Chapter 254: Milk-Sucking... Blood-Sucking Plant!
Gasper initially didn't want to attend school, but Kuoh Academy offered too much.
Moreover, living alone was truly difficult for him, and displaying unusual powers would only make things more troublesome.
Thus, he simply agreed to Kuoh Academy's request.
Gasper first attended Kuoh Academy's middle school division, but after just a few days, he returned home and became a shut-in.
He planned to idle his way through until graduating from Kuoh Academy's university, after which, according to the agreement, he would become a servant to some demon of the Gremory family.
But he never expected that just over a month after becoming a high school student, his peaceful life would be disrupted.
"Then I'll take my leave now. Sorry for disturbing you today."
After figuring out where the world had diverged, Haruto chose to bid farewell and leave.
He had no intention of forcing Gasper to change. With the arrival of a butterfly like him, more and more things were becoming different.
But if Gasper himself had a change of heart and decided to try a different lifestyle, Haruto would gladly lend a hand then, as a way to make amends.
Gasper watched Haruto leave with some resentment, but said nothing.
However, Haruto's sudden intrusion was like throwing a stone into a calm lake—the ripples lingered for a long time.
Perhaps, maybe, it seemed... he was a bit tired of continuing his shut-in life.
Leaving the dilapidated small western-style house, Haruto hurried back to Kuoh Academy.
Both Gasper and Tachibana Nanao had been ruled out as suspects, so it seemed this milk-sucking...
Ahem, vampire incident was the work of someone else.
Originally, since it was confirmed that Gasper and Tachibana Nanao were unrelated, Haruto could have ignored the matter. After all, the victims only had anemia and would recover after a day or two of rest.
The matter wasn't significant enough, otherwise the academy would have intervened long ago.
However, since he had previously promised Rias and Sona to handle the vampire incident, he had no choice but to continue the investigation.
After dealing with matters at Gasper's place, the sky had already darkened.
Checking the time, he saw there were still two hours left until the time mentioned by the victimized girls. Haruto decided to use detection magic to search the entire academy.
Though the method was somewhat crude, it was indeed effective.
He had never been one to rely on intellect, and this incident wasn't particularly bizarre either. The vampire rumors persisted mainly because the academy didn't take it seriously, and the victims didn't either.
Combining the information provided by the victimized girls, Haruto soon discovered a peculiar plant in the forest behind the dormitory building and the abandoned old school building.
"It doesn't look particularly special," Haruto mused.
He examined the giant plant that occupied a large empty area. No other trees grew around it, making it particularly conspicuous in the forest.
What was more noteworthy, however, was the powerful magic contained within the plant.
Just as Haruto was hesitating whether to take direct action, footsteps suddenly echoed through the quiet forest.
He hid behind a large tree nearby, and soon the source of the footsteps appeared.
Two beautiful girls in pajamas emerged - Haruto recognized them as students from Kuoh Academy, likely coming from the dormitory building.
Seeing their vacant eyes, clearly under some magical influence, he glanced at their chests. Sure enough, just as the rumors said, the victims were all well-endowed.
The two girls finally stopped before the plant that resembled both a flower and a tree. Suddenly, the giant peculiar plant began to writhe, revealing its true form.
Its thick stem twisted continuously, while branches that had initially appeared ordinary transformed into tentacles.
The front part opened like the tentacles from magical girl battles, with three petals spreading apart to form something resembling a mouth.
The giant rose at the top bloomed, revealing a large yellow lizard head inside.
Well... it should probably be called a dragon head, but it was so ugly that Haruto's first thought was of a lizard.
The giant peculiar plant was already two stories tall, with a stem as thick as a hundred-year-old tree. Now animated, it was undoubtedly a monster.
However, the monster didn't show strong aggressive intent. It merely extended two slender tentacles formed from its branches toward the two enchanted girls.
Haruto took out his phone, planning to record evidence.
Since there was no immediate life-threatening danger, he wasn't in a hurry to rescue them.
Compared to saving them, this strange creature with a yellow dragon head was more intriguing.
This thing was clearly not naturally occurring - the signs of artificial synthesis were too obvious, and Haruto seemed to recall something similar from his memory.
Dealing with this creature would be simple, but without catching the mastermind behind it, there would only be more of these synthesized milk-sucking... blood-sucking monsters appearing.
The petal-like mouthparts dripping with mucus fiercely bit into the ample chests of the two girls. Beneath their pajamas, their small buds were continuously sucked.
Barefoot and with vacant eyes, the two girls instinctively raised their heads, emitting soft moans as their fair skin flushed with redness.
At the same time, a crimson energy was continuously extracted from the two girls' chests by the tentacles and transferred to his own body.
It didn't last long before the tentacles released their grip, and the two girls turned around, retracing their steps along the original path.
After obtaining the evidence and seeing the unrelated parties leave, Haruto decided to destroy the bizarre synthetic monster outright.
Though curious about the monster's purpose, he couldn't allow it to grow any further.
Against such a large enemy, magic proved particularly effective.
Moreover, the strange synthetic monster seemed largely non-aggressive; even in passive defense, Haruto detected no killing intent.
Yet, seeing its resemblance to a tentacle monster and the various restraints and dissolving techniques it employed defensively, he decisively eliminated it.
The sight of it involuntarily reminded him of magical girls and tentacle monsters.
Was the Cuckold Protagonist Template shifting from the blond rival to something as grotesque as a tentacle monster because the former couldn't keep up with his leveling speed?
Haruto shook his head, dismissing the sudden thought.
Probably not—cuckolds and tentacle monsters didn't belong in the same script.
The synthetic monster was quite formidable, boasting A+ level strength. With its massive size and vitality, focused solely on defense, it would likely require an S-rank or several A-ranks to subdue.
Unfortunately, it encountered Haruto, who was SS+. After barely holding out for five minutes, it was reduced to withered branches and fallen leaves under a torrent of deep blue magical energy.
The huge, ugly yellow dragon head evaporated entirely, turning to ash that dissipated into the air.
With the synthetic monster dealt with, Haruto intended to track down the mastermind behind it.
Such a large synthetic beast was bound to leave clues.
But before he could follow the residual magical energy, a sleazy-looking silver-spiked-haired devil appeared before him on its own.
"Ah! My dream... shattered."
The strange devil gazed at the monster's remains with a heartbroken expression, muttering words Haruto couldn't comprehend.
"Hey, did you create this thing?"
The silver-spiked-haired devil glanced up at Haruto briefly before lowering its head again to mourn its dream in silence.
Haruto: "..."
"I'm the one who killed it. Don't you want revenge?"
The silver-spiked-haired devil replied expressionlessly, "I can't beat you."
"Uh..."
Sensing the devil's strength—a standard Low-class Devil—Haruto wasn't sure what to say.
After finishing its silent mourning, the devil began rummaging through the debris, seemingly collecting materials and data.
Haruto didn't interrupt. A B-rank capable of creating an A+ synthetic monster piqued his interest in how it was achieved.
After all, the apparent mastermind was weak, so he had no fear of any tricks.
Thirty minutes later, Haruto followed the silver-spiked-haired devil to a basement.
Looking at the array of bottles, jars, and various sophisticated instruments that appeared highly advanced, he couldn't help but ask, "Do devils engage in scientific research?"
"Tch—"
The silver-spiked-haired devil scoffed disdainfully, wearing a haughty expression. "This is alchemy, far superior to any scientific research."
"That monster probably didn't rely solely on alchemy, did it?"
Haruto had never been exposed to alchemy, but with so many instruments here, alchemy alone couldn't possibly require all of them.