Vermin Tide Quest


Chapter 17


As Undine went and peered into the flow of the universe from within her spring trying to figure out what was going on throughout the world, the Spirit of Water examined Erubetie, who was currently in the pool of water Undine maintained for the Heavenly Knight and the Slimes she was watching over. When Alma Elma appeared and dragged the Slime Queen away to save Granberia, Undine turned her attention to the battle that followed with the strange Rat-Men that were now referred to as Skaven, along with her sisters Gnome and Salamander and watched in horror as the fight went on.

Initially the battle that ensued was going as they expected, with in fact some behind the scenes help through Gnome collapsing one of the tunnels with the creatures in it. However, when one of the beasts with a Fire spewing device burned Erubeties' clones, the Spirits felt shock, as they could feel that this was not the same kind of Fire that Salamander had domain over. As the Four Spirits were all connected, Slyph also became aware of what happened, as Erubetie was not only burned by the flames of the not-Fire, but a large portion of the souls she collected were as well. While many, both Human and Monster viewed her as genocidal, Erubetie wanted nothing more then safety and sanctuary for her race, and thus was keeping them assimilated into her conscious mind to to act as a transport for them as well as protector.

And when the not-Fire burned her bodies, it somehow burned the souls contained within them as well, like wood being consumed by a raging inferno until it turned into dust, and obliterated them. Erubetie was then disabled by the sensation of her many many Slimes subjects being snuffed out by the attack, feeling the total and combined agony they experienced before oblivion claimed them. The Spirits themselves were mortified by this, and Slyph, as annoying as she can be, had the most visceral reaction to this display of callous destruction. For once, she she refused to move from her spot, babbling incoherently in the background of the minds of the other three until Salamander had to leave Gold Mountain herself to comfort the Spirit of the Wind. Gnome was currently unleashing her anger and rage on any Skaven that made the mistake of going near the Safina Region, but due to them currently flooding the entire area by tunneling underground, and having to restrain herself to not cause collateral casualties in either Humans or Monster populations, she could only do so much, and thankfully the Strangers were able to cut out the head of the snake of the Skaven invansion.

And when Erubetie came back, she was visibly more detached and depressed then she was before, with it being plain obvious even without reading her mind what the Slime Queen was thinking, as she went into Undines' spring to mourn the dead, who now were but as ash and half-remembered memories. The other Slimes that were around were now scared and frighten, their aloof Queen currently refusing to respond to any of their attempts to speak with her. Undine decided to give another try at speaking with Erubetie.

Erubetie, I know what just happened to you was not quite... comprehensible, but your subjects need you now.

Go away Undine. The Heavenly Knight of Water 'growled' in response. We've had this conversation a thousand times, I don't care what you have to say about my mourning.

Erubetie. Undine chided. You became the Queen of Slimes for a reason, and that is to be their guardian. Right now, from their perspective, their guardian has seemingly abandoned them, and frankly, you and I both also know you have a duty that you are neglecting. I- Undine paused, realizing that the Strangers that first appeared in front of Luka and Alice had found one of the secret entrances to the Spring. Erubetie, we are about to have company. A Stranger from the other world has emerged.

Are any of them Rat-Men or Imperials? The Slime Queen asked. Her interest was definitely peeked. With this, Undine hoped she would get back on track to help her kin, and to satisfy their shared grudge against Humanity. As the short bearded Human ran ahead, with the other four close behind, Undine turned her attention to them, and was about to project her voice when she noticed something.

Humans, do not... what in the world?

What's wrong?

The short man, I just looked at the universal flow, and it is actively being repelled by him. Undine explained. I've never encountered anything like this before, it is like the Elemental magics are being blocked from influencing him.

So like a magic shield?

No, there is absolutely zero magic around him, and what latent energies there are around the short man practically refuses to be near him. Almost-like he has an anti-magic aura or something.

Huh. Erubetie then began to emerge, causing the Slime Girls nearby to turn and look at their Queen as Undine appeared next to her. "Guess I'll go see what this is myself." she said to the Spirit of Water, and then turned to her subjects. "Girls, stay with Undine. Our home is about to be invaded, and one of the invaders in question may pose a threat to you then may be assumed at looking upon them."

"Yes mi'lord." one of the Slimes said, bowing her head as the Slimes retreated to the water pool where Undine gave them refuge. As Erubetie walked, or more accurately slid away to confront the Strangers, Undine smiled slightly at her finally becoming more active, and prepared to watch the fight unfold with the other Slime Girls.


**POV SHIFT**


As Bardin was running through the entrance, he stopped and noticed the other four stopped. Upon noticing that they were unnerved, he ran over to them. When they turned and gave him their attention, he spoke up.

"What's wrong? Are you sensing magic of some kind?" he asked of the group, noticing the panicked look on their faces. Sienna looked at the Dwarf Ranger, and nodded her head. "Well then, what happened?" Bardin asked impatiently, drawing his ax and shield. "If it's another Monster, the five of us can handle it, I mean how many Rat Orges fell to being cut to pieces in our quest to save Ubersreik?" at that, the group looked at the Dwarf.

"I know, it the sheer amount I sensed along with Kerillain that made us pause Bardin. It was like I was drowning out on land, as whatever was in there seemingly spoke in the native tongue." The Bright Wizard explained. "Either way, we'll need to proceed with caution, and-" at that, the Ubersreik Five turned upon hearing a crashing sound, and saw that the Warplock Engineer they saw when first entering Plansect Forest pointing an armored claw and screeching at them in anger. A horde of Skaven ran around the corner, only to be stopped by a number of just as angry Plant Monsters coming out running head long into their flank, many of whom had burn scars.

"Into the cave it is then! They can only follow us in one direction, and that's inside!" Victor yelled as the fighting start, as the Ubersreik Five rushed inside to escape in the commotion once again. Damn it, these things are too fast. If this goes on, we'll be caught for sure. The Witch Hunter thought for a split second. However, he immediately quashed the thought, and began to chant a number of holy scriptures in praise for Sigmar, asking him for forgiveness for doubting that the Founder of the Empire would not provide a way to get them out.

As Bardin quickly took the lead, he led them through the underground tunnels, occasionally examining the various rock faces. At one point, he stopped to examine a wet spot of what looked like blue and green mucus of some kind, and had a perplexed look on his face. While the Dwarf examined it, the Waywatcher Kerillian walked over to him, and knelt down to look at it as well.

"What is that?" the Wood Elf asked, examining the substance. She did frown when Bardin touched it lightly with a gloved hand, as she could sense it well magical in some way or form, but could not tell how. As the Dwarf examined the substance, he then looked at a stream the group found, which flowed deeper into the cave. As he gazed into it and compared the water to the substance, he began to explain his findings.

"I don't know, other then it was some sort of slime, seems to be slightly acidic but not dangerously so, and absorbs easily into water. I recommend not touching it with your bare skin, and do not drink the water." the Ranger said to the others, "Because this stream felt like it was tainted with it, and I do not know what will happen if it gets in our bodies." As he was about to continue talking, a slurping and squelching sound drew the Ubersreik attention, and they began to recoil in shock at seeing the thing approaching them.

It was clearly one of the Monsters, but her body was made of the same slime that Bardin examined closely, with a glare that already spoke of hostile intentions with crimson eyes that had hatred written in them, moving in a manner that caused her amorphous body to resemble a well endowed woman, until her legs fused together at the bottom. As the Ubersreik Five got into formation by setting Bardin, Victor and Kruber in front drawing their melee weapons, Keriallian and Sienna prepared to fight at range as the Monster spoke, a close proximity to Reikspeil that made Victors' spine crawl at how badly pronounced it was.

"Yu... ar... trespsing. Leav us... or die." she accentuated. As the Five looked at each other then at the Monster, Kruber spoke up to Victor.

"Wasn't that Tamano creature able to speak fluently? You know how to flirt with the best after all." he added with a chuckle. Victor scowled at the State Trooper, but replied despite the memory of their encounter with her he brought up.

"She likely practiced, whereas this one didn't. Now then, we have a carriage to find, and she is an obstacle in our way." the Witch Hunter replied, then pointed his rapier at the creature before them. "We'll leave this spring of yours... after we deal with whatever you are." as the Monster scowled, her arms turned into blades, solidifying into hexagonal shapes as the two limbs froze up into ice.

"Ten.. de... death... it is then." the Monster said, her vocalizations of Reikspiel improving for a moment, though her words had an accent to them. "You'll not leave the Spring of Undine alive."


**POV SHIFT**


As Erubetie faced off with the Strangers, she noted how the three men in the front left gaps so that the two women, the Human Fire Mage and the Kinslayer Elf could attack from a distance, and already realized, though she didn't let her face show it, that these people have been fighting together for some time now. As she suddenly leaped towards the one called Kruber and caught him off-guard from the sheer speed at which she moved, he exclaimed in shock. The Elf fired one of her homing arrows, and the blue explosion sent a small amount of the Slime Queens' mass into the air. As she fell towards Markus Kruber, she slapped both of her blade together to form a single wide blade intent on cutting him in half.

However, he managed to evade the attack by dropping and angling his great sword as he swung it. When both blades clashed, Erubetie was knocked away from Markus, who grunted as he put his full weight behind the counter attack, which was just enough to knock the Slime Queen away from him as she reformed her body. She then saw him getting off the ground, having been knocked prone from the hit while Victor and the apparent 'Dwarf' as he was called Bardin formed a wall together to protect the soldier while he got up.

Another arrow followed by several dart shapes flew towards Erubetie, as she took the blows, reacting slightly with a grunt as she was struck with the weak flames cast by the Fire Mage. While Erubetie was weak to Fire, the attacks in particular Sienna sent at her were weak, and so she regenerated the injured parts of her body, only to notice the people looked at her, causing the Slime Queen to smirk slightly at their awe.

"See now how foolish it was to fight me now?" she asked, then went back to frowning as she then began to form a number of clone bodies whch formed next to her. When the Strangers turned their gaze to the Fire Mage, and she began to concentrate the fire at the end of her staff, and formed it into a ball shape. Erubetie tsked in response to this. "Honey, no amount of-" she was then interrupted by Sienna throwing the fire-ball into one of her clones, which was then destroyed as it blew within the Slime Clone, sending the gelatinous substance that made up the Slime Queens' body in multiple directions. "OH SHIT!" she screamed, recoiling at the sudden escalation of power the Fire Mage made, and realized she was reading another fire-ball spell already, a sadistic smile on her face.

Damn, that was just an initial volley to hold me down! I have to take this Fire Mage down and absorb her into the collective quickly! Erubetie realized with shock. When Sienna threw the second fire-ball at her, the Slime Queen proceeded to dodge the attack, sending her clones at the Fire Wizard, focusing them all on her. Upon pinning down the elderly Fire Wizard, the other four, instead of trying to save her, began to back off. While Erubetie began the process of melting down the clothes and injecting chemicals through the pores in the Humans' skin that would pleasure Sienna to disable her ability to fight her way out by causing the Human woman to reach Critical Ecstasy. She felt disgust, believing they were about to abandon their comrade, only to feel the Fire Mage doing something with her powers, and turned in time to see her clone bodies being destroyed by a massive explosion. As shock waves reverberated throughout the cave and vaporized her clones, the Slime Queen saw a wall of fire rush at her, and her eyes widen in fear.

Erubetie was able to avoid the worst of the blast wave by shrinking down, but still took a large amount of damage, mainly focused on her left torso. As she immediately began regenerating her form, the Slime Queen turned to see that Sienna was on the ground, as her companions ran over to her. The Fire Mage was clearly unconscious from the sound of her breathing, as Victor and Markus lifted her up, grabbing her staff and sword. Erubetie also saw that the Fire Mage was severely burned, and what remnants of her clothes were there were also scorched. When the Kinslayer turned and saw Erubetie survived, she drew her bow.

"The Monster's still alive!" she screamed, and released several arrows, which blasted several chunks out of Erubetie.

"Damn it!" she screamed, then cast Aqua Pentagon, and blocked the volley of arrows that struck her. Using her magic to keep it up as Bardin struck at it with his ax, Erubetie proceeded to fall back to the Spring, her body collecting the residual slime that was left on the ground and walls to speed up her regeneration. As Victor and his group made her recoil back and away from them, and pushed her deeper into the cave by keeping up a constant hail of attacks, the Queen of Slimes reached out telepathically to Undine.

What the hell just happened?! She screamed mentally to the Spirit of Water.

I don't know, it was like their Wizard lost control of her powers the moment she reached Critical Ecstasy! Get out of there, I'll flood the tunnel and push them out! Undine replied, and as Erubetie looked down, she saw that the rivulets of water on the ground were changing their flow, and teleported away just in time to hear a roaring sound behind her.

However, a sudden burst of Light magic appeared as a strange man with what look like tree bark in his skin appeared and grabbed all five of them, and then disappeared, taking them out of the cave. Erubetie stared in shock as she appeared in the Spring with Undine, who was just as confused about this as she was. As the Spirit of water turned to Erubetie, the Slime Queen finished reconstituting her body.

"What happened? One moment they were right there, and then poof they're gone." Undine asked.

"No idea. I think some new sort of Ilias saved them." Erubetie said, her voice laced with acid when talking about the Goddess of Light. "They looked like a Human, but were partially plant-like like a Monster." Undine stared in shock. The other Slimes were gathered around the two as they spoke.

"That sounds like a Druid." she said, causing the Monsters to look at her. "I thought they were wiped out by Kanon and her daughters near the end of the War between Monsters and Angels. If they were around all this time, why are they now becoming more active, and interested in keeping these people alive." Erubetie looked at Undine, who blushed as though she said something embarrassing.

"Hold on, why would Kanon herself be interested in hermits and quacks like Druids, let alone actively hunt them? Wouldn't they view her as the perfect symbol of how synchronized and united with nature the Dark Goddess' creations are?" Erubetie asked. "What relationship could they have with Ilias to begin with anyways?" Undine looked around nervously.

"I think we'll need to discuss that for another time, after we make sure there are no other possible intrusions." Undine replied, dodging the question as she regained her normal stoic and calm face. Erubetie glowered, but did not question it, as she knew full well that there was no way the Spirit was going to answer their questions. Even so, the Slime Queen looked on to her subjects, who were nervous, as this was twice that their Queen was put on the ropes by the beings from the other world.

"Your Majesty, what do we do if more of them come?" a red Slime asked of Erubetie. The Queen Slime sighed, and turned to her.

"I'll need some time to think of a defensive strategy for next time." she replied coldly. "In the meantime, you and your sisters should keep an eye out for anything inside the caves that are not from our world. If you encounter anything, do not engage it, even if it is a Human man. Instead, come get me, and I'll handle it. I do not want anything happening to any of you, and thus I will be the main line of defense for our kind." she explained. With that, the Slime Girls scattered to patrol the area, while Undine stared off in the distance, which meant she was monitoring the situation outside the Spring again.


**POV SHIFT**


Alice grunted as she was struck by another blow from the mutated Human, his clawed hand slashing into her skin like steak knives into butter. The Harpy Queen flew to try again at taking out the Human, her mangled dress ripped and torn in several places as she landed another kick to the creatures' legs. The thing turned, and backhanded her across the field, all around which the Harpies were standing back, shocked as their Queen finally gave up and fell back. It had been several minutes since they were first attacked by the Human, and while they made some work at whittling its armor down, in the end despite being cracked and dented the creatures armor plating was far from done, and the broken jaw of the former Human thing dangled uselessly, as saliva dribbled down from it as the Monster-Lord herself held back her full strength, trying to seal him rather then kill him, however it was starting to take its toll in the form of multiple injuries and wounds.

Shit, whoever they are, their whittling down my body. I'll have to risk going all out, or be killed by him. She thought, Angel Halo whimpering in her hands, as the aura of malice and blood lust the creature stared at her with sent shivers down her spine. Alice held her abdomen and stared at her bloody hand.

"Blood..." the creature growled, getting her attention, as it made a sniffling noise. "Blood. BLOOD!" it barked, then rushed at her. "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" Alice jumped sideways, then cried out as several wounds opened up on her tail from overexertion. The thing turned upon landing and tackled her before she recovered, and then stabbed her in the shoulder, causing Alice to scream in pain as it began to chant. "KILL! MAIM! BURN!" it shouted, and then raised a fist, preparing to batter her to death with it.

"Hey!" a familiar voice yelled, and a rock hit its head, making the beast turn around and see Luka, along with another Human who Alice did not recognize, who had several vines appearing from his clothing as he took a hand to hand combat stance. "I don't know what you are, but you are not killing anything today." as the beast looked at him, it then pulled out its claws from Alices' shoulder. She let out a moaning sound, and turned to Luka as it ran towards him.

"IDIOT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she cried out to Luka, arm out stretched as far as she can manage. "GET OUT OF HERE AND RUN!" However, the beast leaped, flying towards Luka as Alices' eyes widened in terror, knowing Luka was going to die. To her, it was as if time slowed down, the thing flying at Luka like a giant suit of armor, about to crush the boy under its weight.

However, the second Human jumped towards the beast, and slammed into its head with an open palm, before a burst of Light magic was released from it. The blast was powerful enough that the creature was blown back, and crashed with a thud as the Human landed between it and Alice. As the beast got up, he turned to Luka.

"Go and get the Angel Halo from Alice! I'll hold it off!" he yelled, as the thing screamed in anger, and the man side-stepped the attack. Luka ran in a semi-circle while the two fought, the Human distracting it with similar attacks to his first one, each one making it flinch from being struck.

"KILL! MAIM! BURN!" it screamed, as it swung out a second attack with its ax-hand, and then another despite the barrage of hits the Human was pounding its armor with, which bent and warped visibly as the Human began to move like a blur, channeling a second spell using Light magic like the one he was using for attacking.

When Luka got to Alice, she was shocked and confused at what was happening. "Whuh?" was all she could manage as she stared at the scene before her. As he grabbed Angel Halo from her hands, he turned to her as it cooed at him.

"Ran into him a while ago. I'll be back." He then rushed at the beast, which most of its armor almost destroyed at this point, and was struggling to stand at this point, while the second Human was leaning on a rock, breathing heavily while gripping at a gash in his stomach.

"Finish it." he said, then fell back on it. While a Harpy got near. Luka stabbed the beast, which howled in one final rage filled scream.

As the magics which mutated the Human was expelled from his body, he began to regain his former form, and Luka stepped back as the suit also was disenchanted, another Daemon like the one that killed Nanabi emerged. It screeched for a moment, and then faded away, while the Human looked up at Luka, and then all around.

"Hey, are you-" then suddenly without warning, the Human man grabbed a shard of his armor, and tried to stab Luka with it, screaming as he charged at him. Luka countered the blow, and the man screamed as Angel Halo took effect. "Hey, stop that. No. Killing." Luka said calmly, keeping up a stern face as the Human man glared, clearly understanding what Luka meant. However, instead of surrendering, he took the shard and stabbed himself in the heart with it.

The others looked on in shock, as the man pulled out the shard. Luka widen his eyes in shock, while Alice and the Monsters were horrified by the fact the man did not hesitate for a second, and as he coughed out a gout of blood, he snarled something in a guttural language when the boy ran to help him. He punched Luka, knocking the Human boy on his back, and the proceeded to cut his throat, screaming out one final cry before blood loss began to set in and his vocal cords were cut, spraying arterial fluids out into the ground and Luka, who recoiled in disgust and fear.

After wobbling for a second, the Human man fell over on the side, his eyes growing blank while his blood pooled on the ground. As Luka took in what just happened, Alice turned to see a mob of villagers were coming to the area. She cursed under her breath, as her body, while already sealing up its wounds quickly, still needed time to fully heal. The Harpies however were getting up from the ground, and gathered around Luka, Alice and the strange Human, who was already up and walking at this point. After he drew something on the ground however, the symbol glowed and he disappeared along with it before they could ask him who he was.

"Awa! Did the Human leave? That's not good if his wound opens up and he is alone..." one of the Harpies said. They then quickly gathered around Alice and Luka, and pulled them to safety before the Ilias-Port villagers found them.

After about an hour or two passed, Luka had cleaned off all the blood that got on his clothes and hair, While Alice was stretching her newly healed body. The two were given a house which the Harpies let alone for them to recuperate and heal. When Luka saw Alice, he stared wearily, as she had been focusing on healing herself, and thus only now was responsive and active.

"Alice, are you sure you want to that?" he asked, getting the Lamias' attention.

"Its' fine, I only was as injured as I was from not going all out, as I was trying to disable them with the Halo." she said, before staring off in the distance. After a moment of awkardness passed, she turned back to the Human boy. "Sorry."

"Huh?" Luka turned around, and saw she was looking nervous about something what she was going to say.

"I'm... sorry for what I said. You weren't at fault for what happened to Nanabi, and I was blind with anger." she said again, as Luka remembered that she got angry with him, and accused him of being a murderer, and saw she was truly regretful of what happened.

"It's fine." Alice stared wide-eyed with shock. "I was not in the right state of mind either. The... what was that thing that controlled me called?"

"According to the Humans from the other world, that was a Daemon."

"Wait, one of them was in the area?"

"Yeah, he gave Nanabi a burial, and then wanted to leave back to rejoin his fellow Imperials before we could question him further about what he knew about the Daemons."

"...ok. Anyways, the Daemon was whispering things into my ear. I'd rather not repeat them word for word, but they were centered around me being a Human in a world where half of the things on it could kill me and other Humans with a mere flick of their wrist." Alice held her mouth shut, as she immediately knew what kinds of Monsters the Daemon was talking about.

"Hey, the Human I mentioned also left you an amulet." Alice said. "Do you have it?" she asked. Luka patted down at his chest, then pulled out the amulet Leopold left for him. Alice nodded. "Good, he did say before we sent him back that it would be best to keep with you while you sleep. Something about Morr interacting with your dreams and-"

"Wait, Morr? The Human mentioned him?" Luka asked.

"Wait, you met Morr?"

"Yeah, I had a dream where a man calling himself that appeared alongside Ilias. What's interesting is that Ilias seemed just as surprised to meet him as I was, and last I saw them, the two were having a conversation of their own." Luka explained. Alice listened intently, and nodded her head. After awhile of Luka explaining his dream, she spoke up.

"Hey, Luka?" she asked, getting his attention. "Shall we go get the Poseidons Bell?"

With that, Luka nodded his head. "Sure. I'll go get my stuff." as he walked away, Alice relaxed her tensed up snake tail. She had expected Luka to be more hostile, and even potentially holding a grudge against her, so his forgiving her right there was surprising. She was sure she'd wouldn't have been so merciful in his position, and often heard tales of how the Dark Goddess, while caring and doting to her creations the Monsters, was also famous for how she would go to any lengths to defend them. However, it always bothered her how Tamano taught her about being understanding about the positions of others, and noticing that the Dark Goddess would be brutal without reason. One such occasion was when Tamano talked about a Human King named Yamarion the Red, named for his bright hair.

In short, it was a story in which a Human King tried to appeal to the Dark Goddess to recall a band of Monsters which were attacking his kingdom. However, the Dark Goddess refused him, allowing the Monsters to run rampant and hunt Humans wherever and whenever they wanted, as the Monsters required Human semen to feed on to live as well as propagate their kind. When the Human King saw they were not listening, he took matters into his own hands and launched a crusade, which due to the fact the only advantage Humans had were numbers, turned into a bloody affair. Eventually, he escalated to a type of campaign known as a 'Scorched Earth' campaign, where his retreating forces would destroy anything and everything that could be used against them. Glades that housed Plant Monsters were set alight with fire, rivers were poisoned and polluted when his soldiers were being chased by Slimes, and many more destructive acts of violence were unleashed upon the land as Yamarion continued the fight.

Eventually, Alipheese Fateburn the First herself appeared, and the Dark Goddess unleashed her wrath upon the Human army, scattering them as she proceeded to utterly crush them. Those who were not killed outright were taken and dragged away to be feed to the Monsters as the Six Ancestors judged them for their crimes, with Yamarion himself being taken away by the Dark Goddess herself. After Tamano finished the story, Alice was bothered by the fact the Human King was made out to be the villain, as he was trying to defend his people, and how the Dark Goddess was the one who allowed her daughters to run free and act in such a barbaric nature. In the conversation that followed, Tamano talked about how it was made during the Monster Races' Golden Age, which ended when the Great War began between the Angels and the Monsters, and how it was a different time then the modern era.

Eventually, Alice concluded that if the Monsters are to co-exist with Humanity, she had to also take into consideration how the Humans would react if such things were done to them today, especially with Ilias goading them on to hate her kind. As a result, she declared that Monsters were not to use force to kill Humans unless it was in self-defense, something Tamano seemed to approve of, even if certain individuals in Monster society were offended and even insulted to be given such a command.

So hearing that Morr was having a conversation with Ilias was a cause for concern to the Lamia, as the Imperials were more then capable of holding their own against the Monsters as was demonstrated with their taking the castle she ruled from. When Luka appeared, she looked at the Human boy.

"Ready to go now?" she asked. Upon nodding, she smiled slightly. "Alright. Let's go get the Bell."


**POV SHIFT**


As Tamano no Mae walked over to the shrine that was dedicated to her in Yamatai, she smiled as a Human man offered her fried tofu. Known locally as the Great Fox, she was one of four Monsters in the area that were widely worshiped by the Human populace.

"Thank you." she said, giving the man a smile, and wrapping his arm with one of her tails, causing him to almost sigh in pleasure. "I'm sure this will taste lovely, but I have some business to attend to, I'll attend to your... needs later, so I'll like to wait patiently then if you want to do it, ok?" the man seemed to be sadden by this.

"Ok." with that, she walked into a room that made specifically for privacy between her and anyone she brings in. From her kimono, she pulled out a lock of Nanabis' hair, and frowned. She proceeded to inspect one of the floor boards, and used the power of the Earth to loosen one of them, revealing a box that only she knew the location of, and held the key to open it within her fan.

Tamano opened it, and sniffed the insides to make sure nobody touched the contents inside, which would be a sign that someone discovered the box. Upon confirming it was undiscovered, she put the hair lock inside the box, which also had an icon of Ilias' cross on it, only the cross was placed on a set of alternating green and white rings, and had an emerald embossed with a flower symbol on it at the center. She inspected the amulets, which had been stylized to have a vine running along its silver lengths, as well as leaves and petals in a repeating pattern around the emerald.

After a few seconds passed, she placed the Druidic token down inside it, and then examined the small slip of paper inside, opening it to reveal a set of names on it. After examining it, she got a well of ink and a pen, and added Nanabis' name to it, put back in the box then locked it, and hid it inside the floor, and went back to go get the man who give her the tofu.