Chapter 51 – v2c12 Abnormal Situation

The spectacle of Zieg-san’s thrown to the air right before he was about to use his magic sword dumbfound me.

Zieg-san, who was about to finish off the phoenix, didn’t lower his guard.
In the first place, it was hard to imagine that he would be blown off by the phoenix even if he did lower his guard.
After all, phoenix’s physical strength was extremely low among the super-high difficulty monsters.
And if it used its fireball instead, there was no way the fireball could have enough force to send Zieg-san flying.

That was why I couldn’t hide my confusion.
If there was nothing happened, I might stay stunned for longer.

「RuiAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

「Wha-!」

However, the rapidly changing situation didn’t allow me to stay confused.

…The phoenix whose body expanded along with its muffled roar forced our mind to refocus.

It was too strange of a sight.
The phoenix that should’ve been exhausted suddenly have as much, no, more vitality than when we stepped into the labyrinth.
As if to display that, its body started to swell more intensely, and the wound I dealt to its body also regenerated.

The silence was dominating this place as the anomaly in the phoenix kept progressing.
With a sidelong glance, I could see Armia’s expression that seemed to say she didn’t know what happened either.
But I instinctively knew what was happening to the phoenix.

Because I could feel the same intimidating air like that worst being, the mutated hydra.
…Yes, that phoenix was ​​about to mutate.

If we allow the phoenix to mutate, then we will be forced into a hard fight.

「Shit!」

After I made that conclusion, I gripped the dagger harder and started to run.

The phoenix’s body was healed at an unusual rate.
As I saw the sight, I felt uneasy.
If its body completely healed, then the phoenix will clad itself in flame armor again.
In that case, I who only have the dagger won’t have enough reach to attack the phoenix.
In other words, I need to somehow settle this before that.

…However, I’m not confident I can defeat the phoenix right now.

「Don’t let it!」

It wasn’t just me who noticed the phoenix’s mutation.
Narsena, who had fought against the mutated hydra along with me, also noticed a beat later and started running.

「Haaaaaaaaaa!」

Narsena, who was closer to the phoenix than I, reached the phoenix faster and immediately trying to hit it.
The next moment, Narsena’s fist sunk into the completely unmoving phoenix’s body.

「RuiaAAA!」

「Kuh-!」

…However, despite her attack, the phoenix only leaked a little bit of blood from its mouth.

The phoenix internal organ should be hurt by the attack, but unlike humans or other normal monsters, it was a wound that would be healed immediately by the phoenix.
Despite taking hits from a highly capable martial artist like Narsena without any resistance, all she did was delaying the time it took for the phoenix to reclad itself in the flame armor by a few seconds.
This showed how much the phoenix’s ability raised by the mutation, I was seriously didn’t believe I could defeat the phoenix by myself.

Had I had the time to attack the phoenix, I would be able to defeat the phoenix in a single blow.
Yes, just like the hydra before.

But I knew it was impossible.
The wounds I dealt to it had almost healed.
The damage Narsena dealt helped, but only by a bit.
It wasn’t difficult for me to reach the phoenix and attack it before it could activate its flame armor again, but it was impossible for me to fully reinforce my body this way.

「Even, so!」

Even knowing that, I refuse to give up and tried to reinforce my body.
Before stopping, I needed to start to reinforce my body even in an unstable position like running even though it should be impossible.
All to increase the reinforcement even a little bit more.

「………Huh?」

———It was at that time I realized the change that happened to my body was too great.

Originally, body reinforcement performed using magic power and ki wasn’t something that could be called a skill.
After all, the reinforcement was too intense and distorted to be called skill, that was why it was better to call it a trick.
So I knew it was natural that there were limits and dangers in the reinforcing method.

That was why I was surprised while running.
It was abnormal for the body reinforcement to increase so rapidly.

Body reinforcement while running, for the current me, was something I really needed to be prepared for the consequence.
I could hurt myself by mistaking the intensity of body strengthening, the strengthening needed to be done by slowly ramping up the effect little by little.

But now, I reinforced my body with magic power and ki with a smoothness that made the past seemed to be a lie.
It felt weird to feel this light without any pain.
That wasn’t the only discomfort I have.
Various questions came to my mind, why this sudden change happened, what triggers this, or things like that.

「It’s possible with this!」

However, I set aside those thoughts and smiled.
In front of my eyes was the phoenix that still didn’t budge.
Now I can defeat it before it can activate its flame armor.
With that conviction, I kicked the ground and raised my dagger.

「RuaAAAAA!」

Realizing the miracle, the phoenix began to move as the dagger was approaching.
I didn’t know what expression the phoenix had.
However, I could feel the phoenix criticizing itself as it began to move desperately.

“Why is his strength increased sharply every time he attacks, was what it seemed to think.”

「You’re too slow.」

After leaking those words, I swung down my dagger.

The next moment, the dagger cut deep into Phoenix’s head.