Mana Eyes.
Flying Geisenlarg Soldier
A geisenlarg soldier born as a shock unit, trading the standard soldier’s bulky body for one fit for aerial combat. With two pairs of long front legs with venomous sickle claws on each, this soldier drone can launch flurries of attacks from any direction. Hunts in packs with the other soldiers to take down larger prey and predators. C rank
“I know this isn’t the time, but you said this was supposed to be a C rank Quest, right? You sure about that?” I then pointed at the horde of beetles coming out from the numerous tunnels above. With my enhanced hearing, I could also hear a crawling coming from the tunnels from the bottom of the cavern.
“Alright, I’ll compensate you properly for this later. First, let’s finish the quest and get out of here alive! Whisperia!” In the span a person could blink their eyes, Muraina pulled an arrow from her bird treant’s wing and nocked it on her bow. Two green magic circles appeared simultaneously on her bow and bird respectively, showing her ability to multicast without any chants.
The moment she let her arrow loose, four ethereal ones made from wind appeared around it, following the original one like fanatical fans chasing after a pop star. The flying beetle, noticing the incoming arrows, dodged them.
However, these arrows from Muraina weren’t your typical ones. Instead of flying straight, they swerved around and tracked the beetle like heat-seeking missiles. As it was about to be turned into a pincushion, a normal soldier drone jumped up and sacrificed its life for the flyer, bursting into pieces from the impact of the arrows.
“Flying soldiers require more energy from the queen to breed. The hive mind strives for efficiency here, so that was to be expected.” As Muraina nocked another arrow on her bow, I noticed how the treant’s eyes were moving around and, with [Mana Eyes], confirmed my suspicion that it was the one controlling the magic circle next to it. I shouldn’t forget; Whisperia is a lesser fae, a spriggan. The teamwork they just displayed must have been nurtured over years.
Seeing the waves of monsters coming, Grimnir clicked his tongue, displeased at the situation before shouting at me, “Lass, close up the tunnel entrances at the bottom floor and fortify it with your magic! Don’t let anything come from the bottom or the side, got it? Tasianna, send me up to that enclosed area there and summon some ice golems for me. I’ll do my job as the frontline and keep you lasses alive to fight. On Crustacia’s temper, I swear that!”
While I closed the lower entrances with [Terra Wall], Tasianna sent Grimnir flying up with a floating ice platform. She then finished casting [Aifli eir Vintral] to send the cavern’s temperature below the freezing point of water, which forced me to use my catalyst’s heat aura to warm myself up.
As I did so, Saori finished forming a plan. “Hestia. Muraina, my garms, and I will clear the way up to the tunnel leading towards the queen. I can hear some more wing beats coming from the other tunnels, so I will need you and Ellaine to deal with them. Do you think you can do that?”
“Y-Yes, Saori. We will!” Ellaine answered back, a bit daunted at the situation but able to keep her cool.
“Some flying practice, sure. Sounds better than mowing down waves of insects.” Going all out with my scale-dust and fire attacks would be too reckless while we were inside this cavern, and I already told Muraina I wouldn’t overuse it in fear that my flames would use up all the oxygen down here.
“Skrrruuuuuch!” As the flying geisenlarg noticed Muraina changing her targets to its brethren, it screeched once again and began to dart over to her for a head on attack. I released my [Draconic Aura] as it did so, stopping it mid-flight and causing it to panic as it locked eyes with me.
Dragoon Jump! Wind Blast!
Blasting off like a rocket, I used [Instant Heat Ignition] on my claws and readied to ravage the geinsenlarg’s body. However, whether it was instinctive or a conscious reaction to my attack, the beetle swerved its body slightly to the side at the last moment, avoiding instant death by the thinnest margin.
But, it wasn’t enough to avoid being severely wounded.
“Skrreeeeeeh!” Its scream echoed through the cavern as it looked down, realizing it had lost all three limbs on its right side and a good chunk of carapace. In my hands, I held its two arms while its leg, which I had sliced off with my tail, fell to the ground. The bug lived through my attack, but it had only delayed the inevitable.
I flapped my wings, turning my body around. Seeing the beetle panicking from the pain, I didn’t dally any longer and readied the finishing blow. While I stood on air with [Air Walk] in preparation to use [Dragoon Jump], my eyes were locked onto the geisenlarg, but my focus was broken by [Prediction]. Instead of attacking, I chose to dodge. Two giant bugs flew right by me as I did so.
““Skruuuch!!”” The two new flyers appeared before me, screeching while baring their claws. Four more appeared from the other tunnels, resulting in me being surrounded by these six and the injured seventh.
Jeez, no wonder they appeared so quickly after I used [Terra Wall] to solidify the walls. They have a lot of innate Strength and Agility growth, but compromise on Vitality and Wisdom. I then looked at the claws I held in my hands before throwing them away. Reminds me a bit of me!
Buff on. [The Will to Fight and Survive]. Music time, girls.
[Music Resonation (Moderate)] [Various Spell Buffs] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
Using flame attacks and scale-dust explosions would probably consume the oxygen inside this cavern too quickly, so I can’t use [Sanctified Blaze] and [Halo of Consecration] to heal or deal damage. A dungeon produced its own oxygen, but this cavern’s only source would be the holes the beetles made.
However, if I kept my flame usage in moderation, then it wouldn’t be too bad if I used a spell here or there. I could have probably given myself a handicap here, but with the lives of my friends on the line, there was no need to be arrogant.
Noticing I wasn’t doing anything, the beetles screeched once more and made their move, while the injured one attempted to flee, flying slowly to slow down its bleeding. Once the six were in formation, two of them charged at me with their large mandibles.
“Panzer. Unheilge Engel.” Two brown magic circles appeared, conjuring up both purple flames on my body and a purple slime behind me. When I dodged the beetles’ attacks, I could hear the slipstream they created, but my focus was instantly redirected by my [Prediction] towards the next two beetles rushing at me.
The flame on my body hardened into dark purple armor while the slime transformed into obsidian wings. Sharpening my eyes, I performed an aerial barrel roll over the beetles’ attack and slammed the sharp ends of my obsidian wings into the back of one of them, gouging out some flesh and blood.
I accelerated forward with [Wind Blast], caught up with the injured beetle and grabbed its leg. Using [Tailwind] and my Strength to tug on it, I instantly decelerated the bug’s speed back to zero, causing it to groan in pain before I used [Banishment Beam] to shoot its head off its body.
I then redirected the beam, shooting it at the approaching beetles, prompting them to evade it. I then blasted them away with [Wind Blast] and turned my head around, already noticing the injured geisenlarg from the beginning was attempting to launch a sneak attack on me. As our eyes met again, it became flustered, but before I could kill it, somebody’s voice entered my head.
[“Hestia, keep your eyes on the proper threat!”] Somebody’s familiar voice scolded me before a fleshy tendril with claws on it grabbed on the injured bug’s leg. As the tendril wobbled, Ellaine came flying in with it, readying her blue glowing whipsword.
She slashed at the geisenlarg with the momentum she gained from being pulled before wrapping her whip around it, cutting its wings off and causing it to crash on a bridge. Using [Musclemass] to increase her arm Strength, she pulled on her sword and cut the beetle’s body to pieces.
Whew, gnarly. Nice job, Ellaine. Oh, oops, too much distraction~
I bent my back as my [Prediction] alerted me of an incoming attack. Air rushed by my head in the wake of the strike I’d dodged. To counter, I morphed my obsidian wings into a jaw with which I bit down on the arms of the beetle that had attacked me, holding it back from escaping. As it squirmed and screamed, I kicked the air and somersaulted, striking the beetle with my wings before dropkicking it, sending it crashing onto the ground like a meteor.
Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]’s Job [Infernal Hellblade] has risen from [Level 20] to [Level 21]
Attributes have increased due to level up
Three down.
“Hestia!” As I watched the remaining four beetles zoom around, waiting for a chance to attack me, I heard Ellaine call out for me and in the next moment, a flesh tendril grabbed my feet. “Let’s fly?”
“Got it, hang on!”
With Ellaine holding onto my hip with her left arm, I used [Gale Steps] with [Air Walk], dashing forward to gain enough acceleration to chase down the beetles before they could engage me. While Ellaine kept herself safe with an [Air Shield], I moved around like a dragonfly, chasing down any beetles and dodging their attacks before I struck. If I couldn’t reach them, Ellaine swung her sword, disabling them by cutting their wings and making them an easy kill.
The two of us blitzed the remaining geisenlarg flyers, sending their dead bodies falling to the ground. At the same moment we finished, a loud yell rocked the cavern. “Taunt!!!” somebody shouted, dragging the attention of all the geisenlargs over to them.
I turned around, noticing the source to be Grimnir, who was hiding behind a wall of Tasianna’s [Winter’s Golem]s. Ellaine and I were confused about how Grimnir had [Taunt], considering our party hadn’t changed our Jobs at a crystal yet, but then again, he and Saori were the ones who had visited the lower city the most from our party. He probably took some time to change to a Job with [Taunt] as a Job skill.
“Come at me ya damn umsleuds! Fight a taz if you dare!” Grimnir activated [Defensive Rune: Pavise] and shouted rambunctiously, drawing the beetles to attack him. As he began slamming the beetles with his hammer, Tasianna’s golems moved to attack anything that came close to them.
“Hestia, the queen is through that tunnel! Move!” Saori pointed at a tunnel underneath me after killing off three beetles at once with her stygian lightning.
“Tor Eiclere’s Finulaflei!” With how many targets were gathering around Grimnir, it was the perfect moment for us to unleash our area-of-effects attack on them and eliminate multiple enemies at once.
Also recognizing this opportunity, Muraina nocked all four of Whisperia’s arrows on her bow before aiming upwards. “Whisperia, aim. Fly, Auidb’s Finulflei.” Propelled upwards with wind magic to gain that stunning speed Muraina has been shooting her arrows with, the four wooden arrows pulled themselves together, forming a single large green-glowing arrow before exploding next to the ceiling.
Like fireworks, the sparks formed into a distinctive shape — that of a bird of prey, in this case. As beautiful of a spectacle this was, in the next moment, these sparks shot out like laser arrows, falling down from the ceiling like rain. Ellaine and I both panicked briefly at the prospect of getting hit by friendly fire, but we quickly realized that [Danger Perception] hadn’t responded at all to this attack, meaning it was not a threat to us. And we guessed correctly.
“““Skruuuch!!!””” At the bottom, Tasianna’s ice spell was already showing its power. The shells of numerous beetles cracked open, spilling their green blood only for it to be immediately frozen by the hazardous temperature. As Tasianna’s ice swords began piercing through the beetles’ bodies, Muraina’s rain of arrows descended, destroying anything it touched.
Jeez! What a destructive attack! And with perfect accuracy, too.
Now I understood what those two magic circles Muraina kept active were doing. Even without [Mana Eyes], I could hazard a guess.
First, I was sure her enchanted bow was the reason for the flight speed of the arrows, enchanting them with wind magic to fly faster. Second, the magic circle next to the bow was responsible for the conjured wind arrows and the fireworks, even if this [Auidb’s Finulflei] — Hawk’s Paradise in elven — was a bow ability instead of a spell. It probably needed that magic circle to work. Third, and lastly, the magic circle next to her treant was responsible for the arrow’s homing function, which I attributed to the treant who acted like a controller.
The only thing I still haven’t had a clue about were the arrows the treant’s produced. I was able to guess Muraina’s abilities from watching her fight, but I still needed [Mana Eyes] to properly understand them. In other words, I knew what she could do, but I had no idea what her weaknesses were. Not even accounting for what she still had in her arsenal, since I couldn’t imagine this being her ultimate attack, something similar to Yorshka with her [Nordor Style: Silver Dragon’s Skyfall].
Jeez, if she only allowed us to make a party. Verdammt. All that experience, lost!
Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]’s Job [Infernal Hellblade] has risen from [Level 21] to [Level 22]
Attributes have increased due to level up
Thankfully, Tasianna is doing a good job.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
With a good chunk of the beetles dead and the remaining ones focused on Grimnir, I flew over to where Saori was while Ellaine continued hanging onto my waist. As Tasianna, Saori’s garms, and Muraina finally rendezvoused with us, I looked over in Grimnir’s direction, noticing he was stuck behind the mountain of corpses and army of beetles.
Clicking my tongue at Grimnir’s reckless action, I climbed up the wall next to the tunnel entrance, high enough to see behind him. Warp Point: Entry! I cast the entry point behind him before slipping back into the tunnel and opening the [Warp Point: Exit]. As the air opened up, revealing Grimnir behind it, roaring and swinging his hammer around, I grabbed his shoulder and pulled the armored taz through the portal before closing it.
My [Prediction] warned me to turn around, where I noticed the bugs shifting their bodies around to rush towards us. Grimnir’s [Taunt] was still in effect, luring all of them towards us.
Verdammt, gotta close the tunnel.
“I’ll handle this! You guys get to the queen and clean this up!” Nobody disagreed with my suggestion. They knew exactly what I could do, even if it sounded like a flag.
After Saori led the group deeper into the dark tunnel, I turned my head around and activated [Aerokinesis]. Breathing in deeply, I filled my lungs with enough oxygen to make me feel lightheaded, before releasing a massive “KriAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” roar at them.
The ones leading the army were immediately crushed by the sheer force of my [Draconic Roar], blown away like ragdolls. The waves of beetles were pushed back, being forced to look at alternative ways to bypass this chokepoint I was holding on my own. I sent out my [Unheilge Engel] as sharp obsidian spears to strike at the stragglers. While our Quest was to kill the geisenlarg queen, I didn’t want to completely disregard the opportunity to farm experience.
Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]’s Job [Infernal Hellblade] has risen from [Level 22] to [Level 24]
Attributes have increased due to level up
“Argh, verdammt, my throat.” One thing my vocal coach always told me to do was to stop the moment my throat began to hurt and give it a rest, otherwise I would risk damaging the most valuable asset a vocalist can have. Singing for an hour or two at the concert wasn’t a problem, but I guess roaring for this long was.
I took a moment to drink some water to moisten my vocal cords, which the beetles mistook as an opening. They attacked, only to be cut down by my [Unhelige Engel] before they could even reach me. As I pondered which spell to use next, I suddenly heard something approaching from behind me, in the tunnel Saori and the others ran into.
Oh, nice, they finished that quickly. Sadly no exp for me, was what I thought when I saw the silhouettes of Saori, Tasianna, Ellaine, Grimnir, and Muraina riding on the backs of the garms. But the closer they came, the more I was confused at their panicking expressions and how the garms were sprinting.
“Move, Hestia!” As Saori shouted, the walls of the tunnel began to tremble as a deep, booming “Skrouuuuuuuch!” erupted from the darkness in the back. As I looked closer, I saw the tunnel breaking, making way for the rampage of something huge.
As we all jumped back into the cavern, the tunnel exploded into dust and rocks before another “Skrouuuuuuch!” rumbled around us. From the cloak of dust, a giant dark green stinger shot at us with scary accuracy, destroying the ground we were standing in.
“Kuso.” Jumping off from Uno, Saori’s body exuded a blue mana mist, hiding her body from everybody’s eyes. In the next second, from above, a giant black lightning-clad wolf jumped out from the shadow of a bridge. With lightning concentrating around one of her front paws, she landed on the creature in the dust and smashed her paw into it, causing an explosion of black lightning, blowing away all the dust and smoke.
“Skrreeeeuuuuch!!!”
“““Skruuuuch!!!”””
Standing on four giant, gauntlet-like legs with a pair of small front legs acting like a shield for its face, the creature standing before me screamed in pain. Saori’s attack had penetrated its shell. The geisenlarg soldiers screeched as they saw this tank-like monster howl in agony. To get fenrir Saori off its back, it tried to sting her with the giant scorpion-like stinger on its tail, but she dodged away just in time.
As that happened, Murainamaneuvered up into the air with [Air Walk] and shot an arrow into each of its four legs, piercing them before they invoked another of Muraina’s tricks. Chains made from air sprang out from the arrows and anchored themselves in the ground, preventing the monster from moving its legs. Once that spell was finished, the arrows dug themselves out from the legs and returned to Muraina, where she nocked another arrow on her bow to shoot.
“Tasianna?!” I turned to her as those two were keeping the monster preoccupied.
“It’s the queen, Lady Hestia. When we were walking through the tunnel, Miss Saori and Miss Muraina suddenly told us to turn back,” she explained what happened in my absence. With the queen suddenly appearing before us, it seemed our battle had to happen inside this cavern, where the other beetles were gathered.
The geisenlarg soldiers rushed over and attacked Muraina and Saori, stopping their assault on their queen. Some then dug out the ground Muraina’s chain spell was attached to, freeing the geisenlarg queen before two climbed on on her back. With another “Skrrouuuuch!” the queen postured itself to attack.
With the situation as it is, we needed to somehow land a decisive blow on the queen while bypassing all the soldiers supporting her. To penetrate a fortress like her, we had to get rid of the defenders first, then we could scale its body whenever we wanted. “Grimnir, use [Taunt]! We’ll clean the rest up.”
“Lass, I can’t use another [Taunt]. Taunting the queen with all her soldiers around is too dangerous for me to do!” [Taunt] allowed Grimnir to attract the attention of all the monsters around, but it also increased the damage they could do to him while decreasing the amount we would suffer. His armor is made out of my scales and has runes attached to them, but it would be too dangerous if he took all the damage just like that…
…if I wasn’t around.
“What are you talking about, Grimnir?! Don’t forget, I’m a healer! I can heal you up!”
“Huh?” Even with his helmet hiding his expression, I somehow was able to imagine his eyes widening up like two fish eyes. “O-Oh, that’s right. I kinda forgot that you aren’t just a flame spitter and pyromaniac.”
“Wait wha—!” I was about to complain but Ellaine suddenly grabbed me and pulled me onto Song’s back, helping me dodge the queen’s ramming attack. Once the coast was clear, I thanked Ellaine and called Grimnir. “Come on, you can trust me! I bloody saved your life in the nick of time against that slazzigula, did you forget?”
“Grrr, hmph! Bladdarg, I hear you, lass! I put my life in your care, so let’s do this already.” He then jumped off Sarasa’s back and held his shield high. The moment the queen jumped up to turn around, Grimnir slammed his shield down and roared! “Taunt! Pavise!”
As the soldiers and their queen charged forward, Grimnir stood his ground with me standing behind him, ready to support him in any way I could. Meanwhile, the others began their final assault.
“Skrrrouuuuuch!” Like a giant tank, the queen’s legs stomped on the ground as she charged forwards with full intent to kill.
“Urgh, this reminds me too much of the mandatory military training I had to do in the Ankor-Nazta. Shield wall. Hold the line. Bladdarg,” Grimnir complained to hide his anxiety of seeing a mammoth-sized four-legged tank charging at him like this. Runes activated around his body, empowering him with stats and bonuses.
I tapped on his shoulder to calm him down. “Buuuut, I bet you didn’t have a champion of Aurena on your side back then, right? Don’t worry, you’re part of Aurora now, I won’t let you down, Grimnir! Sanctified Blaze: Halo of Consecration. Sanctuary!” Our goal was right in front of us, I decided it was now alright to use my fire attacks to end this quickly. As my white flames began healing his wounds and enchanting his hammer, a dome of holy mana surrounded us.
“Yeah. Tazongs always stand firm with their shields up. Rune activate, Holdwall.” The [Defensive Rune: Pavise] in front of us grew up to match the size of the queen, bracing for impact. “Pour some mana into me, lass. Activating all these runes takes a toll on my Mana.”
“Got it.”
As the sound of the stomps blasted in my ears, the queen roared once more before she shattered my barrier and rammed into the mana wall created through [Defensive Rune: Pavise].
“Urgh!”
“Grruk!”
While supporting Grimnir’s back, the impact of the queen’s charge rocked my body with an incredible shockwave. As I moaned from us being pushed back, Grimnir clenched his teeth and growled at the giant beetle with spite, holding his feet on the ground, ignoring the fact they were being slowly dug into the ground. The [Geisenlarg Queen] might be a newly spawned B rank like the bolushzu alpha, but it seemed she’d actually managed to gain some levels, unlike the latter.
“Grrrargh! Shield Slam!” Moving his feet forward, Grimnir confronted the queen’s charge without fear, attempting to push it back once the charge wore off. The queen did not slack off either, shooting her stinger forward to try to break through Grimnir’s shield. It was a stalemate, but that was where the geisenlarg soldiers and I battled each other.
“Get away!” I released my [Draconic Aura] and a wave of holy fire from [Halo of Consecration], scaring and burning a few of them back. However, at this stage, these things were almost feral, charging right through the flames to attack Grimnir, ramming against his shield.
[Defensive Rune: Pavise] was similar to the [Defensive Rune: Auracoil] that Farron used in my spar with him, except that the former protected the user from physical attacks while the latter was exclusively for mana-based attacks. It could soak up a lot of attacks provided that Grimnir kept pouring mana into the rune, but unlike auracoil, it only projected a mana wall, not a mana barrier.
While I was able to keep the beetles from attacking us from behind using spells, the beetles managed to land some hits on Grimnir from the side with boulders and rocks. [Taunt] not only increased the damage done to Grimnir, it also increased how much Stamina he needed to use for each consecutive [Taunt] usage.
However, as I kept healing him and warding anything from attacking his back, it bought us just enough time for the others to prepare their finishing blow.
“Pinning legs down now! Ellaine, go!”
“Got it! Musclemass!”
“Skruch!”
As Grimnir and I held the line, I managed to look over his shoulder while my parallel minds handled the enemies from behind. I saw Muraina pinning the legs of the queen to the ground once again, trapping her and preventing her from pushing Grimnir forward.
As the queen squirmed from this, Ellaine appeared wearing both spell rings on her left arm. Using [Musclemass], flesh tendrils materialized on her arm, altering its appearance into some grisly mutant bodybuilder’s. Using [Piercing Shot], her whipsword made from the high ogre’s axe pierced onto one of the queen’s hind legs, where she pulled herself towards it before delivering a massive uppercut to the inside of the ankle.
Screaming, the queen involuntarily bent her leg forward, causing her to lose balance. As Ellaine did it to its second hind leg, Grimnir took this opportunity to use [Shield Slam] once again, finally toppling the monster into a position it couldn’t stand up from. With all the beetles focusing on Grimnir due to [Taunt], none of them could help her escape this predicament.
With no one to rely on, the queen desperately attempted to use her tail to push her up, but that was when the garms jumped on from the shadows and used their mana threads to restrain and immobilize it. With Ellaine using her whipsword to lower the monster’s defense, it was in an incredibly vulnerable position.
Good! Wait, where are Saori and Tasianna?! As I wondered where the last two were, Muraina suddenly pointed upwards. There, I saw a massive ice spike dangling from the ceiling. Looking closer, I saw Tasianna using her catalyst to keep it growing.
She clapped her hands, and black electricity crackled around the top edge of the icicle. It separated from the ceiling and started to fall. With a loud howl from nowhere, lightning exploded once again from the backside of the giant icicle, accelerating its descent.
“Oh shit! Warp Point: Entry. Warp Point: Exit!” With the final attack descending, I opened a portal and dragged Grimnir with me through it, appearing inside the tunnel the queen made. Without Grimnir pushing her back anymore, the queen attempted to stand up, but it was too late.
With Muraina and everybody from Aurora watching from a safe distance, the icicle crashed right through the queen’s body. Ice was the geisenlargs’ weakness, so their extra tough shells were no match for Tasianna’s attack. As the queen screamed from the agony, I noticed somebody falling from the sky.
It was Saori.
“Voltage Impact!” With her twin catalyst in her hands, the electrical power exploded in Saori’s palms as she crashed them against the icicle, causing a black thunder explosion. With the extra force, it completely went through the queen’s body.
Appearing next to me through [Shadow Dash], Saori howled in victory, “Awhroooooooooooooooh!”
Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]’s Job [Infernal Hellblade] has risen from [Level 24] to [Level 30]
Attributes have increased due to level up
Max level of Job [Infernal Hellblade] has been reached
Mutation requirements acquired. [Level 30] of Job [Infernal Hellblade] was achieved. Mutation skills unlocked for acquisition. [Instant Heat Ignition], [Infernal Coating] have been added to the SP shop
Yes!
“Krawooooooooooooooh!” I joined the howling. It was a shame that I couldn’t get another level up from killing the queen, but from how much I’d already gained from the rachonoid queen and Astalos, I guess a newly spawned B rank wouldn’t be enough for me after the party experience split. Still, finally finishing [Infernal Hellblade] and unlocking two new mutation skills made this trip absolutely worth it.
As the dust began to settle, I turned around to Saori. “New spell?”
“Not really. I want to turn it into an ability, but you know, you need to perform it 100 times to learn it. Doing 100 [Gale Steps] is easy, but this? Jeez. This was just a freestyle attack, where I concentrated all my electrical mana into my catalyst and used my racial skill [Stygian Voltage] and my Job skill [Rampaging Thunder] to create that.”
“Hold on, you switched Jobs?!” I looked at Saori with bafflement, only to have Grimnir answer my question.
“The two of us went to the guild to change our jobs while you were visiting the orphanage. We had to go to the middle district, so we thought, ‘why not?’”
“My racial Job created through [Stygian Voltage], [Howling Lightning]. I switched from [Chef], since I thought this would be a great way to level it up for my mutations. I managed to max it out before killing the Queen, but I gained a level instead!” As I congratulated Saori for her accomplishment, the screeching of the beetles suddenly erupted anew, drawing our attention.
With their queen dead, the beetles were making noise randomly to show their confusion. As I wondered what to do with them, another firework suddenly exploded in the ceiling, sending another rain of wind arrows down at all the geisenlargs. Muraina cleaning everything up.
“One last clean-up, and the Quest will be completed. Come on, people.” Under Muraina’s orders, we went deeper into the tunnel the queen appeared from, finding her lair and eggs. The geisenlarg larvae were currently being fed by a buncha mindless geisenlarg soldiers, unaware that their queen was dead.
“By the six, we fought that many soldier drones on our way here but this colony hadn’t produced a single worker yet? That shouldn’t be possible. Breeding soldier drones costs so much energy and time. Haaaaa, two B rank urgent Quests in one day.” After shaking her head, Muraina turned around to me, looking at me with with a serious expression. “Hestia.”
“Are you sure you want me to burn this whole place down? Didn’t you say without the queen, the colony would be doomed?” I asked, since I felt bad having to kill these remaining geisenlargs like this.
“You don’t need to target the soldiers or the larvae who will turn into soldiers and workers if you wish. However, we need to kill the ones destined to become princesses, otherwise, they will be nurtured into more queens to create their own colonies. It is a necessity.”
Sighing, I understood what she meant. I told the others to leave before releasing my scale-dust into the room. If these geisenlargs had grown into a complete colony, they could have overwhelmed a city without a doubt. It would be another bug problem for Artorias if that happened. My action was ruthless, but I didn’t want to have to deal with these things again.
It also wouldn’t be good if Artorias fell into chaos as they were planning to mend relationships with the other races. This was one of my objectives as Aurena’s champion.
“Gzzk!” Once I had spread enough scale-dust, I gnashed my fangs together and set the whole room on fire. With my catalyst’s heat aura, I came out of it completely unharmed, aside from breathing in some smoke, despite taking it head-on.
Saori and Muraina then scoured the room, checking for any nooks and crannies to make sure we didn’t leave any loose threads behind. With the room completely black with charred bodies and nothing else, our Quest was fulfilled. After we dismantled the queen, we returned to the surface.
There, the Haireti congratulated and thanked us all for our help. As a sign of gratitude, they handed us packages full of berries, fruits, mushrooms, and herbs from the forest, having spoken with Tasianna about what we would very much like after we helped them. It also doubled as a “tribute of friendship,” as they called it, to me.
They urged me to accept even more from them, but I felt uncomfortable taking any more, even after Saori told me it was alright. A “tribute” just didn’t sit well with me. It made me feel too much like a tyrant or something, even though I’d learned from Tasianna that this was just considered a “royal welcoming package.” Hospitality for foreign royalty and ambassadors.
With the Haireti responsible for draining the ground of mana, to prevent any more high-rank monsters from spawning, and taking care of all the geisenlarg corpses, our group took a rest. Well, we did rest, but Saori took this chance to learn of the taste buds of the elves by cooking for them.
Since Muraina mentioned that elves had no cultural or religious food preferences, it was quite easy to cook for them. However, we did learn that all the elves in attendance disliked the extremely oily and fatty foods, unlike Grimnir and our usual guests. They preferred dishes that gave them a fresher feeling in their mouth, rather than fried ones.
However, we couldn’t stay here for the night, unfortunately. As today was Sunday, and the academy was closed on the weekends, Ellaine was allowed to come out today, but tomorrow she had to return. She could ride the rest of the way with her gargoyle, but she needed to rest for today at the very least.
As such, we returned to the RV and slowly departed back to Griffonpeak. What a wild ride it was with all those insects, but I guess the life of a hunter was also that of an exterminator. Well, it could have been worse.
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Footsteps. The movements of mandibles digging through earth. All of these sounds were being made in an underground tunnel. A monster the size of a large dog with the form of a beetle was digging through piles of dirt and rocks while carrying something pulsating on its sticky back. Meat and plants were attached to this monster like a backpack, but it didn’t care, it continued digging while making sure the objects on its back were safe.
Mindless, no, rather, it was simply following the last order its mother gave it. “Protect my child,” it understood through the special connection a queen had to its drone. Many of its siblings were larger and far stronger than it, but it wasn’t born to fight. It was born to work, to carry, to dig, to build a colony.
It was the first and last of its kind within its family. It was a geisenlarg worker. And what was on its back?
An egg.