"Wow, ahh!!h

"Ahem—" Missionary O'Neill's eyes were bloodshot, and he stood in place as if he were welcoming the arrival of the Holy Lord, and then looked up slightly at the low empty ceiling with wide-eyed expressions.

"How-" Mira subconsciously wanted to ask what was going on, but she could not say anything else after only one sound.

The scattered crowd froze in place in a delicate gesture, not daring to move, and even controlling their breathing to a small extent, for fear that something unexpected would happen again if they acted rashly.

The not-so-large golden bug attached itself to the back of O'Neill's neck, and the missionary, after initially shouting and struggling for a moment, quickly turned into this strange pilgrimage stance in a twitch.

Because the speed was too fast and the scene was too chaotic, even the sage didn't have time to stop it.

"Anyway, retreat to the next room first, and use the wall—" Henry, who reacted, stretched out his hand and began to direct everyone to move, but at this moment, several people in the back suddenly saw the worm attached to the back of O'Neill's neck squirming and sinking into his body, and then the missionary's mouth and nose began to foam, and the whole person convulsed in place as if he was having a seizure.

"Let's go!" Agi and Galeva, who hurried to their feet at Mira's loud urging, escorted Lulu and the other two missionaries and fled to the next room, where Galleva turned his head to look at Mira again, "I-Shall I come?"

"You're weaker than me, and you're only getting in the way. The girl didn't look back, and threw the sentence away unceremoniously, and the young man, though a little frustrated, did not hesitate to quickly retreat with the others to the next room. Mira also moved towards the door of the room after they all entered, preparing to stay here to form an isolation, but instead of running directly towards the door, she lowered her center of gravity and moved sideways while keeping the tip of her sword pointed at the trembling O'Neal.

The convulsive young missionary's dark blue crotch was suddenly darkened, followed by a "poof" sound that began to fill the room.

"What the hell is going on, teacher. Mira pulled up her scarf to cover her face to avoid being disturbed by the smell, and the people behind her were still uncontrollable despite their fear, looking at this side with curiosity, and Edge, who had a weak psychological capacity, turned blue on the spot and began to retch.

“...... Bad. Henry thought for a moment, then narrowed his eyes, and then grabbed Kramer and rushed forward with a "whoa."

"Teacher?!" the white-haired girl shouted loudly, caught her by surprise by her teacher's sudden intention to kill someone who seemed to be still saved, but what was more shocking than that—

"Click!!!" The wooden floor was cut open without any suspense, and O'Neill, who was still in place, was left with only the hot.

“....... Teacher, missed?——" Mira's eyes widened, this situation did not happen before, but the O'Neill missionary, who was only 20 years old and looked weak, was not a person who could avoid it-

"Huh-" However, Henry's attack never ended at once, and after he cut open the plank, his hands quickly flipped over, and then the whole sword drew a beautiful arc in the sunlight.

"Iron butterflies. Galeva, who was watching the battle behind him, recited this trick that impressed him, and in the eyes of Mira who was looking next to him, it became more and more incredible - when facing an unarmed human opponent, Henry could often solve it with one or two swords, but this time he came up and directly used the Iron Butterfly to deal with it with a high-speed sword flower, and the most important thing was that the opponent actually dodged successfully in such a dense big sword swing that everyone around him felt breathless.

"What's going on, I've never heard of O'Neill a-" The missionaries also lost and hesitated, and O'Neill convulsed again as he dodged the sage's attack. Henry seized the opportunity to aim at his neck and stabbed with a sword, intending to pierce the bugs directly behind him, but he twisted his waist in a very strange and almost broken posture, and then reached out and grabbed the pillar, and jumped up with the help of the pull, and then slammed through the roof with a "bang" and landed firmly on the ground outside.

"Lie to people, I jumped ten meters away at once. Mira held her breath.

All this happened in a short period of less than two minutes.

The rising morning sun began to sprinkle the light in large areas, and O'Neill, who had run outside the house, tore off his tattered and obstructive clothes with a hand that was trembling so fast that he could not see the outline, and his whole body was exposed to the golden light.

"What's going on. Henry walked to the door, and Mira cautiously leaned over with her sword, and she asked.

"I'm afraid that thing is a parasite, and it has just convulsed and can't control its excretion because it is taking ownership of its body away. Heng used the speed of his speech to answer briefly for Mira, and the girl Luoan swallowed a mouthful of saliva and pursed her lips: "What about the villagers?"

"Mostly, yes. The sage spoke calmly, and led Kramer down the steps and began to try to get closer. But as soon as he walked over, the other party pulled away.

"Mobility, how did it become so ....... That's not something that a human being can do. After Mira said this, she suddenly remembered what had happened to her before, and looked at Henry with wide eyes.

"Well, it's similar to the ghoul trait of the Witch Servant. But it shouldn't be a thing. The sage tried many ways to close the distance, but none of them were particularly successful.

"If it were a witch's ghoul, they wouldn't have collected weapons and possessions like they did. Although these guys are eccentric, they are not monsters that go against nature, and this kind of gathering crowds and even having the power to develop the social structure is undoubtedly a living thing. ”

"A creature that tempts humans with a golden shell, and thus parasitizes, but he looks completely out of his mind, and it doesn't look like he can blend in with the crowd. Mira glanced behind her, and Age, who came out of the room, covered her mouth and nose with the excrement on the floor, and after a while ran to the side and began to vomit, while Kaleva was blushing, Lulu pulled out the mountain knife at her waist and nodded solemnly at her.

"Outflanking left and right. The sage gave the order, and the girl nodded, keeping the tip of her sword pointing while slowly moving to the other side with a side-step.

"I think it has something to do with the size, O'Neal stole a small amount of gold. Perhaps because of their small size, the parasite is unable to fully control bodily functions, which leads to convulsions and incontinence. As he spoke, he made eye contact with O'Neill in the distance.

The blue eyes were bloodshot, and although even the face was out of his control, the sage saw a hint of panic and despair in his eyes.

“....... He was still conscious. Henry closed his eyes, then opened them again.

"Who?" Mira was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "Ah!"

"What's going on? The crowd that came out heard this, and the missionaries began to pray, and Lulu, who could not understand what was being said, fell silent after being translated by Edge.

"It's scary. Mira shuddered involuntarily, she had seen things like being controlled into monsters before, but it was too terrifying right now. While consciousness still exists, the whole body is controlled by parasites, and can only watch themselves act in an act that is not their own decision, unable to speak to others, unable to even express words of begging for death, and can only be forced to watch all this time soberly.

Until death.

"I'm in place. The girl from Loan, who walked a few meters ahead, stood behind O'Neill. The parasite seems to simply follow the threat to distance itself, so if O'Neill dodges in the event of a flanking attack, he will retreat in the other direction, and will face one of them anyway.

"Be careful, after the whole person is eroded, his speed and strength are not the same as before, with a defensive structure. Henry spoke, and Mira nodded, "Understood." After that, I used a more stable posture, straightening my back and leaning forward while pointing forward.

"Click, click. The two men who approached noticed that O'Neill's calves were already bruised, the soles of his feet were swollen, his toes were strangely twisted, and the epidermis was cracked, and blood flowed down his dirty calves, pouring on the surface of the frozen soil, and a huge layer of white mist suddenly rose.

"It seems that the physical ability to increase is not without a price, unlike ghouls, who directly produce changes in the body. The Luoan girl breathed a sigh of relief, but the sage frowned: "No, if the physical ability is not generated by mutation, then it can only be provided by the worm, so where does the energy of the worm come from?"

"Huh?" Mira blinked.

"It's already remarkable for such a small parasite to control the human body, and the parasite is supposed to get nutrients from the host to strengthen itself, and this kind of inhuman-like action consumes energy-" The sage understood in an instant.

It can be used to greatly enhance the energy of the human body.

He's all too familiar.

"Click-" O'Neill turned his head in a position that a normal person would find extremely painful, and looked at Mira.

Everywhere in his body began to make a "snapping" sound, the sound of the epidermis cracking because it couldn't withstand this level of pulling. The blood that had spilled from the cracked skin was hot, and the fog began to rise around O'Neill.

The hunting mercenaries know one thing, the blood of large dragons and many magical beasts has a temperature that can burn people, and even the magicians of humans or other major races have occasionally died of spontaneous combustion after overcasting spells.

They use the high temperature of blood as proof to identify the magic power, and believe that the blood itself contains magic power, so the high temperature is generated.

This is a knot learned by simple habitual thinking and experience, and to some extent, there is no mistake. It's just that they got the cause and effect wrong, the blood doesn't produce high temperature because it contains magic power, the reason why it contains magic power and produces high temperature is the fundamental reason.

Blood.

It is a circulating cooling device for the magic pool.

The answer is already obvious.

This is a parasite that feeds on magic and drives itself with magic. And as a living being, after his own energy is lost due to action, the thoughts that will pop up, combined with the action of "he" looking at Mira-

"Get out of the way!" Henry suddenly shouted, Mira had never heard her teacher so anxious, but as soon as she raised her heel to move, she saw O'Neill in front of her, who was already in the sun.

Lost.

"Huh!!" Because of the speed, the air in front of him also froze for a moment.

As if she was unable to breathe due to a strong wind, Mira subconsciously wanted to close her eyes, but the sense of crisis as a swordsman overcame her instinctive reaction, and instead of retreating, she poked her sword forward.

The longsword in the defensive stance of "Snap !——" played its role, and the hot blood flowed down the hilt and gauntlet along with the violent shock sensation all over her hands, making the girl confirm that she had hit the target, but also making her palms sticky and wet, and the hands holding the hilt began to slip.

"Wow——!" The Luo An girl, who lost her center of gravity because she wanted to move, began to fall backwards after hitting the sword, and at the same time, her hand slipped and let go of the hilt because of the blood.

"Bang ——!" "Woo evil." The sword's counterweight ball smashed into her own abdomen, and although she was protected by armor, it was still very uncomfortable.

"—" The preacher was pierced through the abdomen with a long sword, and the silent and stiff and sluggish preacher reached out his left hand and pinched the girl's neck without paying attention. Despite being hit by her own sword handle, Mira, who was struggling to endure the discomfort, grabbed the slippery hilt of the sword with a "hiss-" and pulled it out with blood and internal organs, and blocked it in front of its attack with a horizontal sword face.

"-" As if to understand that the fist is more powerful than the slap, "he" replaced it with a fist attack.

The long sword that was really hit by "Bang ——" began to bend in the direction of the Luo An girl, and finally broke into two with a crisp "ding-", and the half that flew out was bounced off by the armor on her body with a "dang-" sound. The longsword faithfully fulfilled its mission to protect its master, and it didn't fully defend against the blow, but at least slowed it down, allowing the fist to finally hit the plate armor worn by the Roan Maiden.

"Bang!!" The armor of the Brigundy plate armor "rattled" under the impact

"Ahem, evil-" The girl who was punched with an unstable center of gravity was thrown backwards and rolled out of a distance of more than a meter.

"Dang Bang—" The broken sword landed on the hard, frozen earth, and made a series of metallic sounds. "Mira!" cried out the people in the room, but the white-haired girl, who decisively held her head and rolled one after another to disperse the impact, although she felt that her breathing could not keep up with her little face, but fortunately she was not seriously injured.

"Vomit—" She held on to the ground and vomited out a small amount of stomach content, and O'Neill was about to catch up, but suddenly turned his head again in an eerie manner.

The predatory instinct of living beings.

Uses magic as an object of prey.

Mira was the only one in the group who ignited the magic pool, so it had its eye on her.

But if there is anyone whose magic power has overshadowed the Luoan girl because of a change in circumstances.

"Whew-" The mist that filled the air because of the hot blood seemed to be cut by something for a moment, and then the light in front of O'Neill was blocked, and it raised its head to meet a pair of eyes that emitted a dazzling blue light.

"Hah-"

"Bang!!" "Tsk-" Kramer severed only one arm at high speed, and some milky white tentacles that were obviously not human at the port port quickly retracted into his body. Henry, who had not injured his body, turned his head to give another sword, but realizing the danger, the parasite had already controlled O'Neill to run quickly in the direction of the nearby mountain forest.

The "......" sage was about to catch up, but stopped because his keen ears caught something.

"Knock knock—" It was the sound of dense footsteps, not from humans, but from groups of four, heavier creatures.

The white figure of "——!" appeared on the other side of the road and stopped in front of O'Neill. It was a small unicorn placed by Mira in the backyard of the village chief's house because the tunnel could not accommodate it.

It reacted alertly, and even quicker than many others turned around and pointed its butt at O'Neal.

Then he pressed down, and the back half of his body jumped up.

Hundreds of kilograms of horses.

A back kick is a thing that can knock a wall down.

The lightning-fast kick landed a solid hit on the rushing missionary.

"Knock !——" spilled blood to draw a parabola, and the missionary, whose bones were kicked to pieces, flew back towards the sage.

And he lowered the tip of his sword and lowered his center of gravity.

Then, take a step forward.

"Qiang ——!"

The severed body was covered in blood in mid-air, and the parasite, realizing the death of its host, quickly wriggled and pulled out countless tentacles to retract into the solid golden shell, but the sage split the gold shell in half with a coherent and accurate second slash.

"Bang!" "Bang-" "Bang-"

"Mira is okay - vomit, vomit——。 Aiji and Kaleva, who ran up to care, held on to the ground and vomited after seeing this bloody scene, and the pale Luoan girl didn't even have the strength to respond, wiping the corners of her mouth, the whole person sat on the ground trying to stay away from the vomit but almost didn't lie down, Lulu quickly put away her waist knife and ran over to support her.

"I'm fine. The white-haired girl gasped for a moment and shook her head forcefully, while the silent aboriginal girl reached out and stroked her hair.

"Now, it should be, it's dead. Priest Alfonso walked to Henry's side with his mouth and nose covered with a pale face, and the blood that still emitted mist was the off-white parasite itself, which was like the roots of a tree, with countless dense branches.

I couldn't look closely at the ground due to visibility and time, but now it can be clearly seen that there is a layer of slightly different color under the gold surface of the cut section, which should be the existence of a real shell.

And what is protected here is the parasite body like a slug.

"It's long, it's disgusting. Caleva glanced at the parasite. "One God, Brother O'Neill, go all the way. The gates of the kingdom of God will be opened for you, and in that place of blessings and mercy you will be redeemed and forgiven. Age, on the other hand, began to pray.

"In terms of length, it covers the entire spine. The sage used the tip of Kramer's sword to pick at the parasite's slender, milky white body.

"Ahem, thank you, teacher. And Mira, who finally caught her breath, stood up and spoke to Henry, who didn't look back: "Thank you little unicorn, as a thank you, how about naming her for so long." ”

"I'm not good at choosing names. Miss Luoan sighed: "Well, well, thank you too, little one." Then she touched her little unicorn and rubbed it affectionately.

"Where are shovels nearby. Priest Alfonso began to direct Agee and the others to search for tools, and the eulogy had been read, so that the corpses could not be exposed in the wilderness. They planned to clean up the burial, and the sage picked the parasite out of the pool of blood and began to study it.

Judging by the body structure, 0, his speculation should be mostly correct.

This is a special kind of mana-sucking parasite that is somewhat more "harmless" than creatures like vampires. Because people who lose their magic don't die directly, it's safer than losing blood. But in the case of O'Neill, this parasitism seems a bit overbearing.

From a biological point of view, such a direct and rapid damage to the host's health should be detrimental to the parasite. Parasites may cause weakness to the host, but death is usually a long time before they are mature enough to not need a host. And considering that the magic of living organisms is slowly condensed, the act of destroying the host's body so quickly is obviously not the right solution for parasites.

In this case, it would have chosen to do so because it was wrapped in a cloth and imprisoned, and felt unfree and threatened in self-defense.

In other words, the situation faced by the missionary O'Neill was entirely due to his own sake—but such a sentimental remark would not have been uttered by a sage in the presence of Alfonso and others.

Greed in the face of the unknown leads to self-destruction, and similar cases are never uncommon. But this is not an act that can be used to put on a high posture and sneer at others as if they would never make mistakes, because even the sage Henry Mayer was a little caught off guard by this situation.

It's human beings who make mistakes, and even he isn't omnipotent.

"Sorry, thank you. Henry gave a brief greeting to the dead O'Neill, and although many explanations could be found, it was true that he had not been able to save the man. But his sacrifice also gave them a little insight into the parasites, and according to the typical parasitic style, and then connected to the armories underground, the sage suddenly realized that the situation might not be so simple.

"Symbiosis, you mean?" Alfonso pondered.

“...... The villagers, and the parasites? Indeed, providing gold to buy equipment, and spreading the gold in the process of buying and selling, is equivalent to completing the process of reproduction and expansion of the race. The older priest nodded. Age, who was collecting the body next to him, vomited several times on the way and turned pale, and finally sat next to him to bask in the sun, or Galeva rolled up his sleeves and buried O'Neill with another missionary.

"So, who are the beings who might be villagers and will be attracted to the heat?" asked Henry, who had risen up, closing her eyes and not looking at O'Neill's body.

"I don't know. The sage shook his head.

"Perhaps, the records kept at the shrine will have the answers we need. ”

"Either way, that should be our next destination. As he said this, everyone turned their heads and looked at the hill where Lulu said the shrine was.