Chapter 81: An evolution of circumstances

“[True Blood - Crimson Drizzle]~!” <Eel>

As one can imagine from a skill named that - Eel thrust out a sword she picked up while leaping backwards - blades of blood red aura rained down on the {Kobolt} squad. At first the little lizard men were confused that their ancestor was attacking them yet it quickly turned into horror as the scales they were proud of did nothing. Those raindrops of death completely easily punctured through their bodies to kill them all essentially instantly.

Unfortunately this time it wasn’t as easy as last time as there wasn’t just two squads from either monster tribe to deal with. As it were both tribes were absolutely massive due to nobody taking care of them which means the resources they had were equally as massive yet that also enhanced their greed as well which led to this situation. This ‘situation’ being Eel jumping head first into their conflict.

The open yet flat grasslands made for a perfect battlefield yet it also made the airborne Eel a massive target that soon gained the ire of both factions. So arrows came flying from her right while swarms of magic arrows & balls sailed in towards her from the left. Still that savage grin never left her face as she gritted her teeth.

With absolute confidence she kicked off the air where a black thread suddenly appeared allowing her to flip herself forwards with the explosion caused from the colliding attacks covering her escape… Of course she wasn’t satisfied with 20 or so lizards so on the apex of her jump when she was essentially upside down she pulled her knees up to her chest before kicking her legs out full power once more. Just like before two black threads gave her purchase as she savagely shot down like a meteor into the front line where sword and claws met.

A holy light washed over her filling her muscles with renewed conviction in her strength. A flame shot slithered around her body, down her arm till wreathing the head of her bone-spear in her left with its potent fire. Above all else she felt the calm energy of nature itself guiding her body in such a way to push her far past any limits she believed she had… Although she would also like a buff from Promicarus who clearly would have some she knew not to expect anything.

Reeling her spear backwards she thrust it forth causing the clouds to vanish revealing her heroic visage to all the monsters making them turn to see her. Her skin had become red from her blood magic yet a golden glow outlined her muscles while green energy enhanced everything from her heart to her smallest caparies all linking back. Essentially she was enhanced to the point where even her own enhancement was enhanced as she was able to push her body past anything.

<To think a simple suggestion from Alexis to have more faith in my comrades abilities to help me directly could lead to so much… More! Maybe if I never sent Emily & Fuka away when facing the sub-dragons I would have never been caught up long enough for {Sovereign of Storms} to humility? At the very least I’m sure I could take on Icky’s masterpiece directly now!>

“I am the hero - hear me roar!” <Eel>

That call contained all the power expected from her powerful bloodlines - truly more akin to the roar of a beast than a hero. The monsters who descended from beasts could hardly ignore her as they all felt their blood boil to the point of injury. This mass report of injury only increased as her spear collided with ground.

It was almost as if time had ironically frozen for those monsters closest to her.

They simply stared at the little girl as the flaming spear hit the floor only for that to be the herald for the hero’s true roar. Their entire world went red as the flames spread out scorching the grassland past the point of being a mere black but rather causing the earth itself to begin to set alight glowing a purple as it crystallized under the force and pressure. Of course there was a limit to the range of the heat wave being lethal yet as if mocking their desperation for survival the black smog washed over causing the grass under it to yet alight while sticking to the bodies of those monsters.

As it were, the {Kobolt’s} side were lucky as they only had to brush off the heated material off their sturdy heat resistant scales while abandoning any formation. In comparison the {Kobalt}’s covered in fur from head to toe had it much worse as the substance quickly lit their beautiful pelts on fire leading to their horrific cries echoing through the battlefield. Then again everywhere around this hell like scene since even the lizards had no way to regulate their temperature were suffering internally.

Yet in this mist of pain and despair from a supposed hero nobody had any way out since the fog was so heavy it seemed as if the wind itself couldn’t breach it. Their powerful senses overpowered while opening their eyes would rely in them boiling out their heads. Most importantly there was something that had all the monsters worried… As beings made from mana they were more sensitive to it so they could feel the abnormalities.

Not only that… But they weren’t the only monster left in this

“Something is wrong…” <Emily>

From the side Elizabeth’s Paradise B-team (+2) stood however nobody except Alexis was smiling while gazing at the scene with heavy hearts. All they could hear were the occasional horrific screams from their enemies with no sight of their plucky leader - not even that smug chuckle of hers which she usually couldn’t help but let out. The sound of flesh & scale being gouged thus only made the situation more worrying.

It had been only 2 days since they started their hunting mission with Alexis & Lyada joining up on the second day. Against Eel’s predictions instead of sending less people into human territories both the tribes ended up sending more as if they were searching for something. So at that comment Alexis stood beside her as they both stood behind their own frontline fighters.

“Well~ it’s actually quite simple with the little cub pulling quite the rookie mistake in forgetting she herself held the powerful bloodlines both tribes worship. Sensing a powerful fox and a power dragon bloodline both tribes likely though their ‘ancestors’ were battling for them so sent support to their boss. Obviously it was neithe-” <Alexis>

“You know she isn’t talking about that you cunning hag - she’s talking about your little scheme by getting-!” <Promicarus>

“Oh~ I have no idea what your talking about ‘scheme’ but I don’t much like the way your glaring at me considering this should have nothing to do with you hohoho~?” <Alexis>

“*Tch* As expected from something riding the coattails of the Venus bloodline, pretty smiles and obnoxious laughs while happily planning your next set of war crimes…” <Promicarus>

Although the ‘Demon Lord’ mumbled the last part she didn’t change the death glare she was giving towards Alexis as she turned to look towards the field of smoke. At the reaction of the usually calm Promicarus unable to even keep up her character how could the other three not feel intense worry. Everyone knew the mini-monster duo were tsundere for each other yet seeing Promicarus biting on her metal coated nails causing a soft ‘clack’ how could they remain calm.

Emily of course was the most worried.

“The smog itself isn’t normal and instead seems closer in nature to those purple flames yet at the same far different. Like… Like how intent works maybe? As for the mana… It’s receding into the smog then retreating back yet growing less dense every time like a beating heart that isn’t able to keep up with the intensity…” <Emily>

“What… What could cause something like that?” <Fuka>

“Evolution?” <Lyada>

“Possibly…” <Emily>

“I mean… We all slept through it when Emily did it but we know that Leaf was at least complaining about a lack of mana afterwards. Could this just be the same thing of a monster evolving due to this weird situation triggering the right conditions?” <Fuka>

As monster hunters - adventurers - they of course knew of the phenomenon called evolution in which a creature (usually monsters) undergoes ‘evolution’ into a higher ranked variant. The process obviously takes a lot of mana so it isn’t unexpected for all the mana in the area to be sapped dry. On top of that it wasn’t as if evolution can only happen to monsters since as Fuka mentioned it is the very process Emily did when she ‘clensed herself’ of dwarf to evolve into a part succubus part cow-kin.

“Such a weak creature like those monsters would never be able to directly evolve into something impressive enough to cause this kind of phenomenon.” <Promicarus>

They blinked for a moment due to Promicarus actually giving helpful information for once yet turning to her they found her glaring at Alexis as if trying to burn a hole through her.

“So… Is it Beth?” <Emily>

“Unfortunately that’s very likely unless another C+ ranked monster managed to sneak past us without the notice of the hag.” <Promicarus>

Hearing the ‘unfortunately’ all calm vanished from Emily’s face as she didn’t even wait for the girl to finish before she charged towards the smoke. Fuka was shocked the girl was able to sprint that quickly - even as she tripped to fall face first into the dirt her legs didn’t stop pushing her forward as she just used her hands to forcibly push herself back up. Luckily before she could charge into the literal flames Lyada swooped in to lift her up by scooping her up by the arms yet even then Emily uncharacteristically kicked Lyada, thrashing around in a pitiful attempt to escape while clawing towards smoke.

“Seems she figured it out…” <Promicarus>

“I’m sure she’ll be fine~.” <Alexis>

“Are you really or are you just following some dumb promise you gave her?” <Promicarus>

“...” <Alexis>

Tears ran down Emily’s chubby cheeks while those drowsy eyes have never been wider. Her voice going hoarse as she called out from Elizabeth making even the unemotive Lyada frown while looking towards Fuka with concern. In return all Fuka could do was give her lover the exact same look before turning to Promicarus the second most knowledgeable about these matters while also being the most experienced quite clearly.

“Explain what's happening.” <Fuka>

Promicarus spent a second looking at Fuka as if ascertaining what she was thinking about before closing her eyes while letting out a long sigh. Turning back away yet instead of glaring at Alexis she walked down towards the smoke yet unlike Emily she could not appear more calm yet that in itself was weird. There was none of the laziness as she reached into two forming rifts to pull out large blades she had to drag across the ground just to carry - a soft muttering of ‘that idiot’ as she did so.

“Evolution is a process so like many others it has stages with the first being to gather mana to expand the core, then fill the core and use that to reform the body. You’re smart for a goblin so you should have already noted I said nothing about any ‘releasing’ of mana like we’re experiencing here and now. That is because I gave the stages in the case of a successful evolution…” <Promicarus>

“Then…” <Fuka>

Fuka’s eyes widened and sure enough Promicarus filled in the details soon enough as she came to stand in front of the smog. Feeling the heat radiating from it smoldering her skin she couldn’t help grin a little - she couldn’t help being a little excited. Yet that soon faded back to a frown at the realization she didn’t want it to end like this.

“At present the idiot doesn’t have a core so her body is desperately sucking up all the mana while then trying to complete the evolution. Though with nowhere to store it, it all comes rushing back out leaving her body desperate to gather more. If I had to explain the situation it’s less like a heart pumping blood and more like punctured lungs.” <Promicarus>

“Shit, then what happens when there is no more mana…” <Fuka>

“Correct; she’ll suffocate.” <Promicarus>

Promicarus stepped forth once more causing Fuka’s eyes to widen.

“Wait, then what are you going to do!” <Fuka>

“Kekeke I’m going to do what I do best - beat some sense into that idiot till she wakes up and figures out how to use sealing on herself muhahaha~!” <Promicarus>

With that she headed into the smog without so much as turning back causing the paladin to curse out before charging in behind the girl. Even if she didn’t like Promicarus she at least knew it was dangerous there and Elizabeth was likely both the biggest danger as well as the one in the most danger. That being the case, how could Fuka abandon them!

As for how all this came to be, that would require going back a day…