A Change of Plans
"Wait, please! I—I haven't failed yet!"
A demon with half-melted limbs, crimson hair, and an obsidian frame prostrated himself in abject terror. Sixteen eyes blinked frantically, four hearts pounded violently against his ribs, and massive bat wings folded awkwardly alongside avian tail feathers. Before him sat nothing more than a tiny flying insect. To a high demon like him, it was a trivial speck—a bug he could snuff out without lifting a finger, simply by unleashing his aura.
"......"
Perched upon a tender leaf, the insect merely stared at Sukra through emerald compound eyes.
"Demon King! Sovereign of all demons, apex of our kind! Please, grant me your mercy! I will raze that wretched village this very instant! I will butcher the elves and lay every last one of their limbs at your feet! Please! I beg of you!"
Though the insect remained utterly still, Sukra—who had been pounding his forehead repeatedly into the dirt—suddenly froze stiff. For a long while, he lay pressed against the earth, unmoving.
"Ha... hahaha... hahahahaha..."
Slowly pushing himself up, a hollow, defeated laugh slipped past his lips.
"A chance... Is that it? This is my chance..."
Snap! Crack! Crunch!
In the next instant, his flesh warped into something grotesque. His skin split open to birth new eye sockets and gaping maws; muscles twisted and ballooned into alien contours; bones splintered and reknitted, forging the structural framework for an entirely different life. It was the act of tearing life's fundamental essence to shreds and remolding it anew. In that moment, he was insect, fish, and beast all at once. Just as Sukra had desecrated life by blanketing the Great Forest in his authority and plague, his own existence was now being violated to a hideous extreme.
"Kgggh... grrrk...!"
It resembled an onslaught of countless simultaneous births.
—Skreeeeek! Skreeeech...!
—Kkkkrrrraaaagh...!
—Kyahahaha!! Kyahahahaha!!
Heralding their genesis with bizarre, ear-splitting shrieks, the newly spawned organisms clamped onto Sukra's flesh, fusing back into him to become parts of a singular entity. They had no choice. Pitiful things birthed in defiance of the natural order could never survive without a host.
"Kahk... khh...!"
Having endured the agonizing throes of transformation, Sukra was changed beyond recognition. His emaciated face and torso laid bare the sharp contours of bone, while monstrous visages sprouted across his flesh, making him look like a sinner tormented by the damned in the depths of hell.
"...Stanasila... Alzen..."
Having weathered the protracted agony of rebirth, the entity fixed an unblinking stare in a singular direction and rasped a name. Its eyes were fathomless as an abyss, yet utterly devoid of substance—a hollow, meaningless void.
"Just what kind of creature... are you...?"
Murmuring in a drained voice heavy with total resignation, the entity began to advance. With every step it took, the authority that defiled life bled outward, corrupting every living thing in its wake.
The assaults against the Elf Village had dragged on relentlessly for days. Yet, there had never been a single moment of genuine peril. The warped, hideous monstrosities possessed a fragility that matched their unstable anatomy. They threatened us with clumsy approximations of claws, fangs, spikes, and lumbering bulk, but it was all empty bluster. In truth, they were so crude and loosely constructed that they would struggle to kill even an ordinary human. Their numbers were staggering, and they were infuriatingly persistent, but that was the extent of it.
"...Taking after their master, I see."
I muttered under my breath, gazing out over the sea of beasts crashing forward like waves. The owner of the authority driving this phenomenon, Demon King Otiliv, was much the same. She lacked the raw burst damage to one-shot a properly geared character, thrilling combat mechanics, or spine-chilling instant-death attacks. Instead, she was the type of enemy whose disgusting tenacity wore players down through sheer attrition. In that respect, Sukra might actually have been better. At least he had combined his innate traits with the authority to throw out an instant-kill attack.
"......"
Then again, now that the game had become reality, Otiliv's true terror might not lie in individual combat prowess. In the game, it was never depicted on a grand scale and was reduced to a solo boss encounter, but lore-wise, Otiliv's authority allowed her to dominate and remodel any form of life at will. In other words, if she truly set her mind to it, she could manufacture an endless army of subordinates.
"Hey. Isn't something off here?"
A sharp voice cut through my thoughts. I turned to find Weller glaring at me crossly, arms folded over her chest while holding the legendary staff, Stubbornness of the Foolish. My eyes automatically drifted toward her needlessly pronounced cleavage, which irritated me.
"What's your complaint this time?"
"I mean this whole situation. Isn't it completely different from what you said? You claimed that Sukra guy was impatient and would come barging in within a few days."
"...I did say that."
"Yet there isn't a hair of him in sight."
"It's definitely strange, yeah."
"So what's the plan? No matter how strong the elves are, they can't fight forever."
"True. Though at this rate, looks like they could hold out for a few years, don't you think?"
I gestured with my chin toward the elves tirelessly firing volleys of arrows and spells. She nodded, unable to hide her disbelief.
"...I admit I'm a bit taken aback by how absurdly strong they are, but everyone has their limits."
"They do."
"...Hey. Are you answering like that on purpose just to piss me off?"
"How'd you guess?"
Craaaack!
"L-Look out!"
An icicle she hurled was sheared to pieces by Pashtra's battle axe. A dusting of freezing ice particles washed over my face, snapping me wide awake.
"Ah~ refreshing. Feels like my day isn't complete without one of those lately."
"Cut the crap. Spit out whatever you're plotting, right now."
"...Well. If the bastard won't come to us, we have no choice but to track him down... though honestly, that sounds like a pipe dream."
"Because his stealth abilities are unrivaled?"
"There's that, but with that authority, conjuring terrain or laying a few nasty traps is child's play. If he really put his mind to it, we'd get picked off one by one and wiped out."
"So you're saying there's no way?"
"......"
I pondered for a moment before shaking my head.
"Let's wait a couple more days. If he still doesn't show, we'll have to pull out all the stops ourselves."
"How many days, specifically?"
"Don't be so uptight. Would it kill you to relax a little?"
"......"
She glared at me through narrowed eyes, then let out a resigned sigh.
"Fine. Understood."
"Look at you agreeing so easily. Is the sun going to rise in the west tomorrow?"
"Shut up."
Snapping coldly, she turned back toward the barricade where the elves were stationed. Looks like she was heading back to fight without even getting tired of it.
"Don't overdo it, Big Sis. Pace yourself."
"...You're the one who needs to lay off the booze."
"Huh?"
As I blinked at her blankly, she walked away faster than usual. Wait, did Weller just worry about me?
"That's actually terrifying..."
Wondering what kind of change of heart had come over her, or what she could possibly be thinking, I shook my head and looked up at the sky. Etched with the massive magic circle Benoite had deployed, the heavens loomed ominously dark and unsettling.
There had to be an unexpected variable at play. That thought hardened as I watched the monsters grow stronger and more refined with each passing hour.
—Grooooaaar!
—Kyaaaaah!
The beasts no longer let out ear-piercing shrieks; they roared with surprisingly resonant bellows, their eyes gleaming with an eerie, vibrant vitality. Claws and fangs gleamed with a metallic sheen, and mechanically well-structured limbs kicked off the earth with explosive force, charging forward with speed that bore no comparison to before. Of course, a monster was still a monster. Bearing no resemblance to any beast or magical creature roaming the earth, their silhouettes were bizarre and twisted, like clay mashed together by a clumsy child. Even so, the fact that they were growing increasingly plausible was anything but good news.
"There's no way Sukra would pull something like this."
If he threw himself into it heart and soul, maybe he could pull it off, but his personality wouldn't allow it. He was far more likely to buff himself and charge in alone. Just as he had in the game. He wasn't an idiot, but he wasn't bright either; hot-tempered, lacking patience, and utterly contemptuous of the weak. The mental image of a guy like that holing up somewhere to study authorities and meticulously sculpt biological vessels simply didn't compute.
"...Tsk. Annoying bastard's making things a royal pain in the ass."
Clicking my tongue and spitting a curse loaded with frustration, I chugged a mouthful of alcohol, lit a cigarette, and pushed myself to my feet.
"Muriel."
"Yes."
"Gather the others. Looks like we'll have to go poke the hornets' nest ourselves."
"Understood."
Melting into the shadows, she returned shortly with the entire group in tow.
"Phew... I'm sure you've all noticed the situation has changed, right?"
"H-Huh!? Really!? How did it change!?"
While everyone else nodded in understanding, Lampon Pashtra alone blinked in surprise, glancing around in confusion. Her utter airheaded innocence drew an involuntary chuckle from me. I reached out and delivered a solid slap to her massive backside.
Smack!
"Eek!?"
"I just meant we're switching from defense to offense."
"Ah... so that's what it was! That's even better! Just defending really doesn't suit my personality anyway!"
Hoisting her colossal battle axe with high spirits, she beamed a hearty, dopey smile.
"Heh. Same here, honestly. Pashtra, don't ever change. Stay just like that for the rest of your life."
"Pardon? Um... is that a compliment?"
"It's a compliment."
"Thank you! Yes! I'll stay like this forever!"
Looking at her pure, unblemished smile felt like it was cleansing my soul. I gave her head a fond pat.
"Whew... Shall we get going, then?"
"Hey. If we're deploying, shouldn't you at least say something to rally the troops? Stumbling around reeking of liquor is only going to drain whatever morale we have left."
At Weller's nag, I tilted my head and looked around at the party. Neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her, they merely offered awkward smiles.
"Haaah... Big Sis. Do I look like the type who gives rousing speeches? Let's just take it easy. Go in quick, wrap it up nice and simple, and head right back."
"Good grief, honestly, you..."
Giving her a nonchalant shrug as she shot me a sharp glare, I faced the incoming tide of abominations and activated the Absolute Ring of Taunt.
The next instant, the plague blanketing the Great Forest surged high into the sky, dyeing the entire horizon in pitch black.