McGillis, who declared he would go out to the Dark Tribe that were both family and combat power.
He entered one of the air holes leading outside.
McGillis shed his physical body and possessed the ground.
He moved the fortress and himself a great distance, unnoticed by the Dark Tribe.
Well then, at a place located further south from where Rayos was possessing the ground and making such a bold move.
The villain who was caught up in Rayos’s large-scale otherworldly transfer… a great villain.
The underworld organization, [Memory of Despair], which destroys worlds, watches others’ despair from a special seat, and forces its own ideals upon others.
One of its executives, whose epithet was [Lord Vegetarian].
His soul floated aimlessly in the sky above where a farming village and a fishing village were located nearby.
He was not absorbed into the cycle of reincarnation in this world, and harbored grudges for being given an unreasonable death, cursing the people who lived carelessly below, and the human form.
“Don’t eat meat. Eat vegetables. Cherish and grow grass. And eat them deliciously. Ah, I’m so irritated. Why am I in this nonsensical place? What language is this? Speak in a language I can understand. Ah, don’t eat such ugly swine. Is this hell?”
Creatures like black mist attacked people.
People, with simple weapons made by tying kitchen knives to the ends of long poles, dispersed the black mist that formed the group of creatures.
“I’m looking for sparkling pebbles.”
Can they be sold? Or perhaps they eat them… is that it?
Ah, creatures. Kill them! Kill them to quell my anger! Don’t attack me individually! Run away before you’re surrounded!
If only my voice could reach… no, perhaps words don’t get through.
My god, Hapichu, God of Harvest and Gourmet. Is this… is this because my faithful followers lacked effort?
[Lord Vegetarian] wailed in his Astral Body, wondering if he had to witness this hellish scene again today.
“…Hm? Today is a little different than usual?”
It was a festival day to deepen the friendship between the farming and fishing villages.
The summer male god whispered his love to the autumn goddess.
A day praying for a bountiful harvest and a great catch.
A grand event for the young people of both villages to find partners.
The women of the farming village, in brightly colored flower crowns and skirts adorned with flowers, appealed to the men, portraying themselves as flower fairies.
The women of the fishing village, in necklaces and brooches made of colorful fish scales and seashells, appealed that they were mermaids.
Men would present a woman they favored with the horns, fangs, or magic stones of a beast they had hunted, saying, “Please accept this.”
Men from the fishing village would present the scales, pearls, or magic stones of a catch they had made, saying, “Let’s look at the sea together.”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah”
The men and women of the farming village were uprooting colorful flowers.
If they did that, no seeds would remain, and the next sprouts (lives) would be cut off.
“Noooooooooooooo. Stoooooooooop.”
You have to leave at least three behind, otherwise the same colored flowers won’t bloom in that spot! Cherish nature more! You are indeed demons from hell! Just like that black mist, you are demons who torment me!
You! You there! All you want is the vine flowers, right! Don’t cut the vines with your machete! Don’t cut them! You cut them! Ugh.
[Lord Vegetarian] let out screams of agony beyond his usual suffering.
“Father, have you gathered the flowers?”
“Mm, yes, look ♪”
At his cute daughter’s request, the father proudly showed off the vine flowers he had cut with his machete.
“Wow, thank you, Father ♪”
“Haha, I’m glad you like them. It was worth gathering them, Father ♪”
When his cute daughter smiled, it was as if flowers bloomed around him.
The father returned home with his cute daughter, and this time, his mother would tailor a festival costume for her.
“Unforgivable!”
[Lord Vegetarian] spat curses at their retreating figures as if to shoot them dead.
Then he looked at the trunk of the tree where the miserably cut vines had been wrapped.
With trembling hands, he tried to rub the painful remnants of the vines and the wound from the machete, and seeing his hand enter the trunk, he let out a choked cry of inexpressible regret.
“———-!!”
His consciousness flew away.
For the first time as an Astral Body, he was defenseless.
The Astral Body that formed [Lord Vegetarian] was being encroached upon by the mana of this world.
His semi-transparent form began to turn black from his hands and feet.
“…Hmm? I lost consciousness… What is this!? What’s happening to my body!?”
[Lord Vegetarian] regained consciousness from the pleasant, ticklish sensation in his hands and feet.
Confused, he moved his blackened hands and feet to check for any other abnormalities.
By regaining consciousness, the encroachment by mana had stopped.
If his entire body had turned black, he would have been reincarnated as a small monster.
“…It just turned black. Why did it turn black? Because I lost consciousness, perhaps? Did the grudges of these plants and trees flow into my body?”
Losing consciousness can wait.
First, he would go to the other plants and trees that were brutally cut and wounded.
“…It’s unchanged.”
With the blackened limb sections, it remained the same.
Next, of course, he needed to faint… but how to faint?
[Lord Vegetarian] was a genius, so to speak.
He generally got used to things he experienced once.
Since he had experienced fainting due to extreme shock, the difficulty of doing it a second time was significantly higher.
This was troubling. After all, if he fainted, he couldn’t wake up by his own will.
His body passed through everything anyway.
If he didn’t pass through, he could float in the air and faint, falling to the ground.
However, levitation didn’t cease even when sleeping, so he wouldn’t fall.
And since he would pass through the ground, even if he could fall, it would be pointless.
What would the sensation of his skin touching something be next?
The scent of the sea… no, it wasn’t here.
He couldn’t feel the temperature either.
Could he somehow reproduce the sensation he felt while unconscious…?
“…Impossible.”
[Lord Vegetarian] looked around again.
On the beach where the festival was held, a structure made of logs was noticeable.
…Are they going to have a campfire? [Lord Vegetarian] shuddered. He was frozen.
However, he maintained consciousness.
*Shalallan♪ Shalallan♪*
The bell, signaling the start of the grand event to find partners… the festival, rang out.
[Lord Vegetarian], who was frozen, thawed.
Young men and women shyly approached each other and started dancing while having light conversations.
Around them, parents and elders began to play music by hitting objects that produced pleasant sounds instead of musical instruments.
“When it gets dark, in a secluded place…”
“…/// I’m happy ♪”
Travelers rarely visited.
It was a secluded location where traveling merchants and trading caravans sometimes stopped by once every six months, only to be forgotten.
If they waited for people from outside, they would be left behind.
Therefore, no matter what, during this time when the ratio of men was higher, they danced happily, thinking, “He’s the one I’m aiming for,” and “I’m aiming for that girl,” but beneath the surface, a fierce battle of possession was unfolding.
“Come dance with me next… Eek!”
“Move aside. I’m dancing with him next.”
“Yield your spot.”
“This girl is dancing another song with me. Right♪?”
*Hubbub!*
*Toton ton, tottotonton♪*
*Hubbub.*
*Toton ton, shanshan shaa♪*
It was impossible for the women, who lacked physical stamina, to continue dancing for many songs.
The men would continue the dance and conversation they had secretly practiced for this day, prolonging their stay with their chosen women (partners).
The women, grateful for the year with many men, although there were no leftovers, would make alluring gestures to their desired men (partners) to win them over, not to be outdone by their rivals.
(If I put my hand on his waist here, it’ll be decided!)
(Look, look. I’m more beautiful as a woman.)
As the song reached its climax, men would make their final, all-out attack on their primary targets, and second-tier attackers would go in with the understanding that they might be rejected.
Men who were certain to be left behind would try to curry favor with rivals who had already obtained women (partners).
“Hey…”
“…Hehe, I knew it.”
“Shh. After this festival is over. Just for a little while…”
“I have plans to spend tonight alone with her (my partner).”
“Guh. Then, then how about tomorrow, or the day after? Can you give me some time?”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, now let go. Bad bugs are gathering around her, I need to sweep them away, as a husband ♪”
*Stab.*
The words pierced the chest of the man who had tried to curry favor, a stark reminder of the reality that his rival had a partner while he did not.
Enduring the throbbing pain in his chest, he went to his parents.
“I’m sorry… I…”
I tried my best.
“We saw.”
They comforted him.
Occasionally, on this night, men would have their virginity taken by their mothers.
Conversely, in years when there were more women than men, a daughter’s hymen would be broken by her father or mother.
In any case, the campfire illuminated the night sky and the sea in a bright red glow.
“Noooooooooooooooooooooo—…”
[Lord Vegetarian] lost consciousness at the sight of the fiercely burning logs.
When he next awoke, he was at the bottom of the sea, with sea anemones and fish swimming lazily around him.
“Gurbobobo—?!”
Why was his mouth opening, even though he wasn’t hyperventilating? Bubbles shot up from his mouth towards the sea surface.
Why was he in the sea?
Had his entire body turned black?
To his surprise, he could see his own back as he moved his limbs, which were like black mist, in the image of moving toward the sea surface.
He shot up into the air with too much force, and then plunged back to the seabed.
Fortunately, he wasn’t suffocating.
Could he have obtained a physical body?
He felt the sensation of sand from this mist.
Ohhhh, now I can finally confront those sinners who have disrespected nature!
But wait.
Am I now…
a black monster that can defeat sinners, even a single one?
I must train. I must train, or I cannot kill the sinners!
Will this body gain muscle if I train?
How do I increase this mist?
[Lord Vegetarian] emerged from the sea and, in a secluded spot, performed abdominal exercises, running, and side-stepping, checking for any changes in his body while he trained.
“My body and the mist haven’t increased…”
Devastated.
[Lord Vegetarian] was at a loss.
At that moment, a small monster with a body of black mist, of the same kind as him, approached, sensing the mana in the magic stone (grain of sand size) within [Lord Vegetarian]’s body.
“Kyurururu.”
“What are you? No, have I become you (my kin)?”
“Kyururu?”
“It’s unexpected that I can’t communicate with my kin even after becoming one. Wait? Don’t rub against me!? It’s too hot!”
It absorbed the mana from the magic stone within his body.
That’s why the small monster approached, rubbing its mist against his mist.
“Hm? My body feels heavy? What did you do?”
“……..”
“Hmph! Stop rubbing me!”
*Snap.*
He struck the small monster’s face with a blow that sounded like a dry slap from a cat’s paw.
“Kyu~~. Kyu, Kyururu.”
Mana absorption equals a meal.
It was annoyed that its meal had been interrupted.
Whether it thought it had an easy meal or not was unclear.
The small monster recognized [Lord Vegetarian] as an enemy.
“W-what? You were the one who did something first.”
“Kyurururu!”
The small monster jumped.
[Lord Vegetarian], not yet accustomed to his current body, was overwhelmed and pinned down.
“Gubbe.”
“Kyururu~~.”
The difference between being newly born and having lived for a while.
“Nuuuugh. My body is losing strength again…”
“Kyurururu♪”
Mana absorption.
He would take all the mana.
Then, by evolving his existence, he would bid farewell to this small body.
As the small monster gained mana, did its thoughts and emotions begin to emerge? Develop?
“Hmph!”
“Kyu?”
[Lord Vegetarian], temporarily resisting the heaviness of his body, imagined increasing the density of the black mist that formed his body and jumped, putting power into his four legs, intending to strike down his kin enemy.
With the small monster clinging to his back.
*Whoosh… *Boom!*
It wasn’t a graceful arc.
He swiftly changed his vertical position in mid-air and intertwined his legs as if to slam the enemy to the ground.
“——Kyugyu~~…”
The absorbed mana dispersed into the atmosphere.
It had not yet been incorporated into the magic stone within his body.
To assimilate = to digest.
There wasn’t enough time for assimilation.
“Haaa. Angry strikes! Double punch! With a running start, aerial front-leg kick!”
[Lord Vegetarian] unleashed a barrage of consecutive attacks on the enemy, who was shakily rising. He had already learned to control his body with near perfection. Truly the genius, truly the great villain belonging to the underworld organization [Memory of Despair], [Lord Vegetarian].
“Kyu–u–…”
*Pop.*
The black mist that formed the small monster dispersed.
Only the magic stone remained on the ground.
[Lord Vegetarian] had defeated a monster for the first time.
As he approached the fallen pebble, he naturally felt something (mana) within the pebble.
Oh, oh, oh.
Something was flowing from the tip of my hand (right foreleg) into me, possibly into the same pebble. So that’s what was happening to me earlier.
If I collect this something…
“This body grows, doesn’t it?”
[Lord Vegetarian] had found a purpose to strive for.
Then, he would find his kin, hunt them down, and he pictured the spot he had been watching from the air and ran.
“Hahahahahahahahahaha♪♪ I will train and train, and slaughter all the sinners! ♪!”
