ShangriLa Frontier ~ Shitty Games Hunter Challenges Godly Game ~

「And how the hell was I supposed to know that!? Anyways, not that I really care all that much! I am determined to do it here! I’m going to fight them! Even if it means getting myself pulverized in the process!」

「Yeah, I wonder about that…… I heard from Kyogoku-chan that apparently you can engage in PK normally in this place without consequences? Or so the story goes~? So maybe we should really back away for now, Isuna-chan~? No matter what, I absolutely cannot imagine ourselves being able to win here……」

「If that’s how you put it, Hiragi, then you go out there and fight as well! It’s about time you started to show what you are made out of! No time better than the present!」

「Oh yeah, you want me to just go out there and try to beat someone who even Kyogoku-chan was unable to murder yet……~? Besides, I do remember Kyogoku-chan mentioning that this guy may look like a total pushover, but he is actually helluva strong. So I’m not going to do that! I want to have it nice and easy in this game, without having to throw myself at impossible challenges! Are we clear on that!?」

「Like I care what you want! So, you’re telling me that you are fine with giving up without even trying in the first place!?」

「Look, Isuna-chan! I know that you are itching for a fight and that you are fine with throwing yourself at dangerous opponents without a single thought to it, but not everyone in here is like you! Some of us are more than fine with going for smaller, easier targets! So don’t drag me into your crazy!」

A snake-woman with a whole lot of veins popping up all over her forehead…… she was looking at the other woman called Hiragi (purely one-sided name that was not actually all that accurate) as if she was ready to kill her at any moment now. That other woman seemed to be a sniper, but at the current moment she even forgot to keep track of her target, instead being totally engrossed in vicious argument with her companion. It seemed that they would be unable to reach the consensus anytime soon, but at the current moment they did not even cared about that, as well as their surroundings.

But more than anything, the two women would do well to keep their voices down, because they were quite loud here ––––––

* * *

「Kihihi! Yes, good! More, give me more! There is no such thing as having too much of this!」

The ground was starting to shake and tremble like crazy. No, it was not only that. There was something underneath the ground, spreading like veins or lines, looking about to crack the soil open.

And there, sitting on the ground right in the middle of it all, there was one woman, surrounded by many writhing snakes.

She was dressed in a ragged clothing filled with hole through which a beast-like skin was peeking out, as she was gazing far into the distance, seeing something clearly even though a naked eye should not allow her to see all that clear. But she was able to see it perfectly, and was working diligently to enclose her trap around what she was gazing at, closing the circle closer and closer with every passing second.

「Yes, remain oblivious over there, it would be annoying if you were to find out now. Yes, so very annoying…… Kihihihihihi, it’s the best when you don’t realize it until it’s already too late!」

Needless to say, the things that were causing the ground to bulge so much and shake were snake bodies…… But they were hardly any ordinary snake bodies. They looked pretty normally, if not for the fact that they were originating the body of that one woman and then extending from it. And they were not extending from her in a way that they were oozing out of freshly made wounds, but extending from the flesh directly. It was the characteristic that made some snakes fear her, and other look at her with sympathy.

「Yes, come, come to me…… I may not be the most powerful one of the bunch, but I still got it in me. This one that looks just like me is nothing to concern myself with, but that other one, the one right next to it…… It doesn’t seem to be that half-bad?」

The woman was looking at her surroundings with her own eyes, but at the same time she was able to observe her surroundings through the eyes of her snakes, and what she sees is someone that looks exactly like “her”, but their aura felt as though they did not managed to unlock their full potential yet.

And there was someone else, half-naked with strange markings covering their body, someone who felt as though she’d met them sometime ago.

Even though the snake-woman was unable to see it clearly from this distance, she was sure that the marks covering the man’s body were the marks of the Night Wolf, the Nightprowler. So even if part of her instincts were telling her to stay away from that person, there was another part of her that was curious about it and wanted to know more. Especially since she knew that the Night Wolf was very picky when it comes to marking its prey, which was making that strange person even more curiosity-inducing. However, there was also something about that person that was making her feel as though it would be best to keep her distance, that if it came down to a fight between them, she might not be one hundred percent the one who would emerge victorious from it.

However, the presence of someone who wore the same kind of “smell” as the snake-woman was too much for her to possibly ignore and leave alone. Especially since it was the kind of smell that she sensed before, but it was never accompanied by a companion like that.

「Surely a little bit closer won’t do any harm……?」

She wanted to get even closer, to get an even better look. But it was then that she seemed to pick up something disturbing while her instinct were pushing her to go forward and forward some more.

「Huh!?」

The snake-woman is now looking at the eyes of another of her own kind. But those eyes seemed to be different from the way in which the ordinary snakes are.

Rather than looking at the subject, background, scenery and all other things like that, her eyes were gazing at the environment that was established purely on the principle of the magic power.

And then, it was in that moment that a huge magic circle appeared, dazzling the snake-woman’s eyes on the spot ––––––

* * * * * *

「No, seriously, umm…… I do understand that jealously can be a reason for wanting to clash with someone, but doing that right now might be a little bit……」

「If it’s too dangerous to engage, then we are not going to do it, obviously! This is just a common sense!」