Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Birth of the Variant
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Platerria's flower wilts and vanishes before a full day passes if it's stuck in the ground.
But what if it parasitizes a living creature's body?
If removed quickly, there's no issue at all, just like with Elia. But what happens if you leave it be?
That horrific answer was unfolding right before my eyes.
Squelch!
A new life hatched from the crimson shell of the fruit attached to a human body.
Its body formed from tangled vines, the thing stood on two legs in a crude imitation of a human and opened its grotesque, four-pronged maw.
"Mo-monster!"
"It can't possibly come out of the labyrinth... how?!"
Screams erupted from the crowd.
Terrified citizens scattered in every direction, while the waiting gendarmes raised their weapons and aimed at the monster.
"Don't panic! It's just a newborn immature specimen. We can take it down easily right now!"
It was a reasonable call.
Even labyrinth monsters, who displayed strength on another level from humans, this one was a fresh hatchling.
The perfect moment to prune such a fragile, immature sprout before it fully grew.
But they had overlooked one crucial fact.
This wasn't your typical labyrinth-dwelling monster. It was a variant of the upper layer's boss, Platerria.
"Get away now!"
I knew the carnage that would follow, so I yelled for them to run as far as possible.
But...
Thud!
"Huh?"
It was already too late.
Thin tentacles sprouting from the variant's body had pierced the foreheads of the surrounding gendarmes.
It sucked up their mana and life force like a straw jabbed into a can.
The sturdy men withered in an instant, like squid dried in the sun, collapsing as empty husks.
"Uwooo..."
The variant let out a plaintive wail right after absorbing the humans.
Its body swelled rapidly. What had been child-sized ballooned to the size of an adult man in one go.
'This is bad.'
I clicked my tongue briefly as I took in the scene.
By claiming human lives, the variant had advanced to the next stage of evolution.
I could easily guess that its growth had accelerated dramatically thanks to its first host in the upper layer incident—a mid-tier explorer whose body it had made its nest.
'Should've acted sooner.'
A newborn would've been manageable, but now that it was maturing, it was on par with an elite upper-layer mob guarding the entrance to the mid-layers.
Even if I gathered all my mana, I couldn't land so much as a scratch on it.
A matter of tier difference, I suppose?
Like in an RPG game, where no matter how hard you hit an enemy leagues above your level, the damage just doesn't register.
That was exactly why, during my upper-layer explorations, I'd planned to focus on acquiring artifacts and skills rather than hunting monsters.
"Wh-what the hell is that thing?!"
"A monster? It's a species I've never seen before."
The sisters who'd followed behind looked bewildered at the monster appearing in the middle of the city.
Leon stood with her mouth agape, unable to hide her shock, while Elia quickly shifted to a calm gaze, seemingly analyzing the creature's features.
Platerria... No, this was before it had that name, so I'd have to explain it differently here.
"Do you remember the flower that bloomed on your sister's body? That's what happens when it devours its host."
"That flower turns into that? Wait, hold on. Didn't you say before that the flower grows into fruit?"
"If that fruit keeps growing, it becomes that. As you can see, it preys on any living thing in its path."
The bees that had guarded Elia weren't just worried about someone else taking the tribute for their queen. Their goal was also to harvest the fruit before it could hatch into a variant.
A variant hatches in a fleeting instant, less than a few dozen minutes after the fruit forms.
Once that moment passes, it loses all culinary value, so the bees had been waiting for the perfect timing.
Anyway, putting that aside.
The important thing right now was the Platerria variant in front of us.
If we left it alone, it'd try to kill every human it spotted in the city.
Subjugating it immediately was the best course for our safety.
The silver lining was that this wasn't the labyrinth.
Unlike the mana-saturated interior of the labyrinth, this place had entirely different environmental conditions.
It would need some time to adapt to the new surroundings.
In its considerably weakened state, with that handicap, we could chew it up and spit it out.
The problem was finding someone to draw the monster's attention away from me.
"Leon, remember that light beam spell you used on the bees? Can you cast an even stronger attack spell?"
"I can, but with my current mana, two shots is the limit."
"Two shots."
Not enough.
We needed at least three to land decisive blows.
Was there any way to scrape together more firepower from somewhere?
"Let me give it a try."
Did she read my mind?
Elia placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Sis, if you use magic before you're fully recovered!"
"I'll be bedridden for days, but leaving it like this is too dangerous."
It would take time for the high-tier explorers to arrive.
Innocent citizens would die in the meantime, and she was well aware of that.
"You sure you'll be okay?"
"No idea if it'll work, but I'll do my best."
"That's all I need."
I dumped a chunk of Platerria root from my bag into my mouth.
Then I pulled out the pouch that had been in there—the one I'd used in the city at night—and pulled it over my head.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Consumed Platerria's root. Mana greatly increases. Stamina greatly increases. Your body undergoes one stage of growth. I felt hot energy surging through my entire body and picked up a gendarme's sword from the ground where it had rolled.
The solid weight in my grip felt worlds apart from clenching my fist.
"Don't worry about me. Just watch for the right moment and unleash your spells."
"That looks like a super tough incantation. You expect us to pull it off?"
"You're mid-tier explorers. I figured you could handle it just fine."
With that, I faced the variant head-on.
I gripped the sword tight and assumed a stance.
I focused my gaze on it to gauge its reaction.
'Alright, how's it gonna come at me?'
My attacks couldn't damage the variant.
So the smart play was to read its movements and react accordingly.
"Uwaa..."
The variant glared at me and let out a low groan.
A moment of stillness, then its arm stretched like rubber and lunged straight at me.
Whoosh!
I met the whip-like strike with my blade.
Clang!
A heavy metallic ring echoed, followed by an intense shock transmitted through the hilt and up my arm.
'A direct hit would be instant death.'
Feeling its power with my whole body, I readjusted my distance from the variant.
'Can't let myself get pushed back.'
Thanks to the root, my mana supply was stable.
Now I could continuously channel mana into the sword.
'Close the gap as much as possible.'
With the blade glowing blue as energy converged on it—its weight and durability markedly improved—I pressed forward.
Whip! Snap!
The variant lashed out relentlessly.
Afterimages filled the air with every swing.
Its two arms extended and contracted variably, tracing dazzling trajectories as they came at me.
The moment its arm tips collided with the plaza's stone floor, debris exploded outward.
Dirt and dust swirled up, a cloud obscuring my vision.
'Don't get fixated on what I see. Sharpen my senses and read the flow.'
No need to block head-on like an idiot.
Boom!
I angled the sword to deflect its strikes sideways.
Like a river flowing along its path, I used fluid swordplay to bat them away one by one and slip into the variant's range.
"Uweeek!"
Close enough that a punch would connect.
The variant gaped its massive maw, trying to swallow my head whole.
But...
'You're not the only one who was waiting for this moment.'
I seized the opening too.
A step ahead of it, I thrust the sword deep into its open mouth.
"Aaaak!"
"How's it feel having a blade shoved down your throat?"
The knife tore through its soft inner tissues as it dug in.
The variant answered my question with a very human-like scream.
As it thrashed in agony, it swung its arm belatedly, but I'd already escaped its reach.
'Right on plan so far.'
It had landed properly, but for a human, it'd be like a fishbone stuck in the roof of the mouth.
Far from fatal.
But...
Boom!
'Plenty enough to draw its eyes.'
A massive orb of light lit up the plaza as a follow-up direct hit.
A roar echoed, and thick smoke rose around the variant amid the smell of burning wood.
"Two more to go."
I grabbed a fresh sword from a gendarme's corpse and prepared for the next exchange.
"Plenty of swords to go around, so let's have some fun."