Thanks for the Invitation, I'm on Terra, and I'm a Parasite

The two faces suddenly wriggled apart, leaving a space between them.

"You believed those two liars, so does that make you one of them too?"

"No, no, I didn't lie to you. I don't believe them, I don't believe them!!!!!"

Wooden Barrel dropped the shell in fright and staggered back two steps in panic.

Yet the nun simply held up her lantern and stared at him, eyes covering her entire body.

At the same time, her back writhed. The skin split open, and two new arms burst forth, their forms transforming into blade-like structures that waved through the air, exposing vicious cutting edges.

"Then why are you still staying here, lost one?"

"Ahhhhh, right, I'm lost, I'm lost! I'll leave now! I'll leave right now!!!!!"

Wooden Barrel's voice trembled with terror as he nearly crawled across the ground on all fours.

Then, as if he wished he could grow four more legs, he desperately fled toward Saltwind City.

Zuo Jian watched his retreating figure and sighed.

Hah, is it about time?

Along the coastline, countless figures began to writhe beneath the cover of night.

"..."

Squelch.

Another pair of arms tore from her back and turned into blades.

Six arms now swung murderously from the nun's body.

She lowered her head. Then, the bones of her spine mutated, and the entire section pierced through her skin.

One of her original two arms held the Human-Faced Lantern, while the other slowly grasped the spine protruding from her body.

Squelch... squelch...

She pulled hard, drawing out her spine and turning it into a long, slender blade.

One lantern, five blades, countless pupils.

The night-watch nun began her cleanup.

(Happy New Year! Today's chapter is four thousand words, so treat it as two updates!)

(As expected, times like this call for something warm and wholesome!)

(By the way, turning into a nun was just my weird preference, and Zuo Jian couldn't be bothered to remake his face. He definitely won't become female!)

Chapter 31: Feast

Honestly, Zuo Jian couldn't exactly say he had little exposure to combat techniques.

It would be more accurate to say he knew absolutely nothing about them.

Asking someone who had spent most of his life gripping a pen to wield swords and blades? Other than wildly swinging them around with brute strength, there was nothing else he could do.

But coincidentally, wildly swinging the various limbs he had spawned was precisely what he could do now.

Like the transformations before, the newly grown arms were designed, in both structure and form, purely for violence and bloodshed.

"Pitiful."

Technique? He had no need for such things.

The power displayed by a body entirely under his control far surpassed even Laurentina's body, which had been based on an Abyssal Hunter!

He stepped back twice, avoiding the fish-like creature with limb-like appendages that lunged up from beside his feet.

Squelch!

A blade pierced its back and pinned it directly to the beach.

A trickle of blood flowed from the blade's edge and infused the grotesquely shaped Seaborn.

The latter suddenly began struggling frantically, then let out a teeth-grating creak.

Zuo Jian's delicate face frowned slightly.

It was resisting assimilation.

But the resistance wasn't particularly intense. If he were willing to wait a little longer...

Squelch.

A Seaborn with spearhead-like chitinous growths drove its hardened tip into Zuo Jian's abdomen.

Crimson blood sprayed from the wound, coating the Seaborn's entire body red.

And along the coastline, even more grotesquely shaped creatures crawled onto the shore, damp and viscous.

"Mindless lives, yet so pitiful."

"Looks like your instincts have chosen a dignified death."

Zuo Jian looked at the two Seaborn beside him.

Assimilating them took longer than it did with ordinary creatures.

And the tenacious vitality they displayed wasn't something simple physical means could swiftly destroy.

Besides, judging from their current numbers, he needed an efficient cleanup.

Splash...

Zuo Jian's chest abruptly split open, transforming into a huge maw covered in serrated teeth!

The two Seaborn didn't even have a chance to resist. The sharp teeth, backed by incomparably powerful jaws, shredded them into chunks. Then, within only a few breaths, they were broken down into nutrients this body required.

Assimilation... or digestion.

"Why won't you choose a relatively peaceful death—"

He stopped halfway through, his entire body suddenly convulsing and trembling.

"What's... happening..."

His pupils dilated, while his legs shook uncontrollably.

He covered his delicate face with both hands, his expression turning manic and excited. (Picture a crazy nun.)

"What... is this feeling..."

Why

?

In that single instant, Zuo Jian felt that this sensation was countless times stronger than the "instinct" he had experienced while inhabiting Laurentina's body!!!!

What was it?!

What?

Why did the genes of these creatures called Seaborn contain some special... indescribable... sequence?!!!

Why was it so enticing, so... impossible not to devour and absorb?!

Every limb on his body trembled wildly. Two eyeballs opened and stared at the vast number of Seaborn still crawling ashore.

He wanted it...

It was as though floodgates that had remained sealed all this time had suddenly opened.

A torrent of instinct and desire erupted at once.

A strange, soul-stirring smile curved across Zuo Jian's face.

"...A feast."

"Ahahahahahahaha!!!"

A sharp, maniacal female laugh echoed across the shore.

He held the two-faced skull lantern in one hand and swung the longsword made from his spine with the other.

Combined with the four blade-like limbs sprouting from his back, the Seaborn before him were like livestock in a slaughterhouse.

Wherever Zuo Jian passed, Seaborn of every form had their shells shattered, their chitinous armor stripped away, and their limbs severed.

Only their torsos remained, writhing weakly where they lay, unable to flee. They could only watch as that bizarre, terrifying creature tore open the crimson mouth in its chest and devoured them and their brethren one by one!

"Not enough, not enough! Is this all there is? Just this?"

He stared obsessively at the Seaborn limbs scattered across the ground and the shattered chitinous shells, licking his lips with lingering dissatisfaction.

"Brethren, nutrients, enough. Why?"

"Still... eat?"

The maniacal nun suddenly turned around, countless pupils fixing themselves on the blue-gray humanoid figure that had appeared behind him.

"...Brethren?"

"You, same origin as the Swarm, brethren. They fear, but you still... eat."

"Brethren..."

"Brethren, you have enough nourishment, so why do you still eat?"

The blue-gray humanoid Seaborn spoke, then slightly opened its vocal organ and spread its arms toward Zuo Jian.

"But the Swarm can still accept you, brethren."

It looked at Zuo Jian and likewise opened its arms to him.

"Brethren?"

The nun walked toward the Seaborn and pressed close against it.

The spine sword and lantern were tossed to the ground together.

He blankly extended a hand and touched the Seaborn's cheek.

"Brethren?"

He murmured the two words spoken by the Seaborn, as though learning to speak all over again.

"Master, is your body all right—"

Irene looked worriedly at Dario, who was covered in bandages.

The church explosion had sent her rushing to offer support almost immediately. Yet all she had found afterward was the charred monster and Dario lying in a pool of blood.

However, despite how horrific it looked, Dario had suffered only a few penetrating wounds and minor fractures.

The first thing the Grand Inquisitor did after waking was confirm the situation around him.

He had even prepared to rush toward the sea without hesitation after leaving the building and seeing the abnormalities among the surrounding residents.

"Irene, return to the Inquisition and make your report. The mutation in Saltwind City has far exceeded our initial expectations."

"What about you?"

"I need to go and confirm the extent of the mutation once more."

Dario's face darkened as he headed toward the shore with his weapon.

Then, after only a few steps.

He spotted a somewhat familiar figure leaning against a damaged wall, yawning boredly.

"Good evening, Grand Inquisitor. Didn't your little bird follow you?"

Laurentina looked at Dario, who had no choice but to reveal his face after his mask shattered, standing before her.

This guy was really tough.

Zuo Jian had only preserved his organs and a small portion of the bones that had been completely shattered.