Chapter 98: Feral Harmony

Harmony. That was the word Simon would use as he and his party engaged the suits of armor, every single one of them acting as though they were a limb of a single organism. It was amazing to see how they went from accidentally punching each other to near-perfect coordination in less than 24 hours.

However, despite this, their opponents were posing a genuine challenge to Simon and his monster girls. The reason was simple: their opponents used metal objects and had a range advantage with their two crossbows at the back.

Simon already knew neither Bitsy nor Purr could take a direct hit if the cuts and gashes were anything to go by. Liz was doing a bit better with her scales but not by much. Stone was the only one who was immune to their implements, but she was the slowest in their group and the opponents they were facing were faster than her by a margin, making it hard to leverage that advantage. Bitsy's lower carapace also held a similar advantage but it was not transmitted to her humanoid upper torso which was much softer and a weakness the two in the back were abusing to keep her relatively pinned in place.

This was a marked increase in difficulty and it came from nowhere. Up to this point, his team had been pretty much stomping the competition. So this came as a surprise but not an unwelcome one.

A growl escaped his lips as a rather smile appeared on his lips. The young man himself did not notice but following that smile, every single one of his monster girls became more aggressive. In the heat of combat, he did not notice because the change was very slight and he was still very much a novice in the arts of battle but it was there.

What was also there was that the strength and speed of their attacks also went up by a very small fraction. This too went unchecked by our hero as he focused on the range attackers. This fight was difficult purely because they were in the fray. Out of everyone here, he would say Bitsy was his strongest combatant given her immense bulk and absurdly powerful lower half.

Changes were happening all across Simon's body as he focused on this problem, his ideas becoming more feral with each passing second. This was mirrored by his monster girls who seemed to become faster and stronger with passing second.

There were also physical changes that accosted his body, namely a small layer of fur coating his skin along with yellow canine eyes. His teeth grew longer and sharper similar to his nails which now looked more like claws.

"Move." He said, his voice several octaves deeper and coming out with a very strong gravel.

Bitsy obeyed as she blitzed forward at the ranged attackers. Almost immediately she suffered two bolts, one to her waist and the other at the center of her chest. But this hardly stopped her momentum as she barreled through the melee bowling over two of the melee opponents right in front of her. Purr who should have also been rolled over instinctively knew and sidestepped the charge giving them a very big advantage as two of the threats were now prone.

Two more bolts struck her torso as she passed the melee but like the first volley, she ignored both bolts even though both struck her chest this time.

After realizing the futility of their actions, both tried to sidestep but were not fast enough, and unlike Purr both got hit by one of her legs sprawling them to the side.

"Go right." He said in a low growl as he leaped off her back and pounced on the left-prone archer.

Bitsy obeyed and in a single move skewered the spirit by stabbing the pointy end of her front legs through her opponent. Simon heard a crack and the flaming spirit started rapidly dissipating.

All the while, he was not idle he raked his claws through the monster girl's leather vest tearing it clean off. Underneath lay the feminine torso that was common to all monster girls complete with breasts whose tips were of a slightly different color of flame to imitate nipples. Inside her chest lay a glowing spherical gem.

Simon plunged his right arm inside, a part of him surprised to find resistance as though he was moving through a very thick liquid. The rest of him did not care as he wrapped his fingers around the gem and squeezed hard.

The gem let out a satisfying crack and in a wordless scream, his opponent dissipated a cloud of prismatic light leaving behind the crossbow, torn leather, and cracked gem.

This act signaled the end of the fight as the opening they had created with their charge broke the stranglehold and the melee fighters were ganged on and finished off.

He peered around, finding everyone bruised but otherwise fine. The only one that actually suffered grievous injuries was Bitsy but he was sure that his pack would be up and running after a quick meal.

Adrenaline slowly left his body and after calming down somewhat Simon gave a slow blink.

"What just happened?"