"Crunch... crunch..."
I sit cross-legged, eating breakfast.
One piece of beef jerky.
"Crunch, crunch..."
I coldly survey the poisonous-colored lizardmen.
All of them are sleeping while foaming purple bubbles.
Behind them sprawls the corpses of the quadrupedal lizards.
To my left and right front lie two dragon zombies.
They too have turned purple.
Occasionally, groan-like sounds rise.
"Gu, gi, ge... e, e..."
Cries tinged with agony.
Taking life with personal intent involved.
What makes that possible—is definite killing intent.
It seems there is a "killing" factor inside me.
I narrow my eyes while gazing at the groaning monsters.
The two dragon zombies.
For a moment, their rotten, grotesque faces overlap with my real parents.
△
That day too, they kicked me as I curled up holding my head.
I think it was after dinner.
My dinners were usually leftovers from my parents' meals.
My mother had always had a habit of buying too much food from the supermarket.
She often fought with my father over it.
But thanks to that, the leftovers became my meals.
'This kid's tough! Tch! If he cried and screamed more, it'd be a bit more fun! Come on!'
'Don't kill him, okay~? The world's eyes are strict these days~'
'Shut up! If he dies, he dies! If he croaks, it's an accident! We'll just play dumb! If this brat dies, won't we get a ton of condolence money!?'
'Hey darling, let me kick him too~! Take this! Take this! Take this! Does it hurt!? Does it hurt!? But we're enduring way tougher daily work stress! Boring work! So we're the great ones! You wouldn't understand, you brat!? Take this take this take this! Say something, Touka!? Die! Die! Die!'
'Good booze snack! Glug glug—puhaa! Good! Keep killing him! Feels refreshing!'
'Take this take this—ah!? Tch! The neighbor's complaining about noise again!'
'Hey! If child services gets called again because of meddling, it'll be a pain!'
'Y-yeah... yes yes~ sorry~! We'll be quiet~! Really sorry our kid's noisy~!'
Someday, I'll kill them.
If I don't kill, I'll be killed.
If I had more "power."
If I had power to trample everything.
Kill.
Something inside urges.
Kill.
Kill.
I'll kill them.
▽
"..."
Back then, did I come to know "killing intent"?
"Then I should be grateful."
To them.
For giving me the factor of killing intent.
For cultivating killing intent toward other living beings.
"If I ever return to the original world... maybe I should track them down and at least say thanks..."
To my uncle and aunt, I feel nothing but gratitude.
This is not sarcasm—I mean it from the heart.
My uncle and aunt made me "normal."
They cherished me.
They taught me human warmth.
They taught me a gentle heart.
The ones I truly want to thank are my uncle and aunt who took me in and raised me.
"...A gentle heart, huh."
I gaze blankly at the monsters.
The quadrupedal lizards died first.
This way of killing—simply waiting for death by poison.
"Ge, ga!? Gue e—"
[Level up.]
No exhilaration at all.
A horrific sight.
Massacre, for example.
Yes—I did this.
A terrifying act.
An act completely lacking gentleness.
"Fu, gu..."
Tears overflow.
"Damn it... what the hell is this..."
At this moment, I finally thought I would agonize over the horror and gruesomeness of what I had done—
But
"I don't."
Not... at... all.
Tears stream down my face.
I am surprised at my own lack of emotion.
The tears overflowed from that shock.
Have I been "poisoned"?
Has my resistance to killing fallen "asleep"?
Has my normal sense toward killing become "paralyzed"?
I feel nothing.
I am scared of myself for feeling nothing.
I wipe the tears.
"Fuuu..."
I exhale thinly.
The tears are already gone.
"No helping it."
This happened while I was in survival competition here.
I have no choice but to accept it.
Accept the current me.
The new me—
Touka Mimori.
You try to kill me.
I try to kill you.
A truly simple natural law.
Toward genuine killing intent—I will mercilessly carry out trampling.
I stare into the thick darkness.
"Yo."
It seems I am no longer afraid of "you."
The darkness I once feared may now be a friend I can hold hands with.
"Gya! Gi e!"
"Gu e!?"
"Gu gya!? Gi ee!?"
The chain of death cries.
The lizardmen die one after another.
A chorus of death.
"Go, ge e—..."
"Hi gi, e e e—..."
The dragon zombies seem to have run out of strength too.
A gruesome yet vividly poisonous scene.
Later, while moving to the upper area, I would come to recall—
[Level up.]
That at this moment, the corners of my mouth had formed a smile.
[LV 549 → LV 665]