Overtake

I hide myself behind the tree as I observe the Gestalt Hydra from a long distance.

I notice that it was drinking water and it's horn is touching the water.

I read the description from the book. But seeing it directly still overwhelms me a bit.

According to that book, Gestalt Hydra's horn is the source of its lightning magic. So the electric current that flows in the river near Boorash town indeed come from that horn.

The book also says that Gestalt Hydra's horn is a monster that only drinks during full moon period. It's a fortunate coincidence that it chose the place that I can reach just by walking.

"But still..."

I whisper to myself, looking at Gestalt Hydra.

I thought I had already mentally prepared myself for this. However, now that I look again at this monster, it really gives a vibe of a very strong monster.

This is not my first time fighting a monster. In the past, when I sneaked out of the house at night, I often tried to train myself by killing One-Horned Rabbit (a black rabbit that has red eyes and one sharp horn on its head), a monster which always appear around the forest area near my house.

I was equipped with knife and poison bottles as weapon, though I killed most of them using poison.

But compared to those rabbits, even an amateur like me can tell that this monster is on another level.

Let's be honest here, I'm scared. Not only scared of this monster, but monsters in general.

Even the One-Horned Rabbit which is said to be the weakest monster around here was really scary when I confronted it for the first time.

I'm scared to kill and to be killed.

In the end, I'm just a weak girl who lives in a protected environment no matter which world I live in. The only fight I'm good at is arguing with boys in my previous school and male higher-ups in my previous company.

I realized that I'm about to do something outrageous despite how weak I am. However...

I remember my mother. Not only my mother in this world but also my mother in the previous world.

The regret of not being able to repay my previous mother won't go away as long as I live.

But at least, that regret is what drives me to fight. At least, I want to protect my mother in this world. This feeling is definitely not a lie.

Therefore, for my mother's sake...

I'm prepared to take this risk!

As I thought that, I remove my mantle and get out from the tree. Despite the long distance, Gestalt Hydra noticed me right away.

My strategy is simple. First, I need to make sure Gestalt Hydra notices me standing at long distance.

As expected, Gestalt Hydra immediately regards me as enemy. It's one of monster's characteristic in general. Most of them attack human whenever they see one.

More importantly, I need to know how it will attack me. Physical attack like using its fangs, horn or tail? Or lightning magic?

I even bother showing up at such a long distance so...

*bzzzt!*

The Gestalt Hydra's horn sparks. As expected, it is using lightning magic attack.

I immediately put my hand forward expecting the lightning to come straight at me.

For normal human, my action might seemed to be suicidal but this is part of my plan.

The lightning comes to take my life. It was at a speed that I won't be able to respond if I didn't prepare myself beforehand.

But it stops. Instead of killing me, the lightning magic stops in front of me.

This is my ability, "Overtake".

To put it simply, this ability allows me to take control of other people's magic.

I am indeed born without astral body which means my body does not contain any mana at all.

Therefore, it should be impossible for me to use magic. Nevertheless, I still studied magic as it is one of the important things to be studied in this world.

"Even if I cannot use magic, I still want to be knowledgable about it." Was what I thought.

Until one year ago, when Korsch bullied me using his Water Spray magic. I was extremely irritated back then because I just took a bath.

As I previously stated, I can sense mana more effectively in this world because of my body's characteristic. Out of anger, I grasped the mana of that magic within my mind and throw that magic back at him. I was surprised when I saw that the Water Spray suddenly hit Korsch instead.

I studied to understand what happened back then. I conducted few experiments and arrive at two conclusions.

First is that I can use magic with this ability. I just don't have the mana to act as a fuel to activate magic just like how normal people in this world do.

Second is that my sense that can detect mana more effectively turns out that it can also enable me to use mana from external sources.

Normal human can only use mana from within their body to activates magic. However, it seems that I can only do the opposite. As for the reason, I can only think that being born without astral body produces this side effect. No matter how much I learn, there is still little info about people being born with same body condition as mine.

However, I saw this as a chance. I practiced this ability and named it "Overtake", the power to manipulate the ownership of other magic.

It does not matter how powerful that magic is, as long as I can see and understand that magic, I can use my mana sense to make it my magic. Activation method is simple, that magic must be within my sense range. With the knowledge of magic I accumulated for years, it is easy to manipulate it just by seeing it. Or rather, it is the only way for me to use magic.

*CRACK!*

I can feel the ground below me starts shaking and cracking by the sheer force of it's lightning magic. Even if I stop it with Overtake, that does not change the fact that it is a very powerful magic attack.

"... LET'S DO THIS!"

As I shout that out loud, I modify the lightning magic that I stopped. Just throwing it back at that monster will most likely not enough to kill it. If I cannot kill this monster in one blow, it will become a big problem for me as the monster might attack me in other ways after knowing that using magic. If it use physical attack to hit me, I will most likely die.

Thus, I improve the formula of lightning magic that I overtake.

I modify it into lance form for easy throwing purpose.

I accelerate its speed, together with minimizing the size to make the mana accumulation in that magic more dense than ever.

I did all within 4 seconds before I throw back the modified lightning spear magic.

*FLASH!*

Much to my surprise, the speed was so fast that Gestalt Hydra cannot even react. It pierced its body cleanly together with the trees behind. That magic created a hole not too far from its head. There is no resistance at all.

I did make the size smaller to make the mana accumulation of this magic denser. But to think that it would be this effective. That Gestalt Hydra's lightning magic was more powerful than what I expected.

*thud!*

As if the Gestalt Hydra does not realize that it is already dead, it falls down with its eyes opened.

Now time to get the final material that I was looking for-

Or not. My legs lose strength and I also fall down to my knees.

"Th- this is...."

Ah... I get it. I was about to die just now. I just did not realize my fear until I become relaxed.

I need to get used to this soon.

Few minutes later, I managed to get up and then use my knife to separate the horn from its flesh.

But since the flesh is so hard, I overtake the remaining mana left within the horn and use it to damage the flesh to the point where I can pull out the horn from Gestalt Hydra's head.

"I got it... the final material of Graize Elixir... Gestalt Hydra's horn..."

I need to bring this back soon and start my alchemy.

As I look at Gestalt Hydra's corpse, I figure that other materials from this monster must be rare enough to be sold for high.

But I decide to leave it. I don't have inventory big enough to put in extra materials after all.

Besides, I need to create the elixir as soon as possible.

As I think that, I put in the horn in my bag. Then I put on my mantle and run from the forest area.

I manage to arrive safely at home. It's already 2 a.m. at night. After I go through my usual hidden route, Bielly approaches me as if it wants to play with me.

I use hand gestures to ask it to be quiet.

It whimpers a bit but still obey my orders. How cute...

I sneak into my room again and prepare the alchemy preparation for Graize Alchemy.

Usually the maids will come and wake me up at 7 a.m.

I need to hurry.

I immediately bring out my alchemy preparations from my closet. Then I bring out Gestalt Hydra's horn from my bag.

I immerse myself for hours in my room. I do not sleep at all as I want to immediately finish the elixir and give it to my mother.

.....

....

...

It is finished...

The elixir is finished.

Wait. Not yet. I need to taste test it first.

I'm still not sure whether the effect will be as effective as what the book said.

I used small spoon to take a very small portion of elixir and drink it.

... it tastes like Poca** Sw**t....

"....!"

Suddenly all the tiredness and sleepiness from not sleeping disappears.

Not only that, the pain from my leg due to walking too much also disappears.

So this is the power of Graize Elixir...

Not only that it heals wounds, it also raises vitality.

"If it's this elixir, mom will surely..."

I talk out loud about what I am thinking out of excitement.

I look at the clock in my room, 6.44 a.m.

"It's already almost 7 huh..."

Creating this elixir took quite a lot of time.

Now the problem is how to make mother drink this medicine...

My mother's eating and drinking process is usually monitored heavily by the maids. If I don't go to her now, it will be even harder to hand over the medicine to her.

I quickly put the elixir into five separate potion bottles due to the huge amount of elixir's liquid inside my alchemy pot.

After few minutes, I put the 5 bottles into my bag. I sneak out of my room and run straight to my mother's room.

"...!"

I spot few maids in front of my mother's room.

Going into my mother's room without them noticing will be tough. Guess I will just talk to them about it.

I approach them, but something seems strange. They have sad expression before they notice me.

I decide to talk to Nelsia instead.

"Good morning Nelsia."

"!? S- Shion-sama!?"

To my surprise, I saw Nelsia crying. I also notice that some of the maids also cry.

My chest feels tightened. I sense that something bad has happened.

I instinctively rush towards my mother's room.

"W- wait! Shion-sama!"

I ignore Nelsia's shout from behind.

I see Kaina with sad expression standing in front of the room's door.

"! Shion-sama!?"

Before Kaina has the time to stop me, I pass her and quickly open the door.

"!"

I see father standing near my mother who is still sleeping on bed. Father notice me right away after I open the door.

"Shion, you're already up huh..."

"Father... what is going on here..."

I can guess what happened from the atmosphere. But I still want to think that this is all just me being paranoid.

"Shion-sama! You shouldn't be here-"

Kaina grabs my shoulder from behind in panic. But I have no intention to go out of the room.

"It's ok Kaina. Let her go."

"! Y- yes... if you say so..."

Under my father's command, Kaina reluctantly let go of my shoulder.

As I cannot stand this atmosphere any longer, I start to speak up.

"Father, you will bother mother if you're here while she's still-"

"Shion."

"!"

I flinched. Father interrupts my sentence by calling my name. As usual, I cannot get used to his tone.

"Shinotsuki, your mother.... had passed away this morning."

"..... huh?"

My mind cannot keep up with the truth that was just said by my father.