Paradigm Parasite

 

　And then…
the scattered object…
met my eyes.

　A lot of sweat comes out of my forehead.

　Fearfully…I turned my gaze back to the store.

 

　Nightmares and despair took shape.

 

　In appearance, the ground dragon was probably the closest.

　However, it was completely different, only close.

Its arms and legs were unusually thick, with a large number of vein-like veins protruding from them.

 

　For some reason, it held a club-like object in one hand.

　His torso was full of strength, with a tremendous amount of muscle pushing up against his skin.

　And the most interesting part is the tail.

 

　For some reason, it has five tails.

　Because of the amount of muscle and the limbs, the balance of the body is not right.

 

　Above all…the pressure and killing intent were tremendous.

　The killing intent in its gaze alone made me want to run away.　

　The monster turns its head slowly and makes a tremendous roar as it turns its head and looks around.

　The sound does not leak out due to the magic of the mages placed around this place, but…
some of my men are shaking their legs from the intimidation.

 

　”Kill it!　Kill!”

 

　I draw my sword from my waist as I say this.

　One of my men cuts at the monster.

　The next moment, my subordinate is gone from the waist up.

 

　It seems to be the result of the monster swinging a club in its hand.

　What was that…I didn't see it.

A little later, I heard a sticky sound and the sound of something wet hitting a nearby wall.

 

　”Hey…
did you see that?”

　”No?　What?　Did it just swing its cudgel?”

 

　The monster lowered itself and ran at a tremendous speed.

　It sucks the upper body of a subordinate close at hand into its mouth and bites it to pieces.

　Blood spurts from the lower half of his body as it falls to the ground.

 

“That's the one got eaten!　Not from the front.
Behind you!　Behind you!”

　”Spears!　Spear it!”

 

　Those who tried to attack from behind fell prey to the tail.

The tail moved as if it had a mind of its own, and it thrust itself into the stomachs of my men.

 

　”Gaha!”

　”What's with that tail…
it's alive…”

 

　The misery of those who were impaled never ends.

 

　”Agha…
what…
suck…
it…”

　”Guile!　Oh…
my…
god…
Guille's dried up…”

 

　The people who had been stabbed were quickly deflated by whatever had been done to them, and within a few dozen seconds they were dried up.

　The monster was running at a frightening speed, stabbing and devouring those in front of it with its teeth and those who passed it with their tails.

 

　”What the…
what the hell is this?”

　”Damn it!　Why the hell is this guy in town!”

“You can't fight it up close!　Magic!　Magic!　Mages!　Chant!”

 

　I give the order over the screams of my men.

　It's impossible to get close.
We have no choice but to finish it off at long range.

 

“Anyone with a bow, fire at it!　Don't hit our allies! Stall for time!　Spearmen, move forward!　Just hold them off!　Stop them moving!”

 

It's moving too fast! We can't do anything if we don't keep it down at the very least.

　My men with spears try to attack from outside of the distance….

The monster, not caring about the spear, closes the distance between them and finishes them off one by one with its tail.

 

The dried-up ex-human rolls to the ground at its feet.

The archers suppress their shock and rain arrows down on it.

If only it would somehow slow it down….

 

The arrow doesn't pierce the monster…but it gets bounced off.

It's repelled!?

　How thick is its skin!?

 

But we bought ourselves some time.

　The magic chanting seems to have been completed.

　As the mages were about to activate the magic…their heads flew off.

 

　”What?”

 

　I sounded like an idiot myself.
I have no idea what happened.

The heads of the mages who tried to feed it magic were flying in the air like a joke.

　I turned my gaze to the monster.

 

There's a magic circle floating in front of its face.

　That's ridiculous!?　Magic!?

And it's not basic wind, it's an applied wind blade wind cutter…
and it's a III with a tweaked range and accuracy.

 

　And…the most terrifying part…the heads of all 12 people who were stuck in three or four places were flying off.

What crazy thing is that this monster constructed magic while moving around, and activated multiple magic simultaneously.

　No…even before that, how could it use magic?

 

　Is it perhaps a mutant of the earth dragon?　Even if that were the case, a terrestrial dragon should have the intelligence to construct magic, even if it has magical power….

　So I finally look at my surroundings…

 

　”What?”

 

　I was the only one standing, everyone else was dead.

　The monster is staring at me.

　I hold up my sword with trembling hands and turn my thoughts frantically to what I should do.

 

　I wonder if I have ever felt so unreliable with my beloved sword, which has sliced through numerous prey and enemies….

　Should I run away?　Impossible.

The only way to survive is to fight.

 

Even a terrestrial dragon cannot survive with its head cut off.

　Aim for the neck.

　Its skin is tough enough to repel arrows, but this sword should be able to do it.

 

　Do it.
I can do it.
I know I can do it.

　I told myself to concentrate.

　The monster doesn't move.

 

　How does it move?　Magic?　Or does it rush in?

　If it lunges, how does it come?　A bite?　A club?

　If it used magic, there was nothing I could do.

 

　I was determined and lunged at the monster.

　I readied my sword and slashed at it.

　A big monster is vulnerable to attacks from below.
The earth dragon has a high viewpoint, so it is even more vulnerable.

 

Run as low as possible.

　The monster doesn't move.

　Okay, it's getting harder to catch me moving.

 

　I see it swinging its club.

　I increase my speed.

　The club hits the ground behind me.
Okay, I guess the bottom is the devil's backyard for him!

 

　I'm in time.
I thrust out my sword…

 

　”…?”

 

　The sword was gone…
or rather, from the elbow to the tip of the sword was gone.

　What happened…?

　I looked around in a daze, unable to comprehend what had happened.

 

　”Ah…”

 

　A tail.
One of the tails was holding my arm.

　The middle of the tail opened and bit my arm off….

　Blood gushes out.
My consciousness fades rapidly.

 

　Why…how did this happen….

This is just to get that Ro guy…….get him….

………Where is that Ro guy…….

 

　That's when I fully understood the situation.

　That's right!　That was it!　I knew something was wrong!　

　It all made sense.

 

　I put that fact into words.

 

　”It's a dream!　This is a dream!”

 

　Come on, wake up!

　My wish was swallowed by the darkness peeking out of the monster's wide-open mouth.