“[Shushishishi! How mysterious, how mysterious. There’s a human in this place.]”
A man-eating magical beast with the face of an old man, lion’s body, and scorpion’s tail—a Manticore. Manticores are carnivorous beasts with human-like faces that live deep in the forest.
Their face resembles that of an old man, and they can speak the human language. However, they are not friendly even with flattery. If you encounter one, a battle is sure to ensue.
The lion’s body is as agile as it looks, it can run smoothly in the forest as if it were on level ground, so escaping is nearly impossible.
The extremely venomous scorpion tail has 24 spines, a strike from which is destructive enough to shatter a large tree. It is also said that some manticores can use those spines as projectiles.
It was a type of magical beast you wouldn’t want to encounter in the forest.
“And there are ten manticores. I really don’t know how to describe this encounter.”
A group of manticores appeared one after another, following the Wyvern. I sighed and placed the bag full of herbs on the ground. Whether I fight or escape, it will only be an obstacle. I swore I would pick it up when everything was over.
“[Shushishi! Not as tasty as a winged beast, but humans have their own flavor. Curse your bad luck for encountering us in this place.]”
A Manticore spoke to me, mocking me. I decided to test if what I had read before was true.
“The sun rises from the west, the river flows backward from east to west, and fire burns in water. Do you know what that is?”
“[Speak all you want, your fate has already been determined, shushishi!]”
The Manticore disregarded my words. Just because they can speak the human language doesn’t mean they are necessarily willing to converse.
The Manticore only said what it wanted and was unwilling to speak—oh well, it’s just as it was written in the records. There’s no need to waste saliva.
While I was contemplating that, the Manticore in front of me continued to spew words.
“The winged beast fell, the human will die, and our stomachs will be full. Shushishishi! Pleasurable, truly pleasurable.”
“Then die with that pleasure—reborn soul equipment.”
The moment I manifested my soul equipment, the Manticores trembled like leaves in the wind. The one that had been speaking to me stopped moving its mouth.
It was evident that it was on guard, but I would have preferred it to be so until I got into position.
Because my soul equipment in this state is just a weapon at first glance.
“Devour it all, Soul Eater.”
I got into position.
The Manticores recoiled in fear at the black flash. As I watched them, I lowered my body. The katana is at my left hip, the Sword facing the other side.
As for the stance, it’s almost like a draw technique, but my soul equipment doesn’t have a sheath, so it’s only similar.
With this posture, I will channel energy into the Sword. The technique I will use is Tornado, the technique I used in the battle against the Fly King.
However, that technique is like an imitation of what I saw on the island. Still, I didn’t mind because it had enough power, but I was interested in what would happen if I put all my current power into it.
That joy when I was freed from the curse of level “1”. But the fact that I am at level “6” still haunts me. It defies the common sense of being a human.
I don’t need underestimation or overestimation. It’s simply about putting everything as I am “now”.
Increasing energy. Greater increase of energy. Tremendous increase of energy.
The energy spirals and fiercely covers the Sword. It’s like a flame, like a small dragon.
Space contracts. My soul equipment roars, wanting to devour souls as soon as possible.
It seems the Manticore from earlier instinctively sensed the tremendous increase in power, so it spoke loudly to the surrounding group.
“Fly!”
“Too slow!”
With that shout, I swung my black katana horizontally. It was a distance that I couldn’t reach considering the enemy’s range.
However, the cut of my highly energized black katana turned that distance to zero in an instant.
More than saying it was a cut, it was as if it had devoured space itself. No matter how agile the magical beasts are, they can’t avoid this attack.
Several Manticores cried out in astonishment and pain, falling to the ground, spraying blood. The number was five, half of the group.
It seems the others were not within the range of the cut from the beginning, or perhaps they quickly obeyed the leader’s orders.
My next target was the three that were fleeing in the air. I adjusted my stance, swinging the katana to the side.
As I saw the leader with wide-open eyes, the corners of my mouth naturally lifted.
“Die!”
Without wings, you can’t dodge attacks in the air. My second attack slightly eradicated the three.
Originally, the bodies of Manticores are covered in tough muscles, and their outer skin is greasy and not easy to penetrate.
However, my black katana sliced through the Manticores’ bodies like tofu, and three blood flowers bloomed in the air. Immediately after, a large number of souls flowed, and an “ugh” slipped out of my throat unintentionally.
After all, I am strong. How can you explain to a human that they instantaneously killed eight man-eating Manticores that many fear?
The inference about the previous level was correct. My perception until now was mistaken. Convinced of that, I clenched my fists.
Alright, I just need to finish off the remaining two. So, when I turned my gaze towards the surviving Manticores—–
“GRUOOOOOOOOO!!”
I saw the Wyvern crushing the skull of one Manticore and smashing the back of the other with a single blow.
Both probably died instantly. The indigo-colored scales of the Wyvern were stained with blood, with more than half of its scales peeled off, revealing the flesh beneath.
It was gravely injured. An Indigo Wyvern is known to be fierce and brutal among the Wyvern species. Regardless of the damage it received, if the opponent is one or two Manticores, it seems to have enough power to handle them.
…Well, the question now is whether the Wyvern will attack me. I saved it in the end, but I don’t think it understands that.
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Speaking of cruelty, there is not much difference between the Indigo Wyvern and the Manticores. They share the same hostility towards humans. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if it attacked me at this moment.
By the way, Wyverns can be used by humans. The Dragon Knights of the Kingdom of Canaria ride on winged beasts.
However, I heard that to achieve that, they basically have to raise them from an egg by human hands.
For wild winged beasts, humans are just food, and it seems they can’t get accustomed even if raised that way.
The Indigo Wyvern, which is the highest among the Wyvern species, has a particularly strong tendency in that regard.
When the Wyvern spat out the chewed-up Manticore’s head, it turned its gaze towards me.
I thought it would attack me, so I got into position, but unexpectedly, the winged beast didn’t attack. It was staring at me with calm eyes. I wondered what I should do as it looked at me with those snake-like vertical pupils.
Suddenly, the Wyvern’s line of sight shifted away from me and turned in another direction. Almost at the same time, I did too.
It was one of the Manticores, apparently the leader, that was still alive and standing.
At that moment, the Indigo Wyvern let out a tremendous roar. That fury and hostility were clearly directed towards the Manticore.
The Wyvern’s long neck swelled up, and something like vapor overflowed from its mouth. It was a sign of its fire breath.
— Wait a moment! Can an Indigo Wyvern breathe fire? Is it safe to release a fire breath in the middle of this forest?
I thought about it, but from the Wyvern’s perspective, the Manticore is an enemy that had hurt it and tried to eat it. That fear and anger of being on the verge of being devoured, I recall it with regret.
I hesitated whether I should interfere with the winged beast that was trying to make the Manticore pay for its resentment.
Meanwhile, the mouth of the Indigo Wyvern exhaled a mass of fire the size of a human head. It flew straight through the air and struck the Manticore that was trying to escape.
As if to demonstrate the strength of it, the Manticore couldn’t even scream, it just burned in flames.
After that, I looked around. This is because I have never heard of Manticores forming groups, let alone a group of ten.
First of all, it was the first time I saw a Manticore around here. Manticores usually live deep within the forest, so why did they come out in a group? Perhaps someone stole their habitat. That’s what I thought.
But after about thirty minutes, I couldn’t find any clues, and eventually, my actions came to an end.
If I follow the footsteps of the Manticores and venture into the deepest part, I might find out something, but I’m not prepared for that.
For now, I had to convince myself to pay attention to movements in the forest.
When I returned to where I was, I was surprised to find the winged beast that I thought had already left was still there. Moreover, it was making a pained sound and thrashing on the ground.
It was as if it was fine before, but I realized something. The tails of the Manticores are extremely venomous. None of them managed to hit me with it, but the winged beast must have been stabbed by those tails many times.
It seemed that the poison was still spreading. I looked around, wondering what I should do.
Fortunately, there were the medicinal herbs I had collected. Some of them should work against the poison.
However, I don’t know if human medicinal herbs would work on winged beasts. Even if they do, considering the large size of the winged beast, it might not be enough even if I use everything I have.
First of all, will the poison of a Manticore be neutralized? If it can, and considering the size of the winged beast, I might not need all of it.
“For the poison… for the poison… somewhere… Ah, that’s right! There was a perfect effect that neutralized the paralysis poison of the Fly King!”
The Jiraiya Oaks. It’s not too far from here. If I run with all my strength using energy, I might be able to get back in less than an hour.
If I think calmly, I don’t have to go to such lengths for this winged beast, I could even cut it down right now.
However, when I remembered those eyes it gave me, I hesitated to do that.
Well, we were comrades that fought against the Manticores, but if it attacks me after it recovers from the poison, then I will devour it.
Seeing the winged beast suffering as it laid its long neck on the ground, and after contemplating for a moment, I started running at full speed.
— In conclusion, the Indigo-scaled Wyvern managed to survive.
When the Wyvern ate the fruit of the Jiraiya Oaks, it made a “Pugiiii” sound like a pig due to the sour taste, but soon after, the poison from the Manticores was neutralized, and it started fluttering with joy.
The Jiraiya Oaks is amazing. I thought so once again.
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What the “Seven” mean? Before the “Several Manticores cried out in astonishment and pain”.
Thank you for pointing it out, it’s supposedly invisible text that I use as “watermark” so I can identify easily when it gets copied by content stealer