The next moment I opened my eyes, the beastman Clavis that I was familiar with was... no more.
I opened my eyes wide in surprise at the sight before my eyes, still with my hand holding a sword and blocking the other monsterâs attack. I also poured in my signature ice magic to slowly freeze it. The moment it noticed that something was wrong and wanted to retreat, my ice magic already bound it to that spot.
With the disturbance out of my way, I could focus on the spectacle before me.
Yes, the familiar Clavis that I knew was no longer there.
Instead, the Clavis before me was... so different.
And no, he didnât transform into his wolf beast form that I saw that day with Alt-nii, too.
How to say it...
I saw that his wolf ears and tail seemed to grow even bigger than it normally was. Its silver color seemed to be enhanced than it normally was, with several red markings engraved in his fur.
His human hands and feet had fur growing on them, still with the same red markings. Furthermore, Clavis seemed to have grown claws!
The red markings were glowing beautifully there.
As I observed Clavis, I noticed that his body seemed to be more built-up than his usual âskinnyâ body.
As for the monster in front of him...
I noticed the monster was howling in pain with blood gushing out of its faceâthe claw marks on them revealed that it was Clavisâ doing!
It was at this time that Clavis turned his head to me as he asked, âAre you alright?â
But my mind was stupefied by Clavisâ new appearance. His gray eyes were now replaced with the same eyes that I saw in his wolf beast formâred irises and gray pupils. But those eyes were more âhumaneâ than the look I saw in his wolf beast form.
I noticed Clavisâ upper canines seemed to be longer than they normally were when he was speaking.
Furthermore, his face had the same red markings he had in his fur...
And I noticed his three-claws necklace seemed to have changed its colorâperhaps it was because Clavis changed his âmodeâ, so the necklace also changed its âmodeâ?
âLyra?â
Clavis asked again, with face full of concern.
Finally, I snapped out of my daze.
âI-Iâm okay! Thanks, Clavis! I have some questions for you, but for now...â
âYes, itâs time to focus on the fight first, right?â Clavis nodded.
âYup.â
With that, I leaped from my spot, ready to take another chimeric monster to defeat when I saw Clavis... jumped very highly before he lunged his kick at the chimeric monster he took from me.
With the kick he landed, the chimeric monster collapsed on the spot.
â...â
Clavis seemed to have gained a power that transcended even the humanity or the âbeastmenâ-ity.
I knew for sure that he wasnât as strong as he was now.
Before, he couldnât jump that inhumane height, nor could his kick make a big chimeric monster tumble so pathetically like that.
And more importantly... what was with this speed?!
Before the chimeric monster could even stand up, Clavis already landed another hit to it, along with claw attacks until it was finally defeated.
Clavis left no room for the monster to even defend itself.
And his surprising changes rendered me speechless and motionless for a moment.
Clavisâ breathing seemed to be rougher than it was before, and his husky voice could be heard.
âMore...â
He said as he smirked.
â...Eh?â
Before I could even comprehend the meaning behind his word, Clavis already leaped to another chimeric monster that was fighting with Kiri, sending it flying.
Kiriâs face was so priceless. He was so surprised and perhaps a bit frightened by the sudden movement that Clavis made. Luckily, he had already defeated the other chimeric monster he was fighting.
...
But the moment I turned my head to look over my surroundings, I noticed that all monsters were either defeated or preoccupied on 1-vs-1 fight with my party members.
Dumbfounded, I decided to help a bit by freezing the groundâall the way up to the monstersâ feet. Since I could control the movement of my ice magic well, none of my allies got trapped up in my ice magic.
But at that time, exactly by the time I finished trapping the rest of the enemies in my ice magic...
âAll mine! Outta my way!!â
Clavisâ excited voice could be heard as he dashed from a monster to another, attacking them without a pause.
â...â
Everyone was dumbfounded by this sudden turn of events that none of us managed to react in time.
Yes, by now, all of the monsters already decided that they would be coming after Clavis.
Instead of being terrified, Clavis laughed happily instead.
The first one to snap out of it wasâas expected, Alt-nii.
âClavis!! Snap out of it!! Donât be so reckless!!â He shouted.
âHahahahahaha!!â Clavis answered with another laugh as he fought the rest of the chimeric monsters alone, before adding, âTHIS IS FUN!â
âHey, Clavis! Even if we can heal your wounds with magic later on, itâs not good overdoing yourself like this!!â Alt-nii scolded Clavis nevertheless.
By this time, Luca also snapped out of his daze as he shook his head.
âItâs no use. He doesnât seem to be paying any heed to our words.â
â...What happened?â I asked as I still couldnât correlate this Clavis before my eyes with the Clavis I knew.
â...[Fiendish Fervor]. To think that I could witness it directly...!!â The youngest member, Ein, suddenly said as he looked at the fighting Clavis with awe.
â...Fiendish Fervor?â
Ein turned to look at me.
âYou didnât know?â
I shook my head honestly.
When I turned to look at the others, I noticed them all looking with eyes full of expectation towards Ein... with the exception of Luca. Should I say that it was to be expected? I guess it was natural for him to know about it as the crown prince.
For the first time, I felt like my past lifeâs knowledge was useless to the extent that I lost against these first-timers in life.
â[Fiendish Fervor] is the name of Clavisâ state right now. Itâs a state in which a werebeast could unleash their power while in a more humanoid form. You can say that itâs the âstageâ bridging his beastman form and his werebeast form.â
Ein explained like he was some kind of a walking encyclopedia.
âItâs my first time hearing that. But how do you explain his condition right now?â I asked.
And right at the moment, we heard yet another heavy thump, signaling yet another monster defeated.
Our attention was quickly caught there. We turned to look at Clavis once more, who was now standing alone in the middle of the collapsed monsters with his rough breathing.
âMore... more...,â he mumbled.
âClavis, itâs enough. Weâve defeated the enemy. You can revert back now,â Alt-nii said.
But at that moment...
âInteresting! If thatâs the case, then I volunteer to be your opponent!â
An orange figure flew through us very quickly before she floated right in front of Clavis.
Yes, it was Carbuncle.
Before, she was only lazing around, wanting to only observe us in fighting the monsters, ready to help in case of an emergency.
Repeating her words: âWouldnât it be cheating if I were to join your slaughters? Hahaha!â
So, right now... Right in front of us, there were a werebeast in his [Fiendish Fervor] state and a dragon currently in her half-humanoid and half-draconic state as well, facing against each other.
âWait, donât fight, Kuu-chan!â Iris seemed to have noticed Carbuncleâs intention as she shouted.
âWell, well, this little Clav is the one seeking a fight here, so Iâm just being kind enough to provide him with a worthy fight, right?â Carbuncle said without looking back at us.
âDonât joke around! Even if Clavis is a werebeast, how could his power be comparable to yoursâa dragon?â Alt-nii tried to give some sense to the excited dragon.
âItâs alright, I will make sure to hold back. Itâs not like I will hurt little Clav. Donât you believe me?â Carbuncle said as she waved her hand.
âAre you going to fight me?â Clavis said with a tremulous voice.
âYes, sure, entertain me well, wolfie~,â Carbuncle said as she licked her lips.
She was yet to do anything when Clavis leaped towards her, aiming his claws.
âClavis!!â Harvey and Alt-nii were surprised to see their friend doing this.
Yes, even I was also surprised. Clavis was normally a moderated person who wouldnât provoke unnecessary things. It seemed like his personality also changed with his newly awakened werebeast power.
Carbuncle smirked as she said, âI wasnât the one to start it.â
She then lightly floated to the side, dodging Clavisâ attack with ease.
At the same time, she wrung her tail towards Clavis. Clavis quickly noticed it and did a somersault.
He barely landed when Carbuncleâs voice could be heard.
âMy turn to attack!â
Carbuncle said as she lunged towards Clavis very rapidly, ready to tackle Clavis with all her weight plus the impact of the crash.
Luckily, Clavis was fast enough to dodge Carbuncleâs attack. Just as I thought Carbuncle was going to crash into the ground with this kind of a speed, she suddenly did an U-turn, as she floated above the ground once more.
...That is surely a very great mastery of flight.
This time, Clavis didnât manage to react when Carbuncle showed up right in front of him, wringing her tail to him.
Clavis was quickly shoved by Carbuncleâs tail wring, but before he crashed into any tree or anything, Clavis managed to stop his body with quite a difficulty.
â...,â For some reason, Carbuncleâs excited face turned calmer now.
She didnât launch any attack after that. She only floated calmly on the ground while Clavis ran towards her, charging attacks by attacks.
And each time Clavis attacked, Carbuncle managed to dodge it with slight effort.
âHm... I expected too much. Itâs getting boring,â Carbuncle said as she tilted her headâwhile dodging Clavisâ attacks.
âShall we end this now?â
Carbuncle seemed to have decided her mind, as in the next instance, she extended her hand to Clavisâ body and...
Yellow sparks appeared from her hand, landing on Clavis.
Yes, Carbuncle sent Clavis some electric shocks!!
Clavisâ body jolted at Carbuncleâs unexpected electric shocks before he fell on the ground.
âKuu!!â Iris shouted in her surprise.
âWhat? Donât yell at me when Iâm helping all of us!â Carbuncle protested.
âHuh?â
I was about to question her when I noticed Clavisâ bodyâwho was still lying on the ground with his face kissing mister earthâseemed to have reverted back into his usual form.
***
âIâm sorry! I didnât expect that to happen!â Clavis said after he regained his consciousness.
We were now taking a break as we healed ourselves with healing magic and some healing items Iris prepared for us.
âWell, youâre still pretty weak to be a decent opponent to me, so no worries, hahaha!â
Carbuncle laughed as she sat on the ground cross-legged with her hands crossed in front of her chest, too. She had this smug look on her face, too.
âUgh...,â Clavis seemed to be crushed by Carbuncleâs laugh.
âSpeaking of which, Kuu! Are you the strongest one in your homeland, too?â I asked.
Carbuncle stopped laughing and her face stiffened.
âAnyway, what happened? Is the restraining necklace too weak to prevent that?â Alt-nii asked with concern.
âUh, that...,â Clavis hung his head down.
âI heard that [Fiendish Fervor] came with a downside. That is, blood rushes to your brain fast as well, so you are in a constant state of excitement or feeling the adrenaline rush in your body, and that is up to you to control... am I right?â Ein asked.
Clavis turned his head to look at Ein with face full of disbelief.
âHe might have read it somewhere. Heâs the heir of the Loera clan, so itâs not that unbelievable,â Luca explained on behalf of Ein.
Clavis seemed want to question Lucaâs explanation further, but he decided to swallow his question back and explained.
âEin is right. It seems that my control isnât that great... yet. As for the necklace, it can restrain my transformation due to unintentional burst of emotions I feel when Iâm still like this, but if I were to intentionally transform, it will change its mode and only restrain me from raging. As Ein said, itâs up to me to control myself from getting too engrossed in the adrenaline rush.â
â...And I failed just now, much to my shame,â Clavis hung his head down again.
âBut you seemed pretty confident in your new strength before, which means... you should be having a good control of it, right?â I tilted my head in wonder.
âWell, yeah... I should have a good control already, but...,â Clavis hesitated to say.
âAww, itâs fine. You can practice more, then,â I patted Clavisâ back as I noticed his hesitation.
If he hesitated to say the reason, then there was no need to force himself to say it.
â...Youâre right, Lyra. Thanks,â Clavis smiled wryly.
âAh, thanks for saving me too back there,â I quickly thanked him when I remembered what just happened.
âLyr could have gotten off that situation just fine, though?â Carbuncle nonchalantly added.
âUrk...,â Clavisâ face turned awkward.
âBut I will be hurt in the process, so what Clavis did was just minimalizing my injury, so itâs fine. Besides, Clavis took down the rest of the monsters after that, haha!â I quickly added, to make Clavis feel better.
âAaaaa...,â Clavis seemed to be more dejected instead.
...
At this time, I didnât notice that my words just reminded Clavis on how he lost control of himself and showed us something that he deemed as shameful.
âStill, a werebeast is so strong. Iâm impressed,â Luca said.
âT-thanks...,â Clavis awkwardly smiled.
âIt will be scary if you were an enemy, though,â Kiri added. Clavisâ smile grew stiff.
âThatâs why, you should just get stronger, strong enough to not fear werebeasts!â Luca smacked Kiriâs back a bit strongly that Kiri yelped a bit.
âY-yes!â Kiri said as his face contorted in pain.
âAlright, enough showing off your power. Didnât that make you feel tired, Clavis?â Alt-nii asked.
âY-yeah... Being in [Fervor] state caused fatigue to be accumulated in my body after that.â
It seems like the werebeasts are referring to [Fiendish Fervor] as just [Fervor].
âItâs like using too much magic, huh? I see, I see...,â I nodded in understanding.
âOkay, letâs hurry and clear this field so we can all take a good rest, then!â Alt-nii decided.
We all agreed.
âAnd no transforming for you, Clavis,â Harvey quickly added before all of us forgot.
âOkay, okay, I get it...â
Clavisâ dejected face was so cute that I ended up laughing. I tried to hold my laughter but I couldnât. Oh well, it would be fine since it was Clavis we were talking about, right?
At that time, I have yet to know that the reason Clavis lost control of himself in his [Fervor] mode was... because he got too happy that he finally could protect me.
Normally, I was stronger than him, so the chances of him protecting me was practically nil.
But, how could this dense me be aware of Clavisâ developing feelings for me?
It wasnât until later on that I learned of it.
Verrrrryyy later on.
And yet, I didnât expect that there would be a troublesome matter finding its way to me in the near future...
Something that made me have a headache that I actually had to put my hand on my forehead.
Thank you very much for reading and don't hesitate to drop some comments ^^
A reminder to fill out this survey if you haven't! It's about the plan to make a light novel out of this series.
Also, I'm participating in NovelBin Anniversary competition. If you want to support me, please bookmark this story I wrote for the competition to your reading list (you have to make an account on NovelBin first before doing so). You can also read the story if you're interested~! And if I win, I'll try to give bonus releases :3
Thanks~!