「Lily, I have a favor to ask. Can you take Lia somewhere safe? I'll meet you at the inn, take her there, alright?」
Straf turns his eyes away from the giant worm and turns them towards the little vampire's crimson eyes.
「…Must I? Why?」
She glances at Cycelia with a displeased expression, then up at Straf, sighing and not bothering to hide her frustration at all.
「Because its attack pattern is obviously going to put her in danger. Can you?」
Straf says and points out the worm with the tip of his new sword.
「Am I going to get something out of it?」
Lily asks, glancing at the worm as well. It lets out a rumbling, low growl that vibrates the very dirt beneath their feet.
「Tsk. Fine. You can have some of my blood later, but keep an eye on her until I come back. I'll kill this thing for some XP real quick.」
Straf clicks his tongue, rolls his eyes and shrugs his shoulders as he places his free hand in his pocket. He looks down at Lily again, with a grimace.
「…Very well. I feel still in your debt anyhow.」
Lily nods and turns to Cycelia, walking closer to her.
「Come, human.」
「Eh?-」
Lily shifts her parasol aside, and wraps her free hand around Cycelia's narrow corseted waist. Cycelia backs away a step and exclaims her surprise at the sudden contact.
「Eh!?」
Lily hauls Cycelia onto her shoulder. Perplexed, she can only exclaim surprise again with huge, widening eyes.
「Don't keep me waiting long, it's unbecoming of a gentleman.」
The little vampire says, turning her gaze away from Straf as she takes a few steps towards the treeline.
「Eeeeeeehhhhhh!?!-」
Lily leaps, and Cycelia's shocked voice Doppler-shifts away as she finds herself on a treetop far above the ground. The tree shakes violently, and both of them disappear further into the forest. Straf stops following the girls with his eyes, and turns his attention to the worm.
Appearing to react to the sound of Cycelia's delayed voice, it rapidly shoots forward towards Straf then abruptly stops part-way.
「Woah. Pretty quick for your size, aren't you? Did you get lost on the way to the desert?」
Straf asks the worm, and it doesn't react.
「…Gotta be louder, huh? Athea, was this scripted to pop out whenever the hero gets the sword, or did I make it come out?」
《…I can't believe this. I just can't believe this. You managed to ruin two things at once! This wasn't supposed to come out of hibernation for another 40 years!》
Athea's frustrated voice once again echoes in Straf's head.
「Oh, so it wasn't scripted? Cool. How does it work? I could see it react to sound, will it react to footsteps?」
Straf asks, taking a few steps in an effort to lazily circle-strafe the worm. The moment Straf takes his third step, its slow, grass-crushing undulating zigzags turn into violent earth-rumbling bounces off the ground. It barrels towards Straf through the air, its toothed maw widens to engulf a large area.
「Uh, why isn't my ability- Oh shit.」
Straf asks, but abandons his question when he sees the massive worm mouth closing in over him. He jumps sideways ripping a large chunk of earth out with his feet, and takes a few more hops further to the side.
Bang!
The worm slams into the ground with its hungering front-end, and begins pulsating front to back, as it sits stiffly tipped with its tail upward to the sky.
「Yeah, great! It's just slow enough for it to not work, but fast enough for me to need to haul ass! This ability fucking sucks! How many more loopholes does it have!?」
Straf shouts at the sky in frustration.
《Shut up! Those abilities weren't even supposed to normally combine! Your whole success so far is a loophole! Ahhhh! This thing isn't even meant to be on the surface! It's supposed to churn the rocks beneath and move rare materials up!》
Despite it being only her frustrated voice being raised, Athea's fist can practically be heard banging on her throne's armrest. Reacting to Straf's voice, the worm goes limp and its tail plummets back to the ground.
Bang!
The fissure in the ground widens as the worm's heavy body slams down, causing another short-lived tremor. It turns its menacing maw towards him, but doesn't move otherwise.
「So, basically, it's an underground garbage man?」
《Yes! And you just disturbed its 150 year long sleep!》
「Wow, big fucking deal. A true working man sleeps 2 hours, and runs off energy drinks for the remaining 22.」
Straf scoffs, and focuses his eyes on his sword again as the worm slowly undulates across the ground in his general direction.
「Athea, what can you tell me about this sword? What's the mana strike thing? Why does it come pre-charged? Are there batteries I can swap out?」
Straf asks, lowering his sword to pay attention to the worm.
《No you, idiot! All the mana in the sword is what the hero poured into it over the rest of his life! If you waste it, you're throwing away his life into the trash!》
「You mean like you did with mine?」
《Krrrkkrk…》
Athea is so frustrated she can't even form words, and instead seethes through her teeth.
「How about return? If I throw it at the worm, will it come back like a boomerang?-」
《No! It can't break physics! I can't be bothered to explain deterministic chaos and world volume to you-》
「Hey, don't treat me like an actual idiot. I know some of it. So, it will return, but it has to look like a coincidence, right?」
《…Yes. And even then, it's a gamble.》
Athea pauses, surprised by Straf's understanding of the concept. He takes a step forward towards the worm.
「Well, I'm going to hack this ugly sausage up into a forbidden salami. Hey, albino chorizo! C'mere!」
Straf calls out to the worm, and it reacts without a delay. It leaps through the air with uncanny speed, agility and dexterity for its hulking body. Straf anticipates the movement, and hops out of the way of its maw before it's even close.
Bang!
The worm lands beside Straf, and he cocks his sword arm back.
「Dumbass, telegraphing like that… You're not good enough to be a tutorial boss!-」
Straf shouts, slashing his sword at the worm. Its rubbery skin deforms inwards, the worm starts toppling away from Straf as his weapon bounces away harmlessly.
「Huh? What the fuck? What the fuck!? Why did it not just cleave it apart!? How fucking shit is this sword!?」
Straf shouts, utterly confused and surprised by the results of his attack, or lack thereof.
《It's just a regular iron sword the hero bought from his village's smith, what did you expect!?》
Bang!
「An endgame weapon! What the fuck!?」
Straf shouts as he stares into the dark maw of hundreds of teeth right in front of him…
…
「Waaaahhh!!」
Thud.
Cycelia screams, and Lily lands on the ground with her boots. The inertia from the leap forces Cycelia uncomfortably into the little vampire's shoulder and yanks her head downwards, but is otherwise harmless.
「There. And stop screaming already. It's insufferable.」
Lily says as she sets Cycelia down on her feet. Pale, shaken and wide-eyed with a tight-lipped grimace, she looks down at the frustrated vampire.
「That was really, really, really, really scary. Please don't do that again.」
She meekly pleads Lily as she glares up at Cycelia from beneath her parasol.
「I won't, it was Straf's request-」
Bang.
A loud, rumbling echo emanates from up the hill in the distance.
「…As I said, it was his request. I only care about Straf's well-being, not yours. Come, we'll walk the rest of the way.」
Lily says, and walks out of the treeline towards the village center. Cycelia skittishly follows, still recovering from the shock of the travel far too fast for her. They enter the inn, and Lily folds her parasol. She walks to one of the many empty tables, and takes a seat. Cycelia joins her, sitting with her hands on her lap.
「My… What a classless, low-brow and tasteless hovel. Perfect fit for the ownerless chattel…」
Lily looks around herself, noting the dirt-stained muddy planks at the door, knife-notched tables and an empty cobweb here and there. She sighs, with her face being a mix of fatigue and boredom.
「Greetings, fine ladies. What can I do for you?-」
The innkeeper walks up to their table with his hands clasped, he recognizes Cycelia from earlier, then turns his gaze to the unfamiliar little girl sitting in her chair with her back perfectly straight, and her folded parasol in her lap.
「You could get lost, for example.」
Lily bluntly declares, not bothering to even look at him. She continues intently staring at the entrance.
「Ah- Ah… Well, if you want to order something… You know where to find me…」
The innkeeper is a little taken aback by Lily's mouthy reply, but seeing as Cycelia is nervous, he picks up the cue that something is not right, and timidly backs out while nodding. A momentary silence falls onto the inn.
Bang.
Only to be interrupted by a rumbling sound of impact, coming from an indistinct, distant direction. The entire inn shakes lightly, and tankards clatter for a brief moment.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
「I- I hope Straf is okay…」
Cycelia meekly comments, looking at the jiggling candle chandelier.
「Redwing girl… Why do you follow him around?」
「Huh?」
「Do not pretend you haven't heard me.」
Lily asks, without bothering to turn her gaze to Cycelia. She continues staring at the door with a serious expression.
「He… He promised me he'll return the throne to me…」
Cycelia answers, looking down at the table while fiddling with her medallion. Her brows are furrowed, and her lips are turned gently downward.
「And when that happens, will you finally leave him?」
Lily asks, turning her vermilion eyes to Cycelia's gaze.
「I… I don't know. I know I will have to manage the kingdom for a while, I don't know how long… But…」
Her emerald eyes blink, and she grimaces as she thinks.
「Are you not aware you are a burden to him?」
Lily glares at Cycelia. A very thin veil separates the cold, and hostile gaze from being outright violent.
「I… I know, but-」
「But? But you will selfishly tie him down into your petty human squabbles?」
Bang.
The inn rumbles again. Lily continues glaring at Cycelia over the table, while she has no courage to look up from it. She frowns heavily, toying with her sapphire-set medallion without replying.
「I will help you. Specifically, I will help Straf put you back on your throne, Redwing girl. But then, enough of this. Any fool can see Straf is above petty human squabbles, spats over spittles of land, laughable politics of short-lived worms. Your kingdoms change hands more often than I change my clothes. Pathetic, and laughable.」
Lily glares at Cycelia with a serious, disdainful face…
…
Bang!
The worm slams maw-first into the dirt again from its leap, Straf side steps narrowly and stabs away at the worm to no effect.
「You made a sword too good to throw away, but too shit to actually use! Who's the sadistic one here!?」
Straf jumps away, noting that his attacks have little to no effect on the worm's rubbery, pale skin. Its tail flops down onto the ground, crushing a nearby softer rock outcrop.
《I didn't make it! It's just a regular iron sword I blessed! If if it was undead or a demon, it would have been already dead!》
「And why is this piece of shit so tough!? It's just a stupid worm! Shouldn't a sword make slices out of it in a second!?」
《It crawls through sharp rock, hard metals and immense pressure! How tough do you think its outer layer has to be to do that!?》
「Fuck it, if I can't kill it I'll just leave-」
《Don't! If you leave, it'll likely rampage on the surface! It's supposed to churn the rock and hunt subterranean creatures, if it gets a taste for the flesh of surface dwellers, nothing good will come out of it! And it's your fault!》
Athea shouts at Straf in his mind as the worm tries to locate him again. It wriggles slowly into a random direction and lets out a rumbling growl that echoes off the treeline.
「Okay, first off… How is that my problem? Second, I could just bat it into a home run, but it would likely land in the capital. In other words, not only do I not care, I also have no means to kill it. I'm leaving-」
Straf takes a step, and the worm slithers its maw in his direction.
《Oh, so a stupid worm is too much for you? You're running away from a worm? Pathetic.》
Athea's voice halts him in his tracks.
「I am not running away…」
Straf says, turning his head at the pale tunneler worm. It waits, listening for ground disturbances or loud noises. Straf sighs, and scowls at the sky.
「You bitch. You were holding this one up in your sleeve, huh? Well, guess what? Fine, it'll work exactly once. This time.」
Straf seethes at the blue sky above him.
「I'll just use my other sword to hack it the fuck up-」
He shrugs, and takes a serious combat stance with his free hand sticking out to the side.
《Forget about using your swords, they won't do much either. If you had an adamantine blade, it could do some damage. Adamantine is one of the few things they can't chew through.》
Athea interrupts his actions again.
「Alright, fine! Fuck! Magic it is then!」
Straf throws his hands up in frustration. An ice-blue orb appears in front of him, and the next moment a narrow, a translucent beam of same color shoots towards the worm across the once grassy field, now crushed and flat. It recoils slightly, and its skin frosts over with a layer of snow at the point of impact, but not much else happens.
「What the fuck? Why'd it do nothing!?」
The worm reacts to Straf's surprised shout, and it leaps through the air at him again.
Bang!
Straf quickly evades the telegraphed attack, placing himself at the other side of the field before the worm can recover, crossing a distance improbable for a normal human in such a short time span.
《All of its bodily fluids are insensitive to temperature changes, freezing or boiling it won't work. You could try burning through it…》
「I don't know any fucking fire spells!」
Straf exclaims, and the air in front of him blurs. An orb of blurred air shoots across the field, trailing a horribly loud noise behind it, as if fighter jets were flying with vuvuzelas underneath their wings. A split second later, the blurred air impacts the worm. A sound of explosion echoes off the trees, and the worm rolls over.
The next second when it's done recoiling from the blow, it leaps at the late sound of Straf's windbolt.
「Great, so it's immune to that too.」
Straf shrugs his shoulders in annoyance. He sighs, grimacing as he looks at the worm with a furstrated expression with his fist on his hip.
《Why wouldn't it be? It lives underground, an impact like that is not any worse than a small boulder falling onto it.》
「Well, I'm out of fucking options. I could use mana strike I guess-」
《Don't. Just think of something. Don't waste the hero's legacy on something like this.》
「Arghhhhhhh…」
Straf lets out a frustrated sigh. His annoyed, bored eyes look at the worm, then drift off to the landscape as he thinks. He takes in the sight of the beautiful, crystal clear water rippling gently across the shallow lake nearby. Then, his eyes widen.
「Hm! Athea! You said its fluids are insensitive to temperature changes, right?」
Straf asks, looking at the worm with his eyebrows raised and his hand in his pocket.
《Yes, I did. That's why it didn't just freeze over, the moisture just isn't enough-》
「Yeah, yeah yeah, exposition. What I want to know is, why is it insensitive to temperature changes?」
Straf keeps looking at the worm as it undulates across the flattened, once picturesque green grass.
《So its blood doesn't boil away, or freeze if it happens to get too close to the surface in extreme temperatu-》
「So what you are saying is, it's pretty resistant to getting crushed. It's resistant to being slashed and stabbed. It's resistant to temperature swings…」
《Yes, what are you getting at?》
「If its fluids were sensitive to temperature changes, that would be trouble for the worm, right?」
Straf looks at the sky, his brows still raised as he theorizes in his head.
《…Yes? Did you not understand that the first time around-》
「Heh. Heheheh…」
Straf lowers his head and starts chuckling to himself.
《Did you lose your mind? What are you cackling to yourself about?》
Athea asks, and Straf leaps massive hops across the field in singular steps, heading towards the lake. The worm picks up on the movements, but Straf is simply too fast for it to track. He stops right at the edge of the water, and with his hand in his pocket, he turns to the worm with a grin.
「Hey, ripoff! C'mere!」
Straf whistles, and shouts at the worm. It reacts with no delay, leaping across the grassy field. It lands half-way there, then leaps again even higher. Straf anticipates the attack and activates [Contextual Time Perception], jumping backwards across the surface of the water.
《Huh, neat. It's like shifting sands.》
Straf thinks, as he hops further and further into the lake along its surface. He disables his ability, and he sinks knee-deep into the lake. He wiggles his leg a little, seemingly unimpeded by the water.
Bang!
「Hm. As expected, the abilities are working. Alright. Hey, ripoff! Here's your favorite, water! Prove you're original and don't leap in-!」
《Aaaaaaand it's leaping for the water.》
Straf thinks, as the worm flies through the air in slow-motion. He steps onto the water's surface, and leisurely walks out of the way. He de-activates [Contextual Time Perception] again, and the worm barrels into the water maw-first.
Splashbang!
Waves rip across the surface, and the worm flops down onto the surface relatively alien to him. Water. It undulates across the muddy bottom of the lake, taking in more and more water, like a tilted water bottle.
「That's right, keep gulping away. Bet no one told you to stay hydrated before, huh?」
Straf grins, as the worm splashes around. The new environment is clearly confusing to the worm, as it chases the sounds of splatters aimlessly before calming down.
《What are you planning?》
Athea asks with a mildly concerned tone of voice.
「Oh, you'll see… Do you really want me to spoil the best part?」
Straf keeps grinning, and glances at the sky for a second. The worm continues taking on water, visibly swelling. A few moments pass, and the worm is sitting idle, wobbling heavily when it makes its odd move every now and then…