Paradigm Parasite - Chapter 184: "Swarm Attack"

“Wow. That must have been amazing.”

By the time the destination is clearly visible, the moon is out and it is completely night, but the town is very busy.

There are sounds of impact, screams and even fire in some places.

The distance is still too great to see the details, but the monster in question had entered the town in large numbers and was rampaging about.

For some reason, Aspizal looks happy when he sees this.

I’ve already got a bad feeling about this.

“…So? What are you going to do now? Are we going to go over there and mingle?”

To be honest, I don’t want to go there.

Aspizal stops operating the sand and stops right there.

“Right. What shall we do?”

“Please, don’t tell me we’re going in there without a plan?”

“I’m against it too. As long as they’re after us, they’ll certainly swarm us the moment we get close.”

I’ll take Yonomori’s opinion, which is a decent thing to say.

“First of all, let’s check. What is our purpose?”

“We promised Hie-san earlier that we would help him, and we’re going to solve this situation…?”

“Azusaa. Your good point is that you are a good person, but I don’t think you need to go that far. Yes! Then Roe, answer me!”

What is this farce? I mean, is Yonomori going to go there? You’ve got to be kidding.

Thinking about that, I think about Aspizal’s question.

…Well, I don’t have to think about it.

“The head of them. In short, we have to deal with the person who is probably directly controlling them. When that is done, the ones who are swarming over there will lose their leadership and will disperse on their own, or will be individually taken out and sunk.”

“That’s right. So we don’t have to go over there and jump into the herd.”

Do you understand? As if to say, Aspizal looks at Yonomori.

She nods back in agreement.

“Do you think if we wait, we’ll catch the master?”

“It’s delicate. It depends on his situation. If he can’t move, I think they’ll move to deliver what they’ve caught, so if we follow them, we can get there. ……”

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s a bit difficult at this distance.”

It’s certainly tough.

At this distance, magical detection cannot reach them.

If you force it, you might be able to reach them, but they also detect magic, so there is a high possibility that they will swarm you either way if you use it with flamboyance.

If you get too close to them, they’ll swarm you as well, and you’ll be completely at a standstill.

I got tired of thinking about it, so I decided to leave it to my employer.

“What would you do?”

“…by the way, how visible do you think those guys are?”

I don’t care, this guy always returns questions with questions.

“From the way they fought, I’d say they could see at least a few metres.”

“If it was subterranean, it would be a lot bigger. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to hit us with any accuracy.”

Most likely to have abilities similar to those of the Death Worm.

It’s probably the ability to detect what’s going on below ground and above ground through soil and sand or something.

“Yes. If they were underground, their vision would be incredibly wide, but on the ground it would be much narrower, probably because they are aquatic creatures in nature.”

That’s probably true.

That’s why it was so easy to kill them.

If it had been underwater, it wouldn’t have been like that.

“What about in the air?”

“In the air? Does it fly?”

“Something like that. Azusa, get that thing out.”

The night forest shows signs of hesitation, but when Aspizal calls his name again, he slumps his shoulders and takes out some kind of large carpet-like object from his backpack and spreads it out on the ground.

“What is that? Is it a flying carpet or something?”

“Yes.”

… what?

Aspizal says this without a second thought and gently touches it with his hand on the carpet.

Then the carpet glows thinly and floats softly and soundlessly.

I’m surprised. A real flying carpet?

“Come on, get on.”

Aspizal holds out his hand, so I grab it and ask him to pull me up.

Yonomori leaps lightly and jumps onto the carpet.

The carpet is not as light as it looks.

The carpet takes our weight without difficulty and rises.

The altitude is about ten or so metres. It stops around there.

If there is such a convenient thing, use it from the beginning – and I’m convinced that’s the extent of it.

The reason is that Yonomori took one look in my direction at the moment the carpet was put out.

I think she didn’t want me to see it, if anything.

Well, I’m not going to say anything about that.

Because I would definitely do the same thing if it were the other way round.

It’s a natural response to someone you can’t trust.

Yonomori gives me a slightly awkward look, but I pretend not to notice and let it pass.

The carpet with us on it starts to move without gravity.

It’s not as fast as the Savage, but it’s also moderately fast. They must have travelled through the forest on this thing.

“… so? I understand that it would be hard to be noticed from the air, but what are you going to do when you get close to them? Go around finishing them off from the air?”

“No way. We’re not brave or anything. It’s their town that’s under attack, so they have to take care of it themselves, don’t they?”

I generally agree with that opinion, but that’s not an answer.

“By the way, we go close by, but we don’t do anything. I just watch.”

Ah… I’m starting to get the picture.

“Are we following the monsters away from this place, by any chance?”

Yonomori also comes to the same conclusion and puts her thoughts into her mouth.

“If anything, that’s right. If their goal is to deliver food to their parents, they will go on their own if we wait for them. All we have to do is sit back and watch.”

That’s easy. I’m very much in favour of it.

Aspizal is no problem, right? He looked at me and looked at us with a look that said.

I nod in agreement, because I have no objection.

The carpet reaches the sky above the city.

Now I look down at the city below.

Uzbek Animos has a generally flat impression.

The size of the city is slightly smaller than Torklusarb.

The reason it looks that way is probably because there are no outstandingly large buildings.

Around the perimeter – or rather, except on the northern side – barricades made of stakes are arranged in a semi-circle, so that no one can enter except through a large entrance-like gate on the southern side.

The rest of the northern side was a harbour, where various sailing ships of various sizes could be seen moored, but there was quite a lot of wreckage floating around, probably damaged in the attack.

The barricades seem to have been ineffective, as the monsters came from underground.

As proof of this, large holes have been opened here and there in the town, from which the tentacles are extending and pulling in residents one after another.

Naturally, the inhabitants were not going to be beaten without a fight, and some were fighting back, and if you looked closely, you could see some dead monsters lying around.

The battle situation is… subtle, but the beastmen have a slight advantage, don’t they?

Nevertheless, this is hostile away territory for the monsters.

It is obvious that the more time passes, the more disadvantageous it becomes.

The beastmen were surrounding the monsters and beating them up, without showing any signs of being perturbed by the situation.

The night has passed and the visibility is supposed to be poor, but the movements of the beastmen are without hesitation.

Unlike humans, not all of them move well.

“Well… what’s going on down there…”

Yonomori next to me raises a slightly puzzled voice.

It seems that she can’t see much.

“Hmmm. At this rate they’ll be repulsed by morning.”

On the other hand, Aspizal can see – or is he magically compensating for his vision?

“How does Lo see it?”

“Well.”

I didn’t answer, just shrugged my shoulders.

As I do so, I move my attention from the city to my surroundings.

There is no rise in the sand around me.

Are they diving very deep?

Even if you’re going to hold them where they leave, how are you going to find them?

“There’s a lot of them. If that many have moved, I’m sure it’s going to affect the ground a bit – but this is a bit tough, isn’t it?”

I tilt my head at Aspizal’s words.

Is it strange that it’s not affecting them?

It’s so deep in there that it can’t be detected. …… Well, it’s sand, so there’s no reason why it can’t be detected.

Where did they come from then?

The answer came immediately. No wonder the ship is sinking.

“The sea.”

“I think so too.”

If they didn’t come from land, the answer is simple.

They came from the sea.

And the fact that some of them are probably retreating makes it likely that the main body of work is at sea.

I thought it was tricky.

If it’s underwater, it’s difficult to track.

“No wonder the port is in shambles.”

“What are we going to do? Then, to be honest, there doesn’t seem to be much to be gained from watching.”

“Well… what shall we do? I’m not sure I can touch it when it’s in the ocean. What about Roe?”

Think about it when told.

If I could recreate the breathing and other organs used underwater because I ate the monsters, well, I would be able to fight.

However, if they were to fight on their original field, I would have to say it would be tough.

If I really want to fight underwater, I need to change my body into something other than a humanoid form.

If no one can see me, I can do it, but I don’t intend to show my hand that much to these guys.

So I tilt my head.

Can’t we just leave these things alone?

“I can’t. I might be able to manage breathing and so on, but when it comes to fighting, I can’t manage it. I can see that they will torture me to death. If they’re in the sea, why don’t we just leave them there?”

I suggested ignoring them because they’re a pain in the ass.

I’m interested in them, but if they don’t come out of the sea, there’s no need to force them.

Even if they do come out, we have a shield between here and Torqulu Sarb and the forest.

Just go back to Urs Laguna.

Forget everything else and pretend you don’t know.

As for Hieda… well, if we just give them the information, they’ll come up with countermeasures on their own.

I’m sure they’ll fight desperately with their lives on the line.

“You mean we’re just going to run away to Urs Laguna?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Urs Laguna is just beyond the forest. The monsters are sea creatures, aren’t they? It’s hard to imagine it following us to land.”

So I implied that we should leave him alone and pull away, but the expression on Aspizal’s face did not look like he was getting on with it.

What? What? You want to get rid of that seafood so badly?

I don’t want to risk it, you know.

“Are you sure you’re willing to give up?”

…What?