POV: Hunter (the playable character)
I cover my ears because of the Phageris's sound. I feel the hairs on my body stand on end, like I'm stepping back against my will, and I realize I'm trembling.
I look at the other hunters around me and notice they're just like me—or even worse. Some of them, like me, come from the Fifth Fleet, but most are veterans of the New World.
I look back at the monster and think, "I don't know what that was, I just know it wasn't a roar."
POV: Guild Master
"Another new ability to add to the list," I mutter to myself, eyes locked on the Phageris—who, as expected at this point... has changed form again.
She's taller and more muscular. Parts of her body are now covered in scale-like plates that look like polished obsidian. Her crest hasn't just grown; it's much thicker—much thicker.
And now, to top it off, she has two massive horns growing from the temporal sides of her skull.
"You didn't have even the slightest hint of horns before—and now you've got two enormous ones. On top of that, your body is constantly changing… What are you?"
And as if answering my question, she throws a clean punch straight at my face.
POV: Narrator
The Guild Master bent his body to avoid Chryssia's punch.
Chryssia followed with a kick from her left leg, but at that moment a hunter charged her with his shield, forcing her to retreat.
The hunter then attacked with his lance, which Chryssia blocked with her left arm. In response, she struck the weapon's tip with her elbow, forcing it downward, and followed up with a slash from her other hand.
The hunter never lowered his shield, so he didn't need to move much to block the blow.
The collision between claw and shield sparked and produced a horrible screech that made everyone's ears ring.
Even though the shield absorbed most of the impact, the hunter still had to kneel from the sheer force of the slash.
Before Chryssia could take advantage of her opponent's vulnerability, she noticed a barrage of projectiles flying toward her—arrows and crossbow bolts.
She was forced to back away from the lancer to avoid the attacks.
But the hunters noticed something strange.
After retreating a few meters, Chryssia stopped moving—not with the intent to flee or attack, as they expected.
The forty-six hunters stood ready, weapons raised, but none advanced either.
Everyone was tense. In a situation like this, any living creature would either fight or flee. But Phageris was doing neither.
The first to notice what was happening was the lancer. He felt his fingers beginning to go numb.
—Paralysis! Take your antidotes!
At the hunter's shout, everyone immediately pulled an antidote from their belts.
The reason Chryssia had paused her attack after dodging the arrow and then retreated from the lancer…Was because she had been using [Paralyzing Cloud], enhanced by [Cloud], in the forest area the moment she dodged the arrow.
But unlike before, the hunters had come prepared.
Seeing her plan fail, Chryssia growled—but didn't seem particularly irritated by it. Honestly, the fact that they had a countermeasure to her paralytic poison wasn't surprising—it was almost expected.
So she stopped wasting time and lunged at the group of ten hunters, activating [Demonic Blood] to boost herself.
The closest of the ten had a hammer in hand—and to his credit, he reacted to Chryssia charging at him.But he wasn't fast enough to avoid the strike.
A clean punch from Chryssia's right hand hit him square in the head, sending him flying.
Even though she hadn't used her claws, the obsidian-like protrusions on her knuckles shredded the hunter's helmet.
He crashed into another hunter behind him, knocking them both down.
The second hunter, after recovering from the impact, looked at his friend—his helmet was crushed, caving in on his head, blood pouring out uncontrollably. Horrified, he could only scream his name.
But Chryssia didn't hear the cry—or more accurately, didn't care.
Immediately after striking the hammer hunter, two other hunters leapt at her.
The first wielded a greatsword and tried to land a wide horizontal slash, which was blocked by a spine growing from the monster's arm.
The second hunter came in with a shield strike, prepping for a follow-up with his sword.
The shield hit Chryssia squarely, but had little to no effect. The second blow with the sword never came—because Chryssia grabbed the spine that had blocked the greatsword with her other hand, and before any of the hunters could react—
The spine extended, growing over three and a half meters long before detaching from her body and swinging at the shield-and-sword hunter.
The blow wasn't as fatal as the punch to the hammer user, but it left a long, though not deep, gash across his chest—even through his armor.
The problem was that the spine was made with [Hardened Poisonous Thorns]—and in the blink of an eye, the hunter began to feel the effects of the toxin.
All the while, the Guild Master had been charging straight at Chryssia from the beginning. She had managed to injure two hunters before he got close enough.
Stunned by the sight of the massive thorn, the Guild Master struck with his longsword—And Chryssia retaliated with the enormous spine, taller than a person.