Free Web NovelChapter 57: Investment 57— Wind and Rocks
Space separated everyone from each other, but somehow Futaba and Deria ended up together. They had very similar personalities but slightly different approaches in dealing with their foes.
"Futaba, do they still call you Fufu-chan?" Deria giggled.
"What? I’m just asking." She continued to laugh, knowing full well that Futaba hated that nickname.
"You both are sure having a nice time." Mary stood on a tall tree and tugged her mushroom hair behind her ears.
"You revealed your location... good, that saves us the time of searching," Futaba smiled.
"You guys are called the Bug Lords or something, right?—"
"So why do you have mushrooms for your hair?" Deria asked.
"Oh! Appearances are really deceiving." Mary’s hair began to bulge, then ladybugs scattered, filling the sky.
"You were saying?" Futaba rolled her eyes in despair at Deria’s appalling question.
"I know we rarely agree on anything." Deria turned her left eye to Futaba.
"But if we could agree on one thing right this moment—" Their eyes locked in agreement.
"It’s to take this creepy bitch down!"
Their mana flared, cracking the ground beneath their feet. The heavy gust they released hammered a few trees to the floor.
"Not bad, but not bad at all." Mary grinned weirdly from ear to ear. Her pristine, pale white hands moved slowly. The ladybugs reacted to her hand movements.
They packed themselves closely together to form numerous flying spikes that thrust down at Deria and Futaba.
"Don’t worry, I got this—" Deria took a step forward and placed a hand on the earth.
"Clasp!"
Two square pieces of wall were carved out of the earth. Deria flapped them around in the air, smashing the bug spikes one by one. A bug spike escaped Deria; it went straight towards the idle Futaba.
An earth wall rose in front of Futaba, and the bugs crashed against it, turning into a disgusting pile of mush.
"Told you I got this." Deria smirked.
"You annoying little twats should be paying more attention." In a flash, Mary appeared in front of Deria with her hand at Deria’s throat. She drove a hand through Deria’s neck.
"Why can’t I pull this out?"
Deria’s body turned into stone, and Mary’s hand was trapped within it.
"You little shit, what did you do?" Mary yelped.
"Beats me," Futaba sighed.
"I think you should pay more attention to where you are heading. You might hit a rock." Deria waltzed from behind a collapsed tree with a smirk on her face.
’Stone Double... how I hated this little trick of hers,’ Futaba mumbled to herself.
Stone Double was a spell created by Deria for defence and restraining her foes. It was unusually hard—stronger than iron even—and constantly siphoned the mana of those in contact with it.
"Fists Up Jabs!"
Giant stone fists emerged from spell circles that were created around Mary. They punched Mary rapidly until she bled.
At some point she stopped moving. Deria walked closer.
"Did she pass out?"
"Deria!" Futaba dragged Deria backwards.
Dense red mana swept across the area. Everything within a meter radius of Mary was utterly destroyed. Mary’s body floated upwards into the sky slowly.
"Unfortunately, playtime ends now."
Her body was brimming with an unbelievable amount of mana. More worrying for Deria and Futaba, the mana from the environment was also being drawn into her body, further boosting her mana threshold.
"This must be—" They mumbled at once.
"Spell Zone—"
Mary’s body grew in size, then compressed back to her smaller stature. A translucent red barrier formed about ten meters away from them and closed at the top.
Two giant ladybugs burst out of two distinct spell circles and landed on the ground with a great BOOM.
"Endowned Rhapsody."
Mary’s strength drastically increased—Deria and Futaba could tell that at a mere glance.
"Der—"
Mary smashed down on the ground. Dark dust erupted, making it hard to see for a fleeting moment.
"Tsk, I missed." Mary clenched her teeth. Deria had narrowly escaped the impact.
’Ten different stone walls crumbled at once. This bitch is bad news.’
Deria simultaneously created eleven stone walls to block the attack, but only one remained.
"Futaba, it seems we have to go all out." She spat blood on the floor.
"I was planning on that from the very beginning," Futaba grinned.
The ground rumbled from the pressure of their mana. Brown and white mana lit up the night sky.
"Affinity Switch: Desolation."
The trees and grass around Deria turned brown and withered into dust.
"Moohawk!" White light tunnelled out of Futaba’s chest and took the shape of a bird.
"Moo-chan, it’s time to unleash... it." Futaba crouched, clenched her fists, and spread her legs on the floor.
"Are you sure, my lady...? Your uncle would be very much unhappy," Moohawk replied.
"Fuck him—"
"Just do it!" she said with unflinching resolve.
"As you wish, my lady!"
Moohawk’s feathers turned white as he exuded a translucent and pristine glow.
"Affinity Switch—" Futaba and Moohawk said in unison.
"Progenitor’s Wind."
Futaba’s hair also turned white. Moohawk dissolved into two separate bundles of white that wrapped themselves around Futaba’s fists, turning into a pair of open gloves.
"I’ll go low." Deria vanished.
"And I’ll go high." Futaba leaped into the sky. She punched her fists rapidly, creating white wind gales that attacked Mary.
"Rak and Ruk... to me!" Mary stretched forth her hands. The ladybugs responded to her command and flew towards her.
Before the bugs could reach her, Deria appeared below and punched her in the torso—slamming her into a tree.
"Tsk! I missed." Deria flexed her hands.
"Too bad." The giant ladybugs had shielded Mary from the attack. She strode out of the shattered tree. The two giant ladybugs fused with both her hands to form gauntlets.
Mary disappeared. Deria’s eyes darted around.
"She’s going for—"
Mary appeared again behind Futaba—she slammed a fist into Futaba’s head.
The instant she hit Futaba’s body, white dust erupted.
"What the hell was that?" Mary didn’t feel anything when she hit Futaba.
"Why don’t I show you how to give a real punch?"
Futaba slammed her fists into Mary’s face at point-blank range. Mary’s body hit the ground with a thud.
"Don’t forget about me." Deria showed up right behind Mary and pointed to her torso.
Mary flipped over and grounded her feet in the earth to prevent further movement.
"I’ve had it with you two." She snapped her fingers, and suddenly cuts appeared on Deria’s and Futaba’s bodies, and their blood spilled.
They fell to the floor, unable to move.
"Poison," Deria and Futaba stuttered.
