded by women?]

This time, he turned hostile toward me. The difference in intensity is not only great, it's easy to understand.

"Heidi. Go."

"Okay."

Heidi runs toward the adventurers.

[Hey! Wait!]

I step forward to block the way of the spider monster that was chasing after Heidi.

[Don't you understand a word I'm trying to say? You're disgusting. You're lucky to have girls around, huh?]

You think I don't understand you, so you say whatever you want, don't you?

--He's just like me. Don't let your guard down even if you think you've dealt him a mortal blow.

Peggy and Savage silently take a stance in response to my thoughts.

I'd like to suck out his memories, but that might be difficult.

Unless we destroy the body, we can assume it will regenerate. It's a tricky opponent....

The edge of my lips lift up as I think about it.

...Troublesome, but not invincible.

I've been dealing with this body for quite a while myself.

I can think of several ways to finish it off.

Besides, I can use the fact that he doesn't know I'm one of them.

I've seen most of what we can do, and I'm sure I can handle it.

I give Peggy and Savage a few instructions, and then I ready my club.

[Don't get carried away, you little fish!]

The spider monster lunges straight at me.

Well, of course it's going to aim at me.

It's fast, but its movements are easy to read.

--Savage.

The spider monster is running when it gets tackled from the side by Savage, blown away, and crashes into a nearby building.

It's easy to intercept because it comes straight at me with enough room to maneuver.

[You... f...]

Thank you for going all the way into the cramped place.

Before he got up, I activated [Explosion III]. Since I specified the point of appearance as inside the building, the building bursts apart as it explodes.

The spider monster rolls out with the debris.

[Ku...]

As he gets up and tries to glare at me, Peggy gets in his pocket and slams her fist into his face.

--Aim for the eyes.

--Aiyo.

The spider monster's eyes are crushed by the blow, and black mucus sprays out.

[Guggaaaaah! My eye!]

The spider monster screams. Oh? Is his sense of pain working properly?

Maybe it's acting, let's stop chasing him deeper.

Peggy, sensing this, hits a few more and steps back, taking up the pace.

As if to replace her, Savage and I hit him with a [Fireball II].

The spider monster rolls on the ground trying to put out the fire after being hit by two fireballs.

I slowly approach and swing my club like a golf swing.

[Abbaa!]

I hit it dead on in the face. Fangs and parts of its face shatter and fly into the air.

This time, I kicked him in the stomach and blew him away.

The spider monster rolled several times on the ground and fell down.

[Gah! You've got to be kidding me! Why is the difficulty level suddenly increased? Hey! It's not fair, multiple against one, you've got to be kidding!]

He poked his spider leg at me and started to say something, so I pulled out my sword and slashed his poked leg away.

Didn't you ever learn not to point at people so easily?

[Uggghhhh! My leg!]

Shut up.

I cut off another one by the way. The spider monster screams again.

...And yet.... It's not regenerating?

From the looks of it, the cut leg and the crushed eye don't seem to be healing... Oh, it's regenerating, albeit slowly.

[Well, wait a minute. I give up. I'm sorry.]

The spider monster raised his hands in surrender, but I don't know.

I decided to interpret it as a "please kick me" pose.

I kick him in the face.

[Immshoorry. Pyease borgibe me.]

Ugh. He started crying. Where's all that bravado you had earlier?

[Now!]

When I was stunned, the spider monster suddenly got up and started running, jumping on the bound slave...or former slave, since there was no collar...to catch the child and thrust the remaining spider legs at it.

[Don't move! Don't you care what happens to this kid!]

Wow...seriously.

What's wrong with this guy? When things go bad, he takes hostages.

Where's his pretense of helping them?