Awakening (2)
I reshaped the six tentacles I'd barely extracted from my split-open body. First up, split mouths! I sprayed digestive fluid between me and Siroko, blocking her straight-line advance.
"......"
What a scary bitch. Even with victory assured, she wasn't letting her guard down—not even a single breath out of rhythm as she glared at me.
While she warily circled around the liquid I'd sprayed, just as expected, I prepared my toothed tentacles. They wouldn't stand a chance against Siroko's blade that had already sliced through my Long Hairs, but...
My range is longer! I probed with hit-and-run jabs. Whoosh, whoosh!
"Hmmm."
This was a deadly game of inches. Fail to play the optimal move, and I'd die.
"...Just a little longer." Buy time, make her think I had an ace up my sleeve. I knew Siroko was colder and more calculating than she looked—she'd be most wary of a cornered beast's death throes.
'My Tentacle Sense is weakening.' Not enough to summon the chokgoe beasts encircling the forest outskirts. But... there was one chokgoe beast nearby that I could still control.
"...Flesh Incarnation." None other than the one inside Praga's pussy.
The Flesh Incarnation had slithered down her thigh and burrowed into the ground—starting from when I'd sprayed digestive fluid to keep her in check!
"Slowly, bit by bit..." Without her noticing. I planted the Flesh Incarnation along Siroko's path.
Splurt! I sprayed more digestive fluid on the ground to block her side approach. Siroko hesitated, wondering if she could cross over it. It wouldn't melt the ground viciously or anything, but it was fluid from a monster like me. She'd be cautious, no doubt.
'Being so grotesquely shaped has its perks...' It bought the Flesh Incarnation time to swim underground and hide beneath her feet.
Time to go for it. This Flesh Incarnation was different from the auto-deploy ones. If I possessed it and controlled it directly, I could strike much faster!
My range held the advantage. Plus, I could attack multiple times in a single breath. I'd burned a ton of stamina early on when my tentacles got bundled and severed, but...
'Squeeze out every last drop to the limit!'
Nine tentacles! That was my max right now. Even spraying large amounts of digestive fluid with my dying body was an enormous burden. My form trembled uncontrollably.
I'd never felt chills or pain like this as a human. But...
'Overcome it, Chokgoe...!'
No matter how strong Siroko was, she couldn't sense everything happening underground. Just like she hadn't noticed me hiding at first.
One more time... Siroko readied her charge.
"Sss."
Now!! I launched toothed tentacles at Siroko. Whoosh!
"So that's your trick—is that all?!"
The instant she crouched to dodge and counter... the Flesh Incarnation's barbed tentacle lashed out at her plump thigh!
"!"
Her sword swinging at my tentacle and the barb piercing her thigh happened almost simultaneously. Give up one or the other! Get hit by my tentacle or paralyzed by the Flesh Incarnation!!
Then I'd recover you with thick pussy juice mined from your cunt!
"Hah!"
The Flesh Incarnation ignited...!? No way—was it a skill like Guardian's Sacred Barrier that protected her whole body? Siroko simultaneously unleashed an astonishing sword dance, slicing my tentacle away.
'Even one hit!' If I could just touch her body somehow. I'd ignore the heat and tear her apart!
The fierce exchange continued. The more tentacles I had, the more swings her sword needed—so I didn't miss a beat when she paused, unleashing a barrage without breathing.
I pushed my near-limit stamina even further, sprouting new tentacles. Another. And another!
Siroko slashed them down, over and over. Blood sprayed everywhere, yet not a drop touched her body. My attacks didn't land. But I didn't stop. Even if it looked foolish.
"Graaaah!!"
A chokgoe fighting a hero... isn't that the coolest shit?! I won't lose in front of the goddess watching me!!
Chokgoe is the incarnation of eros. The ultimate tentacle monster the goddess made! There's no way I'd lose to a hero!!
"Ora ora orat!"
I kept spawning and launching toothed tentacles!! Pain like my whole body was burning coursed through me. Beyond the limit, beyond limits...!
I'll shatter this wall! Become the chokgoe that fucks the hero! I'm invincible with the goddess watching!!
"Vice Captain!!"
"Glova!"
"Coming now!"
Oh shit. Those two... the duo that entered the flesh cave! Did they break through? I'd deliberately twisted the paths inside multiple times and set dozens of ambush traps!
Glova's arm muscles bulged. He was readying his javelin.
"Don't touch our vice captain, you hideous monster!"
Damn it! Fuck!!
Not now... I can't focus elsewhere! At this rate... I'll get skewered!
I desperately dodged while extending toothed tentacles nonstop. Targeting her lower body to make it hard for Siroko to counter—that was the key!
"Hah!"
The javelin Glova hurled barely grazed my body. But... that javelin...
No one but me had paid it any mind until now, but it was headed straight for the limbless goddess statue. Probably even Glova himself didn't realize.
Crack!
"Wha"
The blond guy's javelin shattered the goddess statue modeled after Premium into pieces.
"Huh?"
"Do better. What if you hit the vice captain?"
"Dunno why, but its movements stopped? Vice Captain, now!"
"Got it!"
Siroko's blade plunged deep into my body. I collapsed right there. Up to now, moving had been a miracle.
"Hup!"
Siroko swung a few more times. It was over. Strength drained from my body...
"Vice Captain! Knew you could do it!"
"...Your javelin toss seems rusty, Glova."
"I didn't expect this bastard to keep moving in that state."
"Fair enough."
Siroko looked down at my thoroughly pulped form on the ground.
"It had some serious tenacity."
"Ooh!! Is that lady a survivor?"
"Tend to Jonah first. Eshel, check for more survivors."
"Yes, ma'am."
The Tentacle Sense that had lit up the entire forest flickered out like a candle in a gale.
Darkness encroached on me bit by bit, like a silkworm devouring mulberry leaves. Were these guys taking my motherboards? I didn't want that. I didn't want to die...
Thump. I heard a heartbeat.
It was strange. I didn't have anything you'd call a heart. Yet amid the enveloping darkness, it stood out crystal clear.
It was the flesh Premium had bestowed. I'd used it as naturally as part of myself, but it was separate.
This thing... it pulsed greedily, insisting it was alive. I could almost understand what it wanted to say.
"You wanna live too, huh?"
The flesh extended tendrils and swallowed me whole.
*
Siroko carefully helped the injured Jonah to his feet.
"You okay?"
"I think I can walk now."
"The monster knew it couldn't take you head-on, that's why it targeted you."
Near Jonah, there were over two digits' worth of Blasphemies and Red Lotuses he'd slashed down. The most memorable were the massive tentacle dog and the orc with tentacle arms, though.
"It seemed to know there was no winning against you, Vice Captain."
"Smarter than it looked."
If it weren't a monster, she'd have acknowledged it. She couldn't say that as a knight, but everyone felt it—this thing had been a tough opponent. From the monster's perspective, though, it had drawn the short straw. Siroko had been called the greatest sword genius in White Flame Knights history before Claire. Not a single scratch marred her body. Not a drop of blood had splattered her. The battle had been so one-sided that even she—who was said to suffer overheating as a skill drawback—hadn't broken a sweat.
Yet Siroko's expression wasn't bright.
'Feels off.'
An inexplicable unease. The monster was grotesquely ugly in form and deed, but...
"Vice Captain! Over here—women tied up in awful states."
"We can't free ours."
"What? How are they tied?"
......
The prisoners were all locked in flesh molds, legs splayed wide, twitching from the aftershocks of childbirth. Siroko had no choice but to release them and cover their bodies with spare cloaks she'd brought. Just from their eyes, it was clear they weren't right in the head.
"Even elves..."
What the hell had been done to them to end up like this?
"You okay? Don't worry. The White Flame Knights will protect you..."
"Nnghyiii!!"
Epi collapsed the moment Siroko touched her.
"P-Puuussy goooone. Puuussy gooone!"
"......"
'This is... bad.' The aftereffects from the monster seemed severe. She didn't even consider the ridiculous notion that she could end up the same, but a chill deep in her womb was unavoidable.
"Eshel, Glova. The other monsters?"
"They stopped moving after the main body died. Nice and quiet."
"Can't leave 'em. We'll clean up later."
"Yes, ma'am. Alright, ladies? Your rescuing knight, Glova, at your service. Follow me!"
"Don't get cocky—be careful."
Eshel hoisted the survivors clustered in flesh lumps over both shoulders and strode off.
'...Rotana Village, was it?'
Hard to believe people had lived here without looking closely. It was already a hideous monster's nest, littered with women in pitiful states—endlessly birthing monster spawn, devoured by flesh lumps in ultimate terror, or worse than livestock, entangled in cramped pens with monsters, copulating repeatedly until broken and soulless.
For this to happen in reality... Orcs and goblins did similar things, but not with this obsession. The nest suggested an automated breeding system. If left alone after multiplying this much in so short a time... she didn't want to imagine.
A few hours later, around lunchtime. The squad members who arrived to wrap things up bustled about, completing the rescues.
"All survivors extracted, Vice Captain!"
Glova wiped his sweat and reported.
"Gather everyone. Time to clean up the remaining monsters."
The chokgoe was dead. No one doubted it. Its corpse looked like a mountain giant meticulously pulverized. It had taken Siroko's earth-cleaving slash.
So why...? When the chokgoe corpse twitched slightly, everyone froze, eyes wide like they'd seen a ghost.
"It moved...?"
Eshel, nearby, raised his axe.
"You bastard!"
"Eshel, careful!"
As Eshel swung down at the wriggling tentacle, a thick one erupted from somewhere and smashed his torso.
"Guhk!!"
It wasn't an attack from a dying monster's spasm. Eshel, struck, flew dozens of meters like a kicked ball, impaled on a tree, his bones crushed—instant death.
"Esheeeel!!"
Siroko grabbed Glova's arm as he tried to charge.
The White Flame Knights elites averaged level 300... To one-shot Eshel meant the enemy was higher level.
"Vice Captain! Don't stop me!"
"You wanna die too!?"
Glova barely regained composure thanks to Siroko and gnashed his teeth.
"Look closely! It's different from before."
Black smoke rose from the chokgoe remains. Siroko felt her hair stand on end.
'Demon King's precursor? No...'
"Glova. I'll hold it here. Get the squad and survivors out of the forest!"
"......Yes, ma'am!!"