Apocalypse Dark Elf Style -Magical Tribes Reincarnated in the Modern World - 33 - Chapter 4.14 And The Forest Began To Breath (14)

†

I was…

I was struggling.

I don’t know where my thoughts are. I don’t remember where my consciousness is.

But, I know I’m is still here.

That is why I’m still struggling. Struggling to find it.

It felt like looking up at the distant heavens from the bottom of a valley where no light shines. Like wandering in the bottom of a swamp coiled in sludge darker than death. It felt like seeking the nectar of the earth’s poison in a cave with no living people.

That is my destiny. That is my fate.

That’s the result of my craving.

There is no need for reserve, compromise, or concede. Avoidance, curse, and ridicule are pointless.

The act of simply wanting, desiring relentlessly, needing endlessly and eternally, and continuing to be me.

That is what it means.

To eat.

Eat? What should I eat? Is there a way out? An escape route? Wrong. Wrong. No! Escape is impossible under the current circumstances. I know that much. What I want is a chance to win. What I want is a path to victory!

Is there anything?

Is there any chance────!

†

　A lingering flame was flickering on the ground. Sheena, of course, had not wholly let her guard down. With her staff in her hand, Sheena is looking down at Yuika, observing her pointless struggle.

Breathing heavily, Yuika lifted her face, coughing and panting, and forced herself to speak. She was drooling, and tears were leaking into her eyes, but there was not the slightest hint of blandishment in her voice.

“I’ll give you some advice… It’s not me you should be worrying about. You’re going to be in big trouble…”

“Heh? Besides you, what else should I watch out for?”

The moment when Sheena showed a resentful smile, a shadow-like object unexpectedly stretched out from Yuika’s back, which still had a thorn of blood half-tangled around its body. It was the tail of a brown scorpion, with several segments and a vicious thorn at its tip.

Rensuke, still in cane form, barely catches the deadly sting before it reaches Sheena in the neck. It is not clear whether he moved on his own or Sheena did.

“Ugh…”

Sheena used her magic again to restrain Yuika.

“I’m surprised. I didn’t know you still had the energy.”

“Fufu… Hahaha. Surprised? They sell them by mail order these days… edible scorpions. They’re pretty tasty.”

Whether her distorted reply was directed to Sheena’s words or directed at Rensuke, Yuika says it sweating heavily.

Rensuke knew. Rensuke understood that Yuika’s attack had murderous intent. In such an extreme situation, she devoted what might be her last moment to annihilating Sheena.

“Class President. Do you really need to go such lengths…”

“Oh my! You can talk even in such a form. That’s disgusting, Asakura-kun.”

Rensuke wanted to know why she had a serious intent to kill.

“You said it before, Class President… That what lies ahead is salvation for you. I also felt the same as you did. So I kind of understand.”

The first time they confronted driving the RV. That’s what she said. Rensuke was bothered by it for a long time.

“It wasn’t a ‘lowly wish’ such as ‘just staying alive.’ You’re talking about the same thing I am – the meaning of being in this world, right? What do you want?”

There was a slight surprise, hesitation, and resignation in Yuika’s gaze as she looked at Rensuke (staff form).

After a pause, she then relaxed her eyes.

The following words that leaked out were indeed the truth.

“I, I just wanted to be with… everyone, that’s all.”

“Was that what you envision together with the slime?”

“There was… There probably was.”

She squeezed her deformed hand.

“I, I wanted to stop being me.”

“…”

“Because I was different from everyone else. Unlike everyone… I was weak, poor, frail, not pretty, funny, and interesting. I didn’t want to be someone special. I just wanted to be normal and mix with everyone. Because if I didn’t, I would be excluded. Even if I am okay now, I will definitely be ostracized sooner or later. I just know it.”

But no matter how hard she ate, exercised, and studied, she couldn’t achieve it.

To be cut off. Against Yuika’s will, she was given the position of Class President, and because of that, she was treated specially.

It emphasizes our differences.

Rensuke had no choice but to listen to her confession in silence.

He could not say that it was different or that he cared too much. No matter how much the world and his interpretation of it seem to be mercilessly out of sync – Yuika’s perception is hers and hers alone.

“But it’s no good. No matter what I do, it doesn’t work. I had no choice but to live like this, and I was terrified of the future, so scared that I almost became crazy, and that’s when I met… the slime.”

Saying this, Yuika laughed in ridicule. It was a different kind of sneer. The sort of convulsive laugh that can only come from a situation where you genuinely mock loathe, and despise something and have no choice but to laugh at it.

Perhaps to myself.

“After making me his second stomach, the slime said, “You know what? I can’t do it now, but if I eat the magic of other magic species and keep on eating, the little stomach will grow. The total number of souls that I can eat now is only insects and small animals, but one day, I will be able to eat a human being.”

“…!”

“You know what I mean?　I will be able to take in the whole human trait. Not in this monstrous form, but I can become someone – I can become “everyone.” I could have done it. If only you people hadn’t interfered!”

Ah, so that’s what her wish was.

What a horrifying and pathetic wish.

A monster that has no form of its own, an indefinite shape, a monster that only satisfies its desire for more by imitating the shape of something it has eaten.

Slime.

That’s what she wanted to be. She wanted to be someone unassailable, someone, who would not be ostracized or attacked, even if she lost her own form and took the form of someone else.

Rensuke remembered Yuika always seen in the classroom, studying alone, reading a book, or playing retro Tetris. Did she have these feelings hidden in that everyday life?

Ugly and outrageous.

Being sincere and pure, she continued to lie.

And that’s… 

How is it different from me (Rensuke)?

“────”

“Asakura-kun. Fufufu… Why are you asking me this?”

Sadly laughing as if she had lost herself, Yuika stared maliciously at Rensuke.

“Can you help me? Of course not! It’s impossible! Because you are just like me. You are a crazy, pathetic failure! You’re just helplessly out of touch with the world! What can you do? So, please give it up – leave me alone!”

Sheena took over with a downright wicked smile instead of Rensuke, who could not utter a single word.

“I reject that. No matter how you try to reason with, the slime race is my enemy.”

“Dim-witted fairy. I guess it’s about time. That’s enough. How can you not see it? What’s our current situation─”

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, Rensuke was pulled back to reality.

*Roar*

A roaring sound was heard from the sky.

When I turned my attention over my head, I saw a familiar RV flying at a low altitude beyond the branches of the trees. The wind pressure of the EF jet shakes the leaves and shakes the remnants of the flames on the ground.

Was it a classmate from the same unit or a teacher? They probably had rushed to the scene of the anomaly? It was under the trees, so it probably would not have been noticed – but there was a lot of noise, damage to the surrounding trees, and a flame in response. It was only a matter of time before the dark elf and Yuika were spotted.

“I told you. This is the situation. We are in a situation where a student in training has a mysterious crash, completely unrelated to our situation. If something unusual happened, they would have noticed it. And besides…”

More strange noises, this time from a place not far from here. Yuika seemed to have noticed before us due to her position and line of sight. Her shoulders slumped slightly.

Her complexion was pale beyond blue. Her eyes were on the verge of losing focus.

She was at her limit. She was…

“That’s right, an incident. It was happening from the very beginning. They are dangerous beasts because they attack living creatures. If you are living in the forest, you could run into them…”

The sound of the bushes shaking loudly came from behind Rensuke and the others.

*Turns around*

“Are you serious?”

Sheena gave a short retort.

There it was, a mysterious creature with a body the size of a small car.

It resembled a boar as a whole. Thick and short limbs. Its black body hair gave a sense of foreboding. It had a uniformity as if it had been painted over with black ink. It even gave the impression of non-living. It is as if perceiving it as an animal is deceptive. It is hard to believe that there is any flesh under the fur. The same is true of the sensory organs such as the eyes and mouth. Although they certainly have a shape, it is doubtful whether they actually fulfill their function, giving the figure a sense of emptiness, as if it were a wax doll.

The most distinctive feature of the figure is the milky light veins that run throughout its body. In some places, they run parallel to each other, and in other areas, two or three of them radiate out from a single lump. A web of radiance covering the black beast.

It is “something” that surpasses the system of blood, which organisms have created in the course of evolution since ancient times, to efficiently store, transmit and operate energy. It is a particular biological tissue generated from a nucleus somewhere in the body – in other words, a natural energy fluid.

“It was what I saw on TV. At Rensuke’s house. What was it called?”

There is only one answer.

In recent years, particular beasts have begun to appear worldwide.

The source of the problem has forced nations to build new organizations and systems to deal with them.

And it was discovered that EF, the energy of the new era, can be refined by extracting the nucleus from this particular beast. This mysterious entity is attracting attention as a future resource.

And that was… the radiant beast.