This House Has A Delicious Restaurant - Chapter 19 - Parched Land - Part 2

Zerdan, fighting hard, answered nonchalantly. Seeing him still protectively positioned in front of me, I nodded.

“That’s good then. Since they’re corpses, I’ve been wanting to try something out.”

“Really? Is there a good method you have in mind?”

“I do. And even if I didn’t, there’s no need for you to go through so much trouble protecting me.”

I stepped away from behind Zerdan and smiled at him.

Though Zerdan was skilled in combat, being in a disadvantageous situation was something that applied to both of us. I didn’t want to be a hindrance while receiving his protection in such a situation. Plus, I didn’t like being protected in general.

“Let’s cooperate. Since it’s difficult for me to fight directly, I’ll make sure to prevent the ones Zerdan knocks down from getting up again.”

Zerdan looked puzzled at first but then seemed to recall something, smiling. He had the expression of someone who had seen me fight before.

Since Zerdan knocked them down but didn’t knock them out, I focused on the ones who were about to get back up.

Our numbers were significantly smaller, so we needed to reduce the enemy forces. If they got back up and fought again, it would only drain our stamina. So, I began using my ability the moment Zerdan knocked them down.

As soon as they fell, the hair that was on the outside of their bodies hardened and began to embed into the ground. When they were partially buried, Zerdan stepped on the fallen men to drive them in deeper.

I used my ability to obscure their vision by covering their eyes with their own hair or, if they were close to each other, to make their bodies inflict injuries on one another.

The hairs that stood up seemed quite sharp, as blood flowed from the arms of those who were entangled.

There wouldn’t be significant damage, but…

“It would be great if there were more hairs inside the body.”

I used my ability on a man who was about to ambush me from behind. Blood began to gush from his nose and ears, and he staggered, his vision obscured by his own hair.

If I could stand the hairs inside the body, it could become quite a good weapon.

It was a pity there were no hairs in places like internal organs. If there were hairs in the heart, it could be an even more useful ability.

I kicked the staggering man’s ankle hard, causing him to fall. I then stomped on his head to pin him down and prevent him from moving.

“If there were more hairs inside the body, perhaps Miss Moa Ablon could have ruled the world.”

“Oh, Zerdan, you’re quite the joker.”

Seeing Zerdan, who had come to my rescue, smirk as I easily took down the enemy, I couldn’t help but laugh lightly.

Come to think of it, I remembered something Terisier had said once. If you have a high understanding of your ability, it could become stronger.

If I could strengthen, what benefits would there be?

“Zerdan, you could only control corpses before, but how did you manage to use your ability on living people too?”

“Well, there’s no special reason. I found it was possible through experimentation. Of course, it doesn’t work on everyone, and the effect is weak, so it didn’t help much.”

Crack.

The sound of bones breaking echoed. As the man I was fighting collapsed, Zerdan stomped hard on his neck, breaking it.

Even though I knew they were dead, hearing such vivid sounds was a bit eerie.

But soon, I found myself admiring the golden flower blooming from the man’s chest.

When I plucked the flower, which had quickly grown in size, the man, now marked with a floral pattern, rose and began attacking our allies.

Essentially, Zerdan could control corpses like puppets.

Right. It wasn’t just about knocking them down; you could use them in reverse as well.

He was certainly a clever man.

As I sensed something unusual from behind, I saw Lazis and Anise arriving through Khan’s ability.

Lazis, who looked somewhat grumpy, seemed to be preparing to use his ability as soon as he arrived, possibly having received a hint from Khan.

It was unexpected for Anise to accompany him. I had thought that Obella would be the first to arrive.

“Moa! Are you alright?!”

From Anise’s appearance, it seemed she had come to support me because she was worried.

I nodded in response and took down the advancing men in a similar manner.

With Lazis there, Anise’s worry was probably unnecessary.

Focusing on the fight and leaving Anise’s concern behind, I felt a strange sensation. When I looked back, I saw Anise’s amplification ability directed towards me and Zerdan.

Although her ability wasn’t greatly helpful in the current situation, I understood her desire to contribute even a little.

“It’s never-ending.”

Despite having quite a few puppets around now, she still talked confidently.

Thanks to this, the situation has improved significantly from earlier. With Anise’s power, more people were able to use their abilities simultaneously, making things easier.

To obscure the vision of a man approaching me, I used my ability. But even before I could cover his sight with hair, he was swaying. It was as if he was having trouble moving due to the obstructed vision.

He also walked clumsily, as if confused between walking on flat ground and climbing stairs. I blinked in surprise.

If you have a high understanding of and frequent use of your ability, the chance of it strengthening increases.

The way I used my ability now was impressive even to me. I had once cried over it, thinking it was a worthless ability, but now it was proving quite helpful.

Recently, I had been using my ability more frequently, and now, amplified by Anise’s power, it had evolved.

Initially, I could raise the hairs on a person’s entire body. It seemed trivial. Although it was a minor ability, I used it to slightly block the opponent’s senses, primarily rendering their sight useless.

Standing still for a moment due to the strange sensation, another man approached me.

“Moa! Please move!”

Anise’s worried voice. Hearing her, I reached out to the man.

I instinctively felt that my ability had strengthened.

The man rushing toward me lost the light in his eyes and became cloudy. At the same time, I punched the air beside me.

Not only that, but as he took a step back, he staggered as if about to fall off a cliff, and then collapsed.

He trembled as if he had fallen from a height. His gaze towards me was now gone.

I could feel Anise’s puzzled stare at the man. I kicked the man’s head with my leg, knocking him out. He flailed on the ground as if he were drowning.

To Anise, I must have seemed like a madman.

“…I should thank Terisier for the valuable information.”

Ability enhancement.

At the time, I had thought it was irrelevant to me and had brushed it aside. I hadn’t expected much from an enhancement of this ability.

But it was different. The enhancement of my ability seemed to have evolved from merely blocking vision to manipulating the senses of others.

Others might not see much merit in it, or some might consider it a useless ability.

But for me, it was different.

Manipulating others’ senses. That was a pretty attractive ability.

“Zerdan.”

Zerdan, who had been fighting in a circle of around ten puppets protecting me, looked towards me.

“Do you have something useful as a weapon? A dagger would be great.”

“A dagger, huh… Wait a moment.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Zerdan smiled and headed towards the group of enemies on the opposite side. Puppets flanked him, attacking the enemies that charged at him.

In the midst of this, Zerdan calmly surveyed the area, spotted an enemy wielding a dagger, and approached without hesitation.

He sneaked behind the careless enemy fighting the puppets, tripped him, and restrained him so he couldn’t move.

Twisting his struggling arms behind his back, Zerdan forcibly removed the knife and took hold of it.

The puppets block the enemy’s movements in Zerdan’s place.

Zerdan returned to me, offering the knife.

“Here you go. It was a good idea to keep an eye on the guy with the knife.”

Usually, one would pay attention to an opponent with a knife to avoid it.

The calm demeanor was, in fact, very much like Zerdan, and I smiled.

“Thank you.”

“By the way, what will you do with the knife? It seems like Moa Ablon’s ability would be hard to use.”

“That’s true. But we can’t keep depleting our stamina indefinitely.”

Zerdan’s expression was peculiar, seemingly puzzled by my untroubled and fearless demeanor. As I passed by him, I cast a glance at Anise.

Our eyes met in the air.

It seemed that Anise, understanding my intent despite not knowing the details, began to focus her amplification power solely on me.

This was the second time I had received such concentrated amplification from Anise. The first time was to escape Zerdan, and now it was to directly deal with the enemies.

I gripped the knife tightly. There was no guilt about the enemies being dead bodies. Even if they were living beings, if my life were at risk, I wouldn’t hesitate.

The explosive infusion of amplification into my body.

I took a step forward.

My foot hit the ground, and simultaneously, I used my ability strongly around me.

Thud, the sound of collapsing began to echo from all directions.

It was as if the ground had caved in, with people collapsing and waving their hands in front of their eyes as if they had lost their sight.

I deprived them of their vision, and hearing, and numbed their sense of touch.

Confusion arrived in an instant.

Anise and Lazis looked at the enemies with puzzled expressions, but Zerdan seemed to have picked up on something.

I ignored his reaction and quickly moved. Having been engaging only with the enemies approaching with minimal movement, I still had plenty of stamina left.

The enemies who had lost their hearing couldn’t perceive my footsteps. One of them, unable to detect my presence, was swiftly stabbed in the back of the neck.

Seeing someone stumbling towards me from one side, I restored the hearing of the man I had attacked. He seemed to recognize the footsteps of an ally as that of an enemy and began to swing his weapon wildly.

Screams were heard. I stepped back and moved away from the spot.

One of the men who had been attacked collapsed. Soon, the man who had attacked him also fell, bleeding from his neck. I withdrew the hearing again and approached the remaining people.

The approaching presence was undetectable, and the people were on high alert.

Even though they were larger than me, I didn’t feel fear. It would be difficult to kill a large man in one strike.

Without skills, it was challenging for me to kill multiple men at once, so I mostly aimed for their ankles or necks. This was to ensure they couldn’t move easily even if their senses returned later.

If lucky, the neck could be targeted for excessive bleeding, easily stopping movement.

Even though they were dead bodies, they seemed to have come back to life with a sense of pain and dizziness from bleeding. This was fortunate for me.

One by one.

Using a similar method as before, I made the allies mistake each other for enemies, causing them to fight amongst themselves.

In an instant, many people collapsed on the ground. Although my stamina was depleting, the situation was turning in our favor.

From a distance, the face of Liffree was filled with horror. Terisier, who was being controlled, stared at me blankly.

“…This is a disaster.”

I saw Zerdan, who was quietly muttering while watching me. He covered his mouth and looked at me, seemingly trying to hide his expression.

His behavior of frowning and trying to conceal his expression was subtle.

Lazis looked at Zerdan with a mix of disbelief.

It was amusing to see a man blushing while watching a woman ruthlessly cut down people. Lazis was disgusted, yet he continued to carry out the request he had been given.

Lazis used his ability to distort the space. Through this distorted space, other members of our group began to appear.

It seemed that they were worried, as Obella led the way with urgency.

Although I wanted to tell them not to worry so much, and that it would be better to see for themselves rather than explaining it, I decided to keep quiet.