Chapter 18

18. Madness Is Like a Virus

Do you know about an animal called the honey badger?

I don’t know that much about it either, but I remember seeing it on TV and learning that it was famous for something.

The honey badger is apparently known as the least fearful animal in the world.

It doesn’t matter who its opponent is or how much bigger they are.

Because of its incredibly fierce temperament, it charges forward without thinking about the consequences.

I vaguely remember hearing some other information, like how tough its skin is and how strong its jaw is, but it was from one of those random ranking shows, so I wasn’t paying much attention.

“Aaaah! This is seriously driving me crazy!”

The monsters appearing here were low-level, but their bodies were flexible and fast.

They also seemed to have something like my Indomitable Will, because they just wouldn’t die easily.

If that had been all, things would have been fine.

But strangely enough, the battle simply wouldn’t end.

I killed one, and two more appeared.

I killed two, and ten more came rushing out.

I should have realized something when I saw that their tails looked similar to rats’ tails!

Even Pai had never come this deep into the forest before, so she said she didn’t know how to deal with them either.

“KILL! AVENGE OUR COMRADES! KILL THEM!!!”

“They’re kind of like you!”

“Why are you saying things like that so excitedly?!”

The only weapon I had was a gauntlet with sharp fingertips.

So my attacks were limited to scratching, tearing, and stabbing.

It wasn’t like I had trained my fingers or anything.

My fingers were fragile.

I was slowly reaching my limit.

Modak had already exploded and been dismissed from the field.

The special bow I had painstakingly made for Pai had run out of arrows and had become something even worse than a blunt weapon.

I tried to scare them like I had done during the fight with the wolves and create some distance between attacks.

But instead of becoming frightened, they got excited whenever I did something crazy and charged at me while cheering.

I killed them.

Then killed more.

When my fingers broke and I could no longer move them, I started biting the monsters.

At some point, my teeth started becoming loose.

Eventually, I went completely berserk and continued fighting.

Only then did I begin to see the monsters hesitate.

But the fight still didn’t end.

Like moths throwing themselves into flames and burning to death, they kept charging at me as if they were possessed.

They bit me.

I bit them.

Little by little, the sun went down.

The sky became dark.

The stars appeared.

And finally, both my laughter and their screams came to an end.

I was eating the food they had given me.

…Hmm.

“Warrior! You are a warrior! A terrifying warrior, like an evil spirit!”

The crazy monster whose ear I had bitten off held out a chunk of meat belonging to one of the monsters that had been his comrade just moments ago.

“Human warrior! You killed my son! You killed him so wonderfully!”

“My arm was cut off too! It is an honorable wound received from a powerful warrior!”

What the hell was this?

This race was even crazier than I had imagined.

At first, they had attacked me because they thought I was easy prey.

But when one comrade after another died, the others came running out of curiosity.

And when I finally went berserk, they became fascinated by the sight and rushed at me, saying they wanted to die fighting me.

…I miss Oehorn.

He had a way of thinking that I couldn’t understand either, but compared to these guys, he was a hundred times better.

“A powerful warrior must receive treatment worthy of his strength! Strength is power, and strength is the law!”

How did these guys know such complicated words and even understand the concept of law?

Surely they’re not going to explain this with something like the Witch’s Breath again?

…Anyway, I had to make use of this situation.

I had somehow survived.

And somehow, I had been recognized as the strongest warrior.

“That’s right! From now on, you are all my subordinates!”

Working together with Hayang as much as possible, I released an intimidating aura of madness, jumped to my feet, and shouted loudly.

The monsters that had been wildly excited around me suddenly became quiet.

Then they started making even more noise than before, trembling with excitement.

“OHHH!!! What an honor! Servants of a powerful warrior! The honor of a lifetime!”

“M-Me too! I’m a subordinate too!”

“Don’t make me laugh! A weakling like you can’t be his subordinate!”

“Shut up! I’m strong!”

Murmur, murmur.

Ah, I don’t want to deal with these guys.

I hate people who can’t communicate properly.

“Silence! Anyone who shows off their strength in front of me will be killed!”

Apparently, this kind of speech worked very well on them.

The same monsters that had completely ignored my words during the fight were now listening carefully to everything I said.

“OHH! Amazing! The powerful warrior is right!!!”

“But I can’t let you call me weak!”

“Shut up! You’re weak compared to the powerful warrior! That means you’re weak!”

“Then you’re weak too!”

“Uh… That’s true!!! I’m weak…”

Their intelligence was dropping in real time.

Were they the type whose brains became emptier the more they talked?

“Powerful warrior! What do we have to eat to become strong like you?!”

“Me too! Teach me!”

“I’m first!”

“…No! I can’t teach you!”

I found the answer.

“What?! That’s unfair! Powerful warrior! I didn’t think you were like this!”

“That’s right! Unfair!”

“Let’s kill him! Let’s kill the unfair warrior!”

Why were they so extreme?

It almost seemed like some of them were simply looking for an excuse to kill me, regardless of whether I was a powerful warrior or not.

“Your stupid brains can’t understand my teachings, so I can’t teach you!”

“…I can accept that!”

“That’s right! We’re stupid! Then we can’t become strong?! How sad!!!”

“Enough! Anyone who refuses to listen until the very end will have their spine pulled out!”

Even so, since they kept calling me a powerful warrior, they were apparently afraid of my strength.

That was enough to shut them up.

Right.

I shouldn’t try to deal with these guys logically.

Strength was probably the most important thing to them.

Whenever someone tried to encourage the others to kill me, most of them looked like they were thinking, What nonsense are you talking about?

That made it clear.

“In the center of the forest! There is something powerful! If I obtain it! I can share that power with all of you!”

“The center of the forest! I’ve heard of it! They say everyone dies if they go there!”

“The powerful warrior said it! If we go to the center, we’ll become strong! Becoming strong is good!”

The center of the forest was a monster-filled hell.

I had already been wondering how I was supposed to survive that place.

And now I had a whole bunch of excellent bait.

If these guys were still alive after I obtained the artifact, I decided I would really make them my subordinates and try doing various things together.

“Then! Then can we become black like the powerful warrior?!”

“That’s right! Black! That’s cool! We want to become like that too!”

“Of course! Just follow me! We can become strong!!!”

“WOOOOOOO!!!”

After that, they started a festival using monsters they had apparently caught somewhere along the way.

It was an absolutely fantastic mess.

While the wild festival continued, I quietly stepped away and finally managed to calm myself down.

“You’re not going to play with us?”

“Haha, Pai~ Why are you doing this to me too?”

“Why? You seem to fit in well with them.”

“Ahaha! What? Are you jealous?”

I leaned against a tree and sat there, watching the madness unfold in the distance.

It reminded me of university festivals.

Back then, I would come alone, wander around by myself, casually watch everything, and then go home alone.

That was the end of my university life…

The difference was that the festival happening before my eyes was completely insane, unlike the perfectly rational festivals I had experienced back then.

Seriously, was this what they called a festival?

Wasn’t this just a fight?

None of them seemed sane.

“Hey, I just remembered something. Those guys are monsters called ‘Muri Badgers.’”

“Oh. Thanks. That’s helpful!”

“Don’t be sarcastic. As far as I remember, they’re monsters that have strong affection for their comrades and are also intelligent and excellent at strategic thinking.”

I looked at the monsters that Pai was talking about.

They were screaming at the top of their lungs.

But no matter how I looked at them, they didn’t seem intelligent at all.

If this was what she called intelligence, then I seriously questioned her standards.

“Are you sure you didn’t get it wrong?”

“I wish I had. The atmosphere around them right now is similar to when you first became consumed by madness.”

“…Hmm.”

So madness was contagious?

Was the reason they kept calling me cool because I had been spreading my madness around?

And had the fighting finally stopped because I was completely exhausted?

“That’s why I told you. They’re similar to you.”

“…I didn’t know that’s what you meant.”

But even if madness could spread, shouldn’t a game give you some kind of hint about it?

There should at least have been a message saying something like:

Your madness has begun influencing them.

Something like that.

I should talk to Hayang about this.

There was a possibility that Hayang had done something behind my back while I was fighting like a madman.

[Hayang: What are you talking about? Do I look that free to you?]

Oh.

I guess not.

I understand that the game wants players to become immersed in the world.

But without someone like Pai or Hayang beside me to explain things, everything would feel completely random.

They should have built up things like this more clearly.

Could it be that the monsters suddenly started smiling while fighting me?

Was that the foreshadowing?

Had I simply been the only one who didn’t notice?

Maybe that thing I said before about not putting huge message windows on the screen during battles was suddenly coming back to bite me here?!

“Things worked out, so isn’t that enough?”

“We don’t know how long things will keep working out. That’s why it’s bad.”

There was nothing we could do about it now.

Until then, we just had to hope that we became strong enough to deal with all of these monsters ourselves.