Nidome no Yuusha - Chapter 112

「K-Kuu?」

Minnalis panickedly looked around her.

「Calm down Minnalis!」

「Are you ok?」

「Yeah, I'm ok, I think?」

Minnalis hesitantly replied to Shuria's question. Regardless of her response, something was definitely going on with Minnalis. Her normally beige eyes had turned a deep blue with a vertical line in place of a pupil like a lizard's. The ends of her hair became pale and gave off a weak glow.

When I quickly inspect Minnalis, her status comes up as 【??? Assimilation (Entity Name: Kuu)】. All of her stats has +??? modifiers and her skill list now contained the strange new skills 【???'s Favor (Borrowing)】,【Unlocked Potential (Borrowing)】, and【Bloodthirsty Swarm (Borrowing)】.

「What in the world…」

I had never seen these skills before, nor any sort of Assimilation status. For all of them, I could see no information beyond the name. I couldn't even read the full name of the Favor one!

When I tried to inspect further, all I got was garbled letters, crammed together so tightly that reading it was impossible. It was like the times I tried to inspect Leticia or Meteria.

「M-Minnalis, are you sure you're ok?」

「I… don't really know. I can hear Kuu's voice and… hahahahahaha! Sorry for worrying you master. Leave these monsters to me.」

「So… are you ok?」

If I can't tell from an inspection, the only one who can tell me is Minnalis herself. I don't know whether she can read her stats any better than I can, but if she wants to test herself, it's better to get it over with.

「I'm fine, but my Beastman instincts are going crazy! They're all right in front of me! Let me at them!」

And Minnalis charged into the pack of monsters with a fierce look in her eyes and a wide smile on her face.

She hacked at the Monstrous Pronts so fast that she could barely be seen. By the time the acid started to pour out of one, she was already slicing at the next.

「She's too fast. Her stats are increasing along with her battle instincts, as if she's using Berserk Mode.」

The skill of Berserk Mode, which allowed the user to be consumed by their battle instincts in exchange for a temporary stat boost, could be used by only a small percentage of Beastmen. Between the fact that Berserk Mode usually involved large physical changes and the fact that Minnalis didn't have the ability to enter Berserk Mode, she couldn't be using it to fight, yet there was no other explanation for the scene in front of me.

The monsters' screams were drowned out by Minnalis' maniacal laugh.

Normally, the user of Berserk Mode can't use magic while it's active, but Minnalis was breaking that rule too. She was coating her sword with a layer of ice to protect it against the acid.

You might think that the usage of such strategic magic meant she wasn't completely absorbed in her instincts, but you would be wrong. The spell she was using wasn't one I taught her, meaning that even her magic was coming from instinct.

「Wow! Minnalis looks so coollook, her hair's all glowing.」

Just as Shuria exclaimed, Minnalis' hair was radiant as it flowed alongside her movements.

She killed a fifth, then a sixth, then a seventh. Finally, she jumped back away from the monsters.

「Hahaha! Now, there's something I want to test out.」

Minnalis smiled fiercely as she fixed her gaze back on the monsters.

「I also want to test whether the stat increase is from the Favor skill or the Unlocked Potential skill, but later might be-」

She cut me off with the start of an incantation.

「How many billions will the locusts starve?

Around and around and around and around.

My ancestor is far away, but still I chase the ancient way.

『Summon Anteeds』」

The magic that leaked out as she spoke the incantation was obviously different from Minnalis' normal magic. As it passed over me, my back involuntarily tightened as fight-flight responses kicked in.

Soundlessly, a hole opened in the midst of the monsters. The insides were obscured by a fog so dark it looked like liquid shadows.

When I began to hear a sudden cacophony of overlapping cries pouring out of the hole, I realized that the fog was actually an uncountable swarm of giant, ant-like creatures.

Rather than calling it a fight, it would be more accurate to describe what followed as an overwhelming slaughter as the seething black wave rolled over the Monstrous Pronts and began tearing into them with millions and millions of teeth.

From start to finish, it took less than ten seconds. Once the black wave accomplished its goal, it pulled back to the hole it had come from and the hole closed behind them. All that was left was a faint stain of acid on the ground. Throughout the whole area where the bugs had been, nothing was left. No corpse, not even the grass that once grew on the ground.

The only remains were of the Monstrous Pronts Minnalis had killed in close combat.

Just then, Minnalis' body started shuddering and shaking.

「Minnalis?!」

Was it a mistake to let her use those powers? Like with my Spirit Blade, the most powerful abilities have the highest costs.

If I had to estimate, I would have said that the powers Minnalis just used were way beyond what she could normally handle, so an equivalent cost…

「Hahahahahahahaha!!!」

Minnalis starts to fall over and I quickly catch her and set her down.

「Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!」

Minnalis' smile remained even as her eyes began to water and her face began to flush. When I examined her closer, her skin was burning up and her pulse and breathing were erratic.

It might just be normal Magic Fever, but it also might not.

「Ha… ha… Master… I feel so hot… so thirsty…」

Minnalis used powers way beyond her limits. Helping protect her from the consequences would be incredibly difficult.

「Calm down! Take a deep breath. Shuria, help me take off her clothes!」

When I say that, Shuria blushed and covered her face with her hands.

「Pervert! Pervert!」

「Forget it, you won't be any help. I'll do it myself.」

Things were getting out of hand. I wanted to explain my intentions, but from the angry look she was giving me I could tell that was a bad idea.

A hot sensation crawled down my spine as I prodded her cheek with barely noticeable touches.

「Sorry Master… I… I…」

Her voice was full of intent yet fading as the sensation in my back intensified. She bit down and her teeth broke through the skin of her lips.

「What's happening to you?!」

「Ha… ha… so sweet… so tasty.」

I stopped in surprise and looked on as she began lapping up her own blood.

There was only one thing I knew of that made people gradually grow frail and fall into their instincts.

「M-Minnalis? No matter how you look at it this reaction is too much!」

I thought Shuria might come to her senses about Minnalis' unusual behavior as she ran to her side, but at this point Shuria wouldn't be able to help anyway.

「If you die on me, I won't forgive you!」

Minnalis' only response to Shuria's threat was a weak gurgle.

The instant Minnalis lost consciousness, Kuu reappeared out of her body, similarly unconscious and calmly sleeping on her stomach. The first thing I did was open her status to check her condition.

「Just as I suspected, it's VP Poison. That's just one more thing to worry about now.」

I grabbed and picked up Minnalis, taking a deep breath even with my head pounding.

「Her blood is… I'll get an HP Potion!」

「What she needs right now is an MP Potion. Her wounds are fine. Also, get me an Antidote!」

「G-got it!」

「Thanks.」

I placed Minnalis' limp body in my lap and emptied the bottles into her mouth. Hopefully, the MP Potion would bolster her magical immune system and the Antidote would counteract a weakened VP Poison. Hopefully, the VP Poison would just go away and stop causing problems.

VP Poison, also known as Vampirification Poison, turns the drinker into a Vampire and forms a bond of servitude between the drinker and whoever made the poison. I had always heard that only Pureblood Vampires could use it, but I was the last Pureblood Vampire and I certainly didn't do it.

「Hey! You're mumbling some weird stuff and it's starting to scare me. What's this about Vampires?」

Because I was the last remaining Pureblood Vampire, I never bothered learning how to deal with this sort of thing. Now I was desperately wishing I had listened when I had the chance.

「Hey! Are you doing ok?」

「Huh? Yes. Both Minnalis and I should be fine. For now at least, but…」

I check Minnalis' status again. Besides her MP being near-completely drained, everything else was back to normal. My inspection ability didn't work on Kuu, as usual, but its calm sleep indicated that it would be fine as well.

Occasionally, the cold wind would blow and it would snuggle deeper into Minnalis' clothes. When Kuu did this, the clothes would get disheveled and Minnalis would twist to protect her skin from the wind.

「If we let her sleep like this, she'll catch a cold. A blanket…」

I ripped my eyes away from her sleeping body and reached into my bag for a blanket, but at that very moment a whistling noise pierced the air as a magically reinforced arrow flew toward me. Faster than I could think, my body reacted by knocking it out of the air.

「Really?! Who are you, anyway?」

「What are you doing to my Minnalis! Get away from her!」

The sudden intruder was a human girl, looking slightly older than I was, with her golden hair cut short. Her eyes were filled with anger as she held her bow drawn and loaded in my direction.

「This is exactly what I've been saying! This isn't the kind of story where you can cram in new developments willy-nilly! Give it a rest already!」

Looking back, it's always been like this. Whenever there's trouble, it always keeps coming and piling up. The universe must hate me.