Manowa - Chapter 405

(Well now, what is this situation?)

An enemy approaching from the front and an enemy approaching from the back. Both gave off strange signs, but Louise felt a more terrifying premonition towards the lump of meat approaching from behind. And Louise made her decision.

「Lyle, please deal with the guy in front. We’ll handle the one in the back.」

After Louise spoke, Lyle said「Roger!」and left the coachman’s seat.

Tatsuyoshi-kun Normal, who had been on guard to the surroundings, went to Lyle’s side.

At present, Tatsuyoshi-kun Normal had a dragon bone spear, a crystal tower shield, and armor made of Odanobunaga Ashigaru materials. Although its attack power was worrying, there was nothing to criticize when it came to its ability as a tank.

Furthermore, Lyle took out his personal Mysterious Bag and shook the contents out in that place, and a large amount of metal bones came out of it. Immediately after Lyle activated the Twin Bone Orb, the scattered bones gathered together and formed a huge aggregate skeleton monster.

Naturally, that was the『Holy Skull Legion』made by Yohan. Its weapon was the『Holy Clay Bardiche』.

Also, from the Holy Skull Legion’s chest, the upper body of a skeleton soldier of the same dimensions was sticking out and was holding two Adamantium swords.

And while Lyle’s group charged toward the large man covered in a cloak, another formation was being set up in front of the Indestructible Carriage.

「Tiara, please use Flame Knights. Surround that mass of meat and watch the situation.」

「Understood.」

Louise called out to the interior of the carriage, and Tiara nodded.

「Emily, with me. Shippuu, please keep that thing restrained.」

「OK!」

「Naago」

Emily jumped out of the carriage, and Shippuu nodded while looking at the mass of meat approaching from behind. Louise also took out her own equipment, the Thunderclap Staff, and prepared.

「Now, the battle begins. The opponent isn’t a monster, but don’t let your guard down!」

Then Louise summoned a Lightning Sphere and sent it swooping toward the approaching mass of meat.

(Their appearance is awful, but are they human? A woman?)

Louise examined her opponent anew and frowned at their hideous appearance. That enemy was a strangely obese human being, and from the pieces of cloth they were wearing, she could understand that they were apparently a woman. However, her skin color was purplish, and things that looked like tumors were growing on her body, giving her an extremely repulsive appearance. That excessively unhealthy body made Louise’s face stiffen.

「Could you please not approach? Take this!」

While saying that, Louise changed the Lightning Sphere into the form of a huge spear and made it do a kamikaze attack. If it could be decided with a single blow, then she would do so. Filled with Louise’s will, the Lightning Spear sped up. The mass of meat said

「It’s sparkly.」

as something popped out of her body. It looked like a silver jellyfish. The tentacles pierced into the surrounding ground. And after the Lightning Sphere made contact, it glowed for an instant, then immediately disappeared.

「What is that!?」

Louise shouted. The Lightning Sphere had covered the jellyfish with lightning, but it seemed all of it had flowed into the ground through the tentacles.

「Marie-jhan, smart. Make flowers bloom.」

The mass of meat that introduced herself as Marie smiled, which made a squishing noise, and resumed walking as the jellyfish returned into her body.

『Flame Knights, surround her.』

Tiara mobilized the Flame Knights. With Adamantium spears and greatshields at the ready, they surrounded Marie in a fan shape and charged.

「These bright red dolls are cute.」

Then Marie came into contact with the Flame Knights, and their blazing greatshields pressed into her body like hot irons. When that happened, naturally, her flesh was scorched, but Marie didn’t show any particular concern about it. On the contrary……

「Thankzz for the meal.」

Things that looked like insect legs grew from her stomach, and the stomach itself split and turned into a mouth.

Immediately after, Marie bit at and ate two Flame Knights.

「Eeeh!? What is that!?」

As her whole body shook from physiological disgust, Emily fired a dragonfang steel arrow.

「GUoN!?」

That arrow hit Marie and made her bend backward, but it didn’t pierce her.

「I’m aiming for her head. Why!」

Just like Emily shouted, Emily’s arrow hit Marie’s head. She also fired it with the technique called『Dragon Destruction』, which she was taught by the birdman Morphia. It was a technique that used Dragon Spirit to cause destructive vibrations, and normally, those vibrations would cause a shock wave at the moment of contact; it wouldn’t have been strange if her head had been blown away. It hit, but was immediately repelled. The cause was the transformation of her head.

「Marie-jyan’s head is good. Madoru praised me, saying it’s very, very good.」

The transformed head that Marie said that with was vaguely similar to a Brutuza. And when Louise saw that, Marie’s true identity finally came to mind.

「It couldn’t be… a Chimera?」

「Naaaa!!」

Shippuu had snuck up behind Maire, and he leapt to attack.

「No, Shippuu! Turn back!?」

Louise shouted, but Shippuu had already launched his attack and couldn’t stop. When he tried to cut Marie with his lightning claws,

「Cute kitty, let’s play inside Marie.」

Marie’s head turned 180 degrees and looked backwards, and a huge mouth appeared from her back.

「Be in time!」

「Funya!?」

There was the sound of a collision. Shippuu was knocked from that place and was rolling across the ground. And the thing that sent him rolling was Louise’s resummoned Lightning Sphere, which was already inside Marie’s huge mouth.

「Huh? The kitty is rolling. They increased?」

While chewing with the huge mouth, Marie said that. The Lightning Sphere was rolled around by the tongue in that mouth and was gradually disassembled. The feedback of those sensations were sent to Louise, and she fell down due to the grossness.

「Na, naago.」

Shippuu didn’t understand what had happened at first, but it seemed he eventually understood that the Lightning Sphere had collided with him and sent him flying, then was eaten instead of himself.

「Well then, I’ll eat the kitten as well. I’ll eat a lot.」

「Run away, Shippuu. You mustn’t get close.」

While down on her knees, Louise shouted that. Shippuu’s hair was standing on end as Marie looked at him. She had the eyes of a predator.

「Do you know what that is, Louise-san?」

「Yes, I do. That’s probably a Chimera. A mutated human called a Monster Eater.」

After Emily asked that question, Louise’s disgust was laid bare as she replied.

「What is that?」

「Just like how Kazane steals Skills from monsters, there are beings in the world that eat monsters themselves to steal their power.」

After those words, Emily remembered the scene earlier. The things that emerged from Marie’s body had certainly looked like parts of monsters.

「Well, eating dragon steak and becoming able to release Dragon Spirit is an inclination we’ve encountered as well, but sometimes, an abnormally high effect occurs, and eating monster meat causes that power to be expressed in the eater’s flesh itself.」

「I’ve never heard of such a thing.」

Emily kept her eyes on Marie as she said that.

「There are almost no such people in this region. There seems to be a reasonable amount in the western part of the continent, though.」

Even in Louise’s long life, she had only seen three people. One among them had fallen into a runaway state, and Louise had been part of the Adventurers Guild request to deal with him.

「In the worst case, there are times where they can’t maintain a human shape and start rampaging. It seems to be difficult to control. However…」

Louise looked at Marie in front of her. Was she controlling it, or was she in a runaway state? But it seemed certain that her fangs were bared toward themselves.

And right now, isn’t she beyond our capacity?… Louise felt that way. At the same time, Lyle was confronting the large man wrapped in a cloak, but…

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

「Block it, Normal!」

After Lyle’s words, Tatsuyoshi-kun Normal appeared in front of him and tried to block,

「GRUoooOOOOO!!!」

But with its cloak removed, the being’s attack sent the set up crystal shield along with Normal flying.

「Bastard!?」

Without looking at Normal, Lyle recklessly attacked. His spear headed toward the『giant white bear』that came out of the cloak.

「GURU」

However, the polar bear’s hands were covered with demi-gauntlets that had huge claws attached to them, which he used to block the spear. In a contest of power, Lyle was completely outmatched. On top of that, the polar bear in front of him was also using martial arts like a human being.

「Ku」

Immediately after, Lyle was knocked away by the polar bear and rolled across the ground. The polar bear advanced to try and attack him even further while he was down, but the Holy Skull Legion stopped him.

「GURUO!?」

The Holy Skull Legion swung its bardiche horizontally, and the polar bear blocked with one arm. As might be expected, the blow delivered by the giant body of the Holy Skull Legion was heavy. However, the polar bear plunged past the arms of the Holy Skull Legion and tried to run it through with his other hand. In response, the other skeleton soldier lurking inside the Holy Skull Legion crossed its two Adamantium swords and blocked it.

Both sides were straining against each other with their full power.

「Thunder God Spear!!」

「GURUooOO!!?」

Then from the side of the clashing monsters, a ray of light pierced through.

「Direct hit!」

Lyle shouted. Lyle had taken an Adamantium spear from his Mysterious Bag and fired a『Thunder God Spear』. That had certainly pierced the polar bear’s flank.

However, the polar bear’s movements didn’t falter. His gaze, full of fury like a raging fire, turned toward Lyle; he used all his strength to blow away the Holy Skull Legion and rushed toward him.

「Seriously!?」

At that situation, a shadow fell across Lyle’s face, though he still prepared his stance. The bear hadn’t been serious up until now. Lyle understood at the same time that he also had a degree of battle wisdom. And the battle wasn’t over yet. In this desperate situation, Lyle clenched his teeth as he faced the imminent polar bear.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Summoning Fighter

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King, Liberator, Guardian

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragon Eating Ogre Army Armor (True), Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, White Magic Accumulator (Revised) ×2, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring, Angel Bracelet

Level : 40

Health: 156+20

Magic Power: 378+520

Strength: 81+45

Agility: 83+39

Endurance: 45+20

Wisdom : 75

Dexterity : 53

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』『Rabbit Speed』『Flare Mirage』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Kick Decapitation Wave』『Warrior’s Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog’s Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv4』『Aegis Shield』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition: Lv2』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King’s Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur: Lv3』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey’s Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『Boobies Plus』『Living Armor』『Alarm』『Six-sword Style』『Mental Attack Complete Protection』『Spider Web』『Wire Cutter』『Flexible』『Magic Power Absorption』『Red Body Transformation』『Friendship Tag-team』

Kazane: 「Perhaps my boobs will become bigger if I’m a Chimera?」

Naoki: 「What’s up, Aneki?」

Kazane: 「It’s nothing. I’m just groping for possibilities. One of my race choices was Chimera, right? It seems like I’d be able to take in the power of monsters, but I have a hunch that I might be able to use it to make my chest bigger.」

Naoki: 「Oh, I see. In that case, wouldn’t Chimera be fine, Aneki? You can already use Angelization, and with that, you’d also have big breasts. The best.」

Kazane: 「Umm… your excessive eagerness is bothering me.」