355 – [Song of Evil Spirits]

I bend low and follow one of the sirens with my eyes as it revolves around, keeping it in sight.
The other is being watched by my partner.
At times like this, being double-headed is convenient.
If I had only one head, I’d have a blind spot for sure.

Perhaps some of the aftereffects of the sirens’ [Song of Discord] remain, as I feel magic power swirling inside my head, producing a feeling similar to car sickness.
I catch my breath as I watch the siren slowly circling closer.

I didn’t think the sirens had any close range skills, but… If they’re choosing to close the distance now that they’re short on options, they must have some skill left.

Their current song isn’t having any effect on me, nor do I feel anything from it.
Could this song be affecting themselves? If it’s a skill like [Berserk], then that’s a possibility.
Though I’m confident I can able to repel them if they’re just going to swing at me with a bit more power.

As their song becomes even more tempestuous, a sinister red light begins to cover their bodies.
I get the feeling that the atmosphere around them has changed somehow.
But their song still doesn’t end.
They open their mouths wide and sing as though howling.
The red light grows more and more vibrant.
As the light reaches its climax, the sirens plunge towards me, attacking from either side.

…It doesn’t look like they’re under the [Berserker] status condition.
So then what’s their objective in suddenly closing the distance?

To start with, I aim in the path of the siren in front of me and shoot three [Wind Slashes].

It’s come this close.
Even if it’s able to react in time, avoiding will be difficult.
The siren’s eyes open wide, and it flaps its wings hard to produce two [Wind Slashes] in quick succession, using the recoil from them to neatly bend in the air and slip through the gap between my [Wind Slashes].
It bent, and yet its speed hardly dropped at all.
It’s an enemy, yet I want to praise its movements.

“Wind Magic, [Gale]!”

Without a moment’s delay, Aro shoots a [Gale] to further pressure the siren.
But it simply breaks through the winds forcibly.
Rather than clumsily dodging and missing the chance to close the distance, it seems it chose to accept the damage.

But as expected, the attack that Aro shot heedless of her remaining MP isn’t an attack that the siren can safely ignore.
As it emerges from the whirlwind, its body is covered in gashes.
One of its eyelids cut off, its bloodstained eyeball glares at Aro.

…Well, between the sirens and me, my attack stat is far higher.
It’s not a sort of difference that can be overturned with a small amount of buffing.
If it’s going to become a close-quarters fight, then I have no complaints.

I’ll bite the front siren to death, and I’ll parry the one behind me with my tail.
A single swing probably won’t be enough to defeat it, but… Taking down the last one shouldn’t take too long.

The front siren plunges towards my head.
The red light around it protrudes out, forming a vortex in front of it.
No way, is it a close-range magic attack!?

That sort of magic, I haven’t seen much like it… No, I have.
When one of Tolman’s subordinate mages used a magic skill called [Demon Hand], it looked similar.
The user at that time was at best around the top class of humans, approximately equivalent to a C+ rank monster, so the skill level was low and it didn’t look like it was used properly, but it still seemed to have considerable power.

Certainly, that [Demon Hand] magic skill also started with red swirling light.
Among their skills, the one that sounds right would be… [Song of Evil Spirits].
It’s neither a support skill nor an interference skill, I read it wrong.

The light protruding from the siren’s body forms into a giant crimson arm and swoops down towards me.

『The same is coming from behind! They’re bad! A lot of magic power is in it!』

So they also had some left in reserve.
On the other hand, if I can withstand this attack, it’ll be their last.
Aro and the others are nearby so I can’t risk trying to dodge them.
I have to repel them.

“Kyah!”

I shake Aro off my body.
Any closer would be dangerous.
Their attacks meant to keep us in check are one thing, but at Aro’s level she won’t stand a chance against their serious attack.
She’s still far too low level.

“GUOOOOOOH!” “GaaaaaaAAh!”

I howl in time with my partner, releasing a [Roar] towards each of our respective siren’s.
I stretch out my tail in the way my partner indicates towards the siren she’s monitoring while at the same time bringing my wings to the front to guard against the front siren.
The arm of crimson light grips my wings and tears.

Oww! At approximately the same time, a sharp pain runs through my tail, followed by a feeling of numbness.
Did it tear it off?

But it wasn’t futile.
I lower my torn wings and bite into the crimson arm that had lost its momentum.
Burning pain spreads throughout my mouth as I forcefully drag it to the ground.
The crimson arm craters into ground, then disappears as though dissolving.
I swing my foreleg towards the siren at the base of the fiendish arm.

The siren releases a [Wind Slash] towards me, trying to use the recoil to escape.
I reach forwards with my shoulder and drag my claw through the its face.
Blood spurts between us.
It spreads its wings in an attempt to stop its tumble, but slams into the ground back-first then bounces up from the impact.

…It’s still alive, just barely.
It’s unmistakably on the verge of death, but not quite there yet.

What happened to the other one? I look back to see the other siren lying face up, its eyes open wide.

Both its wings are gone.
Its body convulses like a fish on land.

Glancing at my partner, I see blue blood dripping from between her teeth.
At the back of her mouth, I see the siren’s wings.

The fiendish arm that was coming from behind was diverted at the cost of my tail, but then the follow-up was left to her.
Did you…? No way…

“Gruua…”

『I ate it.
It hurt.』

Ehh… I also bit into it, but didn’t go that far.
For that matter, I didn’t have the idea that would be possible nor the courage to do that…

It seems she bit hard into the fiend’s arm that was slowed at the cost of my tail, and bit the siren’s wings off in the process.
How daring… I wonder if I could have done the same… I probably couldn’t have avoided taking heavy damage though.

『It disappeared in my mouth.』

…That would happen, it was essentially just a lump of magic power after all.
Don’t say it like it melted on your tongue though.

【1411 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 1411 experience points have been acquired.】

Simultaneous to the announcement from God’s Voice, the siren stops moving.

“AaaaAA…”

The siren I sent tumbling away glares at me.
I flinch at the sight of its gouged open face.
Its cheeks are split open, revealing its teeth.
The cross-section of its jaw is painful to look at.
It kicks off the ground, springing up away from me.

Its ascent is quite steep.
It seems its plan is to quickly raise its altitude to get away from me.
I messed up.
Tutting, I’m about to form a [Wind Slash], but realise my wings are too torn.
I can’t produce any wind.
[Wind Slash] manipulates the wind produced by my wings and sends it down the path of my arm, with a huge amount of force added.
But do that, I would first need to restore my wings with [Autoregeneration].

All of a sudden, the nightmare hurtles towards the siren with tremendous acceleration.
I doubt my own eyes for a moment.
It’s not quite as fast as I can go, but it’s soaring closer towards the siren at extreme speed.
In front of its face is the [Dark Sphere] that it’s been holding ready for some time.

Wh-what is that? What skill is it? I’m bewildered for a moment, but then see the nightmare is climbing towards the siren along a strange line, and finally realise that it’s a thread.

It seems it stuck a thread onto the siren while I stopped the fiendish arm with my teeth.
It seems it was pulled by the siren’s sudden spring up, and is using that thrust to propel itself forwards.

“Aa!?”

The siren cries out in a voice that’s part scream, part shout of anger.
I’ve been by the nightmare’s side all this time, and yet even I was astonished for a moment.
Just when it was feeling the relief of managing to get away, an opponent that’s been motionless all this time suddenly flew towards it, so the siren’s feeling of shock must be far greater than my own.
The nightmare comes face to face with the siren that has lost its posture from shock and releases the [Dark Sphere] at essentially point-blank range.

“Aaaaaaah!?”

The siren screams and falls as black flames engulf its face.
The nightmare clings to the siren for some of the descent, then spits out a thread to a nearby tree and jumps off.

Just before it slams into the ground, the siren glares at the nightmare in the tree.
I-it still has HP left…! The siren is on the verge of death, but the difference in stats between them is so large that even a point-blank [Dark Sphere] isn’t enough to fully finish it off.
Th-this bad.
They’re quite far away.
If the siren flies into a rage, the nightmare is no match.

As I’m about to break into a run, I see the siren’s body suddenly jerk just before hitting the ground, its neck squeezing as though under huge pressure.

“Oh…”

Letting out a sound, the siren’s tongue lolls out, and it hangs motionless in the air.
It’s clearly being raised from its neck.
It seems the nightmare wrapped a thread around its neck before escaping.

So brutal… Its human face makes it hard to watch.
I look away.

【1738 experience points have been acquired.】
【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 1738 experience points have been acquired.】
【The level of [Ouroboros] has risen from 98 to 99.】

…I’m gradually getting closer to the distant Lv 125.
As always, the best way to level up is to fight a group of enemies one rank lower.

Now then.
I groan as I circulate magic power into my wings.
The tears and breaks in my wings heal before my eyes.
It’s the [Autoregeneration] skill.

Next I send magic power into my tail.
It grows out from the cut surface, restoring its original length.
Phew… Now I feel a lot calmer.

Aro and the others should have levelled up a fair bit this time.
If there’s no problem after checking them over, should we head for the ruins?