The first move, as could be seen in hindsight, naturally belonged to the monster.
Even though Daesik had made some preparations, it was ultimately meaningless since he couldn’t fly, which left him without an offensive option.
However, things were considerably different this time.
Daesik had no experience fighting an opponent in his own weight class, especially one piloting an extra-large Alice.
Crushing the smaller monsters with overwhelming mass just moments ago didn’t count as a real fight.
It was easy—like scratching bark off a stationary tree; anybody, even a child, could do it.
Therefore, this could be considered Daesik’s first real combat experience.
Daesik flailed his arms wildly to keep the monster from getting near, but the creature, which seemed to hover somewhere between a bat and a bird, dodged Daesik’s punches with ease and slashed its claws into his shoulder.
Thud!
The sharp claws pierced through the extra-large Alice’s clothing and dug deeply inside.
Penetrating through the unknown material inside Alice, the claws clutched firmly, like grabbing a fish that had taken the bait, and the monster began flapping its wings.
Flap! Whirrr!
With a noise akin to a jet flying overhead, the extra-large Alice’s body was lifted into the air.
Daesik, unknowingly excited by the sensation of lifting off, tried to contain his jelly but swung Alice’s hands around.
Raising his hands high as if showing his cards, he swung his oversized doll-like hands left and right.
Thud! Crash! The sound of Alice’s hands hitting something echoed, but Daesik’s body continued to float.
With no change in the situation, Daesik flailed his arms more vigorously, confused by what was happening. However, the monster, while swaying for a moment, continued to tightly grasp Daesik’s body and flapped its wings.
Though Daesik’s wild swings, thanks to the freedom of movement Alice’s body allowed, weren’t completely ineffective—his deceptively soft but heavy fists did make the monster wobble—it wasn’t enough to deliver a decisive blow.
With the two opponents now at a similar weight class, the battle transformed from a mismatch akin to a fly swatter versus a fly into a clash of ring fighters.
Of course, the comparison wasn’t perfect, since one side had wings and the other was an inexplicably unyielding doll, but the basic analogy held.
Thud! Crash!
Still, Daesik did what he could.
With a force that would send a human flying, he repeatedly struck the monster with his massive fists.
Despite swaying dangerously, the monster tenaciously held Daesik up in the air.
Even as Daesik flailed his arms and kicked furiously, his body continued to rise, only causing his voluminous skirt to flutter.
Any sense of joy has now completely faded.
Daesik trembled, his jelly quivering.
As his body floated up to a point where people below looked like trash, Daesik couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of fear.
Having no experience falling from a great height, Daesik had no idea what would happen to him should he fall now.
It would be unfair to blame Lime here since even Lime had little experience with such situations.
Even so, as the seconds ticked by…
The extra-large Alice and Daesik ascended higher into the sky.
It was as if Alice herself had grown wings.
Finally, in an unseen space, Daesik’s jelly swelled up dramatically.
How cowardly of me.
He recalled something from TV; when situations like this occurred, it involved doing something game X-like.
This really feels like game X…
Lime perhaps needed to pay closer attention to what Daesik was observing.
Shivering, Daesik thought that the sight he saw might be imagining a satisfying spectacle coming soon.
Or, perhaps the punches Daesik was delivering, though seemingly ineffective, were accumulating damage on the monster.
In any case, it seemed the battle’s resolution was nearing.
The monster appeared to be struggling under the strain of lifting Daesik, and Daesik, dazed by the height, was only weakly swinging his arms.
Perhaps thinking it was about to win, the monster strained to ascend higher, its grotesque face contorted with effort.
But it didn’t know.
It didn’t know that tiny Sosik was ascending its body, unseen.
When the monster’s claws first gripped Alice, Sosik, avoiding them, had clung onto it.
Silently, and unnoticed by the monster—who was too focused on subduing Alice—Sosik climbed up the creature’s body.
…Well, truthfully, there was some interference.
The monster was getting hit repeatedly by Daesik’s wild punches, so it wasn’t completely unnoticed. However, this experience was more familiar to the agile Sosik, who skillfully navigated through Alice’s swinging fists.
Drawing on his observations of smaller monsters, Sosik targeted the monster’s flapping wings.
He knew from his previous encounters that the wings of these creatures were especially fragile, a fact that likely remained true despite its growth.
Unlike Daesik, Sosik remained remarkably calm throughout, perhaps thanks to his trials in the ocean.
This way, the three entities—each thinking differently—steadily ascended to a staggering height.
At the moment the monster withdrew its claws from Alice’s body…
Sosik slashed into the monster’s fragile wings with a precision akin to the one he used to reduce sea monsters to chunks of meat.
Startled by the unexpected sensation of its body being torn apart, the monster instinctively twisted its body, but it was already too late.
As Sosik predicted, despite the increase in size, the monster’s wings remained delicate and soft, making it impossible for it to escape his relentless assault.
Thus, Alice did not fall alone.
Having severed the wings, Sosik leapt and swiftly stuck to a gnarled tree Daesik’s hands couldn’t reach.
Observing the falling duo, Sosik clenched his fists.
He seemed to believe Daesik would be fine.
However, Daesik, unaware of this belief, was flailing his arms in panic as he plummeted.
Beside him, the monster, similarly struck without warning, twitched its distorted face.
Unprepared for the fall, the monster seemed unable to do anything to stop it.
Flapping its wings was futile—they were now tattered and useless.
Eventually, as the acceleration increased, the monster ceased its struggles and curled its body up, possibly trying to revert into a seed-like form.
In a grotesque display, its crimson skin wriggled as it tried to adapt to the fall.
With an ominous squelch, the enlarged monster slammed into the ground, a large red puddle emerging as the air filled with a sweet smell.
However, the expected sound of Daesik’s fall did not come.
Flap, flap.
Over the splattered crimson mass, a massive shadow loomed.
It was not Daesik, but the extra-large Alice.
Alice, her skirt brimming with air, slowly descended like a parachute, gently landing while stepping on the remnants of the monster.
The billowing skirt acted as a parachute.
Perhaps enjoying the descent, Alice bounced around. However, recalling an incident with Lime under her skirt, she quickly lowered the fabric.
Observing the squirming lump under her foot, Daesik’s jelly bubbled.
This must be justice in action.
Daesik reveled in the victory.
Yet, that was a mistake.
Unaware that such battles do not conclude easily, Daesik and Alice, thinking it was over, relaxed their guard only to be pushed back into a tree by the recoil of the monster’s uncoiled body.
Thrown backward with his skirt fluttering up, Daesik now faced a new monster resembling a wild beast, its menacing horn sprouting from its head.
Though Daesik tried to evade it, his current posture made it impossible, and he was impaled on the horn with a sickening thud.
Though feeling no pain, Daesik, realizing the danger, spun around and faced the monster, horn still lodged in his body.
Now, a truly equal fight began.
The horned monster tried to tear Alice’s body with its horn, while Daesik countered by pushing the monster away and striking its body with punches.
It was a true street fight without any discernible tactics or rules.
As they pounded each other, making loud thudding sounds, the monster scattered a red liquid in all directions, and Alice dispersed some mysterious, cotton-like material.
The red-soaked material felt like blood-soaked cotton.
The stripped naked tree couldn’t endure any longer and began to crumble under the force of the ongoing struggle.
Gradually, an advantage began to emerge.
Although the monster shed a dark red liquid with every blow, it appeared unscathed.
However, Alice’s body, riddled with holes from the horns, began to sway precariously.
Exhausted just like the monster, both fighters seemed on the brink of collapse, but the monster, sensing victory, thought about replenishing its strength by targeting the humans hiding nearby.
On the other hand, Alice showed signs of reaching her limit, clearly lacking the means to repair her body.
Sensing this opportunity, the monster gleamed its sharp horn and launched a swift charge toward Alice.
Daesik attempted to evade, but Alice’s wobbly legs resisted his command.
Just as the monster’s horn was about to pierce Alice’s disheveled head…
Crack!
In an instant, the horn snapped.
Startled, Daesik quivered with his jelly, and the monster too trembled in shock.
Above the battered head of Alice, Lime appeared with a stern expression.
