Last night, after killing Bell, Loa had left the ruins and walked across the rooftops of the Town for a long, long time. Parks, markets, homes, shops—at every place, at every sound of breathing, Loa had stopped and lingered.
Yet no matter how he searched, the answer was always the same.
There wasn't a single living person left here.
Those scents that belonged to humans were merely part of the Blood Marrow Worms' imitation of human behavior. It was all an act.
They didn't even need to sleep to replenish their energy.
But the greatest difference between Blood Marrow Worms and humans lay in how they regarded their own kind.
They had no concept of closeness or distance, only obedience to those above them.
Humans could feel anger, grief, joy, and countless other emotions over what others did. They could not.
They were nothing but Monsters.
At last, seeing the faint light at the edge of the sky, Loa stopped and called Momonga.
"They really aren't human?"
Outside the Town, Momonga, weary from fighting his way out through the night, stared blankly at the man who had fallen before him and muttered to himself.
Just moments ago, a man had opened the Restaurant's doors for the day. The instant he saw them, his eyes had turned red. He had rushed inside, grabbed a kitchen knife from the Restaurant, and charged out.
Had Loa been there, he would have scoffed. In the end, they were still bugs.
When he had been alone, these bloodthirsty Blood Marrow Worms could still restrain their instincts. But faced with so much fresh human flesh, only a handful could hold themselves back.
The Marines maintained order across the seas of the world. They didn't do it by being gentle.
Anyone who dared attack the Marines would