Ice Acupuncture, Insects Only!

With the jet coming to a stop, landing on the ground with a quiet whoosh, the bay doors opened, revealing a forest of green dyed under the bright blue-silver moonlight.

Walking out of the jet and closing the bay doors behind them, Amelia and Natsuki stood there, taking in the crisp night air while stretching a bit now that they were off the jet.

Hand on her foot as she bent over, stretching out her hamstrings, Natsuki murmured while transitioning to a few light exercises to warm herself up, "You know, the pilot this time was very quiet. Never revealed themselves... Sometimes you get one that's really chatty, which is annoying, you know? So it was nice getting a quiet one."

Shooting out some cold mists from her hand into the night air as she warmed up with Natsuki, Amelia nodded, doing some light jogging in place, "It was a little out of the norm, but still nice. I won't complain, I got to have some nice beauty sleep~ Much needed to maintain this amazing skin of mine~"

"... You know I'm not even going to comment on that," Natsuki sighed, facepalming and massaging her eyes before pulling up a map of the forest, "So, anyways, here's a map of this area, it's quite big, so we might as well divide and conquer. There are reports that two more advanced monsters have popped up and are vying for territorial control over the area, so you take one and I'll take one. Which do you want?"

Turning to stare at the forest, Amelia pondered for a moment, stroking her chin, 'Well the left is quite... hilly. That's a lot of overgrowth and bushes too... that seems like a pain in the ass.'

Pointing to the picturesque right side of the forest, where the trees were swaying in the night wind and the moonlight illuminated flowers and bushes that dotted the ground between the trees, Amelia announced, a smug look on her face, "I'll take the right, I don't care what monster is in there, I'll wipe it off the face of the planet!"

Watching Amelia run off, Natsuki opened her mouth in protest before closing it again, a look of resignation painting her face, "I mean... that side is filled with bug monsters though... with a massive centipede lording over it. I was going to volunteer for that section but okay..."

"I guess it's karma..." Natsuki chuckled to herself, any semblance of regret blowing away with the light breeze, "I'll take a bear infestation any day of the week~"

Snapping her fingers, Natsuki ran off towards the rough patch of the forest, transforming into a jaguar as she ran, leaping into the overgrowth to begin her side of the hunt.

-------

Meanwhile, skating along ice ramps and ice sheets she made, Amelia laughed to herself, brushing her hands along a low hanging branch, "Life is gooood~ nice scenery, just some late night easy, easy extermination~"

Leaping up onto a thick branch that jutted out of a tree, Amelia took a moment, leaning against the tree while surveying the forest that sprawled out before her. With big trees, some that seemed to soar towards the heavens, several areas were cloaked in shadows, yet, other areas were like a light spread of trees at a park.

*Click Click Click*

Her expression freezing on her face, clouds seeming to swoop in, clouding her expression in a dark complexion, Amelia gripped onto the tree, almost cracking the outer bark into several pieces.

"...What was that..."

Murmuring to herself in doubt, Amelia's eyes narrowed, searching the terrain, sweeping across every nook and cranny before coming to a stop at the base of one gargantuan tree.

Insects.

Insects everywhere.

Insects crawling over themselves and chattering, their eyes glowing under the moonlight, their legs twitching and contorting as they climbed over each other.

Insects chattering, their bodies too large to fly but their wings still flapping without rest as their mandibles clicked and clacked together.

Shuddering at the sight, a now pale-faced Amelia leaned against the side of the tree, staring at the sky, crying out, "What did I do to deserve this! Bugs?!?! Really?!"

Looking around a little more, Amelia squinted her eyes, murmuring an unending stream of cuss words to herself as she found a few more nests of insects. Each nest almost being a small pond of only insects, all swarming over each other in piles, almost as if there was an entity keeping them within small confines.

"I... I didn't want to have to do this for just a small extermination, but I guess disgusting monsters call for absolute annihilation," Amelia hissed, glaring at the bugs that she karma'd herself into, "Stupid pieces of shit..."

Raising her palm towards the sky, Amelia shot an icy firework into the sky, letting it explode with a boom, loud enough to silence the insects for a few brief moments. With their attention she grinned, summoning a massive ice spear in her hand.

"I hate you ALL!" Amelia roared, deciding to take out her anger on the insects' colonies, "Get ready for a few speciality goods by yours truly!"

Following her roar, Amelia threw the spear forward, using magic to help accelerate the 3 meter spear to a blistering speed.

With a boom, the spear shot into the midst of the first insect colony, impaling through several at once while sending a number of others flying into the air. Following the initial throw, Amelia snapped her fingers, exploding the spear into numerous ice crystals to irritate the insects all holed up together.

Clenching her hand to create another spear and repeating the process three more times, one spear for each insect nest, Amelia let out a small laugh under her breath seeing the large insects fly into the air, only to tumble back towards the ground.

"Come and get me!" Amelia shouted at the top of her lungs seeing streams of insects flow out of their nests, all mindlessly charging towards the aggressor who had just thrown massive needles into their homes.

Clenching her hand once more, Amelia created one last ice spear, throwing it towards the last nest she had seen earlier, calling out in a sing-song voice, "Where's the boss~? No one else here stands a chance! Come out, come out, wherever you are~"

The streams surged towards Amelia's lone figure atop a tree branch, the streams being made up of cockroaches, crickets, millipedes, and more. Coming together to form an enraged wave that seemed to blot out the ground below them, they clambered towards Amelia.

Serenity.

A calm expression on her face and her hair fluttering in the wind, Amelia raised her hand towards the sky with a light smile on her face as the swarm neared her, gathering a vast amount of magic.

...

One breath.

...

Drop.

"Sub... Zero."