“Might as well get this over with.” Viola drew her Stone’s Bane Sword fluidly, its silver blade glinting in the lantern light. The orange-haired bunny girl braced herself, ready for battle.

“Not bad, but I can do better,” the mole queen boasted. “Behold as I draw by sword in a manner much more menacingly than you!” The odd girl froze afterwards for a rather awkward moment. “I-I forgot I don’t have one. Oopsie!” She thrust her arms out in yet another wonky-looking pose.

“You know, we can avoid the whole fighting thing if you just step aside.”

“No can do! Come out my servants! Protect your queen!” With the mole queen’s words, an otherworldly breeze blew through the tunnel, coming from behind the odd woman. Ghostly streams of white accompanied it, reaching out over the mole queen. The streams seemed to have faces.

“A-Are those ghosts?!”

“No, they’re wisps. They are classified as undead though,” Eks offered, her crimson eyes studying the creatures. There were three wisps in total for now, the undead beings arcing overhead.

“Undead?! Didn’t she call herself the mole queen?! Why undead?!”

“Who said a mole queen can’t dabble in necromancy?” The mole queen in question responded, holding her right fist to her right temple in attempted cuteness. Due to her ridiculous getup, the pose didn’t quite work for her.

“Okay. There are three of them. I can do this. Wait a moment!” “Why are there five of them now?!”

“There are five because I summoned two more. Three plus two is five. Can you not do basic math?”

“I wasn’t asking about the math!” The green-eyed bunny girl glanced up nervously, eyeing the wisps circling overhead. “Okay. No big deal. There is just five for now. Correction, there are seven now. What the heck?!” “Stop summoning more of them already!”

“Sorry for being too awesome for you! Behold, ten wisps! I will defeat you with my ten wisps!” the mole queen bellowed, doing a bit of a preliminary victory dance.

“T-This woman! Why do I have the sudden urge to poke her with my sword?!” Viola looked from the mole queen, to the wisps, and then back to the mole queen. “A-Are you done yet? Can I start fighting now?”

“I am done for now!” The mole queen nodded in satisfaction, crossing her arms. “Who will win? You or my ten wisps? W-Why are you glaring at me!”

“Why indeed?” Viola deadpanned before turning her attention back to the overhead wisps. They were still just arcing overhead, not doing much of anything other than looking ominous. The bunny girl held her sword aloft, her emerald eyes following the creatures. The scene of the wisps was actually somewhat pretty in its own kind of way.

“Should I just ignore them and go for the mole queen? No, they will probably try attacking me from behind or something. They are just floating around up there though. Should I try addressing them?” “Uh… Come at me.” Viola’s words seemed to set off a frenzy overhead, the creatures picking up speed and spiraling above the bunny girl. One by one, they began arcing downward, rushing towards her.

***

“She’s so cute when she’s fending off a storm of wisps,” Eks thought as she watched the battle before her. “That’s kind of a weird thought to have, isn’t it? Anyway, how’s everyone else doing?” She turned her crimson eyes towards the other two members of their group. Elise was sheltering behind Elron, and Elron had a pocket dagger in hand. “Figures he had a pocket dagger on him. Well, I don’t think I need to worry about those two.” The cat girl turned her attention back to her cute bunny girl girlfriend, her cat ears twitching with interest.

The green-eyed bunny girl bobbed back and forth as she dodged, her shoulder-length hair swaying with the movements. The wisps continued to rush her with ferocity, refusing to let up. Viola was quick though and had managed to avoid getting smacked thus far.

“Not bad, Vi! Keep it up!” Eks cheered, her white tail swishing with excitement.

“You could help, you know!” the bunny girl responded, ducking a wisp that came barreling at her.

“You got this!” The cat girl gave a thumbs up, smiling as she did so.

“You’re not actually helping, you know!”

Eks put her right hand behind her head and laughed sheepishly. “Don’t worry, Vi! I’ll jump in if you need me!” The blue-haired cat girl had a huge grin on her face as she watched her girlfriend jump about. “You’re doing great!”

“I’d be doing better if you’d actually help!” Viola protested as she swung her sword but missed the wisp she was aiming for. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. Every time she swung, the darn things kept moving out of the way. She hadn’t been able to score a real hit on any of them yet.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“If she can’t hit them, that is a problem.” Her crimson eyes studied the battle in front of her. “Should I step in?” There was another failed wisp onslaught followed by yet another failed counter from the bunny girl. “Well, it isn’t like the wisps are scoring hits either.” Just then, Viola’s blade nicked a wisp as it flew past her. It wasn’t much of a hit, but it was progress. “Guess I’ll keep watching for now.”

“What’s this?” Eks pouted as she noticed a pair of wisps breaking away from Viola. One was leading, and the other was trailing behind. Both were heading straight towards her. “Fine! If they want to play I’ll oblige!”

Her smile changed as the pair approached. It became something twisted, something sadistic, perhaps even inhuman. Not even having drawn her sword, the red-eyed cat girl appeared to be completely open, yet she somehow looked positively terrifying. The trailing wisp slowed, seemingly unsure if it should continue. The leading wisp, though, was undeterred, rocketing forward. The gap closed, and it was over. In no time flat, Eks’s dagger was in hand and plunging into the wisp head on. Its body buckled and exploded into puffs of residual white smoke.

The trailing wisp froze in fear a short distance away from the blue-haired cat girl. Her crimson eyes watched it, taunting it. It fled, not back to the fight with Viola but from the whole darn battlefield.

Eks returned her Night Edge Dagger to its sheath, her white tail swishing contently as she watched the wisp flee down the tunnel. However, when she glanced back at Elron and Elise, she sweatdropped, having found the color to have drained from both their faces. “Maybe I overdid it a bit.” Recomposing herself, the beautiful cat girl turned her attention back to the fight between Viola and the remaining eight wisps.

***

Viola ducked down as a wisp zipped past overhead, the air whooshing as it passed. She straightened up and swung her Stone’s Bane Sword. However, her blade failed to find its target for the darn thing had already withdrawn. “Why can’t they just stay still and let me smack them already! Well, at least I managed to nick one earlier.”

The bunny girl glanced at the edge of her blade, recollecting the moment when it had just barely managed to bite into the side of one of those things. It hadn’t drawn blood when it happened. Did those things even have blood? They looked like animate streams of white smoke given solid form. Clicking her tongue in frustration, the green-eyed girl readied herself as a wisp lined up for its next charge.

The creature rushed towards the orange-haired bunny girl, its mouth agape in what Viola figured must have been some sort of war cry. It made no audible sound though, at least not a sound that was audible to the bunny girl. She gritted her teeth and rolled to her left. As she came to a stop, she lashed out with her sword. Success, the silver blade dug into the undead’s side as it flew by her. The sword cut deep as the creature’s momentum propelled it onward. Viola grinned as she looked over her shoulder at her handy work. The wisp had stopped, its body distorting, almost bubbling. The next moment, it exploded into small puffs of smoke.

“That’s one.” She turned her attention to the remaining seven wisps and her emerald eyes widened. “That can’t be good.” The remaining monsters appeared to be silently screaming, their bodies contorting. Their anger seemed to be consuming them, distracting them.

Deciding to exploit the situation, Viola rushed one of the creatures, a nearby one that wasn’t much above floor level. It didn’t notice the bunny girl’s approach as it continued its silent scream. With a swing of her sword, she bisected the monster’s face, the smokey thing rupturing and dissipating a moment later. With that one down, there were just six of the beasts left. Cockily, she scanned the area for her next mark. Instead of finding it, her smirk dropped away.

Around her, the remaining six had begun to circle like sharks. Actually, they had begun to circle like ridiculously fast sharks. They were zipping around at a dizzying rate. It was pretty safe to say that she was the center of their attention currently.

“Suddenly, I’m feeling like a worm on a hook in a school of fish, but I’m missing the hook. Definitely not a good feeling.” Viola sweatdropped, gripping her sword tightly. “Relax. Don’t freak. I can do this.” One wisp broke away from the circle and rushed towards her. She prepared to dodge and counter, but the thing never reached her. It veered away instead.

“What?! Why?!” She blinked in confusion, her emerald eyes scanning the area. She twisted around and got her answer. While the first had distracted her with the feint, a second had begun charging her from behind. Frantically, the bunny girl jumped to the right in the nick of time to avoid the blow. Unfortunately for her, she had jumped right into a third wisp, darn things and their teamwork.

It hit her like a battering ram. Pain coursed through her body as it buckled against the attack. The force of the blow sent her airborne, not much but a bit. She came crashing down shortly after. Viola lay on her back, staring upward limply. Above her, the creatures continued to circle in a frenzy. “Is this how I die as Viola. I… don’t want to die again.” Tears started to well up in her green eyes as one of the wisps began rocketing down towards her prone form.

Instead of death, Viola was greeted by the sight of Eks’s back. “You okay?” the cat girl queried, holding back the creature. She was rather nonchalantly holding the beast back with her right hand, her dagger not even drawn. With a little push, she repelled it.

“I’m,” the bunny girl started, willing herself to sit up, “actually not as bad as I thought.” The pain was subsiding surprisingly quickly. “Actually, I think I’m just a bit sore. Thanks for the save.” She smiled as she climbed to her feet. “Thought I was a goner there.”

“Don’t worry about the wisps. I’ll deal with them.”

“You sure? They’re pretty tough.” Viola glanced towards the remaining group of monsters, finding that they actually looked quite fearful now. “Actually, I think you’ll be fine.”

“Leave the wisps to me. You go deal with queeny.”

The bunny girl nodded in agreement before breaking away from the wisps battle. The wisps, for their part, didn’t try to stop her. Their attention seemed to have been monopolized by the cat girl before them.