Chương 51: Chapter 49 – So… Buggy

Buggy The trio made it about one hundred meters into the forest before they encountered their first saprol. The creature looked disgusting. It resembled a stick bug stripped of its head, with four thin twig-like thorned legs carrying a narrow wooden body through the underbrush in jerky little movements. Chelsea immediately pulled out her spear and stabbed downward. There was a wet crunch as the blade pierced the creature, spraying green sap across the forest floor.

"Eww," Chelsea groaned as she pulled the spear free.

"They're so buggy."

"Adventurers will find themselves killing many things that are buggy," Adriane replied calmly.

"That sentence somehow doesn't make me feel even the slightest bit better." Several more saprols skittered through the brush farther ahead. Chelsea stepped aside and gestured toward them.

"Want to try?"

"Yeah." Ivy moved up beside her and muttered a quick incantation under her breath. Holding up one finger, she formed a marble-sized flame a few inches above the tip. Chelsea leaned slightly closer, watching with interest.

"Oh, that's cool." Ivy smirked faintly before flicking her hand forward. The tiny fireball shot ahead and struck one of the saprols directly in the center of its twig-like body. Flames spread almost instantly through the dry wooden frame, and the creature began convulsing violently as it burned. Chelsea watched it twitch on the forest floor.

"So are these things dangerous?"

"Nah," Adriane answered.

"The bigger ones can be a problem. These little ones mostly just have thorns. As long as you don't pick one up and rub it all over yourself, you'll be fine." Chelsea looked horrified.

"Was someone dumb enough to test that?" Adriane shrugged.

"Probably." They continued deeper into the forest, Chelsea naturally taking point with her spear while Ivy conserved mana for whatever larger threat waited farther in. Every few yards she stabbed downward into another saprol hiding among the roots or brush, each kill accompanied by another unpleasant crunch of wood and sap.

"You never answered me, Adriane. What do you think tomorrow's..." Chelsea grunted as she pinned another saprol to the dirt.

"Meeting will be about?"

"Probably just introducing us properly to the kingdom," Adriane replied.

"I don't think Junstruce has an S-ranker settled here. He'll likely try to wine and dine me." Chelsea snorted at the thought.

"The last king did something similar," Adriane continued.

"At first, anyway. Then I took that job for him, and once he thought I was stuck there under his greedy little thumb, he started treating me like garbage." Chelsea frowned slightly.

"That's awful."

"It's politics," Adriane replied dismissively.

"Ivy, what do you..." Chelsea suddenly lunged forward and drove her spear downward three times in rapid succession before finally skewering a saprol trying to dart between some roots.

"Oh, that one was fast." The little creature twitched once before going limp. Chelsea yanked her spear free and kept walking as though nothing had happened.

"What do you know about the king? Is he nice?"

"The king?" Ivy blinked.

"Wait, that's the meeting?"

"Yeah," Chelsea confirmed casually.

"Adriane got a summons earlier. You know his name is spelled like King Juice?" Ivy stared at the two sisters as though they had just announced plans to visit a neighbor for dinner instead of meeting royalty.

"Life in an S-rank family must be insane," she muttered.

"The idea of meeting a king would terrify me. You two are talking about it like you're meeting some estranged cousin."

"Chelsea is the terrifying one," Adriane said with a laugh.

"She just does things and somehow they work out."

"Does things?" Ivy repeated.

"Does she have really high Luck or something?"

"Nope. It's two," Chelsea answered immediately. Adriane's head slowly turned toward her.

"Chelsea." Her voice was not loud, but it carried enough warning that Chelsea visibly shrank a little.

"Oops. Sorry." Ivy looked between them in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"Wixx secrets," Chelsea explained while casually spearing another saprol without even looking down at it.

"We don't share confidential information." Then she dramatically covered her mouth with one hand.

"There are secrets that could literally get you killed if you hear them." Ivy laughed at first, but the sound faded quickly when she realized neither Chelsea nor Adriane were joining in. Her smile slowly disappeared.

"Wait," she asked carefully.

"Really?" Chelsea pointed casually toward Adriane with her spear.

"It's less the words themselves and more the leather-clad S-rank warrior goddess walking next to you." This time Ivy did not laugh.

"Better not get on my bad side," Chelsea warned in a spooky voice while wiggling her fingers dramatically.

"I might tell you what my Dexterity attribute is."

"Don't worry," Adriane replied dryly.

"I'd put her to sleep before she got two words in." Ivy let out a nervous laugh.

"I swear Bea must have spent half her life unconscious with how much she runs her mouth," Chelsea joked.

"She is the prime target for that spell," Adriane agreed without hesitation.

"I had to bend the luxury rule hard when paying to be taught the sleep spell. Taught it to Bea and Edgar too. It's come in handy more than once…" Chelsea suddenly pointed ahead with her spear.

"There it is." She interrupted Adriane's story. About fifty meters deeper into the forest, the ground appeared to be moving. At first glance, it resembled a massive muddy beehive tangled among the roots of several large trees. Then Chelsea realized the movement came from hundreds of saprols crawling across its surface in twitching waves.

"Eww," she muttered under her breath.

"That's horrifying."

"Ivy," Chelsea said as she shifted her spear into both hands, "how would you like to handle this?" The mage studied the nest carefully.

"The moment I use fire magic, I'm pretty sure every one of those things is going to rush me."

"Probably."

"I could possibly ignite the whole nest," she continued, "but then I might ignite the entire forest too." Chelsea nodded slowly as she considered the problem.

"Do you have some sort of barrier spell? Something that could contain the flames?"

"I do not." The two fell silent for a few moments while Chelsea casually speared another saprol that wandered too close. There was a brittle crunch as the creature burst apart beneath her weapon, spraying flecks of green sap across the roots. Ivy finally spoke again.

"How immune to fire are you exactly?" Chelsea slowly turned toward her.

"And how much do you care about your armor and weapon?" she added quickly.

"You're thinking about setting me on fire, aren't you?" Chelsea asked flatly.

"Sort of," Ivy admitted.

"Really, I just need your weapon burning. These things seem to shrivel up the instant they touch flame. If your spear is on fire, you could sweep low around me and stop anything from getting close while I burn the nest." Chelsea thought it over for a few seconds. Honestly, it sounded kind of awesome.

"Okay," she agreed.

"First, use your wind magic to clear out as much ground clutter around the nest as possible. If we can expose bare dirt, we won't have to worry about the fire spreading." Ivy's eyes lit up immediately.

"Oh. That's smart." The two got to work at once. Ivy repeatedly cast weak bursts of wind, blowing dead leaves and dry brush away from the nest while Chelsea guarded her. The saprols clearly disliked the disturbance. Small groups occasionally rushed toward them through the undergrowth only to get skewered by Chelsea before they got close enough to threaten the mage. One of the little creatures suddenly leaped toward Ivy's leg.

Chelsea reacted instantly, batting it out of the air with the shaft of her spear hard enough to splatter it against a nearby tree trunk.

"Thanks," Ivy muttered.

"No problem." After roughly ten minutes of work, a rough circle of exposed dirt surrounded the nest. Chelsea scanned the surrounding forest with a frown.

"A lot of them ran away."

"Yeah," Ivy agreed uneasily. That annoyed Chelsea. It meant they would probably have to track down stragglers afterward instead of ending everything in one clean attack.

"Here." Ivy reached into her satchel and removed a small bottle filled with cloudy liquid.

"Pour this over your spear. It should keep burning for a while." Chelsea uncorked the bottle and carefully poured the liquid along the shaft and blade of her spear. A strong chemical smell immediately hit her nose.

"Huh," she muttered, sniffing her hand afterward.

"Smells like kerosene. Or gasoline. Maybe butane? One of the flammable liquids. I'm going to be honest with you," Chelsea admitted, "I barely know the difference." Ivy stared at her for a moment before deciding not to question it further. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Are you sure this won't hurt you?" she asked carefully. Chelsea remembered hugging a burning man to death while flames consumed both of them. Her expression dimmed briefly at the memory.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"I'm sure." That really had been a horrific way to die. Ivy formed another tiny marble of flame above her fingertip and carefully guided it toward the spear. The instant the fire touched the liquid, orange flames raced across the entire weapon. Chelsea's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh, that is cool."

"Okay," she said quickly, shifting back into focus.

"You stand here." She pointed beside the cleared area.

"I'm going to stay low and intercept anything that heads your way." Ivy nodded, though her attention had shifted elsewhere. Chelsea followed her gaze and noticed her right hand was burning. Flames climbed nearly to her mid-wrist where some of the liquid had transferred from holding the spear.

"It really doesn't hurt?" she asked.

"Nope." Chelsea casually pressed the flames against her cheek.

"See?" Unfortunately, some of the liquid transferred onto her face, leaving a small patch of fire flickering harmlessly along her cheekbone after she pulled her hand away. Chelsea blinked once before shrugging.

"Wow," was all Ivy said.

"You ready?" she asked. Slowly, Ivy nodded.

"Sure." Chelsea lowered herself into the dirt roughly four feet in front of her, gripping the flaming spear in both hands. The heat from the weapon rolled across her face and wings, though she only noticed the light from it.

"Do it." Ivy began muttering an incantation under her breath. The air around her shimmered faintly as the spell formed, and a moment later a fireball roughly the size of a softball roared over Chelsea's back and slammed into the tangled mass of branches and saprol bodies. The nest ignited instantly. Flames spread through the dry structure with alarming speed, and the forest erupted into motion.

Hundreds of saprols burst from the burning hive in twitching waves, skittering over roots, rocks, and fallen branches as they rushed toward the pair. Chelsea swept her spear in broad arcs across the ground in front of Ivy. Every creature touched by the flames immediately curled inward like burning spiders before collapsing into blackened husks. The strategy was working perfectly. Chelsea almost laughed.

If this was what E-rank quests looked like, she was starting to understand why the proctor thought she belonged higher already. This was basically just stomping on aggressive bugs. Then something slammed into her back hard enough to drive the air from her lungs. The impact hit like a boulder dropped from above. Chelsea grunted as her chest smashed into the dirt beneath her, her spear skidding sideways for a moment as the force burst apart across her shoulder and wings. The Perfect Outfit Effect 2: Tier 9 acquired.

Her mind barely registered the notification before more impacts followed. Something sharp dug into the side of her neck. Another thorn punched through her cheek. Dozens of tiny wooden legs scrambled violently across her body as weight piled onto her from above. Chelsea rolled partly onto her side and finally understood what had happened. The missing saprols had climbed into the trees. Now they were dropping onto her in clusters. The creatures swarmed over her in a writhing mass of twitching branches and thorns.

They clawed at her wings, crawled into her hair, and stabbed sharpened limbs into any exposed skin they could find. One drove a thorn straight through the thin membrane of her left wing while another latched onto the edge of her ear. Chelsea didn't feel pain. But she did feel the pressure. The weight of the clusters, and the now familiar feeling of blood flowing across her skin. There was also the unpleasant sensation of things burrowing and clawing at her face.

One of the saprols jabbed a thorn directly beneath her eye, making her vision burst into dancing white light for a split second.

"Oh, you little bastards," she hissed. She tried to swing her spear, but the awkward angle pinned her arm partially beneath her body. More saprols piled onto her chest and shoulders, some of them catching fire from the spear and spreading the flames across the swarm. Then Ivy panicked. A wave of fire washed over Chelsea the next instant as another spell exploded across the creatures covering her.

"Oh shit! Chelsea!" Ivy yelled.

"Please be okay!" Flames engulfed her completely. Burning saprols writhed and cracked apart across her body while the smell of scorched wood and sap filled the air. The creatures blackened rapidly under the concentrated heat, many shriveling into ash before they could even scramble away. Chelsea coughed once as she pushed herself upright through the burning pile.

"I'm fine," she called back immediately.

"Little bastards just caught me off guard." The flames slowly died down around her. A few surviving saprols were still rushing toward Ivy, and Chelsea casually swept her burning spear through them before they could get close. The creatures ignited instantly and collapsed twitching into the dirt. She looked back toward the ruined nest. One or two saprols still crawled weakly through the burning remains, but the vast majority were dead. Chelsea laughed as she brushed charred fragments off her armor.

"Guess they were smarter than people gave them credit for." Then she turned around. Ivy looked horrified.

"What?" Chelsea asked. Ivy stared at her face in stunned silence. Several thorns were still embedded in her skin. One protruded from just below her jaw while another had punched clean through the upper part of her ear. Thin streams of dark blood ran down her cheeks and neck, mixing with soot and ash. The thin membrane of her wing had multiple ragged holes ripped and torn through it. Chelsea herself seemed completely unconcerned.

"You're hurt!" Ivy replied sheepishly.

"How are you not screaming in pain right now?"

"You get used to Chelsea being covered in blood," Adriane announced from somewhere off to their right. Chelsea glanced over and found her sister leaning casually against a tree roughly twenty feet away, arms crossed as if watching her younger sister get mauled by burning plant monsters was just another afternoon outing. Chelsea wiped at her face with the back of her hand. When she pulled it away, it came back slick with dark blood and ash.

"Oh." She blinked.

"They actually did get me pretty good." She looked back toward Adriane and laughed lightly.

"You did warn me they had thorns." Her sister's eyes drifted briefly across Chelsea's torn wing membrane and the thorn still sticking out beneath her jaw.

"Oh, hey," Chelsea added excitedly, as if only now remembering something important.

"Tier 9, by the way."

"Fascinating," Adriane replied immediately. Ivy looked between the two women with growing confusion. It was obvious there was a second conversation happening underneath the first one.

"Do you need something?" she asked cautiously.

"Oh no, don't worry." Chelsea smiled reassuringly, though the expression immediately turned awkward when her right fang slid straight through the split in her lower lip. One of the saprol thorns had apparently sliced it nearly vertically.

"I heal pretty fast." She wiggled her fingers vaguely.

"Demon magic." Ivy stared at her face in disbelief. Blood continued running down her chin while she spoke as casually as someone discussing the weather.

"Okay," she said slowly, "but why aren't you in pain?" Chelsea's eyes immediately drifted toward Adriane before snapping back to her.

"Demon magic," she answered again.

"And how do you make your weapon appear and disappear?" Chelsea hesitated.

"Demon magic?" she squeaked weakly. Ivy narrowed her eyes slightly.

"I'm starting to think you just use that as a way to explain things you don't want to talk about." Chelsea's heartbeat picked up immediately.

"No," she replied far too quickly. The word came out completely unconvincing.

"No," she repeated in exactly the same tone.

"That's not…" She trailed off for a moment before finally settling on, "Wixx secrets?" Ivy burst out laughing.

"You are such a shitty liar." Chelsea gasped dramatically and placed a hand over her chest as if wounded by the accusation.

"I am too… uh… not… I'm not lying."

"You literally panicked halfway through that sentence."

"That's… nuh uh!"

"You even looked at Adriane for help."

"That… that was… No I didn't." Ivy laughed again and shook her head.

"You're going to explain all this one day." Chelsea muttered quietly under her breath, "Only if you hit S-rank and marry Adriane or something."

"What?"

"Nothing." Adriane snorted softly from nearby but wisely chose not to elaborate. Ivy finally looked back toward the burning remains of the saprol nest. Flames were beginning to spread outward through the surrounding brush despite the dirt clearing they had made earlier.

"We need to put that out before the forest catches," she said.

"Yes," Chelsea agreed immediately, far too eager for the subject change.

"The fire. Important fire." Ivy gave her an amused look but allowed it.

"Do you have any water magic?" she asked.

"No. I brought a canteen, and it might help a little, but it won't be enough for the whole nest." She glanced toward her.

"Do you have any water?"

"Nope. I don't drink water, so carrying it around always felt kind of pointless." Chelsea held up a finger.

"That actually is demon-related, by the way. Before you accuse me of hiding behind 'demon magic' again."

"Huh." Ivy tilted her head slightly.

"I didn't know demons didn't drink water." Chelsea shrugged. She stared at the burning nest for a few moments while flames continued crawling across the tangled branches. Then her eyes lit up.

"Oh. I know how to put it out." She reached into her pouch and pulled out the ruined blue-and-white dress she had worn previously. The once pretty fabric was now torn and riddled with holes. This was the exact dress Adriane had tried on at Maggie's. According to Maggie, it was higher quality than the ones Chelsea tried on. She had yet to try it on since having Adriane destroy it, along with all eight of the others that morning.

"Here." She tossed it toward Ivy.

"Hold this." Ivy caught it awkwardly and looked it over.

"Why do you still have this? It's practically falling apart."

"It has sentimental value," Chelsea replied casually. Before she could question that statement further, Chelsea walked over to the thin sapling tree supporting the remains of the nest. Drawing her spear back, she swung hard into the base of the trunk. The blade bit nearly halfway through the wood with a sharp crack. Chelsea adjusted her footing and struck again. This time the little tree groaned and tipped sideways toward her.

She caught it before it could fall fully into the brush and dragged the burning mass toward the center of the exposed dirt clearing.

"Strong," Ivy muttered under her breath. Chelsea ignored the comment and used the butt end of her spear to smash apart the burning nest until it was little more than scattered flaming sticks.

"Okay," she said while stepping back.

"Pour about half your water over the dress. Get it soaked, but not dripping." Ivy still looked skeptical, but she uncapped her canteen and followed instructions. Chelsea took the damp dress back from her and immediately began smothering the flames one section at a time, pressing the wet fabric firmly over each burning branch until the fire hissed and died. Ivy stared at her for a moment before asking, "Do you hate that dress that much?"

Chelsea immediately raised her voice loud enough for Adriane to hear from across the clearing.

"A certain older sister said it looked whorish." Adriane's laugh drifted through the trees.

"On you, it looked fine," she called back.

"You have the body type for it." Chelsea looked scandalized.

"My boobs are bigger than yours!" she shouted back.

"That means I'd look even more whorish." Ivy burst out laughing at the exchange.

"She's the Silver Sword," she said while shaking her head.

"And you two talk like…" She searched briefly for the words.

"Like actual sisters. It makes her seem less like some terrifying dragon-slaying legend and more like a real person."

"Oh, she has her moments," Chelsea replied while patting out the final burning branch. Satisfied the flames were nearly gone, she crouched and began scooping handfuls of dirt over the blackened remains.

"We need to cover these completely." Ivy knelt beside her and copied the motion.

"Why?"

"It smothers whatever embers are left," Chelsea explained.

"Otherwise one good breeze could start the whole fire back up again."

"Ah!" Ivy nodded along.

"We put out our campfires on the way to Junstruce with dirt." Chelsea finished smothering the last ember and leaned back with a satisfied sigh. The blackened remains of the nest were now buried beneath loose dirt and ash.

"See?" she said proudly.

"No forest fire." Ivy brushed dirt from her knees as she stood.

"I'll admit, that worked." Chelsea twirled the ruined blue-and-white dress absently in one hand. It looked way worse than when they started. Chelsea frowned thoughtfully.

"Well now I'm curious." Before either Ivy or Adriane could ask what she meant, Chelsea glanced down at the ruined dress in her hand. She slipped it onto her right arm and, as with everything else, it covered with its pristine version. Then the system message appeared. The Perfect Outfit Effect 2: Tier 10 acquired. The Perfect Outfit Effect 3 unlocked: Transfiguration Rank 1. Chelsea's eyes widened instantly.

"Oh, that sounds awesome." She turned excitedly toward Adriane, already opening her mouth to announce the new ability. Then the world exploded into white light. A massive magic circle appeared above Chelsea's head without warning. Unlike the stationary summoning circles she had seen before, this one hovered in the air directly over her and moved with her body. Chelsea froze. The intricate symbols rotating within the circle glowed brilliantly enough to cast light through the entire clearing. Ivy stumbled backward.

"What the hell is that!?"

"I…" Chelsea stared upward in panic.

"I don't know!" The circle began descending slowly. Like an enormous glowing hula hoop lowering itself toward her head. For one horrifying second, she thought she was being summoned again. Was another god taking her somewhere? Was she about to disappear? She looked immediately toward Adriane for help, but her sister had not moved. Adriane stood several yards away watching with open fascination rather than concern.

"Adriane!?" The glowing ring continued downward until it passed through Chelsea's horns and head. Nothing happened. Well… not exactly nothing. Chelsea looked down just in time to watch her armor begin changing beneath the descending light. The plain mail she had purchased earlier shimmered and reshaped itself piece by piece. Dull metal transformed into polished chrome-colored armor that gleamed brilliantly beneath the fading sunlight.

Her shoulder guard shifted first, changing from simple rounded metal into angular plated armor decorated with dark jewel-like stones. The transformation continued downward across her torso, hips, legs, and boots. Even the gloves changed. Only her pouch and spear remained the same. The entire process took only seconds. Then the light vanished completely. Chelsea stood there blinking in stunned silence while Ivy stared at her like she had just transformed into some divine being directly in front of her.

"What," she said slowly, "the hell was that?" Chelsea's mouth opened. Then closed. Then it opened again. Her eyes immediately darted toward Adriane. Unfortunately, Ivy had seen the whole thing. This was a million times worse than Chelsea blurting out some random secret about the Wixx family. This was summoned champion related. Adriane gave Chelsea a deeply apologetic look. Then she started walking toward Ivy.