Summoned Forest Protector Lvl 16

Summoned Forest Protector Lvl 18

Summoned Forest Protector Lvl 20

Summoned Forest Protector Lvl 14

The Protectors swung into view on the low-hanging branches of the nearby trees. Their eyes glowed with the emerald power of the summoning, especially the third Protector, reaching Level 20 and possessing a larger frame than its companions.

As the group arced forward and hit the ground, I could feel the tremors traveling through the soil. My adrenaline spiked.

Yet at the same time-

Your Skill (Language) Bestial Comprehension has grown to Level 8.

Your Skill (Earned) Short-Term Prediction has grown to Level 5.

The thrum from my Chimera Core companions had been strengthened until it tingled against my whole awareness. The subconscious communication rippled outward through my energy sonar. Even as I felt the sensation, I understood implicitly; my two siblings were about to move. Both oozed bloodthirst.

The Language Skill had grown to the point where it merged with our Chimera Core’s natural energy sonar.

Sage’s pulse was particularly aggressive, immediately sharpening her intent toward the Lvl 20 Protector. Nightshade followed a half-beat after, targeting the two lower Level Protectors on the edge, Lvl 16 and Lvl 14. Which, I supposed, left me with the Lvl 18 Protector. But also, I sensed a secondary request from both of them, to me, who stood in the middle of our formation.

Split the battlefield. Create the opportunity for both of them to have their fights. I paused, still shocked by the sudden specificity of the awareness I felt with my fellow Chimera Cores. You both… how is it you both have so much faith in me, even as I’m struggling so hard to keep up with you…?

I shoved down my feeling of inadequacy even as my body stepped forward. Maybe I won’t live up to their expectations… but in this life, I won’t ever fail to try.

As I activated my Second Blessing, newly evolved into Launch Clay, I felt the stirring of something in my core. You know… I said it sarcastically earlier…

…but fighting with these two at my side… I can see why it can be fun.

The bubble of reprieve popped. The four Forest Protectors loped toward us, their bodies leafy blurs.

Your Skill (Temp) Inferior Adrenaline Rush has grown to Level 21.

I sidestepped to the right, moving slightly in front of Nightshade. I took aim with Launch Clay, even as I felt the machinery in my head clicking forward. Before, and in my life as a human, perhaps the machine had felt like this superfluous part of myself I had tacked on, a way of engaging that let me (for lack of a better word) ignore my humanity.

But now-

Your Skill (Earned) Detection has grown to Level 25.

Your Skill (Earned) Short-Term Prediction has grown to Level 6.

But now, in this life, I wasn’t a human.

One point I accepted from my former-Therapist Mr. Gains was that we carried old coping strategies with us as we aged and applied them to new situations to which they were often unsuited.

Yet the opposite was possible as well; in new situations, old and malformed tools could show a surprising effectiveness.

Detection gathered the information. The machine cranked forward, the imagined metal of the mental gears turning as processed the inputs. Short-Term Prediction assisted and generated a tangible mental output. Weirdly, by becoming a monster, I felt the machine becoming more and more closely integrated into my sense of self.

I fired the clay, predicting how the Protector on the left would dodge. The heavy projectile caught its foot, right as it stepped, and sent the monster sprawling.

Behind me, Nightshade cut to the left, perhaps sensing my intent through the same series of ripples. The jelly in us whispered to one another. Separate individuals we might be, but we were also something greater. A fell, whispered promise to enemies that fought against us.

I wondered if the sense of connection was born out of our arrays, or just a recognition of our sibling bond.

I used the adrenaline to launch myself forward and slam bodily against the rightmost Protector. Despite my weight, momentum, and increased physical stats, the Level 14 Protector still shoved me slightly back. But its charge had been broken and my snake tail had already curled around its waist on impact.

Your Skill (Earned) Body Manipulation has grown to Level 25(+6).

My tail tightened. I squeezed out all of the Strength I had possessed, heaving the Protector up. To my delight, the body was light; it was, after all, only woven branches and leaves. Its claws sliced toward me, but I twisted so they skittered off my armored spine.

I threw the Level 14 Protector and it tumbled through the air, aimed directly at the Level 18 Protector. The other Protector sidestepped and glared at me. The Level 14 Protector hit the ground and sprawled forward, right next to its Level 16 companion, who straightened after its trip.

The Protectors growled and howled, but eyed us. Likely for enough time that our group could split and separate after our ‘successful’ demolishing of their formation. But instead-

My companions moved to escalate the confrontation.

Nightshade’s sewn-together squirrel head arm swelled up and he smashed it down like a hammer on the weaker of his two foes. As the Level 20 took a step forward, Sage flickered forward and landed on its chest. Even in the heat of battle, I couldn’t help but admire her grace. Because she absorbed all the force as her legs compressed, an impossibly light touchdown on the Protector’s torso, despite how much speed she used to close the distance.

And even as she was landing, she was already bending downward, her tails fluttering, tugging lightly on the Protector's ankles to shift her position so the rest of her tails could establish a firm connection with the ground.

The muscles of her frog legs bulged with explosive force before the Protector could even slash at her. The slow response meant the Protector shot straight up in the air. It windmilled its arms, but it was helpless for the moment.

My tortoise legs dug into the dirt of the forest floor. The Lvl 18 Protector’s eyes were sliding sideways to Sage, but it caught two heavy clay projectiles in the face. I heard one of the branches of its cheekbone crack.

Due to your actions, your Blessing Launch Clay has earned +2 Proficiency!

Due to your actions, your Blessing Launch Clay has earned +2 Proficiency!

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If I keep this up, I’m going to learn a body slam Skill. I thought idly as I crashed against my target. It stumbled backward but then considered me with its malicious green eyes. Already its branch limbs twisted around, grappling with my slightly lavender flesh. Those claws tore through my limbs not protected by the Armored Spine, but the increased Defense I had earned meant I lost 9 Health.

Currently, my Health sat at 138.

Of course, it's a much less relaxed fight when I don’t have the opportunity to regain Health on the fly with Mana Feed…

Sage jumped upward and intercepted the Protector she had tossed into the air. Colliding with enough force to snap its limbs, Sage wrapped her tails around the Level 20 Protector and spun it. Her legs exploded and smashed the monster sideways into a nearby tree trunk.

After hammering the front Protector back, Nightshade continued to rumble forward like an out-of-control freight train, simply bulldozing his way through the two tangled monsters before they could recover. Just like that, our three fights had settled into the selected match-ups.

“Guess that’s a win for me,” I said, as I dug my tortoise legs into the ground for leverage. I felt Mana flowing into our clearing. The tethers leading to the four Protectors sharpened. The one cracked against the trunk by Sage absorbed more of that Mana and began to reform. The leaves of its body rustled as its limbs grew back into place.

I felt the shift in the Protector grappling just before it happened; in the desperate grasping for an advantage, it had won. My Strength had increased, but it wasn’t enough against this Level 18 foe. Tentacles snapped outward from my torn flesh and gripped its shoulders, yet it heaved me up into the air.

…but I’ve gone through this before, friend.

I unleashed two attacks at once: I spat a bolt of clay right into one of its glowing emerald eyes while simultaneously driving my Bloodsoaked Left Fang into the tangled branches of its chest. The clay covered up energy and gave me a point in proficiency, but obviously it didn’t impair its vision. Its arms heaved-

My Interstitial Body Structure tore as it tried to toss me, but my Bloodsoaked Left Fang anchored me in place. 7 More Health dribbled away, but after planting half my legs down I raised the other two tortoise legs and kicked it in the chest. The Lvl 18 Protector stumbled backward.

Your Skill (Earned) Detection has grown to Level 25(+1).

Sage somehow managed to land on another trunk, kick-off, and intercept her Lvl 20 Protector as it fell. She spun around, riding it into the ground-

Nightshade, unwilling to lose the bet, had swollen to double his normal size as he inflated all of his head-arms with his Skills. A serpent and a fish head pinned the weaker of the Protectors to the ground, while the massive squirrel head totem arm slammed the other back and forth-

Meanwhile, I felt regret at pushing back the Protector without inflicting more damage. It lowered its stance and then pounced forward. I felt my Short-Term Prediction activate, but this murder koala was fast. I swept my tail toward its feet to trip it up but it adjusted to the attack and hopped over it. Preemptively, my right hand rubbed a healing secretion on my body while my left squirrel paw began to ooze poison.

Your Skill (Temp) Weak Secretions has grown to Level 10.

“Shit, can I even poison a doll?” I muttered. “Why won’t you just… leaf me alone~”

Without pausing to chuckle at my humor, the Protector slashed twice and scored two deep gashes on my chest. Those blows reaped 11 and 13 Health, respectively. I surged a short distance forward but the Protector shifted back just as far. It wasn’t willing to give up the advantage of its sharp claws and enter a wrestling match. As soon as I gathered my heavy tortoise legs beneath me, it pounced forward.

This time I twisted sideways, so it only nicked me in the shoulder; I still lost 8 Health.

My Defense might be boosted, but it's hard to rely on the physical benefits of this Armored Spine. The protection mostly guards against ambushes from behind- Hah, Violala, have you been weighing on my subconscious that much…?

I narrowed the scope of my energy sonar, inwardly apologizing to Nightshade and Sage. But I needed my full focus on the foe in front of me.

I did not possess the instincts of a former monster princess or the combat experience honed through a tumultuous lifetime as a Maou. Instead, I was a reincarnated man who carried bitter regrets. My perspective was different. Likely both of my siblings were now having mid-battle epiphanies and growing more powerful. They regarded these combats as ways to sharpen themselves.

I did not see them that way. This was a different sort of duel. Considering one of us was a necrotic core and the other was a summoned being, what really mattered was our relative resilience. Our persistence.

Or, to use a rather loaded term under the System… our Grit.

I’m not going to suddenly leap past you in combat capability… but I can learn to wield my own pittance better to survive.

The Protector moved forward and slashed at me. It gashed my abdomen but hopped back away before I could retaliate with a stab. I narrowed my snake eyes, watching its Mana. I ignored the pulses and shouts from my companions. I sat in the moment. I cataloged my capability.

The Protector moved again and my machine hummed.

As it leapt forward, so did I.

The Protector reacted quickly, observing my movement and kicking off to the side so it would slide past me to my left.

But that was the wrong choice.

I drove my Bloodsoaked Left Fang into the ground, right as it was about to pass me. Its claws cut into my side and took 15 Health, but the fang became the center of my new orbit. My momentum whipped me around and slammed us back together into a close embrace. My tail flicked forward and knocked one of its branch feet out from under it. The Protector fell to a knee.

I headbutted the summon with the armored crown of my head, feeling its face crunch into twigs.

Your Skill (Earned) Mutinous Grit has grown to Level 10.

It sank its claws into my side to get a better grip as it struggled back to its feet. My Health continued to trickle downward, reaching 94 of 158. As soon as it regained its feet, my senses pinged.

Your Skill (Earned) Short-Term Prediction has grown to Level 7.

In the same manner it had attempted two times previously, the Lvl 18 Protector was going to throw me. Now, I might be a slow adapter to the life of a monster, but even Tallum Frost learned a thing or two after multiple instances of being tossed onto his face.

Besides… in this life… with these capabilities…

You might have neutralized one of the natural advantages of a Chimera Core, but did you think this is all we are capable of?

My innermost jelly began to quiver.

The Protector flipped me to the side. As soon as it released me, it planted its feet and prepared to stalk after me with sharpened claws. I could tell it aimed for the vulnerable flesh of my sides while it forced me face-first into the ground.

Tentacles formed, even within the core of my being, wrapping around and protecting my vulnerable organs.

Each body part I’ve Integrated… that too, is a form of investment. To smooth my path as a monster, I’ve grown from the corpses of those trying to kill me. I spend Anima to absorb their instincts.

I don’t just have the capability to absorb other body parts. I can also integrate them freely, in any form I can imagine. And accepting this Armored Spine taught me I haven’t been leveraging this broken power as well as I could be.

One more step forward, Tallum.

Although it tore my Interstitial Body Structure, I used the wrenching of the throw and the twisting of inner tentacles to rearrange my body. Blood exploded as my Four Legs of the Sleepy Swirlback Tortoise pivoted and shifted toward the position of my former ‘head’. What had been the top of my Armored Spine became the bottom.

My feet landed, poised for any sort of movement I wished. The joints of my other limbs reversed themselves freely.

I lost 26 Health as my flesh tore to accommodate the brutal change, but also-

Your Skill (Species) Interstitial Body Structure has grown to Level 18.

Your Skill (Species) Integrate Body Part has grown to Level 29.

Your Skill (Species) Contemplate Flesh has grown to Level 7.

Your Skill (Species) Contemplate Flesh has grown to Level 8.

Your Skill (Species) Integrate Body Part has grown to Level 30.

Your Skill (Species) Contemplate Flesh has grown to Level 9.

An Interesting Achievement: For relying on understanding to improve your mastery of Species Skills rather than Skill activation, +3 Free Stats! Distributed to only non-(Temp) Stat: Wisdom.

A Notable Achievement: For relying on understanding to improve 5x non-utilized Skills at once, you have achieved an epiphany! You have earned the non-(Temp) Stat Insight. Insight has been increased to 5.

An Interesting Achievement: For gaining a new Stat, +10 Max Health and +10 Max Mana

My pious squirrel hands stabilized me as my body settled into its new form. In a much less active way, I felt the sensation of 5 Insight guiding my movements, providing the smallest natural advantage.

Straightening, I looked into the broken face of the Summoned Protector. In its glowing emerald eyes, I saw the slightest bit of shock as my rapid response transformed my vulnerability into it being overextended. It had already committed, but it had no time at all to take advantage of me. Its charge faltered for a split second.

I may not be Sage, but even I can manage a lot in a second.

My fang flicked up and blocked its first slash. My tail followed up and broke apart the elbow joint of its extended right arm.

Then I grinned. “I think it’s my turn for a little bloodthirst, don’t you?”