The Tale of Hero Alice's Social Death - Chapter 201

Chapter 201 – Darwin’s Influence Doesn’t Reach the Otherworld

The Sunset Bug Erosion was quite the unique taboo. The researcher who developed the taboo discovered that while the creature known as the Sunset Bug had a strange habit of only emerging from the ground during sunset, it had many strong points.

For example, the carapace of Sunset Bugs could withstand the weight of several adult humans, and their sharp horns could easily pierce through rocks. The taboo’s developer even discovered traces of mana circulating within the bodies of Sunset Bugs.

If Sunset Bugs weren’t lacking in intelligence, they would have definitely been considered magical creatures. They might even be capable of casting magic. In that event, the Sunset Bugs would’ve been slightly stronger than even Milu Rabbits. After all, the only use Milu Rabbits had for their mana was to make their meat more tender.

Meanwhile, because of these discoveries, the researcher began developing magic based on the Sunset Bug. The researcher’s goal was to develop magic that could replicate the Sunset Bug’s features on the target’s body, creating a carapace that could be used defensively and horns that could be used offensively.

If everything went smoothly, this spell could have been adopted for military use and greatly bolstered the combat capabilities of individual soldiers. So, after the researcher proposed his idea to the Ymir Kingdom two hundred years ago, the Ymir Kingdom strongly supported his research.

Unfortunately, the research outcome deviated significantly from the researcher’s ideals. After finalizing the spell he created, the researcher discovered that his spell was doing more than replicating the Sunset Bug’s temporary features on the human body. The spell had also converted the target’s human cells into Sunset Bug cells.

After investigating this unexpected deviation, the researcher and his associates learned a feature about the Sunset Bug that had never been discovered—the Sunset Bug’s cells would exhibit strong erosive properties once they were supplied with sufficient mana.

Normally, even if the Sunset Bug’s cells received enough mana to trigger their erosive properties, the cells would be harmless since they would be contained within the Sunset Bug’s body. However, it was an entirely different story when the Sunset Bug’s cells were connected with the human body. As soon as the Sunset Bug’s cells received sufficient mana, they would promptly start to erode the human body and convert it into a humanoid Sunset Bug. Eventually, the Sunset Bug’s cells would transform even the human brain into that of a Sunset Bug.

Needless to say, research on the spell was promptly halted. There was no way the Ymir Kingdom would allow its soldiers to use such a spell and be turned into giant Sunset Bugs. In addition, due to the spell’s stringent requirement toward mana volume and mana control, it was labeled as a curse-type taboo and passed down as such to future generations.

Overall, Sunset Bug Erosion’s principles weren’t particularly complicated. Even so, it wasn’t a spell that the average magician could cast by themselves. Following the spell’s original design, the spell would require a combination of a large number of magicians and specialized equipment to grant a human the traits of a Sunset Bug. When these requirements were put onto the individual, the Sunset Bug Erosion was undoubtedly at the level of taboos.

The tricky part is the body cell conversion…

Alice felt her head aching a little when she read the formulas recorded in the magic book. The only part she found complicated in the book was the cell conversion process. If this segment was brought to Earth, it would probably cause Darwin and many other biologists to jump out of their graves in anger.

As someone who had spent nearly two decades living on Earth, Alice would have to cast aside the concepts she had learned on Earth to research and understand this section of the book, which was a relatively complicated task. Fortunately, Alice wasn’t a biologist major before she transmigrated, so it wasn’t too challenging to change her concepts.

“Can you do it?” Elodie anxiously asked after watching Alice research the magic book for some time.

“It should be doable… I’ll try to reverse its function by today. I might not be able to master this taboo in a day, but reversing it shouldn’t require too high of a mastery,” Alice said, nodding. After taking a look through the magic book, she already understood the difficulty of the Sunset Bug Erosion taboo. Meanwhile, based on her past experience of learning taboos, she felt that she should be able to reverse it successfully by today.

“That’s great.” Elodie patted her chest and sighed in relief. “If you can lift the curse on my mother, I’ll do anything you want afterward.”

…

The Loli Goddess welcomed an unexpected guest in her room today. However, while the other party was an unexpected guest, she was also someone the Loli Goddess was familiar with.

“Huh?” The Loli Goddess, who was busy playing a golf game on her PS4, was momentarily stunned when she sensed someone appearing behind her. However, when she turned around and saw who it was, she revealed a smile and said, “Ha— So it’s you, Kristine.”

Indeed. The person who had visited the Loli Goddess’s room was none other than Kristine, the previous generation’s Hero. As someone she had personally chosen to become the Hero, the Loli Goddess naturally remembered Kristine.

Meanwhile, once a Hero was ordained by God, the Hero’s Power they received wouldn’t arbitrarily disappear like the Demon King’s Power. So, Kristine could still converse with the Loli Goddess using the Word of God ability.

“Long time no see, Lord God.”

Although Kristine was now in a child’s body, she dared not behave like an actual child in front of God. Immediately, she knelt before the Loli Goddess and earnestly responded to the Loli Goddess’s gaze.

“You don’t have to be so serious. Times have changed. I always wore a cold look in the past because I was too bored at the time, so I couldn’t be bothered to make any expressions,” the Loli Goddess said as she set her remote controller aside. Then, she turned around and faced Kristine, saying, “But I am in a very good mood now since plenty of entertainment is available. Also, why did you become a child?”

“This… Long story short, I noticed that Grant’s soul remained alive just when I was near my death bed, so I chose to preserve my soul in a tablet, wait for an opportunity to meet with the Hero of a future generation, and have her eliminate Grant once and for all,” Kristine said, briefly summarizing the reason she was still alive. “However, the present Hero had already extinguished Grant’s soul by the time she met me. She also asked me to help her deal with the present Demon King. Unfortunately, a minor accident occurred when she was creating a new body for me, so I ended up in my current childlike state.”

“The present Hero… Ahh, you mean Alice?”

When the Loli Goddess heard Kristine mentioning the present Hero, the first person that came to her mind was Aird, the Hero disguising herself as one of the demon realm’s Four Heavenly Kings. However, she quickly dismissed the possibility of Aird being the one responsible for resurrecting Kristine. After all, Aird still wasn’t aware that she was the Hero. Or, more specifically, she refused to acknowledge that she was the Hero. So, it was unlikely that Aird would introduce herself as the current generation’s Hero to Kristine. In that case, the “present Hero” Kristine mentioned would have to be Alice.

“I see, so that’s why that fellow tried to secure the rights to the Fruits of God for the elves.”

“Lord God, while Alice might have mentioned that her goal in resurrecting me is to get my help in dealing with the new Demon King, I can’t help but feel that something is amiss,” Kristine said with a frown on her face. Then, after taking a deep breath, she voiced the question that had been plaguing her this entire time:

“Is Alice only trying to deal with the Demon King? Or, could she be going up against a foe even stronger than the Demon King?”