“Eek—Ahhhhhhhhhh—”
Even though the corrosive “ammunition” had been spat from Dianna’s mouth, it was clear that her body possessed no greater resistance to corrosion than that of an ordinary human. The moment the outer organic membrane ruptured, splashing acid onto her, Dianna’s skin immediately began to burn and carbonize.
Great plumes of white mist billowed from her face, a sight so gruesome it sent shivers down one’s spine.
Writhing in excruciating pain, Dianna launched a frenzied assault on Shirley, yet she failed to even graze a single finger. The corrosive attack had utterly destroyed her eyes, robbing her of sight and her ability to observe.
The sharp tips of her bone wings carved ghastly marks into the floor and walls, but that was all the damage she managed to inflict.
“Eh? What is this?”
More intriguing to Shirley than Dianna’s aimless flailing was the object that had so precisely shattered the “projectile” Dianna had spat out.
Despite being severely corroded, Shirley could still discern from its remaining outline that it was an arrow!
Another arrow then flew in from diagonally behind, piercing Dianna’s carotid artery, which, due to her blindness, she was unable to defend.
Blood erupted from the ruptured vessel like a high-pressure water jet.
She reached out, intending to pull out the arrow, but before she could accomplish the act, her breath seized, and she expired.
“Phew… ha… I was scared to death.”
Xia Hua pressed a hand to her chest, her face pale with fright.
“I truly thought that monster was going to devour me alive.”
“If I hadn’t already witnessed so many things like this, I would surely believe myself to be trapped in a nightmare,” Ji Bingyao murmured, instinctively touching the space between her legs.
Even she, known for her boldness and recklessness, had nearly wet herself from fear just moments ago.
“If it were up to me, I genuinely wouldn’t want to face another monster like that.”
“However, looking on the bright side, Shirley-chan’s posture when she spoke earlier was incredibly cool, especially that line, ‘I won’t allow you to turn my friends into that!’” the person who had timely fired the arrow for support chimed in.
“While she’s still a little short of the noble bloodline of Fujiwara Ason Shijō Yurizumi herself, she can at least score a ninety-five out of a hundred!”
“Chuunibyou, so it was you!” Eileen exclaimed.
“Thanks, by the way.”
“Hey, hey, hey, I just saved your life! Why are you calling me by such an unpleasant name as ‘chuunibyou’?!” Yurizumi demanded, emerging from the door leading to the adjacent shooting range, clutching a large bow from the archery club.
“How many times have I told you, I’m merely stating objective facts…”
“Yes, we all know about your ancestors, who were both cultured and skilled, and incredibly handsome—you tell us about them almost every week,” Eileen said, spreading her hands and shrugging.
While the students at St. Lian Girls’ Academy were all wealthy or distinguished, Shijō Yurizumi was a peculiar case.
She constantly emphasized that, unlike other “nouveau riche,” her family had been an ancient and glorious noble house since the seventh century CE, and she loved to stress this point by adding “Fujiwara Ason” before her name.
During holidays and festivals, the members of “Pink FM” had to endure a barrage of her unsolicited information about how incredibly awesome her ancestors were.
Beyond that, however, Yurizumi was a decent person.
As long as one generously praised her ancestors, who were supposedly incredibly, awesomely, mind-blowingly great, she was more than happy to run errands for others or pick up the tab at a café.
Furthermore, Yurizumi’s archery skills were quite respectable; according to her, this was also a traditional art passed down by her ancestors.
Being able to achieve a target hit rate comparable to her ancestors proved that she had successfully inherited her family’s excellent traditions…
****
…Although everyone knew her ancestors surely had never seen a modern bow with carbon fiber cams and auxiliary optical sights.
“But, Chuunibyou-chan, how did you end up here? Where’s Alice-chan?” Shirley inquired.
“Oh, she’s in a safe place right now—and also, even if our friendship is strong, you’re not allowed to casually call me ‘chuunibyou’!” Yurizumi retorted.
“Yes, yes, yes, Chuunibyou-chan. We’ll be sure to remember that,” Ji Bingyao said.
Seeing that her protest was futile, Yurizumi licked her lips, deciding to evade the issue by feigning deafness.
“Does anyone know what happened here? Yesterday afternoon, after that winged monster loli forcibly kissed me on the roof of the high school building, Alice and I both passed out.
Then, our dorm supervisor found us and brought us back to the dorm.
By the time we woke up, a thick fog had enveloped everything outside, and those strange creatures had appeared…”
“Uh, it’s roughly like this. Although you might not believe it, we truly have arrived in another world…”
Shirley quickly recounted the full sequence of events as she understood them to Yurizumi.
Somewhat to her surprise, after hearing everything, Yurizumi, while displaying some astonishment, showed no signs of panic or unease.
“Hmph, hmph, hmph, so that’s how it is! Everything makes sense now.”
Yurizumi brought a hand to her temple, extending her pinky finger in an exaggeratedly chuunibyou pose.
“While parallel worlds and such do sound a bit daunting, I, Fujiwara Ason Shijō Yurizumi, am a chosen child, a descendant whose sacred bloodline can be traced back to the great deity Amenokoyane-no-Mikoto Ohkami!
How could I be intimidated by such a minor mishap?! Rather, such an unexpected situation is the perfect opportunity for me to display my superhuman talents and gifts! Kuhahahahahahaha…”
“Chuunibyou-chan laughs just like a villain from a cartoon,” Xia Hua whispered.
“After the dense fog and monsters appeared, although the dorm supervisor forbade us from going out, how could I, Shijō Yurizumi, sit idly by?
So, after discussing it with my shooting competition team classmates in the dorm, Alice-chan and I simply climbed out the window,” Yurizumi explained her experiences after she had finished laughing.
“We managed to reach the gymnasium, intending to retrieve the air rifles used by the shooting competition team and the bows from the archery club, to use as a means of self-defense.”
“And then?” Shirley asked.
“Since everyone else refused to risk leaving the dorm building, only Remi-chan from the shooting team came with us.
We successfully reached the gymnasium and brought out two air rifles, four air pistols, as well as lead pellets and spare air cylinders.
But upon returning to the dorm building, we discovered a large swarm of insects had already surged inside…”
“Eh? But our dorm building didn’t have any problems…”
“That, I’m not sure about. It seems our dorm supervisor, under immense psychological pressure, had a mental breakdown and opened all the doors and windows on the first floor at once, and as a result…” Yurizumi spread her hands.
“You know, all the doors and windows in our dorm building are reinforced, making it difficult for those insects to force their way in.
If we had returned a little earlier, the situation would have been different.”
“So, you could only abandon the dorm building and flee?”
“Exactly. Alice-chan’s favorite pink teddy bear bag was ruined when it was attacked by insects during our escape.
I even wrote a warning sign outside the door,” Yurizumi sighed.
“Because there were too many insects, Remi-chan, who had initially come out with us to get money, decided to split up and escape separately, and then we lost her.
Alice and I ran to the cafeteria located east of the gymnasium.
The kitchen below it and the gymnasium basement are connected by ventilation ducts, so I could safely move to this spot.
I had intended to come to the shooting range to retrieve more bows, but then I heard sounds of fighting outside…”
Shirley and the other three exchanged glances, then sighed.
If she wasn’t mistaken, that unfortunate Remi-chan had likely already crossed paths with them earlier.
“But speaking of which, what exactly is this thing?” Yurizumi walked over to the now lifeless Dianna, forcefully pulled out the arrow, and then nudged the bizarre corpse with her foot.
“Clearly, this is also a human host who has been parasitized,” a certain yandere loli’s voice emanated from the ‘magic wand’ in Shirley’s pocket.
“And a rather troublesome one at that.
Of course, you were lucky; this one couldn’t wield power from Li Hentian, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easy to deal with.”
“Hmm, with all due respect, but she looks rather different from those other people…”
“Quite different, right? But that’s not surprising, as she’s a ‘hybrid’,” Salome stated.
“Although they are all parasitized hosts, their life histories are not entirely the same.
One can only say that organisms living a parasitic life are truly peculiar.”
“Hybrid?”
“Yes. Humans captured and controlled by those parasites from parallel worlds as their final hosts, while most become akin to worker or soldier ants, only capable of basic tasks, a portion of suitable reproductive-age females transform into mothers for breeding hybrids.
Hermaphroditic parasites mate within their bodies, implanting their fertilized eggs into the host’s produced ova.
The latter, upon stimulation, undergoes a form of parthenogenesis, meaning it begins to divide and implant on its own without the presence of male gametes.”
“Eek—”
Aside from Xia Hua, all the girls present shrieked.
Though they came from affluent backgrounds and were well-traveled, having visited everywhere from Mont Blanc to the Antarctic Peninsula, they were too sheltered to have ever read R18G manga, and thus had no resistance to such horrifying concepts.
“Eh, Mother, why are you screaming too?
Back in the day, it was precisely by researching hybrid creatures of otherworldly parasites that you achieved a monumental breakthrough in human genetic science, earning you the title of a genius beautiful scientist, you know,” Salome asked, a hint of strangeness in her tone.
“Thanks to that crucial scientific breakthrough, our sisters and I were able to be born, and we’ll have the chance to personally carve your name onto the pillar of shame for human civilization in the future, you know.”
“I told you, I really don’t know!” Shirley exclaimed, shaking her head.
“The earliest thing I can remember is, at most, less than three years ago!”
“Alright, alright, then let’s go with your ‘amnesia’ narrative,” Salome sneered.
“In any case, the parthenogenetic offspring produced by these unfortunate hosts are all female, and they become parasitized within the first month.
Even before their gills and tails have degenerated, their physiological structure will be manipulated and transformed by the parasites…
Of course, fundamentally, this is no different from how parasites on Earth cause frogs to grow extra legs, but the ‘technical content’ is far higher.
Most importantly, these ‘hybrids’ are intelligent enough.”