Shota's Isekai NTR Adventure Chapter 2008: Has its own awareness

I lifted my hand, prepared to intercept the egg hurtling straight at me.

Yet right before it could reach my grasp, the egg abruptly halted its motion.

It simply hung suspended in the air, hovering right there in front of my face.

The way it lingered motionless gave the impression that the egg was gazing directly at me, despite being nothing more than an egg.

After a brief pause filled with quiet, the egg began drifting nearer to me, inching forward gradually. As it drew closer, I extended my fingers toward it, ready to seize hold.

But before our touch could connect, a voice interrupted the moment.

"They’re coming." Klein called out from behind me, even though it felt more like ahead since that was the path we planned to take. It was also the route from which the monsters advanced, having shaken off their earlier stupor.

With no time to waste, I lunged forward swiftly to snatch the egg.

The egg offered zero resistance, letting me take it easily and settling calmly into my palm.

The instant my fingers closed around the egg, the strange energy it had been emitting vanished in a flash. It felt like the source powering it had been abruptly severed, turning it back into an ordinary egg.

I gave the egg a quick glance before slipping it into my pocket.

Once the egg was safely stored, I pressed my hand bearing the Mark of God against Joan’s forehead, which triggered a response from her own Mark of God. It wasn’t long until she completed assembling the flames and unleashed them in one sharp exhale.

Just like earlier, the flames enveloped her suddenly, forming a protective layer of armor as she surged toward the cave’s opening.

The beasts pursuing us were stunned to see Joan—or rather, the blazing orb rushing at them in this manner.

Upon spotting this fiery sphere barreling forward, it appeared they recalled the fate of those monsters who had touched the flames before. Thus, the moment they noticed the ball of fire approaching, they scattered aside in a panic.

Still, some of them seemed to spot an opportunity and shifted to the flanks.

The blaze Joan expelled was mostly focused ahead, designed as a charging technique. At the same time, her lack of practice meant she couldn’t yet cloak herself fully in dense flames.

Achieving that required immense focus and mastery, so she could only intensify the fire in our forward path. The flames along the sides lacked the same density as those up front.

That left them vulnerable to a breakthrough if the monsters targeted her from the sides with concentrated attacks.

I squinted at the creatures closing in from the flanks before lifting my hand to summon my strength against them. Meanwhile, the royal guards directed their wyverns to ready for combat with these threats.

In the end, though, no action was required.

A peculiar feeling stirred from my pocket just before that familiar energy burst forth once more.

This was the same force that drew the monsters in, yet now it served a different role.

On this occasion, the energy appeared to condense as it expanded outward in a sweeping wave.

As the wave rolled over every monster charging toward us, it shoved them all back forcefully. The creatures had no way to stand against it, yielding completely to the energy’s push.

Even so, during the repulsion, an unusual expression crossed the faces of the monsters caught in the energy’s surge.

It didn’t look like they resented the sensation at all...

That said, I glanced down at the egg that had risen from my pocket amid the chaos.

I already knew it could manipulate objects with this energy, as proven by how it now used it to maintain its own levitation. But I hadn’t expected the power to be potent enough to scatter the monsters in such a way.

Actually, even beyond that, another detail left me stunned.

"Are you self aware? Do you have your own consciousness?" I found myself questioning the egg as it hovered right before me.

At first, the egg showed no reaction to my words, but then it began bobbing up and down, as if nodding to confirm what I’d asked.

That simple motion was proof enough that something within the egg had developed its own awareness and could engage with the outside world. All while still trapped inside its shell...

"What is this thing?" I wondered aloud in my mind, utterly perplexed.

From every angle, it clearly wasn’t just any ordinary egg.

"Your majesty, we need to leave now. They’re coming back to their senses."

Klein’s warning pulled me from my thoughts, and I whipped around to survey the monsters now scattered nearby.

The egg’s energy had knocked them back, but it lacked the force to inflict real damage. The majority were simply left in a daze from the shove, far from enough to halt their advance.

With that, I signaled Joan to summon her flames again as we bolted from the cave.