Reincarnated As A Parasite

Ashura's Incarnation Arc - Chapter 23: Abandoning The City

Ashura eagerly took in the sight of the first parasite he'd seen in a few days. There was no mistake it's one of his kind. It's stems flailed sluggishly in a creepy way, any coward would scream if this thing managed to touch their skin. It looked like the type of bizarre monster that would use it's size to crawl onto one's wound and lay eggs there.

"What is this thing? Have you seen something like this before, Asura?" Whirl who managed to steel herself, closed in to have a better look at the captured parasite, of course she didn't let her guard down.

"It's a kind of parasite." Ashura answered in his host's behalf, although Whirl couldn't tell the difference.

If his memory serves him right, his kind exists to boost the physical and magical abilities of their hosts. The parasites created inside the shady laboratory came in quantity-based mutation varieties so that the scientists could quickly find the right specimen that goes well with their desired result.

He was a little curious about the method parasites use to communicate to each other, so he's willing to do a little experiment.

First, he'll try speaking to it with his mind to see if it will show any valid reactions.

「Greetings.」

Although the other parasite didn't give any visible response in the outside, it's intent and thoughts suddenly transmitted themselves into Ashura's mind.

It sent unknown waves into his mind as response to his attempt to communicate. It's desires are more simple than he thought.

Eat, sleep, reproduce.

In this way, he confirmed there was no way to have a civilized conversation with the creature. It was close to being as dumb as bacteria so it was way dumber than trying to speak to a clueless monkey.

'Huh? Can parasites like me reproduce?'

He's certain that every passing second, he consumes a considerable portion of the food Asura intakes and digests since of course, that's what he is. However, will he be capable of asexual reproduction? If that's a possibility and he can control his offsprings, he could latch them onto other creatures and make an army of Asura-like monsters.

But how can he do that? What are the conditions? He's guessing his parasite body should mature first before laying eggs. But he's quite hesitant hatching them inside of Asura's body and risk the possibility of his offspring eating her from the inside out.

"Asura? Are you okay? You've been spacing out for five minutes now."

"Ah, right. Sorry."

Whirl frowned, she was definitely sensing something was out of place. But since they hardly knew each other well, she just threw it off as rude assumptions that she knows Asura well enough to find a tiny oddity.

"That thing is creepy and scary. But what's with that tiny weird arm growing out of you?!"

The alien-looking parasite was as creepy as a creature that crawled out of the underworld. But the tiny arm poking out of the pretty Asura's chest made her a little bit freaky too. It was as if a parasite itself was sticking onto Asura.

"Don't worry. It's just like my wings from earlier."

"What? Anyway, are you okay? You're okay, right?"

Asura's body nodded to respond.

Whirl seems like a good person. When the time comes he can leave Asura to her. They seemed to get along after all.

"Anyway, you should get rid of that... Kraken-looking thingy, it looks gross."

After suggesting what to do to the parasite in Asura's hand, Whirl turned her back to glance at the ruined town again. The mech was still causing a mayhem, except most of it's missiles had been used up by now and it had already opted to it's laser rifle, which was less on explosive power but prevailing in penetrative force. The ground was even starting to cave in with each repeated blast.