For a brief moment, everyone in the group seemed to be mesmerized by that eye. Then a voice broke them out of it.

“Shoot it!” Narcha screamed at Red.

The boy took the bow out of his back, aiming an arrow at the creature. The eye retracted into the parasite’s body before he could shoot, though.

Red still let loose, but the arrow seemed to be swallowed by the mass of tentacles, causing no apparent damage. The creature seemed to be aware it was under attack as it moved away from the humans.

“It’s running!” Narcha warned the group and chased after it.

“Wait-” Red, who could feel the monster’s fluctuation, tried to stop his companion.

Narcha, however, was already in the process of swinging her saber against the monster’s ‘back’ before the boy could finish speaking. Suddenly, the creature changed directions and its body writhed and parted, avoiding her blade by changing its own form. Then, several tentacles shot out of its mass at Narcha, like arrows released from a bow at point-blank range.

The woman was taken by surprise. She could only turn her own blade to protect her midsection from the appendages. The tentacles clashed against her saber with incredible force, pushing her back. The woman wasn’t able to block all of them, though.

Three spouts of blood shot out of her body as the tentacles pierced into her shoulder, arm, and leg. The ones that missed also wrapped around her weapon, trying to take it from her grip.

Even injured, Narcha didn’t hesitate to react. She tried to pull herself away, but the appendages seemed to hook into her flesh and stretched along with her. At the same time, the creature also tried to drag the warrior towards it, and the two of them seemed to fall into a tug-of-war.

“Miss Valt!

Eiwin screamed as she noticed Narcha was injured. She rushed ahead to help her, but more tentacles shot out from the creature in her direction, forcing the woman back lest she end up in the same situation as her companion.

“Red, Reinhart, help her!” Eiwin looked at the rest of the group.

Red dropped his bow and took out his cleaver, rushing towards Narcha. Reinhart seemed to hesitate a bit, but he also rushed ahead with his sword.

The parasite noticed their advance, though, and it sent even more tentacles to block their way. Red cut at them with his weapon, but the appendages were incredibly slippery, and for every single one the boy cut, two more shot out to keep him at bay. Reinhart didn’t seem to do any better, as the monster used even more tentacles to keep the man away.

In the meantime, Narcha was doing her best to resist the monster’s pull. The two of them seemed to be in a deadlock, as none of them gained ground on the other. Still, by Narcha’s expression, it was clear the injuries were taking its toll on her body.

She gritted her teeth, fighting through the pain of the tentacles hooked into her flesh. “You fucking bastard… Let go!”

The monster did not do that. In fact, even more tentacles shot out, wrapping around her saber and increasing the force at which they pulled at the woman. Slowly, Narcha was dragged towards it. She refused to let go of her weapon, though, as it was the only thing keeping the appendages from piercing into her organs.

Eiwin looked at the situation with increased panic. “Narcha!”

“Lady, listen to me!” Reinhart called out to her. “We need to-”

Before he could finish speaking, Eiwin charged ahead. Even more tentacles shot at her, but instead of dodging, she spun around and let the tentacles hit against her body. The appendages tore at her sect uniform, drawing cuts and some blood from her body, but failed to pierce into her flesh.

Eiwin used the opportunity afforded to her by this small sacrifice to approach Narcha with a jump. She used her hands like chopping knives and struck at the tentacles binding her companion’s weapon, breaking them apart in a single blow.

Narcha noticed her actions and also used this opportunity to cut the appendages hooked into her flesh with her now freed saber. The creature, however, didn’t remain still either, and it sent a barrage of tentacles to pierce into the women.

They were ready for the attack this time around, though. Narcha stepped forward, drawing a wide arc with her blade to swipe the attacks off, while Eiwin stood by her side and grabbed and snapped any tentacles that got through her. Then, they started to retreat.

Still, the creature’s entire attention was on the two of them, and an endless tide of tentacles pierced towards them in quick succession, leaving the women no choice but to focus on defense.

Reinhart cursed to himself once he saw this. “Fucking idiots!” he looked over at Red. “Come on! We need to help them!”

The boy was surprised by the fact the man of all people was the one to urge him on. He simply nodded, though. “Let’s flank it!”

“Does this thing even have a flank?!” the knight gritted his teeth.

Reinhart didn’t linger on the details, though, and circled around the creature. Red followed behind him, cleaver in hand.

Unfortunately for them, it seemed the knight was right. The monster was able to sense their approach, and dozens of tentacles flew at them to stop their approach.

Red and Reinhart stepped back, dodging its attacks. However, the creature didn’t seem too interested in pursuing them, simply keeping its tentacles hovering in the air to keep the two of them away.

‘Why is it not attacking?’

Red was confused by this. He and Reinhart kept trying to push forward, cutting the tentacles that got too close to them, but the creature seemed to have an endless supply of appendages to throw at them. It still refused to push its attack, though.

Suddenly, Red had an idea.

“I’m going to try something!” he said to Reinhart. “Cover me!”

“What are you going to do?!” the knight asked.

The boy, however, had already moved away. He stepped back a good distance away and pulled out another talisman from his pouch - his last one.

The reaction from the creature was almost immediate. It stopped attacking Narcha and Eiwin and charged at Red with pure madness - or at least that’s what the boy felt from the bumbling mass of tentacles.

‘Like I thought!’

Red guessed the creature was guarded against him because of his talisman from earlier. When it saw the human pull out another slip of paper, it immediately attacked him out of desperation. He didn’t intend to use this talisman yet, and this was an attempt to leave some breathing room for his comrades.

Reinhart tried to put himself in between the monster and Red, but its tentacles seemed to twist together, creating a club that threw the man aside like a rag-doll. The boy saw this and turned around to retreat. It seemed he had underestimated the creature, though.

Its speed increased out of nowhere, and dozens of tentacles shot at the boy. Red tried to jump away, but one of them wrapped itself around his leg, making him tumble to the ground before lifting him upside down in the air. More tendrils swept forward, and the boy tried to put his cleaver up to block.

The weapon shattered like glass, and he felt one of the tentacles pierce into his abdomen. Blood started pouring down his chest onto his face, but Red saw even more tendrils just about to pierce him.

A sword seemed to fly out of nowhere, though, and cut apart the tentacles holding onto him. The boy dropped onto the ground and the other tendrils missed him by a small margin.

“Red!”

Someone screamed, but Red had a hard time recognizing the voice. He tried getting up, but his strength failed him and he slipped back down to the floor. His hand reached down, feeling warm blood pouring out of the hole in his stomach. The remaining piece of the tentacle was still inside it.

The sounds of battle intensified around the room. Red looked up, his head dizzy from the effort. He was surprised to see Reinhart standing not too far away from him, fighting off the tentacles that reached for them with his sword. The man had just been swiped by a force equivalent to a battering ram, yet now he was standing again and fighting.

‘When did he…’

The question died in Red’s mind as he heard a guttural roar on the other side of the room.

An intense silver light came from behind the creature. The monster seized its attacks on Reinhart, as if feeling a sudden sense of danger. Red also sensed a change within his crimson sense. He looked past the tentacle mass and saw that both the roar and the light seemed to have originated from the same person.

Eiwin.

Her skin seemed to be glowing with a silver light, and Red felt as if her fluctuation was intensifying in power. It was as if she was growing in power by the second. The boy even felt she was breaking through to the Lesser Ring Realm.

‘No, that’s not right. It’s something else.’

The glow subsided a few seconds later, and yet Eiwin’s fluctuation remained the same. Narcha, who was standing by her side, was staring at the woman with worry. She didn’t seem surprised by the sudden transformation.

Eiwin was only staring at the parasite with eyes full of anger. Suddenly, her body tensed as if in preparation. The creature seemed to notice what was happening, and dozens of tentacles flew towards the woman in an attempt to stop her.

Eiwin, however, didn’t move, letting the tentacles strike at her body. Even Narcha, who was by her side, didn’t attempt to help her companion. Red was baffled by this and braced himself for the worst.

Yet, as soon as the tendrils came into contact with her body, they all seemed to bounce off her skin with loud thudding sounds. It was as if they had struck metal. Eiwin didn’t even falter at that, and finally moved.

She grabbed the tentacles that tried to attack her, ripping them apart in a single fluid motion. Then, she charged forward, closing the distance towards the monster in a split moment.

The creature seemed to panic, and dozens of its tentacles shot forward to block her path. However, Eiwin was unstoppable. Her hands resembled blades as she swiped at the tendrils, cutting them off with ease and ripping apart those that tried to wrap around her. There was no dodging involved, and the woman approached the creature step by step.

The parasite seemed to notice that there was no stopping Eiwin, so it ceased its attacks and tried running away. As soon as the pressure was off of her, though, she jumped forward, reaching the running creature with a single step.

Her fist struck against the ball of tentacles, and an explosion of tendrils ensued. The monster was sent flying, splattering into the wall, but it was not dead. It staggered up, trying to run away.

However, Eiwin was soon upon it again. She jumped on top of the writhing mass, punching into it again. Another explosion of tendrils happened, and this time the monster crashed down onto the floor. Eiwin followed up with another punch, and at that point, the creature seemed to have lost more than half its mass.

Its struggles had weakened at that point. Still, Eiwin didn’t relent. She punched it a few more times, each one emitting a thud stronger than the thunders from outside, until there were almost no tendrils remaining in its body. Then, once there was nothing left in her way, she reached down into the writhing mass of tentacles, pulling something out.

It was a strange, worm-like being with a single human eye on one of its ends, no bigger than a human forearm. It struggled under Eiwin’s grip before the woman squeezed down. The creature exploded, and unlike its disembodied tentacles, a lot of blood flew out of its remains, splattering her face and clothes with the crimson fluid.

All the remaining tentacles stopped moving, and Red felt their fluctuation slowly disappear. He wasn’t focused on that, though.

He was staring at Eiwin.

The woman seemed to notice his gaze and smiled at him with her face still smeared with blood. “Are you okay?”