Chapter 9

It was a normal night for the Black Bulls. Asta was doing one-hand push-ups, Vanessa was drinking, Gauche was looking at his sister's photo, Magna eating his pudding while sitting on top of Asta, Luck pestering Magna for a fight, Grey being Grey, Gordon muttering, Charmy eating, Noelle trying to name the anti-bird that had been following Asta lately, and lastly, Elara who was eating her chocolate. Ever since their trip to the Castle Town, the members always found Elara eating chocolate to the point where they questioned where the heck she gets them from. She just doesn't seem to run out of it.

"Hey, Magna. Let's fight. No holding back." Luck suggested cheerily, his hands cupping his face as he crouched down to face Magna who was sitting on an exercising Asta.

"No way, you battle-obsessed freak." Magna retorted while eating his pudding.

"Oh, come on. Let's do it." Luck pressed, "I'm gonna eat your pudding." He taunted with a smile.

Magna immediately moved his pudding out of Luck's reach, afraid that he might take it right there and then, "If you do that, I'll-"

"Will you fight me!? Will you!?" Luck questioned excitedly, leaning closer to Magna, challengingly.

"No." Magna replied.

"Aw..." Luck said, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

"Silvantus Schnauzer." Noelle crouched and tried to name the anti-bird on Asta's head.

"I think something else would be better." Vanessa said with a flushed face from drinking too much, "Let's see... Like 'Wine'!"

"Wine?" Vanessa suggested, asking the anti-bird and receiving no response at all.

Gauche then suddenly held up a picture of Marie, "I will allow you to borrow a single letter from the name of my little sister, the goddess Marie."

"I will let you take 'M'. Be grateful." Gauche told them.

"Make it something cooler!" Magna said joining in on the naming, "Like, let's see..."

"Magnam Fire!" Magna suggested, enthusiastically.

"Lame." Noelle deadpanned.

"You have no taste, Lady Noe." Magna said.

"More like you don't." Noelle retorted.

"Oooh! Let's name him Choco!" Elara suggested, holding up her half eaten chocolate bar from beside Vanessa.

Grey puffed out his usual smoke, while Gordom muttered something but couldn't be heard over Asta's counting, who was still exercising by the way.

"Munch, munch, munch..." Charmy munched on her food, "Can I fatten that bird up? He looks really yummy." She asked.

"Absolutely not!" Noelle retorted indignantly.

"Does he lay eggs?" Charmy asked.

"Chocolate eggs?" Elara asked also interested.

"Huh?" -Noelle

"Definitely Toritaro!" Asta said, stopping from doing his push-ups momentarily.

"No, it's Silvantus Schnauzer." Noelle opposed.

"Toritaro!"

"Silvantus Schnauzer!"

"Toritaro!"

The anti-bird had an annoyed look on its face before it started pecking Asta's head again.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Asta yelled in pain.

"The heck wa the for, Toritaro!?" Asta asked after the anti-bird stopped its assault.

"There, you see?" Noelle said in a-matter-of- fact tone, making Asta roll his eyes a bit.

"You prefer Silvantus Schnauzer, don't you?" Noelled asked the anti-bird, softly. "Right? Right?"

"Magnam Fire!"

"M."

"Wine!"

"Choco!" Elara said offering the bird some of her chocolate.

The anti-bird ate the chocolate crumb Elara offered which she concluded as a yes. Her eyes glistened, "She likes chocolate too! I knew it! You'll be Choc-"

Elara was cut off from her celebration when Luck suddenly suggested, "Why not Nero?"

The anti-bird raised its wing, making the others gasp in disbelief, "What!?"

"Looks like he approves." Luck stated with a smile. "'Nero' means 'Black'."

"Nero?" Noelle and Asta tested the name for themselves.

"Awww! No fair! He approved of Choco before Nero!" Elara whined while pointing an accusing finger at Luck.

"Ehh? He didn't approve of Choco, he just liked the chocolate you offered him" Luck pointed out.

"No, I'm pretty sure he liked Choco before you butted in with Nero! It's unfair! I already won!" Elara retorted stubbornly.

"Eh.. he did? Oh, well it can't be helped now." Luck said scratching the back of his head with a smile, before he leaned closer to her from the bottom of the couch, "Say, why don't I make it up to you with a fight?"

Elara only turned her head away from him with her arms crossed, "Hmph!" But not without taking a bite out of her chocolate right after.

Suddenly, a spacial magic portal appeared, taking everyone's attention.

"All right, listen up." Yami said, coming out of the portal.

"Mister Yami! Hello!" Magna greeted.

"We're back, everyone." Finral followed Yami, coming out of the portal, which closed right after he passed through.

"Welcome back!" Charmy greeted.

"What did they want at the castle?" Vanessa asked.

"Mission? Is it a mission?" Luck asked excitedly while playfully punching the air in front of their Captain.

"I have an announcement for you all." Yami said as nonchalantly as ever. "A dungeon has been discovered."

Despite the rather nonchalant way of announcing it, it definitely caught Elara's attention.

A dungeon? Elara thought, putting down her chocolate as she stared at her Captain with wide eyes. The dangerous, mysterious, and exciting type of dungeon!?

"A dungeon!?" Magna exclaimed. "Are you serious, Mister Yami!?"

Asta, who looked just as hyped as Magna looked, exclaimed with as much enthusiasm, although his next words were quite off-putting.

"What the heck is a dungeon?!"

"Huh?" Everyone stared at the ash blonde, dumbfounded.

"Are you serious? You were surprised, and you didn't even know what it is?" Asked Magna, incredulously.

"I just went with the flow!" Asta replied sheepishly.

"Talk about predictable!" Magna said, before he started explaining what a dungeon is to Asta.

"Listen up. Dungeons are kind of like ancient tombs that contain relics made by the people from back then. Sometimes they have info about powerful ancient magic or super rare magical items. They're absolutely amazing!" Magna yelled at Asta, making the latter's eyes whiten.

"Waaaaahhhh!" Asta yelled in reply.

"But you know..." Luck suddenly cut into their conversation, making them turn to him, "The people back then set insane magical traps in them so that they wouldn't get misused by anyone. They're super dangerous and really fun!" He finished, cheerily.

Asta now had a look of apprehension on his face.

"The Magic Knights always investigate them since they're so dangerous, and to make sure none of the treasures get stolen." Vanessa added in.

"Oh, okay!" Asta said.

On the other hand, all Elara heard from all their explanations were 'They're super dangerous and really fun'.

"I see..." Noelle said thoughtfully. "Which means the Black Bulls are supposed to investigate this newly discovered dungeon?"

"Yes." Yami replied. "Particularly because this dungeon popped up near our enemy's border."

"Enemy?" Asta asked.

"The Diamond Kingdom." Yami revealed.

This caused Elara's eyes to widen. Now I really want to go to this dungeon.

"We need to take care if this mission fast so Diamond's people won't steal anything." Yami explained, "By the way, there have been instances in which someone found a magical item that could change civilization itself in a dungeon, and someone even learned how to use the ultimate magic there."

"Me! Me! Please let me go!" Asta volunteered, raising his hand, "I might be able to use the ultimate magic, too!"

"You don't have any magic, so that's not happening." Yami deadpanned, making Elara sweatdrop.

Poor Asta...

"You never know!" Asta said persistently, his hand still raised.

"Actually, you can go, kid." Yami suddenly said, making everyone look at him in shock. "In fact, the Wizard King chose you himself."

"Huh?" Asta said, completely dumbfounded, before realization hit him, "EHHH?! The Wizard King?! Why!?"

The Wizard King? Elara thought, looking thoughtful as she looked down with her forefinger and thumb holding her chin.

"That's awesome, Asta!" Magna cheered for the boy, slinging an arm over his shoulder, "What the heck? Did you bump into the Wizard King somewhere?"

Bump? Noelle and I have been with Asta ever since we joined, there's never-unless...No, what am I even thinking? There's no way.. Elara thought.

Light suddenly came from a random window inside the base, taking Elara's attention away from her thoughts. She looked over to see Asta using that light as some sort of spotlight, his aura sparkling.

"The Wizard King chose me!" He started, comical tears streaming down his face as his eyes sparkled, "I don't know why, but Great Wizard King! Asta the unworthy will give his all on this mission!"

"Noelle, Miz Dynamite, you're also going with him." Yami suddenly said.

"Huh?" Noelle asked confused, while Elara looked at their Captain as if he was her God and savior.

"Really Captain?" Elara asked, her eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Everything counts as experience." Yami explained.

At this Elara's excitement went skyrocketing, almost making her combust if it weren't for their Captain bonking her head.

"Just make sure you don't blow the place up while you're at it, Miz Dynamite." Yami said.

Elara who was rubbing the sore spot on her head, nodded vigorously, "I'll try, Captain!"

Yami then turned to Luck, "Oh, and Luck." He said, making the cheery berserker look at him. "You're the leader. I'm leaving those three to you."

"Really?" Luck asked.

"Yup." Yami replied, "You'll lose your touch if you stay cooped up all the time."

"Yayyy!" Luck cheered.

"Listen up. Make sure you look after the newbies." Yami said.

"Leave it to me!" Luck replied cheerily, while Magna sweatdropped, suddenly feeling worried for the newbies.

Noelle had a look of apprehension on her face as she looked at Luck, while Elara didn't even care anymore if the guy who's been making her feel all these weird feelings of familiarity went with them. As long as she gets to go to the dungeon, she'll be happy.

Finral opened up a spacial magic portal with Luck, Noelle, Asta, and Elara in front of it, ready to depart.

"Be careful." Vanessa told them.

"Mhm!" Elara replied, excitedly.

"Asta! Lady Noe! Miz Dynamite! Give it your all!" Magna encouraged.

"Got it!" Asta replied.

"I guess I don't have a choice." -Noelle

"I think I'll go find some cute girls, then." Finral suddenly said, completely out of topic.

This caused Gauche to suggest, "May I go see my sister?"

"If you're prepared to die." Their Captain replied, a dark and menacing aura surrounding him, causing Finral and Gauche to stiffen in apprehension.

With that Luck, Asta, Noelle, and Elara went through the portal and arrived on a grassy hill.

"The sunset is beautiful from here." Finral told them, popping his head and upper body out of the portal. "I reccomend this location for dates." He added before disappearing back inside.

"I'll have some mummies ready for you when you get back!" Charmy, who went through the portal with them, said before, she too, disappeared back inside.

"We're counting on you." Their Captain's voice sounded from the portal before it completely closed.

"Got it!" Asta replied saluting, while Luck waved cheerfully, "Okay!"

Elara saw the look of uneasiness on Noelle's face, making her smile and loop her arm with Noelle's for comfort. "Come on, Noe! We'll get to see if our training paid off!"

Noelle looked at Elara's closed eye smile, her nerves and unease slowly diminishing. It just had that warming effect on her everytime she sees it.

Noelle smiled and nodded, making Elara's grin widen before they went to follow Luck and Asta.

"Let's see... It's this way." Luck said, leading the way.

The group walked for a couple of minutes, going deeper into the woods.

"They could've just dropped us off right in front of the dungeon." Noelle commented as they walked.

Luck gave out a short chuckle before saying, "Finral's only able to go to places he's been to before."

He suddenly looked over a huge fallen trunk, gasping in enthusiasm, "But thankfully, it was still near the dungeon." He said, climbing up the trunk and standing on top of it.

Asta, Noelle, and Elara peeked from behind the trunk to see a wrecked palace of some sort that had a pitch black opening in front of it.

The four arrived at the entrance, staring inside it with either apprehension or excitement. Asta and Noelle in apprehension, and Luck and Elara in excitement.

Before they could do anything else, Elara, who couldn't contain her excitement any longer, blew up right then and there, surrounding them with smoke.

"Elara!" Noelle and Asta scolded, while Luck just laughed at their soot covered self.

"Oops!" Elara chirped, scratching the back of her head with a smile, not looking sorry at all.

Noelle just sweatdropped as she stared at Luck and Elara. Are we really gonna be okay?

"Let's go!" Luck said, jumping down the few steps of stairs and into the pitch black tunnel.

Elara quickly followed behind him, easily making her way inside the tunnel while Noelle and Asta still had to light the lamp that Asta brought so they could see.

After walking in silence for a while, Noelle decided to speak, "It's so dark."

"Don't cling to me. It's hard to walk." Asta said, making Noelle flustered.

"Wh-who's clinging?" Noelle stammered with flushed cheeks while Elara, who was walking in front of them, giggled in amusement.

Noelle suddenly tripped, making her fall forward and into Asta. Elara and Luck were able to stand to the side and avoid them, making Noelle and Asta fall on the ground, shattering their lamp in the process.

"Gahhhhh!" Noelle yelled in fright as they were consumed in darkness.

"I can't see anything!" Asta said.

Luck and Elara laughed in amusement before the latter snapped her fingers, a golden thread suddenly appearing in front of them, filling the darkness with light. The thread of light lengthened forward, lighting up a path for them to follow inside the tunnel.

"Ohhh! That's awesome Elara!" Asta exclaimed with stars in his eyes as he stared at the thread of light.

"Why didn't you just do this from the start?" Noelle complained as Elara helped her up, with Luck doing the same to Asta.

The lavender haired mage just grinned at her, "Because witnessing you and Asta struggle in the dark is amusing."

After hearing this, Noelle and Asta's souls left their bodies while Luck just laughed.

With Elara's thread lighting the way, walking through the tunnel was considerably easier now.

"Oi! Even with the light, you still managed to step on my foot!" Noelle hit Asta on his shoulder.

"Ow! It isn't my fault that your foot was in the way!"

As Asta and Noelle bickered behind them, Luck decelerated a bit so he could fall into step with Elara, making the girl in question turn to him, questioningly.

Luck grinned at her before saying, "So I've been thinking a lot about what made you so familiar and..."

Elara, who was equally as curious as him although not wanting to show it that much, stared at him with wide eyes as she waited in anticipation.

"And...?"

"I've got nothing!" Luck finished with a wide grin, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

Elara would've comically fallen to the ground by now if it didn't cause such unwanted attention from the two bickering kids behind them, so she just stayed quiet and looked to the front.

"Although I did start to have these dreams about you." Luck suddenly said, cheerily.

This made Elara's eyes widen and her face to flush a bright tomato red.

"Wh-what?!" She asked incredulously, turning to face a grinning Luck, who looked as if what he said didn't sound weird at all.

"Mhm! In my dreams, we looked pretty close, and there was also this older looking lady that also looked familiar." Luck elaborated.

Elara tried her best to calm herself and at the same time thinking about what Luck just told her.

We were close? What did that mean? Is he a childhood friend that I've somehow forgotten about?

At that thought, she cleared her throat awkwardly, straightening herself and asked, "Are you sure it was me?"

Luck looked up thoughtfully, "Hmm.. well she definitely looked like you and had the same magic as you, though she didn't really feel like you, so I'm not really sure."

Elara turned to him questioningly, "Feel like me? What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"I can't really pinpoint what it is, but she just doesn't give that aura that you have. It's like you're two different people but at same time not different..?" Luck trailed off, questioning.

Elara just stared at him with her mind going blank, "You aren't making any sense right now."

Luck chuckled, amused by the expression on her face, "That just means I need to think about it more!" He said, grinning cheekily at her.

Elara narrowed her eyes at him, suddenly remembering something, "I still haven't forgiven you for naming Choco 'Nero'" she said, crossing her arms and looking away from him.

"Ehh... it's not my fault Nero liked 'Nero' more!" The blue eyed blonde teased.

At this, Elara sent a mean glare towards Luck before punching his shoulder harshly.

"Ow!" The blonde yelped but then laughed right after. He was about to make a comment (that'll probably send him flying once Elara's heard it) when something else caught his eye.

He looked past Elara to see a square-shaped glow on the wall.

Elara stopped walking when she noticed that Luck wasn't beside her anymore. "Huh?" She turned around to see the blonde nearing a wall.

She walked towards Luck and looked over his shoulder, trying to see what he's found and that's when she finally saw the square-shaped glow on the wall.

Before Elara could say anything, Luck suddenly pressed his hand against it, "Is this it?"

With one push, the brick fell backwards and a blinding light came invading the illuminated tunnel, causing them to close and shield their eyes.

Elara, who's not face by these kinds of things, didn't close her eyes and saw as the wall surrounding the brick Luck just pushed, fall and crumble at their feet. But that's not what caught her eye, it was what's on the other side of the wall that did.

"Waahh!" Elara exclaimed in awe at the sight in front if her.

This caused the others to open their eyes and look, the same expressions dawning on their faces. The look of wonder and awe.

The dungeon was a disfigured place filled with floating debris and what looked like floating, glowing dust particles, making the place look ethereal. There were also streams that glowed and entrances everywhere that could make you lost. Most of all, the whole place was filled with overwhelming mana.

"W-wow!" Asta exclaimed with stars in his eyes as he looked around the place. "What the heck's going on with this place?"

"What is this?" Noelle asked, pertaining to the weird structure of the place.

"Looks like the space is warped because of magic." Luck said, before a sudden spark went through him, "There's even stronger mana floating around here than outside." He told the newbies.

"Yes. I've never been anywhere this full of mana before." Noelle commented.

"It feels so refreshing and noxious at the same time!" Elara added in.

"Really?" Asta suddenly asked making the three look at him confusedly.

"Are you saying you can't feel all this mana?" Noelle asked the ash blonde.

"Not at all." Asta replied.

"Amazing. I guess people who don't have magic really are different." Noelle commented.

"Shut up!" Asta said before he suddenly fell on his knees, dejectedly. "I want to feel mana, too!"

"I want mana!" He said, punching his right fist into his left hand. "Must be nice being one of you royals! You have ridiculous amount of mana!"

"In my body, I don't have even an ounce of the foundation of magic... Mana!" He yelled with tears streaming down his face before he suddenly banged his fists on the floor. "God damn!"

A magic circle suddenly appeared under Asta's fist, making him stop and look at it confusion. An Earth Magic spell suddenly erupted from the place where the magic circle appeared, making Asta exclaim in shock.

"T-trap magic?" Noelle asked in alarm.

Right before the spell could hit Asta, he summoned his anti-magic sword and sliced through the spell, successfully nullifying it.

"That was dangerous. Be more careful." Noelle warned.

"My bad." Asta said, sheepishly scratching his head.

It was as if Luck and Elara suddenly shared the same mind as they looked at one another and nodded, sharing the same thoughts.

"Oh! Here it is, Asta." Luck spoke up, beckoning Asta over towards where he and Elara were standing.

"Mhm! Look at this." Elara said, pointing at a magic circle embedded on the ground.

Asta, being the gullible person he is, walked over and took a peek before Luck suddenly pushed him forward softly, putting him off balance. The ash blonde hopped on one foot, trying to regain his balance when he accidentally stepped on the magic circle Elara just pointed out.

The circle activated, making Asta jump back before he nullified the spell with a battle cry.

Luck and Elara had elated looks on their faces while Noelle covered her mouth in shock.

"What was that for!?" Asta exclaimed at the two ecstatic teens, .

"That was amazing!" Luck said, happily clapping his hands.

"Mhm!" Elara agreed, doing the same.

"Listen, the both of you!" Noelle reprimanded, before she suddenly saw another one and stupidly pointed at it, "Oh, there's another one."

"Hup!" Luck chirped, jumping out of his place and onto the magic circle, activating it.

Noelle screamed in fright before Asta went forward and nullified it.

Elara, on the other hand, clapped her hands as she laughed excitedly, her eyes sparkling, "More!" She cheered.

"Whee!" Luck landed on another magic circle, activating it to which Asta once again nullified.

"More! More!" Elara exclaimed, happily.

"Elara! Stop encouraging him!" Noelle scolded the lavender haired girl beside her.

"And another one!"

"Gaaaahhhh!"

"Yayyyy!"

"This is so much fun!" Luck laughed as he landed, deciding that he had enough for now. "Isn't this exciting?" He asked with a wide grin.

"Yes!" Elara agreed wholeheartedly, nodding with her own wide grin, while Noelle and Asta was breathing heavily beside her, their eyes completely white.

We're going to die if we stay with this guy and Elara being this way is not helping at all! Asta and Noelle thought.

Luck suddenly appeared crouching down beside Asta, inspecting his sword. "Man... Your anti-magic weapon is amazing. I wonder if that's why the Wizard King chose you."

"I'd love to fight you for real in about two to three years!" Luck said, standing up in front of Asta with excited eyes.

"If you're prepared to keep swinging your sword around like that, this dungeon won't be a problem." Luck stated as he walked back, looking away.

"Got it!" Asta replied.

"Now then..."

The three newbies watched as their senior stood still for about a minute straight as if he was performing some sort of spell. In truth, Luck was indeed performing a spell, but not the kind that's written in one's grimoire. This is an ability he was gifted with. He was using his heightened mana detection to sense his surroundings and search if there was any different mana signatures around.

I knew it. He thought as he found a different mana signature. There are others here.

Asta, Noelle, and Elara watched as blue electric sparks started to emit from Luck until his feet were suddenly encased in what looked like boots made from his magic.

Lightning Creation Magic: Holy Lightning Boots, The blonde casted in his mind, jumping into the air while Asta, Noelle, and Elara just stared in confusion.

"Something important just came up." Luck said with a laugh, "So I'm leaving the dungeon exploration to you guys!"

With that the lightning mage jumped from wall to wall before he disappeared into one of the many entrances.

Noelle gave a frightened yell at this, "Wh-what in the world is he thinking!?" She exclaimed, her eyes turning all white.

Asta had the same expression on his face except there's a whole different reason behind it, "S-so cool!"

"This is insane!" Noelle yelled, clutching her head.

"Lunar Magic: Lunar Scope"

The expressions on Noelle and Asta's faces were replaced with wonder as they were suddenly surrounded by what looked like the universe with it's dark surroundings but instead of planets and stars, it was filled with different colored, glowing dots.

"Woah! What is this?" Asta exclaimed in awe, looking around him.

"It's a spell that let's me know who's in the perimeter by their mana." Elara explained, inspecting the dots.

"This spell is really useful." Noelle commented, inspecting the dots with her.

The dots were mostly blue since they're in a dungeon where mana could be seen floating around everywhere, but there are also a few with different colors and shades indicating that they weren't alone here.

Elara's eyes suddenly spotted an electric blue dot moving it's way towards a group of different colored dots.

She immediately pointed it out for her two companions to see, "There! Luck senpai's moving towards a group of people. They're probably the people who came to steal from the dungeon like Captain Yami warned us about."

"There are others here?!" Asta asked with wide eyes.

"Mhm! And if we don't hurry, Luck senpai could be in big trouble. We need to go after him." Elara said, flipping her grimoire to another page.

Did he know that there were others here? Even if he did, how'd he know where they were?

"Lunar Creation Magic: Celestial Path"

A familiar thread of light suddenly appeared in front of the three. It was the same spell Elara used earlier to light their path in the tunnel. This caused the darkness along with the glowing dots of her previous spell to disappear, leaving only the electric blue dot that would lead them to Luck.

Noelle and Asta watched in awe as the thin thread if light widened and lengthened, creating a floating path for then to take that would lead them straight towards their blonde comrade. A sleigh of light then suddenly appeared on top of the path.

"I would normally just walk on the path, but since we're in a hurry, I conjured up faster transportation." Elara explained.

"So cool!" Asta remarked with stars in his eyes, "Okay! Let's go and help Luck!" He said, getting on the sleigh of light with his sword raised.

"You really have a lot of practical spells." Noelle commented, impressed.

"Why thank you, Noe!"

The three then started following the golden path along with the floating electric blue dot that was Luck.

"Honestly... He's unbelievable." Noelle ranted, her hair swaying because of the wind, "Captain Yami clearly told him to keep an eye on us, and he just left!"

"Don't worry. With Elara's magic, we'd find him in no time." Asta reassured.

"Must be nice being as carefree as you." Noelle stated.

"This dungeon ain't nothin'! I'm going to become Wizard King, after all." Asta told them with a grin.

"You're really going for that, huh?" Elara said, "Even if I've only known about it recently, being the Wizard King sounds exhausting. This is one big kingdom to protect, after all."

"I've been training hard all my life, running around the kingdom would be a piece of cake!" Asta said, rubbing his nose with the back of his finger, a sparkly aura surrounding him.

"Aren't you a confident one?" Elara and Noelle sweatdropped.

"I'm gonna become the Wizard King before Yuno." Asta said.

"Yuno?" Noelle asked curiously.

"Yeah. I haven't told you guys about him before?" Asta replied, "He's a childhood friend I grew up with in Hage Village. We took the Magic Knights Entrance Exam together, and he got into the Golden Dawn."

"That's amazing, isn't it?" Noelle said surprised, "He got into the Golden Dawn without being a noble."

"Yeah! He's amazing!" Asta agreed. "But I'm not gonna lose to him!"

I guess even he has his own goal. Noelle thought with a smile.

The sleigh suddenly took a hard turn causing Asta to lose his balance and fall on top of Noelle.

"Sorry!" Elara, who was able to hold onto the front of the sleigh, apologized.

When Noelle opened her eyes, she noticed that Asta's face was incredibly near her's causing her to turn a bright red shade.

"Gahhhh!" Noelle exclaimed and blasted Asta off the sleigh with water.

Noelle gasped, now just realizing what she did, "Bakasta!"

Elara and Noelle watched as Asta screamed, falling towards the ground. Thankfully, Asta thought of using his sword to stick his landing, but was unfortunately to land on a certain trap spell.

Vines suddenly sprung out and tangled itself onto Asta, making him unable to move and nullify it.

"Asta!" Elara yelled, turning the sleigh around.

A carnivorous flower suddenly made its appearance, its mouth filled with acid that had bone remains floating in it. The plant dangled Asta over it, ready to devour it.

Elara summoned her light bow and went into stance. Just when she was about to release an arrow, a bunch of daggers came flying in with a gust of wind, freeing Asta and defeating the plant.

"Now... I've repaid my debt, Asta."