[Excanival]’s alias is the man-eating sword.
But in reality, it’s a sword that eats anything without discrimination. The former user, the Fallen King, was a glutton obsessed with cannibalism, which is why it got that name.
‘Well, it’s still a demonic sword.’
It’s a very malicious ego sword that actively tries to corrupt the user’s mind.
I don’t know if it was like this from the start, or if it became like this after meeting the wrong owner…….
Anyway, this sword can theoretically devour ‘anything’. From arrows to magic, and even city walls in the game, it was a crazy weapon that could eat and destroy anything.
So, could it eat that magic barrier too?
That’s why I took it out, but I can’t just charge into those flies with this thing, can I? My swordsmanship is too poor to go in there and go on a rampage with just a sword…….
And I can’t give this demonic sword to my precious subordinates either.
In the end, my choice was.
“Bodybag! Throw this for me.”
It’s like picking your nose without using your hands!
Bodybag, who approached hesitantly at my call, had his chubby cheeks trembling.
“Uhm, you mean this sword……?”
“Yeah. Use your telekinesis on those flies. Pick it up and throw it. Can you do that?”
“I can…… I guess. Yes. I can, but…….”
Bodybag looked at Excanival with eyes that seemed reluctant and even a little fearful.
A long sword with a blood-red blade, shrouded in a dark aura, trembling as if possessed by a ghost…… It’s a bit much even for me.
Still, if I’ve drawn the sword, I should at least try to cut down some flies!
“Ugh…….”
Bodybag carefully lifted Excanival with his telekinesis, then closed his eyes tightly and threw it haphazardly.
Whoosh!
Contrary to his half-hearted action, Excanival flew towards the flies at a furious speed.
The mutated flies calmly tried to raise their barrier and defend, but,
Shwaaak!
As soon as the tip of the thrown Excanival touched it, the magic barrier vanished as if sucked into the sword.
Excanival, which flew into the defenseless mutated fly, plunged straight into the fly’s body with a thud…….
Crunch! Crack! Crrrunch!
It devoured the fly as if crushing it.
As if sucked into a vacuum cleaner, the fly pierced by Excanival was crushed, compressed, and disappeared somewhere inside the sword.
“……Ugh.”
It wasn’t a pretty sight. Immediately after, the gloomy voice of the demonic sword echoed in my head.
‘Tastelessss-‘
Shut up, you man-eating sword. You’ll be punished by eating flies for all the sins you’ve committed.
Anyway, it definitely worked. I nodded to Bodybag, and Bodybag quickly used his telekinesis to retrieve the demonic sword and threw it again.
Crunch! Crack! Crunch-!
The mutated flies were quickly killed by the continuous sword throws.
Once hit by Excanival, they were all swallowed into the sword. This demonic sword kept eating, complaining that it was tasteless, but it seemed hungry.
“……This battle is showing a lot of gruesome sights.”
Junior muttered with a pale face. I quietly replied.
“You’ll see more in the future.”
Not just this defense battle. All the remaining battles will be cruel and gruesome.
This ‘game’ that determines the fate of the world is now steadily heading towards its end.
Recently, I’ve been encountering monsters that kidnap, devour, and steal power from people one after another.
If the enemies have judged this to be my weakness, it’s not strange that monsters that target my vulnerable points are appearing in droves.
‘It can’t be helped.’
I have to be prepared, grit my teeth, and fight.
Crack!
After more than ten mutated flies were devoured by Excanival’s throws.
Perhaps because the battle situation had rapidly deteriorated? The flies all retreated and then rushed out through the ceiling.
“What, are they running away……?”
Actually, I was secretly relieved because we were struggling quite a bit.
The magic wall was half-destroyed, and most of the captured monsters had suffered minor and major injuries. Quite a few had died too.
The heroes were not seriously injured, but they were quite exhausted. They desperately needed rest.
Everyone was taking a sigh of relief and relaxing a little when it happened.
《Ash.》
A sudden, buzzing voice echoed heavily in the wide belly of the fly.
Everyone was startled and raised their weapons, guarding their surroundings. I also sharply scanned the area, and the voice continued slowly.
《How about we stop fighting for a moment and talk?》
Immediately after,
Ding!
[The hostile legion commander ‘Beelzebub’ has requested a ‘Commander’s Meeting’.]
A system window appeared in front of me.
It was the commander’s meeting that we sometimes used to talk with enemy legion commanders after declaring a non-aggression pact. The Fly King was the one who initiated it with me.
“…….”
I hesitated for a moment looking at this message.
Did Baekya succeed?
If not……?
“Ha.”
What can I do, I’m already in the tiger’s belly [a metaphor for being in a dangerous situation].
I have to go and check it out myself.
“Everyone, prepare to retreat.”
I looked around at my subordinates and nodded.
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
***
After calming my subordinates who were worried that it might be dangerous, I accepted the commander’s meeting.
The meeting itself was the same non-aggression pact conversation we had often done before. It wouldn’t be dangerous.
‘I’m just worried about the result of deploying Baekya…….’
Anyway, as soon as I accepted the commander’s meeting, my consciousness was transferred to a completely white space that I had never seen before.
I knew it instinctively.
This was inside the collective consciousness of the flies.
I don’t know how a human like me could enter this place, but…… was it because the Fly King invited me?
《You’ve come.》
Then, a voice came from behind. I turned around sharply.
“……!”
There was a mountain there.
A mountain of corpses piled up to a dizzying height. Most of the corpses were flies, all headless and only the bodies remained.
In front of that grotesque mountain of corpses, there was an old fly sitting cross-legged with a hunched back.
《I’ve been waiting for you, Ash.》
The fly whispered in a strangely unpleasant voice, as if chuckling.
《One of the imps I devoured highly praised you. A guardian of the mortal world, an undefeated commander. He even went as far as to dig up my existence in the subconscious of my race while trying to find a way to defeat you.》
“…….”
《So I wanted to meet you.》
The old fly’s compound eyes emitted a chilling red light.
《But, how should I put it, in my eyes, you…… don’t seem much different from other weak humans.》
“…….”
《You’re just a lump of meat that will soon rot and become maggot food.》
I stopped at a distance and gestured with my chin.
“Are you the Fly King?”
《You can call me ‘I’ or ‘we’. I am the one who represents the collective consciousness of my race. Anyway, yes. This is Beelzebub. The Fly King in your language.》
The Fly King stared at me intently. I looked around.
“Nice to meet you, fly. By the way, have you seen my friend? A mage named Baekya.”
《Baekya……? Ah, you mean that lich mage who infiltrated the body of my kin.》
The Fly King sneered.
《I devoured him cleanly. He’s already digested and become one with me.》
“……!”
《He thought he could devour me, but he was mistaken. I am not simply the sum of the flies gathered here.》
Hehehehe…… The Fly King’s low laughter flowed. I asked, sweating coldly.
“If you’re not simply the sum?”
《The souls and bodies of the fly race that have existed all this time, all of their spiritual and physical forms…… In other words, even the souls of the flies that have already died. All of them are elements that make up ‘us’.》
I frowned.
“What nonsense are you talking about……?”
《It’s exactly as I said.》
The Fly King pointed at himself with his hairy, hideous leg.
《I am an existence sealed as the guardian deity of the fly race. I can twist the fate of my race as I please.》
I swallowed hard.
Is this guy also an existence that has gained divinity as a representative of his race?
《And I broke the cycle of reincarnation given to my race with my own hands.》
“What?”
《It’s for our great cause of killing everything in this world and reincarnating them as flies. We must stop reincarnation so that once someone becomes a fly, they will continue to be a fly even in the next life. If we repeat this process, eventually all three thousand worlds will be filled with flies.》
It wasn’t a very understandable load of crap, but to summarize it roughly.
Is this guy forcibly holding onto the souls of his dead kin?
“Are you a crazy bastard?”
《Hehehehe…….》
The Fly King let out a chilling laugh, as if he wasn’t offended by my curse.
《There were some among my kin who did not agree with this.》
The Fly King pointed to the mountain of corpses piled up behind him.
《But resistance is fleeting, and the will that goes against the group is bound to be digested.》
I looked up at the mountain of corpses in the collective consciousness, piled up to a dizzying height.
“……It sounds nice to say ‘digested’, but isn’t it just that you ate them?”
《You can take it that way, it’s not much different.》
Is this really all…… the kin that the Fly King devoured with his own hands?
《And I have embalmed the bodies and souls of those who have perished like this, and used them as bricks to form this body.》
“……So, the flies that make up your huge body…… are all your kin that you killed with your own hands?”
《That’s what it would mean in human understanding.》
In the name of the ‘group’.
Those who oppose his will are killed, their souls are even taken away, and then used as structures to form his body.
Only those who follow his will are kept alive, fed, and hatched to be used as his subordinates.
Only then did I understand the Fly King’s insane size.
If he’s pulling in even the spirits of all the flies that have been born and died in the world and using them as structures, he can maintain this size.
“……I thought you were a unique monster.”
And at the same time as understanding that structure, an unknown sense of emptiness swept through me.
I muttered with a sneer.
I couldn’t understand everything the Fly King was saying, but one thing was within my realm of understanding.
“In the end, you’re just another commonly insane monster, no different from other monster lords.”
This monster, who had felt so incomprehensible, suddenly fell into the realm of understanding.
I glared at the Fly King and spat out the words.
“In the end, you’re just a shameless ruler who exploits his own people and uses them to the end of their souls, a ruler who doesn’t care about his people.”
《…….》
“A king who sees his own people as nothing more than flies.”
Like any other.
Such a trashy king.
As I rebuked him, a sense of displeasure flashed in the Fly King’s voice.
《You’re saying something interesting. What you’ve grasped about me is just a fragment. The truth I’ve realized, and the great cause I’m trying to carry out is…….》
“I’m not curious about your great cause.”
I cut him off and pointed at the Fly King with my index finger.
“You claim to represent the consensus of your race, but in reality, you’re just a common dictator who pursues your own selfish desires while destroying the will of your kin.”
《No! The infinite laws of the universe that I want to spread throughout this world-》
“Shut your crap and shut your mouth. In my eyes, you are…….”
I returned the words that the Fly King had said to me.
“You don’t seem much different from other moronic, self-believing, and special dark lords.”
I spat out each word, glaring at the Fly King who was staring back at me as if he couldn’t believe it.
“You’re just a summer dung fly that will soon be exterminated, quickly forgotten, and disappear. You bug bastard.”