NOVEL NEXT Book 6: Chapter 206
Although Malvina had given up her physical body, turning into an entity composed entirely of phoenix flames, she was still able to hum to herself as she sped through the swarm of insects, burning the bugs into a crisp upon making contact. Behind her, Volearden flew through the path she made, smacking away insects with his paws and tackling them with his shoulders. His tail whipped from side to side to deter the bugs from following him; they were not deterred but were clobbered by the armored limb instead.
Malvina rushed forward before coming to a halt. She remained as a clump of flames, floating in place to observe the princess bug. Even though the queen of the phoenixes had never seen a princess bug before, she identified it right away. Its shell was glossy as if it were made of obsidian, and there were golden, geometric etchings decorating its exterior. The other bugs making up the swarm of Oebu Sin looked more like ants while the bug in front of Malvina looked more like a beetle. It had a horn that was sparkling silver as if it had been covered in glitter, and Malvina detected hints of mana related to the rift in the sky coming off of the pointy appendage.
Malvina glanced around at the swarm of insects protecting the princess bug. Eliminating them was as easy as breathing, but she had to capture the princess bug alive. If her phoenix flames transferred from bug to bug, incinerating them, she might kill her target on accident. While she hesitated, a loud dragon roar echoed through the area, causing the bugs to flap their wings and drone even louder.
“Mine!” Volearden said, his body crashing through the bugs in the way. His claw stretched out and snatched the princess bug, but it waved its head, causing its horn to tear open a rift. Rather than grabbing the beetle, the dragon’s paw passed through the open rift. The princess bug rolled over, exposing its undersides, to dodge another swipe from Volearden.
Malvina’s physical body took shape, and she stuck her tongue out at Volearden as she flew past the armored dragon’s face. She leaned forward and extended her talons, the tips of her claws turning into phoenix flames. Malvina let out an ear-piercing cry, mostly to annoy Volearden, but also to daze the princess bug. Her talons sank into the beetle’s back, causing the bug to hiss and squirm while flapping its wings; however, its wings refused to move thanks to the phoenix holding them in place. Malvina flapped her wings hard, and phoenix flames exploded outwards, knocking back the insect swarm—half of which had turned around to save the princess bug.
Volearden snorted before flying towards Malvina. Dragons and phoenixes might’ve agreed to be at peace with one another, but that didn’t mean he was going to let her win without a fight. He flew past the expanding phoenix flames and grabbed the princess bug. He gave it a tug, tearing it away from Malvina’s talons, portions of the beetle’s shell stuck to her feet since she refused to let go. The bug squealed, causing the rest of the insects to turn around, flying away from the web-covered rift. The armored dragon grunted and flexed his muscles, causing metal spikes to extend from his armor like a porcupine. He flew through the air, wiggling his body and swinging his tail to impale as many insects as possible on his way back. His motions were also a deterrent for anyone looking to attack him to take the princess bug.
“I don’t think we can compete against that,” Tafel said with a frown. She stood next to Mary, the two women staring into a human-torso-sized portal at the armored dragon bursting through the cloud of insects.
“You haven’t tried yet,” Mary said. “How do you know?” She pointed at the dragon speeding away from the portal. “If you burn its foot with your invisible flames, it’ll be forced to release the princess bug. If it doesn’t let go, then it’ll fail Vur’s mission of capturing the bug alive.”
“I’m not going to sabotage my allies for glory,” Tafel said, turning her head to look at Mary.
“Are they your allies?” Mary asked, raising an eyebrow. “Not too long ago, Vur was fighting them. If they can so easily turn from enemies to allies, why wouldn’t they turn from allies to enemies in the future?”
“Alright,” Tafel said and nodded. “Let me rephrase that. I’m not going to set my great-grandpa-in-law’s foot on fire.”
“It doesn’t have to be his whole foot,” Mary said. “You could just burn his toes.”
Tafel stared at Mary, and the red-haired woman was forced to look away. The threads making up the web they were standing on surged towards the portal, causing Tafel to take a step back. “Vur?” the demon asked and clutched her staff. “That’s you, right?”
“Yep,” Vur’s voice said, carried through the thread. “I’m going to grab the bug.”
The threads wriggled together upon passing through the portal, joining to create an elongating white pillar that bound every insect it touched. As the pillar grew longer and longer, offshoots sprang out of it like branches on a tree. Despite how fast Volearden was barreling through the swarm of insects, the threads were growing faster than he could fly. They wrapped around the armored dragon, and Volearden’s armor flashed with blue and orange lights. “Vur?” he asked, allowing the web to bind him and the princess bug instead of automatically heating his armor to incinerate the threads. “Did something happen?”
“Yes,” Vur said, speaking through the threads. “I saw the princess bug, so I came to collect it.”
Volearden tilted his head. “But I already had it.”
“Malvina had it earlier, but she lost it,” Vur said as the threads retreated, shrinking back towards the portal. “What if you lost it too?” As the threads returned through the portal, the bugs stuck to it were knocked off, unable to pass through thanks to their large bodies.
Tafel furrowed her brow, and her horns glowed silver as the portal expanded enough to accommodate a dragon. Despite that, no insects came through as Vur’s thread pillar grew larger and retreated faster, its form as fluid as water. When the armored dragon and princess bug were pulled through, Tafel closed off the portal, forcing a certain bird queen to grumble and change her course to take the long way back.