“Y-You’re insane! Why the hell are you calmly explaining all this?!”
To Arbash’s outburst, Shane simply replied with a smile hidden beneath his mask.
“I told you, didn’t I? It’s fate. It was like this the first time you all died. This is just my way of bringing closure.”
Die? Us?
What the hell is this madman talking about?
From his identity to the current situation, none of it made any sense. And yet, Shane continued speaking.
“Since that day, I killed off the last remnants of my humanity. In the end, all emotions faded away, and I was swallowed by the self I had created.”
In short, everything Shane was doing now was nothing more than his way of saying farewell to his former self from a past life.
Because unlike back then, Shane now had emotions that had not been extinguished.
Compared to his previous life, he was now filled with more emotions than ever before.
At that moment, Taira’s scream echoed through the cave.
“You sons of bitches!!”
She desperately tried to block the swarm of spider hatchlings rushing at the defenseless Mitanos.
But overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, Taira was forced to retreat. From all directions, fangs and claws rained down on Mitanos.
“Ugh…! Uooooooh!!”
With a sickening crunch, massive jaws tore through the remaining webbing and ripped Mitanos in half. Dozens….no, hundreds of claws shredded his body into an unrecognizable mass of flesh in mere seconds.
The heavy scent of sedatives in the cave was now tainted with the thick stench of a beastkin’s blood.
“Shit!! Hey!! Screw the mission; just fall back! You wanna die like an idiot here?!”
Though she had failed to protect her comrade, Taira’s rational mind told her that escaping was the only option now.
“Kh…!”
Just then, Arbash finally came to his senses and got up, turning to run toward the exit—
“What the hell are you waiting f—huh?”
Ahead of him, Taira who had already started dashing toward the exit was suddenly pierced through the abdomen by something.
A searing pain bloomed in her gut, and Taira looked forward with disbelief in her eyes.
There, a Giant Scorpion stood with gleaming eyes, staring straight at her.
The Giant Scorpion, which had appeared out of nowhere, flung Taira against the wall with the very stinger that had pierced her abdomen. The impact knocked her unconscious and in the next moment, the creature’s jaws tore her to shreds.
“Looks like that sharp nose of hers finally failed her. Then again, with their own sedative filling the air, her sense of smell would’ve been completely dulled.”
“Why the hell is that thing even here…?!”
Arbash who had just witnessed the death of his final remaining comrade was forced to once again hear Shane’s voice now so terrifying it chilled him to the bone.
“That too was the work of the female Solis Spider. Right before it died, it released a burst of hormones soaked in the scent of its corpse. By now, monsters from all over the area are probably being drawn here.”
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!!”
Both his companions had been torn apart beyond recognition.
With his mind on the verge of breaking, Arbash glared at Shane with bloodshot wide eyes.
“You psycho bastard! Keep running your mouth all you want….you’re going to die too! So what the hell are you being so calm for…!”
But he couldn’t finish his sentence.
The moment his gaze returned to Shane, he saw someone standing next to him….it was a human girl he had never seen before.
The girl, with jet-black hair and rose-berry eyes, stared at Arbash with an expression utterly devoid of emotion.
And in her hand was the very anti-magic pill that Arbash had given to Shane, the one he had supposedly swallowed.
Without a word, the girl crushed the pill in her hand and scattered the powder into the air.
“That’s the second time I’ve heard that line. I’ll give you the same answer as before. The only ones dying here… are you.”
In the same moment, darkness spread from the black-haired girl, engulfing both Shane and Dilaila. As if shadows had overlapped with the earth, they vanished completely into the darkness.
“Wh-What… What the hell? Where did they go?! Hey, wait! W-We can make a deal! Let’s talk! If you let me live, I-I’ll tell the Saintess—!!”
A deafening toll of death’s bell rang in his mind.
Arbash tried one final desperate plea, but what he got in return—
—was the sight of the luminous crystal in his hand being swallowed by darkness.
The light vanished.
Only darkness remained.
And waiting for Arbash in that suffocating void—
skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter skitter…
“…Ha… hahaha…”
—were hundreds of ravenous hatchling spiders.
***
Shane watched from a distance as countless monsters in the area swarmed toward a single pit. It was proof of just how far the hormones from the dead mother spider had spread.
What was unfolding inside that pit could only be described as hell itself.
A chaotic frenzy where creatures killed and devoured one another. A true pandemonium.
It was a scene he had witnessed in his previous life, yet the outcome this time was vastly different.
As he watched, Shane turned his gaze to Dilaila who lay collapsed on the ground.
The fact that someone other than himself had survived that den was yet another change from his past life.
“Ugh…”
At that moment, Dilaila who had passed out due to the anti-magic pill slowly began to open her eyes.
The moment she registered what was in her line of sight, she recoiled in terror and rolled across the ground.
“H-Huh?!”
Because in Shane’s hand, she saw the severed head of someone wearing a black hood.
“Wh-What is that?!”
“An unnamed operative. Most likely acting as an informant.”
Just like in his previous life, the informant working under Arbash’s team had been discovered by Shane not far from here.
“W-Wait a minute! Now that I think about it….what happened to the beastkin?! What did you do to them?!”
“They’ve been dealt with. By now… they’re probably tasting the agony of having their souls bound to this scorched earth.”
“……??”
Finally beginning to piece the situation together, Dilaila spat out the sand in her mouth and followed Shane’s gaze.
There, monsters were still flooding into the pit, devouring one another in a grotesque spectacle.
“Ugh… Why are you even watching something like that?”
“I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“What kind of thought?”
“That I wanted to see those two again.”
Those two? Who could that be?
Dilaila couldn’t understand how anyone could look at such a sight and be reminded of someone they missed.
But Shane, true to his words, was thinking of two people.
Klein, who had rekindled his emotions long thought dead by the time his past life ended.
And Anastasia, who had awakened feelings he’d never known in all his life.
“It’s been a while… I want to see them again.”
Even to himself, it didn’t sound like something he’d normally say. Yet the sincerity in his voice was undeniable.
***
By the time two full days had passed since the operation to subjugate the Mega Sandworm began, Parmash was poring over the numerous reports coming in, carefully assessing the current situation.
Whenever there was a change in monster habitats or a battle of notable scale, a related report would inevitably make its way to him.
Even the smallest details could serve as clues pointing to the Mega Sandworm’s location.
As he spent his time reading through the piles of documents, one particular report caught Parmash’s attention.
“Hmm. Three casualties in the Solis Spider habitat, huh…”
The report detailed a casualty incident during a subjugation operation targeting the Solis Spiders.
Given that such operations took place in the vast desert, casualties were to be expected.
However, the deaths of seasoned mercenaries who had survived years in the field were far from common.
According to the report, the deceased were mercenaries who had been active for nearly a decade. All three had spent the past three years working in the Argato Oasis area and were considered veterans.
Arbash, Mitanos, and Taira.
While the trio wasn’t particularly known for overwhelming combat ability, their leader Arbash was remembered as a cautious man who rarely took on risky jobs.
And yet, he and his entire team were now dead.
“So those two outsiders were part of his reconnaissance team…”
It could have been a simple accident, but the idea that veterans with over a decade of experience had perished, while two newcomers who had only come to Parmash’s attention less than a week ago had survived?
It didn’t sit right.
Still, reality left Parmash with little time to dwell on it further.
“Chief! We’ve confirmed movement from the Mega Sandworm!”
“Mhmm…!”
Letting out a low grunt, Parmash opened his mouth at the report that the Mega Sandworm’s path had been identified.
“Release the livestock we prepared into its projected route. Recall all scouting parties and have the shamans summoned.”
“Yes!”
At his command, the subordinate immediately rose and left to carry out the orders. And just like that, the incident slipped from Parmash’s mind.
***
The Mega Sandworm which normally never strayed from its habitat was steadily drawn toward a presence that had long been calling to it. Like a lure it could not resist.
At times, the presence had vanished, causing it to wander aimlessly through the area. But once again, that presence could be felt… this time from the west.
As a result, it had managed to arrive nearby, but after traveling such a long distance without rest, its body was thoroughly exhausted.
While taking a break, the Mega Sandworm sensed vibrations from not too far away.
They were caused by dozens of livestock.
For the already weary Mega Sandworm, which had come all this way, it was an irresistibly tempting sound.
However, the Mega Sandworm was not hasty.
It reasoned that if such attractive prey was just sitting there, it probably wasn’t the only predator nearby.
And so, after a day of rest and fully recovering its condition, the Mega Sandworm finally began to move.
Gugugugugugugu—
Was it simply a stroke of luck?
The prey were still alive and wandering around. The Mega Sandworm waited beneath them, watching the situation carefully….until it could no longer resist its hunger. With a sudden lunge, it opened its massive jaws and shot upward.
Dozens of livestock, along with a storm of sand, tumbled down screaming into its gaping maw, and the rows of sharp teeth lining its cylindrical mouth showed no mercy.
At the very moment the Mega Sandworm was reveling in the long-awaited taste of blood—
“It’s here!!”
“Attack!”
“Uoooooh―!”
Despite having sensed no presence around it, the Mega Sandworm was suddenly surrounded by a large force.
Soldiers swarmed in, clinging to the creature’s body and swinging their weapons.
“Kill it!”
“Go for the gills first!”
“Be careful not to touch the poisoned areas!”
Caught completely off guard by an ambush like a bolt from the blue, the Mega Sandworm let out a furious roar from deep within its belly.
Kroaaaaaaaaah――!!
“Guh!”
“H-Hold your ground!”
“What kind of lungs does this thing have…?!”
The Mega Sandworm’s body was slashed and torn in several places, but thanks to its enormous size, it sustained no critical injuries.
The only truly effective damage was to the gills that expelled sand.
Immediately, the Mega Sandworm shook its body violently and once again retreated into the sand.
Then, where it had previously sensed nothing at all above ground, countless presences suddenly became clear.
It wouldn’t be long before the Mega Sandworm realized something had gone terribly wrong.
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