The Maria Kidnapping Incident (3)
“Gruuuurk… Kraaak!”
“Shit, that’s disgusting.”
The black lizard’s saliva clung stickily to my body. The foul, irritating mucus of the lizard monster even reduced physical abilities.
It was the absolute worst.
“Maria! Edan! I can’t move—help me get out of this!”
“Sorry! I want to help, but my body won’t budge, hehe.”
The two beauties sprawled on the floor were no help at all. Even when I poured every ounce of strength into my muscles, the lizard’s tongue refused to budge.
A wave of revulsion washed over me.
Now it was trying to drag me straight into its mouth and swallow me whole. Its teeth were yellowed and rotting, and the stench from its maw was nauseating.
Yet the lizard’s eyes sparkled with an almost eager gleam that only made it more repulsive.
> The Skick Lizard’s mucus composition has changed from stat reduction to acidic.
The now-acidic saliva began dissolving the clothes I was wearing. Wherever the fabric melted away, the liquid burned against my skin.
> Health is gradually decreasing. If health reaches zero, you will die.
“Usually when two heroines are in danger, the protagonist shows up, right?!”
There was a way to shake off the lizard’s mucus easily, but I had to save it. It was my trump card…
“Shwaaak—”
> A heroine is nearby.
The system… I could see it too.
A silver flash tore through the darkness and silence of the laboratory, slicing the lizard’s body clean in half in an instant.
The cut was impossibly neat. Even though the lizard’s defenses were weak, killing it in one strike shouldn’t have been that easy.
As expected, the person who came to save the endangered heroines had appeared—Edan’s older sister, Hawa White.
“Ugh… What the hell?! My clothes are completely melted!”
The woman whose outfit had been half-dissolved by the mucus was Hawa White. Because the cut had been so precise, the remaining acid had all splashed onto her instead.
“That was one of my favorite outfits…”
Her already skin-tight black latex suit was barely holding together over the most critical areas. Thankfully her chest was small enough that it wasn’t about to burst… I should watch my mouth. If I said that out loud, she’d kill me.
> You have peeped on Hawa White. She has been added to the heroine list.
So that counts too?
“Who the hell are you? Another pervert kidnapping high school girls?”
“No…? I mean, I’m just…”
How was I supposed to explain this? That I’d teleported in to stop her sister’s crime? If I said that in front of an A-rank hunter, she’d immediately brand me an intruder and either kill me or make me take the fall.
That was just the kind of trash personality Hawa had. Though once the protagonist stripped her, she’d probably be the same as everyone else…
“What’s wrong with you, Edan? Why are you like that? What did you do to Edan?”
“Kuhk!”
She closed the distance in a single breath and grabbed me by the throat. She had every right to be angry. Even if the sisters didn’t get along, seeing her little sister lying on the floor with torn clothes and unable to move would piss anyone off.
“Edan… you explain.”
“…”
Edan couldn’t explain either. She had done something wrong… but if she could just get her to let go…
“Kkik! Kkirik!”
Everyone turned toward the sound at once. Footsteps echoed slowly through the dark laboratory—the chilling scrape of metal against the floor.
Then an overwhelming stench hit us, far worse than the lizard monster’s. One look was enough to tell this wasn’t an ordinary creature. Its massive arms resembled a mantis’s, and its head bore powerful mandibles.
> An A-rank or higher monster has appeared. User’s chance of victory… 0%. Probability of death: 400%.
It looked like an insect, yet it had arms, legs, and a head—its form was disturbingly humanoid.
“Hu…man… one person…”
“What the hell is that now…”
Swish!
I didn’t see it. It was too fast to even register.
Before I could react, the monster struck from behind. I should never have shown my back.
The creature possessed enough intelligence—or perhaps instinct—to identify the weakest target.
Edan White, who had been standing farthest back, had her head severed and dropped to the floor.
Blood poured from Edan’s fallen head and body. Her once-silver hair quickly turned crimson.
It was an unspeakably horrific sight. Her death had been so sudden she hadn’t even closed her eyes.
> Edan White has been removed from the heroine list.
“Wh… what?!”
Swish—
The mantis monster sliced through Hawa White’s neck as well, exploiting the opening. Its speed was so great that even Hawa and I couldn’t react in time.
In the blink of an eye, both White sisters were dead.
Two corpses fell in succession, forming a crimson pool in the laboratory corridor. The red puddle gleamed under the glow of the lab’s electronic lights.
> Hawa White has been removed from the heroine list.
Two heroines had died in mere moments.
The humanoid insect monster approached Maria and me, intent on finishing us off.
“Humans… boring…”
With Hawa White dead, it had apparently decided nothing left could threaten it and strolled forward leisurely.
Only S-rank monsters could speak this fluently. Even if its speech was imperfect, the fact that it could converse at all meant it was close to S-rank.
“Maria noona… I guess this is it.”
“Thanks for coming to save us…”
Maria’s head fell to the floor.
> Maria Sun has been removed from the heroine list.
> Skill activated.
***
Everyone stared at the same spot. The sound was chilling enough to make your skin crawl. The humanoid insect monster slowly advanced.
If this continued, everyone would die. What are you going to do, system?!
> Three heroines now exceed 60 NTR points.
> Maria Sun (60)
> Lucy Stena (60)
> Aivi Gwell (70)
Level 15!
A massive influx of bonus experience and a level-up. Stats have increased.
Sexual Compatibility (1 Level)
Skill: Sexual Compatibility (1 Level)
Once NTR progress reaches a certain threshold, you may use one skill from the corresponding heroine. After one week, you may select another heroine’s skill.
* Exceeding the NTR threshold signifies physical domination.
Heroine skill reset: 1 week
It was broken. Literally broken…
Using skill: Sexual Compatibility—
> Current number of heroines available for skill use: 1
The skill level was still low, so only one heroine could be used. Even so, this skill was absurdly powerful.
“Heroine, use Maria Sun’s skill.”
> Activating Maria Sun’s skill list.
1. Mana Sword Strike – Slash (S)
2. Basic Swordsmanship (D)
3. Presence Concealment (B)
4. Desperate Struggle (SS)
5. Mana Operation (A)
…
As expected of the Sword Saint’s granddaughter and the future’s strongest swordswoman… even at a young age, her skills were extraordinary.
Found it—Mana Operation A. The most basic mana manipulation skill, yet it granted the highest possible grade through mana operation. It was exactly what I needed right now.
“Select: Mana Operation”
> Skill: Mana Operation (A) has been shared with the user.
Got it! I hadn’t possessed the Mana Operation skill before. Even when the system gathered mana for me, I had nowhere to use it because my body couldn’t handle my own mana. But now that I had Mana Operation A, I might actually be stronger than the protagonist. No—I had to be stronger.
Mana Operation
Mana erupted from deep within my body. Long-unused mana stirred and surged from the depths of my being.
Mana overflowed more and more.
God’s Handplay
Muscle strength doubled…! Right now—
> Skill combination successful. Probability: 1 in 9,990,000.
What the hell is happening?
> {God’s Handplay × Mana Operation} has combined into a skill that should not exist.
Fist of the Martial God (???)
Created by one of the gods, [ERROR] Lord [ERROR]. Reason: [Unviewable]
Beep— Unviewable.
Skill: The user’s body cannot withstand the recoil of Fist of the Martial God.
Skill uses: 1 time
“W-wait, wait, wait, wait!!”
An enormous amount of mana gathered and twisted into my fist.
> Temporary stat increase! 999 times.
My arm burned as if it were about to explode. Getting grazed by this would mean instant death.
It was a pure, radiant white light—so brilliant it hurt to look at.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah…!”
Crack—snap—crunch—
My arm broke with a sickening series of sounds. The pain forced my eyes shut. I lost consciousness instantly and blacked out.
When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe what I saw.
The building had collapsed… the ceiling had caved in completely. The rubble had vanished as well.
The steel beams had melted away in bizarre shapes I had never seen before, corroded as if by acid.
“Is this… the power of a god?”
Sure enough, when I looked at my arm, it was twisted and broken in every direction. The pain was beyond words. I could only stare at the falling droplets of blood. The pooled blood shimmered faintly under the moonlight.
Moonlight? The forecast said it would rain today.
Something had sliced through the sky. The clouds had been split cleanly in half. And in the middle shone a broken moon… a broken moon?
The moon that should have been whole was shattered. A large portion of the full moon had broken off, leaving it looking like a crescent.
Was this… okay? Well, if there were two moons now, surely it would be fine… but the thought still terrified me.
“Y-you… what the hell are you?!”
“I’m… the NTR guy?”
Hawa White—
