Chapter 490 The Monster That Grows Stronger With Every Battle

Before long,

“ROAR——!!!”

From deep within the darkness, the monster’s roar sounded once more.

Rattle-rattle-rattle……

At the same time, the scraping of countless chains echoed through the blackness.

Hulim Heyerar took a deep breath, sharpening her focus to its limit, standing guard on all sides.

Rattle——!

In an instant,

the sound of chains suddenly sharpened.

“It’s coming!”

Hulim snapped her gaze toward one direction.

“It’s over here——!”

Boom!

Crimson light burst forth, destroying innumerable chains.

At the same time, she burst into high-speed movement once more.

Boom! Boom! Boom……

Crimson beams flew without stop, batting away every chain that drew near.

“Roar!”

The monster’s voice drew closer from the darkness again.

Hulim glanced over, and saw that its body had returned to its original size.

Yet there were differences……

The monster no longer bore any human shape. It resembled a mountain of writhing flesh, sprouting dozens of heads and limbs, with countless chains stretching into the darkness beyond.

“……”

Even Hulim felt a wave of revulsion at the sight.

“A creature that never should have existed in this world.”

She extended her right hand, aiming straight for the monster.

Boom——!

A crimson beam pierced straight through its body in an instant.

Rip!

Yet the monster discarded that portion of flesh at inhuman speed—far faster than it had before.

The rest of its body squirmed rapidly, restoring its mountain-of-flesh form in the blink of an eye.

What’s more…… it had grown even larger.

“……Adaptive evolution.”

Hulim felt a deep, gnawing sense of dread.

“Troublesome.”

Buzz! Buzz!

A massive crimson light beam exploded outward.

……

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Boom! Boom! Boom……

The battle dragged on for ages.

Hulim’s attacks struck the monster’s body more times than she could count.

But every single time, the monster shed the damaged flesh at blistering speed—and the speed only grew faster, its movements more practiced. Its size had swelled to nearly double what it had been at the start.

At a certain moment,

“ROAR——!!!”

The monster let out a thunderous, earth-shaking roar.

Rattle-rattle-rattle……

From the darkness, a flood of chains crashed forward like a tidal wave.

“Not good!”

Hulim’s face paled.

The creature’s power had broken through a threshold. It intended to end this in one strike!

She spun around at once and shouted:

“Get out of the way——!”

But even the warning came too late.

There was nowhere left to run.

“Eep——!”

Prarlulu shrieked, swept away by the chains into the darkness, vanishing from sight.

Hena was knocked by a chain toward the lava lake.

In the blink of an eye, she was moments from falling into the boiling magma.

Shwoop!

Miko leaped over, caught her with one arm, and clung desperately to the cliff edge with the other.

“……”

Staring down at the churning lava below, a cold sweat dripped down Miko’s face.

That was close……

Even as she breathed a silent sigh of relief,

their situation had not improved in the slightest.

Rattle-rattle-rattle……

The sound of moving chains echoed endlessly above them, ready to strike down at any moment.

To be attacked here meant certain death, falling into the fire below.

Miko gritted her teeth and shouted at the top of her lungs:

“Hena! Wake up! Snap out of it! Don’t let that thing trap you any longer——!”

“……”

On the platform above,

Hulim watched as her companions were swept away.

“Prarlulu! Miko!”

Boom——!!!

A sweep of crimson light

cut down hundreds of chains.

Hulim took the opening and dashed toward where they had stood moments ago.

But Prarlulu was gone without a trace. Miko and Hena hung from the cliff edge, their lives hanging by a thread.

She had no time to wonder what had become of Prarlulu. Hulim moved at once to save the two before her.

“Roar——!”

The monster saw right through her intent.

It wielded its countless chains, unleashing a nonstop barrage of attacks.

“……Get out of my way!”

Boom——!

A crimson beam blasted straight toward the monster.

But just as before, the monster discarded the struck flesh with ease.

To make things worse,

the many faces twisted into its flesh wore grins of smug triumph,

as if mocking Hulim for her powerlessness to save her imperiled friends……

At the cliff edge,

Rattle.

One chain spotted Miko hanging there, slithering slowly downward.

It coiled up her arm, wrapping around her entire body,

then began to tighten.

“Ugh……”

Agony contorted Miko’s face, and her right arm holding Hena went slack.

Hena’s body fell once more toward the lava below.

Snap——!

Miko’s right arm suddenly stretched, and she grabbed Hena’s tail.

But as the chains squeezed tighter, her breathing grew ragged, her strength fading fast.

“Hena……”

She glanced painfully at the girl in her arms.

Her trembling right arm felt as though it held a mountain, a burden so heavy it threatened to snap, screaming at her to let go.

Miko ground her teeth until she thought they would shatter, clinging on with every fiber of her being.

“Damn…… you…… I won’t…… let you fall——!”

Miko opened her mouth wide and bit down hard on Hena’s tail.

Crack!

Her sharp fangs pierced the skin beneath the fur at once. Her overtaxed right arm found a moment’s reprieve.

Even so, their situation had not improved in the least.

The chains continued to constrict, and Miko’s consciousness began to fade……

As her vision blurred, she did not notice the change taking place in Hena.

The second her tail was bitten,

Hena—who had been frozen helpless by terror—jolted violently.

A sharp, searing pain burst into her mind, rising from the deepest depths of her memory.

She stared blankly, lost in a daze.

……

“I bite!”

Crunch.

“Oww——!!!”

The agony shooting through her tail made Hena leap into the air, spinning in circles wildly.

But even that could not shake the small head clamped onto her tail.

“What are you doing?! Rita! That hurts——!”

The tiny head finally let go.

“You’re cheating! I know it! You always peek during hide-and-seek!”

“Ngh……”

Hena hugged her tail, eyes welling with tears, rubbing the bitten spot over and over.

“You didn’t have to bite my tail! You do this every time—you’re gonna bite it bald!”

“Hmph, I don’t care! You started it!”

“Ugh, Rita——! Grrr——!”

Hena tackled Rita to the ground, scribbling her underarms mercilessly.

“That’s for biting me! That’s for biting me!”

“Hahaha, s-stop…… hahaha, I give up! I surrender, big sister!”

“You gonna do it again?”

“N-no……”

“Huh?”

“Hahaha…… I won’t! Never again!”

“Hmph~ that’s what I thought.” Hena released Rita, satisfied.

Rita stood silently, brushed herself off, took a few steps away, then spun back around.

“Pfft! You’re just a big, cheating dummy——!”

“Rita——!”

“Can’t catch me can’t catch me!”

Laughter and shouts of the two wolf-eared girls echoed through the forest.

And then……

In the blink of an eye,

Crack! Snap!

A pillar of fire exploded into the sky, lighting up the night of the forest.