This forest was full of those big bastards. The first titan’s roars attracted more of them. And not long after its death, I was facing another titan, a four meter-one. Then two appeared after I killed that one. Neither was as tall as the first, one around six, and another eight meters tall. But taking care of them together was a pain. Making one fall wasn’t enough, as the other one would quickly lunge at me. I had to take both of them down at the same time, and use that small window to break one’s spine before other was clumsily trying to stand.
While I defeated the group, I hadn’t come out unscathed. My shoulder was bleeding. There was teeth marks on me as a memento when the smaller and faster bastard tried to bite a chunk off of me when I went for the other. It stood up quicker than I was expecting and lunged at me head-first, like it was participating in a diving competition. I managed to break its jaw and throw it off before it could gnaw my arm off.
After that, I tried to look out for the sudden change in their movements. I couldn’t even imagine how much pain the abnormal ones would be to deal with.
The wound hurt, but this body was more durable than I imagined. It didn’t affect my strength much and the bleeding was slowing down on its own. I still ripped of my shirt and wrapped it around and under my armpit and secured it tightly to slow down the bleeding. Just in time for another set of titans to approach.
After that, it became a chase. The titans attracted more titans, and before the new batch died, they caught attention of others. With five more titans dead, and more than a dozen chasing me, I had to make a run for it. During the run, I found a stream and was able to quickly quench my thirst. I saw a deer or two running for their lives as well. But with the titans on my trail, there was no time to hunt them. I found a shallow cave and took a momentary shelter inside, while titans kept clawing at the entrance trying to get to me. They didn’t show any desire of falling back. I was tired, but that wasn’t the only reason why I stopped the hit and run game with titans.
===
[Character inventory]
Marks: 9/9
[Ronora Zoro (D-)]
[Helmeppo (F-)]
[Heppoko (F-)]
[Peppoko (F-)]
[Poppoko (F-)]
[Lord of the Coast (E+)]
[Higuma (F)]
[Ripper (F-)]
[Koby (F-)]
===
Most of the rolls were duds. The poko trio were triplets in Alvida’s crew. And as one would expect, they were nothing special. They only had single stat, each different, that was better than Helmeppo’s. Higuma was somewhat better. Relatively speaking, of course. Around the ballpark of Alvida. A bit weaker. But enough to not be completely helpless against the titans. Ripper was the officer at Shell’s Town. A good man, but not much stronger than the triplets. And Koby… was Koby. A kid with great potential, but the potential didn’t matter with my ability.
But one of the rolls was a jackpot. Lord of the Coast. A massive sea monster that could swallow a man whole better than any titan could. A creature that towered over even the Colossal Titan in size. Only downside was that I couldn’t make full use of its capabilities due to lack of water. But that barely could be considered an issue, as the giant eel could simply crawl like a snake. I would at least to a better job than Reiss’s titan.
With another trump card at my hand, I could save Zoro’s mark for better application. Using it now would be an overkill, and it would last less than an hour. But Alvida would no longer cut it. Dealing with dozen titans at the same time was beyond her. Nor was there point to it.
“Merry, how long am I stuck in the first arc?” I asked. “It doesn’t seem that I’ll be getting anything better from this pool.”
“Oh, you have to kill a boss.” Merry said with stars in his eyes. “Each Arc has one. You summon it, you kill, and boom! You move on to the next arc!”
“Summon a boss? How?”
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Merry’s expression turned serious, like he was telling a story in front of a campfire. “Basically, you kill something strong enough to be a vessel. In this case, one of those bigger titans should do the job. You place your hand on the vessel, activate the ability, and the vessel will be transformed into the main bad guy of the arc. When the boss dies, your pool changes to the next arc.”
“I’m going to be fighting Morgan, then?” I said, thinking over my options. I needed some stronger characters, and if the weak extras kept popping up, I would not survive for long even in this world. “I guess I have to use the Lord of the Coast. This form has no chance.”
“Here’s the thing, though.” Merry said as he kept hovering in front of me. “You don’t have to directly kill him. He just has to die. It doesn’t matter how that’ll happen.”
“Oh,” I realized what Merry meant. “That’ll be fun.”
“Right? Right?” Merry asked me with an adorable grin. “Can you imagine when he wakes up in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of titans trying to eat him? Don’t you just want to see how he reacts?”
“You just want to relish in his misery.” I sighed, yet my mouth cracked into a dumb grin as well.
Merry didn’t deny it. Rather, he kept dancing around me with an excitement written across his eyes. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. I wish I had some popcorn.”
I shook my head in disbelief. I had such a handful of a partner. Probably what kept me from completely losing it. “There’s something else as well.” I said as I looked down at the nine mini tattoos bellow the main Jolly Roger. “It says that the nine’s the limit. Does this mean there’s no point in hunting more down unless I use one of the nine?”
“No, unfortunately. You can’t stack up more than that.” Merry said. “You don’t have to just use it on yourself though.”
“I don’t? Wait,” I brought up the ability description again. “Oh. I can choose targets. Does that mean…” I glanced at the group of restless titans still desperately trying to get inside.
“Probably.” Merry nodded. “Yes, you can turn others into the characters you rolled. But they need to be unconscious for the ability to work. Otherwise, you need their consent for that. Normally.”
“What amounts to normal?”
“They need to be considered human. Or something that has mind that can be considered self-aware.” Merry continued. He seemed to be enjoying explaining things. “In their current state titans do not possess conscious mind. Do you consider their existence to be comparable to a human’s?”
“Is that a philosophical question?” I blinked. “I would say there’s some complications. There a human inside there, not yet dead. There’s chance for them to regain their human bodies. But chances of that are so low, that they are as good as dead. So, I guess not.”
“Then there’s your answer. Your judgement determines the nuances in application of the ability.” Merry said. “If what you’re saying is what you believe, then those titans are viable target. I mean, you do remember Chrollo vs Hisoka, right? Chrollo mentioned something about that.”
“Right. I get what you mean.” I said. The rules with nen abilities were subjective, and the user’s worldview had a great effect on them. “I just have to transform them. And then I can kill them, right?”
“Keep in mind, though,” Merry added. “The corpse’s value will change into what you turned it into. So you can’t transform something strong into something weak, and then expect to get good rolls out of that corpse.”
“Well, that’s a bummer.”
“David, there are no loopholes. You’re not fooling yourself.” Merry laughed. ”Also, I don’t think you will want to go for the kill.”
I gave Merry a puzzled look.
“Why would that…” I blinked. “Oh, they won’t stay mindless.”
“Yeah.” Merry looked at me with a complicated expression.
“Will they awaken like Ymir? What about the time limit?”
“Probably. And it will require a constant upkeep of lifeforce. Same with you.” Merry said. “But it can either come from them, or you can shoulder the nen expense, if you choose to. When it comes to weaker characters, like the triplets, it won’t really be a problem. Your nen recovery is more than the cost they require. If you choose to keep the burden on the regular humans, though, it’s going to start chipping away their lifespan.”
That made sense, in a way. The form required constant energy to maintain it. Nen basically was the life energy, so if someone didn’t have ability to control it, my ability would take a bigger toll on them. And stronger the form, more energy it required in exchange.
That also meant I could gather allies and give them powerful bodies. Despite being temporary, it was still a boost well worth its price.
“But despite the titans once being regular humans, they are no longer.” I noted. “The titan bodies can survive without any food for seemingly no limit. They’re clearly getting energy somehow. How will that interact with the Roulette?”
“You think that their regeneration will be enough to sustain the form indefinitely?” Merry asked while nodding his head. “I think so too. But there will be a limit with the character’s strength. We just don’t know where that limit is.”
If this worked out, I could see the situation I could end up with. If titans could indeed turn back into the humans they once were and be able to live a normal life, it would be better to establish a new settlement somewhere. It didn’t mean I could afford to not kill titans. But I could save some of them. And if I could gather some competent subordinates along the way, it would just be a bonus.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Merry said with a grin. “This could be really, really exciting.”
I stood up, this possibility blazing a fire of determination within me. There was a tangible goal I could aim for. An option much better than anything I expected. It wasn’t without problems, of course. The past of the titans had been tragic. Without anything connecting to this world anymore, would many still keep the will to live? How many would be willing to fight again? But some challenges were meant to be faced. I wouldn’t know the outcome of my decision before I went through with it.
“Let’s deal with the boss first, get done with this arc.” I said as we moved towards the cave’s entrance, towards the jaws of the frenzied titans. “Then, I’ll see about saving those who I can.”