Chương 70: Welcome To The Family

There was absolutely no way in hell that the entire forest had not been awoken by now. The fat-ridden monster screamed and screamed loudly enough to cause hearing damage, but no matter what, it did not stop trying to fight me, even if each of its attempts at clawing, punching, or otherwise pushing me resulted in searing agony… It felt hard to believe, considering the sheer power I wielded in my 'Molten Form', but this form was more specialised in defence than it was in offence.

Each of the monster's strikes could easily topple trees, and I felt that if it jumped, it probably would be capable of triggering an earthquake… That strength was basically null in front of my 'Molten Form' though. All it could do was swing its arms like a brute. In short, it only had access to a single form of damage, and used it like a fool, to overcome me as this monstrosity of molten steel, one either needed options, or actually finesse to get anywhere.

Well, excessive power would also work, but my rotund friend here did not have that either. It was strong solely because it was a big and heavy monster. It wasn't a practitioner of any way of power. I reeled one of my incandescent arms back, punching the monster right across its–Well, face, I suppose, it is a bit difficult to tell what is its head and body apart… I also found it a bit difficult to throw a proper right hook when in this form.

I lacked legs after all, so using the usual posture wouldn't cut it, so instead, I tried using the quirks of this form to my advantage, using my liquefied lower body to sort of swing my upper body alongside my arm to create greater momentum. Whether this was actually efficient, I wasn't certain, but the monster certainly felt the hit, so I kept going. Each strike that landed forced the ugly thing further away from the farm.

And quickly enough, we ended up in the forest, where my proximity to trees caused them to catch fire in their entirety within mere moments. Controlling the pure heat I emitted was no easy job. It had been a miracle that I hadn't burnt the farm down instantly to begin with… Anyway, forest fires can be good sometimes, right? I am sure these trees are the sort that spread their seeds when they burn down. Don't say anything, Nara. Mmh… Having already committed arson, I began grabbing burning trees to use as weapons.

Turns out, even with the strength of this gigantified 'Molten Form', uprooting trees was actually pretty damned difficult, so I ended up just snapping them in half… Or rather, just using my fingers to carve a flaming slice right through them.

"T I M E F O R D I N N E R" Huh… That sounded much lamer than in my head… In retaliation for my failed sentence, I stabbed a tree right through the monster before beginning to repeatedly beat down on it with my fists. Rather than push it back, I focused on keeping it in place, basically crawling over its body and letting my molten iron envelop the enemy. The monster was a bit reluctant to this idea, however.

It did everything it could to get away from me, even striking at burning trees in an attempt to make them fall in my way. Clearly, it wasn't as dumb as it had originally appeared, but just because it wasn't as idiotic as I had assumed, it did not mean that it wasn't a fool. I literally did not care if trees fell onto me. This couldn't slow me down.

"S T O P M O V I N G S O D A M N M U C H" It wasn't nearly as flammable as I had hoped, and its excessive flesh made it hard for me to damage anything truly important on the inside, especially when my target did everything possible to get away from me…

The supposedly evolved 'Walker' was covered in burns, resembling more a pile of charcoal than anything else at the moment. The forest all around was blazing bright with a searing inferno. The 'Walker' was scared like never before in its entire life, pursued by a creature far more terrifying than it was. Not so long ago, it had merely been a gaunt walker like all of its brethren, but unlike them, it had been smarter.

It had managed to secure far more meals than its fellows, and as a result, it had been able to rise to its current form before their Lord and Creator was slain. For a while, it lived in fear, buried beneath the soil. Expecting the slayers of its Creator to come and kill it as well… But the nature of Walkers made it so that they needed to feed regularly. Even if the potential for a greater form was lost with the death of their Lord, they had to feed.

So tonight, it rose from the soil, and sensing something most nourishing, it headed toward a farm seemingly lost amidst the forest… By all means, it should have been easy. The Forest Rangers were not equipped to deal with a monster such as itself, and the owners of the farms weren't even worth mentioning. Nothing should have been able to stand in its way, and yet… Terror had invited itself to the party.

Even when the steel monster had been nought but a small, human-sized figure–There had been something spine-chilling, just like animals and beasts relied on their instincts most of the time to know what to pick a fight with, monsters knew to recognise worse monsters than themselves. And the thing that simply waltzed into view was far worse than anything the Walker could ever hope to be. Still… The nourishing meal beyond the horror was too captivating. It was something that called the Walker.

It was something that seemed capable of helping it in a way only its Lord could have in the past. It needed to feed upon this meal. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Even now, with its body burning in agony and coursing with fear, it could only think about the meal… Could it be that the steel monster was also after the meal? It would only make sense, what was precious to one monster had to be precious in the eyes of others as well…

This idea filled the Walker with rage. Was it being stolen from? Was the prey it had sensed being claimed by another? This was unacceptable.

"... HUNGRY…" Madly, more limbs burst out from its body, and without thinking, it grasped at the soil, at the smouldering trees, at the ash–At anything within reach, pulling it all into its maw, or even shoving it directly into its body if it was faster.

"F U C K E R" The steel abomination's voice rang out again. It was clearly not pleased… As the Walker fed, its body regenerated, and it used its hands to try and keep the molten creature at bay, grasping at the only solid pieces of steel, searing its own limbs in the process.

"... I…WILL…EAT…"

"T H E N C O M E H E R E" Fed up with the Walker's refusal to die, the more monstrous of the two swatted the many arms away, using her own two hands to force the gaping maw wide open.

"... WAIT…"

I did not wait for a second. I find it most displeasing that something clearly weaker than me was still alive after so long… You want to eat? I'll feed you. I'll feed you like you're a baby bird and I am your loving mother! Once the creature's maw was forced wide open, I unleashed a stream of molten steel from my own maw, pouring the scalding liquid right down its throat, if that mess could even be called that.

It tried to resist by grasping my jaws, but whilst I was giving that thing its last meal, the liquid steel that was currently my lower body wrapped around my prey, constricting like a blob. I never saw it that way before, but my 'Molten Form' was actually a bit like some sort of centaur-slime thing. That's a bizarre way to put it Is it more bizarre than me puking down this guy's throat to kill him? Hard to tell… With every passing second, I could feel my target losing strength. Yes, yes… Die, you bastard.

Did you really think that you could touch my sweet Ophelie? That girl's life and afterlife belong to me! She's mine! She'll be my adorable little sister forever and ever! And you… Well, maybe I'll take a liking to you if your soul turns out into a good spirit. I am willing to throw a bone to your ugliness as long as you're a useful, obedient dog. That thing was resisting well, but I knew that it was dying. The stream of negative emotions was growing fainter, but also more intense.

It was losing consciousness as the dreadful fear of death overwhelmed its entire being. I knew how to recognise the signs by now. Oh shit. Its wrath spiked, and in an instant, it was like the very heat in the entire area was sucked into it. To put it mildly, it blew itself up out of spite. Idiot, an explosion of heat and fire? Against my 'Molten Form'? Might as well try to empty the oceans with a straw. Mara! The blast sent debris flying in the direction of the house!

According to my calculations- I'll torture that bastard's soul like no other! I rushed back toward the farm and quickly saw the result of the monster's spiteful blast for myself. Everything was in ruins, flaming trees had slammed into literally every single building, and the flames were spreading quickly. Animals were panicking and screaming all over the place, and even I felt a little bit bad for them. Most were trapped as the flames burned them alive, but there was something more important for me.

The house had been struck as well. Several trunks had pierced its structure like giant spears thrown by giants, and it too was going up into smoke. I wished that the family would have run off after the mess of sounds, but it was far too likely that they had huddled inside the house for protection instead. I returned to my 'Base Form', trying to do anything whilst emitting terrific heat would only worsen the situation. The window I usually used had collapsed, so I smashed through the wall instead.

"... Big… Sis… She… Got… Hit… I… Am… Sorry… I… Couldn't… Shield… Her…"

"Y–You little idio–idiot!" The quintet shouldn't have had to worry about anything. They were all ghosts. Flames and debris meant nothing to them. Unless they were to choose to become corporeal, which was what Elowen had done in an attempt to prevent Ophelie from being skewered by shattered wood. My tomboy was fine, even though several spikes had gone right through her chest. Even if corporeal, a ghost was a ghost, but I nonetheless recalled her immediately.

What sort of idea did Elowen get to do something so stupid?! Looking around at the other four, I knew precisely why, however. I told them that Ophelie would join them as a new sister, and clearly, they had grown very attached within just a short period of time. Getting a new sister was a bigger deal to them than I had imagined. They were all crying, or on the verge of bursting into tears. I didn't even know they were capable of doing that as spirits.

Steel scraped as I performed the motion like I was cracking my neck.

"Don't cry–cry–cry, Girls… Ophelie isn't dead yet, I can still–still make her join us" I can still be the one to deliver the coup de grace. All the ghosts were recalled. I made sure that they couldn't sense anything of what was going to happen next. Then, I knelt beside Ophelie as the house all around me was burning to the ground. Elowen had actually shielded her very well, but a single one of those wooden spikes was enough to cause mortal damage…

The spike in question was as big as the girl's fist and had gone right through her right lung.

"Ophelie. Can you hear me?"

"Mara… It hurts…"

"It won't hurt much longer. Just close your eyes" I grabbed the deer plush lying on the ground just nearby and gave it to her. Somehow, it had remained intact. Ophelie weakly held her hand up, grabbing one of my fingers.

"Don't you worry. Your big sister is here. I will never leave" Through the smoke and blurriness, whether it be a hallucination or reality, Ophelie could have sworn that the last thing she saw was not steel, but the prettiest girl she had ever seen.

"Welcome to the family, Ophelie"