Hibi, who was walking directly ahead of me, came to a stop and turned around to face my direction. After that, she closed her eyes and chanted something in a low voice that sounded like an incantation.
“Tei, Les.”
That’s the thing she’d chanted right before telepathizin’ earlier as well. I can’t imagine that she’d need to go out of her way to do an incantation to use ⟨Telepathize⟩ though, so I wonder if it’s to increase her concentration or somethin’? It doesn’t seem like it’s the case that she’s doin’ it every time either.
⸨The treatment hall is that way. You will find the traveling one over there.⸩
Right on schedule, I received a message sent via ⟨Telepathize⟩ from Hibi. I scrunched myself up and hid behind a large, nearby building. After that, I extended my head out tautly and looked in the direction in which the treatment hall was located. It was a bit distant from all the other buildings.
It’s most likely that the manticore is in there. Once all the people are out of that building, I’ll go for it and make my approach to figure out what this thing inside really is. If it does turn out to be a monster, I’ll destroy it before it even has a chance to resist, treatment hall and all. It’s the only way I’ve got if I’m to keep the damage in check. By seeing the manticore’s corpse, the others in the Litōvear Tribe will have no choice but to believe their eyes. However much time passes on my meandering thoughts will grant the manticore that much more time to think.
I’m gonna settle this in an instant. Going by raw status numbers alone, I have the clear upper hand when they’re averaged out.
I could see an adult walk out of the treatment hall carrying a child from the Litōvear Tribe on their back. The child was missing a leg. I instinctively averted my gaze. The tribe’s right next to a forest where dangerous monsters reside, so things will inevitably sometimes just go that way.
Everyone who could’ve been, should’ve been evacuated by now. What’s the hold up? I was expecting Gozu to feed me constant updates on the evacuation progress, but—…
“It’s Ryujin-sama! Ryujin-sama is in the village! Hibi-sama, why didn’t you inform us elders of this?! We– We can’t be doing it like this! We must inform the others at—…”
I could hear a raspy voice coming from behind me. Upon turning my head around, I saw an old woman with her back stooped over.
“…Right now is not the time for that. Please, move away from the treatment hall and head toward the assembly hall. I also ask that you pass this along to the others.”
Hibi, working under the assumption that the manticore would go on a rampage, was calling on each and every person she came across to do what they could to distance themselves from the treatment hall.
“As if there could be anything of greater importance than Ryujin-sama! You are Hibi-sama, the shrine maiden! Don’t go spouting such nonsense!”
Er, I mean, the reasons why I’m here include those problems you’re pushin’ aside…
“Yes, so, about that. Ryujin-sama—…”
Right as Hibi was about to rebut with something to the old woman, I felt a sinking feeling in my chest. I shifted my focus back toward the treatment hall that I had taken my eyes off of.
Three people of various shapes and sizes were just leaving the building. One of the people was Gozu, the gatekeeper, while another was a child from the Litōvear Tribe. The third person was a tall woman, cloaked in what looked to be a cloth robe. Gozu appeared to be frantically spitting out one thing after another, perhaps in an attempt to persuade the robed woman to stay.
There’s no mistaking it. That woman is the aforementioned traveler. We couldn’t finish cooking up an excuse and now the cat is out of the bag. Crap, what should we do? Gotta think fast or things are gonna get real ugly.
There was something about the woman’s upward-slanting eyes that was vaguely similar to that of the manticore’s. Her unruly, rugged-looking, and even wild-feeling brown hair also resembled that of the manticore’s mane.
Sight’s no match for scannin’ en masse… Yep, only one way to find out.
Species: Manticore
Condition: Humanized: Lv 9; Poisoned (Minor)
Level: 73/80
HP: 226/453
MP: 130/142
Attack: 206 (413)
Defense: 114 (228)
Yessiree, utterly guilty as charged, ain’t it? Bull’s-eye; dead-center; on the nose, eh? I withdrew my head in a helter-skelter haste.
Forget that! Its MP’s basically maxed out, isn’t it? What does that mean?! Speaking as someone who chose a path that would increase their maximum MP, even I don’t see how something this absurd could be… Right– Right now’s not the time for this, right? Gotta calm down.
The poison ain’t progressin’ one bit. Is it already almost all alleviated? But– But then… What the hell do I do about this thing? Let alone the two people right next to it?
The sounds of their footsteps were gradually becoming more distant. Following the plot of what was being said, they’re most likely heading for the assembly hall. I gotta hurry and make a move. Would— would my best bet be to pull back from here? …No. No way somethin’ like that’ll work. That manticore’s now feelin’ suspicious. There’s no tellin’ what acts it’ll perpetrate now.
While pondering one thing after another, the sounds of footsteps coming from one of the three people stopped, and following that, the sounds from the two others also stopped. I’m pretty sure that manticore also had ⟨Presence Sense⟩, just like me. Have I been spotted?
If that’s the case, then I don’t have time to be losin’ my nerves anymore.
“Ryujin-sama?”
Hibi called out to me, but I ignored her and jumped out from behind the building.
“GwUOOOOOOOOOO–!”
I’ll make a sprint for it. Whatever the case may be, I’ll make a sprint for it as fast as I can. I’ll send that manticore flying faster than it can come up with any unnecessary tricks to pull off.
The traveler’s face took on a different color upon seeing me. It was probably remembering the last time I tanned its hide and it scurried off with its tail between its legs.
The manticore took its arm and swung it, tearing off the cloth that was covering it to reveal the beefy arm of a beast. The manticore appeared to have canceled the ⟨Humanization⟩ on just a single one of its arms.
“Gwhaagh?!”
The force of the blow caused Gozu to tumble across the ground, which further caused him to get banged up all over his body—leaving nothing unscathed. By the time Gozu’s body finally came to a rest, it was covered in blood. It was fairly apparent that when Gozu took the blow, the manticore’s claws tore through his shoulder.
“…Tr– Traveler-san?”
The child, who was now the only one left standing of the two, started stepping back—distancing themself from the manticore.
“GwUOOOOO–!”
I swung my foreleg, kicking up a ⟨Wind Slash⟩. The manticore, taking its non-beast human arm, clutched the child, lifted them, then dodged the blade of wind. A spurt of blood, albeit shallow, shot out from the manticore’s grazed shoulder and the blade of wind, unabated, then proceeded to chop down a tree that was behind the manticore.
The manticore, looking out of the corner of its eye, stared intensely at the felled tree before putting on a stern look. In procession, it took the child that it had been clutching, grabbed them by the neck, and thrust them out toward me like one would a shield. Does it mean to threaten me by insinuating that the next time I take a shot, it’ll use the child to defend itself?
It was the worst case scenario: In no uncertain terms, it ended up being able to take a hostage.
“Arghhk–! N– No—… Help⸺…”
The child said in a highly strained voice, obviously having difficulty speaking due to the hand clasped tightly around their neck.
The manticore glared at me—its expression and facial features having changed somewhat. Its hair grew all the more unruly and its eyes had shifted more toward that of something savage—more characteristic to that of a wild animal. The whites of its eyes became stained in yellow, with the periocular around them and then beyond having begun to turn black. Peeking out from deep within its mouth were razor-sharp teeth that were uniquely and brutishly inhuman.
“GUFFAWHWAaaAAA!”
The manticore opened its mouth wide in an effort to intimidate me and loudly roared out. The child appeared to be so terrified that they couldn’t say a word, not even a peep. From there, the manticore scurried away toward a nearby building and ran into it, taking the child with it—its hand still around their neck.
What’s up with this manticore thing? Why would it go out of its way to intentionally go into a place like that…? I can’t get up in its face, not with it havin’ a hostage, but still… there’s no point in it deliberately backin’ itself into a dead end, right?
To not waste any time, I went up to the building—getting near it. Just after I started planning what my next move should be, the wall on the other side of the building collapsed and the manticore burst out through it—its entire body now completely dehumanized. It kicked off the rubble with its hind legs sprung out—its massive beast body practically flying through the air as it did so, before landing on both of its forefeet. Without stopping, it continued running on and on.
Like before, it’s fast as hell. It’ll lose to me when it comes to full power. This manticore obviously knows it too, so it’s goin’ full steam.
No sooner than I had considered chasing after it, the child flashed through my mind. I figured out the reason why the manticore went out of its way to rush into the building without a second thought, but I realized it too late. Did that damn manticore just go and leave the child under the flippin’ rubble to buy itself some time?
“GwuooOOOOOOOOO–!!”
As I cried out, I spread my wings and flapped them hard. Using ⟨Wind Slash⟩, I shot out two blades of wind at the fleeing manticore’s back and then shot out one more with a slight delay. The manticore leapt left and then right, avoiding two of the blades of wind, but the third—the one that I had shot out at a predicted trajectory instead of straight at it—shaved its back.
“GUFFAaAA–!”
The manticore shrieked, but despite doing so, ran on without slowing down. It then proceeded to slam the end of its reverse-pincushion-looking tail against the ground—the impact highly audible—and using the recoil, sprang up high into the sky before crashing down onto the palisade surrounding the village—trampling it and making its escape.
As usual, it’s a fast bastard, but one that only ever runs away. I’m haunted by the fact that I wasn’t able to finish it off back when we first met where it was completely underestimatin’ me. It seems like I’ll need to work out some kind of plan well in advance in order to finish takin’ this thing down.
