[179] 3. Forest of the Profane (4)
At Rian's remark, Shirone clicked his tongue with a finger.
"I see. Think about it. If there are living things, they have to eat, and that creates a pyramid-shaped food chain. If we extract only the predators and run the stats, wouldn't it look roughly like this?"
Shirone sketched a sharply curved pyramid—with dramatic contours, like a woman's figure.
It showed lower predators, middle predators, and top predators, with a small number of mutant predators wedged between tiers.
Because he was plotting only carnivores, the bottom and middle tiers appeared about equal in size.
"What are those mutant predators?" Tess asked.
"There are a lot of predators that don't hunt in the usual way—some use traps, others rely on intelligence to feed. Think of monkeys in our world."
"I see. Then where do giants fall?"
"Gravity and the air are similar, so biologically they probably won't deviate much. If we assume that, maybe about here—between mid predators and top predators."
"Oh—so giants are mutant predators? They're that strong?"
"Hm, they could be top predators. If that's the case, there's hope for us, but their fighting style is too primitive. Even cats hunt with finesse. Uprooting trees to swing doesn't seem very efficient for hunting. That's why I classified them as mutants."
Tess tilted her head. "Couldn't they be mutants between lower and middle predators? That'd be bad—then most predators in this forest would be stronger than the giants."
"I don't think so. They seemed to use language. If they have any intelligence, they wouldn't rank below middle predators."
Kanya said.
"Then the first giant we met would be roughly in the top thirty percent. It could belong to another distribution, but statistically that's the conclusion. Either way, there won't be many of them. By my sense, the chance of meeting something stronger than that giant is under ten percent."
Amy, having organized the situation, drew the conclusion.
"So that's fine, right? Six of us can handle it. No one's hurt."
Shirone considered the situation carefully.
Taken optimistically, Amy was right. But when lives were on the line, probabilities could be a mirage.
The fact they'd arrived in Heaven less than an hour ago made turning back feel impossible. It was a baseless delusion, but everyone probably knew that much already.
In the end, none of them wanted to go back yet. Even if an even greater danger lay ahead.
"All right. Let's at least get to the city walls. I don't want to give up here either."
They were getting ready to shoulder their packs when a loud boom rolled out of the forest.
Tess's hearing picked up a woman's voice.
A flash of anxiety ran through them—if it was a woman, it might be more significant than the giants. But if it really was a woman, that meant an intelligent being: the information they could get from her would be enormous.
The party exchanged looks and, as if by agreement, dashed into the forest.
@
Kiiing! Kikk! Kikk!
The six-legged venom-crab screamed.
The venom-crab, a crustacean, moved on six sharply pointed legs like triangular pyramids driven into the ground. Its pale purple body was sheathed in carapace, and a single large eye sat in the center of its face. A long, hardened horn jutted from its brow—longer and tougher than a unicorn's.
"Rena! Herd it this way!"
"Got it! Be careful, sis!"
Kanya and Rena flanked the venom-crab from front and rear.
Kanya was the black-haired woman with hair down to her waist; Rena, with big pretty eyes, was her younger sister.
They were Mekara, subjects of Heaven—slender jaws, small noses, and thin crescent lips gave them a particularly youthful look compared to other races.
Though they were seventeen and fourteen, you couldn't tell who was younger just by their faces.
Rena pinned the crab's rear and swung her sword at a blind spot. The blade—built from countless intersecting right-angled pieces, a complex assembled weapon—was devastatingly effective.
When the sword struck the crab's back, there was a loud crack and a shockwave sent shards of shell flying.
Receiving its third blow, the crab shrieked and veered aside. Rena launched herself in sync.
The crab's single eye could scan nearly 330 degrees, but Rena kept to its sole thirty-degree blind spot and struck the shell again.
When the agitated crab pivoted and charged, Kanya presented the kite-shaped shield strapped to her wrist.
It looked like a toy shield, but when the horn struck it, an image of a shield many times larger burst forth and shoved the crab back.
The inverted crab flailed like a beetle, its many legs scrabbling. It steadied itself but kept wobbling to the right as if the impact hadn't worn off.
Kanya took aim with her Arc.
It resembled a bow but was made of iron and had no string. Instead it had a handle to pull; when drawn, red light arced from tip to tip and locked onto the target.
It was a weapon that could triangulate and lock its aim.
With the sighting locked, a fired projectile wouldn't miss. Kanya focused the red dot on the crab's face.
Sensing danger, the crab staggered and moved left and right, so Kanya twisted her waist to compensate.
When Rena slipped into the blind spot again, the terrified crab lunged at Kanya.
Kanya aimed at its single eye and released the handle. The wire reeled in rapidly and a small bead shot out from the Arc's center.
The bead burrowed into the crab's eye and detonated inside. The crab convulsed then collapsed to the ground.
Its entrails must have melted, but it still screamed in a chilling shriek.
Rena reversed her grip and drove her sword into a gap in the carapace. There was a pop as the crab's body leapt like salt being scattered—and then it didn't move again.
Kanya lowered her Arc and wiped the sweat from her brow, satisfied.
"Whew, that was tough. This one was a stubborn one, right?"
"Yeah. Are you okay, sis?"
"As you can see, fine. But that's odd. Why would a venom-crab appear here? This isn't their habitat."
"Maybe we got lost?"
"No way. The drone's pointing the right way. Maybe the forest's Law has changed. Let's get out of here fast."
"Still, check it for elixirs. There might be some inside."
Rena climbed onto the crab's back, pried open the shell, and plunged her hand into the warm, congealed entrails.
It felt gross, but Rena stuck her tongue out and rummaged until she felt something.
After a moment, her eyes lit up.
"Huh? Got something! Sis, look!"
She pulled out a bead that glowed red from the crab's body.
"Yay! Red elixir. Thanks, crab!"
Seeing her younger sister hopping with joy, Kanya smiled.
Most creatures in Purgatory grow elixirs inside their bodies. They aren't strictly necessary for Heaven's subjects, but in Purgatory they're invaluable.
"Lucky. Come on, let's go."
Kanya snapped back into stern-sister mode and hustled her sister—then a creepy chill ran down her spine and she looked back.
Eyes embedded in the forest flashed with malice.
Moments later, creatures began hammering the rocky ground with their pointed legs and revealed themselves.
Venom-crabs. Seven of them.
"Rena! Here!"
Kanya pulled her sister close and took a fighting stance. Still, a question nagged at her.
Venom-crabs couldn't appear here, far from their habitat—and certainly not in a pack.
Damn. I let my guard down. I should've kept checking the drone.
Even in Purgatory—the realm called by some a hell beyond Heaven—God's will reached here. Monsters without reason still followed the Law as instinct. This meant something nearby had altered that instinct.
"Why now of all times…!"
Changes to the forest's Law were rare. And it was nearly unheard of for Heaven's subjects to leave Heaven and enter Purgatory.
The coincidence of two low-probability events made her even more uneasy.
"Sis, what do we do? There are too many…"
One venom-crab could be handled by a single Mekara. Two would require at least five Mekara.
By Law, the Mekara's strength was coordinated technological group combat.
Physically they were among the weakest of Heaven's subjects, but in formation they could overwhelm even Kergo or Nor people.
That was why Kanya trembled. Even with the Arc, seven venom-crabs were impossible to beat.
What on earth was happening in the forest?
They'd checked routes for a year to avoid monsters, and now all that work seemed for nothing.
Kiiing! Kikk! Kikk!
The crabs rattled their horns and threatened, and the sisters pressed their backs together to cover each other.
One crab that had been probing lunged at Rena.
She presented the Mekara shield, the Exd, and the recoil sent the crab flying back.
Kanya and Rena swapped positions and Kanya fired her Arc. Unable to aim precisely, the projectile slammed into the crab's carapace and detonated.
As the crab rolled on the ground from the impact, the remaining crabs rushed in.
"Sis! Hide behind me!"
Rena changed position again and put the Exd forward. Thunder boomed every time a horn struck the shield.
She swung her Signa, a shockwave weapon, but unless they struck from the blind spot the crab was hard to hit.
The time they could hold with the Exd was shrinking. As recoil exceeded its limits, the shield's functions shut off and it became a mere toy.
With seven crabs attacking from all sides, Kanya and Rena locked arms and closed their eyes.
They feared the pain before death more than death itself.
The venom-crabs bore their muzzles into living bellies and sucked out entrails. Kanya even wondered if she should snatch Rena's Signa and cut her sister's throat herself to spare her that torture.
Just as the crabs' horns were about to pierce the sisters' torsos, a flash of light descended from the sky.
Kanya and Rena saw the back of a boy. He had blond hair and wore strange clothes not seen in this world.
Shirone landed and the instant he touched down he unleashed a burst of light.
A veil of light oscillated in a radius of three to five meters, sweeping back and forth and knocking every venom-crab aside.
The ground caved in a circular depression and the two women sank to their knees. Their gazes, however, remained fixed on Shirone. They had never heard of people living in the Forest of the Profane.
"You all right?" Shirone smiled and turned his head.
In a world where you could run your whole life and never return home, meeting people was a joy that surpassed even homesickness. No matter what those two women were, the disgusting monsters were enemies and people felt like allies.
Kanya's wariness rose at the boy's appearance. Rena, still a girl on the brink of adolescence, blushed.
He's handsome. Is he Nor?
While the two women indulged in their daydreams, Shirone's group fought fiercely.
Rian and Tess each took one crab.
After exchanging blows, Rian felt noticeably relieved. It wasn't an easy foe, but he'd encountered monsters of this strength many times in his original world.
He grabbed the crab's horn and forced it over; its six legs flailed as it flipped.
Rian plunged his straight blade into its belly and pinned it to the ground.