I guess that’s what they mean by the saying “the shrimp’s back breaks in a whale fight.”
Between the two warring factions, both beastmen were trembling, not knowing whether to stay or go.
“Hoeeeng…”
It looked just like a sheep beastman to me. But honestly, whether it’s a goat or sheep doesn’t really matter.
I called out to the sheep beastman who was fidgeting up ahead.
“Hey there, Drifter.”
“Me? The sheep?”
“It’s dangerous staying there, so come over here.”
“Are you gonna kill me?”
“I’m not gonna kill you, so just come here.”
“Then are you gonna eat me?”
Seems like I was dealing with a girl who couldn’t communicate properly. I sighed and glanced at Azelas.
“Azelas, knock it out and bring it over.”
“…Understood.”
Azelas nodded slightly, leaving a shadow in place and disappearing in an instant.
And in the blink of an eye…
In his hands when he returned was the unconscious sheep beastman.
That dealt with the meddler.
Even while this was happening, the Jellyfish Queen across the way remained motionless, coldly observing the situation with a blank expression.
She probably understood the power difference. It seemed she assessed that if she acted rashly, they would be exterminated.
Only fitting for someone who had taken down the hot-headed Jellyfish Queen and absorbed her powers.
Our fish stared fiercely at the Jellyfish Queen and took a step forward.
Then, glancing at me, it said.
［Dad! I forgot what Pururu told me to say yesterday! What was it?］
“Say ‘damn dog!’”
［That’s it!］
The fish shifted its gaze back to the front. At the same time, in a voice that echoed like the cave was about to fall apart, it shouted.
［Damn dog! I’m here to take the leader’s spot! Bring it on!］
［······.］
The Jellyfish Queen remained silent.
A brief glance.
She quickly shot me a sidelong look, then slowly began to speak.
［Explorer, it is taboo for others to interfere in a leader fight.］
“Don’t worry. We’re just here to watch.”
［…Now, be sure to keep that promise.］
*
Kinogine Aracne set up thread-like structures around the Jellyfish Princess and Jellyfish Queen.
This was to ensure no outsiders would get involved in their fight, and to prevent the opposing Jellyfish from interfering, even though that was unlikely.
Of course, it was set up with the consent of the Jellyfish Queen.
Oh, and our monsters were always allowed to intervene.
Aracne had configured it so it wouldn’t affect our allies. Except for the Blood Jellyfish Princess, of course.
［Hmm. To be honest, I wasn’t confident before coming here, but now facing them, it feels like I might be able to win!］
［How arrogant.］
Inside the thread cage, the Jellyfish Princess and Queen faced each other.
［Doom Bar, Doo Doom Bar!］
A Hedgehog Summoner wiggled its butt between them.
［Doom Bar.］
The dancing Hedgehog suddenly stopped.
It glanced back and forth between the Princess and the Queen.
［Doom Bar! Doom Bar! Doom Bar! Let’s fight!!!］
With three butt bounces, it signaled the start of battle.
With the signal, the Hedgehog Summoner quickly darted out of the thread cage, and at the same time, the Princess and Queen collided.
The first to move was the Princess.
Countless crimson spheres began to rise around the Princess and shot toward the Queen.
The Queen countered by generating explosive spheres that alternated between blue and black to meet the Princess’s attack.
Boom—!
The two spells collided, creating a massive explosion sound that shook the ears, and a dark purple light flashed.
In a moment, it felt like I might go blind from that light.
The inside of the thread cage was filled with a storm of light.
Flaming light mixed with blue and black created a dazzling spectacle.
The explosion that spread out vanished the instant it touched the boundaries of the thread cage.
If the threads hadn’t been set up, it would have swept everyone away.
The Princess extended her hand.
Immediately, a stream of red blood surged through the air.
The Queen quickly expanded her protection magic.
The blood stream collided with the shield, scattering into pieces.
They soon used levitation magic and flew through the air.
Combined with speed magic, their accelerated movements were impossible to track with the eyes.
Time passed—10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes…
Explosive spheres constantly formed and collided, continuing the battle.
Eventually, around the 40-minute mark, the Princess’s concentration broke, and the Queen seized the chance to shoot a black explosive sphere quickly, one that had been hidden behind her back.
That explosive sphere penetrated the Princess’s shield, and—
One of the Princess’s arms blew off.
Fortunately, the Princess quickly recovered.
As her arm exploded and blood scattered, she condensed the blood back to form a new arm.
Afterward, the Princess countered with blood spheres. However, whether due to the preceding attack’s impact, their power was substantially diminished.
On the other hand, as time passed, the Queen’s attacks became more aggressive.
The patterns created by the explosive spheres grew more complicated and soon began to shine with a rainbow hue, amplifying their power.
［…Father, I’ll reinforce the thread cage.］
Aracne rushed toward the thread cage.
The threads were beginning to melt under the barrage of rainbow explosive spheres.
‘If this keeps up, we’ll lose…’
This wasn’t merely a difference in experience.
‘…There’s quite a fundamental gap in power.’
Even if they were both SS-class, the Queen was a tier above the Princess.
It seemed that victory was unlikely.
Just as I was pondering whether to retreat at this point—
Out of sheer luck—
The Princess’s explosion grazed the Queen’s face.
A tiny wound formed on the Jellyfish Queen’s cheek, and from that crack, a fine stream of red blood began to flow.
The Princess’s eyes sparkled.
Upon seeing blood, she curled her lips into a grin.
Determined not to let this luck slip by, she stretched out her trembling hand and shouted.
［Die! Damn dog!!!］
Her voice echoed like nails on a chalkboard off the cave walls.
At that moment—
Rumble rumble—
［W-what…?!］
The Queen’s face started to twitch irregularly.
Her skin bulged and sunk repeatedly, distorting her entire face grotesquely.
Eventually, the blood flowing inside her face twisted with frenzy, and her veins swelled to the point they seemed about to burst, skin stretching painfully.
And finally—
Boom—!
With a horrifying explosion, the Queen’s face blew apart.
The blood that dispersed from her body quickly drenched the inside of the thread cage.
It was a victory for the Blood Jellyfish Princess.
［Doo Doom Bar!!! Winner, Blujelf!!!］
After the Hedgehog’s proclamation of victory, cheers erupted from our side’s monsters.
But not just us; the Jellyfish watching from the other side also cheered in unison.
［Pii, piiii!］
［Awesome! Pii!!!］
［Piiiing!!!］
It seemed they accepted the result of this battle and recognized the Princess as their new leader.
Or they might just be happy to be liberated from that tyrant.
*
After showering the Princess with praise, I began taming the line of Jellyfish in front of me.
So far, I had already tamed 10 Jellyfish.
“Alright. Next.”
［Pii! Hi, Daddy!］
As the Princess introduced me as her dad, all the other Jellyfish began to call me Daddy too.
Even before being tamed, it seemed.
Anyway.
The rate of discoloration of the spots was noticeably faster than expected.
Each one took about 3 minutes.
With a total of 125 Jellyfish, I could expect around 6 hours and 15 minutes to tame them all.
While I was taming the Jellyfish, the Necro Puppetmaster fiddled with the Queen’s corpse and soon stood it up like a puppet.
The Jellyfish were horrified at that shocking scene.
［Pii?!］
［Pii. Pii…!］
Unable to hide their shock, the rattled Jellyfish swayed.
I spoke to calm them down.
“Don’t worry, guys. This is a completely different entity from your former leader.”
［Pii? For real?］
［They look exactly the same though…］
［Don’t doubt Daddy!］
Only then did they gradually relax their vigilance.
Some even ventured to poke the puppet Queen’s head with their tentacles, trusting the backing of the Princess.
［I-I’m not angry! Pii!］
［Pii! This is fake! It’s not real! You don’t have to be scared!］
［Whew… I was scared there…］
［See! Daddy doesn’t lie!］
［How come you’ve got such strong trust in a Daddy you just met today? Pii.］
I chuckled at the Jellyfish and shifted my gaze to the unconscious sheep beastman.
I wondered when it would wake up.
As I was pondering this, the sheep beastman who had lost consciousness slowly lifted its eyelids and struggled to rise.
“Uuummm… I definitely got trampled and died… then am I in the afterlife?”
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