What was in front of me was—

the one who had been ruling Gangnam...... [the doctor].

But.

It looked pretty different from what I’d imagined until just recently.

‘A child.’

And.

A child who was clearly dying.

...but.

Up to that point, it wasn’t a problem.

Jeong Sua’s spirit sight.

I’d seen this thing through that.

Since it hadn’t been with my naked eyes, I couldn’t be sure, but I could at least roughly guess the size of its true body.

“You....”

The problem was—

“Why are you like this?”

What was in front of me now looked different even from what I’d seen with the Spirit Eye.

‘It’s collapsing.’

Parts of the child’s body were withered, like old branches dried to death, and patches of its skin were turning to dust and falling to the floor.

Its face was ashen, dark like a corpse, and the parts that weren’t dried out were melting in a grotesque color, like they’d been dipped in some lethal poison and pulled back out, or swelling up.

And....

‘This mana.’

From that body, collapsing like that, the mana filling this entire space kept leaking out.

...probably regardless of its own intentions.

‘It wasn’t this bad originally.’

I came here to put down the doctor’s true body.

But in this state, there’s no reason for me to bother.

There’s no need to take this kind of risk just to finish off a walking corpse that’s obviously going to die any second now.

{Ha ha...... for you to say that, Legion Commander.}

At my question, it spoke while staring at its own rotting body.

{It’s all thanks to you.}

***

{I told you before. That in my homeland, there was an existence in charge of healing.}

Once I voiced my question, despite being in a condition that was clearly dying, it started speaking in a flat, calm tone.

I wondered why it was answering me even in a state like that, but before long I realized that doubt didn’t matter.

‘It’s just... because I asked.’

It didn’t answer what I didn’t ask, but it always answered what I did—faithfully.

{Thanks to that, those who received that grace had no need to worry about death. Even if they suffered injuries that ought to lead to death, everything was healed right before they reached death.}

Even now.

That part hadn’t changed.

{But... that wasn’t only an advantage.}

And.

As it spoke, and emotion seeped into its words, the mana flowing around us shifted.

{Healing and recovery were words that only meant something under the premise that you would be injured in the first place. That grace didn’t make the body especially strong against illness or wounds.}

“So if you get hurt, but you recover right away, doesn’t that mean it doesn’t really matter?”

{Right... only.}

And.

As that emotion-laden mana approached me—

{Only if that power of healing is maintained.}

That mana, again, moved toward my body.

[This is mana where thick thoughts linger!]

Then—

the scenery spreading out in front of my eyes.

‘...Again.’

This mana isn’t intense enough to affect me as I am now.

And yet, the thoughts and emotions digging into my head anyway.

The reason was simple.

‘It’s me... pulling it in.’

More precisely—

the power I’d newly gained not long ago, the power I still didn’t even know how to use, was pulling in those thick thoughts.

[Thick regret seeps into your mind!]

It was drawing in

‘regret.’

What I saw before my eyes was a scene where some massive disaster was unfolding.

This was the doctor’s memory.

Without even knowing what the cause of that disaster was, it ran around desperately, trying to escape.

And then.

After time passed, and that disaster finally calmed—

-Ah, O God...!

the towering mountain range where the god it served had taken root was gone without a trace, and at the center of it—

-What in the world is that...?!

a chunk of flesh, half-rotten and oozing.

...and a piece of flesh whose face was painfully familiar was crawling along the ground.

{One day, we lost that power of healing. And only then did we realize it. That living under that healing power... hadn’t been only a blessing.}

What unfolded after that...

was what I’d just seen a moment ago.

Countless people suffering, writhing, dying.

Only after hearing it speak did I understand the reason for what I was seeing.

{I only learned it later myself, but life evolves according to need.}

Hard ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) shells.

Tough skin.

Immunity to disease.

Stamina that lets you run far away—

all those things many modern organisms are born with, one by one, are the results of evolution shaped by ruthless competition to survive.

But.

{We had no need to evolve to survive.}

Even wounds that should have led to death recovered before death.

Any disease recovered the instant it struck.

‘They couldn’t evolve in a direction meant “to survive.”’

I looked back at the doctor’s body.

A small, frail child.

In a world where fighting was meaningless, there wouldn’t have been any evolution for struggle, either.

That small form must have been the optimal form in a world where it didn’t need to fear death.

{I... have no tough skin to resist wounds, and no immunity to resist disease.}

And.

The way it was dying like this now—

was probably—

{So much that the moment I’m exposed to external germs, I can’t resist at all, and my body is corroded.}

“So it’s because of me.”

Me.

All the dust outside, and all the germs and bacteria mixed in between that dust.

Things my body can endure without issue—

but—

‘In the world it lived in, they didn’t even exist, and they’re lethal enough that it can’t resist them at all.’

Those things were driving it into death.

‘...This is ridiculous.’

I came here to kill it.

And now that I see it, that intent had already been fulfilled the moment I arrived here.

“You’re a doctor. Can’t you treat yourself directly?”

{I am. That’s why I can even speak with you like this, isn’t it?}

Its healing arts were incredible.

And yet, even with that kind of healing arts—

its innate immunity was so wretched that all it could do was slow the deterioration.

“So... that’s why you did research.”

{Yes. What choice did I have?}

It said, touching its own body with hands trembling in fear.

{If I’m walking and I twist my foot wrong, that alone could lead to death.}

“.......”

{A rock you’d see anywhere outside, a branch, a tiny insect crawling on the road—each and every one of them... is a lethal factor that threatens my life. In a world like this... how could I not struggle to survive?}

At those words, I couldn’t hide my doubt as I spoke.

“Then shouldn’t you just swap it out?”

{Hm?}

“Like you did to me.” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

It had said my condition couldn’t be treated by ordinary methods.

But in the end, it treated me by swapping powerful monsters’ body parts into mine.

I still couldn’t properly feel the results because I hadn’t filled my vital energy yet, but I was certain it was a tremendous miracle.

{...I told you, didn’t I.}

But.

That was only my story.

{When the parts of a bed are changed, deciding whether that bed is still the original bed or not is the bed’s own business.}

When it treated me, it said the reason it carried out that treatment was because I was a human who could accept it.

And at the same time—

{There aren’t as many who give the same answer as you, Legion Commander... as you might think.}

It said it found it very interesting, how I could give an answer like that.

Back then, I’d let that comment slide without thinking much.

But now that I thought about it, those words could only mean one thing.

{I am not like you.}

There weren’t many like me.

And this doctor—

wasn’t like me, either.

{That body rampaging on the surface can digest even extreme poison like it’s nothing, rarely suffers fatal injuries, and even if it does, it can recover quickly through natural healing alone— the supreme body.}

“.......”

{The best work I created in order to abandon this damned body and climb into something new... with everything I am inside it.}

The reason it was interested in the conclusion I reached, and the method I used to reach it was because it couldn’t reach that conclusion itself.

{But in the end, I couldn’t recognize that body as my body.}

“So you couldn’t.”

Only then did I understand why the monster that appeared on the surface hadn’t been recognized as a single monster.

Why it had been recognized as a fusion of dozens of monsters.

‘Because this thing— the owner of that body— couldn’t accept it as itself.’

Because the owner of that body couldn’t recognize it as its own, it couldn’t become a completed single existence—

it could only remain a fusion of countless materials.

Even after transplanting countless monsters’ bodies into my own, unlike me, who still existed as a single human named

‘Shin Youngjun.’

{And this is the result.}

“.......”

{Isn’t it ugly? Acting like I’m so strong, giving advice about health and all that... when in truth, I myself was an existence farther from health than anyone.}

Even as it said that, its body was worsening by the second.

Even if I left this place now, the germs originating from my body wouldn’t disappear.

“Is this how you die?”

{Probably.}

It would probably have no choice but to die slowly like this.

“...Is that so.”

But well.

I came here intending to kill it anyway.

It would be ridiculous for me to pretend I’m sad it’s dying.

“If you want, I can end it without pain.”

{That... I’ll have to refuse.}

When I put my hand on [Dokgogu-style] and said that, it shook its head with a bitter smile.

{I’m still afraid of dying, Legion Commander.}

“.......”

{It’s not the pain until death that scares me. It’s that I... that the traces of my existence—everything I’ve lived—could be cut off forever in a single moment. If I can live even a little longer... I want to live even a few more seconds.}

At that, even though I was here to kill it—

“I’m the same.”

I ended up becoming a ridiculous sight, sympathizing with what it said.

{I stopped that body up above. More precisely, it would be right to say I’m too busy treating my own body to pay attention to that side.}

“So you did.”

{I probably won’t last even an hour before I die. So... Legion Commander, you don’t need to worry. You can leave.}

Its words were still the truth.

Even though it was in a situation where it had no choice but to die because of me, it was still honest with me.

I’ve never met an existence this pure in my life.

Its abilities were outstanding, too.

...If only we could have worked together, it would have been a huge help.

But.

“...Then I’m going.”

In the end.

It lacked the most important part.

As long as that part didn’t exist, I couldn’t be with it.

With that thought, I pushed myself up and turned away.

It was deep underground.

Even getting back up to the surface would be hard labor.

{Ah, before you go.}

But just as I was about to leave this space.

A voice catching my foot.

{If you go a little to the right there... there should be something like a small table.}

I looked where it indicated.

Just as it said, there was a small table there.

And on top of it—

{Take it with you.}

was a small medicine vial.

“This is....”

{Didn’t I promise you? Even if I can’t fill your vital energy, I said there was a way to replace it.}

At our last meeting.

The medicine it said it would make while drawing my blood.

{The side effects will be pretty severe, but it should solve the problem caused by the vital energy you lost, Legion Commander. It’s a one-bottle medicine, and it’ll be a one-time chance, so... take it carefully.}

It kept its promise to the end.

Even while dying because of me.

It offered the medicine it made for me.

‘Why would something like this...?’

That was why.

I couldn’t understand.

‘How can it be missing that...?’

And I—

didn’t want to just let go of the part I couldn’t understand.

“Let me ask one thing.”

{What is it, Legion Commander.}

When I fell through that hole down to this place, I’d been in a condition of severe injuries.

If I’d been left alone, I might have died.

“You....”

But.

“Why did you save me?”

Because the mana rising from the ground healed my body, I was able to get up faster than I expected.

And.

‘When we fought up on the surface... its power only worked on monsters.’

That means the healing mana it possessed could clearly designate its target.

It saved me with clear intent.

{...Because.}

And.

The reason it saved me was simpler than I expected.

{A patient is dying right in front of me—how could I just let that pass?}