Monster Hunt (3) - Appearance of a Dangerous Monster (* Tentacle Warning)
Monster Hunt (3) - Appearance of a Dangerous Monster (* Tentacle Warning)
[ Kwaaaang-! ]
With a deafening roar that tore eardrums,
the bedrock where she had stood moments ago shattered, sending fragments flying in all directions.
"Kuk...!"
Rose exploded Mana at her feet, narrowly launching herself into the air.
Sharp fragments raining down from all sides grazed her cheeks and forearms, scattering drops of blood, but she didn't even have time to scream.
"Kraaaah-!!"
The massive Magical Beast, the Golem, with its glowing red eyes.
The five-meter-tall monster, a grotesque mass of iron ore and solid granite, charged towards Rose with an explosive speed that belied its size.
"Eat this!"
[ Chwaak- Chwaaaak-! ]
Rose, twisting her body in mid-air, extended her left hand and unleashed a series of sharp wind blades.
The wind slashes, accompanied by a tearing sound through the air, struck the Golem's entire body—.
[ Kagagagang! Kang! ]
Only a grinding sound, as if striking a giant steel bell, echoed.
The wind blades bounced off its tough hide without even leaving a scratch,
and instead, it only fueled the monster's boiling rage.
[ Kukung! Kugugung! ]
"Ugh...!"
When the Golem raised both arms and slammed them into the ground, the entire mine screamed and shook as if an earthquake had struck.
Giant stalactites rained down from the ceiling, and Rose hastily retreated, dodging the falling rocks.
[ Taat-! ]
After several leaps, Rose landed beside Risolde, gasping for breath.
"Haa... haa... My attacks aren't working at all, what should we do? At this rate, my Mana will run out first..."
"...It can't be helped. I'll have to finish it myself."
"Huh??"
Stepping forward past the panting Rose,
Risolde drew the longsword from her waist.
A plain sword with no special adornments—
But the moment she gripped its hilt, the air around them began to grow heavy.
"You... you can defeat that... monster, Risolde?"
"Probably. If I kill it, I'll absorb its Mana, so I would have preferred to just support you so you could defeat it."
"No, there's no need to worry about that even in this situation..."
"It wasn't just that."
[ Woooong- ]
Blue Mana began to shimmer like a heat haze above Risolde's longsword.
"To defeat an opponent of that caliber, I need to instantly push my Mana to its limit... and after the attack, I'd be too vulnerable. I needed to be certain there were no other enemies in this space."
"......Ah.."
[ Woooooong-! ]
A resonant hum, as if the air itself was screaming.
The Mana surrounding the longsword grew darker and took on an increasingly massive form.
[ Kung- Kung- Kung- ]
Large enough to reach the head of the approaching Golem—.
"Kraaaah!!"
The Golem let out a bizarre roar that seemed to tear eardrums, raising both its fists high into the sky,
[ Woooong-!! ]
Risolde, who had created a colossal blade of Mana like a giant's greatsword, flew up between its fists—
"Shatter."
With that low utterance, she brought her sword down.
[ Jjeoeoeok-!!! ]
"Kuh... kuh-kuh-uh...."
The rock monster of steel, which had easily repelled Rose's full-powered attacks.
Its massive body was split in half from crown to crotch, as if butter had been sliced by a hot knife.
Furthermore, Risolde's slash, which had cleaved the monster's body in half, did not stop there,
the blue flash that split the Golem in two continued to tear through the ground, striking the ominously swirling Black Gate head-on.
"!!"
A flash of light that bleached her vision white.
And a massive explosion that threatened to collapse the entire mine.
[ Kwagagagagang-!!! ]
The Golem's massive rock body crumbled,
and the Black Gate, which had connected to the Demon Realm, shattered into countless fragments as if glass had broken.
"Oh my god...."
Rose couldn't close her mouth at the sight unfolding before her eyes.
Though they were both Guardians, to be able to unleash such destructive power with just a difference in the Mana contained within their bodies—
It was a moment when she keenly realized why Balthazar had called her a 'chick'.
[ Shuuuuuu- ]
The sight of a massive blue Mana, emanating from the shattered Golem's remains, swirling and being absorbed into Risolde's body.
The regretful thought of 'I wish I had absorbed that immense Mana' crossed Rose's mind, but only for a moment.
[ Chaenggeurang- ]
Risolde dropped her longsword and collapsed weakly to the ground.
"Risolde!"
"Haa... haa...."
Rose rushed over and embraced Risolde, who was gasping for breath with her eyes closed.
"Haa... haa... Pay close attention, Rose. If you... squeeze out your Mana to its limit... this is what happens...."
"I get it! I understand without you saying it, so please stop talking and rest! Your body is so hot!"
"It's fine... haa... Mana depletion is temporary... haa... if I just rest a little..."
Even though she looked like she was about to pass out from exhaustion, she was trying to teach her—
At her stubborn attitude, Rose felt a surge of emotion and brushed back Risolde's sweat-soaked bangs.
Rose carefully laid Risolde on the flat ground, and just as she was about to stand up after confirming Risolde's breathing had stabilized slightly, at that moment.
"Strong indeed. It was wise of me to completely erase my presence and observe the situation."
"??!!"
Someone's voice echoed through the darkness.
"I expected her to destroy the Golem, but I didn't think she'd blow away the Gate in one go. If she deliberately calculated the direction and aimed for it all at once... she's a much more troublesome bitch than I thought."
A voice that felt like a snake crawling up her spine,
unpleasant and viscous.
From the darkness where the voice had come from—
Amidst the thick dust that had risen, someone was walking out with leisurely steps.
"Well. Even so, that attack exhausted her strength, and all that's left is one useless Guardian."
"Who...!"
The being that emerged through the dust.
It had the form of a human, but it was by no means human.
Its dull, dark blue skin, like that of a corpse,
was covered all over with light gray tattoos of unknown meaning,
and though it was completely naked, not a thread on its body,
it possessed a strange, anrogynous physique, neither male nor female.
But what was most grotesque of all—
were the multiple tentacles writhing behind its back like living snakes,
dripping with unpleasant slime.
"What... what are you?"
It didn't look friendly at all—
Rose drew her rapier and slowly moved sideways.
To put distance between herself and the fallen Risolde.
"Well."
The dark blue-skinned monster twisted its lips into a sneer, observing Rose's wary expression.
"Don't you humans call us 'Magical Beasts'?"
"..."
Yes, she had thought so.
The reason she had wished it wasn't a Magical Beast, if possible, was because
creatures like the one before her, intelligent and capable of conversing in human language, were at least 'intermediate' or higher-level Magical Beasts.
'...Can I win?'
A desperate question with no visible chance of victory.
'...I have to fight.'
But the answer was already decided.
Rather than hesitating and dying a dog's death, she had to move first and aim for an opening—
"Die!"
Rose pushed off the ground, simultaneously extending her left hand and unleashing a condensed storm of wind.
However.
[ Paaaat-! ]
"Hmm."
The Monster didn't even attempt to dodge the attack.
A single tentacle, writhing behind its back, merely sliced through the air, causing the invisible wind attack to lose its power and vanish.
"No..."
"As expected, the only useful one was the black-haired one over there."
Along with the Monster's sneer,
[ Swaeeaeek-! ]
A massive bundle of tentacles, large enough to blacken her vision, simultaneously surged towards Rose.
"Kuk!"
Rose imbued her rapier-wielding hand with Mana and swung it at tremendous speed.
[ Kkang! Kang! Chaeng! ]
'What is this... it's not just flesh...??'
She had intended to cut it.
Yet, even as she swung the Mana-infused rapier,
the recoil transmitted to the sword's tip was no different from when she had stabbed the Golem moments ago. Her grip felt like it would tear.
With the impact, Rose gritted her teeth and stumbled backward.
"Hoo... quite impressive, I see?"
[ Kang! Kang- Kang- ]
The Monster stood still in its spot, not even twitching a finger, and merely used its tentacles to toy with Rose.
Even with her Mana-enhanced speed, all she could do was defend.
Moreover, the Mana she had been continuously using since fighting the Golem was slowly running out,
so Rose used Mana at her feet,
and instantly launched herself backward.
"Haa... haa...!"
"Excellent. You're using your meager Mana quite efficiently. If you keep running away like that, it won't be easy to catch you."
Unlike its seemingly admiring lips, the Monster's eyes gleamed maliciously.
It retracted one of the tentacles it had extended towards Rose, then slithered it across the floor like a snake, changing direction.
[ Seureureuk- ]
"!! No...!!"
Where the tentacle was headed.
It was Risolde's ankle, where she lay unconscious.
"Ugh...."
Risolde, hanging upside down in the air, let out a groan,
"Risolde!!"
but Rose, raising her rapier, charged towards her,
"Where do you think you're going?"
[ Peok-!! ]
"Kyaaaak!"
A tentacle, flying in from her blind spot, struck her abdomen,
and Rose's body was sent flying through the air, slamming into the mine's rock wall.
[ Kudangtang! ]
"Cough...! Keoheok...!"
The pain of bones crushing from a single blow.
Even as she coughed up a mouthful of blood, she tried to reach out with trembling hands to grab the rapier she had dropped on the ground, but.
[ Chwareureuk-! ]
"!!"
Another tentacle flew in, wrapped around Rose's ankle, and lifted her into the air as well.
"It's the most basic and certain pattern for dealing with humans. Attacking their weak comrades."
With the Monster's cruel smile, the bodies of Rose and Risolde, hanging upside down, were swung through the air as if dancing.
[ Kwang-! ]
"Kueuk!"
[ Peoeok-! ]
"Aaaah!"
With their ankles bound by tentacles, the two women's bodies were mercilessly slammed against the floor and walls, back and forth.
Their clothes were torn, and dark red bruises and
wounds were incessantly etched onto their white skin.
[ Kwang- Kwang- Kwang! ]
"Cough... Ugh...."
After several horrific impacts, Rose completely lost the will to resist. Blood streaming from her head obscured her vision, and her consciousness was on the verge of sinking into a deep abyss, but.
When she struggled to turn her head and look, Risolde was already completely unconscious and limp.
"Hahaha! Even in that state, you're worried about your comrade."
The Monster slowly moved its tentacles, pulling the two bloodied individuals closer to its eyes.
"If I kill these two Guardians and absorb their Mana, it will be a harvest incomparable to losing a mere Golem. Though it's a bit regrettable that the Gate I painstakingly created was destroyed."
The Monster licked its lips, its gaze sticky as it scanned the bodies of the two Guardians hanging in the air.
Leather armor torn by the aftermath of battle.
Through the gaps, Risolde's firm abs and ample cleavage were starkly revealed.
And Rose's voluptuous curves, impossible to hide even when covered in blood and dust, and her white thighs peeking through the torn fabric of her pants.
In the Monster's red eyes, a sticky, viscous desire, completely different from murderous intent, began to well up.
"Yes...."
It extended its long tongue and licked its lips.
"It would be such a waste to just kill such pretty toys."
[ Jjigeugeuk... Jjigeok.... ]
Multiple tentacles extending from its back began to writhe obscenely, dripping unpleasant slime like the weapons of a male in heat.
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