275 – [Flesh Transformation]

“…Ve? Ve?”

The abyss wriggles its legs, struggling.
But with its view blocked and dangled in the air, all it can do is squirm aimlessly.

“…”

It’s great that she was able to grab it right away, but it doesn’t look like she knows what to do from here.
Even though she’s touching it, she’s not even flinching.
Is what I thought, but then she turns to me with a pleading look in her eyes.

…Is she on the verge of tears? No, I understand wanting to cry after grabbing something like that.
When I first touched them, I was super disgusted, too.

“Veeeeh! VeeEeeheh!”

The abyss writhes, and Aro starts to panic.

…For that matter, what’s with that arm? Her arm’s swollen up a lot bigger than normal, and her nails are particularly sinister, their tips sharp.

Did she have a skill like that? No wait, she did.
If I remember right, she’s got a normal skill called [Flesh Transformation].
By nature, revaana make their body out of earth.
This sort of thing might be their speciality.

With a burst of strength, Aro squeezes down on its head.
Her nails pierce its body, deforming it.

“VeEeeh! Veheeh!”

The abyss’ writhing becomes even more violent.
Aro gulps, glaring at it as she prepares herself.

“[Gale]!”

Just as I notice magic power accumulating at the tip of her swollen arm, she cries out and a gale bursts forth.
Her fingers and the back of her hand crumble away, and the abyss that was in the centre of the effect is sent flying as though flicked away.
The crumbling doesn’t stop at the back of her hand, but continues up to her shoulder from the backlash of the wind.

As she raises her shoulder, her swollen arm crumbles into sand in its entirety, falling to the ground.
Then, pushing aside the remains of her swollen arm, her usual, thin arm makes its appearance… That rough arm was a bit shocking, but looked pretty useful.

“Vee…”

Half of the abyss’ legs have been lost and it’s on its back, leaking body fluids.
Its remaining legs expand and contract in an attempt to right itself, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be able to move any more.
After touching my tail to absorb some magic power, Aro raises both hands to the abyss.

“[Gale]!”

Receiving a direct hit from the tornado, it flies up into the air, sprinkling cream-coloured fluids before crashing into the ground.
This is the end for it.
Even if it’s still alive, it’s unable to fight.
One more [Gale] should be enough to finish it off.

【44 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 44 experience points have been acquired.】

What!? But I didn’t do anything!? …No, well I suppose I avoided it, supplied her with magic power, as well strengthened her magic.
I was hoping that wouldn’t count and it’d all go to Aro, but it doesn’t look like I was so lucky.

Though, well, most of it should have gone to her…

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Name: Aro
Species: Revaana Mage
Condition: Cursed
Lv: 17/30
HP: 78/84
MP: 54/93
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

…She went from level 14 to 17.
I-I thought her level’d go up a little bit more.
Certainly, she’s entering the slower mid levels, and the abyss she killed wasn’t all that high level, but to only get three levels… I’ve got [Dragon King’s Son] and [Walking Egg], so my sense of what normal progression looks like must be quite off…

Perhaps picking up on my disappointment, Aro hangs her head.

N-no, thinking about it differently, to go up three whole levels is excellent progress.
She can achieve that much with just a bit of effort.

Indeed, after she reaches level 20, I can know it’ll get even harder to level up.
But the strength of her magic will increase too.
Next time, it’ll be easier for her to bring down an abyss, and the time after that it’ll be even easier.
Since she can absorb my MP, she’s got a limitless supply.
My missing MP will automatically recover while I rest, after all.

Besides… They vanished, but there should still be two more of them skulking around here.

However, estimating the number of abysses she needs to hunt in order to evolve… At a minimum, it’s around fifteen.
At most, it’d be around thirty.
For the ball rabbit too, getting it D rank was easy, but… D to C is a wall… If it was that easy to evolve, there’d be evolved monsters all over the place.

I glance at Aro.
Looked at from a distance, she’s already pretty much indistinguishable from a human.
Next one, it should be the next one.
Judging from how the previous evolutions have gone, her appearance in her next evolution should be completely identical to a human.
As long as she doesn’t get some bizarre evolution.

It’s because that’s what she wants that she’s been trying so hard… Should we take a look for the abyss nest? If it really does exist, then she’d be able to rake up thirty abyss kills in no time at all.

While the abyss menace is present, taking separate action from Aro, the lesser treant, and the spiderlings is difficult.
Besides, I want to live up to the Lithovars’ hopes.

…I can go, probably.
I can fight a mountain of abysses while protecting Aro and the others.
I can crush eacj of them with a single swing of my arm.
I’m confident I can take on ten of them at the same time while taking hardly any damage.

I went into that red ant nest, after all.
Plus, I’m stronger that I was back then.
To be honest, since I’ve become an ouroboros, I haven’t seen any enemies stronger than me.
That hero was a bit dangerous, but with my current status, even with a handicap, I’d be able to hold him down, no problem.
About the abysses…

“Gaa…”

My partner cries out in apprehension.

『You’re not planning something strange, are you…?』

N-no, but, with the abysses running rampant, we’ve got to constantly keep an eye on Aro and the others… At this rate, if we don’t show up at the Lithovar village, they’ll get suspicious and will come check on the shrine… When that happens, won’t Aro get found out? In that case, won’t it be better if we take action…

“…”

A look of exhaustion floats on her face… I can empathise with her feelings of not wanting to see abysses.

『…Ah! Hey, behind!』

Hearing her warning, I fire off a [Wind Slash] to keep them in check.
It strikes empty ground, scattering a splash of dirt.
Startled, the two abysses that were crawling towards the spiderlings step back.

…Aro, can you keep going? You’ve got two more to bring down.
Since they’re good at erasing their presences, even if it looks like they’ve run away, they’ll keep attacking each time.
The next one should show up soon.