Golden Consort

(Sun Yao)

The Monster's roar startled the park's visitors. Most of them grabbed their children and scattered in all directions. The rest didn't refuse to escape, but... they couldn't.

Perhaps the amusement park staff called the police, because the detection airship in D3 District quickly dropped a holographic beacon marking the location of the Monster.

But in amusement parks, there are always some rides where you can't escape immediately, like... Ferris wheels.

"Aww!"

The Monster's trench coat had been completely torn to shreds by his bloated physique. He looked like an excessively obese pig, with layers of swollen fat piled up haphazardly. Even without getting close, one could smell a foul stench... This guy, it's impossible to even identify what kind of Simulacrum Factor he is. As Monster, he's probably failed at evolution, hasn't he?

"Falcon, put me down!"

At a height of nearly ten meters above the ground, Falcon released his grip.

Even though it was only ten meters, I didn't intend to freefall. I put on a protective film, used the bubble platform in the air to quickly leap closer, and then used the Hardened Bubble Membrane again to restrict the Monster's steps.

"Falcon! Move!"

Bang bang bang bang--bang--

The revolver emptied its magazine in a five-round burst. Although it was fired from behind me, all the bullets bypassed my body and shot directly at the mutated creature that seemed to ooze pus, splattering a ring of blood... um, oil?

"No! I can't break through his skin!"

I can see that.

Falcon's bullet failed to penetrate the thick layer of fat.

But fat is oil, which seems easy to burn, right?

"Go find Heat Haze, I'll hold him off here."

Having understood what I meant, Falcon flew away from the park, trailing a long, shimmering braid.

"Okay, be careful!"

The risk is low; the Monster that humans transform into are weaker than Monster that emerge from wormholes...

Buzz--

"Huh, really?"

The long-lost blue wormhole appeared above this small city park, and the wormhole alarm sounded in D3 District, giving me the creeps.

Is it Empty Wormhole that leaks Dark Energy?

Or should we deploy some support forces to deal with me?

The situation is a bit tricky, but this is D3 District, Miss Miluno will come, right?

This deformed, greasy Monster was ugly, but its actions were quite purposeful... It targeted the children who were still on the Ferris wheel and rushed towards it like a wild boar, ignoring me.

"How could I possibly let you succeed!"

I summoned bubbles at the bottom of the park's pond, filled them with water, grabbed them, and rushed towards the Monster, pinning them to his head like a helmet.

The drowning murderer, repeating the same trick, may look the same, but he is ultimately just Monster biological structure.

Glug--Glug--

Bubbles appeared in the water, but he didn't show any signs of drowning. He just kept running with the water balloon helmet on, so I had to use the solidified Bubble Membrane again to stop him...

My latest defensive technique is a Solidified Bubble, as hard as tempered glass. It can withstand most Monster's continuous attacks, even the water gun of the Shark Princess Witch, but it can't stop this Monster's movements. Every step it takes forward tears apart the Bubble Membrane I put on, without even giving it time to expand.

Perhaps because of his deformity, this Monster had no other special abilities, except that he was thick-skinned, strong as an ox.

Other Monster and witches, upon seeing me, act like monsters upon seeing Tang Sanzang, wishing they could pounce on me and devour my flesh.

This freakish Monster, however, completely ignored me, focusing solely on running towards the Ferris wheel...

"Aww!"

There was no one in front of the Monster, and the Ferris wheel staff who had originally intended to save him had abandoned their duties and fled for their lives.

If a direct confrontation doesn't work, then we'll try a softer approach.

A bubble-shaped passage was created to block the only road leading to the Ferris wheel. The bubble itself cannot be touched by the Monster, and he can enter and exit freely as if it were nothing. However, there is no gravity inside the bubble, just like a space station in space. If you lightly step on it, you will float up and never be able to step on it again. Even if you do step on it, you will float up again.

But it can still wriggle its short, stubby limbs and use inertia to crawl towards the Ferris wheel, only much slower...

"Call--"

Anyway, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This Monster is not only deformed, but his IQ is also as high as a cockroach's, which saves me some trouble. Even if he's about to break through, I can just send him back to the starting point of the zero-gravity bubble tunnel through a teleportation portal...

Although doing this consumes some magic power.

Next, all that's left is for Falcon to take over Heat Haze, and then burn this large flammable mass to ashes, and that's it.

Wait, SpiCa said they wanted to capture humans who had turned into Monster alive?

But how can I control him?

It would be difficult to even knock him unconscious. This deformed guy was so obese that you couldn't even see where his neck was, and he was incredibly strong. Even in zero gravity, he could slowly crawl forward by twisting his body.

In short, the first priority is to rescue the children from the Ferris wheel...

Buzz--

Wow, it's here already?!

No Dark Energy emerged from the wormhole, but specks of light fell from the sky—were they Monster? Or a witch?

Gold.

A blindingly bright gold.

Slowly descending from the wormhole was something radiating golden light...

Wrong.

That intense Dark Energy was undoubtedly from a witch!

"Um?"

She was dressed in a deep robe that seemed to be woven with gold threads, and wore a huge hair ornament that bloomed like flowers. She was a few centimeters shorter than me and had an arrogant look on her face.

His identity is self-evident.

Golden Witch, Golden Consort, Aldebaran.

There are many titles that can be used to describe her. Last week's decisive shot caused heavy losses to the Association (although in the end, the financial losses were not significant), and these cannot be made public. She had no choice but to swallow her pride and bear the pain.

"..."

She had no intention of communicating; she simply raised her golden bow and fired an arrow.

"... Huh?!"

I don't know the nature of that arrow.

Is that concentrated energy?

Or is it real gold?

I momentarily doubted whether my Bubble Membrane could withstand the attack, which directly led to the golden arrow easily piercing my arm.

"Hiss..."

The excruciating pain spread from the wound, and I couldn't help but let out a wail.

"Vega ~ My magic is to turn inorganic matter into gold."

I collapsed from the intense pain.

The petite witch pulled the arrow out for me—roughly.

"Waaaaaaah!!!"

The unbearable pain made me scream with all my might.

Besides flesh and blood, the arrowhead also had gold veins that spread out like blood vessels.

"Vega, did you know? Water is also an inorganic substance. In other words... I can easily kill even people, animals, and plants."

She placed her hand on my arm and pulled out the remaining gold.

Then, it casually tossed it at my feet.

"... what you up to?"

"It's quite amusing to see you cry like that. You should feel lucky. Although the other witches all advocate taking your life or taking your Crystal, my opinion is not entirely the same as theirs."

She lifted my chin.

"Compared to that gloomy guy from the first generation, I'm more interested in your magic. Magic that can stabilize wormholes—no one else understands its value."

Four writhing golden thorns crawled out from behind her... and wrapped around my limbs.

"So, become a witch, Vega."