NOVEL NEXT Book 6: Chapter 211
Lindyss stared at the giant beetle standing before her. It stared back at her. The cursed elf nodded, confirming what she had already suspected: she had no idea how in the world to communicate with it. “So, do you … speak?” the cursed elf asked.
The beetle chittered at her, clicking and clacking with internal parts since nothing on the outside seemed to be moving.
Lindyss turned her head to the side where dragons and phoenixes were roasting the corpses of the insect-type Oebu Sin and eating them as if they were popcorn shrimp. The living Oebu Sin were gathered in a terrifying swarm, able to be seen all the way to the horizon. Without Vur’s web acting as a bottleneck, Lindyss could finally get a proper sense of how large the swarm of insects was. They were a sea of unforgiving limbs, pointed and sharp. “You have a lot of underlings,” the cursed elf said.
The beetle, Gronion, chittered again.
“Great,” Lindyss said with a neutral expression. “I’m sure we can figure something out.” She turned her attention back onto the horde of bugs. No matter how they looked, moved, or communicated, the cursed elf could only see one thing: a logistical nightmare. What did insects the size of bears eat? How did they procure their food in a sustainable manner? If they simply ate everything until there was nothing left to eat and starved to death….
Gronion clicked at Lindyss upon seeing the cursed elf simply standing there.
“Don’t rush me,” Lindyss said. “I’m thinking.” Her eyes shifted onto the beetle. “What do you think about cannibalism?”
The beetle chittered without moving.
Lindyss had no idea what Gronion was trying to communicate to her. Her brow furrowed. She needed a translator but not Vur; after all, she was doing this for him. Luckily, there was a speaking bug out there on the first floor known as Geomi. Maybe the giant caterpillar could translate.
***
Tafel’s brows furrowed. Her arms were extended, shooting a concentrated jet of invisible phoenix flames on the polymorphed Oebu Sin. As a red mushroom, it wiggled and squirmed, jerking about on the ground to avoid direct contact with the demon’s flames as much as it possibly could with its form. Tafel turned her head towards Vur. “I don’t think fire works on it,” she said. “There’s not even a hint of charring after so long.”
Vur’s frown stretched a little wider. “Here,” he said as the brown runes on his arm glowed. Earthen bindings rose out of the ground, trapping the mushroom in place. “I’ll hold it still.”
Tafel nodded, and her forehead scrunched up. With Vur holding the mushroom down, she didn’t have to divert a portion of her attention on aiming anymore. The intensity of her invisible flame increased, and the mushroom wiggled desperately but couldn’t escape.
“It almost looks like they’re tickling it,” Mervin said to Stella from their spot not too far away.
“Huh?” Stella asked, blinking as she turned her head towards Mervin. “You mean the mushroom?”
“Yeah,” the genie king said and nodded. “A lot of people wish for happiness when they find a genie, and one of the more common ways we genies achieve this is by binding whoever we’re making happy and tickling them until they pass out.” He gestured towards the wriggling mushroom. “A lot of them squirm like that.”
“You dummy, that’s not the kind of happiness they want,” Stella said.
Mervin shrugged. “Well,” he said, “they should’ve been more specific. It’s not my fault.”
Stella shook her head before turning her attention back onto the mushroom. She was—by her standards—a safe distance away to observe the occasion. Now that she had Mervin’s idea planted inside her head, she couldn’t help but agree. The mushroom was wiggling as if Tafel’s flames were tickling it. The demon frowned as she straightened her back and stopped her flames. “Try cutting it,” she said, turning her head towards Mary.
Mary blinked before smiling. “Sure,” she said as she took a step forward, her hand on her sword’s hilt. She unsheathed her weapon and took off her gauntlet. She slid her palm along the edge of the blade, coating it in a layer of blood as it sliced through her skin. Then, she put her armor back on and raised her sword over her head. With a short cry, she slashed downwards, striking the center of the mushroom, splitting it into two pieces.
The pieces of the mushroom wriggled violently, and Vur pulled Tafel backwards as the polymorph wore off. The mushroom reverted into two pieces of the severed hand. One piece had the lower palm and thumb while the other piece had the upper palm and four fingers. Tendrils of flesh grew out of the stumpy portions, reaching to recombine the two parts of the hand.
“Not so fast,” Mary said and stabbed her sword downwards into the lower palm, impaling it. She flicked it to the side, preventing the tendrils from connecting. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the green motes of light flickering near her sword. Despite how bright it was, only she could see it. Compared to the bugs, this Oebu Sin had way richer life force. Mary turned her head towards Vur. “Can I have this hand?”
Vur tilted his head. “Are you going to let it bother the tower?”
“No,” Mary said, stabbing the hand once more as the two parts leapt towards each other, pushing off with their fingers and one thumb in an attempt to reconnect. She impaled the lower half and raised it up, causing the fleshy tendrils to barely miss each other. A frown appeared on her face as the upper half of the palm leapt towards her face. She grabbed it and squeezed. Cracking sounds rang out as she crushed the fingers together, grinding them against one another, causing the Oebu Sin to squirm to no avail. A furrow appeared on Mary’s brow as she turned towards Tafel. “Do you have a really strong cage?”