Thanks for the Invite, I'm in Terra, and I'm a Parasite

"??!!!"

Irene's confusion was quickly answered as the tentacles began searching for gaps in her clothing, then crazily burrowed into them.

Before long, a slick sensation spread across the skin around her lower abdomen, wriggling with malicious intent as it tried to take control of her entire body.

"Damn it, how dare you!"

Irene's face flushed crimson. Furious and terrified, she began struggling desperately.

Yet the pair of tentacles couldn't be torn apart at all. Worse still, every time she struggled with force, the parts wrapped around her tightened even further.

In the end, her limbs were bound fast, leaving her unable to move in the slightest.

"Damn it... I can't move. I have to... ngh!!!!"

Irene froze. The tentacles had begun probing again. Were they... searching for somewhere to enter?

A deep-seated fear brought tears to the corners of her eyes, and she instinctively tried to clamp her legs shut.

Then, as if sensing the force in her thighs and discovering an area worth exploring, they surged frantically.

"No! No! Don't... mmph mmph mmph!!"

Once Irene realized that, the terror on her face deepened, while the tears at her eyes continued to well up.

But her calling mouth was blocked the next instant. All she could do now was shake her head again and again in a futile struggle.

Squelch!

But the next moment—

Several crimson flashes of blade light swept past. A strikingly beautiful woman appeared before her, wielding an exaggeratedly large blade, and at the same time, the tentacles around her stopped moving.

"Whew... Good thing I made it in time. That almost turned into something serious..."

Laurentina lowered her head and looked at the now-inert tentacles on the ground, speaking as though she had just let out a huge sigh of relief.

Is it bad to take leave twice in one week? (Thinking)

Good news: I cleared Monster Hunter's main story. Playtime: fifty hours. The update schedule won't be this cursed from now on.

Bad news: I have an assignment due for my major class tomorrow afternoon. It's a thirty-second animation, and I've only drawn half of it.

I'm truly very sorry! (Kneels)

Originally, I planned to draw an iconic Devil May Cry scene, then replace the characters with BA and Arknights characters fighting over the Doctor. (Now I want to strangle the version of myself who came up with that idea. It's absurdly complicated. Why didn't I just draw a chicken nugget spinning for a minute?!!)

Anyway, I'll make it up with two chapters tomorrow.

This time, I didn't fail to update because of Monster Hunter and longswords! It was because of homework! There was nothing I could do about it! (Making excuses.ing)

Well then, see you tomorrow.

The Inquisitor

The slick sensation spread from her toes throughout her body. Her limbs were tightly bound around the joints, and every struggle only made the other party constrict harder, until she was completely unable to move.

She wanted to scream, but it was as though something wriggling had blocked her throat, leaving her unable to make even the slightest sound.

Irene's pupils widened as she watched scarlet feelers continuously wriggle out from her throat.

At the same time, the strange sensation coming from inside her body seemed to remind her of a fact so terrifying and repulsive that it sickened her on a physiological level.

Something had entered her body.

Before she could even think about where it had entered from, the writhing sensation seemed to proclaim its abundant vitality, constantly setting off Irene's nerves of fear.

She could only watch as those tentacles continued extending, winding around her entire body, constantly searching for openings through which they could enter.

Then, they invaded without restraint.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!"

Irene screamed as she opened her eyes and abruptly sat up.

Yet when she rose, she found none of those nauseatingly slick tentacles.

A dream?

No.

She raised her hand and looked at the faint red marks around her wrist.

This wasn't a dream?!

She instinctively wanted to check whether there was anything wrong beneath her clothes, but a shout from behind stopped her.

Only then did Irene realize there was someone beside her.

"You're awake?"

For some reason, seeing Irene like that made Laurentina instinctively want to add a few more words after "You're awake?"

But considering her condition, she thought about it for a moment and decided against it.

Turning around, Irene saw a white-haired woman kneeling beside her. She wore a long-skirted outfit that was somewhat exaggerated, yet rather than formal attire, it looked more like hunting gear.

Beneath her silver-white hair, a pair of somewhat bewitching crimson eyes looked at her with concern.

Combined with that delicate face and gentle expression, Irene was even stunned for a moment.

What Irene didn't know was that beneath Laurentina's gentle smile was an inwardly awkward train of thought.

Damn it, it had been so long since she'd had a normal conversation with anyone. Those Church of the Deep people all used Iberian and bits of Aegir language.

Wait, was that how the common language of landfolk was supposed to be spoken? Could she understand it?

If her common language was messed up, how was she supposed to go elsewhere and look for her teammates?

No, that couldn't be right. The captain had taught her the common language, and she'd studied it seriously. How could there possibly be a problem?

She had even learned some of the captain's incredibly difficult phrases.

For example: "The shallowness of one's actions does not encompass the entirety of their person, but attempting to justify shallow actions with clumsy language makes one wonder whether one is speaking to a life-form that has received a normal education."

Basically, it was just insulting people. She only remembered that whenever the captain said things like that to the orca captain, the latter got pretty worked up.

Perhaps because she thought it inappropriate to say such things in front of Laurentina, the captain had always used the mainlanders' common language whenever she insulted people before teaching Laurentina that language.

In any case, there was absolutely no way she could have a problem with the common language!

"Um, hello?" (Iberian)

Anyway, she definitely wasn't the problem. If so, then the problem had to be the other person.

"No, it's fine. I understand the common language."

"May I ask, you are...?"

Laurentina observed Irene's attire and weapon loadout.

Damn it, Zuo Jian had gone straight to sleep after absorbing the Originium fluid and having his episode. This sort of thing should've been left to him!

And with him unconscious, the changes she could make to her body's mimicry were pitifully few.

She couldn't even maintain the nun's outfit, so she could only mimic the familiar set of hunter's clothing.

Though even if she were wearing a nun's outfit, she couldn't pretend to be a nun while Zuo Jian was unconscious. Unless she'd gone mad, Laurentina couldn't imagine what she would look like as a nun.

She'd probably be exposed at a glance if she forced it. Without an external brain—Zuo Jian—to help her think through things, Laurentina decided to follow what the Abyssal Hunters' manual taught.

Though that little handbook was often criticized for being overly rigid. Aside from its useful techniques for hunting Seaborn, its methods for handling everything else were simply redundant.

For example, if they lost contact on land, they were not to reveal their true identities. If necessary, they were to disguise themselves as bounty hunters.

The captain had complained about that point.

The physical abilities of Abyssal Hunters weren't something one could casually hide. Either never make a move at all, or once you did, be ready to explain the absurd question of why someone who could flatten a small hill with one sword and showed no signs of Oripathy would be a bounty hunter sleeping rough in the wilderness.

Did anyone seriously think that excuse made sense? Seriously? Seriously?

"Achoo—"

Somewhere an unknown distance away, a white-haired, red-eyed girl sneezed. She paused, looking at her hand.

Could she actually catch a cold on land?

"Y-you... what... what exactly are you?"

The mercenary blocking her path stared in terror at the half of the earthen slope behind him that the girl had flattened with a single slash. He didn't even dare imagine what would happen if he were grazed once. He'd probably be buried on the spot.

Faced with his question, the girl paused as though considering something, then took a small booklet bearing the Abyssal Hunters' emblem from her waist.

"Just a passing bounty hunter."

"Just an ordinary bounty hunter."

Laurentina sighed. Though she thought it was stupid, she didn't know much about the situation on land, and Zuo Jian was asleep, unable to offer her any constructive advice.

She had no choice but to follow what the book taught.

"A bounty hunter..."

Irene looked at her, remembering that she had indeed been rescued by someone similar before losing consciousness.

"Irene, Inquisitor of the Iberian Inquisition. Thank you very much for saving me, passing hunter."

She believed it??

The other woman straightened her petite body and solemnly thanked Laurentina.

"Laurentina."

"Huh?"

Irene froze.

"My name. Just call me Laurentina, little Inquisitor."

"...Thank you, Ms. Laurentina. By the way, that creature that attacked me just now... where is its corpse?"

She asked.

At that question, Laurentina immediately turned her head away guiltily and answered,

"It ran away."

"It ran away... What kind of monster was that..."

Irene was a little dazed. If she remembered correctly, hadn't those tentacles been cut off by the hunter right in front of her?

It had actually managed to escape from a hunter with skills like that?

"Probably a Seaborn. A monster from the deep sea. As an Inquisitor, you should know about them."

"You know about the Seaborn?" Irene looked at her, faintly sensing that her identity was not as simple as that of an ordinary hunter.

"But I remember my teacher saying Seaborn are generally dark blue and whi—"

"Seaborn have special individuals too. For example, red ones. Those are extremely dangerous types."

Laurentina said it without missing a beat. It wasn't as if she were lying; red Seaborn did exist.

"Is that so?"

Irene looked at her as though no one understood Seaborn better than Laurentina.

"Then this situation is very dangerous... Seaborn have actually appeared even in a place like this."

"Y-yes, the situation is very dangerous indeed."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Laurentina. I must hurry and complete my mission. I'm sorry that I can't find a way to repay you."

Irene said anxiously.

Her original mission had merely been to investigate the situation in a nearby town, but she had unexpectedly encountered Seaborn.

She needed to complete her mission more efficiently, then quickly rendezvous with her teacher and the others.