Ch.56The Forest of Demonic Beasts (2)

The axe I swung meant nothing to the wasps as they charged toward me. Just like the giant hornets I’d seen in my past life, once they targeted someone, they pursued relentlessly.

Facing them, I gripped my chain and swung my axe.

My Chain Mastery trait and the dexterity enhancement from Predator Ratel taught me how to wield weapons despite never having used one before.

The axe danced through the wasps, cutting them down. I struck down so many that I couldn’t retrieve my axe back to my hand.

But there were simply too many wasps. Eventually, one evaded my axe strikes and latched onto me.

It bit down on my arm—but my hide was extremely resistant to physical damage. The wasp seemed surprised by its inability to harm me and bit down even harder… but it only managed to gnaw at my skin. I switched the axe to my other hand, grabbed the creature clinging to my arm, and tore it off.

It had been clinging so tightly that even though I grabbed it by the body, its legs remained embedded in my arm.

I crushed the wasp in my hand. With a squelching sound, it burst, spraying green blood.

I tossed the carcass aside and refocused on the swarm, but I’d been distracted too long by that single wasp.

In an instant, wasps surrounded me. Though I could feel my Chain Mastery and Predator Ratel traits gradually improving my chain handling and axe skills, I decided bare fists would be more effective at this range and threw my axe to the ground.

THUD—

CLATTER—

The axe and chain made a loud noise as they hit the ground, and the wasps charged in response to the sound.

As they came at me from all directions, I met them with my fists.

WHAM!!!!

WHAM!!!

Though countless wasps clung to my body, I focused on dealing with those still flying around me.

I smashed them against the ground, wrapped them in my tail and used it like a flail, or struck them down.

My arms and legs moved without rest, and my tail swung continuously, methodically dealing with the creatures that couldn’t penetrate my hide.

STAB——!!

“Mmmmrgh—!?”

A sharp pain jolted me to attention. The wasps, realizing their jaws were ineffective, had resorted to their primary weapon—stingers.

With dozens clinging to my body, I tried to shake them off by discharging electricity.

CRACKLE—!!

But the wasps on my body ignored the lightning, spread their wings, and began lifting me.

I was shocked to feel my feet leave the ground.

More wasps joined in, helping to lift my body into the air. I grabbed and crushed as many as I could reach, but…

There were simply too many.

They continued stinging me, indifferent to their comrades’ deaths. Fortunately, the stingers only penetrated my hide without reaching the muscle beneath.

BOOM———!!!!!

Just as I had that thought, the stingers embedded in my body exploded.

Their stingers weren’t venomous—they were explosive. The stingers they’d planted in my skin detonated with a thunderous noise, shredding my hide.

The explosive force of dozens, hundreds of stingers affected even the wasps carrying me, but…

They seemed immune to their own explosions and continued flying upward, eventually dropping me from hundreds of meters in the air.

* * * * *

‘Khan!’

Mary, watching from a distance, realized Khan was gradually being overwhelmed.

The greatest advantage of insect monsters was their numbers and coordination. Additionally, insects were creatures of pure muscle with no fat.

Wasps of that size would be stronger than monsters of equivalent rank. Khan’s weight was substantial—his footsteps made the ground tremble.

Yet just four wasps managed to lift him into the air, and as more joined, they completely covered his body and carried him skyward.

The sphere of wasps rose higher and higher. Mary couldn’t understand how they could fly like that, but the sight left her speechless.

Then came the explosion. The massive blast that engulfed the sphere was as bright as the red light participants had launched from Elvenheim.

When the smoke cleared and the wasps dispersed, Khan could be seen falling. Fortunately, he hadn’t lost consciousness and was positioning himself as he fell.

But even from a distance, Mary could see Khan was in bad shape. The explosion had scorched his skin in places, and patches of hide had been blown away, exposing muscle.

Seeing this, Mary kept her distance, waiting for Khan to hit the ground.

She was too far away for her healing magic to reach him, and the impact of something with Khan’s weight hitting the ground would be tremendous.

CRASH——!!!!

Sure enough, Khan hit the ground with tremendous force, leaving a massive crater.

The impact sent shockwaves across the area, and the ground beneath Khan couldn’t bear his weight, sending debris flying upward.

The ground cracked in all directions, like an honor guard around Khan. The dust obscured his form, but then…

Crackle…

The sound of electricity confirmed Khan was still alive.

At that sound, the wasps regrouped and charged toward where Khan had landed, though their numbers had greatly diminished.

Many must have died while lifting Khan, as there were far fewer than the swarm that had previously filled the sky.

But even reduced, they were still numerous. As this mass of wasps dove toward the ground…

WHOOSH——!!!

A boulder sliced a wasp in two. Not satisfied with just one, the rock continued on to crush four more wasps before disappearing into the distance.

Crackle…

GRRRR——

A low growl emanated from where Khan had landed, accompanied by the crackling of electricity.

As the dust cleared, Khan came into view. Smoke poured from his mouth and nose from the explosions, and in several places his hide was gone, exposing muscle.

Around Khan, rocks orbited, bound by lightning.

And along the lightning flowed small black particles. They were difficult to see as they intertwined with Khan’s black lightning, but…

Mary could clearly see these black particles swirling within Khan’s black lightning.

ROOOAR——!!!!

Khan began swinging his lightning-wrapped axe, sending lightning-bound rocks flying.

The wasps dodged the rocks but had to approach to harm Khan.

Those that tried to get too close were cut in half by the rocks, and gradually the area around Khan filled with wasp carcasses.

The lightning wielding the rocks and cutting enemies in half, combined with the axe slicing through the air, resembled a nine-headed hydra on a rampage.

As the wasps that had dominated the sky gradually disappeared until only seven remained…

They finally turned tail and fled. Khan, unwilling to let them escape, hurled all his lightning-bound rocks at them and grabbed the chain attached to his axe.

WHOOSH—— WHOOSH—— WHOOSH——!!!

Khan grabbed the end of the chain and spun it wildly, then released it with a tremendous sound, sending the lightning-wrapped chain and axe flying.

The five-meter axe with its twenty-meter chain, crackling with black lightning, flew toward the wasps that had dodged the rocks…

The lightning wrapped around the chain and axe transformed into chain-like forms that bound the wasps.

As the seven wasps struggled against their bonds, the axe blade struck them precisely, and they splattered green fluid across the ground.

GRRRROOOAR——!!!

Though patches of his hide were gone exposing muscle, and he was covered in the wasps’ green fluids, Khan roared in victory, unconcerned.

* * * * *

This battle was harder than I expected. Wasps only a third of my size demonstrated incredible strength, lifting me with just a few of them.

Their jaws couldn’t harm me, but they embedded their stingers in my skin and detonated them inside, destroying my hide and exposing muscle.

And then they began biting at the exposed muscle.

Once my hide—my shield—was gone, the wasps mercilessly tore at my muscles, leaving deep wounds. As a result, one arm wasn’t moving well, and my neck felt stiff, suggesting it was also badly injured.

I never expected my hide, which could withstand even Masters’ auras to some extent, would fail against internal explosions.

I learned that while my hide was strong against physical impacts and cuts, it was vulnerable to explosions from within. This taught me to be more cautious with unfamiliar creatures as I searched for Mary.

“Mmrr? (Mary?)”

Could she have been caught in the impact when I hit the ground? Or when I attacked the wasps with lightning-bound rocks? Or when I was spinning the chain?

As I searched for her with various worries, a warm green light enveloped my wounds, healing them. Realizing Mary was alive, I felt relieved.

“Mmm mrrr— (You’re alive. Thank goodness.)”

I had assumed she’d kept her distance during my rampage, but I was worried when she didn’t appear after the battle ended.

Then Mary revealed herself. After carefully healing my wounds, she patted my head and spoke.

“That was dangerous. But wasps like these weren’t in the Forest of Demonic Beasts… Could there be a territorial dispute?”

“Mrrr—? (Territorial dispute?)”

“Yes. Demonic beasts and insect-type monsters don’t get along at all. Humans call this the Forest of Demonic Beasts, so we do too, because of the owner sleeping in the center of the forest who went on a rampage long ago when claiming this place. But there are also many insect-type monsters here. They’re vicious and violent, often invading other territories and stealing food, which is why the two groups don’t get along.”

“Mrrr, mmrr (But, the demonic beasts seemed too frightened for that. For a territorial dispute… they were running away in terror.)”

“Hmm… that is strange. Were-beasts don’t forgive intruders in their territory… Could a new challenger have appeared?”

I didn’t know what was happening in the forest, but thinking that more opponents meant more opportunities, we finally entered the forest.