C45- The Twin Peaks of Aos (2)

When Corvin woke up, he felt something soft under his head. Before he opened his eyes, he remembered the bugs he fought and tried to get up. As he lifted his head, his head hit something soft.

"The bugs-!"

Smack!

And then he was smacked in the forehead by someone.

"Ugh... What is happening..."

He opened his eyes and saw an amazing pair of something.

"Hey, pervert! Look where you are sticking your head into!", said Amy with a red face.

"Huh?... Oh.... I am sorry."

"You better be!"

"And... thanks?"

Amy frowned.

"...No, no thanks."

Amy's frown went away.

"So... What happened? Why am I laying down on your lap?"

"You passed out after fighting that thing. You fell from quite a height so I applied medicine on you."

"Oh, thank you. Where are Clair and Noah?"

"In the other tent."

"Tent? Oh..."

Now that he realized, the green around him wasn't the forest but the colour of the tent.

"Are they okay?"

"Yes. Noah probably passed out from forcing himself too much to keep that barrier up, but Clair is looking after him. I also gave her medicine."

"Oh, good job... Wait, what time is it?"

"The sun is already down."

"Oh... Any monsters?"

"None since those three."

"Loot?"

"We were looking after you two so we couldn't get anything before the corpses disappeared."

"I see... Are you okay? Were you hurt?"

"No, I am okay."

"Right, that's great then. C-Can I get up? You won't hit me again, will you?"

"T-That's because you..."

Corvin carefully got up without hitting those with his head again. He got out of the tent and saw the twilight outside.

"I gotta stand guard, eh? Well, I already got my sleep so it's okay I guess."

He sat next to the campfire and cooked some meat they hunted before. He seasoned the meat with some salt and ate it.

"It's not professionally cooked but, meat always tastes good..."

And the night passed like that without any other troubles. He went to sleep when it was Noah's turn to stay on the watch. He noticed something unusual about Noah, his expression was darker, almost as if he was enduring something. Corvin thought he must be scared, and offered to take his turn, but Noah refused it.

The group started walking again in the same formation after they packed their things. After walking for a while, they encountered a giant wasp that looked similar to all the other giant bugs they saw yesterday, with it's pink body and pitch black stinger and mandibles. It's wings were transparent. The wasp came out of a hole in the ground.

"Stop! A monster just came out of the ground!"

Corvin jumped to the front of the group and held his sword.

"Noah, make a barrier again, we don't know if it is alone or not."

"On it..."

The girls readied their guns as well. The wasp noticed the commotion they made and stared at Corvin.

Corvin didn't wait to be attacked and ran towards the wasp. The wasp bended it's body and pointed it's stinger at Corvin. The stinger got longer, it became longer than his sword which made it hard for him to stab the bee without getting hit by the stinger.

Swish~ Clank!

The wasp tried to attack with the stinger. He swung his sword from the side to attack the stinger, but didn't do much damage. Corvin jumped backwards to find a potential opening he could use. The wasp's exoskeleton didn't look stronger than the rhino beetle he fought before. He could probably crack it, but the wasp's weapon was a problem.

Swish!

The stinger was swung at him and he dodged the needle by jumping to the side. The wasp didn't stop and kept lunging the stinger forwards. It was aiming for the others. Corvin jumped towards the wasp from the side and tried attacking it's head.

Clank!

The wasp stopped the sword with it's mandibles but it's stinger missed it's target because of the distraction. Corvin pushed the sword stuck between the mandibles forward in an attempt to stab it's head, but the bee aimed the stinger back towards him and he could only get his sword back while jumping away from the wasp.

While he was in the air, the sword slipped out of his hands and as he was distracted by getting his sword back, the stinger flew towards him. When Corvin noticed the stinger, it was too late for him to do anything.

Swish~! Thud!

Suddenly, a white line of light flew towards the wasp and cut the stinger off.

"I am here to help, this time!", shouted Noah.

"Noah! Didn't I tell you to make a barrier? Why did you make an attack?"

"That barrier tires me out! I haven't figured out how to make it correctly so I am just brute forcing my way when I try to make a barrier. I decided to just kill it so that I won't need a barrier!"

Corvin answered while blocking the wasp's bites with his sword.

"That makes sense but you would be executed if you were a soldier and did that, you know, right? Please listen to orders..."

Clank! Clank!

"But I am not a soldier, so it's okay. Can you just kill it already?"

"Right."

Corvin directed his attention towards the wasp. He didn't ask Noah what he meant by helping this time, since he helped him before as well. Instead of asking questions at the wrong time, he decided to focus on saving their lives.

"Sorry for making you wait."

He took a step back and then slashed forwards, his sword leaving a faint trail of green light.

Whirrr~

The wasp started flying and dodged the attack.

"Oh right.... It is a wasp. Of course it can fly. Why did I forget that?"

He turned back, towards the group.

"Girls. Aim for the wings and attack. I will help your bullets."

""Okay!""

The girls lifted their guns and pointed towards the wasp in the air. Corvin raised a hand and started focusing on his magic. The area between the guns and the wings became ever so slightly greener. Seeing this, Noah gasped and the wasp started to fly away. Corvin lowered his hand and shouted.

"Fire!"

Boom! Boom!

Two shots were fired. The bullets that were already fast, got faster as they entered the greenish area in the air, and flew towards the wasp. The bullets hit the wings and opened two head sized holes in them. Corvin leaped into the air and swung his sword with incredible speed and severed the wasp's head from it's body in air.

Swish~ Thud!

The head of the wasp fell downwards and Corvin landed safely on the ground this time. Noah walked towards Corvin to talk about the light green haze, but Corvin talked before he could say anything.

"Noah, can you ready an attack horizontally?"

"Pardon?"

"Ready the biggest one you can without passing out. I want to clear the forest here. That wasp came from the ground, and I have a really bad feeling about it."

"? Okay..."

Noah started to play with his violin again and soon a line of white light appeared at ankle level. The light got bigger and brighter and soon Noah's melodies stopped. He was out of breath.

"Is hah~ this okay?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

Corvin raised his hand and casted magic as well. Soon, the area in front of the white light became faintly green, and he said to Noah.

"You can shoot now."

"Okay."

SWOOOOSHH~

Crash! Thud!

The long white light flew towards the forest and sped up after entering the green field. It cut the trees down like a sickle mowing a lawn and soon after, a massive part of the forest in front of them fell to the ground. Corvin jumped into the air to get a good wiev, and he was glad he did, but regretted it at the same time.

"...What is this?"

The deforested area had numerous holes of varying sizes on the ground. Corvin spotted a couple of those giant ants that died while getting out of one of those holes.

Instead of a mountain, the whole thing looked like an ant nest, one that is too big no matter how you look at it.