An itch is annoying, and you'd likely scratch it. But, what if it kept on coming back? What if, no matter what you do, the itch remains?

At some point, they got used to it, growing numb to the slight pain in their arms.

However, unbeknownst to them, they were harboring a ton of new life!

+++-+++-+++

‘The plan went disgustingly well,’ Helzar sighed. ‘If only I'd done this from the start, then I wouldn't have bothered with that damned lucky bastard.’

Helzar sighed. Although he can no longer link with the entire Swarm, he can still link with a few Spawns like he would do when the Swarm was still small.

‘In total, there are fifteen humans living in this building, and I infected fourteen of them.’

After the Motherbugs burrowed under the human's skin, they laid eggs which would suck on their host’s blood, quickly maturing to adults. The spawns would then dig out the flesh surrounding them and feed it to the Motherbug, who would in turn lay more eggs and repeat the process.

‘Overnight, the Spawns were able to eat a good chunk in the human's arm. The problem is that they're now under excruciating pain…’

Without exception, all of Helzar's victims couldn't get out of their rooms, sweating heavily while holding their arms in extreme agony. The skin on their arms had turned black and soggy, and they could visibly see the missing chunk on their flesh.

Just earlier, Helzar heard many pained wails from where he was hiding.

‘Thankfully, either no one cared to check out the screams or no one heard them,’ Helzar linked up to his Motherbugs.

‘I want you all to kill your host. It won't help us if they attract any more attention,’ Helzar commanded before severing the link. Then, he called for Zhar.

‘Bring fifteen thousand Spawns and bring me the head of the human closest to us,’ Helzar ordered. He was hiding on the walls of the first floor, and the room closest to them was Room #104.

‘I’m certain that the lucky human has a soul, but these random humans… I can only hope for the best.’

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Helzar recalled the Soul Contracts he used in the past. Soul Contracts was a form of magic that demons from the Underworld Realm used, and it was pretty simple. The more souls you own, the more powerful you become.

‘I only used two types of Soul Contracts. One is the Slave Contract, and the other is the Gluttony Contract,’ Helzar didn't even have to think which of the two he would use.

‘I can't enslave a dead man,’ Helzar chuckled, waiting for the good news from Zhar.

That day, Helzar found himself in front of the decapitated head of a woman. The woman's face was contorted in pain, an eternal wail etched into her face with blood was pooling below her head. The Spawnlings and eggs worked on drinking up the precious blood, and even the Motherbugs couldn't help but get a sip.

‘Lord, I have fulfilled your wishes,’ Zhar bowed, before quietly stepping aside. Helzar nodded to him in acknowledgement.

‘Although they did a good job, unfortunately, this woman does not have a soul. She is lifeless, eat her!’

Helzar then ordered for Zhar to collect more human heads. Like this, hours passed by. When Helzar finished scanning all the decapitated heads of humans, he couldn't help getting disappointed.

‘None of them had any souls,’ Helzar sighed. ‘The only humans I'm certain have a soul is that lucky human and those humans from the laboratory.’

Helzar contemplated. After devouring all the humans in the apartment apart from Jason, the Swarm exploded in numbers. Even Helzar didn't know how many Spawns there are currently, all he knew is that it would be easy to kill Jason while he was awake.

‘But if that human indeed has a Foreseer latent talent, then killing him would be difficult unless I make an equal sacrifice.’

The “equal sacrifice” Helzar was talking about could easily be fulfilled by the Swarm now that it has hundreds of thousands of members, but that would mean resetting Helzar's progress.

Foreseers are valuable, even in the vast cosmos.

‘Should I try using him? If I can somehow manipulate him or even better, enslave him, then the Swarm's growth will be smooth sailing!’

Although currently, Helzar has hundreds of thousands of Spawns, it didn't amount to much. If a man holding a functional flamethrower found where Helzar's nest was, it'll be as easy as eating a pie to exterminate the entire Swarm!

‘Still a long way to go,’ Helzar sighed. ‘If I don't wish to cooperate with that human, then I have to leave this apartment after finishing the feast.’

If anyone were to open the doors of any of the rooms in the apartment, they'd find corpses of humans being devoured by small, unsuspecting insects called Spawns.

‘Patience, my Swarm. In the near future, the Swarm will rise and enter the cosmos once more!’

+++-+++-+++

[Today, the headless skeletons of fourteen people were found…]

“Tell me, Mr. Bright, how are you the only person in the apartment to survive?”

In a dark, enclosed room, Alex was interrogating a young man. After seeing the state of the human skeletons, he immediately suspected that an anomaly was involved.

He refused to believe that a serial killer could separate the skeletons of people from their bodies without spilling blood, making a noise, and worse yet, doing it to fourteen people in only one day!

“I'm telling you, I was working in a convenience store nearby, my boss can vouch for me, damn it,” Jason sighed, furrowing his brows in frustration.

“Hmm…”

Alex narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms.

“Have you seen any anomalies then?”

“Anomalies? Jason raised an eyebrow.

“Well, did you observe anything strange in the apartment lately?” Alex cleared his throat.

“Oh, I saw termites infesting my room, that's really about it,” Jason shrugged.

“Termites?” Alex frowned. The organization hadn't caught any termites, unless there was a brand new Colony Type Anomaly.

“Describe the termites,” Alex demanded, making Jason frown. Nonetheless, Jason complied.

“They have four legs, a black body, a head, and an abdomen. Oh, I'm pretty sure they're, like, a centimeter long,” Jason described blandly. He didn't include his attempt to talk to the “termites,” it would only worsen his already grim situation.

“I see. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Bright,” Alex stood up, taking out a small pen from his pocket. He then wrote something on the notebook he was holding.

“Okay? Can I go now?” Jason asked, standing up after Alex.

“... yes.” Alex nodded, looking weirdly at his pen.

‘Why did nothing happen?’