Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 190: "Water Spear"

The carpet is winded and runs into the monster.

I don't dislike Aspizal's idea of bumping into it anyway.

Either way, I'd like to see how the big thing will come out of it.

I didn't realise it because of its size, but it's quite a distance away.

We were so overwhelmed by the size difference that we couldn't tell, but the place where he came out is quite far offshore.

There was no movement, but I could somehow tell that he was watching us.

It's a gaze mixed with a sticky, sticky substance.

Is this what Aspizal calls appetite?

Still, I don't think it would add that much to their diet if they ate us because we're that size, but I wonder if they would find us attractive as food even without that.

It's hard to understand, but I can't just say yes, I see, and let them eat it, so I'm going to finish them off here.

"I'm worried that it's not moving, but I'll get close to it and then drop off, so just go wild as you see fit. If the attack works, you can attack it as it is, but if it looks like you can't, shall we back off once? Anyway, we don't have enough information, so let's try different things."

I have a bad feeling.

In my experience, I have a feeling that these guys are going to send something flying...

While I was thinking about this, something brownish grew from the surface of the monster's body in large quantities.

Here it comes.

"It looks like it's going to send something flying."

"It's coming!"

At the same time as Yonomori's voice, something brownish flies towards us all at once.

The shape was triangular and somewhat resembled the tip of a spear.

"I'm going to intercept it, so I'll drop altitude."

The carpet lost altitude at once and flew as if crawling on the ground.

At the same time, it leaves the land and the ground below changes from sand to sea level.

The aspizal touches one hand to the sea surface and makes a small stirring on the surface.

Perhaps he intends to manipulate the seawater as well as the sand.

It was right.

A large number of spear-like objects shoot out from the surface of the sea and skewer flying objects one after another in the air.

The distance was close enough to identify it.

Distinctive streamlined form. Multiple elongated tentacles.

A squid.

The thing is spinning at high speed and rushing at me.

It was pierced by a spear of water, and the body seems to be hard, judging from the radial cracks in the body of the shot-down man.

The squid is a mollusk, I wondered, but I decided to accept that it was a creature of that kind.

"It looks like a cuttlefish."

Aspizal muttered to himself as he looked at the squid he had shot down.

"Is there such a squid?"

"They're often used for sushi. I've had it and it was delicious."

Is that so?

I mean, this guy can afford to be shooting down while he's doing it.

"It's faster than I thought, so it's hard to hit it. Please don't miss."

Aspizal is right, the squid flies through the barrage of spears shot out from the surface of the sea.

I put up a barrier with magic, but it penetrates.

The speed is greatly reduced, so Yonomori takes advantage of the opportunity to shoot them down one by one...

"There's no end to it."

"Right... right!"

The squid is smashed by Yonomori with her fist as she says this.

Squid that have been hit scatter their contents and what appears to be shell? -like substance is scattered into the sea.

Some of them are bursting from the inside, I don't know how.

...I don't want to eat that.

The destructive power of Yonomori's fists is great, but it's a pity that she can't make the most of it here.

Simply put, she doesn't have enough moves.

I can't handle the squid that comes rushing in, and I use my halberd to strike down the one that dodges Yonomori's fist.

Trouble is, the squids seem to be able to fly freely, and even those whose trajectory deviates from their original trajectory fly from behind in a large arc in mid-air.

I smash the squid flying behind me by swinging my halberd compactly.

There is no need to smash it completely.

Apparently, the strength of the halberd is higher, and if you hit it off at the right time, it will shatter on its own, so all you have to do is hit it.

The halberd was struck repeatedly at the flying squid, but a strange noise was heard in the middle.

I glanced at it and saw a crack in the blade.

With each blow, the cracks got deeper and deeper.

...This might not be good.

"Yonomori-san..."

"What!?"

The Yonomori doesn't have much time to spare, so her reply is a bit clumsy.

"My weapons aren't holding up. If you have any I'd be grateful for a loan?"

"I have a spare dagger and hatchet in my backpack. Use them if you like!"

Then feel free to do so.

I reach into the rucksack on Yonomori's back and pull out what looks like an axe with a protruding handle.

It is moderately heavy. The handle is short, so the range of the attack is limited, but it seems to be easier to manoeuvre.

...The dagger looks like it's going to break soon, so I'll have to stop.

Switch the halberd to one-handed and concentrate on intercepting with the hatchet in the opposite hand.

The halberd reached its limit when it smashed the squid that came charging at it from the front.

The top half shattered and splinters scattered.

I threw down the useless halberd and resumed intercepting with the hatchet.

"Hang on a bit longer. We're almost there."

Indeed, the monster's form fills my field of vision, and it looks like we're about to make contact.

"If I take my hand out of the water, I won't be able to use the seawater, so I'll stay close until the very last minute. Just before contact, it will rise to trace the surface, so be prepared."

Well, that's what's going to happen.

To be honest, I don't want to go, but we have to do it.

"It's going up."

The body of the monster looms in front of us.

It rises sharply, just in time to get close.

At the same time, Aspizal's hand leaves the surface of the sea and the barrage of water spears breaks off.

Naturally, the density of the squid rushing in will be half as great, but I knew it was coming in torrents, so I prepared for it.

I don't have to use my processing to move and evade, so I concentrate on the attack.

Multiple activation of [Explosion III].

Directional impact and heat cleave the squids in my path.

The carpet ploughs through the path I've gouged open, and the swarming squid I blow away with additional magic, but it's sketchier than Aspizal's water spear, so there are quite a few missed shots.

The squids come roaring at us, trying to shoot through us while carbonising the surface.

With Aspizal's cover gone, Yonomori's burden increased dramatically, but she showed her bottom line strength and successfully dealt with the swarm of squid with both fists.

The barrage of squid breaks off and the monster is right under the carpet.

"Can we go?"

"I've got to go, haven't I?"

"Well, I'll give you these, and if you need anything else, call me."

Aspizal throws two magic stones and sends them over.

"The red one leads to me and the blue one leads to Azusa."

"Okay. I'll be on my way."

For communication, huh?

I received the magic stone, shoved it into my pocket and jumped straight off the carpet.

Yonomori followed a little later.

I landed on the ground, kicking away the squids that were still coming at me in the air.

The feeling transmitted to my feet is hard. The hardness is reminiscent of minerals such as rocks, rather than the hardness characteristic of living creatures.

"So I guess we'll call each other if we find out anything?"

"Yes. Let's do our best not to die."

I don't answer in particular, but shove the magic stone into my left and right ear before running off.

Squid are still falling, but there are fewer of them.

I glance up and see them swarming around the flying aspizal.

The majority of them have been taken on, apparently.

I'm grateful.

I scratch the ground with my axe as I run, but the hard texture easily repels the axe.

Is it difficult with a physical attack?

Then I contact the ground. I activate [Withering] at full force.

A crack appears on the surface and part of it turns to sand.

I gouge it out with my hand and erode it from the inside.

If it's a living thing anyway, it's got to have a brain, right? I'm going to take it over and put it under my control.

I backstep with a cluck of the tongue.

Immediately afterwards, squid rush in one after another to where I was.

It's depressing. If I may add, this move is difficult.

The outer shell is too thick to reach inside the body.

To be honest, it's impossible to defeat it in a straightforward way.

If you want to finish off a monster of this size, bring in a giant robot or a giant special effects hero.

Think of the scale, damn it.

Well, I'm not particularly pessimistic, because I had planned from the start to finish this guy off or take him over from the inside.

I wouldn't go in there for no reason if I didn't have any chance of winning.

The question is, from where do I enter the body?

The mouth is out of the question.

I think I would be digested too quickly.

Well, it could either be a safe way to get inside by gouging out its eyeballs, or it could enter through the gills.

I think that's the area that looks like it might be able to get in.

The current location is at the top of the head, so it looks like I'll have to run quite a bit.

When I looked into the distance to see how Yonomori was doing, I saw that it was attacking its fins while reaping squid.

The squid's skin is not as tough as the stone's outer skin, and it was scratched, but it was too big and didn't look like it had sustained any damage.

At that rate it should be fine for a while, but it doesn't look like it's going to turn around either.

Vibration. A slight shaking underfoot.

When I looked down to see what it was, I saw an aspizal gliding along the surface of the sea, firing a series of water spears.

In parallel with this, a ridiculously large seawater spear is generated and ejected.

The spear roars and hits the monster in the side.

What is frightening is that the spear, which seems to be several tens of metres long, looks like a slightly larger needle to this monster.

Moreover, the fact that it only hit it and as far as it goes, no damage has been done is also terrifying.

It is probably a pure difference in mass rather than defensive power.

However, it seems that it was not completely ineffective, and the squids are swarming towards the aspizal more and more.

Have they recognised him as a threat?

--Hey, Roe, how's it going?

Aspizal's voice comes from the magic stone in my ear.

"So far, so good."

--How's it going? Do you think you can win?

"I don't know. But it's impossible to finish it off with an attack from the outside."

--Inside?

"It will. If I go in through the gills and blow his brains out, he'll die quickly."

-Will you go inside? I know you don't have any moves, but I wouldn't recommend it too much.

"Reason?"

--That squid, I think it's the same kind of messenger Roe was talking about.

Yes.

Probably an interceptor bio-weapon that can only do simple commands.

"So?"

--They came out through the gaps in those armoured-like scales. Inside their bodies, in other words.

Ah, so that's what you're saying.

That's pretty much it.

"You mean there could be more inside?"

--Yes. Maybe, but I think the quality and quantity is better than the ones we've fought before.

"So you have an alternative to stopping it?"

--Yeah. Can we pull out once?

I raise a small eyebrow.

What? You're running away after all?