The Swamp of Burning Beetles

I told Kage not to say anything about what happened this morning. Not. To. Anyone.

Walking into the guild, I encountered Eve who was casually lying on the table, chugging some vodka. When she spotted me, she gave me a smug look.

"Heh."

"What do you mean, heh?!"

"Fufu, nothing~"

She said mockingly.

"You-!"

I snatched the bottle away from her hand.

"Why don't you stop drinking for once?!"

When she realized that the bottle was gone from her hand, she lunged at me.

"Give it back, you!"

"No! Why don't you use your magic to cover your real form, huh?!"

"NO! Give it back!"

"WHY?! You can just use your magic to cover up your original form!"

"NEVER! It won't suppress that side!"

"Oh yes, that side from last night."

That shut her up. Yeah, that's what I thought.

There were chattering from the other guild members.

"Last night?"

"Did they do that?"

"What does he mean, original form?"

Yeah, this girl is close to getting exposed.

But then she suddenly gave me the puppy eyes.

"G-g-give it back..."

Her voice trembled. Her eyes became watery, and she looked like she was about to burst.

This isn't fair, in this form of hers, it makes her look like a child.

My heart tightened. This isn't fair. I almost feel guilty now.

"Ahh, Mr. Noctem, please give it back."

Aurora said.

"W... well, since you asked nicely, I might as well."

I handed Eve back the bottle and when she got a hold of it she turned back at me and stuck her tongue out.

So she's like a child when she drinks and a woman when she's not. Interesting. But for some reason, it's as if she's drunker when she's not drinking.

"Noctem, are you done?"

I looked over at Luna, who was inspecting the board. Unlike the former, there were plenty of monster hunting tasks on the board.

"Hohoho..."

It's as if Christmas just arrived. I hope this world has Christmas. There were tons of hunting jobs to do.

Boar killing, I could go for that again, boar meat was pretty good.

There were tons of quests to do, though some of them didn't sound pretty assuring to me.

Brass Flies...

Horned Cicadas...

Laughing Mud Cockroaches...

Cockroaches...

WHY MUST THERE BE COCKROACHES?!?!?!?!?!

The pictures of the cockroaches, ugh... it just gives me the chills. Just looking at the picture of these gigantic cockroaches made me want to throw up.

"This should be alright."

Luna said as she took the one that read "Exterminate the Blazing Beetles".

Blazing Beetles... wonder what those look like. I'm fine with beetles, they don't give that creepy vibe that cockroaches do.

Hope they are easy to take care of.

"How much are we killing?"

"Hmm... a hundred."

...

A hundred, huh...?

"Let's pick another que-"

"Ooo~, I want to kill some beetles."

Said Eve as she looked at the quest paper.

"Tch, why don't you go and do your own quests?"

"Meh, it's boring with just me and Aurora. And besides, the reward is pretty promising, I wouldn't mind sharing the reward."

The reward was 80 gold coins. True, if we went along with Eve and Aurora and split the reward up, we'd each get 16 gold coins.

"You have a reason other than wanting to kill?"

Kage said.

"Yeah, give me a reason why. Maybe all you're going to do is waste your money on more drinks!"

"Ehh, we need to pay the old man again. Tomorrow is our last night staying there and we need money."

I looked at Kage, and he nodded. Well, if it's for the inn, I'd guess it wouldn't hurt.

"Alright, let's take the job."

***

We shouldn't have taken the job...

First, we had to go to a swamp somewhere in the west. Second, the swamp was filled with gooey substances that felt like slime. And third, there were no "blazing beetles".

There was just a pile of dung everywhere. It was disgusting, and it smelled like dog crap. Who knows, maybe this is dog crap!

"What the hell is all this sh*t!"

Squish!

What the hell did I just step on?

"Be careful, this is all beetle feces. Watch your step, you don't want to accidentally fall, do you?"

Eve said as she was floating above the pile of beetle sh*t. Actually, it wasn't just her, Aurora was also floating, they had this bubble around them that shielded the smell. Luna was walking on the water so she wasn't near the pile of crap, and she had a bandana on.

Only me and Kage were the ones walking through this... this... sh*t! I'm going to have to clean my boots when I get back. If only I was able to perform whatever spell they are doing.

"So where are these... blazing beetles?"

I asked. So far, all we have seen were... sh*t.

"Right there."

Kage said as he raised his hand up, pointing. I turned and there was a small cave entrance.

Caves...

After I just left one, I have to enter another. Heee... my luck is just great.

"So, shall we enter?"

I turned around and looked at everyone. They nodded, though Aurora looked a bit uncomfortable. She was shifting around and clutching onto her staff tightly. She must be more scared of bugs than I am.

"Alright, let's g-"

When I took a step forward, I suddenly felt a wave of heat hit my face. Beetles that looked like they were on fire were crawling out.

Looks like we don't have to enter the cave at all, these things are coming right out.

"Alright, let's all take out twent-"

"DIE!!!!!"

Aurora yelled. Suddenly, the skies turned dark.

Crackle~

Lightning came down from the skies and hit the ground.

BOOM!!!!!

A large explosion erupted and everyone charged forward with murderous auras around them.

I scratched my head as I watched this massacre. These people must really hate beetles. No wonder Luna was smiling when she saw the task.

After a few seconds of watching, I slowly walked backward. How many have they killed in this short amount of time? Fourty?

While I was distracted, I realized I haven't killed a single one yet. Since I don't want to get in the ways of those four, I might as well send a spectral to do the work for me.

"Ichigo, you're up."

A purple mist came from my arm and then materialized. Ichigo was going to kneel down until he saw that he was standing in crap.

"Your orders?"

"Kill some beetles for me. And uhh watch out for them."

I pointed, and it was as if I was at war. Explosions erupting, flaming guts flying everywhere, people that looked like lightning flying past every beetle that was visible.

Ichigo nodded, then he vanished.

I bet he joined them on their rampage.

A few seconds later, a blue message popped up in front of me.

[Level up!]

That's something I haven't seen in a while.

Splash!

Something had landed in the water.

"Hmm?"

As I turn my head to see what it was, more things flew into the water. I slowly realized they were the guts of the blazing beetles. As they splashed into, their flames vaporized. I could feel the swamp heating up. Any more of this and the entire swamp will be filled with fire guts.

Ichigo.

'Yes, master?'

Finish this quickly, I don't want the whole place getting filled with... well, you know.

'Affirmative.'

Then I saw something I have also not seen in a while. The air felt weird, the space in front of me looked warped, and the creepy voice that Ichigo once spoke with came back.

"Slay... all..."

Next, I heard the sound of glass shattering, and the smoke caused by Aurora that had engulfed the area was split into multiple puffs. Then they faded away and standing there was Ichigo in the middle of a sea of burning slain beetles. I'm lucky he didn't try that move on me, or I would've been butchered.

Ding!

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[Level up!]

[You have reached the required level!]

Required?

[Effect received: Remedial Obstinacy]

[Remedial Obstinacy will replace Rehab Tenacity. Do you wish to proceed? (Y/N?)]

What does that do?

[Remedial Obstinacy: Health restores by 5% per second and whenever Health is below 40%, all stats are doubled (Except Aura). In addition, restores any missing limbs and heals any wounds.]

Restores health by five percent. 1600... no, it's 2000 now. 2000 divided by five percent is 100, that's the same as Rehab Tenacity, which restores 100 health points. But, the more I level up, the more that five percent of health being restored will be beneficial. So it is worth it.

And besides, the stat boost activates when my health goes below forty percent now instead of thirty.

Ichigo approached me and returned into my arm.

"Good job, Ichigo."

'Thank you, master.'

"Well, I guess we finished this pretty quickly."

"Yes, now let's return."

Luna was the first to go. She must really hate the smell. Kage and Eve followed, and then Aurora. I turned back at the beetles. I guess we're just going to leave all these corpses here. Wonder if they send a clean-up crew.

"Noctem, let's go."

"Alright."

I caught up with Aurora as she was a bit further away from the others. While we were heading out of the swamp, I brought up my status window. Haven't seen them in a while.

---

[Info]

Name: Noctem

Level: 45

Grade: D-rank Demon

Health: 2000

Mana: 1500

[Stats]

Strength: 78

Resistance: 76

Agility: 88

Perception: 78

Aura: 71

(Available stat points: 25)

[Skills]

Fire Magic(Lv4)

Light Magic(Lv6)

Dark Magic(Lv1)

Wind Magic(Lv4)-Distortion-

Jab(Lv8)

Leap(Lv2)

Lacerate(Lv9)

[Souls (45/71)]

[Buffs]

Physical Attacks [+25%]

Magic Resistance [+50%]

Blade Resistance [+50%]

Blunt Attack Resistance [+50%]

[Effects]

Blessed by the Light

Cursed by the Darkness

Beast Killer

Ant Exterminator

Rehab Tenacity

Impenetrable Skin

Undead Executioner

Spectral Spirit

Murderous Daunting

Transfiguration

[Storage]

Koshiro

---

I decided to distribute 19 of my stat points into aura and maybe the rest into strength. I'll have to prepare for when I get stronger souls like Ichigo.

---

[Stats]

Strength: 84

Resistance: 76

Agility: 88

Perception: 78

Aura: 90

(Available stat points: 0)

---

Hmm, I'm going to need to learn more magic.

"Hey Aurora."

"Yes?"

"Can you teach me magic?"

"Umm, that depends if you are able to learn them."

"Learn what?"

Then Eve stopped and turned towards me.

"Noctem."

Eve walked up to me.

"How many types of elemental magic can you perform?"

"Umm, 4?"

"Noctem, there are 7 kinds of magic in the world. Fire, water, lightning, wind, earth, light, and darkness."

"And...?"

"Most people are born with one to three kinds of elements. There are some cases where there are some that are born with more than three. My sister is born with... well all of them."

"What? Really?!"

I looked at Aurora, and she shied away.

"But Noctem."

I turned back to Eve.

Everybody looked at me with wary eyes. I asked what's wrong. And they said that to learn all of the elements, I'd have to be born with that element. If I'm not born with that element, then I won't be able to use it.

But I wasn't born with wind magic, but I manage to learn it after defeating Ichigo. Maybe if I encounter one of those tombs like Ichigo's again, maybe I will be able to learn the rest.

But why is everyone looking at me like that? Do they think I'll cry because I won't(But will) be able to learn the three other elements?

"Ok guys, you can stop looking at me like that. I was just curious."

They nodded and we continued.

Arriving back at the guild, we got our reward. By the time we got back, it was already night, and we decided to call it a day. We were planning on doing another one if we had time, but nevermind.

I asked Aurora if she could clean my boots. They were stained with dried-up crap and it was disgusting. I'm glad she was able to help though. Water magic is pretty useful.

As I returned to my room from eating dinner, guess who was at my bed again.

Eve... in her adult form!

"Why are you in my room?! Go back to your own!"

"Well... all the rooms are booked, including mine."

"What do you mean, didn't you pay?"

"Heh heh, I forgot that it was today. Mind if I hang out in your room for now?"

"No..."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why?"

"You're in your adult form. I don't want to sleep with a naked elf."

Flash!

Eve's body glowed a green color. Now, in her place, was an elf with a petite body. Her breasts were... why am I talking about breast? Darn adult Eve, her stupid breasts have gotten me all distracted.

This must be the form that she takes when she's not drinking. A small chested girl. Now I'm really confused.

Which one is her real form?

"So, can I stay in your room now?"

Eve said as she got up and put on some pajamas.

"F-fine, just don't do anything to me while I'm asleep."

"Actually, I should say that to you."

T-this girl... suddenly, she's so serious. Just what is she? Does she have split personalities?

"This is my real form if you were going to ask."

"Ahh, I see."

Wait, didn't she say that her room was taken.

"What about your sister's room, was hers taken?"

"Yes."

"So where is she sleeping now?"

"In Luna's room."

"So why don't you sleep over there."

"There was no more room. Your room was the only one left."

"Why not sleep on the ground?"

"Are you crazy?! I ain't sleeping on the ground! Just... deal with it. You also want to sleep with me, don't you."

Eve was getting flustered as she said that. To be honest, I kind of also want to sleep with her... in her adult form though. But... I don't think I have the energy to last whatever's going to happen.

"I think... I'll just sleep now."

"G-good."

I placed a pillow between me and Eve so we don't have contact with each other. I then turned the light off and went to sleep.

What a weird night...