Thanks for the Invitation, I'm on Terra, and I'm a Parasite

Jagged teeth tore through flesh, crushed hard layers and bone, leaving behind a wound that sent chills down one's spine.

What hunters excelled at most was hunting these twisted, massive monsters.

After pulling back a short distance, Laurentina raised the Meat Saw and assumed a charging stance, using the gap she had just created to rush forward!

Splat.

"ROAR!!!!!"

The mass of flesh let out a furious roar. Its wound could not heal, and the portion made of Zuo Jian's flesh had already begun to weaken.

Laurentina, gripping the Meat Saw with both hands as she thrust, slashed the blade straight downward in that instant! Flesh split apart, and the blade struck the ground, becoming a fulcrum.

The long-handled Meat Saw now resembled a pole vaulting pole, and Laurentina used it to launch herself high into the air!!

Above the cavern, at the center of an opening wide enough to let moonlight stream in, the girl's figure was stained with blood and moonlight, looking both eerie and holy.

"Zuo Jian!"

Laurentina shouted in midair. Then, the muscles in both hands gripping the handle suddenly tightened. The immense force even cracked the handle, with traces of blood seeping out.

Two pupils opened on the backs of her hands, and more than half the blood in her body was mobilized into her arms and the blade she held.

The teeth of the living Meat Saw gained astonishing rotational speed through the rapid circulation of blood.

"It's over."

BANG!!!!

The weapon in Laurentina's hands descended with the momentum to end everything!

RIP RIP RIP!!

The serrated teeth shredded everything apart, using the force and inertia of its descent to completely tear the creature before her to pieces!

[Is it... over?]

Zuo Jian looked at the flesh around them. There was no longer any trace of life nearby.

"No, it's not completely over... There's still one more... and she's dangerous too..."

As Laurentina spoke, she tried to lift her weapon and continue toward the exit of the cave.

Yet in the next moment, she could no longer control her own steps.

Clatter.

The weapon detached from her palm and fell to the ground, then dissolved into a cloud of blood mist.

"What's going on...?"

Several tentacles caught Laurentina as she was about to fall, keeping her from collapsing face-first onto the ground.

[The part belonging to you is very weak, Laurentina.]

Zuo Jian's eyes looked through the tentacles at her face.

"What... weak...?"

[Does the human brain need nutrients... I miscalculated.]

[The energy provided by Originium can only sustain the body's consumption... The part belonging to you, Laurentina, was deemed unnecessary expenditure...]

[Laurentina, don't worry. The other enemy isn't nearby for now, so you should res—]

Zuo Jian spoke, only to realize that Laurentina, whom he was holding, had already lost consciousness.

"You did well, Laurentina."

The girl opened her blue eyes and somewhat awkwardly controlled the unfamiliar body as she walked out of the cave step by step.

She suddenly realized that tentacles were still more convenient.

Morning sunlight, somewhat glaring, streamed through the old window and illuminated the dust floating in the air.

The girl froze for a moment before opening her eyes.

An unfamiliar bed, an unfamiliar ceiling... with a hole in it.

She was also wearing oversized pajamas she had never seen before.

Laurentina blinked.

She only remembered passing out after killing Quintus... Wait.

Why was she lying here?

No, where was Zuo Jian?

"Zuo Jian? Where are you?"

She lowered her head and asked. In the next moment, a cute eye pattern that looked sewn on appeared on her pajamas.

[Good morning. It seems you slept quite well. Your brain didn't produce any strange wavelengths throughout the night.]

Hearing the familiar voice, Laurentina let out a long sigh of relief.

"Whew. So, what happened? And where is this?"

[It's probably the kind of room in the church meant for bishops or people like them. The hole above your head was made when you went out last night.]

"Really? Those people actually had such a normal room?"

Laurentina was somewhat surprised. The furnishings in this room were as plain as those of an ordinary bedroom, with no sign whatsoever that it belonged to those lunatics from the Church of the Deep.

"This room probably belongs to that woman named Amaya."

She recalled the only person they had let escape yesterday and frowned slightly.

"What a shame."

[It couldn't be helped. You had already reached your limit, and I couldn't ignore your condition.]

"My... limit?"

[The Originium I absorb cannot provide the nutrients your brain needs. It can only serve as fuel to power this body.]

"Whew, is that so? That's not bad. At least this familiar sensation of taking in nutrients makes me feel much more at ease."

After saying that, Laurentina threw off the covers and prepared to search for some proper food.

Indeed, Zuo Jian's reminder made Laurentina realize that she seemed not to have eaten normally for quite some time.

If she were not an Abyssal Hunter, and if she did not have Zuo Jian, she likely would have died long ago.

Lost in thought, Laurentina failed to notice the white tentacle beneath her feet that was connected to her oversized pajamas.

"Wah!"

It was as though she had suddenly tripped over something, and her entire body lost balance.

[I'm telling you, watch where you're stepping.]

"Why are your tentacles just lying around on the floor?"

She picked up the white tentacle from the ground and looked at the spot where it connected to the hem of her white pajamas.

Then, her gaze followed the other end—

"Huh?"

That tentacle was continuously extending, transforming into even more limbs as it busied itself outside the room's door, in the corridor.

A fire burned, while parts of the limbs hardened into small frying pans.

The tentacle expertly rolled its frying pan over the flames, flipping it from time to time.

Laurentina's sharp eyesight even caught sight of the golden fried eggs in the pan.

[I wouldn't advise gathering the food left behind in the church. Just like the clothes, it's best not to accept even one of these things from unknown sources.]

A tentacle with a blue eye stared at Laurentina.

However, she merely stared blankly at the scene before her for a long while without speaking.

?

[Laurentina? Laurentina?]

Zuo Jian waved a tentacle in confusion, dangling it before her eyes.

"...This is a little surreal."

[What's wrong?]

"Nothing. I'm just amazed that I could actually see such a... Anyway, it's a very unusual scene."

As she spoke, she walked over to look at the busy tentacles.

A pile of tentacles expertly making breakfast? How could she be having a dream like this?

"By the way, you can cook?"

[I know a little.]

"But where did you find the ingredients for the fried eg—"

Laurentina stopped halfway through her sentence and suddenly turned her attention to another fire.

Over the burning campfire, a Fowlbeast stripped of its organs and feathers was skewered over the center, roasting.

[It is nature's gift.]

Laurentina raised her head and looked through the pierced ceiling at the azure sky, where grayish-white Fowlbeasts occasionally flew past.

Then something seemed to streak across the air, and two more Fowlbeasts fell precisely through the hole.

"?"

Laurentina crouched down and looked at the smooth cuts on the two Fowlbeasts' necks.

[Nature was worried you wouldn't have enough to eat.]

Zuo Jian retracted his blade-like tentacle and spoke as though nothing had happened.

(Damn it, why is it nighttime again? Where did all my time go?)

(It was all those damn longswords! You stole my time! You thieves!)

(Damn longsword thieves, give me back my time!)

(PS, another record: Why, why the hell? Today I whiffed seven thrusting attacks with the longsword, missed Spirit Helm Breaker thirteen times, then rolled for Summer Hina in BA this afternoon. Eighty pulls and only one rainbow, and it was Izumi!!!! Then I had to look at those bastards in the group getting three rainbow pulls with Hina and Aru in a single ten-pull.)

Good night, all you successful longsword players.

Ah, damn it. These past few days of daily longsword grinding have made me realize that even my update schedule has become this lazy?!

Anyway, I realized my update times these past two days have all been in the middle of the night. That's pretty ridiculous.

(And I've realized I apparently can't finish writing it. Writing every time in the middle of the night really affects my condition... and updating at dawn probably isn't comfortable for you guys either.)

So the next chapter will still be updated tomorrow at noon! (Damn it, I can't finish it. Writing at dawn every time really affects my condition.)

Anyway, I'll make up for it with two updates tomorrow. Waaah, stop scolding me, stop scolding me. The longsword did nothing wrong, it's all my fault. Blame me if you must, please stop scolding the longsword?????

Oh, right. That shitty Diablos is the worst kind of bastard too. It's got me completely restless. Sigh, want to taste a Spirit Helm Breaker? A Red-Blade Spirit Helm Breaker—you definitely need to taste one.

(Anyway, there will be updates, and there will also be longswords. I'll also prepare for the entrance of a new character.)

(PS: Feel free to guess which Operator will appear next. Every person who guesses correctly earns one extra update.)

A New World

Drip... drip...

The damp tunnel was filled with a nauseating fishy stench, an unbearable rotting odor mixed from blood and something like creatures from the deep sea.

Tap, tap.

Hard boot soles stepped across the floor, sticky with unknown liquid, making low, muffled sounds.