Chapter 151
The Cannibal that had been kicked went flying high into the air, then crashed into the ground without even trying to break its fall. It seemed to have exhausted its strength, because it lay motionless.
"They sure are fragile."
"That's the Cannibals' weakness. If we can land a hit, they're not unbeatable. But... their actions are inconsistent, which makes them hard to read. Until now, we've managed to deal with them by using their lack of brains to lure them into traps, but..."
Balmung said, a cold sweat beading on his brow. The Cannibals, who were supposed to be stupid, had launched a surprise attack as if they were the ones setting a trap for them.
The Cannibals had clearly known which area was covered by the stealth-camouflage barrier. They must have realized they could use that to their advantage: as soon as someone stepped outside the barrier, they ambushed the people inside, hoping to devour the humans who appeared from nowhere. They had even taken into account where the people inside would be looking, based on the position of the person who had gone outside.
"...Looks like they've evolved again."
At that realization, Balmung let out a bitter laugh even as he kept watch ahead.
"Again? What do you mean, again?"
"The Cannibals weren't this smart before. They had enough intelligence to communicate among themselves, so they were just barely manageable... But now it's the other way around. We're nothing but prey to them."
"You make it sound as if they weren't like this before."
"That's right. They used to be nothing more than monsters that preyed on humans and other intelligent beings. They even made sounds."
"...What do you mean?"
"Evolution isn't exclusive to us humans. If anything, we can't evolve on our own... so you could say we're the most inferior beings on Earth."
He spoke as if not only the Cannibals but other races could evolve, too. That explained one of Takako's questions: why were there so few evolved humans among the people of Earthclear?
Takako couldn't imagine Earthclear's humans being killed so easily by an enemy whose methods they knew how to counter. But if something unexpected happened, that was another matter. If the same countermeasures no longer worked, then no matter how capable someone was, they could be caught off guard and killed unless they could overwhelm the enemy with sheer physical strength.
She understood that they had been so careful to coordinate their actions in order to leave as few openings as possible on Earth's surface, where unexpected events happened one after another.
"Eek... Whoa!"
Just then, a Cannibal soundlessly appeared in front of one of the Resistance's front-line fighters, who stood opposite Takako.
When the only way to locate a Cannibal was by sight, this circular formation was effective at preventing anyone from being attacked from behind. But even for someone from Earthclear, the formation was useless if they couldn't react like Takako when a Cannibal appeared right in front of them. The front-line fighter had no chance to act before the Cannibal sank its teeth into them.
"Huh... Huh?"
But the instant the Cannibal's large, sharp fangs touched the fighter's neck, they stopped short with a dull clack! The fighter was left with their face inside the Cannibal's mouth.
"I-I'm alive?! W-what... S-someone! It's too dark; I can't tell what's happening... H-help me!"
The front-line fighter shouted in a panic from inside the Cannibal's mouth. As soon as the others realized the fighter was still alive, the two front-line fighters standing beside them tried to intervene, but froze at a sharp shout from behind: "Don't break formation!"
Immediately afterward, a dazzling beam of heat shot out from the stomach of the fighter whose face was in the Cannibal's mouth. The impact sent the Cannibal flying into the air, where it was incinerated by the beam's heat.
Unable to understand what had happened, everyone turned to the front-line fighter, who was breathing hard in confusion, and fell silent. They couldn't believe the fighter had survived. The only thing they could make out was that Parna, standing behind them with a hand against their back, must have done something.
"Y-you saved me?"
"I was the one who defeated the Cannibal, but I wasn't the one who saved your life. All I did was use your body to cast a spell. I did borrow your magic, though."
"Y-you used my body and magic? That's impossible! I have magic, sure, but I can barely use spells!"
"That's just the kind of Skill I have. Oh, and if you don't have any magic, I'll use my own, so don't worry. From the looks of it, close combat is your main fighting style, and you probably wouldn't have used your magic anyway, so I took the liberty of using yours and saving mine."
Parna said this, then winked with a mischievous smile. It sounded almost like a lie, but the fact that the magic inside the fighter's body had been depleted proved it was true.
Skill: Witch's Hand
Effect: Allows you to use a living creature you touch as a medium for magic and cast spells using the target's magic.
Hearing what the Skill could do, nearly everyone present stared in astonishment. It was an unexpected ability—and a terrifying one, since depending on how it was used, it could drain another person's magic entirely.
Only Alice saw it differently. Parna had protected her with that power many times in the past, so she understood that, used well, it could protect them even when danger came at them as it had just now. She gazed at Parna with a trusting smile.