How exactly should one describe it?
To put it in a word, "aberration" would be the correct term.
Take Goblins, Cobolts, or Orcs, for instance. They at least possessed forms that could be called humanoid. Or perhaps Wolves, Boars, birds, Snakes, and so on—Rei was thoroughly familiar with animal-based monsters as well. Of course, among monsters there were also many bizarre ones whose original forms were completely incomprehensible.
Even so, the tentacle master now before Rei's eyes had a form that was exceedingly difficult to accept.
It was a giant eyeball.
And from around the eyeball, countless tentacles extended—the very pink tentacles Rei was sick and tired of seeing, sprouting in innumerable numbers.
There was nothing resembling eyelids; only the part that could truly be called an eyeball floated in the sky, with something that looked like optic nerves—and even like a tail—trailing from behind it.
The most bizarre thing was its size.
The eyeball floating in the sky was, from Rei's rough estimate, a massive sphere exceeding ten meters in diameter. Moreover, with countless tentacles growing around it, it was only natural that the faces of Elena and the other two twisted in disgust upon seeing it.
No, in terms of twisting in disgust, Rei and Set felt the same way. Honestly, it was an opponent worthy of such intense physiological revulsion that he could never imagine wanting to touch it with his own hands.
(This is strange.)
Staring at the eyeball, Rei harbored a question.
Rei had fought various monsters up until now. In that sense, he had battled repulsive beings more than once or twice. And yet, why did he feel such disgust specifically toward this eyeball?
He understood that it was certainly an opponent worthy of such feelings, but even so, when looking at it in parts, he might find it unpleasant but not to the point of feeling this much revulsion. But when he viewed the eyeball as a whole, for some reason a sudden surge of nausea washed over him.
The eyeball was looking around with what appeared to be confusion at having been suddenly thrown into this world. Despite having been endlessly bombarded by Rei's Flame Magic just moments ago, with its tentacles burned away one after another, it showed no sign of concern whatsoever.
...In the first place, there were no missing patches where tentacles had grown from the eyeball; it had tentacles sprouting from all over its body. There was no trace of the tentacles Rei had burned anywhere.
"What do we do? I expected the tentacle master to come out, but I didn't expect it to look like that."
The one who wore the most displeased expression at Rei's words was Vihera.
It was only natural. Since Vihera's basic fighting method was close combat, fighting that eyeball would require directly touching its body. Though Vihera enjoyed battling strong enemies, touching an eyeball that stirred up such physiological revulsion carried a strong sense of resistance.
Of course, with the eyeball floating in the sky, if Vihera were to attack it, she would either need to find a way to reach it up there or bring the eyeball crashing down to the ground.
In that regard, Elena and Marina both had long-range attack methods, so even though they felt disgust toward the eyeball, it was not as intense as Vihera's.
"You're right. I'd prefer to finish it off with magic if possible... Rei, Elena, is that fine? Sorry, Vihera."
"...For now, if it stays up in the sky like that, we can't reach it. It would help if you could bring it down to the ground."
Vihera's retort to Marina was likely half out of stubborn pride.
At any rate, no one objected to Marina's suggestion of attacking with magic, and... just as Marina confirmed this and was about to say something, the eyeball floating in the sky suddenly let out a tremendous voice.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Where exactly that voice was coming from, Rei couldn't tell... nor could the others. Tentacles grew around the eyeball, and the only other thing present was the tail that also resembled an optic nerve. There was nothing resembling vocal cords anywhere, so producing a voice should have been impossible...
Of course, the opponent was not human, and it wouldn't be strange if it fell outside the very definition of a monster in this world of Elgin. Given that, it wouldn't be surprising if Rei's common sense didn't apply.
...And while Rei couldn't understand how it was producing sound, the voice was one he recognized. It was the voice he had heard when his strike landed during the battle in the Underground Space during the forced search. Previously, the voice had echoed with multiple layers overlapping, but now it was different. Whether because they were outside rather than in the Underground Space, or because the eyeball was in this world rather than on the other side of the spatial rift.
However, hearing the voice now, Rei realized something.
"I see. The disgust I feel toward that eyeball isn't because I genuinely feel that way—it's related to some kind of magic or skill in this world's terms."
That's right—the moment he heard that voice, the disgust Rei felt toward the eyeball clearly intensified. It wasn't just Rei; Elena and the others... and even Set seemed to feel increased disgust toward the eyeball.
"You're right.... It almost makes me want to look away from it, that's the kind of feeling it gives."
With a thoroughly displeased, disgust-filled expression, Marina agreed with Rei.
"It would be one thing if it just came at us with direct attacks.... Doing something so underhanded. In the first place, what does it intend to accomplish by stirring up our disgust like this?"
Elena's words echoed the same question that Rei and the others had been thinking. If it were an opponent that inspired affection, some people might hesitate to attack it. Whether they could actually do so was another matter, but it was similar to how many people would hesitate if told to attack Set in Gilm.
But if what they felt was disgust rather than affection, there would be no hesitation in attacking. If anything, it would be natural to attack aggressively. If so, what was the eyeball thinking by doing such a thing...?
The moment Rei thought that, the eyeball suddenly moved and directed its gaze toward Rei and his group.
"Tch!? Dodge!"
This is bad.
Judging so reflexively, Rei leaped away from the spot with a shout.
Fortunately, everyone present had the ability to react to Rei's instantaneous words. Everyone responded to Rei's shout without hesitation about what had happened, and moved from their positions.
The next moment, Purple Lightning pierced through where Rei and his group had been standing. It flashed for an instant, and the simultaneously released Purple Lightning—the bolt fired from the eyeball—scorched the spot where they had been standing black.
"Is everyone safe!?"
Rei, who had moved on a bad feeling reflexively, stared at the eyeball still drifting in the sky and called out sharply.
"I'm fine!"
"I'm good too!"
"Same here!"
"Gruu!"
Elena, Marina, Vihera, and Set.
Rei felt relieved hearing from all three people and one creature that they were unharmed, while glaring at the giant eyeball that, for some reason, wasn't following up after unleashing its lightning strike.
(Why? Given the current situation, it should have fired a follow-up attack... no, in the first place, why did it suddenly attack us? What happened before that was...)
Thinking this, Rei recalled the skill from earlier—or whatever it was—and how after its cry echoed, he had suddenly felt intensified disgust toward the eyeball beyond what he had felt before.
(In other words, that eyeball detected the disgust toward itself through some method, and in response to that, it fired that lightning. ...How troublesome.)
Glaring at the eyeball floating in the sky, Rei's irritation grew at its troublesome attack method. If it had simply launched an attack normally, there was the option of evading it. Since they had actually managed to evade the eyeball's lightning strike, that was clearly not impossible.
But with that disgust-amplifying skill in the mix, they would inevitably be delayed by one step... or a step and a half in taking their next action. Normally, that much wouldn't matter, but against an eyeball like that, disgust was not something to be taken lightly.
Since the others were also first-rate or higher in ability, they had undoubtedly already noticed what Rei had noticed. Even so, as long as there was even the slightest possibility, Rei had no option but to say it out loud.
"Be careful! It's safe to assume that eyeball detects enemies through the skill that increases disgust toward itself. Anyway, attack that eyeball and... tch, now it's the tentacles!"
Whether it understood that its lightning had been evaded, or whether it heard Rei's shout—at any rate, the eyeball floating in the sky extended all the tentacles growing from its body simultaneously toward Rei and his group.
The countless tentacles extending from the eyeball should normally not have reached the distance to where Rei and the others were, given their length. But it was originally a being that resided within a spatial rift, so it was only natural that Rei and the others' common sense wouldn't apply. Tentacles that shouldn't have been able to reach them extended straight to where Rei was. And perhaps because the eyeball was in this space, the tentacles' speed was several levels higher than when they had been in the Underground Space.
"That doesn't mean I'll let you do as you please!"
Rei shouted while cleaving through the tentacles coming toward him with Death Scythe, infused with magical power. Just as when he fought in the Underground Space... no, perhaps it was his imagination, but he felt even greater resistance, yet he still cut through the tentacles with Death Scythe.
The severed tentacles fell to the ground as a matter of course, crumbling to dust just like when they were in the Underground Space or when Rei had burned them earlier.
Countless tentacles attacked from every direction in front of him—he cut, cut, and cut them using Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear. While doing so, he cast his gaze to his surroundings, where Elena, Marina, Vihera, and Set—the three people and one creature—were also overwhelming the countless tentacles just as Rei was.
(Still...)
He immediately returned his gaze to the tentacles coming at him again, and while reaping nearly ten tentacles with a single swing of Death Scythe, Rei judged that they would eventually be overwhelmed by sheer numbers at this rate.
For now, they had the upper hand, and everyone here, including Rei, possessed extremely high stamina as adventurers. But even with high stamina, it wasn't infinite. Even so, since they were clearly above ordinary adventurers, they had considerable leeway before their stamina was completely exhausted. Before that time limit arrived, they needed to do something about the eyeball...
"Out of the way!"
Even to use magic, a certain amount of chant time was necessary to burn away the eyeball and all its tentacles at once. Of course, there were spells that could be cast with short incantations, but such magic inevitably had reduced power and a narrower area of effect.
(Which means either I, Elena, or Marina will need time to cast magic.)
Tentacles attacked simultaneously from both left and right; by spinning rapidly in place, Rei cut them all at once with Death Scythe in one hand and the Twilight Spear in the other. But even as they were severed, the floating eyeball showed no sign of concern, and the countless extending—or newly grown—tentacles reached toward Rei one after another.
"Flying Slash!"
A slash flew from the widely swung Death Scythe. Watching the tentacles get cut down en masse, Rei swung Death Scythe once more.
"Power Slash!"
What followed was a strike that amplified a single blow's power. Nearly ten tentacles were simultaneously severed and torn apart by Death Scythe.
"And while I'm at it... take this!"
Utilizing the momentum of forcefully swinging Power Slash with one hand, Rei hurled the Twilight Spear in his left hand—half by brute force, but with plenty of magical power packed into it. The spear shot straight toward the eyeball in the sky... but the moment Rei released it, the tentacles that had been attacking Rei and Elena's group were instantly retracted to the eyeball's side, layering over each other multiple times to form a shield blocking the Twilight Spear.
Given the flying speed of the spear, the action had been carried out in what could truly be called an instant.
Rei already knew from the Underground Space that throwing the spear was effective. But for the eyeball to react to this extent was undoubtedly a completely unexpected result for Rei.
For a few seconds, he stared in dumbfounded amazement... but knowing this was a perfect opportunity, Rei had no intention of letting it slip away, and he sprang into action.