Kim Hajun had a grim expression on his face as he overlooked the battle between Ouyang Feng and the slender, severed hand. The Martial Lord’s fierce shouts had turned into silence. Sweat flowed freely from the shirtless man’s body, trickling down his forehead, dripping from his chin, and rolling down his abs before being soaking into his pants. His face was grim despite how vigorous he looked, and ashes, the traces of used-up spell scrolls and buffing talismans, were scattered about in a ring meters away, where the shockwaves generated from the collision between Ouyang Feng and the severed hand sent them.

Kim Hajun wasn’t the only one that looked worried. The subordinates of the lords had tense expressions on their faces as they watched Ouyang Feng move like a robot, his punches almost mechanical as he sent out his left fist to be destroyed, then his right. Even though the Martial Lord looked physically healthy, it couldn’t be good for his mind to have his arms destroyed repeatedly.

Lindyss turned her head to the side, causing Kim Hajun to shift his gaze away from the fight. A portal opened beside the cursed elf, and Tafel poked her head through, taking a look around. “Is now a good time?” she asked, her voice low but not quite a whisper. “Are you busy?”

“Not particularly,” Lindyss said. “I’m just waiting for Ouyang Feng’s will to break. Then, Kim Hajun will either devise another method to deal with the Oebu Sin, or he’ll ask me for help.”

“Okay,” Tafel said and nodded. “How about Vur switches places with you?”

Lindyss raised an eyebrow. “You want Vur to be on babysitting duty, and me to be a one-woman-army facing a horde of insects without the help of an overpowered web-related ability?”

Tafel blinked. “No,” she said. “We already caught the princess bug; it’s named Gronion now.”

“Gronion?” Lindyss asked, her forehead scrunching up. “Why does that name sound so….”

“Bad?” Erin asked from her spot on Lindyss’ shoulder.

“Is it bad?” Tafel asked, her face turning a faint shade of red. “You have to consider the other two bugs Vur’s raising though: Garlic and Ginger.” The demon nodded. “If one bug is named Garlic, another named Ginger, it only makes sense to name the third bug Green Onion—Gronion for short.”

Erin held her arm out in front of herself. Then, she flipped it upside-down, her thumb pointing at the ground. A farting sound escaped from the fairy’s lips as she puffed some air through them. “It’s a bad name,” Erin said. “If you thought of it, you should feel bad.”

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Tafel pursed her lips. Fairies were jerks sometimes. They would curse children for no good reason, so why wouldn’t they make fun of a name someone though up? “Moving on,” the demon said, her gaze landing on Lindyss, “Gronion has a lot of minions, and we’re having some troubles….”

Lindyss’ expression darkened. “Weren’t you having a barbeque?” the cursed elf asked. “If you eat all the minions, you won’t have any trouble with them.”

“No, see, that’s the problem,” Tafel said and scratched her head. “Gronion’s one of Vur’s followers now, so it wouldn’t feel right eating the bugs.” She added in a smaller, hurried voice. “That are still alive.” The demon nodded. “It’s also a bit awkward to eat the dead companions of the bugs right in front of them too, so….”

Lindyss raised an eyebrow. “And with the combined brilliance of your mind and Vur’s, the best idea you came up with was to ask me to deal with the problem?”

“I knew she’d understand,” Vur said, his voice coming from inside the portal.

Tafel glanced behind herself at Vur before putting on her best smiling face for the cursed elf. “Wouldn’t you rather be managing things than sitting here on constant guard?”

Lindyss chuckled and shifted her gaze back onto the fight without bothering to give Tafel a response.

“Please, Auntie?” Tafel asked, clasping her hands together, staring at the cursed elf with bright, round eyes. “There’ll be a barbeque.”

“There’s going to be a barbeque regardless,” Lindyss said.

Tafel let out a sigh before retreating back into the portal. Although the cursed elf wasn’t watching the demon, Lindyss could still hear Tafel’s voice when she spoke. “Vur, she doesn’t want to.” The cursed elf’s expression darkened as a massive, ocean-blue dragon’s head poked through the portal and breathed a hot jet of nostril-warmed air that washed over her whole body.

“Hi, Auntie,” Vur said.

Lindyss suppressed her sigh. “Hello, Vur,” the cursed elf said. She gestured towards the Martial Lord off in the distance. “As you can see, I’m very busy chaperoning this fight.”

Vur nodded before nudging a giant beetle, half the size of a phoenix, through the portal and towards the cursed elf. “This is Gronion,” Vur said.

Lindyss’ right eye twitched as she turned her head away from the fight and towards the massive bug. She glared at it. “What do you want, Gronion?”

The beetle shuddered before taking a step back and curving its body to the side towards Vur as if it were a puppy seeking shelter behind its owner. Vur patted the beetle with his paw while looking ahead at Lindyss. “The fight’s over, but there’s a lot to do,” Vur said. “Will you help us? Please?”

Lindyss couldn’t suppress her sigh any longer. “Fine,” she said. After all, Vur had said please. Was she supposed to tell him no? If she did, it wouldn’t be long before Sera showed up and showed the cursed elf why she should’ve told him yes. “If Kim Hajun asks you for help, make sure he pays you first. Don’t let him use your strength for free.”

Kim Hajun blinked as the massive dragon’s golden irises shifted to stare at him. A bitter expression appeared on the well-dressed man’s face as the cursed elf ordered her skeletons to carry her rocking chair through Tafel’s portal. Did Lindyss have a grudge against him for some reason? Why did it seem like she was always targeting him?