Paradigm Parasite

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　In his hand he holds a club, probably made of wood, with an uneven surface.

　He wears something like a rag around his waist.

 

　He was neither a goblin nor an orc, but a giant troll.

 

　It was a giant troll.
According to my memory, he is one of the top threats among the subhumans in the area.

　There were two of them.

 

　The remaining one was a goblin.

 

　They were no more than one meter tall.
Greenish skin, strangely large head in relation to the body.

　Big eyes, big ears, and a nose.
The head was big, and so were the facial parts.

 

　This one is wearing a ragged cloth and an iron breastplate.

　In his hand, he holds a rusty sword with a curved blade–a kukuri, according to my knowledge.

 

The goblin is pointing at me and saying something to the troll.
It sounds like he is talking about subhuman things.
He seems to be a subhuman.
Is he the troll's employer?

　The troll giggles and nods.

It's a wonder they can communicate with each other in that language.

 

　I don't even need to think about what they were talking about.

 

The trolls come at me from both sides.

　Both swinging down from the top, as if mirrored.

 

At the point of swinging up, I run to get past the right side of the troll on the right.

Before he swings down, I break off the end of the wooden stick he was holding and throw it at the right troll's eye.

　The troll grunts and the club hits the ground.

The left one tried to swing down, but did not hit me because I was running in a position to use the right one as a shield.

As it was, it saw me withdraw from the right troll and ran after its back.

 

　The right that's up…it's complicated, so let's use Troll A.
On the left is B.

　Troll A shouts in anger.

　I keep running without slowing down.
Of course, I'm not trying to escape, but I have a goal.

 

　It was the goblin who was sitting on his haunches, looking like he had a lot of time on his hands.

　I don't think he thought he was going to be the target, so he hurriedly readies his Kukri.

　Too late.

 

I broke the remaining branch in half, held it in both hands, and with the momentum of my run, I thrust the branch into both of his big eyes.

　There was a bit of resistance, but the branch went deep into the eye sockets.

　The goblin let out a terrible scream and held both eyes.

I snatched the Kukri from the screaming goblin, turned around, and ran toward the troll.

 

Running low, I hold the kukri in my right hand and scoop up the dirt with my left.

I head toward Troll B.
I throw dirt at him as soon as I get in close.
The moment I get in between them, I throw dirt at them.

As expected, they don't take a second hit and cover their face with the hand that's not holding the cudgel.
Just as I expected.

 

I ran straight past him and slashed him in the back of the knee.

　Troll B grunted and fell to his knees.

 

Next, I tried to give Troll A the same blow, but Troll A took an unexpected action.

　He threw away his club and grabbed at it.

I tried to slip past his outstretched arm and thrust the kukri into his side, but….

 

　”Gohu!”

 

　My body was crushed.

Troll A fell toward me.
It was a body press.

　I heard a sickening sound like a bone breaking in my body.
A shock to the stomach.
This time, I was kicked.

My body was blown away like a joke.

 

　I rolled quite a few times and my body stopped.

　The pain is there.
But it is still faint.

It's hard to move, but thanks to that, I don't think I'm going to be screaming.

 

I manage to get up…
but my right arm is broken and hanging around.

My legs are covered in scrapes, but they seem to be OK.

　Other than that…
several ribs are probably broken.

 

　I really don't know how I got into this mess…

 

　I can only use one arm.
Kukri was blown away somewhere.

Troll A picks up the club he dropped and comes toward me.

　Troll B is limping, but he is standing up.

　Goblin is on the ground, screaming.

 

The situation is pretty bad…what should I do?

 

　Run away?

Where am I going to run to in a place like this, where there is almost no shelter?

Even if I could escape, I would have nowhere to go, and it would be difficult to get into the mountains.

 

Should I abandon my body and become a parasite for them?

　It would not be a problem to abandon the body.
But getting into their bodies would be impossible.　

I can see myself being crushed on the way there.

　And…for lack of a better word, I'm not comfortable abandoning this body, Rothfeldt.
Abandonment is out of the question.

 

After all, I need to get rid of these guys somehow.

No weapons, and the troll's body is so sturdy.
Blows are not going to be effective.

 

That's all I've got.　

 

　Frankly, I don't want to do it, but I can't think of any other way.

　Besides…

 

“Just when I was getting hungry…!”

 

I jumped on Troll A, who was close by, using my whole body.

With my mouth wide open, I bit him on the neck.
I felt the fibers break and the taste of hot blood and flesh spread in my mouth.

　It tasted bad, but not inedible.
Perhaps it was the thinness of my senses.

 

　There is a terrible scream and he grabs me by the neck.
He's going to rip me off.

　Of course, I don't want to be ripped off.
I cling to it with my entire body to keep myself from being ripped off.

I gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, gnaw, and swallow.
A few teeth break on the way, but I ignore them.

　It's true that hunger is the best spice.
I can't stop.
I gnaw, gnaw, gnaw and swallow.

 

As soon as my teeth touch something hard, I'm yanked off and slammed to the ground.

I could tell by the feel of it against my teeth that I'd gone all the way to the bone.

 

Troll A was holding his neck, which had been eaten off and blood was gushing out spectacularly, but after crouching down, he collapsed without any strength.

 

　This one was quicker.

 

Just as Troll B was poised to be eaten off in the same manner, something strange happened to my body.

The broken arm began to slowly regenerate with an indescribable, unpleasant sound.

　Somehow, even the broken tooth had grown back.

 

　Oh, so that's what happened.

 

　I'm concerned about a lot of things, but let's just be happy that the concern of treatment is gone.

　Troll B looks at me with a gaze tinged with fear.

　He was ready to eat, but not at all ready to be eaten.

　The goblin is still screaming.

 

　For now.

My wounds are still healing, and I'm hungry.

 

　”Bon appétit!”

 

　I jumped on Troll B.