Chapter 202

What the heck? How can a creature be so sinister? “W-wait…,” I said. Not that the creature would listen. The Varmint slowly raised its forelegs. If those things hit me, I would be lucky to get off with a few broken bones. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for impact, when… “Do you want to die?” I heard a swish, followed by a chilling scream. Afraid of what I would see, I opened my eyes a crack and found the Varmint writhing in agony. I looked up in disbelief. Its black forelegs were spinning in the air. Fuyao shook the miasma off her katana and glared at her enemy in a way that would make any child wail. “Looks like you’re ready to go down.” She lowered her stance and sped up. The Varmint recovered quickly, too. I heard an eerie crackling noise and noticed the beast’s injured forelegs re-form, rising like bread in an oven to become a pair of blades. Fuyao struck with her katana from the side. A violent wind blew as steel (?) smashed against steel. Fuyao realized a single blow wouldn’t break her foe’s new limbs and pulled away for a moment before aiming for its defenseless torso. However, the Varmint noticed immediately, and with a crack, it grew a fifth leg to protect itself. Another roar. Fuyao laid down her ears to dodge the boom and jumped high, boosting herself off the heaps of mining equipment. She plunged her sword into its back. Another scream, now of pain. The Varmint writhed like a fish on land with every twist of Fuyao’s blade. It tossed itself and smashed into the wall, creating a shock wave so large, it felt like an earthquake. I was frozen solid, my jaw on the ground. The writhing beast. Cornelius eaten. Fuyao making a show of her superhuman combat prowess… Was this a dream? “Komari! We have to help Fuyao…!” Lingzi ran up to me. She had a cut on her cheek, but nothing major. I was relieved. Now, then… I would like to help, but clearly, if I went in there, I’d end up squashed like a bug, you know? “That beast is like a clump of willpower!” All of a sudden, Spica was right next to me, lollipop in her mouth. Her eyes glowed brightly and her smile was deep, as though she was watching a sports match. “And no ordinary willpower. Energy created from anger and sadness. Very poor taste, if you ask me! What kind of sick terrorist made that?!” “I don’t care! What about Fuyao?!” “Fuyao’s strong. In terms of raw physical strength, she’s number one among the Lunae. Although she lost some confidence after you beat her to a pulp!” “Should I apologize?!” “Don’t worry! She won’t give up until she’s reached her goals… Huh?” Then we saw something shocking. The Varmint grew multiple new arms. Or rather…tendrils. “Guh…” Fuyao groaned in pain for the first time. The myriad tentacles squirmed like an anemone and wrapped around Fuyao. Cut one, and two more would come. The tentacles regenerated like branches of a tree from every surface she sliced, desperate to capture their target. The beast lifted her by the ankles into the air. The katana fell from her hand. Fuyao had ended up hanging upside down in the blink of an eye. “Bad news! Look at that!” I gasped. The Varmint created new tentacles in the form of spears. Naturally, their sharp ends were pointed at the now immobilized Fuyao. At her heart. Lingzi screamed. I did, too. I had to do something. Fuyao was a killer and a scoundrel who’d tricked Karla and Karin, but I would have to put that out of mind right now. “Lingzi! I’m sorry!” “Huh? Whaaa…?!” I grabbed her shoulder and drew my face to her cheek. “Ohhh!” Spica whistled. “You’re doing it?! Go get ’em!” I will. I aimed for the shallow cut on Lingzi’s cheek and licked it. Ba-thump. I felt my heart beat faster. Rainbow-colored mana overflowed, canceling out Star Cave’s lighting. The ceiling creaked and began crumbling with grand thunder. “…My.” Tremolo Parcostella stopped swinging her ax. It was getting noisy upstairs. Were the mercenaries fighting one another again? Then the little beasts who helped her mine jumped up. Animals like black shadows—Varmints. They rubbed against her legs, trying to communicate something. “…I see. It’s Spica and Terakomari… So they’re finally inside Star Cave.” She was connected to the beasts through willpower. What one of them saw was transmitted instantaneously to the rest. The little beasts said Spica and Terakomari were fighting a midsize beast above. Tremolo removed her helmet, wiped off her sweat with a hand towel, and smirked. Her prediction was right. Whether they had tailed her from Lumiere Village or used some other method of locating them, Spica and Komari had found Star Citadel’s hideout.