Chapter 94: Shadow Tentacles! (33)

"……"

He hesitated, then raised a finger and gently grasped the semi-transparent tentacle, giving it a little shake up and down.

Cool to the touch, with a slight elasticity.

Mm.

Case closed—it's her!

You damned tentacle monster, you were the one taking liberties with me from behind just now!

"Nie Nasha, are you really hiding inside my shadow right now?"

【"Of course~ not. How could I possibly hide in a place like that? I've always been inside your soul; manipulating shadows is just the form it takes."】

【"I can do even more, for example..."】

The shadow tentacle melted, slipped free from his hand, swayed smugly, shifted into the shapes of a palm, a blade, and an axe, then swiftly returned to its original form.

【"As for the material I need..."】

The shadow tentacle moved downward, fumbled around Herbert's leg for a moment, and finally slipped into his trouser pocket.

!?!?

"Wait, what are you doing? You... mm?"

Before Herbert could dodge, the tentacle rummaged carefully inside the pocket and pulled out a crystalline, tender leaf.

This leaf was one Herbert had plucked from the rattan chair out of boredom when he went to see Svani earlier, and had unconsciously stuffed into his pocket.

【"This one will do nicely."】

Herbert:?

【"Mm, what were you nervous about just now? I felt your heartbeat speed up."】

"Nothing. Mind your own business."

【"Oh~"】

Herbert's face set in determination. Ignoring the trickster god's prying gaze, he stared intently at the leaf as if he had discovered a whole new world.

"You said this is monster material?"

【"Yes~ Didn't you notice?"】

"... I really didn't."

Herbert raised his hand to take the leaf from the tentacle, but the moment the thought crossed his mind, the tentacle automatically delivered the leaf into his hand.

"Mm?"

Herbert suddenly realized something and tried issuing commands to the tentacle.

Sure enough, there was no need to speak at all—the moment a thought surfaced in his mind, the tentacle immediately performed the corresponding action.

The movements were nimble and agile, without the slightest delay, as natural as moving his own arm.

It felt as if Herbert had grown a third arm!

Thinking this, the tip of the tentacle morphed into a palm, its fingers moving in rhythm with his thoughts.

Still, this thing looks oddly familiar somehow.

Let me think...

The palm flexed back and forth a few times, and finally jogged Herbert's memory.

Right.

The Invisible Hand!

Mm, but since you can be seen, you're—the Visible Hand!

Alright, now I can go be a knockoff Bishop of Sloth...

Nie Nasha, not noticing that Herbert was thinking about cosplay, said smugly: 【"Happy? Hehe, this is just a small little power I can grant you right now."】

【"As long as you want, this shadow tentacle can become your third hand—you can do anything with it."】

【"Right now it can only exert high-tier power, but in the future it can grow even stronger! Become thicker and more powerful."】

【"By the way, I can control the others; this one is entirely yours, I won't try to seize control from you."】

As soon as Nie Nasha finished speaking, five pitch-black shadow tentacles rose from the shadow and thrust themselves right in front of Herbert's face—one of them lunged a bit too hard and nearly poked into his mouth.

In the dimly lit room, before the handsome, bright-eyed youth swayed five tentacles that were black, thick, and constantly wriggling... the scene looked frankly a little too stimulating.

To be fair, if any outsider saw this scene, they would probably not be able to help letting their imagination run wild.

But Herbert's mind wasn't on those tentacles that could be mosaicked over; instead, he was staring at the leaf, examining it closely.

Why would Nie Nasha say this leaf was monster material?

Could it be that that tree was also a plant-type monster?

Finally, at the stem of the leaf he spotted something off.

What appeared at the broken end of the stem was not plant fiber, but extremely, extremely fine muscle-like grain.

"This isn't a leaf, it's... flesh and blood?"

【"Correct."】

"In other words, it's not 'it,' but... 'her'?"

Herbert narrowed his eyes, feeling that the development of this matter was somewhat beyond his expectations.

That great tree made into a treehouse wasn't actually grown by Svani from a seed, nor transplanted in from outside.

Rather, she had evolved it from her own flesh and blood?

【"Exactly! Just as you thought—that great tree isn't actually a tree, it's a creation made from part of her flesh and blood."】

【"In a certain sense, that entire tree is her body. Every time you enter the treehouse, you're actually entering inside her~"】

Hiss—

What the hell is Saya no Uta!?

【"Ha……"】

Nie Nasha was also somewhat moved, but her perspective differed from Herbert's shock; she was sighing in admiration:

【"That little one's research on flesh-and-blood modification is already no worse than that of some flesh-type evil creatures."】

【"If her research can advance a little further, she might be able to turn that entire Tree of Flesh into her very own body."】

"Do I really have to eat it?"

Herbert instinctively felt some resistance.

【"There, there~ there's nothing to be afraid of."】

Nie Nasha soothed him with a smile: 【"Besides, I have a feeling it might grant you some rather excellent abilities!"】

【"Especially in the area of bodily modification — which is exactly what you need most right now, isn't it?"】

Herbert sighed and nodded helplessly.

This really was the ability he needed most at the moment.

【"So, open your mouth~"】

Herbert looked at the leaf, his brow twitching, feeling something rather odd — as if he had become a cannibal……

But on second thought, he figured it was nothing — he'd already eaten scales, fresh blood, and hair; was he going to balk at this?

There was no turning back anyway!

"……I really do owe you one."

Herbert sighed, then decisively opened his mouth and bit down on the leaf in one go.

Puchi.

When his teeth pressed against the leaf, what came out was not the crisp snap of biting through a vegetable, but a bizarre texture like chewing on beef jerky.

Crunch, crunch.

But the taste wasn't bad — no blood or other strange odors, only a faint, fresh plant fragrance.

Gulp.

"This 'vegetarian meat' — no, this 'meat dish' is only three points, five at most……"

Just as Herbert was savoring it and giving his rating, his consciousness suddenly went black.

When he opened his eyes again, he had already entered another world.

"This place is……"

Unlike the previous few times, this time Herbert felt that his body had not changed — it was still in its original form.

However, what was somewhat unsettling was that he was now in a bizarre world constructed entirely of crimson flesh and blood.

When he stepped on the ground, he could hear it breathing and heaving.

When he turned his head, he could see flowers made of flesh opening crimson eyes at him.

The entire world was alive!

"What the hell kind of place is this……"

Today: three chapters. I've had a cold for several days now.

I counted — in these 9 days I've added 11 chapters (or 15 if you count by the daily 4,000-word update standard).

The update volume during the new-book period is a bit much; I was advised to slow down, so I'll stockpile drafts for now and update hard once it goes on the shelves.

At that point the updates will probably be a base of 6,000 plus 4,000 extra chapters, daily ten-thousand-word updates until the extra chapters are paid off. (Or maybe I'll keep at it until I can't hold on anymore.)

The plan is one extra chapter for every 100 initial subscriptions, 15 extra chapters at 1,500 initial subscriptions, 20 extra chapters at 2,000 initial subscriptions, and so on.

The main idea is to burn myself out to light the way for everyone.

Let's go, let's go, let's go!

……

This month's Alliance Leader extra chapters (3/3), this month's monthly-ticket extra chapters (6/7)

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(End of this chapter)