Although still confused by what it had just seen, the monster, putting aside its discomfort and other things in its head, moved.
Following its same unusual speed, it reached the tree where Jay was lying in the blink of an eye, its claws having already executed a strong attack.
*Bam!*
The trunk was cut roughly, proof of the strength the monster had used.
"!"
However, the cut had followed a strange trajectory, severing everything but what had been the monster's target, namely Jay.
It didn't take the monster long to identify the reason for this completely involuntary movement, the worms that had burrowed into its arm.
It didn't know how, but somehow, these very small and seemingly weak beings, even if it was only for a moment, had interrupted its body's control.
At that moment, while the monster was distracted, a hand slowly approached its body, aiming to touch it.
*Swoosh!*
Having realized this in time, the monster then retreated to a safe distance, its body radiating an aura of caution.
Almost at the same time, Jay stood up, his gaze, still releasing a green glow but now being considerably brighter than before, settling on the monster.
Sensing this gaze, the monster did not immediately move, but little by little, the more it looked at the esper, the more its insides began to burn with a palpable anger.
It was clear, the monster... didn't like the kind of look it was getting at all.
As for why, it was simple.
Being a predator, perching on top of other living things, it was used to hunting, to seeing all other beings in the forest as something less than prey, nutrients.
Something that enhanced this fact was that ir could confidently say that outside of the academy cities, there really would be no place it couldn't roam freely.
Whether it was the designated training grounds with instructors present, the more secluded parts of the academy grounds or even the nests of those ancient monsters, none of them were off-limits.
As for threats, while instructors and ancient monsters posed a risk, if it seriously engaged against either, the outcome would also be uncertain.
Although it might seem like an answer that radiated distrust, it was actually quite the opposite.
After all, among the possibilities of an 'uncertain' outcome, there was also included the scenario of winning, against the opponents it was referring to, this was an incredible feat.
On one side were none other than instructors from the Eitsirc academy, one of the top global organizations in the world.
On the other side were monsters who have lived since ancient times, some even since the time of the Great Proliferation.
Taking this into account, it had to be recognized that not knowing whether it would lose or win already spoke volumes about the true power it possessed.
However...
This monster, who was not afraid of anything, who was used to take, who was able to outwit supers left and right, at this moment, abhorred the look it was receiving.
The human in front of him, in a deplorable state, with wounds all over his body, the energy in his body being almost nonexistent, being so small... so weak.
Despite all this... the look he had, in his emerald pupils, no longer reflected the fear, hatred or desire for survival that it had seen before.
The monster, being a predator, recognized it better than anyone else.
The human in front of him was seeing him as prey.
*Bam!*
At the same time as it grabbed its right arm with such force that it even produced a loud bang in the surroundings, the monster's anger reached its limit.
It had originally thought that using the human in front as a nutritional source was reward enough for being entertaining, and a few minutes ago, that idea had already been discarded by the blow it received.
However, at this moment, if the idea before was already far away, it had now completely disappeared from the monster's head, being replaced by incandescent rage.
*Chak!*
At once, with a sudden movement, the monster tore off its own arm, a large amount of black blood spurting out.
Without even reacting from the brutal wound and its gaze still locked on Jay, it then proceeded to fling its arm in a random direction.
"Gu-k!"
Letting out a guttural sound, the monster's body then began to tremble repeatedly, veins popping up in every corner of its body, some with so much blood coursing through them that they began to tear.
The pale flesh was now changing, with the muscles inside bulging grotesquely, deforming the monster's humanoid figure and pushing the once malnourished monster's skin to the limit.
*Crack!*
Then, just as the skin seemed about to burst, it was the turn of the bones, which began to break to accommodate the monster's new form.
Slowly, the word humanoid became more and more distant to be used to describe this monster, although in fact, this last adjective was also starting to fall short.
There was only one adequate way to be able to refer to this inhuman figure, which was now nothing more than an oversized mass of flesh that resembled more a water-filled balloon than anything else, loomed imposingly in front of Jay.
Suddenly, almost following the abnormal growth of the rest of its body, its chest began to swell until it burst.
Finally, the point at which the name of this monster would completely change came.
*CHAK!*
Black liquid gushed out, staining the surroundings and opening up the 'wound' even more.
Amongst all that liquid, the movement of something could be seen, moving slowly but steadily, something that looked like just one but in the next moment, it proved to be several more.
With the tip being incredibly sharp, dropping black liquid and having a deep jet color, several tentacles came out from within.
The white skin then began to roll up its sleeves, slowly letting out more of these tentacles and exposing a large dark-colored mass which, as the only reminder of the monster, still had the deer skull on it.
*Swoosh!*
The moment the skin completely left its body, as if having been released from its prison, this mass immediately released a crushing pressure along with a strange gaseous substance.
At first this substance seemed harmless, but proving that it did not come from a common monster, the instant it made contact with the surrounding vegetation, be it trees or bushes, all suffered a terrible corrosion.
In just a few seconds, the entire area had been stripped of plant life, leaving behind dry trunks and dead plants.
Following a similar pattern, thanks to how disastrous this transformation process had been, the black liquid had fallen on several other parts of the ground.
These parts, while they had previously been filled with certain types of vegetation, be it weeds or simple fertile soil, had now been stripped of everything, becoming patches of barren land on which no life would ever grow again.
These actions, so simple and accidental, served to prove how dangerous it was, no longer this monster... but this formless aberration.
This was nothing more nor less than the true form of the once monster, that which allowed it to be sure that it would not die even against stronger beings.
In this form, not only did each of its tentacles have the same speed as its previous body, but the rest of its body, now composed mostly of black liquid, served as both a method of attack and defense due to its corrosive properties.
Whichever way one looked at it, this was a complete upgrade that had transformed it from a terrifying monster, into a deadly aberration.
*Chak!*
With another wet sound, within the whole mass of black liquid, two eyes suddenly popped out, as to whether these had been there from the beginning or had formed recently, only the aberration knew.
This being the last apparent change in its body, the aberration then focused its attention on Jay, no longer looking to see his previous despair or anything of the sort, but with the sole intention of finishing him off.
*Tap tap*
However, just as it was about to move to attack, the sound of something small running came from a certain direction in the forest.
Having caught its attention, the aberration moved the position of its eyes to be able to better observe what was producing this sound at the same time as it readied its tentacles.
When it did, it couldn't help but stand still for a moment.
Running through the forest using nothing but its fingers with great coordination, the arm of its former form was running in the human's direction.
With a strangely fluid motion, the arm continued on its way to where Jay was standing, and finally, when it was close enough, jumped into the air.
*Tap*
Then, with the same vacant expression as before on his face, Jay took the arm in his right hand, raising it slightly high as if to make it more visible.
The next moment, from the esper's hand began to emerge a large number of parasites which wasted no time in following his orders and covered the entirety of the monstrous arm.
*Chakchakchakchakchakchakchak.
Countless bites then became audible in the forest, product of the parasites devouring in real time the now aberration's arm.
Which, it had to be mentioned, was watching as its mass began to shake violently.
*SWOOSH!*
Unable to contain its rage for a second longer, a tentacle shot out in Jay's direction, aiming not only to retrieve its arm, but also to kill the human.
*Bam!*
A deep puncture then took place, but instead of being flesh what the tentacle had touched, it had actually been a dry log.
As for its target, Jay, he, with a precise use of speed and some martial technique, had managed to evade the attack by barely a hair's breadth.
As a result, the parasites that had been busy with their snack did not stop, finally finishing their meal and finally returning each and every one of them to Jay's arm.
When the last one came in, it was clear to everyone what they did next, something that could be seen from the outside.
*BOOM!*
With Jay as the source, a wave of energy spread in the surroundings, this time being much stronger even than when he had used the [Overload].
With that alone, all of his wounds immediately closed up, changing his appearance from badly injured to brand new.
This was understandable, after all, now that the energy that was coursing through the esper's body was not what the parasites produced, but was the product of having consumed the part of a rank (B) monster.
Although it was only a small part, the energy contained in it was far greater than what Jay along with all his little ones could produce.
*SWOOSH!*
Burning with rage at what it was seeing, the aberration attacked again, this time using several of its tentacles to attack Jay.
With its immense speed, it took no time at all to reach Jay, who despite also moving much faster than before, could not avoid being wounded, barely managing to avoid serious injuries.
Both his legs and arms and even his sides now had deep cuts, and now that most of his protective bandage was shredded, he was at the mercy of any attack.
Even with the overflowing amount of energy in his body, apparently the human was still unable to overcome the wide physical power gap between the two.
*Crack!*
The sound of a bone suddenly cracking then came from Jay.
This, however, was not the product of one of the tentacles that had been thrust into his body, but from within Jay himself.
This took the aberration by surprise, who did not understand exactly what had happened.
"!"
But the next moment, at the same time as the noise of bones breaking and skin stretching grew louder, Jay's body began to throb from time to time.
In the face of this, both its instincts and itself realized what was happening, the human was also going through a big change!
And what was more, the aberration was not familiar with this kind of transformation, which was in no way similar to its own.
While its own was exposing its true form and power, drastically changing its appearance, the transformation the human seemed to be going through was the opposite.
Instead of changing the outside, everything was happening inside his small figure, putting bones back together, changing tissues and moving blood.
And while this scene was not as disastrous or chaotic as that of the aberration, this one had one thing going for it.
Something that every cell in its body was screaming, even to the point of occupying every space in its mind.
It was not to allow the transformation to end.
Otherwise... it would face something utterly terrifying.
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