I take Hana's hand and lead her towards the veranda. There's a set of leather sofas surrounding a tea table where a pair is already having fun, so I think it should be fine to do it over there.
I pull out a large sheet and cover the sofa with it, then I push Hana down.
-
Hukarere sits on a sofa nearby to watch, and an audience quickly starts to gather, curious to see how I'm going to destroy Hana -.
-
"Holy shit, that's amazing," Oritiki comments.
"It's… spinning…" Hukarere says absentmindedly.
"I think I've read this - novel before," the white Celestial goat comments with a knowing smirk.
Kaatohe gets out of the pool and comes over to watch -.
She maintains her gaze for a few seconds, her face remaining impassive, then she turns around and goes back into the pool. Through Aoi's eyes, I see her face instantly become worried as she holds a hand over her belly.
I have to show her that I can be gentle, too.
-
-
I'm feeling exhausted, and it's not even midday yet. Though I'm definitely proud of what I've done today, I'm sure that my ego is a little inflated right now.
We get up from the sofa and [Clean] off our sweat, then I pull out Hana's criminally small bikini and hand it to her.
"You're not skinny-dipping," I say.
"What are you talking about?" She innocently asks as she smiles, but [Bind] doesn't lie.
Alissa takes her arm, and Roxanne appears a second later. I give them their bikinis, and the three of them go find a room to change in.
Ciel is sitting on a bench with Lina on her lap, Yunia is beside her, Gify is on her shoulder, and Aoi is curled up beside her feet. She's casually chatting with the Celestial Horns about healing, and they're buttering up my angel with compliments. Contrary to what MMO players believe, it's never a good idea to belittle the person who's supposed to save you from death.
I calmly walk over to the pool and lower myself into the shallow area. I sigh in relief and let a small shudder spread through me as my overheated body is quickly cooled down. I see Kaatohe talking to a few part-cat Chimeras who appear to be rather similar to her. Our eyes meet, and she nods at me, then returns to her conversation and ignores my existence.
The two toy golems hover near the pool while Jarn stands at the edge. Since they don't interact with anyone, the guests left them alone and eventually started to ignore them.
A few seconds later, the girls come back. Gify pops on top of my head and nestles into my hair.
Alissa sits in the pool behind me and pulls me into a hug. She picks Gify up and deposits the cheeky griffin on my unwounded shoulder while grumbling, then she sighs and says, "I don't want you to get into a duel like that ever again."
"Same… I can still feel the phantom pains from my bones being cut, I don't want a repeat of that anytime soon."
"You two were amazing, though," Roxanne says and hugs my right arm -.
"I'd love it if Wolfy cut me like that," Hana says.
"And then start - doing you while you're still bleeding with a sword through your gut?" Roxanne asks.
"Exactly," Hana says and grins fearsomely.
"Barbarians…" Roxanne mumbles and rolls her eyes. Hana immediately pulls her into a hug and breathes down her neck.
"I know that it - makes you happy to see me get hurt," Hana growls in her ear.
Roxanne smiles but doesn't reply. She hugs my arm again, and we start our cuddling session.
Yunia is the next person to be challenged, but she doesn't use sharp swords, preferring to go the sportsman route. They use blunt swords that are wet with paint and play by Chimeric rules, which are actually more conservative than the imperial ones. When you can easily [Heal] a poked eye, such types of attacks become much more acceptable.
Yunia swallows an Eia pill and easily wins two duels in a row due to [Precognition]. In the third match, the Celestial blue goat manages to cast [Rush] mid-fight and overpowers her. If she had prepared [Soul Blade] beforehand, she'd have been able to hold him back, which is why these duels aren't a perfect measure of our strength. Strategy plays an increasingly important role for higher level participants, and having about a minute to prepare beforehand isn't enough time to come up with reliable strategies.
After that, she's too tired to keep fighting, so she's the next person to join us in the pool.
"You fought perfectly," I praise her.
"They had no counter for [Precognition], and when they tried something new, I fell immediately," she responds and pouts subtly.
I grab her hand and pull her into a hug. "Just the fact that you're able to use [Precognition] is amazing. Perhaps we can perfect your build with [Enhanced Reflexes] or [Rush] when you have enough free skill points."
"Hm…" She stares at me while she thinks about what I said.
I give her a peck on the lips, and her serious expression melts away. She lets out a soft chuckle, then rests her head against my chest. Her fluffy hair gets wet and quickly loses its majestic drill shape, but we all promise to help her redo her drills when we leave the pool.
I give a little bit of encouragement to Lina, and she accepts a duel in the same style as Yunia's.
She's using a long wooden axe and her kite shield that's more like a tower shield for someone her height. Her opponent is Paraaone, a tall, brown bull-headed man who's using a wooden glaive.
She's actually really uncomfortable with this duel since - her eye level is at a very "unfortunate" height.
Lina's serious face suddenly goes blank as she remembers something. "Ah… I'm sorry, Oritiki, but I'll have to use the stones of the patio to keep my footing," she says.
"What do you mean?" Oritiki asks.
"I make the earth grow around my feet so that I don't get launched away when I defend against an attack."
"Oo~h…" She glances at Thor and gives him an apologetic smile. The man sighs and shakes his head, then shrugs at her. "Ah, well, it's no problem, I'll just contact the builders after today," she replies.
"I-I'm sorry." Lina gives her a quick bow.
Oritiki waves her hand. "It's no problem."
Lina nods and returns to her combat stance. Her opponent smiles warmly at her, then his face suddenly turns menacing. Her gloomy look darkens as she hardens her nerves and shows her rare serious expression.
"Ready?" Oritiki asks.
"Yes," they answer in unison.
"Duel… start!"
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Paraaone immediately charges forward while Lina wraps her feet in stone. The menacing glare of the bull disappears for a moment, but he quickly recovers and sweeps horizontally with his glaive.
Everyone's eyes turn to Lina. She's using [Cursing Magic], and the novel type of mana that she's emitting makes them become very curious about her.
She easily defends against the swipe and counters with an [Earth Bullet]. Paraaone dodges it, but then he becomes confused and retreats. He knows what Lina's spells do, but he apparently doesn't understand what they do.
He spends a few seconds squinting his eyes at her and tilting his head. His "Intelligence" must be low because it seems that [Befuddle] is very effective against him.
Lina switches to [Demoralize], and Paraaone's attacks become sloppy. When he sweeps horizontally again, she manages to slip under the weapon's path, and her axe slashes at his thigh, leaving a long red line of paint behind.
"Point to Lina," Oritiki announces.
Paraaone slaps his own face, perhaps a little too hard as he winces in pain, but it seems to clear away [Befuddle] and [Demoralize] somewhat since his attacks seem to regain their previous vigour.
He starts to get angry when he fails to get through her shield. Dwarves specialize in defensive fighting, so there's no surprise there.
He takes a few steps back and starts chanting [Wind Hammer]. She casts [Earth Wall] behind him and activates [Enhanced Speed], then charges forward.
He was expecting Lina's spell to be aimed at his feet to disrupt his balance and interrupt his casting, so he jumps backward and crashes against the wall. "Oh, fuck!" He quickly mutters and swipes with his glaive.
Lina creates a small depression under her right foot as she steps on the ground and uses it to keep herself from being punted when lands a solid strike at the center of her shield.
She lands a strike with her axe at the side of his right knee, forcing him to kneel, then combos it with an upward chop towards his chin. He blocks with the shaft of his glaive, then spreads his wings and immediately takes flight.
"Major point for Lina."
He attacks her from above, staying out of her reach, but she simply counters with [Wind Shield] and easily keeps him away.
He suddenly stops in the sky to catch his breath. "Well, things won't end well for me this way," he says. [Weaken] is having a noticeable effect on him, constantly draining his stamina. And he's right, if he does nothing, then he'll lose because of exhaustion.
He distances himself from Lina, then starts casting [Wind Hammer] again, but he must have a pretty high level in [Mana Control] because he's gathering quite a lot of mana for the spell.
Her mind races with ideas as she tries to come up with a counter to his spell. If he has [Wind Magic] or [Mana Control] high enough, then he can abuse the spell's advantage, it's maneuverability, and even go around her [Wind Shield]. It's also possible to make the spell nearly invisible, so it'd be better if she doesn't solely rely on being able to block it.
A circular wall of stone starts to grow around Lina. She lowers herself behind her shield, then conceals herself with the [Earth Wall], forming a small dome.
"I need [Beam] for this!" Paraaone yells.
"Just don't hit her with the glaive!" Oritiki yells back.
I simply nod at her when she glances at me.
Paraaone swiftly uses his [Item Box] and pulls out his golden glaive, then immediately casts [Beam] at Lina's dome. The stone quickly starts to glow from heat, then it begins to melt.
After a mere five seconds, Lina's dome is pierced. A large stone shoots out of the ground next to the dome and breaks Paraaone's right wing.
"FUCK!" He yells in pain and dodges to the side, narrowly avoiding a second [Earth Bullet].
Hehehehe, clever girl.
"Major point for Lina."
A cloud of dust starts to kick up from her dome and quickly covers the entire patio. Paraaone limps around the sky, but he doesn't know where to strike.
His flying is so sloppy now that he's leaking mana everywhere. A [Wind Blade] flies towards him and nicks the skin of his broken wing. He tries to counter with [Beam], but he misses her completely.
"Point for Lina."
Lina decides to end the [Dust Storm] and goes back to using [Weaken] on him. She glares at him, trying to look menacing, but to me, it only makes her look even cuter. Her real angry face is definitely not cute, though.
"How much MP do you have?!" He exclaims, exasperated.
"A lot. I'm an enchanter," she stoically replies.
He lands and casts [Beam] at her again. She feeds mana into [Dead Zone], and his spell is diverted.
He feeds it even more mana, and the spell clips her shield, but her [Dodge] is at 3+5, which gives her enough mobility to keep it from causing any damage.
She doesn't even charge as she just keeps dodging him while he wastes his MP and his stamina drains away.
He finally lets his glaive drop and lets out a long groan. "I surrender!" He yells, then bends over and holds his knees to catch his breath.
Lina stops using [Weaken], then turns to us and smiles like an imp.
"That's my girl," I say through [Bind] and pat her head in my mind.
Lina played her cards perfectly: [Cursing Magic]'s strong point is continuous casting. The effect ramps up the longer you maintain the spell, so staying on the defensive until it reaches maximum power will always be the best move.
The fact that the Horns aren't wearing their glowing armor for these duels must've also helped with the spell's efficiency. I'm sure that there's some type of spell resistance enchantment woven into it; anything that glows in this world is magical and dangerous.
To make the hole that she hid in, she used [Earth Wall] on the stone to take "control" of it, then she forcefully "dismissed" it, leaving a hole behind. Not the most mana-efficient way of doing it, but it's definitely the quickest.
Now that her duel is finished, I give Lina her cute bikini so that she can join us in the pool. I'm not sure which looks better on the girls: underwear or bikini.
"You're changing clothes just to get in the water?" Hukarere asks as she swims closer to us.
"We were wearing underwear. It'd ruin the fabric if it got wet in the pool," Alissa answers. She stops hugging me and goes deeper into the pool, then stops beside Hukarere to chat with her.
With just a nudge through [Bind], I get Hana's strong, slightly tanned arms to wrap around me, making me feel completely safe and secure. She starts caressing the new scar on my shoulder, then intensifies her attention into a light massage of the still sensitive area.
Lina comes back and pouts a little that her favorite spot is taken, then she unceremoniously sits on Yunia's lap. The Princess snorts softly, then starts petting Lina like a posh lady would pet her cat.
The Celestial Horns talk about dueling with Aoi, but I say no. She's heavily disadvantaged against a humanoid without her armor, and her magical capabilities aren't yet strong enough to overcome that. She'd just get wounded repeatedly and we'd end up having to cast [Regeneration] on hundreds of her scales. There's also a small degree of over-protectiveness at play, which doesn't happen with Hana, for some reason.
Ciel is challenged to a duel, but after repeatedly healing everyone, the amount of MP she has left isn't much, so they have some glaive-only matches.
Our pure melee skills aren't that great without magic to aid us, so Ciel predictably loses most of her duels. Her potential has already been established, though. Someone who can instantly [Heal] grievous wounds like mine completely changes the dynamic of a battlefield. She and I are the pillars of our fellowship.
After that, Aoi comes over to join us in the pool and shrinks down to small-Aoi so that she can play with Gify. Their combined adorableness is enough to melt even the heart of the haughty Kaatohe.
Ciel puts on a bikini, too, and steals Lina for herself. My curvy goddess is in quite a good mood, even after her matches. The positive attention she got from the Horns seems to have mellowed her out quite a lot.
A lanky snake-head man challenges Alissa to an archery contest. It seems that the Horns don't have any archers, so they called on one of Hihiriwa's men. Normally, Alissa doesn't care about such things, but it's quite obvious that the Chimeras are testing our strength, so she plays along and accepts the challenge.
Her [Bow Use] is at level thirty, which is pretty high for the average archer, but she also has a good number of sense-enhancing skills, making her my very own Legolas. Needless to say, she wins the contest without much effort.
Just to style on the poor dude, her aim is so perfect that she hits her own arrow twice, right on the bullseye. She makes me so proud that I even poke Yunia - on her back.
She comes back to the pool with her tail lazily swaying behind her, but she's holding herself back from letting it wag freely.
Now that everyone has fought, the Celestial Horns start dueling between themselves like a bunch of barbarians. They're quite a chummy group of bros and bro-gals sharing some totally not gay bro-love with each other.
Oritiki slips into the pool near us, then Rei sits on her lap, and she hugs him from behind. The buff warthog-headed man looks kind of small in this position.
"So, I assume that Roxanne is your mage?" She asks us.
"That's right. Out of all of us, I'm the one with the most killing power," Roxanne replies and starts snickering evilly.
Both of them frown in a mix of worry and confusion.
Not revealing her [Explosion] spell is safer, but then it'd create an undesirable situation if we were forced to use it in front of them. It's one thing to reveal that we all hold power, but it's another thing entirely to talk about it in detail. Just how far should we trust them?
I nudge Roxanne through [Bind], and she agrees. I summon a small bird and let it take flight, then Roxanne points a finger at it and fires off an [Ice Lance], killing it instantly.
Hukarere and Ririmu are wowed by the display and clap softly in amazement.
"We all have a few more secrets, too," Roxanne says and winks at Oritiki.
"Now I can understand how you've all survived so far," Oritiki says and smiles gently.
The smells of barbecued meats fill our noses, and my stomach rumbles. The fighting slows down as everyone starts to get hungry.
We eat a few appetizers and watch as servants fix and clean the patio, then they pull out several long tables and dozens of comfy chairs. It seems that we'll be having a meal under the stars. It's still day, but the sun here is hidden behind the clouds like it usually is, so we only see the galaxy-like sky above us.
The meal is nothing short of amazing. They have tabbouleh, which fits well the barbecue fare. There's even some cow meat from a rare bovine monster that I can't pronounce the name of.
There's a lack of potatoes, though. They have lots of grains and tomatoes, but no starchy veggies aside from roots.
Once the meal is done, most of the Chimeras head home, including Kaatohe and the other part-cat Chimeras. A few of the Horns stick around and lounge under the veranda.
Oritiki shows us our rooms, but we quickly settle on a single room that's large enough to fit all of our beds.
Then we return to the veranda for dessert: fruit cakes. Tea and juice are also offered, but we don't have any alcohol yet because, in a few minutes, we'll be leaving to meet with the High Council again.