As Liz's powerful magic surged behind him, Randy picked the dead Varyon he had killed, intending to analyze it while he could.
"Normally, you'd just skin it, right?"
With that thought in mind, he activated his disassemble magic.
The creature's skin separated cleanly from its body, leaving behind a white hide that resembled a full-body suit.
Curious, Randy took a lens he had crafted from his pocket and shone light on the skin, wondering if it would change color to match its surroundings.
However, there was no visible change.
(Well, that makes sense. If its colors reverted upon death, the Varyons must have been manipulating it somehow.)
The Varyon projected visual information onto its skin, camouflaging itself completely.
If that were the case, its true form would have been revealed the moment it died.
As Randy mulled over, he sensed something—a faint presence.
Quickly, he turned to look at Liz. Around her lay the corpses of other monsters, likely drawn by the sound of her magic.
(That presence earlier…)
The earlier sensation had vanished, but an ominous feeling made Randy stand up.
"Liz—"
He started to call out but stopped mid-sentence, he suddenly bolting toward her.
A faint, flickering presence had returned, too subtle for Liz or Ellie to notice.
Even though a protective barrier was in place, Randy wasn't about to take any risks. He picked up Liz, rolling both of them to the ground just as the spot where she had been standing collapsed in a massive sinkhole.
"W-What was that?" Liz asked, startled.
"Not sure. A mutant species, maybe? Or a giant species… or both."
Based on the information they had, Varyons were predators that camouflaged themselves and waited for prey.
Yet the invisible creature that had attacked Liz was fast and very aggressive.
A magical beast like the Varyon, yet with the behavior of a hunter rather than a sniper.
"Liz!"
"Yes?"
"Can you maintain a defensive spell?"
Liz nodded firmly.
With a crack of his neck, Randy smirked. "Alright, time to switch places."
The mystery behind the camouflage wasn't solved yet, and if possible, Randy wanted to study a living specimen.
Coincidentally, the creature glaring at him now seemed durable enough to handle a little rough treatment.
"Come on, big guy," Randy taunted, beckoning with his hand.
In response, the presence before him began to move—at first it was slow then suddenly. Something shot toward him at high speed.
As it approached, Randy struck downward with his fist, slamming the object into the ground.
The impact sent a tremor through the earth, scattering leaves into the air and revealing a white, curled mass for a fleeting moment before it vanished again, blending seamlessly into the surroundings.
(Its tongue…?)
Randy guessed it had launched its tongue as an attack.
What astonished him, however, was how quickly it could return to camouflage.
The beast likely opened its mouth slowly to prepare, but the speed at which its tongue moved and its ability to instantly mimic the surrounding scenery were remarkable.
Even though Randy had anticipated that parts other than its body could also camouflage, confronting it directly proved far more troublesome than expected.
That glossy white skin must serve as a mirror for projecting its surroundings.
Was it powered by magic? Or perhaps—
Before he could finish his thought, he sensed the tongue's presence once more.
Randy twisted his body to the right, narrowly avoiding the attack. As the tongue passed by him, he swiftly drew a greatsword from his magic bag and swung it.
Blood scattered through the air.
A piercing screech echoed.
With a light tremor, something stirred, sending leaves into the air.
Blood flowed freely, soaking the ground, though the severed tongue's presence remained invisible.
(Tch. What a pain.)
A giant, invisible tongue.
In this situation, the unevenness of the ground was nothing but traps.
Randy kicked the severed tongue away.
The tongue flew with powerful force, slamming into a nearby tree, scattering more blood and shaking the ground.
(Well, that's one nuisance dealt with... hmm?)
As Randy glanced at the tongue, a faint sense of unease struck him.
Before he could investigate further, another presence approached from the front. He swung his fist in a response.
The blow likely struck its snout, but judging from the impact, it didn't seem to do much damage.
(Thick hide. And that slimy body fluids are a nuisance.)
Out of the corner of his eye, Randy noticed the severed white tongue finally becoming visible.
(So, once it's detached from the body, it reappears?)
He cast a brief glance at the phenomenon before turning his glare toward the blood dripping from thin air in front of him.
While his previous attack hadn't dealt much damage, it had managed to force the creature to open its mouth. Now, blood trickled from the corners of its mouth, unable to remain hidden.
"And blood... can't be concealed," Randy muttered, planting his greatsword into the ground. If he simply kill it, it would be impossible to continue his research.
He had just begun to unravel the creature's mechanism. He wanted to confirm his findings while he had the chance.
The sight of blood dripping from empty space.
Randy faced it head on.
The Varyon moved.
"Pfftt——-"
With a sudden burst, a loud pop echoed. A red-black liquid surged toward Randy. The Varyon had spat the blood that accumulated in its mouth.
Randy sidestepped to the left.
What lay ahead was an open void.
It was the Varyon's massive opened mouth, now visible. The blood-stained mouth interior did not reflect the surrounding scenery.
From the void came a massive, hidden jaw, snapping toward Randy.
The enormous maw threatened to swallow him whole. Liz almost screamed at the sight, but before she could, Randy drove his right fist upward from beneath the gaping jaws.
The void slammed shut forcefully, fresh blood spurts out at the same time.
Beneath the raining blood, Randy grinned. "That stung a bit," he said, twisting his left fist and driving it forward.
The target was the forest's scenery, but judging by the source of the blood spray, it was likely the chest of the giant Varyon.
Though his punch was delivered with powerful force, the sound of impact was strangely quiet -a soft thud.
Compared to the earlier uppercut or counterpunch, it was almost eerily silent.
But in the next moment, the air around Randy's fist warped. With a deafening POP, the surrounding scenery shattered.
The view around him literally burst apart, leaving a massive white chameleon spraying blood from its body.
"Bingo. That explains most of it," Randy said with a grin, snapping his fingers.
The blood-drenched creature collapsed with a heavy thud, shaking the ground.
"Randy, are you okay?" Liz called out.
"Yeah, no problem. Cutting it down would've been easier, but..."
Randy shrugged and turned his gaze back to the fallen chameleon. It was likely as large as-or even bigger than the Armor Lizard he had fought before.
A beast that could hide itself, suppress its presence, and boasted thick skin and a ferocious temperament. This was a monster that had grown into a formidable apex predator.
"Man, for something so big, it sure was sneaky and annoying," he muttered.
Even for someone like Randy, raised in the Demon Forest, this was a rare encounter-a truly unique experience.
"Can you actually see it, Randy?"
Liz, unable to detect anything herself, couldn't stop her questions.
"No, I can't see it. I can just sense it."
"I don't quite get it, but… isn't that amazing?"
"I was trained for it. To the point of nearly dying—literally."
Randy laughed it off, but there was no denying that his ability was the result of grueling, bloody effort.
At the time, he had genuinely thought, Are they trying to kill me?
But now, looking back, he could only feel gratitude. It was thanks to that rigorous training that he was alive today.
"Don't worry, young master. This much won't kill you."
His old butler, Keith, was certainly a unique character. Thanks to Keith and the other staff, both Randy and Harrison had honed their ability to sense presences to an impressive level.
A beast that combined presence suppression with invisibility—something even Randy had never encountered in the Demon Forest.
He wondered what Keith would say if he told him about slaying such a creature.
"Well, of course. You are the young master, after all."
He could practically hear Keith's nonchalant response. And Randy was certain he would say just that.
In that case, he had to live up to those expectations.
With a faint smile, Randy muttered,
"A sneaky, clever monster, but not bad overall."
With a grin, Randy approached the giant Varyon, running his hand over its hide. Just as he thought, its texture was smooth and slick.
"You mentioned 'bingo' earlier. What did you mean?"
"Ah, about the mechanism that lets it camouflage itself…"
Randy began to explain the secret behind the Varyon's invisibility.
The key was its body fluid.
The creature's entire body was coated in this fluid, which acted as a screen, reflecting the surrounding scenery onto its surface.
When the creature died and its body became visible, it was because the fluid on its surface had dried.
He had confirmed this when part of the tongue he kicked earlier had quickly turned white.
The areas where it likely hit the tree, the ground, or where Randy had kicked it—all of them were faintly blurry and no longer reflected the scenery properly.
Observing this, Randy realized that the key lay in the substance covering the skin of the chameleon.
To confirm his theory, he had delivered the final blow. By inflicting internal damage and using the shockwave, he had blasted the fluid off its body.
"So there might be an organ inside that produces this fluid?" Liz speculated.
"Probably. That's why I hesitated to just cut it apart," Randy replied with a sigh, glancing at his rarely used greatsword.
While avoiding its use was fine, he couldn't help but feel like swinging it around once in a while.
"That's why you fought with your fists… but what about that final attack? That boom you did."
"Oh, that? Its outer layer was too spongy for regular damage to get through, so I sent the force straight inside."
"But wait… if you sent the force inside, wouldn't it damage the organs—"
Liz's words made Randy flinch. He hurriedly drew his knife and sliced open the giant Varyon's abdomen. Inside, he found nothing but completely obliterated organs.
"Damn it… I overdid it."
"Are you an idiot?" Ellie muttered, exasperated as she peered over his shoulder.
"But hey, at least we figured out how it works, right?" Randy said while pouting slightly.
In front of him, however, lay a heap of dead Varyons with their stomach pierced
Most of them were unusable, largely because of Liz's earlier magical onslaught.
Still, at the time, he hadn't known the answer lay within their organs. It wasn't entirely his fault, or so he told himself.
"Nothing we can do now. We've got one more day—let's go find another pack tomorrow."
"Another group of these things?" Ellie sighed, slumping her shoulders.
As she did, sunlight filtered through the fallen trees, marking the beginning of the day's end.
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