Chapter Seventeen "Blue Rose"
"All right~ Then, hurry up and move it all, everyone!" Entoma Vasilisa Zeta shouted she looked up at the night sky.
Insects which were bigger than a man took wing into the night sky, carrying a large quantity of cargo. These Giant Beetles had been summoned by Entoma's entomancer abilities. The insects flew straight toward the prearranged meeting point, their wings making a deep bass sound as they flapped. Entoma watched the insects move the cargo, and she remembered that she was still holding something.
"Ah, I haven't eaten it yet. How silly of me, how silly."
She playfully knuckled her own head, and then brought the severed man's arm under her jaw. There was a "shakashaka" noise as the flesh of the man's arm was torn away. Entoma's throat moved in time with the sound. Then, with a cute "urp", the stench of blood spread through the air.
"While the fat of women's meat makes it tender and children's meat tastes good despite having less fat, eating the meat of a muscular man is best when trying to lose weight." She deftly avoided the bones, and once she was done, she chucked the rest of the arm into the mansion. "Thank you for having me."
She bowed to the building, and finally made to go to the point her superiors had ordered her to travel to. However, she had only taken a few steps when someone called out to her and stopped her in her tracks.
"Yo, this is a pretty nice night."
"...Is it? I don't think it's nice for you at all, is it?" Entoma replied as she turned around.
Entoma had trouble telling whether the human who was slowly emerging was male or female. It seemed female, but judging by its muscular frame, it also seemed male.
"What're you doing in a place like this?"
"Taking a walk." Entoma replied.
"...What were you eating so happily just now?"
"Meat." Entoma shrugged.
"...Human meat?"
"Yup. Human meat."
The manwoman's tone was icy cold, but it did not bother Entoma at all. She did not care at all how humans felt. If they got in the way, she would trample them. If they stayed out of the way, she would ignore them. If she was hungry, she would capture and eat them. It would be strange if she was actually concerned about such beings.
"I see. So, the monster makes an appearance. I didn't expect Eight Fingers to rear such monsters. But by the looks of things, they didn't train you up properly." The manwoman slowly raised its spiked warhammer.
"I say. Could we just pretend we didn't see each other?"
A strange expression appeared on the manwoman's face. It probably had not expected the person opposite it to say something like that.
"You see, I came here to work too, and dealing with you would be very annoying. The most important thing is that right now, my tummy's stuffed fit to burst."
"...Sorry, but I'm one of the top adventurers in the Kingdom. I can't let a man-eating monster go just like that. Besides, leaving something like you in the world would cause me a lot of problems."
"What a pain. Still, you say you're strong, huh? In that case, I'll use you as emergency rations, then." Entoma looked directly at the manwoman for the first time. It appeared to be a pure warrior. Mm — it ought to be pretty strong.
Entoma was not a pure warrior, and so she could not estimate what her opponent's was capable of as her knowledge of the abilities and skills were lackluster compared to what she knew of magic. That didn't mean she couldn't gauge her strong her enemy was. She did not feel that her adversary was stronger than her.
"Yeeart!" The manwoman yelled as she ran at Entoma.
A spiked warhammer high and smashed down at Entoma. Entoma gracefully evaded that blow. However, her opponent refused to let up and suddenly changed the direction of its swing, bringing the warhammer at her in a murderous blow. That was not a graceful movement utilizing centrifugal force, but using brute muscle power to forcefully change the direction of the strike.
Entoma evaded once more, and then activated a skill.
"Ah? Is running all you can do?!"
The manwoman swung its warhammer at Entoma, and the gale in the wake of its blow whipped past her head, stirring the strands of her fake hair.
"Mm — you really like swinging wildly, don't you?"
Her mockery was met by the clicking of a tongue. Entoma used her skill once more, and at the same time she easily avoided the plunging smash of the spiked warhammer. Having missed its target, the hammer crashed into the ground with all the force which had been meant for her.
Entoma sneered at her opponent's simple, repetitive attacks. Her face did not change at all. However, her opponent could keenly sense the mockery coming from her as they fought. However, Entoma then realised in the next moment that her opponent was waiting for this — for the hubris that only the overwhelmingly powerful possessed.
"Break!" Entoma chanted.
The earth shattered where the spiked warhammer had struck it. No, the stone floor had shattered. It was like a localized earthquake. For the first time, Entoma lost her footing. In contrast, her opponent had used some kind of magic item to remain as stately as a mountain. Entoma watched as her opponent raised its warhammer once more, its head stained with dirt and debris.
I underestimated my opponent. Entoma scolded herself.
Evading that move was easy enough. Indeed, if she had been human, she would have lost her balance when her footing was destroyed, and the shockwave of the ground fragmenting under her feet would have reached her legs and acted as another set of shackles to bind her in place, making escape very difficult. However, Entoma was one of the Pleiades Battle Maids, and the magic items she wore were all of superior quality. Such conditions did not bother her in the slightest.
There was only one problem. She would have to jump in order to evade, but that would dirty the maid uniform she wore. Would such a thing be permitted? This was a rare and precious treasure handed down to Entoma from the Supreme Beings.
That was enough — no more playing around. Entoma thought as she shifted gears. For the first time, there was genuine hostility on Entoma's face under the mask. I'll kill it.
Entoma turned to face the falling spiked warhammer and raised her left arm. She no longer felt like a human flicking away a bug, but the actual desire to kill. Perhaps it would be different if she were a Floor Guardian, but for someone of Entoma's level, it would be very difficult to survive unscathed if she were to block that attack with her defenseless left arm.
In the very next moment, what rang out was not the sound of steel pulping flesh, but two hard objects colliding. At this moment, a shield clung to Entoma's left arm. "Clung" was not a metaphorical term — an insect with over eight legs gripped Entoma's arm tightly and refused to let go.
"What, what's that?" The manwoman frowned in confusion.
"You see, I'm an entomancer. So, I can call out bugs like this and command them as I like." Entoma replied. She waved her right hand and out of the night flew a long insect shaped like a broadsword, which attached itself to the back of her right hand. "These is a Sword Bug and this is a Shield Bug. I've decided that I'm going to kill you. I hadn't intended to take your life at first, but now you cannot be spared."
Entoma advanced on her opponent and slashed at it. She ripped through the manwoman's breastplate and fresh blood fountained out. However, it was not a fatal blow by any means. Her opponent had not been able to avoid a serious attack from Entoma, but she had only been lightly wounded. It would seem calling itself one of the top adventurers in the Kingdom was not pride or exaggeration. However, if that was all she had, she was not worthy to be Entoma's opponent.
Gagaran swung again, and blood spurted once more, splashing her face. Thanks to the injury she had taken just now, this wound was deeper than the last, and it could no longer be considered light.
"You actually changed your movements on me! Did you get serious?!" The manwoman shouted.
The spiked warhammer fell on Entoma with a furious cry, and Entoma deflected it with her Shield Bug. She felt a tremendous impact race through her, but she stood firm, determined not to budge so much as a step. In truth, nothing would have happened if she did move, but this was an expression of her pride, and her determination to not move for a mere human being.
The manwoman rode on the flow of battle, continuing her fluid combination of attacks. Her fast and furious assault was most likely augmented by the "Martial Arts" which were unique to this world. However, Entoma skilfully used her Shield Bug and her Sword Bug to block the series of fifteen continuous attacks without so much as a scratch.
Entoma did not know that this was the trump card of Blue Rose's Gagaran, her super combo made by simultaneously activating many martial arts. Each hit of that crashing wave of attacks was made with all the strength her steely arms could produce, and they could even break through the Fortress martial art. Only the defensive technique known as Invulnerable Fortress — which only a few geniuses could master — could hope to fully defend against it. However, Entoma's innate muscle power had blocked every single strike.
This was the disparity in their levels, the overwhelming difference in the physical abilities of their respective species.
The beginning of despair began to appear in her opponent's eyes, but Entoma felt nothing for it. All she wanted was to kill her adversary.
"—Puhah!"
Entoma heard what sounded like a swimmer gasping for air as their head crested the water's surface. The combination attack had also stopped. Entoma cocked her right hand — the one with the Sword Bug — back like she was drawing a bow, and then stabbed forward like loosing an arrow. She was aiming for the chest of the manwoman.
Her foe raised its warhammer, but it was too slow. Entoma's strike was faster than it, and it pierced it chest… or at least, that should have been the case. The thrust missed. The insect blade struck nothing but the night air.
Entoma's head swivelled. She wanted to see who had interfered with her attack. There was a black-clad woman several meters away. Behind her was the panting manwoman.
"Sorry about that, Tia. I thought I was a goner." The manwoman panted, gratefully.
"So, your blood is red too, Gagaran," said Tia, a female ninja, in deadpan tone.
"What are you acting all surprised for? It's not like this is the first time you've seen me get hurt." Gagaran replied in not-no-amused tone.
"I thought you'd start to bleed blue by now. Like a power up." Tia quipped back.
"That's not a power-up, that's becoming another race entirely!" Gagaran protested at the absurdity she was hearing.
"A class change, then." Tia added.
"—Are you quite done yet? Have you said your farewells to each other?" Entoma shouted angrily in annoyance as she heard the two of her opponents bantering before her.
Entoma grew cautious for the first time. The manwoman — Gagaran — was nothing to fear. The problem was the newcomer — Tia. If her clothes were not just for looks, then she ought to be a ninja. That was a job class which required a minimum character level of 60 to take. If that were the case, then the teleportation technique which had allowed Gagaran to escape Entoma's attack was ninjutsu. If she were a real ninja, then even Entoma would not be able to win easily. She had thought to conserve her strength and eliminate her opponent, but things being as they were, she could no longer afford to hold back.
Before her opponents could act, Entoma had already thrown out four talismans from her right hand.
"Shikigumo Talismans!"
The talismans landed on the ground, and instantly transformed into huge spiders. These spiders were comparable to the monsters conjured by Summon Monster Level 3, and they were hardly powerful creatures, but they ought to be enough to gauge her opponent's strength. They would also buy her time to prepare herself.
Entoma was doing this because entomancers' insect weapons were very powerful, but they had a few weaknesses. One of them was the fact that summoning the insects in question required some time.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." As Tia activated her ninjutsu, her shadow writhed and birthed another Tia.
Entoma paid no attention to it. The clones generated by the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu were only a quarter as strong as their creator. Their evasive ability varied in proportion to how much of their creator's mana had been allocated to them, but that was all. Perhaps they might be considered formidable opponents for her summoned familiars, but they were hardly a challenge for Entoma. Rather, the more important thing was how skilled the original was.
Entoma called out her trump cards; her Bullet Bugs and another kind of insect. At the same time, she pasted talismans on herself to further strengthen her abilities. A swarm of Bullet Bugs gathered out of nowhere and covered her left arm. The three centimeter-long insects gleamed with a steely radiance, and the fronts of their V-shaped bodies were sharp, bearing a strong resemblance to rifle bullets. No, that resemblance was only to be expected, because these insects were used exactly like rifle bullets.
The shadow clone was running ragged just trying to evade the attacks of one Shikigumo, while the original was dealing with two of them. The fact that she had only killed one after so long suggested that her foes were most definitely not high-levelled. That being the case, victory ought to be easy even if one factored in Gagaran's fighting power.
As if, I'm not going to think that way! Entoma thought to herself. She was not going to show them any mercy. She would quickly end the battle with overwhelming force.
The weight on her left arm pleased Entoma, and she extended the finger of her left hand at Tia.
The bugs had encrusted Entoma's arm until they had practically doubled its diameter. As one, they crawled to the front of her arm and then took wing from her extended finger, one after the other. The incessant buzzing of wings called to mind the image of a Gatling gun. The path of the Bullet Bugs meant that they pierced through her own Shikigumo, but in total, 150 of them flew downstream at Tia.
These bugs could punch holes in steel, and even a large tree would be riddled full of holes and sawed in half if it was hit by 150 of them. However, in the face of the fatal projectiles, Tia used another ninjutsu technique.
"Fudou Kongou Tate no Jutsu!"
A scintillating rainbow-colored shield sprang into existence in front of Tia. The bugs slammed into the gigantic wall of light that cut through the darkness, which was shaped like a six pointed star. Within a few seconds, the shield shattered with the crisp sound of breaking glass. However, the fusillade of insects had stopped as the shield broke, revealing an unhurt Tia behind it.
Entoma had no tongue, but she clicked it anyway. However, the fact that she could force her foe to use one ace in the hole after another was like lighting the path to her victory. So, far her foe could withstand Entoma's attacks, but once Entoma's offense surpassed her opponent's defense, the flood which washed over their protections would surely consume them too.
Entoma deflected the kunai flying from the front with the Sword Bug then she blocked Gagaran's plunging mid-air strike with her Shield bug. She must have jumped down from quite a high place, because the Shield Bug had to take a lot of pressure, and it squeaked like it was wailing in pain.
If the dazzling lights of the Fudou Kongou Tate had affected Entoma's vision, she would not have been able to block Gagaran's leaping attack from the darkness. However, Entoma's vision was not affected by such petty trickery. In addition, her field of vision was much larger than that of a human, even when she wore "that".
Perhaps she sensed that following up on the attack would be dangerous, but Gagaran skated away — her legs remained still, but the distance between them opened up. The fact that she was moving so nimbly despite her massive frame proved that her wounds were completely healed. She took her place beside Tia and crushed the Bullet Bugs' corpses underfoot.
"This is terrible, I don't feel like we can win at all. How did she do that, her timing was too good, don't you think? She barely even saw me but she blocked me anyway." Gagaran spoke in slightly alarmed tone.
"Maybe she has a wide field of vision?" Tia suggested.
"It should be something else. I think it's more likely that it's an entomancer ability, or some kind of magical sense… that said, everything's in her favor, so why didn't she attack while we were talking?" Gagaran continued.
"A beast will size up its prey's strength, and then strike at its vitals." Tia replied.
"I see. In other words, she's studying all our moves. That's completely unlike our shorty, these careful types are really hard to deal with."
"It wouldn't be good to look down on you because you're humans, no? Ah, although there was another reason… there we are, it's here. Now then, I won't need this anymore." Entoma said. The insect clinging to Entoma's right arm fell to the ground and vanished into the night with a scrabbling noise. "And in its place… come here."
Another insect crawled onto the now-vacant arm. It resembled a centipede. No, it practically was a centipede, if one disregarded the fact that it was ten meters long and the sharp fangs at what passed for its face in front. This was the most powerful insect her entomancer abilities could summon, the Thousand Lash Bug.
Entoma began channelling her strength into her legs. She had learned the attack speed, destructive power, defensive strength, evasive ability and movement abilities of the two humans before her. The only unknown variable was Tia's adaptability, but there was no need to worry about that.
"Oops." Entoma touched her chin. Her fingers made contact with a clear, sticky fluid. "I just ate my fill, but after a bit of exercise I'm hungry again."
She had touched her saliva. It was the expression of her desire for humans as food. Although her favorite food was humans, until now she had only been able to sate her cravings using green biscuits as a substitute. Of course, she did not resent the Supreme Beings because of that. In fact, Entoma felt that the Supreme Beings were quite generous for allowing her to eat the arms which had been severed during the experiments on captured humans. Even so, she had still been repressing herself, and now that there were two excellent specimens of humanity — the highest-grade of cuisine — before her, she could not bear to dispose of them without taking a single bite.
The Gagaran and Tia shuddered, exposed as they were before Entoma's hungry gaze. They were not afraid of the killing intent she emitted, but this was a trembling born of the revulsion any living being had when a carnivore set its sights on them.
"Kiiiiiyeeeeeart!" Entoma screamed as she went on the offensive for the first time, and her attack was accompanied by a shrill cry that sounded like two pieces of foam rubbing against each other. Predators pounced their prey in a straight line, and at very high speeds. By the time she had deflected the six consecutive kunai coming at her, she had covered the distance between both parties.
Seeing Gagaran, the frontliner raise her weapon, Entoma decided on the first person she would incapacitate, and she swung the whip in her right hand. The longer the whip, the slower its tip would move. The same applied even to Entoma, who possessed superhuman muscle power. However, that was only true if the whip in question was a normal one. Entoma was now using the most powerful insect that she, as an entomancer, could summon. The whip which should have followed the motion of Entoma's arm in a lazy arc moved in a completely impossible fashion. It launched out like an extension of Entoma's arm at Gagaran, its razor-sharp horns and teeth leading the way at lightning speed.
This movement was only possible from a creature that was a fusion of weapon and lifeform. Even a veteran of a thousand bizarre encounters like Gagaran had probably never seen or experienced this sort of thing before. It was only natural that she would be surprised by witnessing something like that for the first time. The fact that she could avoid such a strange attack was why she was called an admantium-ranked adventurer — the highest-ranked of all adventurers.
Gagaran evaded the attack by the narrowest of margins, and as the insect-whip flew past her face.
"Watch out!" Tia cried out.
Following Tia's cry, Gagaran's body was blown away. This was Tia's ninjutsu — Bakuenjin. the suicidal explosion enveloped the two of them, the Thousand Lash Bug passed through the place where Gagaran's head had been, having turned a full 180 degrees to attack from behind. If not for that suicidal explosion, the Thousand Lash Bug would have pierced her skull. It had been well-dodged. However, Entoma's attack did not stop there. The Thousand Lash Bug suddenly turned as though it was on strings, heading at Gagaran's blackened body.
At the same time, Entoma cast a talisman at Tia. It was a Thunderbird Talisman. The talisman transformed into several birds of bluish-white electricity in mid-air, and winged towards Tia. The lightning strike exploded, and actinic blue-white light burst out to cover the surroundings, illuminating Tia — who was trying to withstand the pain — and Gagaran — who was trying to fend off the Thousand Lash Bug.
"Motherfucker! I hate these squirmy things!" Gagaran screamed as she weighed down the head of the Thousand Lash Bug with her spiked warhammer and gripped it under her left armpit, trying to keep it from moving. However, the insect used its ten meter-long body to coil loop after loop of itself around her body.
Tia stepped forward and threw a dagger, which struck Entoma's Shield Bug with a metallic sound.
"Thunderbird Flurry Talisman." Entoma cast out many talismans with her left hand. They transformed into birds that were slightly smaller than before and converged on Tia. However, Tia vanished, and bereft of a target, the thunderbirds flew on.
Tia emerged from the darkness behind Entoma, where she should have been outside of her field of vision. This was a short-ranged teleport through the medium of shadows. However, Entoma had long since spotted her. Much like certain insects had antennae, Entoma could sense movements in the air currents through a similar organ, which was another facet of Entoma's sensory abilities.
The few remaining Bullet Bugs shot out at Tia as she stepped out of the shadows.
"Guwaaargh!" Tia screamed.
"Explosive Talisman." Entoma chanted as she sent a wave of talisman after the injured Tia.
An explosion more intense than the one Tia had previously made shattered the nighttime silence. Tia was blown away, rolling along the ground, and more talismans continued flying after her. They were Keen Slice Talismans and Buffeting Gale Talismans. Tia could not find a chance to get to her feet, and she left a trail of bloodstains in her wake as she rolled further and further away, all the while being slashed and blasted.
"Tia!" Gagaran screamed at the sight of her injured comrade. "You insect bitch!"
The insect whip had already wrapped up Gagaran, who was cursing from inside the spherical mass. They had probably planned to have Gagaran weigh down the Thousand Lash Bug while Tia attacked Entoma herself.
Entoma chuckled under her mask. All she could say was that they were utterly foolish. Entoma was one of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick's Pleiades battle maids. Humans of their level could not possibly hope to defeat her. The wisest course of action would have been to ignore the fact that Entoma had eaten someone and run with all their might. They had chosen poorly, and these were the consequences of that choice.
"...The sequence of events is kind of wrong, but oh well, I guess I can't do anything about that. In any case, I'll probably be able to eat my fill since there are so many muscles, and it looks tasty too." Entoma spoke.
Entoma summoned more insects. These ones did not possess any fearsome fighting ability. They resembled syringes, which injected a paralytic venom. She grabbed the bugs and stepped lightly towards Tia. The humans would make nice souvenirs. Many creatures in the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick ate human beings. They would surely be very happy to receive a present like this.
"Hm? What's that?" Entoma wondered in confusion as her exceptional senses warned of her a danger and she leapt back and was rewarded something stabbing where Entoma had been previously been standing.
The object looked like a cavalry lance made of crystal. However, that was no ordinary lance. That was because the cavalry lance which had pierced the stone floor was made of fragile crystal, yet it did not have a single crack on it.
"Is that a spell…?" Entoma wondered as a spiritual magic caster, Entoma could sense certain common qualities which all magic-using careers shared from the cavalry lance.
"Indeed. This is a 4th-tier arcane spell, Crystal Lance." The person who answered her descended slowly upon the butt of the cavalry lance. She was a dimunitive, masked girl in a robe with a childish voice.
More helpers? Even Entoma was starting to get annoyed. She had thought she was about to enjoy a tasty meal, but then she had been surprised by an unexpected development. Her frustration was only to be expected.
"That's enough from you for now." The masked and robed girl spoke.
"...From who? I can still let you off now, so could you please leave? Children's meat is tender and I like it very much, but the portions are just too small. I'll play with you after I've eaten the two of them."
"I see, so you're a man-eater," said Evileye. "And you're dressed up like a maid, are you kidding me? Who the hell would want a monster who reeks of blood attending them?"
"WHaT dId YoU saY, YOu LItTLe bITcH?!" Entoma had accidentally spoken in her true voice, and she hurriedly clamped her hand down on her throat. She could not tolerate what this new enemy had said and her agitation had overcome her. She wanted to tear apart the woman in front of her, not because it was the principle of the strong preying upon the weak, but because that woman had upset her. What did this woman just say to me? Me, a Pleiades Battle Maid of the Great Underground Tomb of Nazarick, one who serves the Supreme Beings? The fires of hell itself blazed brightly within Entoma's body. "I'lL kILl You!"
She could no longer control her voice. However, she desperately struggled to keep her back from swelling up.
"Evileye!" Tia called out.
"I was wondering what you were trying to do… ahhh, honestly. Lesson One; always consider the relative strength and weakness of yourself and your opponent. She's stronger than you… and weaker than me." Evileye swept her arm and set her cape aflutter, and then she shouted. "How dare you bully my comrades, you monster! Now I'll teach you what it feels like to be bullied in turn! You can thank me for it later!"
Furious anger exploded from beneath that mask, but Entoma did not care. Entoma was radiating murderous intent of her own from every pore of her body, and she broke into a sprint. In Entoma's hate-filled mind, the other two were nothing more than bothersome pebbles.
Did she say nobody would want me attending them?! Entoma screamed in her mind as those words echoed through her mind, again and again.
Entoma swung the Thousand Lash Bug. There was only about a meter or so left for her to grip; the rest had already formed into a huge sphere. Naturally, Gagaran was at the heart of it.
"I'll squash you flat with your friend! Damn woman!" Entoma screamed as she smashed the Thousand Lash Bug down on her opponent, like she was wielding a flail.
"Hmph, what a boring attack." Evileye drawled as she remained unmoved. "Reverse Gravity."
Entoma resisted the spell, but the Thousand Lash Bug turned weightless and floated up leisurely. As long as the wearer successfully resisted a spell, their equipment would also resist it. However, insect weapons did not use their wielders' resistance, but had to resist spells and effects on their own. Therefore, even if a spell did not affect Entoma herself, it could affect her insect weapons, as shown by the current situation. This was a demerit of insect weapons, which could prosecute independent attacks.
However powerful Entoma was, she could only give up her original plan in the face of this magic. The Thousand Lash Bug sensed what Entoma was thinking and released Gagaran. It unrolled like a tape measure and instantly became a ten meter-long insect whip.
As Gagaran collapsed to the ground, Evileye barked orders at her. "Gagaran! You're in the way! Go heal up Tia! If your gloves are used up, feed her potions!"
The injured humans were going to heal themselves. That alone was a problem. The magic caster in front of Entoma was on her level. There was an equal chance of either party winning, but add the two healed humans to the mix and it changed. If Evileye had help, the tide might quickly turn against Entoma. Entoma couldn't linger around anymore. The fact that allies had arrived to her enemies' side meant that there were possible more reinforcements on the way. Thus, while Entoma was unwilling to deploy it, she decided to reveal her true ace in the hole for it might kill the equally strong Evileye and surely kill the two injured humans before getting out of the area.
Entoma bared her throat, exposing her true face from where a human's chin would be. To an outsider, it would look like her jaw had split open. She vomited a mass of swarming flies.
"You! Is that power connected to the Demon Gods? In that case!" Evileye shouted as she prepared a special response.
White vapor spread from Evileye, as though to meet the attack. As they touched the vapors, the flies fell to the ground one by one. Entoma was caught completely offguard as she had imagined how Evileye would look when the maggots ripped her to shreds, but the spell she had used as a counterattack exceeded her predictions. Said vapors then enveloped Entoma's body. At that moment, Entoma was wracked by incredible agony.
"Abbbaahhhhh!" Entoma's face emitted a cloud of steam and deformed, as though someone had poured acid on it.
"Oi, oi, did it work?" Gagaran asked.
"What on earth was that spell?" Tia asked.
"It's an insect-killing spell, Verminbane," Evileye replied and she further added. "There was an insectile Demon God among the Demon Gods 200 years ago. So I invented this spell to wipe out the insects it summoned. Ah, well, it's something like a unique creation."
"Oi! Will this spell harm us?" Gagaran asked in a concerned tone.
"It won't. It's especially effective against vermin, but it's non-toxic towards other living creatures." Evileye assured her friend and comrade.
"...Her face melted." Tia said in a deadpan tone.
"Tia, that's because her true identity is…" Gagaran looked in surprise at a new development. "No, that's not a face!"
Entoma's pretty face slid stickily down and thudded to the ground. It looked like the skin had been peeled off her face, but that was not the case. The back of the face which had fallen onto the ground was covered in insectile legs.
"To think it was an insect shaped like a mask…" Evileye muttered.
"Orrgguooowh!" Entoma screamed in pain as the acid continue to burn at her body.
The maid's throat was exposed. There was a slit in that abnormally hard-looking throat, and a big chunk of something slime-covered fell out of it. It resembled a wad of vomitus, but the deciding difference was the fact that it was still writhing on the ground. The front of this pinkish leech-like creature creature resembled a pair of human lips, and it was gasping in the sweet voice which the maid had been using until just now.
"What the…" Evileye could not help but hold her breath in the face of this chain of bizarre events. This was the first time she had experienced something like this in her long life.
"A Lip Bug," Tia identified the slime-covered, leech-like creature that had fallen to the stony ground. "The insect devours the vocal cords of humanoids and uses them to produce the voices of its victims."
"YoU dARe… YOu DarE…" A furious and bloodthirsty voice spoke.
The members of the Blue Rose were surprised to find their enemy still alive, especially Evileye as her unique magic spell had been created to kill insects and insect-related creature in mind.
"Now that's a cute voice. I prefer it when you sound like that!" Gagaran's words were practically dripping with hostility.
"Pu, puUuNy hUmANsSs!"
"The real battle's about to begin! Don't slack off, you two! What's in store for us is an attack even fiercer than the last!" Evileye warned her comrades.
Entoma's back swelled up, and four long legs — like those of a spider — sprouted from under her clothes. It looked like she was wearing insect legs as a backpack. She used the legs she had sprouted to leap forward. It was so startling that one might think she had used a flying spell. Now that she had a height advantage from overhead, the monster spewed forth a swarm of flying, man-eating insects.
Evileye clicked her tongue and cast Verminbane once more.
The flesh-eating flies were wiped out, and the insect maid fell back to earth, her compound eyes glaring at Evileye.
"ONlY yOu! yOU'rE tHe OnLy ONe I haVe tO feAR! ONCe You'Re deAd EvErYTHIng elSE WIll bE SimPLe! WhY aRE YOu sO hARD To DeAl wiTH?!" Entoma screamed in inhuman voice.
"Take this!" Gagaran smashed in from the side with her spiked warhammer.
The insect maid made to evade Gagaran's hit, but it froze briefly in place. That was because of Tia's ninjutsu, Fudou Kanashibari no Jutsu. Her foe was not so much resistant to it as she was immune to it, so it could not stop her from moving. Even so, the fact that it had created a brief opening for Gagaran was a tremendous help.
In response to Gagaran's strike, Entoma spat a mouthful of spider silk. There was so much of it that painted the upper half of Gagaran's body white. The sticky and resilient silk was difficult to break even for Gagaran's arm-strength. She stopped her attack and stumbled backwards. Instead, Entoma stepped forward.
"Crystal Lance."
A cavalryman's lance of crystal shot out at the insect maid. It hit Entoma and penetrated deep into her body, but it did not seem to hurt her at all. Worse, she seemed strong enough to summon more insects from the night, causing her left arm to swell up.
"Verminbane!"
The white vapors caused the insects swarming on Entoma's left arm to fall off, and the insect maid moaned in pain. The portion of her body that corresponded to a human's jaw turned to face Evileye, and it spewed a stream of silk at her, the same as what it had spat at Gagaran.
Defending with magic would be a waste of mana. I'm immune to binding anyway, so I should just take — no! Evileye hurriedly cast a spell. It was true that Entoma had spat silk at her, but the light from its strands was colder and harder than what she had hit Gagaran with. "Crystal Barrier!"
The crystal wall before her eyes was cut to pieces and vanished before her eyes.
"Was that razor webbing?!" Gagaran shouted in alarm as she shivered at the thought she would have been dead if silk had been razor sharp when it hit her.
"For you!" Tia shouted.
The net of woven black thread which Tia cast out expanded in mid-air. However, that net could not find purchase on the Entoma's body. The net passed through the insect maid's body like an illusion and fell to the ground.
"To think she's completely immune to movement restriction!" Tia shouted in displeasure at her failed handiwork.
"Cheh! Time out!" Gagaran's indignant retort was accompanied by a kick at the maid, who was seeking to close into melee combat.
That kick was also intended to create some space between them. The startling thing was that when the greave made contact with the maid uniform, there was a sound of metallic collision. Gagaran backed off, and the other two members of Blue Rose kept their distance from the maid, forming up while staying wary of area attacks.
"POkiNg hERe anD PoKInG theRE… wHaT a PAiN!" Entoma growled in annoyed tone.
"Did you hear that? That maid uniform's as hard as my weapon." Gagaran remarked.
"It's woven from a very hard metal. Given its thickness, I'd say her clothes are much harder than your weapon." Tia added.
"Adamantite… no, that's not it." Gagaran shook her head.
"I don't think that's all, no? She's got gear so good that it doesn't even make sense… My earth-elemental spells aren't too effective against her. In other words, her items must include something with the effect of reducing magical damage. Simply put, finding her weakness and taking her unawares isn't going to be too effective." Evileye concluded.
"Which means?" Tia asked.
"We need to attack head on and hit her with everything we have to drain her health." Evileye responded.
"Easier said than done. What should we do? If we don't hurry up, she's going to finish powering herself up with her talismans." Gagaran added.
"We'll just use our strongest moves. For me, it'll be Verminbane," said Evileye as she prepared most powerful magical attack.
"...Sounds simple enough," said Gagaran as she hefted her warhammer. "Alright, let's finish this."
The three of them looked at each other, and they attacked at once. Evileye used Acid Splash as while Tia supported them from behind with items. Gagaran activated her martial arts in between a series of repeated combination attacks. The members of Blue Rose worked together to take down the monster before them.
- O -
Shirou Emiya landed on the ground to survey the scene. What had been pristine forestland and private residence of wealthy individual now bore scars of a battle. A battle between the supernatural beings or magic users. No mortal army made up of normal humans had the ability to tear up entire scathes of forest, make holes and craters in a world where bombs were non-existent. A scene that made Shirou think back to the Holy Grail Wars he had participated as Servants fought each other.
He stood up and walked over to inspect the corpses that he could see. Some of the corpses were relatively intact with only mortal injures. Others were torn to pieces. Some of the bodies could be identifiable, but others couldn't. Whoever the corpses had belonged to, they had put up a fierce fight given that battlefield that they had created before their deaths.
The battlefield could tell him all sorts of information if he was to inspect it like a detective would, but that would take time and he could make wrong hypothesis to what had happened. Shirou instead preferred to use a very accurate method that had failed him very few times, and without the time it took to investigate the battlefield like a crime scene. He looked at the various equipment that the corpses wore and read their histories.
"The Blue Rose?" Shirou Emiya said in surprise as the information that he got from looking at the history of the corpses' equipment's. "This is not good. If the Re-Eztise Kingdom was to learn some of their most powerful adventurers had been killed than fear and panic would spread like wildfire and potentially cause a national crisis as people become afraid of what had killed the Blue Roses. I will have to do something about this."
Shirou opened his character and skill windows. He inspected to check that his stats were sufficient for the task at hand and went to check the skill that he was thinking of using. After reading his stats and the skill description several times and contemplated if he could make his plan work.
"This better work," Shirou said as he selected the corpses of the Blue Rose then pressed the button to the skill, Servant Summoning.
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