Paradigm Parasite

MC Pov

I was lying on the ground in a heap.

All of my equipment had been destroyed, and my sword was useless now that the hilt was broken.

The only things that were barely intact were my club and my clothes.

I had no intention of letting my guard down, but this was a disaster.

After that, I tried to disturb him by eating all the souls I could get my hands on, but it seemed to have gotten on his nerves.

He ran straight at me.

He looked like a dog and moved very fast.

I tried to dodge as quickly as I could, but with a swing of his arm, he blew me away and knocked me to the ground.

I defended myself with magic, but the damage was significant, and a quick check revealed that several of the auxiliary brains in my body were damaged, one of which had been completely crushed.

I inwardly clicked my tongue, and then turned to attack, while diverting resources to recovery.

I activate magic. Two blasts of [Explosion III].

It's that big. As far as I'm concerned, there's no problem even if I don't aim. The magic pops off at his head.

Flames and smoke are generated, but then a thick black plume of smoke breaks through the flames and spews out toward me.

...Is it some kind of breath attack!?

There is no way to avoid it, so I brace myself with three layers of wind protection magic.

No matter how I look at it, it's the fog that appears when Darzain's people self-destruct.

The defensive magic is slowly melting away, so I decide that it's not a good idea to stay.

I fly up and out of the smoke with [Flight].

Oh, no....

At the end of the smoke, Aquiel was raising his arm.

The moment he recognized me, he swung down.

There was no way to avoid it. A direct hit.

I was knocked to the ground like a fly being swatted.

My defensive magic was still alive, but it was drowned out by the hit.

Moreover, I could see the smoke below it. No defense is not good.

I deployed defensive magic as quickly as I could, but I was a little late and my whole body was hit by the smoke.

I felt a burning sensation all over my body. At the same time, the ground was closing in.

Just before I was hit, I hit the ground with [Explosion I] to offset some of the impact. At the same time, I shift the point of fall.

I was knocked to the ground, but it seems that I was able to reduce the damage somewhat.

The barrier is no longer deployed and my body no longer melts, but my entire body is in a state of burning, but I don't have time to heal.

As soon as I landed, his foot slammed into the spot where I was supposed to fall. The ground is covered in dust and sand.

I've had enough of this smoke.

I use the [Storm II] to blow away the smoke around me.

Visibility returns. At the same time, a cleave from the side.

I jump back to avoid it, but this time his head comes crashing in.

Is it a body blow? No, it's not.

His mouth is wide open. Is he going to bite me?

I'm going to try a new trick. Concentrate magic power on my eyeballs. I'm going to use [Stop] on the left and [Withering] on the right.

Since my field of vision is completely filled with him, this is the best place to use it.

His movement stopped abruptly and the surface began to crumble...but it was only stopped for a few seconds, and then he came barreling in. Looking at his uninjured head, I realized that the [explosion] I had first fed him had no effect.

I was a little shocked by this fact, but I didn't care and continued to send magic power into my line of sight.

The rush stopped several times, then swung away and closed the distance to take a bite out of me.

I had enough energy to buy some time.

I used [Flight] to accelerate. I take a distance.

I'm going to launch some magic or something from the sky and cut it off....

When I looked at Aquiel, I saw that he was lowering his posture as if he was gathering some kind of power.

I had a bad feeling about this, so I turned all the processing I was using for recovery to defense.

While I was thinking about how it would come out with my defenses deployed, I heard a tremendous roar...probably a roar...I think it was a roar.

The moment I heard it, I felt a shock throughout my body and found myself lying on the ground in a heap.

...and here I am.

Looking around, I see what happened. I don't know what happened, but it was a big attack.

The buildings around and behind me had been reduced to a pile of rubble.

From the way they were destroyed, I guessed it was something close to a shockwave.

...If I hadn't been defending myself, I'd definitely have been ground into a pulp.

The Death Worm armor under my skin is full of cracks, but it's the organs that are the most important.

Frankly, I didn't want to know, but the inside of my abdomen looks like it was put through a blender.

I am currently doing my best to repair the damage, but...I think this is impossible to win as it is now.

I mean, it's impossible for something that big to move that fast.

Thanks to the powerful blowout, the distance between us has opened up nicely.

This way, I have a little time.

Let's do it.

It's a bit of a gamble, but let's get serious.

That's it. Either I run out of gas first or he goes down.

Unfortunately, I can't come up with a brilliant idea to kill that monster with my mind, so this is the only way.

Someday, I see a way to win, no matter who I'm up against! (I have an idea! (grin).

Or maybe there's a legendary weapon or a weapon with a surprisingly effective special attack against that monster, conveniently dropped around the corner?

...Nope.

So much for escaping reality.

I hurriedly started to reorganize my body.

"Is anyone...anyone here?"

My name is Pentos. I'm a resident of this city.

I was on the move to get out of the city, looking for any survivors in this ruined town....

I was evacuating with the Holy Knights a while ago, but we were attacked by suspicious people and got into a battle, and I lost consciousness as a result.

When I came to, there was no one around, not even a corpse.

I was left behind. Before I knew it, the town was dark and the sky was covered with unnatural black clouds, so I couldn't tell if it was morning or night.

After a short walk, I came to a wide street, and then up a hill to a slightly elevated place where I could see some of the city....

--I saw despair.

I saw a huge beast of some kind, even blacker than the clouds in the sky.

When I saw it destroy houses and facilities with a single roar, something shattered inside me.

My heart was broken. There was no way to escape from it.

All I could do was sit there and wait to be killed.

With that thought, I sat there and reminisced about my own life.

The beastly creature stopped moving as it tried to start moving.

It was as if it was distracted by something.

And my guess was right.

An explosion of some kind occurred a short distance away, sending debris flying into the air.

And there appeared a further deformity.

It was about the same size as a beast, and its appearance gave the impression of a sphere. The color was skin-colored, which somehow reminded me of human skin and made me feel disgusted.

What in the world is that thing?

While I was thinking this, there was a movement.

Just as the sphere shook itself, "something" appeared as if breaking through its surface.

The "something" had dark brown body surfaces with evenly spaced protrusions and a huge mouth at the tip.

There were five of them. Five of them, emitting an unpleasant sound that lingered in my ears forever, were threatening the beast deformity.

The beastly deformity, perhaps sensing this, lowered itself and assumed a fighting stance.

The first to move was a ball.

Three long, thin "somethings" were heading toward the beast deformity at a furious pace.

The beast dodged the rushes of the "somethings" with a light movement and leaped toward the sphere.

The ball turns the remaining two against it. The three that were dodged also reversed and began chasing after its back.

The beastly creature also dodges a frontal attack and raises and lowers its front paw.

A huge claw attacked the ball, but one of the "somethings" got there in time.

It interrupts the claw's trajectory and takes the attack instead.

The surface is torn apart and yellow liquid spurts out with great force.

The beast deformity at close range takes a decent hit.

A terrible scream was heard and it staggered in agony.

I looked to see what was going on, and saw smoke rising from the beast's misshapen body.

...Its body is melting! Does that liquid dissolve anything it touches!

The beast roared in anger and spat a black smoke-like substance at it in return.

The surface of the ball touched by the smoke begins to burn, but the returning "something" exhales something like breath from its mouth and spews the smoke.

Three of the remaining "somethings" spit out a flame-like substance from their mouths and burn the beast deformity.

The beastly deformity, apparently not willing to be silently beaten, begins to bite at the ball while being burned.

Surprisingly, although the beastly creature was exposed to the flames, it didn't seem to be burned too much.

...The flames don't work!

Black smoke billows out from the biting area.

It seems to be exhaling smoke directly into the wound.

The ball shakes itself in agony.

The beastly creature seemed to be pleased with this, and tried to bite even harder, but something yanked it away from the sphere.

I looked closely and saw a huge pillar-like object protruding from the surface of the sphere.

I wondered what it was that had forced the beast away from the ball.

The beastly deformity that was blown away quickly regained its stance, but then a mysterious roaring sound was heard.

It was blown away further, as if it had been repelled.

When I looked at the sphere without understanding what had happened, I saw the pillar that had just grown up was blowing smoke.

...Did that pillar do something?

Just as I was thinking that, it happened.

With a roar, the pillar burst into flames. The beastly deformity was blown away as if it had been punched again.

From the looks of it, it seems to be sending something flying... but what the hell was that?

The beastly creature is wounded and its gaze is filled with anger.

The ball, as if it didn't care, shot something out from the pillar again, but it was easily evaded, as if it didn't want to fall prey to the same move, and the gap between the ball and the pillar was crushed.

The beastly creature began to attack, disturbing the sphere with its slow and steady movements.

The ball tries to attack with "something" or a pillar, but it does not capture it.

The beast's misshapen claws hit the pillar, crushing and breaking it in half.

Next, the surface of the sphere is torn apart and a yellow liquid splashes down.

The beastly creature moves away as soon as it attacks, and stands around to avoid getting splashed with the liquid.

The sphere also repeats its attack desperately, but it cuts through the air in vain, and its wounds increase as it receives counterattacks.

...It's settled.

Halfway through the attack, I could see that the sphere had lost the battle.

The sphere is unable to catch the beast's deformity and continues to be attacked unilaterally.

The wounds are regenerating little by little, so it can still persist, but it's only a matter of time.

As I watched, I thought to myself.

Where in the world did I wander off to?

No matter how I think about it, the scene in front of me is too far removed from reality.

Am I perhaps dreaming?

Or maybe I'm losing my mind in anticipation of death.

I think about this to myself in self-mockery.

Ahead of my eyes, the battle of the deformities was coming to an end.

I don't know why, but I stared at the battle with my eyes, trying to see it through to the end.

What!?

I shouted in surprise.

It was because something unexpected happened.