Sure enough, I couldn't understand humans

"Using melee weapons, it's hard for ordinary people to win on physical ability alone. That's why I didn't recommend you use the Tachi."

As he spoke, his gaze passed over Ken Sudō and settled on the darkness farther away.

There was Charlie's younger brother, who had single-handedly taken on the White House.

And... Gotou, who had hidden his presence completely from the very beginning.

To be fair, Gotou really did live up to his reputation as a boss.

Compared with the Ape-Man brothers, who were still completely clueless, Gotou had decisively taken control of Miki's body the moment he realized they'd been transported to this unfamiliar place.

What's more, right under the Ape-Man brothers' noses, he'd managed to hide every trace of his hostility and reaction.

That kind of adaptability was seriously impressive.

By now, Ken Sudō had gotten back to his feet. When he saw Ichinose Honami, Ryuen Kakeru, and the others arriving one after another, his expression darkened even further.

Wanting to save face, he strode over to Charlie, cursing under his breath. He raised the Tachi, ready to execute him.

"Heh. You filthy monkey. Do you know what separates humans from animals?"

"It's intelligence! Even if you monkeys evolved for hundreds more years, you still wouldn't be able to make weapons this advanced. Now die!"

But before he could bring the blade down—

"Stop!"

Ryuen Kakeru shouted as he arrived.

"Are you deaf? Or is your memory so bad you didn't hear what I just said? Those two monsters are being saved for the people who need them!"

Ken Sudō froze, then twisted his neck and bared his teeth in defiance.

"Heh. How you look at it, this is prey Class D found. Why should we hand it over?"

He turned to Su Wei, trying to win him over. "Right, Su Wei? This is our prey."

But Su Wei shook his head and handed the Capture Gun to Shiranami Chihiro, who stood beside Ichinose.

"No. We should let them have these points."

"During the Black Sphere Exam, failing to meet your objective or failing to protect someone can earn you negative points. And if your total reaches negative points three times... you're erased."

Su Wei looked at Sudō, puzzled.

"These basic rules, which could mean the difference between life and death, were all in the flyers Hirata handed out. Did you really read them?"

Ken Sudō was stunned.

Had the flyers really said that?

"Ha, hahaha... I guess I forgot."

He knew he was in the wrong, but he didn't want to lose face.

Still not satisfied, he kicked Charlie hard before finally sheathing the Tachi. Looking down at him, he sneered.

"Tch. Lucky you. You get to keep your life for now."

"No."

"You're the one who got to keep your life."

A sinister voice suddenly whispered beside Ken Sudō's ear.

"What—"

Before Sudō could finish, a hand twice the size of an ordinary person's shot out of the darkness. It gripped his entire face and slammed him into the wall beside them like he was a basketball!

"Crash!"

The wall cracked, and chunks of stone flew everywhere.

Normally, a blow like that would leave an ordinary person dead or at least unconscious with a concussion, sleeping like a baby.

But you don't get to pick a fight with the abbot and then take a nap.

He had to be healed halfway!

So, it was as though he'd been injected with a powerful dose of adrenaline.

Ken Sudō's head was covered in blood and his face contorted with pain, but somehow he stayed conscious.

Struggling to hold himself up, he stared in terror at the Ape-Man who had appeared out of nowhere and asked in a trembling voice,

"Y-you son of a—who the hell are you?!"

The other man seemed too bored to respond to the provocation of someone about to die.

The Ape-Man named Omeros glanced at his brother, who was bound to the ground by Laser Rope, and made no attempt to hide the mockery in his voice.

"I told you, Charlie."

"When you're dealing with humans, creatures who bully the weak and fear the strong, there's no need to talk about peaceful coexistence. You just need absolute power to make them submit!"

Omeros spread his arms, showing off muscles even more powerful than Charlie's.

"In the previous world, I could conquer half of America on my own and kill a third of its population..."

"I can do the same in this world!"

He looked down at Charlie, his voice icy.

"Cling to your naïve ideals and rot here!"

Charlie shifted on the ground. When he found that the more he struggled, the tighter the Laser Rope pulled, he could only offer a helpless warning.

"Careful. Their weapons are powerful. That rope..."

Omeros licked his claws, unconcerned.

"No need."

"I just have to kill them all before they can shoot."

As he spoke, the muscles in his hind legs tensed, ready to charge.

But he'd barely finished showing off when—

"Zzzzt—!"

Another familiar flash of blue light streaked across the scene.

At the same time, Sakayanagi Arisu lowered the Capture Gun with a bored expression.

"What a racket..."

The girl sighed and looked at the Ape-Man, still posing, as though he were an idiot.

"NPCs should act like NPCs."

"Stop fantasizing about conquering the whole world. That kind of chūnibyō talk... is seriously embarrassing."

Omeros angrily swiped at the incoming Laser Rope, trying to cut it apart, only to be—

Tied up just like his brother, and sent straight to Game Over.

The air fell silent for a second.

But Su Wei, Katsuragi, Ryuen, and the others didn't let their guard down.

Only Ichinose spoke up, stopping Ken Sudō, who was on the verge of letting his anger overcome his reason.

"Don't attack yet. I'm very curious about the 'other world' they mentioned. It might be connected to the secret behind the Black Sphere."

Behind them, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watched their tense stances and pondered.

Even though those monsters were so easy to subdue, they're still on guard...

Sure enough.

Compared with these two monkeys, who only knew how to make threats—

Was the real trouble about to arrive?

Note 1: Gotou and Miki were Parasites sharing the same body, and either could take control of it. But Miki couldn't unify their consciousnesses, which was why, in the original story, Migi could initially sense only three of the Parasites.

Chapter 41: Sure enough, I couldn't understand humans

Just as Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had predicted.

All the Qualified Ones held their Black Guns high, their nerves stretched to the breaking point. Even the Intruders, including Kaneda Satoru and Machida Koji, sensed something was off and fell silent.

Only Ken Sudō, who didn't understand what was going on, complained as he pressed a hand to his bleeding forehead.

"What's going on? Why's everyone quiet? Didn't you say we were going to take care of those two monkeys...?"

"Shut up...!"

Ryuen Kakeru furrowed his brow, about to tell the idiot blocking the Black Gun's X-ray scanner to get out of the way.

Then Kamuro Masumi, watching the radar screen from the flank, suddenly cried out.

"They're here! Above us!"

"Whoosh—!"

As Kamuro shouted, several ventilation ducts overhead shattered with a crash.

Flesh-covered tentacles tipped with bone blades, like black lightning, shot toward the group from multiple directions.

Ken Sudō, standing at the very front and completely unprepared, was the first target.

As a bone blade aimed straight for his head, Sudō's mind went blank. He stood frozen in place.

Just as he was about to be cleanly decapitated—

Su Wei, who was closest to him and had already moved before Kamuro called out, slid across the floor in a tackle!

"Gah!"

Ken Sudō rolled sideways like a bowling ball.

Using the momentum, Su Wei grabbed the Combat Knife that had flown out of his hand, then spun around against the wall and flicked his wrist.

A perfect crescent of light swept through the air, severing two tentacles!

But that was only the beginning.

The attack was clearly aimed at more than just Ken Sudō.

The other five or six tentacles seemed to have minds of their own. Avoiding Ryuen and the others, they darted toward the people in the back holding Capture Guns!

"Watch out!" Ryuen shouted.

But against speed that surpassed the limits of human reflexes, even knowing an attack was coming didn't mean the body could keep up.

Kamuro Masumi could only cry out and instinctively raise her Y-GUN to block.

"Crack!"

Metal shattered.

But the tentacle didn't continue through her body. The moment it sliced through the gun, it recoiled as though shocked.

She wasn't the only one.

Shiranami Chihiro's Capture Gun was destroyed, and even Shiina Hiyori's, despite her constant vigilance, was no exception.

In an instant, every means of restraint was destroyed, except for the Capture Gun currently binding the Ape-Man and recharging.

"Damn it..."

Katsuragi Kohei's face was as dark as water.

Ryuen Kakeru looked even more furious.