The manticore is a fierce beast with a human face that lives in the forest.

　Its face is that of an old man, and it can speak human language.

　However, it is not a friendly creature, and if it encounters a manticore, a battle will almost certainly ensue.


　The lion's torso is as agile as it looks, and running through the forest is as flat as a flatland, making it nearly impossible to escape the pursuit of this demon in the forest.

　The scorpion's tail is not only poisonous, but also has twenty-four spikes that can break even large trees with a single blow. It is said that some manticores use these spikes as flying tools.

　In any case, they are the kind of monster beasts you don't want to encounter in the forest.




"So there are ten of these manticores. What kind of coincidence is this, at all?


　A group of manticores appear one by one in pursuit of the Winged Beast (Wyvern).

　I let out a sigh and put down the bag of herbs I was holding on the ground.

　Whether it's fighting or running away, it's only a hindrance. I vow to collect it when it's over.


'Shushissi!　They are not as good as pterodactyls, but humans are human and have a taste. Curse your bad luck in meeting us here.


　Manticore taunts us. I decided to test to see if what I had read earlier in the material was true.


'The sun rises in the west, the everlasting river flows back from east to west, and fire burns in the water. What is its heart?

'Howl, howl, thy fate is already settled, Shushish!


　Manticore doesn't care about our unintelligible words at all.

　The fact that he speaks human language does not necessarily mean that he has any intention of speaking.

　He just says what he wants to say, and has no intention of talking to the other person.

　I see, it's just as it said in the document. I didn't have to waste a lot of effort.


"The winged beast shall fall, the man shall die, and our bellies shall be full. Shushishi!　Delightful, indeed, delightful.

"Then die a happy death - a heartbeat away.


　With those words, the black sword was gripped in my hand.

　A group of manticores swayed like reeds in the wind. The individual who had been taunting us has also stopped moving his or her mouth.

　It's obvious that they are wary, but I wanted to warn them that if they were going to be wary anyway, they should wait until the sword is drawn. Because the mind gear in this state is, let's say, just a weapon.


''Eat it up, Soul Eater.


　Battou.

　The bursting black flash of light caused the manticores to back away as if frightened.


　While looking at those demonic beasts, I quickly sunk my body into them. The sword is on my left hip and the tip of the sword is behind me.

　It's similar to the position of an iai, but my mind gear doesn't have an sheath, so it's only similar.

　In this stance, I let the blade wrap around my jade. The technique is a flying slash, the same sash that I used in my battle with the Lord of the Flies.



　However, that sash (hayate) was an imitation of the model act he had seen on the island.

　It was still more than powerful enough, so he didn't mind, but he was curious to see what it would be like if he put all of his current 'self' power on it.

　Putting a lid on the joy of being freed from the level one curse.

　I put a lid on the belief that I'm still only level six.

　I also put a lid on the common sense that I am a human being.


　There is no need to underestimate or overestimate. It's just a matter of taking in everything you have in the present.


　The amount of power increased. Jing Jing Jing quality increases. You'll be able to use your power and mouth at maximum efficiency.　

　The jaws wrapped around your sword blade rage like a howling sound. I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work.

　The space creaked at the edge. My mind's clothing is begging me to feed on its soul as quickly as possible.



　It must have instinctively sensed the increase in its power.

　The manticore from earlier called out in a high-pitched voice to the surrounding compatriots.


''No, no. Jump!

Slow!


　As he shouted, he flashed his black sword in a single horizontal stroke.

　I'm not sure how far they can reach, considering the distance between them and the enemy. But the black sword, which has sucked in my strength, has made the distance between us go back to zero.

　This is a very important part of the process.

　No matter how agile a monster beast is, this attack is unbeatable.

　Several manticores let out cries of astonishment and pain and fell to the ground while spewing blood smoke.

　There were five of them, which was exactly half of the herd. The others were either not within the range of the slash from the beginning, or they were the only ones that reacted quickly to the commands of the individual who seemed to be the leader.



　I look at the three heads that leapt into the air and curved my lips.

　I flipped the tip of my sword that I swung off to the side and corrected my swordsmanship. I aim at the three manticores that have flown into the air.

　Out of the corner of my eye, I see the leader of the group peeling his eyes out in astonishment.


''Kill (Shia)!


　I don't have wings, and I can't dodge aerial attacks.

　My second strike struck three heads off with ease.

　Normally, a manticore's torso is covered with hard muscles, and its outer skin is slick with fat, so it's not easy for the blade to reach its flesh.

　However, the black sword would cut through such a manticore's torso like a piece of tofu.

　Each of the cannibalistic demonic beasts sent a splash of blood popping, causing three blooms of blood to bloom in the air.



　Immediately afterwards, a tremendous amount of souls poured in, causing me to choke out in delight.

　I'm strong after all. I instantly kill a manticore that is feared as a cannibal (man-eater). Of course, I had to wear a heart outfit, but that doesn't negate my own power. I'm not going to be able to say anything about it, because it's my power.

　My guess about the previous level was correct. At the very least, my previous perceptions were wrong. I am clearly convinced of that.



　Now, at this rate, let's get the remaining two cows killed.

　With that in mind, I turned my attention to the surviving manticore, and what I saw was...

'Gruuuuuuuuuuut!

　It was the figure of a pterodactyl (wyvern) biting the skull of one manticore and hurling the body of the other with a blow of its tail.



　Probably both of them would have died instantly.

　There was no part of the pterodactyl's indigo scales that wasn't stained with blood, and more than half of its scales had come off, revealing red flesh underneath.

　To all appearances, it was seriously injured. It might as well have been a near-death experience, but as expected of the indigo wyvern, which is known for its ferocity and viciousness even among the wyvern species.

　It seems that no matter how much damage it takes, if the opponent is a manticore or two, it is equipped with the power to kick the shit out of them.


　.........Now, the question is whether or not these winged beasts will turn their mighty power against me.

　As a result, I ended up helping them, but I don't think the other side understands that.

　In terms of viciousness, there's not much difference between indigo winged beasts and manticores. The same is true in terms of their hostility to humans.

　It was no wonder they were attacking us at this very moment.



　Incidentally, the wyvern itself can become familiar with humans. The dragon knights of the Canary Kingdom are exactly the knights who ride tame winged beasts.

　But basically, those pterodactyls need to be raised by humans from eggs. The wild pterodactyl would only feed on humans, and no matter how well they are raised, they would never get used to it.

　I've heard that this is especially true of the indigo-colored pterodactyls. I've heard that they are one of the most powerful wyvern species, and there are many people who try to tame them, but I've never heard of anyone succeeding in doing so.


　The indigo-winged beast looked at me with a roar as it spat out a chewed up manticore head in an awkward manner.

　I thought it was coming, so I quickly raised my black sword, but contrary to my expectations, the winged beast did not attack.

　It turned its duller-than-expected eyes toward me, staring at me intently. My image was reflected in the vertical pupils that reminded me of a snake.


　Suddenly, the winged beast's gaze left me and turned to a different direction.

　At about the same time, I turned my eyes in that direction as well. One of the manticores, the leader one, was still alive and stood up on the spot.

　I click my tongue, "Did I fail to stop it?

　And here, the indigo-winged beast moved.

　It must have a grudge that it had been hurt a moment ago and was on the verge of being eaten. The winged beast's long neck swelled up gingerly, and something like steam poured out of its mouth.


　I mean, an indigo (indigo) winged beast (wyvern) can breathe out flame breath!


　Wait a minute. Is it okay to release a flame breath in the middle of a forest like this!

　I thought so, but it's not good enough to have them turn on us for incompetence here.

　Besides, I remember the anger, fear and regret I felt when I was on the verge of being eaten. I was hesitant to interfere with the winged beast that was trying to avenge its resentment.

　As a result, the breath that was released from the indigo winged beast - or rather, a fireball as big as a human head - flew through the air in a straight line and hit the manticore, which had turned its back to me and was trying to escape.

　Dare, the manticore was enveloped in flames and disappeared.


◆ ◆ ◆


　Afterwards, I looked around a bit in the nearby woods.

　I'd never heard of a manticore herding - or even a herd of ten manticores, for that matter.

　It was the first time I'd ever seen a manticore in this area. Manticores, which usually live deeper in the back of the house, had drifted out in groups.

　They must have lost their habitat. That's what he thought.


　But there was no way they could find any clues in thirty minutes or so of searching.

　If I followed the Manticore's footsteps into the depths, or maybe I could find out something, but I'm not prepared for that. Most importantly, if we did that, there would be no point in going to the trouble of catching Miroslav.

　I had no choice but to convince myself that I would pay attention to the movements of the forest for the time being.



　When I did so, I was surprised when I returned to my original location.

　The indigo-colored winged beast was writhing on the ground with a painful voice and a thud.

　I wondered what was going on, when I suddenly realized that it was nothing until a moment ago.

　A manticore's tail is very poisonous. Fortunately, I didn't get hit once, but it's not hard to imagine how many times this winged beast would have been stung by its tail.

　What to do, what to do?

　Fortunately, if it was only medicinal herbs, I just picked a mountain of them just now. However, as expected, they don't contain any poisonous herbs powerful enough to neutralize the manticore's poison.

　If we return to the nest, we'll find the poisonous plant. That's because I prepared it in case something happened to me during my confinement.

　But the amount was minimal, and considering the huge size of the winged beasts, I'm not sure if it would be effective even if I gave them all to drink.

　Before that, would human medicinal herbs work on the winged beasts?


'The poisoner ... the poisoner ... somewhere ... ah, yes!　There it is, the effective one that neutralized the Lord of the Flies' paralyzing poison!


　Jiria Ooks. It's not far from here.

　If we run as fast as we can, clad in jade, we'll be back in less than an hour.

　........If you think about it calmly, there's no need to go that far against a wyvern, and if you want, you could cut it down right now - but when I remembered the dull eyes from earlier, I hesitated to do so.

　Well, well, even if it was, we're good friends who fought together. If they're going to attack us even ungratefully after the poison has been cured, then that's when we'll eat them.

　When I saw the winged beast lying on the ground with its long neck lying on the ground and growling in pain, I bent down lightly and then ran out at full speed.