Chapter 501: Answers and a Future Escape

That girl-bird and I have started living together while I was organizing her tree. She avoided me for a while, only showing up when she wanted my milk. She was really still weighing whether the deal was worth it, even after accepting.

Normally, I’d complain. She’s not holding up her end of the bargain and harvesting the fruits—in this case, my milk. But I don’t complain. Because she’s stronger, and because complaining might upset her decision that I’m worth more alive than dead.

She has no children. And without children, keeping me alive probably has less value. “Animals” don’t keep other “animals” alive without a really important reason. If it’s just about my milk, maybe it’s not worth it.

After all, Zhita’hna still has to go out to hunt food for me anyway. So if she hunts food for me, why waste what she hunted compared to needing my milk? She can just eat what she caught.

That’s the problem. Fat is good. My milk is nutritious, and the amount needed to equal a meal is small. But for an already adult being, it might not be that worthwhile in the end.

That’s why I’ve been careful. She’s watching. Even when she leaves, if I try to get out of the tree in less than four seconds, she’ll already appear in front of me and stare until I go back inside the tree. Or she just follows me if I walk outside.

“Haa… I feel like a farm animal…” I mutter irritably, finally finishing tidying the place. It took days because it’s quite big and was much messier than it seemed.

This idiot hides the feathers she sheds instead of cleaning them up. So behind furniture, in cracks and holes, in any slightly hidden spot, there were her feathers.

“…” But there’s something useful. I managed, through intense concentration, to generate an artificial Mana Zone to serve as my eyes outside the city. With it, I discovered how Zhita’hna hunts other monsters.

She flies over the area, finds her prey, and conceals herself perfectly. Then she descends in a swift dive while imbuing her claws with Pure Mana. The dive is so fast and powerful that most monsters are literally sliced into three if they’re “small,” like one to four meters.

And large monsters receive fatal blows, horrible lacerations, and massive damage to their bodies because of her claws. Her movement is almost graceful, it’s so smooth and silent.

But what matters is the Pure Mana effect she applies to her claws. It’s similar to Mana Armor. Actually, I’d say it’s an advanced version of Mana Armor. And because it’s made of Pure Mana, it’s much more suited to the Abyss.

’It seems using just Mana in the Abyss is pointless…’ I pick up some bowls and start extracting my milk. It’s annoying how quickly my breasts fill up. Blame that spider bitch. Her colony used to take my milk every day, more than once a day.

And since that spider bitch said she’d kill me when I stopped producing milk, I might have adapted to not stopping. I’m not sure, of course, but it would explain why I can’t stop producing milk.

’If I had a potent poison…’ I’d love to have a poison so deadly it could kill Zhita’hna. Then I’d mix it into the milk.

“…” I sense her presence. It’s so absurdly fast, silent, and precise I almost didn’t detect it. I only noticed because my artificial Mana Zone isn’t focused on trying to find something, but on being dense.

So it’s like a curtain of mist. When something moves, it parts, and the movement indicates the shape of what’s passing through it. It was the only way I found to detect Zhita’hna.

“Here’s the milk,” I say while squeezing my breasts hard over two more bowls. At this point, I don’t even care about being naked anymore. No one wears clothes, and I’ve been without clothes for so long I think it’s become the norm.

“…” She passes by me and takes a bowl, drinking.

’Freeloading bitch…’

“Isn’t it time you held up your end of the deal? My milk isn’t free. I have questions, and you’ve been avoiding being near me to answer them…” It’s almost as if she’s stalling, waiting for something.

“…Ask.” She sits on the table, looking at my breasts with an indecipherable gaze.

“How can I find a servant of Echidna? Why do you seem bothered by them? Also, how can I become one?” Theoretically, if I became one, the others would tell me where my mother is. No one would tell me where Echidna is if I just asked. I’ve tried. They either don’t know or tell me to stop talking.

“…To find a servant of Echidna… just alert one…”

“Alert one?” I ask, curious.

“Large masses of magic attract them… destruction of large areas makes them search.” What she says is curious, since large masses of magic usually repel beings, not attract them.

“I won’t say why because I don’t want to mention them… Becoming one of them is easy. Just kill one… or have them like you… or show you’re strong enough to be of interest to them…”

“But… the minimum is level 500 million… and the level 500 million servants… are usually that way only because they were ’interesting’ to whoever found them… not because they’re strong…”

“The servants who truly have power… are level 700 million… to 1 billion. And the strongest servants… have at least 5 billion in level.” From her explanation, I understand some useful things.

’Okay… so looking for one of them now is not only impossible, it’s also not useful. I’m too weak… wait…’ I stare at her for a moment. The Abyss is simple.

Yes, the Abyss is simple. It’s the darkest nature of existence. An animalistic environment. In other words, deals, arrangements, fights—they’re all simple things for simple reasons.

What would make an “animal” dislike something linked to another “animal”? Coercion. Zhita’hna has possibly already met a servant of the Goddess of the Abyss… and I think the situation wasn’t good for her at all.

’But if she met them… and they hunt for sport… but she’s still alive…’ I look at her suspiciously. She wouldn’t be… someone’s toy, would she? Is she only alive because she’s a fun plaything for someone much stronger?

’Is that why she doesn’t leave the city? She can’t?’ With every second, I grow more suspicious of this girl. Because if she’s someone’s toy, I could be in danger if her owner comes to play with her.

“Thanks for the answers… they’re very… explanatory.” It’s a fact her answers have helped me a lot since she arrived. They’re invaluable answers for someone like me who knows nothing.

’But with this, I hit a wall…’ Knowledge is limited. Most of what Zhita’hna says is useful knowledge, but it’s not unique or exclusive knowledge she could teach me about the Abyss.

’Damn it… I’ll probably only find the answers I want… from one of the servants of the Goddess of the Abyss…’ I decide to formulate an escape plan to use soon. It’s obvious what I can obtain in this city is limited. I’ll just try to read all the city’s “books,” gathering useful knowledge, and then run away.

Given the number of books, that should take about three months. So I have three months to prepare to escape from here.

’If I want to find my mother’s servants, I should be at least between level 400 million and 700 million…’ Relying on adaptation while my level is low will backfire. The level difference is too oppressive for adaptation alone to handle right now.

“Anything else?” she asks, drinking the last bowl I just filled.

“Yes… how can I deal with mind control? Mainly the physical/parasitic type, where the enemy tries to take control of the brain, assuming the nervous system before trying to assume the mind.” I don’t even know if assuming my mind is possible.

Since inside my consciousness, it’s not just me—there are the three other Pandora’s there.

“Mind control?… magic…” she murmurs, going to the shelf and picking up one of the books I haven’t read yet. She opens it near the final pages, and I see what’s written.

’Magic… can repel it…’ The book says you can repel them from inside your head with magic. But the method the book teaches only works if you still have some control of your body, and only if you’re much stronger than the damn parasite trying to control you.

“I’m referring to tentacles. This parasite in the book seems more like some kind of insect.” If it’s an insect-type parasite, I have a way to get rid of it. I just don’t have a method against tentacles.

They’re more complex and work both externally and internally, disabling body functions so quickly that escaping becomes very difficult. Because I still depend on my brain for processing most of the time, except when it comes to fleeing, since my body can handle that on its own.

“…Tentacles… kill their center… tentacles need their center to have control… like… many tentacles have their Mother and obey it. Usually, they aren’t very large monsters…”

“If you kill the one giving orders… they get confused for a while and stop everything… then you can finish killing them all or escape…” I hold back from rolling my eyes.

’What a shitty solution. It only works if you haven’t been captured yet, or if you’ve just been caught and can see the Brood Master…’

“And if I had already been caught by brain-controlling tentacles?” She tilts her head, thinking.

“Pray they decide to kill you quickly instead of using your body.”

“Wow, what an impressive solution! I never would have thought of that in my entire life!!!”

“Thank you,” she says, not understanding the sarcasm and irony in my sentence. She soon leaves after drinking all the milk from the bowls and answering only a few questions.

’Damn chicken!!! Ah, if I had the strength! I’d grab you and split you in half!!!’ I give up on that. I need to develop a mental defense mechanism myself. Because I’m sure, someday, I will be controlled.

My primary goal is to prevent mind control. But if that fails, I have to find some way for my body to return to my control after some time. So I’m using the time and the fear of being controlled to evolve in that regard.

I don’t believe you can resist with pure mental strength. I’m not an idiot. It will happen inevitably. And what will determine if I survive and regain control will be purely my efforts while I’m free to create a defense.

’I’ll manage… just like I invented a method to deal with the debuffs the heroes applied to me, I’ll create a method now too.’

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