Chapter 22

Today’s meal is~ exploring the underground world’s despair hotspots~

Although the child in my arms was a bit uncomfortable, their fear of the dark made despair ooze out quite nicely.

It felt like a small despair battery, you could say.

‘By the way, the underground is huge…’

At first, there were just long, narrow passages, but the deeper I went, the more massive spaces popped up.

Even the despair energy grew thicker.

I wonder how people would react if they knew such a place existed beneath their city.

‘This is front-page news material.’

A lab underground where monsters and humans are fused together? And on such a large scale?

It was a discovery so big, it made me wonder why it wasn’t in the original story.

…Wait, was it?

Now that I think about it, I do recall reading about an organization researching monsters in the setting…

‘Well, that’s not important right now.’

“Kkkkkkk…”

“Sa… ry… kkkk, ugh…”

The sounds made by monsters and humans differed in resonance.

If humans were cats, monsters would be tigers.

But the hybrid creatures, a mix of humans and monsters, seemed to produce human voices with the roar of a tiger.

“Now, you’re the ones who wanted to leave, right? Now that you’re free, wouldn’t it be better to do what you want?”

“You… kkkk, ugh…”

I turned my head slightly to look at the hybrid creature asking me.

No need to answer, since I won’t be seeing them again anyway.

It was a bit disheartening that they started emitting despair energy as soon as they saw me, so I decided not to provoke them further.

If they had charged at me like that guy at the hospital, I would’ve sliced them up.

Weeeeeeeng—

[Intruder detected in A-1 sector. Intruder detected in A-1 sector. Repeating. Intruder detected in A-1 sector—]

‘They’re quick to respond.’

I smashed a bunch of test tubes, and only now they’re coming?

I shook my head at the sound of footsteps approaching from afar.

Let’s see the faces of the humans who created these abominations.

I didn’t care much about the monsters, but I wanted to know why they thought this way.

“Hands up! You’ve illegally entered a top-secret area! Surrender now, or we’ll shoot!”

“Isn’t creating this place the real crime?”

“Hands up!!”

Humans armed from head to toe, pointing their guns at me.

An ordinary human would’ve trembled and dropped to the ground, but I didn’t feel like doing that.

“Ah, by the way, you guys.”

“Grrr…”

“Don’t you want revenge on the humans who made you like this?”

“Grr…”

No? No desire for revenge?

Well, being captured by humans and turned into this, if they charged recklessly, they might end up back in test tubes.

Honestly, even though they’re half-monster, they still pretend to be rational.

Sometimes, it’s good to be honest with your desires…

‘No choice, huh.’

“Are you going to let your savior die?”

“Gkk…?!”

“If you’re human, shouldn’t you at least do the bare minimum?”

“Ha, grrr… grr…”

This is what’s so amusing.

They should’ve run away without looking back, but now they’re risking their lives to help?

Honestly, it was a bit forced, but the hybrid creatures started moving their sluggish bodies to block the gunfire.

Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!!!

“Grrraaaah…!!!”

“Ah, unnie…!!”

“Shhh… it’s okay, it’s okay. The soldiers are just defeating the bad monsters.”

I watched as the humans attacked the hybrid creatures, using the child’s despair as popcorn.

For being mixed with monsters, they weren’t that tough.

Seems like hitting the human parts with bullets does quite a bit of damage.

The humans seemed to know that too, relentlessly targeting the human parts.

“Captain, is it okay to kill the test subjects like this?”

“Upper command has ordered that any test subjects aiding the intruder are to be eliminated.”

No sympathy for their fellow humans, huh?

They held out for a while, but just taking bullets wasn’t helping.

You should attack back, not just take hits, right?

‘Even after being fused with monsters, they’re going down so pathetically.’

Considering that ordinary humans can’t deal meaningful damage to monsters, they could’ve held out longer and even taken down the humans.

But to go down like this…

I wanted to savor the despair from the humans and the former humans’ desperate fight, but it seems I was wrong.

‘Still…’

“This should be enough.”

I don’t know what the humans used to create these hybrid creatures, but I could tell one of the ingredients was the hope of magical girls.

Using the hope of magical girls to suppress the backlash of fusing humans and monsters? Something like that.

In a way, it overlapped a bit with the Doctor’s research, but the Doctor’s work was far more refined.

After all, the Doctor created the Apocalypse.

Wooong—

“Despair energy detected from the intruder…”

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

“No, it seems the measuring device is faulty.”

The Despair Circuit starts spinning.

Even though the hybrid creatures were made from the remnants of magical girls, the despair they emitted as they died was just the right flavor for me.

Covering the child’s ears from the gunfire, I subtly raised the corner of my mouth.

Beep—! Beep beep—! Beep beep beep—!!!

The humans’ machines started blaring alarms.

At first, the alarms were intermittent, but soon they filled the entire area. The humans finally realized something had gone terribly wrong.

‘I don’t particularly want to kill humans—’

“—I’ll just break your limbs and call it a day.”

“What—”

Despair surges.

The kind of despair that would drive an ordinary human mad just by looking at it.

[Despair level. Omega. Despair level. Omega. It is recommended that you end your own life for peaceful rest.]

The Apocalypse has come.

***

[Despair energy depleted! You did it, Emerald!]

“Huff, huff, gasp… sob…”

My whole body creaks.

It feels like I forced myself to sprint at full speed, ignoring my body’s warnings. My lungs are screaming.

But that’s nothing.

I saved people and defeated monsters.

Just that fact alone was enough to get me back on my feet.

‘No, more importantly…’

Who is that person?

I swallowed dryly as I looked at the person who caught the falling individual and the something between human and monster.

It was hard to call it a monster because it had a human-like aura, but despair energy was leaking out, making it hard to call it human either.

[Emerald, your condition isn’t good. If you approach recklessly—]

“If they wanted to harm me, they wouldn’t have saved that person, May.”

After confirming the child in the car was safe, I slowly walked toward the hybrid creature.

The Hope Circuit was overloaded, and I almost lost my transformation, but I managed to hold on.

“Thank you for helping us.”

“…It’s nothing. Just doing what any human should do.”

“…”

I looked at the four legs folded meekly, then raised my head.

Lower half monster, upper half human.

It was a sight that warranted caution, but remembering the humanity in their eyes, I managed to speak.

“Who are you? Are you human? Or…”

“I am…”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask if they were a monster, so I trailed off. They seemed to hesitate, unsure whether to call themselves human or monster.

‘I’ve never seen anything like this, even before returning to the past…’

To think of fusing humans and monsters.

How could anyone do something so horrifying?

“I was… originally human. But now, I’ve become like this.”

With a sorrowful smile, they raised their hand. I instinctively reached out.

It felt like I had to hold on, or they’d disappear.

The sight was too precarious—

Thud—

“…Ah.”

But in that moment, a crimson blade pierced their heart.

As if the world couldn’t tolerate this mixed existence, mercilessly.

And of course, their blood was red.

The same red as any ordinary human’s.