Chương 69: I Am Once Again Melting

I slithered back into a hiding spot. I wasn't crazy enough to go check out what sort of creature it was… I mean, there were still plenty of alive elves around that could do that for me! Besides, that thing looks like it had eaten most of an adult elf in a single bite, only leaving the feet and boots behind. As a being of steel, that is also a curse and spirit–I could probably survive being swallowed whole. In fact, it would probably be to my advantage. What sort of person would willfully do that, though?

No, it was more sane to let innocent Forest Rangers, whom I was planning on slaughtering and eating myself, take the plunge and reveal to me what this foul creature was all about. It must be pretty strong… Maybe I can get enough experience from it to get myself a new upgrade? How would getting an upgrade whilst in a form that can't use them work anyway? Nara? It would just manifest when you return to your base form Interesting…

I leaned back against the wall after returning to the inside of the barn, which I presumed to be the safest spot for me to wait whilst waiting for the elves to realise that, at minimum, three of their own had mysteriously grown unresponsive. It didn't take long, as the voracious creature was far less stealthy about it than I was. I soon heard several sets of footsteps just above on the roof of the barn, the elves gathering together on vantage points as they all brought out impressively luminous lanterns.

I didn't know if they were actual lanterns, but the light they produced was incredibly strong. I was strongly illuminated through minuscule cracks in the woods… Thankfully, they weren't bothering to check inside the barn much. They only took one look to check for the elf that was supposed to be here, but I had already hidden his corpse in the hay, which was also my own hiding spot.

"No sign of them… There were only those ghastly remains…" Remains? Usage of plural? Seems like the hungry guy scored more than one victim… I myself had hidden the corpse in a more mundane fashion, so there shouldn't be any talk of 'ghastly remains'. My kills were pretty mundane-looking remains.

"Considering the fact that we have an invasion of Walkers, this has to be the work of one of their evolved versions""I thought they couldn't evolve when their leader of sorts was gone? Wasn't it slain several days ago? Did we get bad intel?"

"I fear that this evolved monster had evolved a while back and had simply remained hidden… Hopefully, it isn't too intelligent…" Walkers? Is that what the lanky creeps are called? What is this uninspired name? That sounds like a name at least a hundred different monsters have! That's exactly why I always hated studies of the natural world…

Not only do these so-called 'experts' not have a proper definition of what a beast, monster, or animal is, but they also never consult each other before naming a new species, so there are a bunch of things that have the same names, some of which aren't even anything alike! Urgh… This gives me bad memories. Why in damnation does 'Kobold' mean little lizard people, AND little dog people?! Mara? Yes, yes… I am still listening to the elves. I can multitask, you know?

I can complain for thirty minutes whilst still doing something productive.

"Right… Did anyone here bother to read about the various evolved forms for the Walkers?" There was silence.

"Great, so we're going in blind… We can't just leave, considering that this thing is right near the farm, so we'll have to lure it out and kill it somehow-""Hold on, I think I see something move amidst the trees over there!"

"Oh shit… It's huge! How did we not notice it before?!" I had no line of sight on the outside at the moment since I didn't want to get spotted by the elves, but apparently, we were dealing with a big creep. I heard the faint whistling of arrows through the air as they seemingly began to pelt the monster immediately. Judging by their cursing, though, it wasn't very effective.

"Let's lure it further into the woods. It won't be able to move around effectively when surrounded by trees!"

"We can't do that, it's making a beeline for the house!" Pardon? It's making a beeline to where? I immediately burst out of the hay and took a look outside. … If that thing doesn't get killed today, a heart attack will definitely do the job eventually. It's morbidly fat, nothing like the gaunt creeps it had supposedly been before. It was just a mass of flesh that was dragging itself forward like a slug by using two absurdly long and thin arms.

Its head and body were basically one and the same, bearing two large eyes that lacked any life within them, quite easily spotted due to reflecting the moon's light. But more importantly, there was its massive, vertical maw that stretched nearly the entire length of its fleshy mass. That thing was filled with what looked like thousands of teeth, with several tongues just flopping out of it. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

It looks like it's trying to taste the ground as it goes… But why the hell is it going straight for the house? Why not go for the farm animals instead? They should be much more nutritious and numerous. As if the moon itself was interested in the show, the clouds above cleared, letting much more moonlight pour down. What is this? Am I starring in a theatre piece or something? I didn't want to come out into the open, but as I could see, the elves were incapable of stopping the monster on their own.

Their arrows only tickled it, failing to get past its natural armour of bodily fat, and the two druids amongst them were in a similar situation. Their vines and roots could barely slow it down. They were just burning through their energy reserves for nothing. Like a dazzling knightess who had come to save the day, I stepped out of the shadows and stood on the path of the lump of flesh. Being faced with another monster seemed to finally get its attention as it stopped to look at me with its dead fish-like eyes.

It opened and closed its absurdly large maw several times. It probably meant something, but I had not taken courses in this filthy language.

"Who the hell is this?" One of the elves atop the barn wondered, but no one had any response for him. Mmh… That's the moment I should have said some sort of cool line… Unfortunately, I did not possess the ability to speak in this form, so I could only stay silent and… Well, not really stare as I didn't have any eyes either… I didn't even question how I could see. It frankly did not matter.

I didn't know why exactly the monster had stopped in its tracks upon seeing me, but I seized the opportunity, manifesting a javelin and throwing it right into one of its eyes, the weapon sinking into the soft flesh, completely disappearing from view. The elves seemed to assume that I was friendly–Big mistake on their part–And began to attack the monster again, but it just shrugged off their feeble attempts.

Curiously, it also seemed not to give a single damn about the whole javelin that got lodged inside of its eyeball. To be frank, it wasn't like it could reach in there and take it out, but I had been hoping for a reaction at least. But that thing wasn't emitting a shred of fear, anger, or anything else, for that matter. I had directly attacked it and was standing in front of it. There was no way that it could be mistaken and direct its negative emotions toward something else out of sheer stupidity or ignorance…

Which means that it was truly uncaring. This gives me the feeling that its negative emotions might be especially succulent… For no other reason than to look dashing, I raised my right hand. By using 'Steel Manipulation', I began controlling the javelin I had just thrown, forcing it to move and spin directly within the creature's eyeball. Due to being directly within something else, controlling the javelin was a bit difficult.

It was like there was an interference, but since it was one of my own creations, I also benefited from the handy bonus this granted me when it came to manipulating distant steel items. Getting its eyeball blended from within finally seemed to cause a reaction. I felt the most delightful emotions seep into me–Frustration.

"YOU… HURT… ME…!" Oh, it speaks. That thing can actually speak with a messed-up mouth like this? Colour me surprised! The monster brutally reached into its own eyeball and ripped the whole thing out alongside the javelin, screaming like a devil out of hell the entire time with its absurdly loud voice, and without a shred of hesitation, threw the torn-out sensory organ straight into the barn. Mmh… I believe the elves have perished You think?! Half of the damn structure was in ruins.

I doubt the fragile elves handled it any better.

"I… HUNGER…" I looked at its slug-like body of excessive fat. I think you ate plenty enough already, Buddy… It screamed again as I launched several more javelins at it, but proving that it wasn't completely stupid, it shielded its remaining eye as well as the hollow socket on the other side using its arms before pulling itself forward with all its might, straight at me. … What sort of weapon can I even manifest to deal damage to this thing?

As far as I had tested, 'Steel Shaping' only allowed to manifest stuff adapted for my size, I couldn't just drop a big block of steel on this thing's head to crush it. And for some reason, it was dead-set on going for the house! What the hell is so interesting about it, you lard?! Are you trying to take my Ophelie? That girl belongs to me!

"... HUNGRY…"

"I…HUNGRY…"

"FOOD…FOOD…I…NEED" Well… You asked for it, I suppose. I last switched form only a little while ago, so there is nothing in the way. The monster must have sensed something coming as it felt its fear for the first time, this fear rapidly erupting into pure wrath.

"YOU… OBSTACLE" Nara, with the steel I recently absorbed and consumed, what percentage am I at now? My question wasn't very precise, but my sweet little sister understood what I meant right away. With the steel you expended with 'Steel Shaping', you sit at about a nice nine per cent at the moment Splendid, how much do you reckon I need to get to about this guy's height?

If it's purely height and not width, about half a per cent is enough to get high enough without the radius of heat being too uncontrollable I'll use a bit less just to be sure, then. In its fear-driven fury, the monster proved itself suddenly much more mobile as it slammed its hands into the ground to fling itself away from me, just a moment before my knightly form bloated into the 'Molten Form'.

I soared to a significantly larger size than when I used this form against the self-proclaimed deity, and perhaps it was unnecessary to increase this form's size against this monster that was so fat that it was probably going to catch fire exceptionally well, but I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't lay its filthy hands on Ophelie. I invested my time into this girl, and my time is far more precious than a lesser being like itself can even fathom.

"I F Y O U A R E S O H U N G R Y I' L L G I V E Y O U S O M E T H I N G T O E A T" … I had forgotten that I sounded so awful while in this form. In response, the monster merely screamed like a degenerate, its entire body suddenly moving. In several effusions of blood and gore, multiple more arms burst out from all over its body. Maybe it was a good idea to expand a bit of steel… What the hell am I looking at?

Using its now dozens or so arms, the monster launched itself at me like some sort of meatball crossed with a spider. This thing really doesn't know its place.