Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 175: "Interruption"

It was a huge humanoid beetle that appeared with heavy footsteps.

There are a lot of beastmen, but that appearance stands out like a stone.

Ah. Ah. I'm the current king of Torkulu Sarub, Kenzo Hieda."

After checking the microphone, the beetle - Hieda - began to speak.

Well, from his name, he's definitely a reincarnated person.

He looks strong to look at. Quintessential beetle.

"It's already been six years since I became king. I have improved the country in my own way since then, but it's still not enough. I'm sorry to those who have participated, but I have no intention of losing. If you still want to beat me up, come on up! I'll be your opponent!"

The first time I saw him, he was a bit of a jerk, but he was still a good player.

"Oh, and on an unrelated note, we're going to increase the number of civil servant recruits this year, so if you're a learned man, by all means, take the test. That concludes my opening remarks! Enjoy yourselves, and have a good time, all those who came to watch."

Having said this, Hieda handed the microphone back to the woman and walked off the stage.

"Yes! Thank you very much. Now that we have made our opening remarks, I would like to start the qualifying rounds!"

At these words, all the players in the room collectively prepared themselves.

"The players seem to be full of motivation, so I will announce the start of the qualifiers! --Let's begin!"

At the same time, with a roar that made the air vibrate, the players began to attack their nearest opponents.

"Wow. That's soooo powerful!"

Aspizal next to me is watching the battle somewhat excitedly.

The players were all swinging their weapons in an attempt to beat them to a pulp.

Almost all of them are completely beastly - humanoid beasts.

The beastmen, as I read it, are able to control their bodies by playing with them... or is it more like controlling them? --They say they can play with the rate of beastification of their bodies by playing with - or is it control?

In this country it is called the depth of beastification.

There are one to five, with one being ears only and five becoming a fully humanoid beast.

It is said that there is another system of techniques that can turn you into a complete beast, but the details are unknown. One is the default, but four and above seem to require talent and effort.

The higher the depth, the higher the physical ability, so most of the ones in the arena are five or four.

It's a useful ability, but perhaps at a cost: the better you are at beastification, the less apt you are at magic.

Thanks to this, the development of magic technology in the surrounding countries is quite slow.

The evidence of this is that as far as I could tell, there were no shops in town that dealt in magic tools.

... but the people here tend to disregard magic, so they don't seem to care whether they can use it or not.

The strength of the beastman species is that they have robust bodies and can fight even without weapons.

In the arena, we saw beastmen with shattered weapons clenching their fists and striking their opponents.

In a manner of speaking, the fighter is eliminated by fainting, dying or abandoning the fight.

As expected, it will decrease quickly if the surroundings become a melee of enemies.

Players are dropping out one after another.

Aspizal is still looking at the arena with sparkling eyes, but Yonomori next to him looks somewhat bored.

"Bored?"

"Eh? Oh no, have you noticed me?"

"Somewhat."

I say that and Yonomori dexterously shrugs her shoulders.

To which I reply with a wry smile.

"Well. I don't really like this sort of thing, so it's a bit... you know."

"Then you could have waited outside, couldn't you?"

"Remember? I can't even have a conversation on my own, it's so boring out there."

Oh, I'm an interpreter, come to think of it.

"I've done my shopping, I've got nothing more to do, so all that's left is for that boy to do his thing..."

In the middle of a conversation--

-- .

"Huh!?"

Suddenly, something echoed in my brain.

At the same time, a chill ran down my spine.

What was that?

It is similar to the [communication], but something is different.

Noise? No, a voice...?

I concentrate, but I don't hear any strange noises.

"Hey... did you hear something just now?"

Yonomori holds her ears and mutters.

The voice was filled with puzzlement.

...Did this fellow hear it too?

"I could hear it. But I couldn't understand a word they were saying."

"He said he'd 'found it'."

Aspizal, who had turned his head to look at us before we knew what was happening, interrupted the conversation.

"Did you hear it too?"

"I heard it, at least not in a language I know."

Then how can you understand it?

"But it's strange, isn't it?"

"What's strange?"

"Look around you. It doesn't look like anyone else can hear what we just heard, can they?"

I look around, but it sure doesn't look like anyone else can hear those voices.

"We are the only ones?"

"Me and Azusa and Roe. The people around us are completely focused on the qualifying rounds, so they probably can't hear it."

"What do you mean?"

"Hmm. I wonder what it is? It's not like they have a direct grudge against us, but... it's more like an appetite or something? ...but why us?"

"...would you mind explaining it to me?"

"Maybe you don't have to."

...what?

"It's coming."

The ground began to shake slightly.

For a moment, I thought it was an earthquake, but the way it shook was unnatural.

It was as if something was moving underground.

The surroundings also noticed the tremor, and the people fighting stopped moving.

At the same time, countless cracks appeared in the arena, and something popped out of the ground.

...What is that?

Numerous long, long somethings can be seen coming out of the ground.

At first I thought it was some kind of snake or worm, but it's not.

The colour is grey... no, it is stained with dirt and mud, but white?

The surface is covered with what looks like bumps.

They entangle the nearest player and drag him into the ground. Could those be tentacles or something?

The players are shaken up, but quickly regain their footing, as they are the ones who want to be king.

Those who were relatively lightly wounded would move forward, and those who were damaged to the point of being unable to fight would be evacuated, with those who were unable to move being carried along.

"Those who cannot fight, evacuate! Those who can fight, please cooperate!"

A woman in the live audience requested evacuation and cooperation over the microphone.

Most of the spectators evacuated, but those who were confident in their skills climbed over the fence and entered the fray one after another.

"Oh. This area shows national characteristics, doesn't it?"

"Yes. Urs Laguna would have panicked lightly, but this one is upset but recovers quickly. Maybe it's a different environment?"

A quintessentially physical beastman. Movement is excellent, although coordination is somewhat difficult.

The ones that looked powerful, like bulls and tigers, were holding down the tentacle-like ones, while the ones that could move were each hitting them with their weapons.

The surface of the tentacles bounced off the weapons, perhaps because of their elasticity, but after a while some of them managed to break through the skin's defences and their weapons bit into the tentacles, causing a thick blue blood-like liquid to gush out.

The beastmen relentlessly slammed the weapons down and finally succeeded in severing them.

The tentacles that were cut off fell to the ground, thrashed around for a while and then stopped moving.

Others began to be cut off, but the tentacles, perhaps realising their disadvantage, withdrew into the ground and pulled away.

A bloodthirsty one went after it, but is that one all right?

"There's a strange one out there. Hey, what do you think Roe?"

"Can't say at the moment."

I see a tentacle flailing slightly in the arena.

"Only thing I can tell is that it's a very big guy."

"Yeah, I guess."

I don't know what those tentacles are connected to, but they're terminal parts and that size.

The main body must be quite large.

"As far as I'm concerned, I'm just curious as to why that thing would be on land."

"Do you know anything about it?"

"Not exactly, but look at the surface of that thing."

Surface.

Something warty. ...... Oh, could that be a sucker?

"They're called suckers. They look a lot like the ones on the aquatic creatures I know."

I have the impression that it is an octopus or a squid.

Is it a squid in terms of colouration? The shape is more octopus-like. ......

"Even though the sea is close, it's supposed to be a good distance away, so I was wondering why that thing would show up..."

"...If that's a sea monster, it's certainly odd for it to come out here."

Aspizal has a point.

The sea is indeed close, but only in the sense of this world.

It's not a distance that would normally take more than a full day to travel, but you wouldn't call it just around the corner, would you?

I'm also a little concerned about the voice I heard earlier.

If possible, I'd like to kill the main body and investigate it...

But that's difficult, isn't it?

For the time being, let's leave here before things get troublesome.

"The commotion is getting louder, let's go back to the inn once."

"Yes, that's right. It seems that people are gathering, so let's leave before we get stuck here."

Aspizal also complied honestly, as if he had no particular objection, but his gaze remained fixed on the tentacles.

"Hey, What do you think, Roe-kun?"

The first thing Yonomori did when we returned to the inn and entered the room was to ask me that.

What is it about that monster that makes you say that?

"If you're talking about that monster, I can't say much more than what you heard beside you."

"No, it's not that, it's that voice that bothers me."

...Oh, you know what?

I've actually got an idea what it is.

The sound of that mysterious language was similar to the one used by the Grigori people.

But unlike them, I didn't understand what they were saying.

"Do you think it's the voice of that monster?"

"...... Well, given the circumstances, yes."

It came out at the right time.

It's not like it's irrelevant.

"Three of us were present when it happened. Maybe there were others, I don't know."

If it was really only us who heard it, were the targets reincarnated?

If so, why did Aspizal hear it too?

Is he a reincarnation too?

If so, there must be another one who could hear it.

That beetle who is the king of this country - Kenzo Hieda.

Hieda Kenzo. From the name, he's completely Japanese.

If that guy can hear it, it's almost certain.

Is it difficult to confirm ......?

It would be stupid to go all the way to see him and take the risk.

"I understand your concern about the strange voice, but what about it?"

"I'd like to do some research. Can you help me with that?"

Normally, I would have kicked myself for not knowing, but I'm also concerned about the monster that may be targeting the reincarnated - but I'm not sure.

Look to the Yonomori and Aspizal.

...Will the true identity of these people also become clear?

It would be better to take on the task in the sense of finding out what they are.

"Okay. If it's OK with you, I'll lend a hand."

I replied.