"The first 'I' was a mutant fly."
The old fly, seated in a lotus position, began its tale arbitrarily.
"A female fly whose body had grotesquely grown as big as a pig, abnormally so."
"..."
White Night listened without moving a muscle, as the fly continued.
"When the humans of the farm discovered me just born, they tried to kill me. Naturally. To them, a fly was a pest that deserved death, and I was a rare giant one at that."
"..."
"After being beaten, I lost both my wings, my antennae, and even my legs were crushed. Now, I was a crippled mutant fly."
The fly chuckled.
"Lying on the ground, facing death, I was filled only with resentment, rage, and hunger."
"..."
"Then, I encountered a human. Stopping in his tracks, he looked down at me, dying. I thought he would finish me off."
The fly rubbed its front legs in front of its chest.
"But that human saved me."
The action resembled the fly rubbing its legs, but also seemed like the rolling of prayer beads.
"He was an old priest. A gaunt old man who believed in mercy for the poor, sharing the food he received through alms with beggars and the sick."
The fly sneered.
"To him, I must have appeared as one of the poor, or perhaps a being he needed to save. Regardless, the priest applied medicine on me and shared his food."
"..."
"And so, I survived. I ended up lying in the courtyard of the crumbling temple where the priest stayed."
White Night let the fly's story drift past her ears while sharply surveying her surroundings.
Wondering how to devour this being.
"Time passed. I grew increasingly larger, while he became more emaciated. It was natural. I was eating his share of the food too."
"..."
"Yet, he never showed any signs of dislike. Instead, he sat next to me, who devoured the alms-received food like a possessed creature, and recited scriptures from his religion. I did not understand a word of it, but he continued without care."
Suddenly, the fly's voice became distant as it reminisced about the old story.
"According to him, every soul undergoes reincarnation. In the next life, one could become a cow, a flower, or even a fly like me. It's determined by the karma accumulated."
"..."
"He told me that although I was born as a fly due to the sins of my past life, if I paid off a lot of that sin in this life, I could eventually become a human at the end of reincarnation and rebirth."
The fly shook its head.
"Not long after, the priest died."
"..."
"A village child threw a stone into the temple as a prank. The temple where the dirty fly and the old priest lived was a perfect spot for the children to act spitefully. The stone intended for me hit the priest, who was meditating next to me. He suffered a severe head injury and never stood up again after falling."
"..."
"All those beggars, the sick, the wanderers, the poor who he had recited scriptures to throughout his life and shared the food he begged for. The humans who swarmed around him like flies for a lifetime to get a grain of rice did not show up as he was dying. They had torn his life apart and then acted as if they didn't know him. He died vainly, injured and starving."
The fly exhaled deeply.
"Before he died, he told me to eat him. Not to feel sorry. To follow nature, to eat his corpse like a fly should."
"..."
"What do you think I did?"
White Night didn't respond, but the fly continued as if it didn't care.
"I did not eat."
"..."
"Next to the priest's corpse, for some reason, I mimicked him. I tried to recite the incomprehensible scriptures, tried to imitate the meditation posture."
The fly's eyes gleamed red.
"And at the moment I saw other flies swarm and newly born maggots crawl over his decaying corpse... That's when I realized."
Reflecting on the moment of sudden enlightenment.
"Ah- from a human's death, flies are born. This is reincarnation!"
The fly laughed maniacally.
"Life flows into death, and from that death, new life is born. Creation leads to destruction, and again, destruction leads to creation!"
The fly slowly traced a path with the tip of its leg.
It looked like an infinity symbol (∞) tilted on its side.
"Life and death are separated by a thin line. Then, what's the difference between a fly and a human?"
"..."
"Flies devour the death of other beings, while humans devour the lives of others. We're all the same. No..."
The fly's compound eyes stared straight at White Night.
"At least we flies do not harbor the intention to harm others indiscriminately. But you humans... you harm us flies, everything in the world, and even yourselves."
"..."
"Even that old priest, who repeated nothing but begging and giving, was innocently killed by a stone because of your human malice."
Anger seeped into the fly's voice like spreading ink.
"From our perspective, you, who ruin and harm everything regardless of survival... are the true pests that bring destruction to the world."
Then, the fly slowly spread its legs as if to embrace tenderly.
"We will save you pests."
"..."
"We will kill everything in this world, rot it, and lay eggs on it... to be reborn as flies. Eventually, the whole world will become flies."
The fly's voice sounded as if it was dreaming.
"Only then, by experiencing the life of a fly, will you understand. The joy of living a life shared from the bottom, letting go of everything."
"..."
"The happiness of being grateful for even rotten food and muddy water. To share with the whole world."
White Night exhaled a soft sigh.
"...Is your sermon of nonsense over, crazy fly? Then, let's end this."
"If I could change your mind, I might rant for eons."
The fly looked down at White Night with a pitiful gaze.
"Poor soul. I pity you."
"...!"
"Do not try to solve your hunger by stealing. I will willingly share my granary with you."
Whooosh!
Enveloped in a dazzling light, White Night shouted.
"Shut your mouth and hand over everything in your granary, you disgusting fly...!"
"You are deeply sinful, mortal."
The fly chuckled derisively.
"When you are reborn, you will surely reincarnate as a fly."
In the next instant, White Night charged like lightning and placed her hands on the fly's head.
Despite its pretentious talk, the fly before her was merely part of the collective consciousness of all flies. No matter how many billions of flies gather, they couldn't match White Night's processing power.
She quickly seized control...
"Huh?"
But when she came to her senses the next moment, White Night's body had melted away into nothingness.
Only her head remained, rolling on the ground as she glared with wide eyes.
"Do you still not understand?"
Looking down at her, the fly muttered as if mocking her.
"From the moment you opened your eyes here, you had long been 'digested' by us."
***
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Tearing through the ceiling, mutant fly specimens poured out in droves.
"Damn!"
I gritted my teeth and raised a magical barrier high. I had already confirmed that these mutant beasts were no ordinary threat.
First, strengthen the defense, and get the formation ready...!
Ssssshhhh!
A gray barrier rose, forming a fortress, and my captured beasts along with 15 heroes were ready for battle.
And then- the collision.
Boom! Ba-ba-boom!
The mutant flies' body-slamming immediately crushed the barrier, and the captured beasts were knocked away en masse.
Each of these mutant flies was an elite-level monster.
Unlike the usual swarm tactics of flies, these were elite monsters. They were indeed powerful.
Of course, we didn't just take it lying down.
Rooooar!
The Kraken roared and swung its gigantic tentacles like a fly swatter, flattening the flies that couldn't get into defensive position in time.
Boom-boom-boom!
Hercules also skewered several flies at once with his long horn.
Kuilan, Verdandi, Burnout, and Bodybag, among other heroes, were the elite of the elite. If they could get their attacks in, they could knock down the flies persistently.
The problem was the barrier used by the fly bastards.
Once they raised a barrier, our ordinary attacks couldn't even scratch it. I was seething.
"Are they mimicking our technology...?"
How was that possible?
I had heard that these monsters could evolve in real-time, but to steal our technology as well...?
In the meantime, as our defenses held up, two dwarf warriors I brought with my party used a dungeon escape teleportation scroll to take the casualties away.
Flash! Flash!
The dead and the wounded successfully escaped first. I heaved a sigh of relief internally.
"Huh?"
But there were those who, despite my order to retreat, stayed behind.
It was Junior, Kellibey, and Kellison. Despite looking utterly exhausted, they stood behind me, holding their ground.
When I gestured with my chin, asking why they weren't leaving, Junior asked me in return.
"What about you, Your Majesty?"
"I've said it before. I'll advance as far as I can."
"But these mutant specimens are strong...! If we fight recklessly here, we might suffer unnecessary losses."
"I've come this far, I need to gather as much information as possible."
I glared at the magic barrier used by the mutant specimens.
If these creatures keep appearing, we need to establish a strategy here.
Following my gaze, Junior, Kellison, and Kellibey each offered a piece of advice.
"I was going to explain in detail later, but yes, it seems like they're using our barrier technology."
"But after all, they're just big flies. The magic cores inside them are of low quality. And that technology devours magic power voraciously."
"In other words, they can't keep it on for a long time."
So, if it becomes a war of attrition, it will eventually turn off.
As the battle dragged on, indeed, the mutant flies could no longer maintain their barrier and retreated.
However, after taking a brief rest and re-entering the frontline, the barrier reappeared on their bodies.
"What a headache... Junior, could your 'Elemental Disassembly' dismantle that barrier?"
"Yes. But as you know, it's not a spell that can be used recklessly..."
Junior glanced at me cautiously. I sighed.
Kellibey chimed in.
"Like Junior's magic that completely disassembles magical elements, or an artifact with the power to forcefully break through barriers, like the 'Sturdy Belief' installed in Geronimo, is needed."
That moment, an idea struck me.
I sighed and pressed my temples.
"We have a way on our side, too."
Reluctantly, but what choice do we have?
Let's at least test it.
I reached into my inventory and, after a moment, pulled out the item I was looking for.
A longsword, swirling with malevolent energy, appeared. Immediately, the sword screamed in my head.
'Feed meeeeeeeeee!'
It emitted sinister energy in all directions.
The surrounding heroes jumped back in shock. Wide-eyed, Junior stuttered.
"Your Majesty? That sword is...?!"
"Anything it touches, it devours."
With a sigh, I mentioned the sword's name.
"Excannibal."
A cursed sword stolen from the Fallen King.
Excannibal was now in my hands.