With tentacles roaming everywhere, Hiro could no longer afford to stay hidden without risking his hosts' safety. Using what cell storage he had left, he shaped the tip of his tentacle into a spear.
The parasitic tentacle assault was relentless. Every time Cecile or the soldiers severed one tendril, two more sprouted in its place. Hiro knew this would never end unless they destroyed the core. And the core had to be underground.
That was where he needed to strike.
Hiro extended a tentacle away from the girls and plunged it into the soil. The moment he did, Rebecca and Cecile were forced to stop moving—the tether grounded them, preventing their retreat toward the wall.
"Hiro? What are you doing? We need to move!" Rebecca shouted.
"...I think Hiro knows something. Let's trust him," Cecile said.
"Geez! You trust him too much, Cecile!" Rebecca yelled, blasting a tentacle apart with a fireball.
Hiro deliberately didn't extend from Nana. She needed her mobility—if she were grounded too, their entire defense would collapse.
"Everyone! Fall back to the walls! They can't breach stone buildings! Get to the second floor!" a soldier screamed.
The ground was dark, but Hiro could feel it—subtle movements beneath the soil as enemy tentacles shifted. At first, he thought he'd need to dig deeper, but their cores were surprisingly shallow—barely thirty centimeters below the surface.
Hiro grappled with one core, losing a chunk of his remaining cell storage before driving his spear into its heart. The moment it shattered, every tentacle connected to it went limp.
Despite being classified as flora with root systems, the parasitic tentacles had limited perception underground. They couldn't sense, and Hiro could, so they avoided digging unless necessary—such as bypassing foundations or idly searching for nutrients.
"He did it!" Cecile shouted when Hiro destroyed a core. The tentacle that rampaged above suddenly went limp and lay on the ground dead.
"How?" Rebecca asked, curiosity flaring.
Everything they knew about parasitic tentacles suggested that you had to destroy every last piece of them—or at least most of their mass. For underground variants like these, the usual method was to bombard the ground with explosive spells and hope something vital was hit. No one knew they had cores.
Researchers had studied parasitic tentacles before, but they dismissed the so-called "cores" as nothing more than ordinary flesh. From the outside, they were indistinguishable from the rest of the body and they didn't have the courage to go near it.
"Hiro seems to have a way to kill them directly," Rebecca said, clenching her fist. "Let's clear the fort!"
"Eh? What about the order to retreat to the walls?" Cecile asked.
"We'll take the long route to the walls," Rebecca replied. "That way, we can eliminate as many tentacles as possible along the way."
Fortunately, these tentacles weren't sentient like Hiro. They couldn't coordinate or strategize, attacking blindly instead. Hiro noticed that some even exposed their cores near the surface. He swiftly neutralized them with precise thrusts of his spear-like tentacle.
"Rebecca! You're safe—good!" The fort commander let out a breath of relief when he spotted them.
"Of course!" Rebecca puffed out her chest proudly. "It's all thanks to Hiro."
"Well, we're certainly in a tight spot," the commander said. "All right. Rebecca, Nana—I want you to lead the mage corps. Target the tentacles from range and bombard them with magic."
"Yes, sir!" Rebecca saluted.
Bombardment from the walls began in earnest. By dawn, the fort was finally cleared.
The damage was extensive. Houses and buildings had mostly been spared—few tentacles had tunneled beneath them—but the roads were torn apart, and even the warehouse had suffered heavy damage.
As the first light of dawn spread across the fort, another bell rang.
"Again?" Rebecca groaned, collapsing onto a cafeteria bench. Her mana had been drained during the night. "No… I don't think I have anything left…"
"Come on. I'll carry you," Cecile said.
Nana nodded in agreement.
Hiro knew they were all exhausted. They had fought through the night, then hauled supplies from the warehouse to the walls before it could be destroyed.
Naturally, Rebecca refused.
Despite being the smallest of the group, her pride was by far the largest.
With her pale face, Rebecca forced herself up the stairs to the walls. The sight that greeted her filled her with despair.
Another raid—just like yesterday—was already underway.
She turned to her companions. All of them were exhausted after fighting through the night.
"What are you doing?! Don't stop!" the fort commander roared. "Man the walls! They're coming! Use the explosives—use everything if you have to! We have dynamite too! Drop it from the walls, load it onto the trebuchets! Kill them, or die!"
Driven by sheer desperation, the soldiers fought on.
They said a cornered rat would bite the cat, and that saying proved true here. When tentacles grabbed them, soldiers no longer screamed for help. Instead, they hurled themselves over the wall, clutching live grenades. Hiro watched in horror as men immolated themselves, throwing their bodies into the mass of monsters below.
The battle looked hopeless. Soldiers fell one after another.
Then a beam of light descended from the sky, and the enemy artillery vanished in an instant. An angel floated in the sky—white wings unfurling as she descended.
"Sheena!" Rebecca cried out.
Sheena didn't spare them a glance. She focused her power, white motes of light gathering along her blade. With a single swing, she erased another cluster of tentacles.
Morale exploded.
Soldiers shouted her name as she swept across the battlefield, diving into crawling masses that tried to scale the walls. She struck from behind, her sword carving through flesh again and again. Even when the tentacles regenerated, she cut them down once more. When their cell storage finally ran dry, she delivered the finishing blows.
She landed atop the wall, breathing heavily. She had used her ultimate skill three times in rapid succession.
The soldiers erupted in cheers, hands raised, voices hoarse with triumph.
Cecile and Nana were swept along by the celebration. Rebecca, meanwhile, collapsed to the stone floor. Her exhaustion had finally caught up with her. It had been far too close. A little longer, and they wouldn't have survived. As Sheena turned to report to the fort commander, her gaze froze.
On the horizon, signal smoke rose into the sky.
"I guess it was overtime today," she said.
She then turned to the fort commander, who answered with a wry smile.
"I'll deploy alone. You can all take a break in the meantime."
"...Thank you, Sheena," the fort commander said, saluting her. "We owe you our lives."
"Whew. Thank goodness Sheena arrived," Cecile said as she carried Rebecca on her back toward the inn. Rebecca didn't respond—she was already asleep, exhaustion finally overwhelming her pride.
Hiro prepared a bed for them in their room. After removing their gear and clothes, they collapsed onto it without another word.
Three hours later, a soldier knocked on the door and summoned them to the command room. Sheena was already there, several soldiers bringing refreshments for her.
"Thank you for arriving so quickly, Lady Sheena," the fort commander said.
"Please don't call me lady," Sheena replied. "I'm just a knight now. I'm no longer a noble. Please—call me Sheena."
She turned to Rebecca and the others. Her eyes sharpened for a brief moment before softening into a smile.
"How did you arrive so quickly? Did you fly here?"
"Yes, of course," Sheena said. "I hurried. I was worried since you're… well, not combat symbiote users."
Hiro glanced at her. In that instant, he knew—she was aware of his secret. The king must have told her and asked her to keep it quiet. Rebecca and Cecile squirmed slightly under her assessing gaze.
"I'm glad you're safe," Sheena continued gently. "You're all right, aren't you?"
"Yes," Rebecca replied. "Just hungry and tired."
"Of course," Sheena said. "Then we should eat. Soldiers and symbiotes alike need nourishment."
The fort commander gestured, and more food was brought in. Hiro noted that Sheena's presence meant she must have already dealt with the attack on the neighboring village as well.
As they ate, the fort commander finally raised the question that mattered most.
"Um… Knight Sheena. Does being here mean you've been stationed here? And… what about Rebecca and the others?"
The fort commander glanced at Rebecca. He was relieved they hadn't caused trouble (he had heard rumors how symbiote users usually behaved in other nations)—but their strength left much to be desired.
"Yes," Sheena replied. "As for Rebecca…" She paused. "Do you think you could help repair the wall?"
"Um… I don't know," Rebecca said hesitantly. "Hiro?"
Hiro could only shrug a tentacle. He could produce iron ingots and even shape metal now, but he'd never built a wall or carved stone blocks. He could grind stone down to size, but it would take about as long as a normal worker using a chisel.
"...We can try," Rebecca said at last.
"Understood," Sheena nodded. "Once everything here is in order, you may return to Litmus. Hiro is needed there for iron production. Some rare materials have been discovered in the mountains, and they believe he may be able to process them. Leafa has already begun test runs."
"All right," Rebecca nodded. Hiro did as well. Despite being a parasitic tentacle, Hiro was a pacifist at heart. He much preferred crafting and a quiet life with his hosts to fighting wars. This arrangement suited him perfectly.
"That's all from me," Sheena continued. "An official letter from Litmus will arrive with the reinforcements later. Is there anything you'd like to add, Commander?"
She paused, then added, "Ah—one more thing. I'm sorry, but you won't remain fort commander. Litmus nobility isn't comfortable with Latvin' citizens holding command so soon after the occupation. Especially military. You'll be reassigned as an advisor. A Litmus commander will assume command shortly."
"Understood," the fort commander replied calmly.
"Um… are you all right with that, Sheena?" Cecile asked. "You've been demoted from captain to knight."
Sheena let out a long breath. "With my nobility stripped, two hundred years of my family's history vanished overnight. Well, Latvin itself has been destroyed. But at least my knights are safe. They've been reassigned to a quiet fort near the mountain. I have no real complaints."
"It's Latvin's fault for invading in the first place," Rebecca pouted.
"You're right," Sheena said quietly. "My apologies."
Hiro felt a surge of relief. The crisis had passed. For now, at least, peace—and rest—were finally within reach.