… Woosh!
The joints snapped.
One of the creatures sprawled across the floor.
Vikir grabbed the horns of the lunging beetle-type King by the horns and put the joint back on.
…Crunch!
Even the toughest armor has weak joints.
A few taps revealed that the exoskeletons of the Kings were quite strong, and realizing this, Vikir stopped using the old, exhausting method of striking, and instead, conserved his strength and used articulation.
The result.
More than fifty Insectkings lay groaning on the sandy ground.
After pinning down a stag beetle-type Insectking with a long white beard by the middle arm, Vikir asked with a hint of irritation.
"Do you guys feel like having a conversation now?"
[Yes. Please, just look at the middle arm, it's a valuable part of the human body, too, please....]
The elderly rhinoceros beetle-type Insectking, who appears to be some sort of elder, bends down and begs the question.
When the old, gray-bearded Insectking bowed their heads, eventually all the Insectkings knelt before Vikir.
Vikir stared at them all.
Black exoskeletons, muscular bodies, subtly different faces depending on their gender....
Overall, they all looked similar, but there was a crucial difference.
It was the appearance of their horns.
Some had a single, thick horn that towered over them, while others had two horns that sprouted like pincers.
So to speak, it's the difference between a rhinoceros beetle and a stag beetle.
Apparently, these Insectkings didn't get along very well among themselves.
They didn't work as a team when attacking.
'...That made it easy to overpower them.'
Vikir sat down on a rotting log.
In front of him, stag beetle-type and rhinoceros beetle-type Insectking were sitting on their knees.
Naturally, the students of the commoners group were kneeling down with pale complexions and voluntarily paying their taxes(?).
'Did you see, 50 beetles that all of us couldn't do anything about.'
'We couldn't even handle one of them... but 50 of them....'
'He's a monster, he's a monster! What the hell is he?'
'Maybe he ate hundreds of candies from upstairs, but that doesn't explain it.'
Vikir can hear them all chattering away.
And to those guys.
"Why don't you shut up, you're making noise to my lord."
"Noisy."
"Noisy."
The triplets Highbro, Midbro, and Lowbro now made no attempt to hide their reverence for Vikir.
Meanwhile.
Vikir turned to the Insectkings.
"How did you guys end up here?"
Then Insectking, a rhinoceros beetle type with long white eyebrows and beards, and Insectking, a stag beetle type, bowed their heads and opened their mouths.
[We were living a very long time ago on an island called "Giant Beetle Island" beyond the harsh sea].
[Then we were fighting a demon that attacked us out of nowhere, and we ended up trapped inside this strange tree].
Amdusias had apparently carved off a portion of the island and turned it into a world within a tree.
However, by forcibly stitching the disparate terrain together, all of the island's vegetation dried up, leaving only a single root of the Hell Tree.
[Since then, we have fought a long battle for the sap of the Hell Tree. There were other ship owners, but as time passed, they all died and we were the only ones left.]
"...I see."
Vikir nodded.
The Insectking explanation was that the demon Amdusias was mimicking a god.
Decarabia interjected.
[I assume you are aware that Lun, whom you consider your creator, is also a 'worldview collector' who likes to squeeze many worlds into one place?]
"I didn't know that. What is that?"
[It's nothing. A sheep has its own world, and a wolf has its own world. But sheep and wolves obviously coexist in reality, don't they? That's the work of Lun].
The Beginning. In the great world that originally existed, sheep, wolves, and humans lived together.
But a being called Lun took some from the world of the sheep, some from the world of the wolves, and some from the world of the humans, and put them together, and that is the real world.
[You call the needle that stitched those worlds together the 'ecological pyramid' and the thread the 'food chain'].
"Wasn't that just an old Bible verse, something that was real?"
[ Well, I don't know, not even I can figure that out. What I do know is that Amdusias has been gathering worlds in his Hell Tree to mimic Lun. It's been a longstanding hobby of his].
Of course, the worlds in the Hell Tree that Amdusias has created and the real worlds that the Lun Gods have created are far different in their sophistication.
It's like comparing rags to riches.
"...I'm not interested in complicated theological theories. I need to get out of here and go to the bottom floor."
Vikir tucked decarabia into his chest pocket and turned back to the Insectking.
"There will be no more arguing over sap. I will get you out of here."
[What? Is that even possible?]
All the Insectking, including the elders, opened their eyes wide.
Vikir nodded and asserted.
"Of course it is possible, but I need your help."
[Whether it is possible! Anything as long as I can clear the mission on this floor and get out...!]
But the Elders didn't finish their sentence.
"We need a ship. If it's you guys, you'll be able to get it, right?"
At that, the complexions of all the Insectking stiffened.
....
Silence. The awkward silence continued for a while.
Eventually, the Insectking race who did not know lies brought out their inner thoughts.
[In fact, the reason why the rhinoceros beetle tribe and the stag beetle tribe have been at odds for a long time is because of 'ships.']
"Why?"
[Because, well, there's a ship... that's a bit of a problem…]
When Vikir and the Insectking were in the middle of a conversation.
"Uh! My lord, over there!"
Highbro exclaims in a panicked tone.
Vikir turns his head to see what it is, and his eyes catch an unexpected sight.
Dogma. The leader of the Commoners' faction was climbing the roots of the Hell Tree at breakneck speed.
"Hahahaha- you stupid bastards, do you think I'm going to hand out sap to you!"
His bloodshot eyes told them that he had already lost his mind.
…with a plop! Gulp- Gulp- Gulp- Gulp-
Dogma dropped his head into the puddle of sap and began to gulp it down.
Despite his already bloated belly, Dogma sucked down the sap with all the strength he could muster.
He was desperate, as if he couldn't give another drop.
"Do, Dogma, give us some too!"
"You're the only one who drinks it, you disgusting bastard!"
"The sap is for us!"
Several of Dogma's followers followed at his heels.
They too were just about to dunk their heads in the puddle.
…Pow!
One student's head was crushed.
Dogma's hand. It had grown many times larger and thicker, and now it squeezed the man's skull and crushed it.
Gulp-gulp-gulp-gulp!
Despite the blood, brain fluid, and strange candies dropped by the dying man into a puddle of sap, Dogma did not remove its head from the sap gland.
Seeing it, Vikir hissed low.
"You shouldn't drink that much."
The sap of the Hell Tree belongs only to demons. No human could drink too much of it.
And Dogma was a case in point that proved it to be true.
"K-Uuuuuuh!?"
He grabbed at his face with his hands, his stomach bulging from the amount of sap he had consumed.
But it was too late.
The sap of the Hell Tree had spread through his veins and seeped into his marrow, and it had begun to transform Dogma's entire body.
Pppudeudeug- kkudeudeug- ppadeug- ujijig!
The students following Dogma cowered in fear.
But they couldn't escape under the roots.
… Quack!
Dogma opened his mouth wide and chewed through their entire upper bodies with his razor-sharp teeth, swallowing them whole.
[Ggah-aaaah...]
Dogma chewing on flesh and candy.
His appearance was already no longer that of a human.
Majin (魔人).
A creature classified as a demon, but neither demon nor monster.
A wandering diaspora between the human and demon worlds for all eternity.
As soon as Vikir saw it, he sighed once more.
"It's not going to be easy for someone that size...."
Just then.
[ Surp rise miss ion ? ]
A grotesque fleshy fairy appeared above everyone's heads.
It wiggled its obnoxiously fat ass from side to side and chirped excitedly.
[Wow ? Is the re an excell ent chall enger who has al ready be come a Majin ? Is it a hap py occa sion ? Th en of cour se I shou ld gi ve you a miss ion, rig ht ? ]
With that, the fairy dangled the mission in front of everyone's eyes except for the Insectkings.
-Ring!
-Majin (0/1)
※ Your precious friend has lost his temper, oh no~ Let's quickly put him at ease! The only way is... you know?
...The problem is.
-Ring!
-Survivor (0/77)
※ Even though you've become Majin, it's meaningless if you don't run wild, right? Let me prove how strong you've become! By the way, the rewards will be quite generous, right?
Dogma got a mission too.