This House Has A Delicious Restaurant - Chapter 19 - Parched Land - Part 4

Obella and Luke, who were relatively safe long-range ability users, stepped forward. Liffree frowned.

“What are they trying to do?”

Hadn’t they already realized that they were no match?

As Obella took action, the sound of thunder roared, and lightning struck down. Although some attacks were anticipated, they were rendered ineffective by Terisier’s barrier, similar to Phel’s.

After that, lightning struck two or three more times fiercely, but it didn’t seem to cause significant damage.

In the meantime, Luke used his abilities.

Terisier and Liffree were looking down from a rock that soared high like a building. The rock had been sliced by Luke’s ability.

By drawing a red line diagonally, the rock was cut and then crumbled. But Terisier and Liffree remained floating in mid-air, showing no significant surprise.

“Do you think such attacks will affect us?”

Liffree sneered. Did he even realize that a woman was unknowingly smiling?

Behind them, the space distorted as Mummy Man holding an egg appeared.

Contrary to Liffree’s confusion, Terisier calmly neutralized the egg before it turned into a bomb and exploded. Then, when he tried to attack Mummy Man, Lazis’ ability quickly made him disappear.

At the same time, Phel appeared from above.

Protected by her ability, she forcefully stomped her legs down.

Thud!

As Phel’s strong stomp reverberated, the impact echoed through the barrier created by Terisier’s defensive abilities. The collision seemed to have caused a shockwave due to the mutual resistance of their powers.

Liffree frowned at the sensation resonating within the barrier. Phel soon concealed herself in shadows.

“Damn, it looks like Khan is cooperating properly too!”

Liffree said with frustration. The combined efforts of Lazis and Khan’s attack-oriented abilities were proving to be more troublesome than expected. Additionally, having long-range attackers engaged in close combat was creating further complications.

As Luke and Obella’s attacks continued, Terisier erected a massive rock wall to block their path.

“Shall we kill them all?”

As the attacks briefly ceased, Terisier asked Liffree.

After a moment of contemplation, Liffree considered that leaving them as they were would only cause more disruption.

Zerdan had been a companion since childhood, and if possible, it would be better if he were an ally.

It seemed that Liffree’s internal struggle was noticed, as a man appeared behind them.

“There you are, Lily.”

The only person who called him Lily was one man.

Liffree turned in surprise to see Zerdan standing with a smile, having used Khan’s ability to arrive.

“Zerdan!”

“I knew you were ambitious, but I didn’t expect you to come up with such a nonsensical plan.”

Although they were comrades subjected to biological experiments, they had been friends since escaping together. The betrayal for someone like Zerdan was a bitter pill for Liffree to swallow.

Liffree seemed to feel some guilt toward Zerdan, showing a faintly pained expression.

“That… isn’t it odd to waste such a monstrous ability? Your mother’s methods were wrong, but I thought such desires were only natural! So, I plan to use Terisier’s abilities solely for my purposes without resorting to biological experiments.”

“How long do you think you can control a man with spatial manipulation abilities using your powers?”

“That is…”

Liffree had no answer. He knew the power was absurd and only assumed it would be effective based on past experiences. He had no idea how long this miracle would last.

Zerdan, finding Liffree’s silence ridiculous, didn’t try to persuade him or suggest abandoning the plan. It seemed he found it hard to let go of his ambitions.

“Fine. If that’s your answer, so be it.”

Zerdan wiped the smile off his face. He was merely interested in understanding the thoughts of someone he once regarded as a friend before launching a serious attack. Shadows began to rise around Zerdan’s feet again.

Liffree couldn’t bring himself to attack Zerdan, but he might not hesitate to do so next time. Zerdan was the type who could be quite ruthless if he deemed someone a hindrance.

“Lily.”

The nickname of a friend he might call for the last time.

Liffree’s gaze was fixed on Zerdan as shadows climbed up Zerdan’s neck. Amid the eerie aura of the shadows enveloping his body, Zerdan’s golden eyes glinted.

“You’d better not be too complacent. You might end up with your head rolling on the ground.”

And with that, Zerdan vanished.

At the same time, the walls were shattered, and the others revealed themselves.

Liffree watched in silence as the scene unfolded, his eyes growing cold.

To think that he might lose with such a powerful ability on their side?

“Terisier, kill those abilities users. First, the woman with the amplification abilities and Sidon. Also, the silver-haired woman who seems to be giving orders to them.”

It’s laughable. This was never meant to be a fair game.

Terisier nodded lightly in response to Liffree’s orders.

The shattered wall in front of them crumbled, revealing the landscape beyond.

A strong wave of wind surged towards the attackers. The powerful gust slammed Phel into the ground, creating a crater where the earth had been disturbed.

Phel’s defensive abilities made it somewhat fortunate. Mummy Man and Luke, who had also been thrown, quickly recovered thanks to Lazis and Khan’s abilities, their faces reflecting their shock.

“Wow, crazy! You deliberately took care of everyone else before me, didn’t you?!”

Covered in dirt, Phel spat out the dust from her mouth and shouted at Lazis and Khan. They seemed to be indifferent to her complaints.

As Phel was about to shout more, the protective shield surrounding her shrank rapidly.

Phel was stunned as the shield contracted to only protect her body, similar to how it used to be before she received Anise’s abilities.

At that moment, a massive pillar erupted from the ground, piercing someone’s body with incredible speed.

“Gack…!”

Anise, unable to even scream, was lifted into the air with her abdomen pierced, vomiting blood.

Everyone was horrified by Anise and the blood falling to the ground when Lazis screamed out.

“Anise!!”

Sidon instinctively moved towards Anise to heal her, but he stopped as a black fog began to form around him.

Diswen screamed in panic as Sidon clutched his throat, collapsing onto the ground, struggling to breathe.

“Dian! Dian, are you okay?! Dian!!”

The fog seemed to be toxic, and Sidon, struggling and vomiting blood, appeared to be unable to breathe properly due to his own abilities not working as expected.

As Diswen tried to rush to Sidon’s side, an opaque glass barrier was erected in front of them, as if to make them helplessly watch their dying allies.

“Damn it! They deliberately targeted Sidon, who has healing abilities.”

Khan clicked his tongue, trying to move across using shadows. Lazis attempted the same.

However, they were noticeably flustered when their abilities failed to work.

Could it be that he can control others’ abilities too?

Obella, who was watching Terisier with a shocked expression, suddenly noticed Moa Ablon, who was standing a bit behind, frozen as if she had been struck.

Just as Obella was about to approach her, another strange aura enveloped the area. It felt different from the time when others were attacked.

Instinctively trying to avoid it, Terisier’s ability was faster than his reaction.

The ability was directed at Moa Ablon. Perhaps sensing this strange feeling, the other ability users saw Lazis use his power once more to help Moa Ablon.

Fortunately, Lazis’ control over his power seemed to be temporary, as a distorted space appeared behind Moa Ablon.

It was probably an attempt to move her to a safe place.

Realizing Lazis’ intention, Moa Ablon tried to jump into the space to escape, but Terisier’s ability covered the distorted space before Lazis could move her to safety.

“Damn it…!”

Lazis, seemingly struggling with the control of his ability, was sweating coldly. Despite his efforts to quickly relocate her to safety, the ability did not cooperate.

Soon, the ability that swallowed Moa Ablon transported her to an unknown place.

* * *

After losing consciousness and feeling someone touch me, I grimaced and opened my eyes.

The child in front of me, startled by my awakening, ran away in surprise, having almost thrown a small stone at me.

I blankly watched the fleeing figure of the child and frowned at the unfamiliar scenery.

As I slowly tried to rise, the sensation in my body felt strange. My hand, which touched the ground to lift myself, was so small. It was as if I had become a child with tiny hands.

I stared blankly for a moment and then slowly looked down at my arms and legs.

They were small and short. And plump.

My eyes, usually calm, flickered with confusion as if I had been caught off guard by the baby fat typical of young children.

‘What’s going on?’

I could understand that Terisier had done something when Lazis used his ability to save me, leading to the strange situation I was in now, perhaps due to side effects.

But even so, why had I suddenly turned into a child? Could it be due to Terisier’s ability?

A child who had been observing me from a short distance, the same one who had thrown the stone earlier, was watching me furtively.

I decided to try using my ability on the child.

The child’s bangs stiffened and stood up. The child, flustered, tried to quickly bring them down with their small hands, but when they refused to come down, the child’s face contorted in distress.

The child, terrified by the abnormal symptom, turned pale under my intense gaze and ran away, seemingly realizing instinctively that it was my power.

The ability seemed unchanged… What’s going on?

I thought I was quick at assessing situations, but now I was confused. My head ached as I struggled to understand the current situation.

Could this be an illusion? Or maybe I fainted in reality and am currently dreaming a nightmare?

While I was pondering this, a shadow fell over me. Looking up with a wary expression, I saw a middle-aged woman smiling at me.

“I saw a girl lying alone and got worried, so I came to check on you. Did you fall and hurt yourself?”

A striking beauty with blonde hair and golden eyes.

Despite being a stranger, her face was oddly familiar, reminiscent of someone I knew. Though her expression was concerned, it strangely felt burdensome.

Her face looked kind and her intentions seemed good, but why did I feel this unease?

I looked again at the woman before me.

Her appearance was glamorous, resembling Obella.

However, even though she was smiling, her aura was reminiscent of Zerdan’s, not entirely benevolent.