The Beast from the Depths
At last, the battle was over. Netoru looked down at Seres, who was gasping for breath beneath his waist.
"Haa... haa... Nngh...."
Her heated breaths and flushed face. The heat radiating from her body reached Netoru as well.
"Huaa.... Nngh...."
Even though he'd lowered the output, Seres's spine was still trembling pitifully, likely due to the residual mana lingering in her lower abdomen. With every ragged breath, sweat droplets trailed down her slender jawline and dripped off.
'Even a yeogisa can't help this, huh.'
Netoru gave a wry smile at the sight of her. He'd tried to pace himself, but the result was still this. It wasn't Seres's fault—it was the coupling wavelength compatibility. In a way, the real issue lay with Netoru himself. No matter how fine a partner's body was, poor compatibility meant you couldn't handle it properly.
Honestly, at this point, he wanted to praise Seres's determination for keeping up with him this far. For some reason, as time passed and he "grew," he could feel his coupling wavelength match rate dropping with other female pilots. At least in the beginning, he hadn't needed to use his ability to force a coupling like this. Back when he first awoke in this world, he'd coupled normally with a female pilot from another organization, just like any other pilot.
'...Am I the problem after all.'
Objectively speaking, Seres's body was superb. Women who could accept mana so readily like this were rare. It was proof of her exceptional mana combustion efficiency. Sorry to Karen, but purely in terms of ability, Seres was overwhelmingly superior. The gap between academy pilots and knight order pilots was stark...
The yeogisa body he'd only heard rumors about left him more impressed the more he handled it. But this wasn't because Karen was lacking. Beyond talent, it was an innate limitation of the mana nerve system structure built into their bodies. Academy pilots, mass-produced for quick deployment to the frontlines with high versatility. Knight order pilots, meticulously raised from childhood to embody their ideals. So it wasn't a difference in the women's talents—it was simply the divergence in goals between the academies and the knight orders.
Karen might have surpassed even Seres if she'd been raised in the knight order. Considering her personality, her mental fortitude would have made her an outstanding coupling partner.
As those thoughts crossed his mind, he unconsciously stroked Seres's hair, which seemed almost to seduce him. That's when Seres, catching her breath, suddenly spoke up.
"...Netoru. Could I ask you one favor?"
"What?"
"If Karen ever demands a swap at the base, please don't accept it. No matter what."
"..."
It was a sudden request. And unusually bold coming from the deflated Seres. Netoru's expression turned subtly complicated. If it had been some trivial favor, he might have agreed readily. But refusing a swap... From his position, it was a request he couldn't lightly accept.
After all, he had no intention of letting go of Karen.
'...Tricky.'
Having two coupling partners wasn't common to begin with. And now with both women making demands like this, it was a headache for Netoru. Karen demanded he not couple with Seres, and now Seres was demanding the same about Karen. For Netoru, who had no plans to release either of them, it was nothing short of a dilemma.
What the hell am I supposed to do with these two? Coercion was out of the question. No matter how long it took, he had to resolve it peacefully and rationally. Coupling involved mental elements too, after all.
...The more he thought about it, the more absurd the situation felt. Had he ever agonized over women like this before? Deep down, Netoru knew it. Trying to hold onto both without letting go was pure greed. A coupling partner wasn't just a casual fling.
But what could he do? A rare yeogisa you couldn't find just anywhere, and a girl like a blank white canvas, perfectly prepared—both were too precious to lose. So better to grab them all at once while he could.
Was it because the battle had ended? As his tension loosened with those inner thoughts—
——!
A chill raced down his spine, like an ice pillar piercing through it. His entire body went ice-cold in an instant. An unpleasant sensation, as if some unknown presence was watching them. Netoru's hand, stroking Seres's hair, froze. At the same moment, his loosened body tensed sharply.
'...This.'
It was an instinctive judgment, pieced from vague sensory information bordering on gut feeling—but not something to dismiss lightly. In a world of magic and swords, "intuition" wasn't some superstitious myth. It was a tangible, perceptual power rooted in reality. So Netoru slowly scanned the surroundings, furrowing his brow gravely.
The post-battle battlefield. Nothing around but bug corpses. No visible threats, no matter how he looked. And Rien had even announced the battle's end.
...But you couldn't blindly trust the commander's observations. Netoru knew from countless battles that even the most diligent, talented commander was only human—imperfect.
And so the unidentified tension kept building. He felt cold sweat trickling down the nape of his neck.
This... isn't good.
Something dangerous was approaching, but he couldn't pinpoint what. Frustration mounting—
———Kuuung.
It was barely a tremor. The kind you could write off as imagination. But no hesitation. In that split second, Netoru yanked Seres's control stick and surged mana into her body.
"Hngh!?"
Her half-closed mana path suddenly expanded, and Seres let out a lewd moan as her back arched gracefully. Perhaps from the unannounced stimulation.
"...Haa... Ngh!"
Unable to fully process the sudden influx of mana, Seres barely straightened up in the cockpit and slowly turned her head. Their eyes met naturally.
But her eyes were red-rimmed.
"..."
He'd been a bit rough, sure, but was she crying again? Netoru swallowed a silent groan at the sight. She kept up her facade in front of the others, so why did she crumble like this before him?
But there was no time to comfort her now.
"...Seres."
"...What."
"Sorry about this, but don't misunderstand. The battle isn't over yet."
"..."
Just as her eyes flashed with a look that said he was making excuses—
Rien's urgent, horrified voice. And with it, the ground began to shake.
——Kuuuung!
The squad members' panicked voices echoed over the voice channel amid the sudden shaking. But this wasn't some earthquake. Hard to believe, but something was rising from underground. Netoru could vaguely sense it despite not seeing it. He yanked Seres's control stick and shouted to the nearby squad members.
"You idiots! This ain't an earthquake! Everyone, pull back from here!"
The squad members, baffled even after Rien's warning, finally moved swiftly. Sensing the gravity, Seres snapped to attention and boosted output in response. Mere seconds later, as the quake intensified and they'd retreated about 100 meters with the squad—
Kurururung—!
A sound like the earth itself collapsing. From the spot where the squad had just been, something enormous burst through the ground.
"........."
A massive shadow loomed over the surface. It had surged up from underground, writhing toward the sky. At a glance, it resembled a dragon ascending—majestic, yet grotesque.
In that landscape where all fell silent, speechless—
The only one to regain his composure, Netoru, said lowly:
"...Everyone, retreat. If you don't wanna die."
This wasn't the time to wait for Rien's judgment. He didn't know exactly what that giant bug was, but from the massive hole in the ground, countless centipede-like monsters—pursuit-type Centipedes—were crawling up.
