Chapter 456: Back to Camp?
Lillian was left in a foul mood after what had just happened.
While the main reason for her mood was the Jungle Lord’s sudden state of gluttony towards her Mana Core, it was also the fact that she couldn’t do anything beforehand to prevent it!
’How was I meant to know he would suddenly go after the core?!’
Scratching the side of her head, Lillian eventually sighed and decided to forget about it. There wasn’t anything she could do about what had happened.
For now, she had decided to just keep the Jungle Lord in its Shard form until she needed it next as a form of punishment.
Lillian tilted her head down and gazed over the trees below. Currently, both she and the Captain were headed for the heart of the jungle by air.
But because of that, they would obviously run into trouble.
Looking far in the distance, Lillian caught sight of a flock of flying monsters headed towards them. She rolled her eyes and squinted them, trying to see their features.
And what she concluded was...
’Meh...’
They weren’t that special.
Besides sharp talons and the size of their group that would cause an average mage party to struggle, they weren’t that difficult to get rid of.
The deciding factor for whether or not you’d win would be if you still had enough mana to do anything.
The average mage, who was usually around the 1st tier, would have around one-tenth of Lillian’s current mana volume.
With that amount, they could perhaps fire off an attack of two with their elements before needing to drink a mana potion to recover. But not only that, but the factor of affinity played a role as well.
While it may possibly not be obvious at a glance, the higher your affinity was, the more likely you are to seriously affect your opponent with it.
Snap.
With a snap of her fingers, Lillian had summoned a barrage of water spears that shot forward with a speed nearing that of a bullet.
She wasn’t sure when, but she had found herself enjoying the use of spears rather than water bullets or drills—something she remembered doing in the past.
Lillian watched as the monsters in the distance fell one by one, but couldn’t help but focus only on her nostalgic memories—leaving her [Parallel Thinking] to do the work.
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
...
The Beetle, who was guarding the camp, looked up towards the starry skies, admiring the sight of it. Since always having lived in the Catacombs, it hadn’t had much opportunity to appreciate such a sight.
And times when it did were when it had managed to catch sight of the outside world through the hole above the Violet Tree.
But upon entering this world, it had managed to admire sights like these.
If it had to be honest, it spent half of its time admiring the night sky rather than guarding the camp last night. However, that was only after it had successfully marked the area around the camp with its aura.
Even if it had no ears, it would rather not get an earful from Lillian for its sloppy work behaviour.
The Beetle let out a small sound as it squinted its eyes, noticing something high above in the sky. It then watched as what it had spotted had begun to dive towards it at a shocking rate.
Figuring it was an attack, it pushed itself off the ground and readied itself.
While it hadn’t ever had to deal with flying prey, it always had its options.
PTUI!
It’s acidic spit.
Like a machine gun, it began to spit balls of its saliva at the incoming blur, but was instantly met with a faceful of—
Splash!
—Water...
It stopped its spitting and gave a deadpan look as it slowly turned to the two individuals who had arrived on the ground.
Lillian noticed the look the Beetle was giving her and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged her shoulder, "You’re the one who spat at us, not willing to take something similar of your own medicine?"
The Beetle let out a distorted groan as it rolled its eyes before shaking its face to dry itself off.
Lillian watched as the Beetle did this before glancing up at the moon, still finding the night to be young.
She held her chin and thought for a moment as she judged her current mental fatigue. Lillian hadn’t been using her earring’s enchantment that much, so she wasn’t that tired currently.
Perhaps...
"Hey, Captain! How about you and I go out and kill the Beach Lord? Just for some extra time tomorrow?"
The Captain, watching as the girl turned to him, looked up to the moon as well before stroking his hand through his beard.
He then closed his eyes for a moment, thinking as he thought of an answer.
...
The Captain had come to a decision.
He pointed in a random direction with a panicked look.
"LOOK OVER THERE!"
"Huh?"
Lillian turned towards the direction he was pointing, but saw nothing of concern besides the damaged wall of the Jungle Lord’s arena.
She then raised an eyebrow before slowly turning back around, confused by the sudden gesture.
"Is there something—"
BAM! Thud...
The Captain rolled his shoulders as he looked down at his right arm, which now had a fist instead of a metal hook—he had just dealt a right hook to the back of Lillian’s head, knocking her out.
Although he was amazed by Lillian’s willingness to escape the Trial, he couldn’t help but feel as though she was pushing them a bit too much, especially when, at this time, they should be resting.
Looking down at the unconscious girl, he sighed and muttered:
"Arr... Even the most dasterdly pirates need their sleep to continue what they do, crewmate."
Turning back his metal hook into a fist, he looked towards the Beetle, preparing himself to face the monster that may attack him for what he had just done.
But...
Instead of what he had expected, he actually had the Beetle gritting its teeth tightly together, as though it was holding something in.
This was soon revealed to be a loud and distorted cackle.
The Beetle laughed at the sleeping Lillian, who was too unconscious to hear it, and accidentally woke up the entire camp.
...
As Lillian continued to rest, somewhere else in the world, something was happening—a family meeting to be exact.