The opening move was a scatter.
From behind, the swarm of monsters closed in.
I scattered Pigi-maru's tentacles toward the leading group.
Still looking back, I kept the swarm in my sights.
"Do it."
Bshuuuuuuu—!
The deformed protrusions from Pigi-maru bloomed in midair.
A massive number of thin tentacles danced through the sky.
Like countless missiles being launched—
The tentacles rained down in a chaotic assault on the monsters thundering across the ground behind us.
"—[Berserk]—"
"GoooooooonooooooOOOOOOH—! U! Wi! Wi! Gooooooh!"
The activation of the skill mixed with the roars of the humanoid species.
In my field of vision, several tentacles were completely erased by one of the humanoid species.
Burned away by the flames it spat.
But,
"UruGaa!"
"GigaruEaaAAAAA—!?"
A change occurred in the swarm behind us.
The skill had reached some of them.
The monsters granted with berserk rage began attacking the ones around them indiscriminately.
The vibrations of hooves striking the ground echoed through Slei's body.
Feeling that somehow pleasant rumble, I muttered,
"Go on, kill each other."
By the way, the effect of the amplification stone had already worn off.
Unfortunately, those words would not reach the monsters.
I checked the semi-transparent status display floating in my vision.
There was still some leeway in my MP.
"The opening move went pretty well."
Of course, this did not mean the battle was over.
The following monsters mercilessly trampled over those affected by [Berserk].
They tore them apart,
twisted them apart,
crushed them,
and sliced them into pieces.
Without hesitation, without pause, without mercy.
The ear-splitting screams of monsters scattered across the area.
The scene looked like some kind of decisive battle between giant beasts.
I lashed out with even more newly created tentacles like whips.
Second wave of berserk inducement.
"[Berserk]."
This was the same tentacle attack I had used to defeat the smiling face in front of that ruin after spending the night there.
Concentrating them into a single bundle gave better control than spreading them out.
But against this many opponents, losing a bit of control was acceptable.
I pressed the attack with sheer numbers.
"GruooooaaaAAAAAAA—!"
"Gi, gi, gyoeeeeEEEEEE—!?"
Once again, the monsters that fell into the [Berserk] state began killing one another.
The "comrades" running in front suddenly lost their minds and attacked.
Some of the monsters fell into confusion because of it.
However, they quickly shifted into a fight for survival.
Survival instinct.
Better to kill than be killed.
That was their nature.
I pointed at the monsters engaged in fierce combat behind us.
Yes,
"Fight and kill each other as much as you want in order to survive."
I increased Slei's speed.
The eight hooves kicking the hard ground grew louder.
I stared hard at our rear.
However,
"—It is not going to be that easy, huh. Of course not."
Some were breaking through.
Dozens,
hundreds,
thousands of them.
They paid no mind to the monsters affected by my [Berserk].
The humanoid species in particular stood out.
They crushed every approaching tentacle with their various attack methods.
Naturally dragging the surrounding monsters into the crossfire.
"Wi! Wi, i, iii! GoooooooOOOOOH—!"
The flame-spitting humanoid species in the lead group burned away nearby monsters along with the tentacles.
I clicked my tongue without thinking.
"Some of the ones in front have already figured out the timing to crush the tentacles…"
They understood when and how to deal with those tentacles.
Several of the humanoid species had already caught on.
So some of them were smart after all.
Moreover, some were protecting the non-humanoid golden-eyed monsters.
Though that was probably not out of any sense of camaraderie.
No—they were using them as sacrificial pawns.
By scattering sacrificial pieces, they might create openings in their prey's focus.
They used whatever they could.
I could sense that cold, ruthless calculation.
"Well—"
Inside the mask, the corner of my mouth twisted up naturally.
"If I were in your position, I would do the same."
Now, next.
The combined effect of the tentacles and [Berserk] was starting to wear thin.
I could not keep fighting with the same method.
I created a third wave of new tentacles and launched them.
The number in the lead group had not decreased much.
That was because the ones behind kept joining the front.
It was like they were being pushed forward to fill the gaps.
…Well, fine.
As long as I hit the ones that had spread out widely to the left and right.
Those were fresh ones that had just come up from the rear to the front.
"—[Paralyze]—"
"Hi! Hie!? HieeeeeEEE—!?"
Along with what sounded like screams, a change occurred in the lead group.
A different reaction from before.
The understanding that had been drilled into them was: "If you get close to those tentacles, your comrades will attack you."
But this time, several of them suddenly stopped moving.
The monsters reacted with something like,
"…Huh? They are not attacking?"
It was different from before.
This "unexpected" outcome temporarily halted the monsters' advance.
Using a set pattern and then breaking it.
A method that built on accumulated experience.
Similar tactics could be seen in martial arts, sports, and even comedy routines.
It was an effective way to catch someone off guard.
However, the golden-eyed monsters always regained their ferocious aggression almost immediately.
The surprise stop only bought a few seconds.
Some of the paralyzed monsters were tragically crushed under the ones coming from behind with no way to resist…
Above all, the humanoid species in the center of the front line—the ones already prepared for the tentacle attacks—
were still perfectly fine.
I looked ahead.
The scenery had not changed yet.
Trees, woods, forest.
It looked like this landscape would continue for a while longer.
I pictured our current location in my head.
I had managed to pull a decent distance away from Seras and the others.
I kept charging straight ahead, snapping thin branches as I went.
"—Tch."
Had they been lured in by this great monster migration?
It was no longer just from behind.
Monsters had started gathering toward me from other directions as well.
I had finally managed to bunch the swarm together, but—
once again, I was being surrounded from all sides.
My original plan was starting to fall apart.
The idea had been to scatter skills behind us to slow their movement while pulling them away, then create enough distance to hide and let them pass, after which I would circle back and rejoin Seras and the others…
That plan was on the verge of collapsing.
I wanted to avoid a head-on collision with the swarm at medium to close range if possible.
But in this situation… I could not afford to be picky.
I might need to break through a single point and punch through one of the groups.
"Pigi-maru, Slei."
Both responded briefly.
"Can you still keep going?"
Both showed affirmation.
But I could also sense they were pushing themselves a bit.
…How far could they really last?
"Hm?"
The status display floating in my forward vision.
—This is bad.
My remaining MP was starting to drop noticeably.
Then,
Plip, plip.
A light rain began to fall.
The sky had looked threatening.
Now it seemed to have finally turned foul.
SaaaaaAAAAA...
The rain steadily grew heavier.
The weight of the raindrops increased as well.
Rain fell like spears, striking the leaves.
The sound interfered with auditory detection and dulled my sense of distance.
I brought Slei to a stop.
He shook his body, flinging off water droplets.
Drops fell steadily from the sensory parts of the mask.
The thunderous sound of countless footsteps approached from all directions.
Beyond the blurred vision created by the curtain of rain, dust rose faintly.
From the fly mask's field of view, raindrops kept merging on the surface of the eye sections and streaming down endlessly…
Experience points.
Leveling up through acquiring them.
Right now, that was the only way to recover MP other than sleeping.
In the current battle, the combined techniques with Pigi-maru were indispensable.
During fusion, MP decreased at a frightening rate.
No matter how rich my MP pool was, at this rate I could not keep fighting for even thirty minutes…
The only way to sustain this was through level-ups.
The humanoid species carried large amounts of experience points.
If I kept killing them and kept leveling up—
"No… that would be way too reckless."
The denial slipped out of my mouth right after the thought crossed my mind.
That strategy would also expose me to danger at the same time.
I would no longer be able to maintain a safe distance margin from the monsters like I had been doing.
Why?
I had learned it while investigating the Ruins of Disposal.
"Experience points are not gained unless you are within a certain distance when a monster dies."
So…
I glanced behind me.
"If it comes to that, I will need to go back a little along the path we came…"
A semi-local battle while staying at the absolute limit of the distance needed to gain experience points.
"...If I say I am doing it, will you follow me?"
The movement of the tentacles grew more vigorous for a moment.
Slei kicked the ground hard with his front legs.
"Pigii!"
"Burururururu!"
There was no hesitation in either of their replies.
I tilted my head to the side.
Crack.
Truly…
"I really have been blessed with good comrades."
The sinister swarm of demons chased fiercely from the direction we had come.
I turned to face them head-on.
I noticed mud had splattered onto my hand.
Whoosh.
I swung my arm sideways and flicked the mud off my palm.
I stared at the approaching swarm of monsters.
"Let's go."