Chapter 307

Kanzaki Rei still didn’t fully understand the situation. He hadn’t grasped the true extent of this enemy’s strength.

But...

His fists tightened.

A surge of battle intent—no, something fiercer—rage, pure and unrestrained, welled up from the depths of his chest.

This time, even without knowing the opponent’s combat power, even without understanding the specifics of the fight ahead... he still felt an overwhelming urge to charge forward and crush it outright.

"...Oh?"

"So you’re interested in my test subjects?"

The figure descended slowly from the sky.

The ocean beneath it seemed to sink, as though the very sea was being pressed downward by its presence.

All of Lomo’s attention was fixed solely on Kumironi.

Kumironi saw it as well.

He stopped what he was doing, straightened, and looked up into the sky.

"A monster?"

The aura radiating from Lomo was unmistakably that of a monster—overwhelmingly dense.

And yet... it felt completely different.

This one possessed intelligence.

Not just a spark of awareness—but a level of clarity comparable to a human’s. It spoke. And not in broken instinctive mimicry like other awakened beasts—but with structure, coherence... refinement.

Its intelligence was unmistakably high.

"Who are you?"

Kumironi stepped forward, shielding the two slimes behind him.

Unexpectedly, the creature bowed.

A perfect imitation of human etiquette.

"My name is Lomo. I come from the Aberrant Nest—Level 8 Hive. I am the Hive Master, appointed by my Lord, responsible for mutation research."

Its speech was calm. Precise.

There was no trace of hostility, no instinctive bloodlust toward humans.

A monster... conducting research?

According to all known historical records, monsters were nothing more than low-intelligence, instinct-driven creatures. Research was something that even among humans required rare talent.

Yet this being...

"You said research. You mean... all of this was your doing?"

Kumironi glanced toward the coastal boulevard, where monsters wandered aimlessly.

Lomo’s expression lit up with delight, its tone brimming with excitement.

"That’s right. All of these are my masterpieces~"

"Aren’t they adorable?"

"I took those ordinary humans—completely ignorant of class advancement—and transformed them into monsters."

"Though I must say, I was quite surprised. To think that in this world, there are still people who have never even heard of class advancement."

"But even without it, they were remarkable."

"They managed to develop their own theoretical systems purely through deconstructing matter. They even created weapons comparable to Tier 5... no, even Tier 6 magic."

"Ah... what was it called again?"

"Nuclear weapons, I believe?"

"Can you imagine? Creatures with no class abilities whatsoever... achieving something so extraordinary."

"If they had been allowed to continue developing, who knows how far they might have gone?"

"But unfortunately~"

"And perhaps fortunately, because of their purity... such excellent raw material is quite rare to come by."

Pff—

The humanoid, pitch-black and murky figure split open from the back.

From within, a pair of dark wings unfurled—delicate, like a butterfly’s... yet grotesque.

Kumironi’s voice hardened.

"So what exactly did you do to them?"

"...Did you not understand me? I’m speaking human language. This should be the common tongue, correct?"

"I said it already. I turned them into our kind."

"In other words... what you call monsters."

"You could say I granted these weak lifeforms—who had never even undergone class advancement—immense power."

"But unfortunately... it seems that when humans become monsters, they lose their spirit."

"How troublesome~"

There was no remorse.

No hesitation.

Only indulgence—like someone reminiscing over a particularly satisfying experiment.

Unforgivable.

Kumironi clenched his teeth, fury blazing in his eyes as he stared up at the figure in the sky.

Life... is this something for you to toy with?

What do you think life is?

People may sin. They may be punished. Life may cycle through birth and death—but it all follows a natural order.

But this thing before them...

It treated life as nothing more than a plaything.

"Kanzaki Rei."

"...Your parents—I may not be able to find a way to restore them immediately."

"But I believe... the answers we’re looking for lie within this creature."

"And... I’m truly angry now."

Kumironi raised his head as he spoke.

BOOM!

A burst of white light exploded across the sky!

Hummm—

Countless streaks of sword light interwove across the heavens, as sacred flames erupted in an instant—blazing, devouring!

BOOM!

A radiant figure descended behind Kumironi, landing firmly on the ground.

In that same instant—

The two slimes behind Kumironi vanished.

Kanzaki Rei had already stored them inside his spatial container.

A container... capable of holding living beings.

"Oh..."

"So, you’re this human woman’s attendant?"

Lomo’s four wings spread wide.

Golden sacred flames scorched across its entire body. Countless fine sword marks crisscrossed its form—and from every line, holy fire roared violently.

In that single instant just now—

Kanzaki Rei had stopped time.

Within that frozen moment...

He had severed the creature completely.

And yet—

There was no sensation of having killed anything.

[Lomo]

"An 8th-tier monster."

"8th-tier... six metamorphoses."

The moment his blade touched it, Kanzaki Rei had already grasped its information.

[Aberrant Nest — Level 8 Hive, Hive Master]

Hive Master...

The strongest existence within an entire hive.

Just like the Myriad-Form True Soul he had encountered before.

Six metamorphoses...

Even a 6th-tier Continental-Sinking-class monster only possessed five.

To this day, Kanzaki Rei had never encountered a 6th-tier monster with six metamorphoses—something beyond the Continental-Sinking classification.

In Loren’s classification system... that level was called Ocean-Collapsing.

A level of power capable of destroying the entire Secret Sand Archipelago.

And now—

For the first time—

Kanzaki Rei truly felt it.

That suffocating pressure radiating from the creature before him.

An 8th-tier monster...

Equivalent to an 8th-rank classed combatant.

Without a doubt—

This was the strongest enemy he had ever faced.

No—

More accurately, this was an opponent he should never be fighting at his current stage.

Under normal circumstances, Kanzaki Rei would have retreated immediately.

But this time—

The desire to kill surged within him like never before.

This time—

He didn’t want to wait.

Didn’t want to grow stronger and seek revenge later.

He wanted it dead.

Now.

Its body had been severed. Sacred flames churned within it, tearing it apart from the inside.

And yet—

Instead of pain, Lomo’s emotions erupted into pure ecstasy.

PFF—!

Its body suddenly swelled.

Its originally slender humanoid frame expanded grotesquely—like a tumor ballooning outward, distorting into a bloated mass of flesh!

PFF—!

Then—

In the empty void of space—

Two grotesque eyes appeared out of nowhere.

Eyes with no body.

Eyes that simply... existed.

They turned—

And stared directly at Kanzaki Rei.

Hummm—

In that instant—

His mind trembled violently!

At the same time, his flesh began to warp—growing uncontrollably. Fangs erupted from nowhere. An additional pair of eyes split open across his face!

[Aberrant Gaze]