Osian analyzed the monster's level as objectively as possible in his mind.
'That thing is a boss-level monster, one that would appear in the mid-to-late stages of a game, and it’s quite a formidable opponent.'
It didn’t matter how the creature appeared here or why it stayed underground in Tirna.
The fact that this monster was now in front of him and that this fight could not be avoided—that was the only thing that resonated strongly in Osian's mind.
Right, this was the moment when the boss appears after the story has been progressing and the warning has been given. Some creatures even popped up in truly unexpected places.
Even the stress of that situation turned into nostalgia for Osian, a joy in itself, as if his brain’s hormones had gone haywire.
But Osian was perfectly normal and able to think very rationally.
'The black muscle fibers that regenerate and respond to external attacks. My primary task is to cut them down with the Starlight Sword.'
Osian pulled starlight from his sword as he took his stance. The moment the monster moved, he intended to dive into its blind spot and swing the Starlight Sword.
However, after a little time passed, the monster still didn’t move, and Osian felt perplexed.'What’s going on?'
The monster, which had shown some reaction until now, did not even stir when Osian drew his Starlight Sword.
Osian carefully observed the monster's condition. Its emerald eyes were fixated on the light of the Starlight Sword.
Had it instinctively sensed that the light was a threat?
'No. If it felt threatened, it wouldn’t be just staring at it blankly. It would have reacted more fiercely and sensitively.'
Then why was it just watching quietly? Perhaps because it had lived trapped underground, seeing the light from above made it go into some kind of trance.
-Uwooo.
The monster opened its mouth. Its roar sounded different this time, sorrowful and pitiful.
Osian raised an eyebrow in confusion at the monster’s reaction, which was very different from when it had killed the dark mages.
'It’s...sad?'
This monster, filled with anger and hatred when it killed the dark mages, was now suddenly sad after seeing the Starlight Sword.
"Why...?"
Before he could even ponder the meaning of this, the monster’s eyes twisted, and the murderous rage Osian had seen before returned.
AAHHHH!
The monster screamed. The shockwave from its roar spread throughout the area. Anyone else would have had their eardrums burst, blood pouring from their ears. But this did not apply to Osian.
'I'm fine, but if there were others, they wouldn’t even be able to stand.'
This wasn’t just the raw power of its size. The monster’s scream carried an unimaginable force, likely related to the black, wriggling muscle fibers inside its body.
Cherrk.
The monster took its stance. Osian narrowed his eyes as he watched. The monster, which had been relentlessly swinging its giant right arm, now raised its hand and spread its fingers wide.
Chwarrack!
The tips of its fingers split, and black tentacles shot toward Osian. There were about ten of them. Osian quickly retreated, slicing the tentacles with his Starlight Sword as they came toward him.
The tentacles hissed, releasing black smoke as they were severed. The ones that fell to the ground twitched like fish out of water before becoming still.
‘There’s resistance when cutting these.’
The Starlight Sword, with its transcendent cutting ability, felt some resistance as it sliced through the tentacles. It felt like cutting through an elastic, tough rubber.
It wasn’t something it couldn’t cut, but after having sliced through steel as easily as tofu, this new sensation was strangely unfamiliar.
‘At least the tentacles don’t regenerate. Maybe the best approach is to burn the severed ends with the heat of the Starlight Sword.’
Alternatively, it might be possible to destroy the cells with the power of Moonlight. Either way, what mattered was that he could land effective strikes.
"This is excellent."
Osian found the monster even more to his liking. He never expected to face such a challenge while escorting government officials and handling small fry in a mission.
-Brrrrr.
The tentacles growing from the monster’s body trembled in fury. Its grotesque appearance was made even more unsettling by the black tentacles writhing like heat haze around its body.
'This feels different from the power of the foreign entities. Their power, like the eerie sisters I encountered before, brings an ominous aura that immediately feels wrong. But this monster doesn’t give off that same feeling.'
If it were the power of the Outer Gods, it would resemble the repulsive force the wriggling sisters had. That was a force that defied the laws of this world, inevitably causing phenomena that distanced them from the natural order.
Just like how the ground beneath the monster’s feet was rippling like water.
"Hmm?"
Just as Osian felt a sense of discomfort, a massive piranha head shot up from the rippling ground and swallowed the monster whole.
The monster was over 5 meters tall, but the light green piranha head was so large it could swallow it in one bite.
Anyone would think the monster was going to be devoured, but Osian knew how pointless that assumption was.
Although the monster was shorter, it had once killed an even larger crocodile-like creature by dragging it in and tearing it apart. A simple attack, no matter how large, would not be enough to defeat it.
As Osian predicted, the monster’s right arm tore the piranha's head apart with ease.
However, it seemed that the piranha, which was torn to pieces, didn’t intend to defeat the monster. Instead, it transformed into countless remoras, attaching themselves to the monster’s body.
AAAHHH!!!
The monster screamed in irritation and twisted its body. Every time it did, the remoras fell off, but there were so many that it couldn’t shake them all off.
"This...?”
The power of the wriggling sisters. This was definitely the work of the elder sister, Krua.
-Srrrr.
A similar situation unfolded beneath Osian’s feet. From the hard ground, dark green octopus tentacles emerged like seedlings.
The tentacles grew at incredible speed, wrapping around Osian’s body like a flower bud. Since there was no malice behind this, Osian briefly hesitated, wondering how to deal with it.
In that moment, the octopus tentacles swallowed Osian and burrowed underground, pulling him to the lower levels.
The tentacles untangled, revealing the wriggling sisters. The older sister, Krua, who was active in martial arts, and Atilla, who still wore gloomy, baggy clothes, hurriedly shouted at Osian.
"Hey! What are you doing, just standing there! Hurry and get out of here!"
"This way!"
The two of them shouted so urgently that Osian followed them without fully understanding why. Meanwhile, the monster’s screams continued. It seemed furious that Osian had disappeared and began smashing everything around it.
"Phew. This should be fine now."
After following the wriggling sisters for some time, Krua slowed her pace, deciding that it was enough distance.
"Hah. If we'd been just a little later, that would have been bad."
Perhaps trying to reassure him with a smile, Krua said to Osian with a grin.
"By the way, you look even cooler than before. That bright light, if we hadn’t seen it then, we might not have recognized you. How much stronger have you gotten?"
"What’s going on right now?"
"Uh, what?"
Krua stuttered, feeling Osian's hostility emanating from him. Atilla, who had been about to speak, sensed the unusual atmosphere and shrank back.
"Hey, what’s going on with you?"
"Don’t you know? You’ve just interrupted my fight."
"What?!"
Krua looked completely confused, unable to comprehend what Osian was saying.
"I was about to fight that monster, and out of nowhere, you interrupted. How are you going to make up for that?"
"Interrupted?”
“If you had left me alone, I would have defeated it. You actually made things worse."
Krua couldn’t find the words. It wasn’t something she could dismiss as just bravado—Osian was genuinely angry that they had interfered with his fight.
"You don’t understand how terrible that monster is, do you? That thing has lived for at least 500 years, a monster among monsters. You may be strong, but you won’t win against it."
"That’s something you only find out by fighting. And if it’s been alive for over 500 years, maybe it’s been alive even longer. Even better. There’s something worth fighting now."
"…You’ve changed a lot since I last saw you. Or is this your true nature?"
"You didn’t intentionally interfere with my fight, so I’ll let it slide as a warning. I’m going back to where the monster is."
As Osian tried to leave, Atilla asked him.
"Do you know the way?"
Osian stopped in his tracks. Thinking back, the path to return to where the monster was had turned out to be more complicated than he had expected. The underground tunnels weren’t just simple mazes, so without a guide, it was difficult to figure out the layout.
Having come this far, Osian knew it would be hard to go back to his original position. Even if he spent time retracing his steps, the monster would likely be long gone.
"Well, since this is fate, would it be too much trouble to stay a little longer…?"
Atilla held her skirt tightly with both hands as she spoke. Osian sighed and sheathed his sword. As the Starlight Armor deactivated, his coat flapped lightly.
"That’s enough excitement. Now it feels awkward to go back and fight."
Osian's words, indirectly agreeing, brightened Atilla’s face.
The Slithering Sisters guided Osian through the deep parts of the underground passage.
“By the way, have you been living underground since that day?”
“Yeah. People who use dangerous powers like us can’t expect to be treated well anywhere. We have to stay in places with as few eyes as possible, so we’ve had no choice but to keep moving through these places.”
“For someone living like that, it seems you’ve been doing quite well.”
Osian observed the appearance of the Slithering Sisters closely. Unlike when they parted, the sisters seemed to be in much better condition. They actually looked healthier than when they first came out of Ulaz, and their clothes were clean.
Even though the prison environment wasn't great, living in the underground like this wouldn't be ideal either, so it was strange.
“Oh, that? We found a place to stay.”
“A place to stay?”
“Do you know? There are people living under Tirna.” “I know.”
He had heard from the underground guard, so he knew. Beneath Tirna, there was an underground city where people lived.
“Well then, this conversation will be easy. We became part of the underground residents.”
“That’s surprising.”
“We were surprised too. A place that accepts people like us, who use such powers. But after we got in, we understood. There were others like us, who had been persecuted and discriminated against. It’s a place where people live, after all.”
“So, you’re taking me there now?”
“For now, yes. We finally met after all this time, so it feels wrong to just send you off.”
Krua and Atilla seemed a bit excited. They had once fought against Osian, but that was only because of the situation, not due to any hostility. In fact, the two of them owed their lives to Osian, so if anything, they were more inclined to show goodwill.
“To be honest, I thought you were going to die at the hands of that monster, so I decided to save you.”
Krua grumbled. From her perspective, it was frustrating that she had saved Osian only for him to get angry. Objectively speaking, Krua’s decision had been reasonable, and Osian understood that, so he didn’t say anything further.
“By the way, what’s up with that monster?”
“I don’t know its exact identity. All I know is that it’s been living in this underground area for a very long time, and it’s extremely dangerous.”
“Is it tough for you sisters to fight it?”
“What? Listen, it’s not just tough. We can’t beat it at all. You know that now, right?”
When Osian gave Krua a look that asked what she meant by that, she roughly ran her fingers through her hair.
“Damn it. Right, you were fine, huh? Anyway, I only faced it once, and there was just no way to fight it, so I ran away. It’s not even a monster you should try to fight.”
“For something you can’t fight, it seems to be doing pretty well.”
“That monster is dangerous, but it mainly stays in a fixed area. As long as we avoid that place, we don’t usually have to worry about it.”
“Seems like it’s been moving around quite a bit recently.”
“It’s because it rained a lot this time. Some of its habitat got flooded, so it started moving. That’s why there’s an emergency underground.”
Osian stopped in his tracks after hearing this. Krua, who was leading, looked back.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I know why you tried to save me. It seems you need my power?”
Krua closed her mouth in response to his pointed question.