The Siege (3)
"Maximize your advantages and seize the upper hand in battle. In what form should the first warrior evolve to achieve the best efficiency and combat power?"
"...That seems about right, more or less."
I reviewed the classes one by one as they came to mind. Their roles were exactly what their names suggested: knight, priest, and the like. The only problem was that they strayed a little too far from human common sense.
"Make her a Knight."
I had to choose the role that suited Lena best, and the one we needed most right now.
A Knight was an upper-tier Ascalas variant evolved to pour every last stat point into close-quarters combat.
Compared with a priest who spread beneficial effects to allies and harmful ones to enemies, a host that produced minions on its own, a shaman who used sorcery, or a bombardment-type unit specialized in ranged attacks, a Knight seemed like the right choice now that we had only one resource to evolve.
"Now that the choice has been made, your knight will awaken from her cocoon in a new form, different from before."
That was the end of Lena's evolution selection. But it wasn't over yet. Next, I chose the Great Lord's evolution elements.
"The Great Lord, too, can have the next stage's evolution elements directly selected by you, just like Lena."
Once again, it was a chain of choices: whether to make it larger, lengthen its legs, enlarge its fangs, and so on.
Unlike Lena, the Great Lord couldn't undergo such a dramatic transformation, but it still reshaped its body, power, and traits according to my will.
"The stats went up too?"
"It isn't only the stats you gain through experience. In this case, the Great Lord evolved according to your choices, so that has been recognized as well."
And before I had even distributed the stat points earned through experience, the stat corresponding to Rank had risen by 100.
I had wondered how long it would take to reach 1,000 points if they only trickled out like this, but apparently there were other arrangements in place.
"Then I'll put the 100 points I just got into Insight."
I poured all the remaining stat points earned through experience into Insight. The higher my stats climbed, the more I could see, and the more I could pierce through.
Knowledge is power. That belief hadn't changed.
"The Great Lord's evolution choices are complete as well. Its body has grown larger than before, its carapace has become thicker, and its venom has grown stronger."
All the choices were finished. When the evolution window closed, all I could see were the Great Lord and Lena, both writhing within their cocoons.
About half a day remained. In half a day, having paid for their evolution with countless prey, they would awaken in their new forms.
"..."
After shutting off the game, I sat there blankly for a while before turning back to the computer. What they had to do for all of us was fight, and what I had to do was this.
It was a ridiculous thought, but I wanted to grow too, and to evolve. That desire was my driving force.
***
'Hot.'
Inside the hard shell of the cocoon, Lena instinctively flinched at the alien sensation of her body twisting and changing at will, and thrashed about.
This wasn't the natural growth she had known until now. A body being forcibly altered and warped was pain hard to endure with a clear mind.
'I have to endure it. If I don't...'
But Lena gritted her teeth and bore it. Rather than resent it, she welcomed it. This pain, this distortion, was a blessing bestowed upon her.
She knew this suffering existed for the sake of her growth and evolution. For someone like her, who had hated and cursed helplessness and joyfully accepted the essence of Ascalas, this was only a trial she had to survive.
'This is...'
Just then, while she was curled up inside the cocoon, adjusting to her reconstructed body.
She sensed something flowing into the cocoon and stiffened in surprise. It was a kind of energy, a power of the same order as the essence of Ascalas she loved so much.
'Mana.'
She could tell immediately because she had faced it directly. The mysterious energy the mercenary captains used to strengthen their bodies and grant them superhuman might.
Through evolution, the Great Lord had gained the ability to process the mana absorbed by Devour. By refining it into essence and pouring all of it into Lena, she was gaining power that couldn't be explained by simple stats alone.
'Ahh...'
Drunk on the strength surging through her in real time, Lena forgot the pain and broke into a grin. This was a sign of trust. Proof that he trusted her.
She could never forget him from the dream she had seen. Though she couldn't remember his face, she still clearly remembered that he had held her when she had been afraid.
HP fully restored.
Lena stretched her hand toward the inner wall of the cocoon and tore straight through it, revealing herself.
'My body is overflowing with power. I want more of this, more.'
Halfway out, she looked down at her own hand, sheathed in black carapace like a gauntlet, and grinned.
Hot power spread through her entire body in rhythm with her pounding heart.
From her back, something burst out with a cracking sound. A pair of translucent wings, faintly glowing with a dark red light.
After looking at them with satisfaction, Lena's red eyes flashed. She spread her wings and shot up into the hollow nest in an instant.
1. Attack the city
The command had already been chosen. Flying out of the nest, Lena let her hair stream behind her as she surged straight into the sky.
"Hunting...!"
In her eyes, she could make out the faint shape of a city far in the distance.
Nothing else mattered. Once the command had been given, and now that she had already experienced such a dramatic evolution, the city inhabited by humans was nothing more than prey to her.
"Hex! What on earth is going on? The captain of the guard, no, every last member of the city watch has lost contact!"
"W-What do you mean..."
"They should have arrived long ago. But we can't reach them!"
Hex blinked blankly at the house steward's urgent report. Then he understood, and his eyes flew wide open.
"You're saying the guards vanished after going into the forest, just like those mercenaries you mentioned!"
"I-Is that true? That can't be right. There were a hundred of them!"
Flustered, Hex shook his head.
No monster or beast in the North Woods could wipe out 100 soldiers without leaving a single one behind. Up to now, nothing like that had happened. In other words, it was reasonable to conclude that something had appeared there recently.
"The administrator has declared a state of emergency and hurried to request help from elsewhere. You know there have been strange incidents cropping up all over the continent lately, don't you? There must be something in that forest after all."
"R-Right. Understood."
No one could afford to take this lightly now. The only thing left was to seal off access completely and wait until reinforcements arrived. That was their job.
"M-Master! We have a serious problem!"
But it was already too late. The unidentified force that had been slowly increasing its numbers by devouring those who ventured deep into the forest had now begun to emerge from the woods to swell its ranks even further.
"...What is that?"
Hex, who had hurried outside at his subordinate's call, stared blankly at the figures approaching through the city gate just before it shut.
"Th-That's the city guard, isn't it?!"
"But something's wrong with them."
The soldiers gathered atop the walls, but at the sight of the enemies walking at the front, they stirred in confusion. Though blood-soaked, the ones bearing familiar armor and familiar weapons were their own comrades, the troops dispatched for the investigation.
Yet they looked nothing like they had before.
Black veins bulged across their entire bodies, and their forms were hideously twisted and swollen in places, with tentacles writhing out of parts of their flesh in a grotesque, uncanny sight.
"Don't waver... They're no longer our allies!"
The city administrator, who had scrambled up onto the wall with the soldiers, shouted as if sensing something. The soldiers at the front were bad enough, but behind them marched no fewer than several hundred monsters all at once.
'Spider.'
The administrator peered through the telescope in his hand and studied the enemy in detail. Amid the many different kinds of minions, a giant spider walked with imposing dignity.
And above it, floating straight through the air as they advanced together, was something else as well.
'...A black wasp.'
Perhaps because he had just seen the giant spider, that was what came to mind when he looked at her. The spear in her hand and the slender body encased in carapace, together with her wings, made her look like a wasp standing upright.
"Gather everyone who can still fight right now. If we hesitate, the entire city will be wiped out."
Clenching his teeth, he issued the order. He did not even know exactly what the enemies were, but he had already sensed that this would not be easy to withstand.
"Huh?"
And at that moment, Lena, floating through the air above the Great Lord, leveled the spear in her hand and prepared to throw it. The administrator froze at the sight of that spear leaving her hand.
He had no response at all. He had never imagined that the enemy would attempt a spear throw loaded with mana.
"What... Aaaaagh!"
"Administrator!"
In an instant, the spear cut through the air and fell true onto the wall, wrapped in a crimson aura. It pierced and shattered the body of a man who had been nothing more than an ordinary civilian, then burst outward with an impact like an explosion. That was the signal that marked the beginning of the battle.
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