The Black Cloud swirled around as if it had its own will.
It was high in the sky.
From the center of that swirl, a part of the black cloud stretched thinly like that of a spider thread, and just like that, it stretches all the way down.
Then, it lowers onto Shiva who was standing up with his body covered in wounds.
“Let me introduce it to you. This is my Mother Monster, Beelzebub.” (Shiva)
“Wind Mother Monster?! That black smoke?!” (Haine)
I couldn’t describe it in any other way.
From afar, it only looks like a black cloud; from up close, it looks like black smoke.
It is not impossible, but it is a gaseous-like body that doesn’t look like a living being at all. Even if they are classified as monsters, aren’t they supposed to be connected to living beings somehow or another?
“At the same time as they can give birth to wind element monsters, I also had them take on the role of hiding and protecting Rudras Metropolis. In other words, that is the Wind Barrier. Even if there’s travelers encountering the Wind capital by coincidence, these guys won’t allow them to enter unless allowed!” (Shiva)
“Making use of every goddamn thing! The humans, the city, the ethereal, and the monsters as well; you are utilizing them all as much as you want!” (Haine)
“I wonder about that. But that ends today. These guys will devour everything after all!” (Shiva)
The black smoke rushes in wave towards me with the order of Shiva.
My instincts were telling me that being bathed by that would definitely be bad news.
“Hmph!!”
I faced that thing straight on.
I release dark matter, and with the same level of wave, I clash it with the black smoke.
“I don’t know what that black smoke is, but it looks like it doesn’t have the power to fight straight on against the dark matter. I can feel the divine power is being erased!” (Haine)
“That’s true, but what about the others aside from you?” (Shiva)
“!!!”
Something came to mind, and I face the side.
And then, what came to view were the heroes that were being attacked by the black smoke in the same way as me, and the Founders as well!
“Damn it!!” (Haine)
I quickly ran towards them.
I will be distancing myself from Shiva in this way, but now that things have turned like this, I have no choice.
“Kyaaaa!!” (Karen)
“What-dasu?! What-dasu?!” (Sasae)
“At any rate, it is certain that touching that thing will be dangerous! [Flame Burst]!” (Mirack)
The large fire that Mirack released had burned the place where the black smoke is, and it hindered its advance.
Thanks to that, the Founders and heroes are currently okay.
“Everyone!!” (Haine)
I also ran towards the group and release dark matter at the surroundings.
“Mirack! It looks like my power and yours is effective against this black smoke! The two of us will take one side each and block them out completely!!” (Haine)
“Got it!! But this smoke, since the fire element is effective against it, could it be that it is something wind element related?!” (Mirack)
Based on the element affinities, fire is the one that’s strong against wind.
Fire will breathe in the air, increase in potency, and with that heat, it disturbs the flow of the wind.
In our first encounter with Mirack, I remember her burning all the wind element monsters -Python Flies- with one attack.
And so, the same thing happening here serves as a strengthening statement towards this black smoke actually being the Wind Mother Monster.
“We don’t know what this smoke is! As long as we don’t clarify the identity of it, don’t touch it by no means!!” (Celestis)
“You say identity, but how are we even going to identify it?! From what I can see, aside from it moving as if it has a will of its own, it seriously just looks like smoke, you know?!” (Mirack)
The fastest way would be to ask Shiva himself, but that guy is still at the center of the ring, and was simply looking at us with a grin on his face.
Mirack is releasing fire and I am releasing dark matter without pause, but the smoke is also coming down nonstop from the main body -the black cloud.
As long as we don’t burn it or erase it, we will be at a stalemate here.
“What is the Wind Founder doing?!”
I don’t know who said it, but that is a natural question.
Only the Wind Founder Shiva was not doing anything and simply standing on the ring, but he is completely fine. It doesn’t look like the black smoke is doing anything to him.
But that doesn’t mean we would get positive and think that we will be fine as well.
Unless you are extremely dense, you would definitely notice that this abnormality has something to do with the Wind Founder.
“Haine-san, what is the Wind Founder trying to do?! Just what in the world is this black smoke?!” (Karen)
And that question being directed at me who was fighting with the Wind Founder is also natural.
We were talking for quite a bit after all.
“No, well…” (Haine)
But as expected, I couldn’t tell them the reality straight. There’s no way I can tell them that the Wind Founder is the Wind God himself, and he suddenly became despaired, and is now trying to suicide together with the world.
While I was hurting myself on what to say…
“More importantly, Karen-san…” (Yorishiro)
Yorishiro speaks in good timing.
“The light divine power is not simply a power that destroys enemies with light. If that were the case, it would be no different from the fire divine power.” (Yorishiro)
“Yorishiro-sama? What is it, all of a sudden?” (Karen)
“Gather your light divine power to your eyelids and try to strain your eyes. The eyes are an instrument to catch the reflected light and grasp the surroundings. By increasing the accuracy of the information received by this reflected light with divine power…” (Yorishiro)
“L-Like this?! Kyaaaa!!” (Karen)
Did she see something by doing what Yorishiro suggested?
Karen-san lets out a scream fitting her age.
“What?! Karen, what happened?! …….Damn it, at times like this, to think I can’t move from my place!” (Mirack)
“Don’t get caught by your wicked desires and continue putting out a fire wall, lesbo hero!! So Karen-chi, what happened?!” (Celestis)
Karen-san answers Celestis with a trembling voice.
“This black smoke…this black smoke is…!” (Karen)
“Yes?” (Celestis)
“Bugs.” (Karen)
Eh?
“It looks like they are some sort of flies-desu wa ne. But they are incredibly small. They are even smaller than grains of sand. And there’s several millions of flies swarming around. That’s the true identity of this black smoke.” (Yorishiro)
“Waaaa?!” (Haine)
I unintentionally let out my voice at the words of Yorishiro.
In other words, this black smoke is actually a gathering of incredibly small insects?!
“Nuooooooooooooo!!!” (Mirack)
Hearing this, the strength of Mirack’s fire increases even more.
“That’s right.” (Shiva)
At some point in time, Shiva had arrived at a place close to us.
“The Wind Mother Monster, Beelzebub. Its identity is that of a swarm of super small fly-shaped monsters. They are a gathering of around a hundred billion, but the monster itself is only one. It is a group, and yet, it is only one kind of monster. By dispersing to the surroundings, they lay eggs all around, and wind monsters are born from it.” (Shiva)
This guy is saying such essential stuff in front of everyone…
“Riding the wind, they appear, swarming on rotten meat, they use that as a sacrifice to lay eggs, and change them to a new life. Life is born from filth. And the one that embodies this the most is the fly army, Beelzebub. By the hands of them, the world will meet its end today!!” (Shiva)
- 154: Baal Cloud
“What be the meaning of this-sa ne, Wind Founder?”
The very first one to voice out was the Earth Founder Obaa-san.
“A Founder controlling a monster, I can only think of it as a bad joke. But if ya say it be the Mother Monster we been discussing about, that makes it the more doubting-sa ne.”
“…Hmph.” (Shiva)
Shiva simply made a villainous smile.
He doesn’t answer.
Is that supposed to be him scorning us?
“Don’t just stay silent and answer!” (Azul)
Even the Water Founder. As expected, he forgot his usual gentleness and lifted his voice.
{…Founder! Founder! I request a response!}
From the ear of the Water Founder, I heard an unfamiliar voice.
It came from the ethereal wireless communication device at his ear.
“…Stream Marine General? What’s wrong?” (Azul)
So they had communication with the outside through the wireless device?
The call was probably from the troops that were in standby outside Rudras Metropolis.
{It is an emergency! The cloud! The black cloud that was covering the sky has come down the ground, and—!!}
?!!
I look at the sky. There, I saw that the line that was connecting the black cloud to the ground… was not a single line anymore…
“Could it be—?! The soldiers at standby outside are also being attacked?!” (Haine)
The only thing that we have to understand what’s happening outside is the voice that’s telling us about it from the wireless device.
Moreover, that voice was trembling with fear and confusion.
{The cloud… turned into smoke…a black smoke, and is closing onto us. It was eerie, so we fought back, but against smoke, the expected effect is not showing, and a few of the people at the frontline that touched the smoke…have been covered completely by it, and—!!}
“Hiiiih?!”
We, who knew about the real identity of the smoke, let out screams.
<More than ten have fallen victim to it. With their whole body covered by the smoke, they fell writhing in pain….! Eh? Wait a moment please! The smoke is backing off from the fallen people, and…!!>
Eh?
{Great! I don’t know why, but it looks like the smoke has pulled back on its own! Are you okay?! Medic! Just in case, check out the people that have been attacked by the smok—GAhaaagh?!}
“Wa?! What was that?! A scream?! What happened?! Respond!” (Azul)
For a while, only the sound of chaos reverberated from the wireless device.
{Founder! This is terrible! The people that were caught in the smoke and were now released from it, have suddenly begun attacking us!! There’s no response even when we call out to them! The black smoke is also slowly approaching again! Orders please!! Orde—-Gugyaa!}
After that, no matter how many times the Water Founder called, the only thing that was returned from the wireless device were screams and bellows.
“…Shiva!!!” (Haine)
I also let out an angry roar at Shiva.
With absolute certainty that he is the one who is responsible for this abnormal circumstances.
“…What Beelzebub is aiming for…is the insides of you humans.” (Shiva)
He replied with a tone as if he were teaching pitiful lost lambs.
“Sticking onto the humans, they enter through places like the mouth, nose, ears; at every possible hole to invade the body. Entering the lungs, passing through the veins, and at the end, they arrive at the brain. A single one of Beelzebub is as big as 1/10 of a grain of sand. There’s no problem in invading the body with that size. Then, once it arrives at the brain, it takes over their thoughts and…” (Shiva)
As if edging the shock even deeper, he stored it before saying it.
“…It can freely control them.” (Shiva)
“Then, the reason why the soldiers suddenly attacked their comrades was…!” (Haine)
Because they were already the puppets of the flies.
“But that’s not all, you know? After all, the most important point of Beelzebub is that they are a Mother Monster. They have the function of laying eggs that give birth to wind element monsters. The brain of a human must be quite the nutritious place as a seedbed, don’t you think so too?” (Shiva)
“You—!!” (Haine)
“ Fighting in this place, have all the humans be parasitized by Beelzebub, and just like that, I will have them return to their homelands. By the time they arrive, all their bodies should be filled with eggs. In time, they will hatch, tear away the host, and grow. The very center of the settlements will be covered by several hundreds of wind element monsters. Moreover, by that time, the Founders and heroes will have been turned into seedbeds as well and already be dead.” (Shiva)
“Disgusting-dasu~~~!!” (Sasae)
Sasae-chan couldn’t endure it and lets out a groan. That’s how much the explanation of Shiva must have been displeasing in a physiological way.
So for those things, we are all only egg-laying containers huh.
Not only will we be killed…they plan on parasitizing us as living corpses!
{Founder-sama!! 1/10 of the troops stationed here have fallen to the control of the mysterious smoke! What should we do? Please give us orders!!}
At times, there would be understandable voices coming from the communication device, voices that were at their wit’s end.
Even if they are being controlled, they are comrades. They probably can’t attack them without hesitating.
As they continue in that state, the situation progresses.
“Now that it has come to this…!!” (Haine)
I resolve myself.
But Shiva was a breath faster.
“Hmph.”
Shiva’s body was obstructed by the black smoke, and just like that, he disappeared.
“He ran away?!” (Haine)
The most effective way of dealing with this swarm of flies is to defeat Shiva who is the one controlling them.
This black smoke that is made up of minuscule flies; each one of them may be small, but if the numbers are in the billions, the whole of them is close to being as big as the giant tree, Grandma Wood.
After all, the black cloud, that can be said to be the parent body, is covering the sky as far as the eye can see, and even when it has poured quite the amount to the ground, its denseness hasn’t changed at all.
If we just continue as we are -blocking them with Mirack’s fire and my dark matter- it is clear that it will turn into us exhausting ourselves.
And worst than that, the casualties the soldiers outside are receiving is serious.
Toreido Shiva… Wind God Quasar.
Are you seriously aiming to destroy the world using the Mother Monster?
