“Akari! Aim for its neck!” I wasted no time to issue an order.

From the looks of things, this so-called next form of the Shinbachira had a similar body structure as an adult human—that being, a bipedal body with the same parts. With a human body, the neck would be the easiest part to strike for lethal damage, as the nerves connecting the brain to the rest of the body would be there, while the cylindrical shape would be more susceptible to attacks. This thing also didn’t sport any defensive capabilities aside from its large wings to cover its body, but it bore no function to shield the neck and above.

Given Akari’s speed, decapitation was like child’s play. The critter’s scythe forearms slashed through the air, leaving a trail of white blur and a crimson afterimage. As Akari retracted her arms, a golden figure was split in half, sending a pile of colorless, but faintly sweet sludge flying about.

However, what went flying wasn’t the queen’s head.

The two halves of a lifeless Shinbachira fell to the ground, sending up a light puff of dirt and sand in the air. But what mattered the most wasn’t the fact that there was a Shinbachira to shield its queen, but rather…

There was no Shinbachira in the room when we entered. I was sure of it. Then where did it come from?

Without a moment to spare, I turned my head sideways as fast as I could. My suspicion was confirmed true, to the detriment of my luck—there was in fact no sign of the familiar gold and black figures that tried to kill me three times since I was transferred to this world.

“Kuri!”

Akari’s cry shocked me out of my trance. A sound akin to metal clashing echoed through the dim cave, while sparks flew in the air, lighting up the space in front of me by just a little. Through that red-hot light, I realized that my stomach was dangerously close to being pierced again, with Akari’s tiny arms being the only things preventing the Shinjoura’s spear-like limbs from striking me in my blind spot.

“Jump back, Akari!”

After calling the shot, I took my steps back as fast as I could, while the critter also responded with a backward jump of her own, flicking her forearms’ joints to deflect the spear hands away. With this, we should be safe…

“You fool!” Shouted Midorikawa’s voice from afar. “Behind you!”

I had to twist my body to see what was behind me, and when I did, my stomach felt like it was being torn apart. However, only a glimpse of a familiar shadow was enough for me to decide in an instant.

“Jump on my head, Akari! Then fly!”

“Kuri!”

Even in her original spot, Akari could make quick work of the Shinbachira sneaking up on me. But just that much would not be enough—with my head being at the place it was, the Shinjoura had once again disappeared within my blind spot. An attack on me was inevitable, and so, I had to think one step ahead.

With her leg strength and slash attack, Akari could kill the incoming Shinbachira, but any momentum she would make would fizzle out as soon as the strike was completed. And so, she needed more power—the kind of power provided by having another stepping stone.

As I expected, after the extra jump on my head, Akari flew like a bullet. Her crossing slash was enough to split the killer hornet into four pieces in just one strike, but more importantly, the force provided was enough for her to propel herself right onto the ground.

Think! If I was that creature, where would I strike?

In its last attempt, the Shinjoura had targeted my stomach. However, with me being already aware of that pattern, it would no doubt consider the possibility of me blocking it. It was in my blind spot at the moment, so it should have more freedom in its options—namely, not going for the obvious wound. Which only left it with one option left to be a sure kill on me.

Gritting my teeth to bear the pain, I leaned my entire body towards the right side, ready for a tumble.

“Akari, now!”

With the opening line from my body moving away, the attack’s trajectory was clear. The Shinjoura, like me from before, was aiming at the neck where it was hardest to defend. Thus, by moving my body away, Akari would have the perfect line for a slash at the opposition’s head.

A jump that could very well break the sound barrier. A splash of innards. But just like the previous attempt, it didn’t succeed.

Finally turning around, my eyes caught the sight of another Shinbachira’s corpse. Once again, I couldn’t see where, or when these creatures had snuck into this cave and managed to ambush us.

“Be careful, Yakushi-kun!” Amidst the chaos, Yamabuki’s voice sounded behind me. “It’s the Shinjoura’s power! Look at the ground!”

There was no time for me to question the claim. In the split second that Akari was still fighting off the queen bee, I glanced towards the floor where we stood. At that moment, everything clicked.

Somehow, there were Shinbachira ready to defend the queen from every attack. At the same time, these Shinbachira had also popped out of nowhere to sneak up on us in the same manner. But one thing had changed after each of these failed attempts.

The white color on the ground was thinner. In other words, the number of Shinyou had decreased.

“You’re truly a monster.” I gritted my teeth to the point of bleeding. “Forcing your own kids to grow up and be your meat shield?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“It is for the greater good,” the Shinjoura screeched, its grating noise was almost reminiscent of laughter. “I’m already an Evolved, unlike them. I alone can control their life and death, and thus, I can always make more if our species loses too many. It’s not something an Unborn like you can understand.”

“And I don’t want to understand, freak,” I spat. “I was right. You’re no better than humans.”

“Is it really something you’d say to your own kind, I wonder?”

Before her distracting words could draw my attention, I’d already raised my right hand and snapped my fingers. Following the order, Akari slashed open another Shinbachira—or rather, a Shinyou forced to shed its larva form and grow into the killer hornet I was so familiar with.

“You’ve got a sharp pair of eyes, boy.” The bipedal creature raised its hollow eyes, forming two crescent moons as if mocking me.

“That's all I have, yes.”

I glanced around the battlefield once more. The number of Shinyou might have decreased, but there was still a sea of white wherever I looked. We were heavily outnumbered, that was the undeniable truth. But the Shinjoura had never tried to just overwhelm us with numbers alone. Maybe it was toying with us like the arrogant human it was, but the more likely case was…

“Kid!”

”I know! I’m still paying attention!”

Twisting my body leftways, I managed to escape another deathly spear from another larva-turned-killing machine. And this time, without my order, Akari had made quick work of it again.

I knew it. It can’t turn more than one larva into a hornet at a time.

That was the only explanation possible for such behavior. The queen had plenty of ammo and meat shields, yet she never tried to turn multiple of her larvae at once. Their attacks towards me had only been ambushes as well—all aimed within my blind spot, or at least, their interpretation of it. However, it also meant that defending would be much more suited for a creature in its position, as with a reactive mindset, it could block any of my attempts on demand with the meat shields at its beck and call. And if it was a war of attrition, I would surely lose—my body was already running at its limit, while the larvae wouldn’t be more advantageous for us any time soon.

Deep breaths. Don’t stop thinking, but slow down the tempo. You’re not alone. Use everything at your disposal.

I took a jump back, bringing me closer to the rest of the group. In this situation, I had no other weapons that I could rely on, aside from this.

“Have you calmed down?” Asked Midorikawa, whose hand patted my shoulder.

“Here, have some painkillers,” Yamabuki raised her hand in front of my face, in her palm lay two golden marble-shaped pills.

”Thank you.”

Quickly gulping down the medicine and savoring a brief respite from the subsiding pain, I continued. “I don’t think I can do anything else. You guys can handle things from here.”

“We’d love to handle it, but…” Yamabuki’s concerned voice broke my concentration, turning my attention to her side.

Next to her was supposed to be Akabane. But the image of the kind, caring, and fearless leader that guided us to this point was no more. The red-armored man was on his knees in disbelief, his hands clawing at the earth as if trying his best to grip at whatever reality that was left for him.

“It… can’t be…” Now that the battlefield had quieted down, I could hear his nonsensical mumbling at last. “Not like this…”

“We don’t know what happened, either,” Midorikawa let out a sigh. “Red had been like this ever since that dialogue with the talking Shinjoura. Nothing we said managed to wake him up from this trance.”

“And we have our hands full guarding,” answered Aozaki, not turning his face towards us. With Akabane gone, the responsibility to protect us was on his and Kurogiri’s shoulders, and the two had been working hard for it—standing on opposite sides of the group, whenever a stray Shinbachira appeared, one of them would break them off with a swift punch.

“Should we retreat then?” I asked. “If we keep the same defensive formation like this, then we can make our way to the entrance, and…”

“That’s unlikely to succeed,” shook Yamabuki. “The rest of the Shinbachira outside should be at the hive now. The only reason why they haven’t entered is likely due to this Shinjoura ordering them somehow, and they’re hoping to put us in a pincer. But if it’s dealing with it here…”

“There’s the matter of the hordes of Shinyou,” I finished her argument. “But from my fight with it, I think it can only turn them into Shinbachira one at a time. My premature awakening of it seemed to have impeded its power.”

“We’re still hopelessly outnumbered, though,” added Midorikawa. “And if we’re on the offensive, then it turns into a battle of attrition. Would be bad for us if so, eh kid?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Then I have an idea,” Midorikawa said. “But on two conditions: I need time, and we need to be at the entrance of the cave.”

“Green, you don’t mean…”

“Yeah, Yellow. I’m using that.”

“Then…”

Before we could finish our conversation, however, the cruel, screeching voice entered our minds once more.

“Are you done with your little strategy meeting? If yes, then you can disappear now.”

As the ice-cold words escaped the Shinjoura, a giant golden figure zipped past us, its venomous stinger filled with killing intent. But as always, even with one out of commission, our defense was too great for a single measly Shinbachira to pierce.

Aozaki threw a punch as swift and smooth as flowing water, almost akin to a coursing river slamming its weight at the enemy. His hand crushed through the unfortunate hornet’s head, ripping its wings from its back in the process.

In that moment, however, another buzzing noise sounded, followed by the same crushing sound. On the other side, Kurogiri had disposed of another Shinbachira with a punch as strong as a charge from the Herakabuto that attacked us before. But the carnage was not over yet.

Slightly to my right, the same hellish buzz sounded. Midorikawa was no power fighter, but his swift cuts were enough to clip the incoming hornet’s wings, incapacitating it enough to deliver a final blow. Right in front of us, Akari spun in the air, using her torque to rip through another attacking Shinbachira.

Individually, they were weak. But why were they no longer spawning in individuals?

“I must thank you, boy,” the Shinjoura covered what would be its mouth with its stinger hand. “I was indeed incomplete when you broke me out of my cocoon, but my scuffle with you had aided me with my growth enough. I might not have reached my true strength, but my limit was far more than your puny mind could guess.”

“Gee, thanks for the info,” I gritted my teeth. “But too bad for you, if four was your limit, then we still have this in the bag.”

“Who said that my limit was four?”

As the words left its mouth, a multitude of giant killing hornets spawned again, rushing towards us with intense bloodlust. We were quick to dispatch each one—Mirorikawa, Aozaki, Kurogiri and Akari all took only one attack. But something was still amiss.

There was a sound of flesh being pierced—and it was too close to me to be an unfortunate Shinbachira.

“Yellow!”

A line finally formed on the Shinjoura’s face. Along with it, a row of hollow, soulless sharp white teeth revealed itself. At that moment, no one could argue otherwise—this creature bore the face of a crazed killer.

“Right now, my limit… is five.”