I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 61

This was what annoyed me the most about human beings. No, not human beings, just women. As soon as you relied on them for anything, even for being stupid, they would up and surprise you by doing the opposite of what you expected. As much as I spent a lifetime manipulating women, predicting how they would act in any given situation, it always seemed to be when my life was on the line that they would ignore their base instincts and act contrary to my expectations.

For example, this foolish girl named Erika had gone out of her way to draw attention to the local mercenary group. This was fine with me. If she wanted to give her life for no reason, who was I to get in the way? Should I feel guilty that she was trying to defend me? I didn’t ask her for that assistance. She was confident in the power of her knights and backups. Sure, they proved inadequate, but that was her problem, not mine.

However, first, I miscalculated what direction she’d go. I thought she’d head north toward Arcford, where she said she was heading, but instead, she headed west, bringing her disaster with her. Then, I miscalculated how she’d act when her life was on the line. Seeing us trying to escape, I figured she’d go out in a blaze of glory. Instead, she drew attention directly to us.

It looked like she had been pushed into a corner, and she had overdrafted her mana considerably. As soon as she cried out, she collapsed against the carriage, passing out unconscious. However, that didn’t make me feel any better.

“That’s them! That’s the girl I was trying to bring you, boss!” The bald man yelled after a brief moment of silence.

The lead mercenary had just knocked out the final knight. He sheathed his blade, chucking as he walked to the front of the mercenaries facing my direction.

“This is my lucky day. I’ll have two pretty little ladies to play with.” He spoke loudly enough that Mara could hear.

I let out a sigh and handed the reigns to Mara. “Wait a minute, I’ll take care of this.”

“Mm!” She nodded, looking in my direction with absolute trust.

I got off the carriage, taking a few steps away from it before stopping. “You can turn around and leave, or you can come at me and die.”

The expression on his face was almost worth the trouble he was putting me through. His face practically turned three different colors before he finally relaxed, throwing back his head and laughing.

“You don’t seem to know who I am.” He declared. “My name is-”

“Not important to me,” I shouted back. “Since you’ve chosen to irritate me, then just attack already.”

“I am the leader of the Blackbolt mercenaries!” He snarled. “I am a top-tier flawless paragon. Judging by the mana you give off, you appear to barely even be a mortal man.”

“At least we agree on that much.” I sighed. “Are you going to attack, or can I leave?”

I could almost see his forehead throbbing. “You all, what are you waiting for? Bring me his head!”

His men let out chuckles to bolster their courage, and then started running at me, their weapons drawn in. About halfway to me, some of them started to feel something was wrong. Their feet were sinking into the ground. The grassing land was shockingly wet. Their charge started to slow. However, it wasn’t until one of their feet sunk fully into the mud that he let out a horrifying scream. One of them tripped as his foot sank, and his hand dipped into the mud. He let out a shriek, pulling his hand out, but it had almost completely dissolved, wispy smoke rising from his seared flesh.

Some of the mercenaries tried to turn around, while others tried to continue forward, but their shoes melted quickly, and then it was their bare feet that melted next. Most could only make it a few steps before they collapsed. Then, the acidic water splashed all over their bodies, and they could only roll and writhe as their flesh melted off their bodies. As the smoke rose, it clogged their throats, making it difficult to scream.

Their hoarse screaming lasted for about three minutes, and then none of the fifty men that had attacked remained mobile. Their bodies continued to melt into the ground, causing a mysterious acidic cloud to rise in their place, outlining a horrifying death zone.

Of course, as soon as my feet touched the ground, my hand shot a ton of water out. It wasn’t the entire contents of the pond, but it was enough to turn the ground between us and the mercenaries into a wetland. I then spread some of my cells out and used Acidify to create an inhospitable barrier of water between us. As they watched their fellow mercenaries die an agonizing death without understanding what happened, their leader’s expression turned green.

“H-he’s must be a highly evolved paragon!” One of the men shouted in fear, prompting the others to voice agreement.

“Enough!” Shouted the leader of Blackbolt, forcing them to be quiet. “He’s just a mortal man. He had some kind of offensive rune he used to create a death zone. You can see the grass turning yellow where it is. Just go around it and kill him.”

He gestured on the floor, and he was completely correct. The grass couldn’t handle the acidity either and was quickly turning yellow. This created a clear outline of the wetland I had created. I absorbed back most of the water I put out. It was not identified in my inventory as acidic water. I wondered what it would be like to use Water Jet with my acid water.

Perhaps, I’d still get a chance, because losing a quarter of his men wasn’t enough to demotivate the mercenary leader. He sent another group of men. They were approaching a bit more cautiously, making sure to move a wide berth around the wetland I had created, even though I had already absorbed all of the water and it was safe to walk on now. It was taking a long time though, so I kneeled on the ground touching it.

I sent a few million cells in front of the path they were walking. This used Anatomical Separation and Auto-Biokinesis. I waited until they were right on top of the cells, and then I used Matter Shifting and Cellular redistribution. The cells instantly pulled up dirty, creating massive spikes that launched out of the ground. I was able to create about ten spikes in all, impaling a total of seven of the men. The others managed to avoid the strikes or were just plain lucky.

I returned the spikes back into the ground and then launched them up again. Seeing another half dozen killed, impaled on spikes, the remaining men started to panic. Thankfully, they were pressed on a narrow path between the forest and the dead grass. They were too dumb to run into the forest and too scared to try to the grass, so even as they ran, they remained grouped. If they had split up, I would have only been able to pursue a couple of them, but this way, I was able to follow them with the spikes until they were all dead.

When the last one was silenced, I recalled the cells and turned to look at the leader, whose eyes were nearly bulging out of his head at this point.

“H-he had two protective runes. He must be out of them now!” He cried out. “The rest of you… hey!”

“I guess they aren’t complete idiots.”

His group wasn’t listening to him anymore. Half of their number had been wiped out, and that was enough for them to count their odds. These guys valued their lives more than money. They were already fleeing. The bald guy was one of them. He seemed to be running the fastest and was at the front of the pack.

“He’s just one man!” Their leader bellowed. “You cowards!”

I stretched my neck and then started walking toward him. He spun back, his eyes locking onto my feet as I casually walked over the acidic sea where the melted remains of his mercenaries still lay. He finally pulled out his sword.

“I see… I guess I’ll have to take care of you myself.” He grinned. “When I show them your head, they’ll worship me even more-”

“You talk a lot. I used to know a lot of guys like you. They thought if they kept talking, they could keep people flustered. It’d keep them from realizing just how scared and powerless they were. Do you also practice your lines in the mirror?”

His grin slipped. “You… I’ll take great pleasure in killing you. Pick up a sword.”

I looked down at my fist. “You know, I keep trying out different things ever since getting this body. I forgot that I’ve already undergone nine evolutions and my status is off the charts. I think for this time, I’m just going to see what my status gets me.”

“What nonsense is this?” He made a face. “Are you saying you’re a god? You’ve gone mad.”

“Maybe… but we’ll see.”

I moved, and a blink of time later, I was right in front of him. He cried out and brought his sword up. It glowed with light, and he cut off my arm.

-10,000 hp

He looked on triumphantly as my arm flew away from my body. I punched out with my other fist, striking him squarely in the chest. My hand broke through his arm, and then his sternum collapsed. He was dead by the time he hit the ground, not understanding why his heart stopped. I looked at my fist and frowned.

“I was holding back quite a bit. That was supposed to be a probing blow.”