[Touka, instructions—]

[You should step back this time.]

[…Acknowledged.]

Without any questions, Eve stepped back.

Eve said so herself, that she could win against it.

An opponent that the strongest Blood Champion couldn’t win with a fair fight.

Well, she could request to act as a decoy that would distract the attention of the enemy.

However, she may get injured in the process.

She may even get seriously injured for doing something unnecessary.

I want to avoid a situation like that.

Eve’s special characteristics aren’t something that could be easily replaced.

Night vision.

Sensor-like hearing.

I don’t want these two to end up becoming useless as a result of making them decoy.

There is no time for me to prepare the combination technique with Pigimaru before the monster arrives.

I hide behind the trunk of a tree and check out the situation.

The creaking noises began steadily approaching our direction as trees fell one after another.

It has a large body that can’t weave its way between the trees.

That thing’s already in a distance where I could see it.

It’s a gigantic slug.

The base of the monster reminds me of that.

There were two golden eyes on top of its head.

Those eyes remind me of the compounded eyes of dragonflies.

Even the mouth between its two eyes also looks like the mouth of a dragonfly.

Also, there are multiple things growing out from its back.

Those things kind of resemble an elephant’s nose.

Furthermore, there were humanoid arms growing out from both sides of its body.

The blood vessels were bulging out of its thick, muscular arms.

And, there was its really large frame.

Speaking of its size alone, it slightly exceeds the size of the Soul Eater.

Elephant Slug.

There were two of them.

Are those the Human-Faced?

[…………….]

No, they weren’t.

Human-Faced should have more “human”-like faces.

Along the way, Seras had told me about them.

The Soul Eater was certainly under this category, however those two weren’t.

[Nuuuuuuooohhh! Booooooorrroooorrrrooooooooooonnnn!]

A bizarre shrill roar shook the air.

Something that I guess would be some kind of birds flew away from the source of the sounds.

Perhaps, they sensed the presence of the Elephant Slugs and ran away.

Even so…

[I see.]

For a moment, the feeling of delight exceeded the calmness I’ve been trying to hold on to.

[So, it’s you bastards.]

Dondondondondondondon——!

With the earth trembling in each of their steps, the Elephant Slugs reduced the distance between us without pause.

Even though that thing looks like a slug, its speed doesn’t look like a slug at all.

Its undulating explosive speed…

It doesn’t really fit the slow image of slugs.

It’s honestly kind of creepy.

Hmm?

Ah, I see.

So, they could use those arms as support when they want to change directions huh.

The head of the elephant was swinging left to right.

[…………………..]

Perhaps, they were looking for me and Eve.

I could feel it.

It’s great delight and killing intent.

I guess it feels excited hunting its prey.

However, it seems that its perception ability is duller than I had expected.

It’s the type where it has a wide field of vision, but its ability to sense the presence  of others is quite weak huh.

And, they are now—

[Welcome.]

—within my range.

[<Paralyze>]

Crack, crackleee—

Cracklee—

[Ooouuoo!? Oorrrooouuooohhh….. oohhh—!?]

“An opponent that the strongest Blood Champion couldn’t win with a fair fight.”

Snorting, I emerged from behind the trunk of the tree.

It may certainly be as she said but—

[That’s only if we were to fairly fight against it.]

I don’t really have to fight from the front.

All those b*llshit about fighting fair and square or having that spirit of fairness could eat sh*t.

Defeating them by trickery…

Surprise attacks…

Both of them are good.

[Finally finding the prey that you let loose— you must have been really delighted that the hunt continues… But before you noticed it, the hunter becomes the hunted.]

The two Elephant Slugs have stopped in their places.

These two were standing still in front of me, just like two cliffs standing side by side.

The great delight and killing intent that they have been releasing earlier.

Now, they had turned into bewilderment and rage.

[Ooouuuoooohhh—-! OOouuooohhhnnnn!]

I also decided on using the skills that I could stack with the others.

Of course, it was to increase the number of skills I could use.

And, the finishing blow would be—

[<Berserk>]

Fssshhhh! Gussshhhhh!

Blood began spouting out all over the body of the two elephant slugs.

The monsters’ blood began raining down upon the surroundings.

[Oggguuueeeeehhhhhh!?]

The more they violently struggle about while they’re paralyzed, the more damage they would receive.

However, the monsters couldn’t even stop their own bodies from rampaging.

No one could resist it— once <Berserk> has been invoked on them.

[Oggooooo… giiii… riii—-]

Sinking in the pool of their own blood, they died.

The surroundings began descending to silence again.

<Your level has increased.>

<Lv 1797 → Lv 1798>

[Oh?]

So, I could level up here huh…

There’s also the experience points I’ve accumulated so far.

However, the experience points these two monsters have given may be reasonably high.

The combination of the experience given by these two was enough for me to level up.

[…My MP has also fully recovered.]

Eve rushed over.

[Is it done, Touka?]

[Yeah.]

Her leopard eyes looked at the monsters’ corpses like she found it hard to believe what she’s saying.

[You defeated that monster without even breaking a sweat… while I could only run away with all of my might. I could only feel embarrassed with how I acted…]

I think it’s quite amazing that she managed to escape from those guys before though.

[That’s an opponent you couldn’t win against if you fairly fight against it. By the way, these guys weren’t Human-Faced, right?]

[That’s right. However, the Human-Faced weren’t the only strong monsters in this place. Even if they’re not Human-Faced, there were still lots of frightening monsters here.]

[Ah, I know. I already know enough about it.]

A good example would be the monsters from the Disposal Ruins.

Eve let out a subdued groan.

[Touka.]

[Hmm?]

[Just before you fought these monsters, you spoke earlier as if you’ve come across this monster somewhere before? If I remember it correctly, I think you said something like “I see. So, it’s you bastards.”.]

As expected, she really has great ears.

[These were probably “Nazoto”.] (T/N: ナゾート)

I called out to Seras who was walking towards us with Liz.

[Seras, help me with this.]

It seems she understood what I’m talking about.

Seras places her hand over her chest.

[Yes, please leave it to me.]

Incidentally, Liz doesn’t look particularly confused.

When the monster appeared, she was able to remain calm.

How should I say this—- her eyes look like she believes in us.

That’s how I see it.

I step into the pool of blood and lightly lift up the monster’s humanoid arm.

There’s a hemisphere buried in the palm of the monster.

It feels kind of squishy.

If I were to compare it with something, it would be that—- it’s just like a cat’s paws.

Well, this feels comparably worse than a cat’s paw but…

A monster’s hand.

I want to check the toughness of its skin.

Alright.

It looks like this would be a good spot.

I unsheathe the dagger from my waist.

[What are you doing, Touka?]

[I’m going to chip off this fleshy bead part.]

[What? This thing…? D- Don’t tell me— you can’t possibly be thinking of using that in our meal? It wouldn’t be easy for me to say that I want to eat something like that…]

Slightly doubtful, Eve pulled away.

[Heh— That’s not it, Eve.]

Seras wryly smiled.

[Is that really so, Touka-dono?]

[Yeah. I’m not really chipping this off for us to eat this.]

It seems Seras had already read about it in the book “Encyclopedia on the Forbidden Arts” that I’ve lent her.

The “Nazoto” that I mentioned earlier is the official name of the elephant slug.

[This guy is one of the ingredients I need.]

Yes…

[—for Pigimaru’s Enhancer.]

[Pii.]

Is it because his name was mentioned?

Pigimaru responded.

Eve looks like she finally understood.

[Mhmm, so that’s the reason. Umu? However—]

Eve tilted her head.

She looks really troubled.

[What’s the matter?]

[You said this won’t be eaten but… it would be used for Pigimaru’s Enhancer, that means—-]

[Puyuu?]

[—It would only be Pigimaru that would be ingesting this creepy flabby part into his body?]

[………Pigii!?]

Pigimaru suddenly looked scared.

However, it will be alright, Pigimaru.

When the enhancer is completed, the appearance shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

[……………]

Maybe.

▽

It was about an hour after I collected the usable material from the elephant slug and left that area.

Without any warnings, it suddenly happened.

[——————–]

What the…?

Fwuuusshhhh!

We stood with our backs behind each other and raised our vigilance towards the surroundings.

[Eve, do you feel anything around?]

[…No, I can’t find anything.]

[Seras.]

[N- No… I- I also don’t know what’s happening…]

However, there certainly is something there.

The presence of a monster.

Suddenly, the presence of that monster appeared.

Of course, this is quite different from Pigimaru’s presence.

Even Pigimaru looks confused.

Eve, Pigimaru, me, Seras.

None of the four of us have noticed that whatever that thing has gotten closer towards us.

There was no sign at all.

There was nothing but that sudden appearance of the presence of the monster we felt.

It’s close.

It would shortly arrive here.

What is that?

What the heck is going on…?

Furthermore, I couldn’t even feel its hostility.

Not a single killing intent leaked out of it.

Looking at it in another way, it’s really unsettling.

We still couldn’t get a hold of how much of a threat that monster is.

However, I could feel something strange about it.

It feels quite different from any of the monsters I’ve encountered before…

[Where did that come from?]

There is nothing even after looking around.

It’s just the never ending trees lined up around us.

Even if it were hiding, we would have been able to know its position if we felt its presence was close.

Seras drew her bow and pointed it to the air.

[—-It doesn’t feel like it’s somewhere in the air.]

And it’s also not below us.

I had assumed first that it would surprisely attack us from underground.

However, the presence didn’t come from under the ground.

No, rather than that, it would be—

[—coming from me, huh?]

———-Crackkkkk————-

I heard a sound.

The density of the presence suddenly increased in one go.

[Pigiii—!

At the same time as Pigimaru cried out, I hastily took off my backpack.

It appears like Pigimaru also felt something from “me”.

[It came from here, huh…?]

Eve is prepared with her sword in hand.

[It’s in your backpack, you say…]

Anxious, Liz clung on to Eve.

Seras also looked like she’s sweating bullets as she seems to be preparing for something that’s about to appear.

The preparation to use her Regalia of the Spirits.

[——Ah.]

I suddenly remembered one thing.

[Could it be—-]

——-Crackkkk——–

[……….So, it’s this.]

I gently put down “that thing” on the ground.

Taking a step back, I called out to everyone.

[Don’t let your guard down.]

It’s obvious why I felt the presence from me.

It’s because…

The source of the presence came from “that thing” inside my backpack.

Seras looks towards me.

[Touka-dono, that must be…]

[Yeah.]

That black egg I obtained from Mills Ruins.

Yeah, that is—

[—-about to hatch.]

———-Craaackkkkk————