The four great monsters Ariella was so proud of.
They had originally been beings with powerful strength even to begin with.
And on top of that, after fighting in Gyeonggi, right at the brink of death—
they had been turned into vampires by Ariella, and gained even greater power.
{Ke, keh-leuk......}
KRRRSHHHHHHHHH.......
But.
Right now.
{S-stop.......}
Those four ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) great great monsters couldn’t even put up proper resistance.
PAPAPAPAPAPABOOM.......
{S...... spare...... me.......}
Against the one-sided violence
from the “doctor,”
they had no choice but to remain fully exposed.
‘......If only they hadn’t been vampires!’
Being made into a retainer by Ariella definitely grants all kinds of power,
but at the same time, it is also the act of assigning weaknesses commensurate with that immense power.
‘Just a few dozen seconds.’
Intense sunlight pouring down on the ground
for a span of time not even reaching a minute.
The damage taken from that sunlight was so enormous
that monsters who could have fought back to some extent against that thing even before becoming vampires
had been reduced to a state where they couldn’t resist at all.
It wasn’t only those four.
—Kk, kkeoeoeo.......
Sunlight burns a night noble’s body, and weakens all abilities.
The vampires whose bodies had flared up from the brief flash of sunlight.
Even if they hadn’t died instantly from the heat, that sunlight had stolen even their recovery and combat power.
For this damage to recover, they would need, at minimum, several hours of breathing room.
‘Ah.’
......And there was no way those monsters would give them that kind of time.
‘I can feel it.......’
I,
within senses that had grown more sensitive than before,
‘the ones who were connected to me, being extinguished.’
Countless retainers—
I could feel them
returning as dust.
“......Where do you think you’re going!”
If there was one saving grace,
it was that there was at least one ally who wasn’t affected by that sunlight.
KWAAAAAAANG!!!
[Mountain]
[Cursed Dark Knight Lv.36]
When he hurled his body forward and struck that enormous Obese Fusion,
the fusion—which had been beating the great monsters to the brink of death—also stopped its attack and retreated.
‘Mountain is...... definitely strong.’
A powerhouse to a degree that couldn’t even be compared to what I’d seen in Gyeonggi.
The Mountain of now was a being at least one step stronger than those four great great monsters.
But.
‘Not compared to that bastard.’
A thudding sound rang out—
and what I saw before my eyes was—
KRK—.
That hulking monster’s strike,
so fast ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to see it,
was cracking Mountain’s body made of ice.
‘That speed with that size...... and strength that makes no sense.’
Mountain was fighting back with everything he had in his own way,
but it wasn’t like when we’d tried to bring it down together with the other four great monsters.
“N-no.......”
KRK, KRK.......
The battle situation was one-sided.
Each time the dozens of huge arms sprouting from the giant monster’s entire body smashed into Mountain,
the cracks in that armor only kept widening.
“You said it doesn’t lie?”
And.
Watching that, I ground my teeth and spoke.
“Bullshit.”
When that bastard asked me to hunt and capture monsters for it,
it clearly said it wasn’t confident in combat,
and that capturing the monsters it asked me for would be difficult—or even if possible, the damage would be too great.
“With power like that, you weren’t confident?”
That enormous Obese Fusion rampaging right in front of me.
Compared to the monsters we’d hunted, its power didn’t fall short—
if anything, it looked like it could easily tear them apart even if several of those monsters came at it together.
If it had that kind of power,
then it lied to me.
......But.
{It wasn’t a lie.}
Even as it slaughtered vampires and smashed Mountain to pieces,
it answered in a flat tone.
{Back then, I truly wasn’t confident.}
“......What?”
{Because gaining power of this magnitude is a recent matter.}
Before I could even grasp what that meant—
“Impudent.......”
There was someone who moved first.
“To be distracted...... in the middle of battle......!”
“!”
Mountain, who had been knocked away by the fusion’s attack.
At some point he had already leapt back up near the fusion,
and he extended a hand steeped in dark energy.
[Curse of Weakness]
No matter how powerful a monster might be,
Mountain had gained the system, martial arts, and Belsnickel’s power all at once.
The curse he unleashed was also far more powerful than before.
‘It reacted late because it was talking to me.’
That bastard’s claim that it wasn’t confident in combat didn’t seem to be a complete lie—
separate from possessing tremendous power, was it not skilled in situations like this?
Because it had been conversing with me, its response to that curse ended up delayed.
If that fusion had a weakness, if I had to name one,
it was that outrageous bulk.
As Mountain grew stronger, the curse projectile’s speed had also become outrageous.
‘If it hits, the story changes!’
And.
It looked like that attack couldn’t possibly miss.
......And yet.
In that moment.
KRK—!
“......!?”
In front of the fusion,
a massive black hole appeared—big enough to swallow that giant body in one gulp.
“......What?”
Then—
“It just...... where.......”
A monster so huge it didn’t even seem possible for it to hide anywhere
vanished from sight in a single instant.
As Mountain stood flustered by the sudden phenomenon—
KUUUUNG!
“Keoheok......!?”
The fusion suddenly appeared above Mountain’s head,
and with the weight of that tremendous body—plus the force of gravity adding destructive power to it—
it drove Mountain straight into the ground.
CRRRSSSSHK.......
“What the hell...... is, this.......”
An attack so powerful it nearly flipped the surrounding ground.
Mountain looked bewildered, as if it couldn’t even identify what had hit him—
but.
‘My god.’
Unlike Mountain—
I knew exactly what that phenomenon was.
Because the place that giant monster had just hidden itself in—
that black, rippling hole.
“That hole.”
That hole was the ability
used by the monster I hunted
just a few days ago.
“The Wandering Clown’s.......”
*****
Gaining power of that magnitude is a recent matter.
The doctor definitely said that.
At first, it took me a little time to understand what it meant—
but that black hole just now.
‘It’s the hole the Wandering Clown used.’
Why was that hole appearing here?
I couldn’t help but be suspicious—
but only after I examined that monster closely did I realize why.
A fusion that was endlessly massive, with countless monsters mixed together into a chaotic mess.
Among the innumerable hides attached to that body—
[Enhanced Ingredient Appraisal]
[Wandering Clown, Tel Lopol’s hide]
A hide made of familiar colors and patterns,
[This is the hide of the Lopol, a species said to possess mysterious power that encompasses space.]
[It is known that the Lopol’s hide contains a spatial ability that encompasses space, but there is nothing known about how to handle this ability.]
had been finished with rough stitching
in one part of its skin.
The moment I saw that hide,
I understood exactly what it had been trying to say.
PUUUUUNG!!!
“Kkh......!”
Despite its insanely huge bulk,
that unreasonable elasticity as it tore across the battlefield at tremendous speed.
That movement.
At first I didn’t notice it, but—
‘It’s Avaros.’
It was similar to what the monster I hunted
not long ago had shown.
It wasn’t confident about hunting other monsters back then,
and the power it was showing now was something it had obtained recently.
In simple terms—
‘The monsters I hunted and offered to it.’
Those monsters
were the reason
for the absurdly immense power this fusion was displaying right now.
“Mountain!!!”
The moment I realized that,
I shouted toward Mountain, who was fighting it.
“Cut the tendons!”
That bastard
had used the body parts of the monsters I hunted for it to build that immense body.
And conversely, that meant—
‘The strategy is the same.’
If that ridiculous athletic ability was coming from Avaros’s tendons,
then we just had to cut those tendons.
“As my master commands......!”
Mountain had been modified to prioritize my orders above all else.
The instant my command fell, he swung his greatsword toward where the tendons should be—
KANG!
“This—!?”
Absurdly, his greatsword bounced off.
On top of the skin where the tendons should have been—
[Mortalcell’s carapace]
there was thick, hard carapace in place.
‘That, too...... is a monster I caught.’
It had seemed impossible to bring down due to that hard carapace,
but because it couldn’t protect its whole body with that carapace, we could take it down by flipping it over and stabbing the weak point.
The difference now was—
it still couldn’t protect its whole body with the carapace,
but that carapace was only on the weak point.
{How do you find it, Legion Commander.}
And.
As Mountain aimed for the weak point, only for the attack to come to nothing,
he had no choice but to expose an opening—
{The guardians you trusted and relied on so much.}
KWAAAAAAANG!!!
{Are weak even like this.}
Mountain was flung away at tremendous speed by its punch,
and ended up crashing into a distant building.
“Mm. It’s a bit shocking.”
{Haha, didn’t I tell you? That species is certainly outstanding, but it has defects.}
And.
After saying that, its massive footsteps—
{I’m different.}
KUUUNG—
came toward me.
{Can you see it, Legion Commander!}
With the dozens of huge hands it had, it pounded on its own body.
KWAAJIK, KWAAJIK, KWAAJIK!!!
Flesh gouged under that terrible force.
But—
{This is the evolution I have achieved!}
Even those gouged wounds
recovered in an instant.
{This is life that does not need to fear death, created by my long research!}
KUUUNG, KUUUNG—
it walked toward me.
{And I! This research, this evolution.......}
And.
Even though the giant beast possessed such powerful strength—
{I had intended to share it with the Legion Commander!!!}
As if something was unfair,
it shouted in a voice full of resentment.
{This great evolution owed much to the Legion Commander’s achievements as well, so I intended to let you join that evolution! No, rather...... I even thought that the Legion Commander was a being who could cause an evolution even greater than mine!}
“.......”
{I feared trusting someone again and being betrayed...... but the Legion Commander had many things similar to me, so I decided to try believing one last time!}
“That’s... well. Thanks for thinking so highly of me.”
{But...... the Legion Commander.}
From that grotesque giant,
a voice mixed with anger and resentment rang out.
{You lied to me.}
“.......”
{I don’t want to be deceived anymore.}
Those dozens of gigantic fists
pulled back, preparing to burst forward—
{The Legion Commander will become material for my evolution.}
“.......”
{There were areas that seemed impossible to solve, but if I use the Legion Commander, my research can advance to the next domain.}
That fist
shot out at tremendous speed.
{Through the Legion Commander...... I will achieve ‘transcendence’!}
A blow that didn’t seem like it could possibly be blocked.
Overwhelming mass and speed.
And.
When I could do nothing but stare blankly at that attack—
KWAAAAAAANG!!!
A shape struck by that fist and sent flying.
“......Ariella!”
My retainer’s body
brushed past my side and was flung far away.
*****
That attack the doctor threw.
When I was staring blankly at it, unable to dodge it in my own way,
the one who stepped in was Ariella.
“Ariella!”
After that sunlight poured down, she had been hiding somewhere—
and the moment I was about to be attacked,
she suddenly appeared from somewhere, shoved my body aside,
and the doctor’s fist—having lost its target—turned toward the suddenly appeared Ariella.
“Hah.......”
“......! Are you okay!?”
I hurried over to the wreckage of the building she’d crashed into.
While lifting up chunks of debris—
I heard Ariella’s voice from inside.
At least she was in a state where she could open her mouth.
With a little hope in my chest, I moved toward her—
“This is.......”
“.......”
“It’s embarrassing.”
What was there
was—
her lower body not visible at all,
and even her upper body with nearly half of it gone.
“To rush in with that much gusto, only to end up like this.”
Only one arm, her chest, her shoulder,
and her head remained of Ariella.
I stared at her, words stuck in my throat for a moment—
then I let out a small snort of laughter and said,
“......What, it’s not like this is the first or second time you’ve shown me something embarrassing. As long as you’re alive, that’s what matters.”
“.......”
“Even if you end up like this, you don’t die, do you? Since you’re from such an impressive...... noble birth.”
At my words,
as if something amused her,
Ariella snorted a small laugh as well and replied.
“Noble birth.......”
“Hm?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
But.
That smile didn’t last.
“Recovery.......”
She hesitated a little,
and then—
with effort, she parted her lips.
“I think it’ll be...... a bit difficult.”
“......What?”
