Zboz suddenly began screaming.
But the screaming was not the only anomaly. The greatest change was occurring within Zboz's body itself.
"Guh, g-g-g... gaaah!"
He screamed as if groaning in pain. The roots that had spread through his body—visible beneath the skin of his face, arms, and the backs of his hands—began to writhe. The light they emitted shifted from a dull glow to an increasingly blinding brilliance.
It was clearly a different reaction from before. At the same time, Zboz was suffering visibly enough for anyone to see.
"What the...? A runaway reaction?"
Rei muttered with Death Scythe in hand, recalling that Zboz had said he wanted to make more adjustments before drinking the liquid in the glass bottle. In other words, the potion Zboz had consumed was insufficiently adjusted and had gone out of control—and the result was the Zboz now suffering before him.
Thinking of it that way, it was not entirely inexplicable.
As Rei watched, Zboz's transformation continued. The expansion of his body showed no signs of stopping. His height, which had already reached about two meters when he first drank the liquid, was now stretching to nearly three. And yet, rather than decreasing, the amount of muscle on his body was increasing. His entire frame was covered in dense, heavy muscle.
Naturally, every piece of clothing had been torn apart by the sheer growth of his body. All that remained were tatters barely covering his waist—remnants that could hardly even be called clothes.
The transformation did not end there. With his clothes torn, his entire body was exposed, making it clear that the roots had spread not just across his face and hands but throughout his whole frame. The roots, visibly writhing inside Zboz's body and emitting intense light, looked as though he were harboring dozens—hundreds—of slender creatures like snakes or worms within himself.
"GAH AHH AHHHH AHHHH AHHHHHH!"
It was a scream of agony rather than a war cry. Along with that scream, foam-flecked drool spilled from his mouth, and tears of blood streamed from his eyes.
Zboz's consciousness had likely already vanished entirely. There was no light of intelligence in his eyes.
"GAH AHHHH!"
Zboz, who had been screaming while enduring the pain coursing through his body, suddenly moved from his spot in an instant. His movement was clearly faster than before. At the same time, the previously readable movements had shifted into something irregular.
The fact that his movements were not optimized for attack meant there was wasted motion. However, that very waste also served to conceal the true intent behind his actions—which was why Rei perceived him as a clearly more difficult opponent than before.
"Tch."
Rei reactivated Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor and readied Death Scythe. But the instant he did, Zboz forcefully changed the direction he kicked off the ground, altering his trajectory.
The destination of the half-berserk Zboz was Paul, who was located not far from Rei—a man rendered immobile, bound by the thorns generated by the Thorn Spear.
"For someone in a berserk state, he's still thinking fast!"
Using the speed granted by Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Rei rushed to prevent Zboz from doing anything about the thorns binding Paul. He chased after Zboz with that intent, but...
"GAHH!"
"What!?"
Rei sensed something wrong when he saw Zboz open his mouth wide—so wide that a person's entire head could fit inside. He assumed Zboz was about to unleash a breath attack to burn away the thorns all at once.
However, Zboz's action was completely beyond Rei's expectations. Rather than unleashing a breath from his wide-open mouth, Zboz bared teeth sharp enough to be called fangs and lunged toward Paul.
Using the enhanced physical abilities granted by Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Rei closed the distance in one burst to stop Zboz. His speed was so great that an ordinary person would barely have been able to see him.
Such speed was likely unexpected for Zboz as well. Had it been Zboz before his berserk state, given that he had been gathering information on Rei, he might have been able to respond. But the current Zboz, while taking actions that suggested some remaining intelligence, was fundamentally in a berserk state.
That was precisely why the impact he received the instant Rei caught up to him—just as he was about to tear off Paul's head—was completely unexpected.
The moment he felt something hot—no, scorching—Zboz was sent flying, suffering burns from the strike of Death Scythe's shaft wielded by Rei.
"Guh!"
The scream that rang out belonged to Paul.
Rei, with Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor deployed, could control the heat output to a certain extent. However, that control was only to a certain extent—it was not perfect. Furthermore, this time he needed to deal even a little more damage to Zboz, so he had deliberately exerted almost no control over the heat.
And since Zboz had been trying to bite off Paul's head, Paul had naturally been in close proximity to Zboz when he was sent flying. As a result, Paul was also exposed at close range to the intense heat of Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor that Rei had directed at Zboz.
"Ah, sorry about that."
Noticing this, Rei distanced himself from Paul. He had been near Paul for less than three seconds. Even so, in just that brief time, multiple burns had been inflicted on Paul.
The fact that the thorns from the Thorn Spear covered most of Paul's body was a silver lining in his misfortune. Because those thorns absorbed some of the heat from Rei's Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Paul's burns were clearly less severe. Had those thorns not been there, the number of burns would undoubtedly have been several times greater.
"UOOOH!"
The respite from Paul was fleeting. The next instant, another scream echoed through the area. When Rei turned his gaze toward the source, he saw Zboz tearing off Dias's right arm along with his leather armor.
Rei had knocked Zboz away when he tried to devour Paul moments ago, but the sent-flying Zboz had simply kicked off the ground and headed toward his next prey. And the one chosen was Dias.
(But why Dias?)
Seeing Zboz tear off the right arm of the opponent she had fought, Vihera swung the claws extending from her gauntlets with fury. The mana-formed claws slashed open Zboz's enlarged abdomen, but the wound healed before any internal organs could spill out.
Watching this, Rei surveyed the surroundings once more. After confirming that Byune and Asimov were safe, he felt relief while simultaneously harboring a deeper suspicion.
The question was what the berserk Zboz was thinking when he chose to attack. If he were simply targeting the easiest prey, Byune and Asimov would have been better targets than Dias.
Byune could handle combat to some extent, but since her primary profession was ultimately that of a bandit, Rei did not think she could manage if attacked by the current Zboz. As for Asimov, he was an alchemist who normally devoted himself to research. If the current Zboz attacked, he could take Asimov's life even more easily than Byune's.
In truth, Dias, who had lost consciousness from Vihera's strike, was the most defenseless person present at that moment—but that was only if he were alone. In fact, Vihera was now attacking Zboz, who had attacked Dias.
For Vihera, who had thoroughly enjoyed her fight with Dias, Zboz's action was absolutely unforgivable.
(No, this isn't the time to be thinking about that. I need to deal with Zboz somehow. If I carelessly let him escape here, there's a possibility the entire slum district could become his feeding ground.)
With Death Scythe in hand, Rei turned his gaze toward Zboz, who was fighting Vihera.
Vihera's fists and feet struck Zboz's enlarged body countless times. However, that enlarged body itself seemed to possess considerable durability. While it was taking the impact of the attacks, they were far from anything that could be called a fatal blow.
But Vihera was someone worthy of being called first-class. Seeing her strikes fail to connect—and worse, watching the wounds from her gauntlet claws and Greave Blades heal one after another—she had no choice but to realize that half-hearted attacks were meaningless.
"You have an annoying recovery ability.... But how about this!?"
Vihera ducked to evade Zboz's swinging arm, and the moment she saw it pass over her head, she kicked off the ground in one burst and slipped inside his range.
Zboz had grown massive, and while he might have managed with proper consciousness, he was currently in a near-berserk state. Given that condition, he could not move his body efficiently, and his attacks inevitably became crude.
Well, even if Zboz had retained consciousness, given that he had virtually no combat experience, his attack methods would likely have been little different from now. Even with the Combat Automatic Reaction Nerve in use, as Rei had pointed out, his fighting style lacked originality and was extremely easy to read. Against an expert like Vihera, there was no way he could manage.
Having slipped into his guard, Vihera quietly extended her hand and touched Zboz's body...
"How about this!?"
Through her palm, she released a shockwave of mana directly into the interior of Zboz's body. Magic Impact Palm—a skill Vihera specialized in. Even if one wore armor, since it was an attack that sent shock directly into the body, defensive gear was meaningless.
That is, normally it would have been.
"Eh!?"
Noticing that the sensation after releasing Magic Impact Palm was different from usual, Vihera froze for just an instant in surprise—but in the next moment, she immediately kicked off the ground and leaped backward. A massive arm—worthy of being called a great club—swept through the space where her body had been just a moment before.
(What was that sensation just now?)
Harboring doubts as she watched the arm pass right by her nose, Vihera noticed that Zboz had not taken any damage whatsoever. In other words, Magic Impact Palm had failed.
Though Vihera questioned this, when her feet landed on the ground, she kicked off once more and charged forward. It was to confirm whether the failure of Magic Impact Palm just now was her own mistake, or whether the skill simply had no effect on Zboz.
As if spurred on by Vihera's movement, Zboz swung his fist once more. It was not that he was swinging because he recognized her as Vihera—it was closer to a state of swinging at anything that moved. Even if it was a fist with enough power to shatter rock, a punch lacking in both speed and sharpness was not difficult for Vihera to evade.
With fluid movement, she evaded the fist and slipped into Zboz's guard. Then she placed her hand on his wide-open torso...
"Ha!"
With a sharp exhale, she unleashed Magic Impact Palm. Against an ordinary opponent, it would not have been strange for the shock released directly into their body to destroy their internal organs. That strike, infused with more mana than before, was—unsurprisingly—absorbed by something before the shock could even be generated inside his body, fading away as if swallowed.
"Magic Impact Palm really doesn't work!?"
Once again, a fist swung toward the momentarily frozen Vihera. She lightly leaped, gently stepped onto the incoming fist, and rode the momentum of Zboz's swing to successfully create distance.
"Fall back, Vihera! Your skills don't work on him!"
Rei's voice naturally reached Vihera as well. She also knew that Rei could not provide covering fire precisely because she was close to Zboz. Even so, Vihera had no intention whatsoever of yielding this fight, and she once again closed the distance with Zboz, from whom she had temporarily created space.
Initially, her actions had been driven by fury at Zboz for harming Dias, who had given her such a good fight. But because the opponent possessed unexpected strength, an obsession with fighting Zboz had already taken root within Vihera.
(Setting aside the power and speed of each strike, his attack style—devoid of any logic or technique—is no different from a Cyclops. However, his defense and recovery are on an entirely different level compared to a Cyclops.)
While closing the distance, Vihera rapidly processed her thoughts. Direct strikes were ineffective. Attacks with her claws did slash through skin and flesh, but given Zboz's sheer size, they were not fatal—and on top of that, he possessed astonishing regenerative ability. Magic Impact Palm, her trump card, was for some reason completely ineffective.
(But...)
Guided by the excitement of battle, Vihera floated a bewitching smile as she approached. Zboz swung his right fist once more.
She evaded that strike... up to that point, her actions were the same as before, but what came next was different. Evading Zboz's fist—which was larger than her own face—Vihera extended her hand.
Rather than stopping the fist's movement, she deflected it, altering its trajectory... and in time with the moment Zboz's fist was swung, she applied force through her touching hand.
The next instant, Zboz was slammed into the ground as if he had thrown himself down, a thunderous crash echoing through the surroundings. And then...
"Unfortunately for you, I have other kinds of attacks too...!"
Grabbing the arm of the fallen Zboz, she instantly applied force to his elbow using the principle of leverage. A sound—smaller than the crash of Zboz being slammed into the ground moments ago, yet one that unmistakably evoked the sensation of pain—of bone breaking, resounded throughout the area.