Luke P.O.V

Luke vaguely could sense when his friends got hurt. He assumed it was a secondary effect of his War Cleric’s Bond. Even without seeing them, he always had an idea of how they were doing so long as they were relatively close by. So, Priscilla’s reassurance felt off. Mash had definitely been hurt, but Luke didn’t really know how. He almost rushed over there but stopped when he heard a roar. Something monstrous, an impossible sound that echoed with the howl of a wolf. It carried despite the clacking of the insects. The entire mass of monsters seemed to pause. It rippled through their army. Many of the insects around him had turned their heads too. For an instant, everyone’s attention drifted toward Mash.

It was fear. A simple obvious reaction. One that spurred the remaining monsters into a furious charge. Luke was almost overwhelmed by the sudden burst of speed, but Jill teleported in front of him, and her javelin tore through the monsters. She wasn’t injured, but her hands were stained by the monster’s foul-smelling blood. Even now the smell bothered him. All beastmen regardless of appearance had improved senses. All of them were a little better than the other people. Luke and Jill were slowly retreating, killing as many stragglers as they could. Red and Mash were trying to seal the hole.

“You think he’s alright?”

He looked at Jill and spoke too softly. With the charging of the insects, he didn’t think she would hear, but she replied simply.

“That’s what Priscilla said.”

Jill nodded before teleporting toward another group of the monsters. She was really good at catching the stragglers. Honestly, Luke felt kind of useless at the moment. His heals and buffs were on the people he could see, and there wasn’t much he could. He had tried using soul magic but killing the insects one at a time was only so useful. There was nothing he could do to an army like this. Jill too was only slightly more effective. Her explosion might work, but it could just lead to another exit for the insects to take. He punched through another monster.

The fight edged on slowly. The horde of monsters that surrounded Mash morphed. They bulged in places. It centered on Mash, but it shifted. The insects around him spread out a little, and the mass grew misshaped. Several large areas started growing outwards, like some kind of strange pimple. Luke continued to peek at it as he fought with the other monsters. He wished he had a vision skill like Mash. The only thing he had were eyes, and he caught glimpses of the mass as it continued to warp.

The next glance revealed several large wooden snakes. They had burst from the insects and were plucking and eating the insects like a bird. Their beaked mouths were exact replicas of Priscilla, and they had no trouble picking apart the insects. The monsters were relentless though and scratched at the wood as they trampled past them. Even with the wooden monstrosities, the insects just surged on. Luke bet that they were still chasing Mash. Luke’s gaze drifted down the mass, and he caught a small glimpse of Mash. It caused him to pause. Or more like the sight froze him, and he recoiled in horror.

Mash did not look normal. It wasn’t just his transformation either. His head was odd. The places where his eyes, ears, and nose were supposed to be was gone. Replaced by scales that matched the rest of his face. The only thing he still had was his mouth, which he used to devour some insects. His appearance alone would be scary, but there was something else that caused Luke to stare. Mash wasn’t fighting like normal. His hands moved quickly, but he didn’t punch or claw. His clawed hands grabbed an insect, and Luke watched the monster break. Its whole body cracked and crumpled until its body was absorbed into his hands.

Luke didn’t want to look, but he was transfixed. He had to remind himself of what Mash was really like, despite what his eyes revealed to him. A few insects scratched at his flesh, but the wounds healed soon after they formed. He just kept staring at Mash. Luke’s vision let him see what Mash was doing, and he didn’t know what to do. The monsters that Mash was grabbing were breaking. Not just their bodies either. Everything, their souls included, was being broken down and absorbed by Mash. That wasn’t something people were supposed to do. There were few taboo skills among beastmen, but that was definitely one. He stared at Mash, right up until more insects swarmed the location and hid him again.

Luke knew Mash better than most. Mash caused trouble everywhere he went. But he was never to blame for it. No, if anything Mash would try and prevent it. He was the kind of person to offer his help even if it wasn’t wanted. He was quick to action, which often led to more problems than they solved. Luke and almost everyone else found themselves joining Mash if only to keep up with him. There was something about him that made Luke want to keep up. Seeing someone try so hard to do the right thing was hard to ignore. And it was even harder to not try and do the same. Luke fought on, but his eyes kept drifting to where he thought Mash was. He had missed his opportunity to buff him again.

Mash P.O.V

Mash was slowly making progress. There were a lot of bugs. Even if they couldn’t really damage him, they slowed him just by existing. Even if he turned every monster he grabbed to dust, it meant little when another filled the space almost instantly. He was impressed by how tightly the monsters could squeeze together. The way the limbs surrounded one another made it feel like he was staring at a single mass. A puzzle, where all of the pieces were tightly bound. He had no idea how many insects there were, but he knew that he was making progress. The trail his large steps made was visible with his domain.

He opened his mouth slowly, and let insects stuff their limbs into the only vulnerable place they could reach. He felt them try to scratch at his throat, and he slammed his mouth shut and swallowed. His skill probably stopped him from choking or even gagging when he stuffed the large parts down his throat. It wasn’t smooth though. The skill didn’t stop his mind from thinking that he should be choking. Some of the limbs scraped against his throat as he swallowed them, but they lost their cutting power. His skill somehow weakened the things he ate.

They didn’t dissolve exactly. It was more like they just broke until they managed to fit. He imagined his throat was just crushing them. Yeah, that was probably fine. His skill hadn’t failed him yet. Plus, the stats he gained were adding up now. The insects probably could’ve overwhelmed most people at his level, but he was not something they could take. Especially now that he had sealed any weaknesses on his body. Scales had grown over any weaknesses.

Mash didn’t charge through the monsters. That was impossible, and his anger had waned. It had dripped from him with every step. Although it didn’t change anything. Angry or not, he still needed to stop these things. There were a lot of bugs, and he was a little worried about them overwhelming the other things in the area. Honestly, he knew that even sealing the exit was only a temporary solution. Monsters like these were problematic. They would evolve and grow if nobody dealt with them. Just because they were weak now didn’t mean much. Monsters were by their nature aggressive creatures. Few monsters kept to themselves.

These insects would become a much bigger issue if they were left alone. The guild’s record had mentioned them but had implied that they were new to the area. He wished he had known how old the information was, but he hadn’t considered it important. Dumb decisions could define his life if he let them. He shook his head a little sadly, as another pair of insects fell to his touch. All he could do was grow. Avoid making the same mistakes, or, if he did, recognize them.

Monsters died and he moved. Time slipped away, and he had no idea how many of the things had died. There was no trail of bodies for him to count. The only thing that he left behind were indentations in the snow. And most of those had been replaced by the footsteps of the monsters or the ever-falling snow. He was close to the hole now though. It had finally entered his senses. The insects had made it bigger, and he could see more insects still trying to escape. They climbed over one another. He had to seal them, and a simple piece of wood wouldn’t do that.

His hands touched the snow as he bent down. He held them there for a second, before letting wood grow out from them. It grew, pushing many of the monsters aside. They tried to stop it, but they couldn’t do anything with just numbers. The wood grew out pushing them aside. It grew out covering the ground. He made it grow quickly, but insects still managed to squeeze around it. The monsters clawed at it, and he felt the vibrations run through the wood. It didn’t break. He didn’t really block the hole. Rather he filled it. His wood poured into the whole. Since he couldn’t see, he had to rely on his sense of touch. The wood was an extension of his body, and he would be able to know when he reached the other side. He would know when he touched the bottom.

It wasn’t some grand plan, but it was simple. These things were bugs, and he was just going to squish them. The wood pushed down and across. It didn’t flow like water but grew as a tree might. He felt it when the wood crushed the first insect. He had almost forgotten they had blood. It was obvious, but he had killed so many without even seeing a drop of it. Now, he felt the liquid through the wood. The insects got pressed into the walls and ground, but he didn’t stop. It kept growing down, unending as his energy had long since gone beyond its limits. Ironically these monsters around him would give him the energy to fill more than just the hole.

Wood grew from more than just his hands. It sprouted from his back as sharp spears of wood. They didn’t kill the insects, but they could pierce them and stop them from running. He just aimed at everything in his domain. Quickly his domain was filled with insects that were trapped with him. Trapped to him. Stuck by wood that grew through their bodies. His control wasn’t perfect, but Priscilla could help him. His wood grew through each creature it pierced. Magical resistance was useful against a lot, but ironically magic that made real things could get around it. His wood worked well enough. The wood was a part of him though.