Chapter 126 - Her Her & Her (2)
“Winter Sprite’s Blessing.”
“Thank you!”
When Regina casted her spell, the fire type Mana around Etna died down a little bit. Etna couldn’t regulate her own body temperature and Mana. One had to be a magician of Regina’s caliber to calm down Etna’s Mana.
“Your Mana resistance is ridiculous.”
“I’m sorry. I tried to accept it, but….”
Of course, this happened under the premise that Etna had allowed Regina’s magic to work on her.
“Where did you get acquainted with a monster like her?”
“Mmm. You see…. Things happened before and we received help from her.”
It seemed Regina hadn’t realized the identity of Etna.
It was to be expected. Regina had amazing abilities, but Etna was one of the strongest Demons. She was over level 370. Moreover, her Mana resembled fire rather than Demonic energy. One had to be like Artpe, who had known her in their past lives, or an Evil Reflector like Sienna, who was the antithesis of all Demons. Other than them, it wasimpossible to discern Etna’s identity at a glance.
“The world is large. Thank you for making me realize that.”
“I’m the one that should be thanking you. I never expected someone young other than Artpe to be so strong. It is surprising.”
“······.”
Normally, Regina would have refuted the idea that she was young. However, Regina was focused on another portion of the woman’s words.
“Do you know Artpe too?”
“Yes. As expected, you are one of Artpe’s party member. So….. It seems Artpe isn’t with you guys?”
“······at this point, I admit he is an extraordinary man.”
Etna thought Artpe might be hiding. Her eyes were filled with anticipation as she looked at her surrounding. When Regina saw this, she was taken aback. How many women did Artpe have! As if Sienna understood Regina’s feeling, she smirked.
“So Ms Etna….? Why are you here?”
“I’m looking for something. I…..found it in an ancient magic tome. I learned that the item I’m looking for is in a ruin in Glacia.”
“Ruin?”
Artpe had told them about a ruin.
Was it a coincidence?
Sienna and Regina had a bad feeling that they might be looking for the same ruin as Etna. Sienna thought about the item they had to retrieve. It was something requested by Artpe. Sienna asked Etna a question.
“May I ask what you are looking for······?”
“I don't know the name. I just know that it was a sculpture carved out of the first ice.”
“······I see.”
It was the same item!
“What are you guys doing here? That’s right. You haven’t said anything about Artpe yet. Where is he?”
“Oppa and unni is moving separate from us. He said they’ll be here after they are done with their tasks, but I’m not sure when…. That is why Rei and I are here. We were sent ahead. …..we are here to find a ruin.”
“A ruin······?”
Etna also picked up on the implication of Sienna’s words.
“Are you perhaps aiming for the sculpture too?”
“If I’m to be precise, oppa wants it.”
Sienna’s tone of voice was asking Etna to take a step back. It was an item wanted by a man, whom she was interested in. Etna snorted.
“If Artpe asked me in person, it might have been a different story. There is no way I’ll back off. All right. How about if I do this? I’ll take the sculpture, and I’ll make Artpe search me out. Ooh-hue-hue-hue.”
“Heeng. As expected, events are turning out this way.”
Sienna was a very smart child. There was nothing to be gained by fighting over the Artifact when they hadn’t found the ruin yet. Since Artpe wasn’t here, she was well aware of the fact that they had no chance against Etna. This was quite obvious to her.
This was why she immediately came to a decision.
“All right. Let’s do this. The ruin we are looking for probably has a lot of other Artifacts aside from the sculpture. That is why we should cooperate with each other to find the ruin. Ms Etna can have the sculpture, and you can yield everything else to us. What do you think? It is a good deal, right?”
“Uh. That ruin has a lot of ma….. It has a lot of things that’ll be of help…...”
“Ms Etna, don’t you need Rei’s magic to operate here?”
“Ggooh-ooong.”
As expected, Sienna was a child that knew how to make a deal! Etna gripped her head as she struggled with the decision. In the end, she weakly nodded her head.
“All right. Let’s do that….”
“So we are forming a temporary party now!”
“······you have my respect, Sienna.”
Both sides had a rough idea as to the identity of one another, yet this was how a weird party was established. It consisted of members of the hero's party and one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
“We have to find it before spring? Artpe said that?”
“Huh, Ms Etna? You didn’t know about that?”
“That’s right. In truth, I acquired the information about the sculpture by luck, so I came running here without much of a plan.”
On the outside, Etna looked elegant and graceful. However, when one listened to her words, it was evident that her style was to charge forward in an unsophisticated manner. Sienna had thought that an exchange of information would be possible with Etna. She frowned when she realized that she had made a mistake.
“Artpe said so. There are many Dungeons here, and they will be difficult for us at our level. We can use that woman.”
“You are able to say such words with me in front of you. Who is this young lady······?”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha.”
Even Artpe didn’t know the exact location of the ruin. It was more precise to say that it was meaningless to know the exact location of the ruin. The ruin was located at the most northern reaches of Glacia, and it periodically used magic to move its location.
“When spring arrives, it’ll be gone. It’ll only show up in the winter.”
“I came here without knowing that…. I guess my timing was great. Holy cow. How could Artpe know so much? ….I wonder how he grew up? I’m sure he became more handsome. My intuition as a woman is telling me that my statement is true.”
“It is true that he has become really handsome, but… Oppa is really busy right now. You probably won’t be able to meet him.”
Sienna approached most humans and non-humans with an affable smile, but she acted a bit differently when it came to the Demon Etna. The biggest problem was the fact that Etna was a person that was capable of taking away Artpe by force. It would have been strange if Sienna hadn’t been wary of Etna.
“What a meanie····· Oh my. I think I can sense a Dungeon over there.”
“Let’s check it out. It is said that the magical ruin disguised itself to look like the Dungeons of Glacia. It means we have to enter every Dungeon if we want to find the ruin.”
In truth, that was was a lie. Artpe had taught her a special sign that she could look for. They didn’t really need to go deep into the Dungeons. She could make this judgement early on, and she was told by Artpe to pull out if it was the wrong one.
However, it was as Regina had said. She planned on using Etna for their development, so she shamelessly lied to Etna. Etna believed every word spoken by Sienna. In truth, Etna wasn’t that bright.
“Well, let’s head in!”
“Yes!”
Of course, they didn’t find the Artifact in the first Dungeon. An enormous snake looking monster greeted them. It seemed no one had found this place for couple hundred years, and it had grown in the passage of time. It was infused with a very cold Mana, and it had lived its long life by eating other monsters. It was an incredibly powerful Ancient Snake!
[Kee-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]
“Oh my. It’s a snake.”
“You make it sound as if it isn’t a big deal. It is extremely big and scary!”
“At the very least, it is level 300. Artpe is bad.”
Sienna and Regina turned pale when they were suddenly faced with one of the most terrifying monsters they’ve encountered in their lifetime. Etna was unperturbed. When she waved her hand, a flame shot towards it.
[Kyahhhhhhhhk!]
Since the snake lived within the Ice continent, it loved ice. This was why it was vulnerable to fire. The snake’s skin was burnt to a crisp by Etna’s flame. It fell to the floor.
Boom!
“It seems the Winter Sprite's Blessing reduced my power….. Still, it can't be helped. I don’t want to melt the ground I’m standing on.”
“This is a reduction of your power!?”
Sienna had always been well-behaved around Artpe. However, she was able awaken to a new ability when she was with Etna. She was able to tackle someone with words like lightning! Of course, this skill was useless when trying to defeat an enemy!
“Anyways, I reduced its defensive capability and mobility. …..it’ll be easy for you guys to face it now.”
“······ah.”
Etna had neutralized the enemy with one blow, yet she hadn’t killed it. It seemed Etna was going to follow Regina’s words. She was going to help them grow, so she had pulled back when the enemy was weakened.
The degree of contribution by them would suffer a lot, but this was an enemy well over level 300. The fact that they would receive a massive amount of EXP didn’t change!
‘Is this person…. Is she much kinder than I thought?’
At that moment, her good feelings towards Etna surged! Sienna had a rough idea as to which side Etna was affiliated with, so she hadn’t expected Etna to be so cooperative. Despite being bewildered, she stepped forward with her battle hammer. Regina was chanting her spell from behind her.
“Hoo-ooh······ Hoo-ahhhhhhho!”
“Oh, Spirits of Wind. Please hasten her speed. Tie up the enemy. Turn the lack of freedom to freedom.”
[Kee-ahhhhhhhh!]
Even if its outer leather was burned, it was a magical beast that had lived for a very long time. When it confirmed that Etna won’t be stepping forward, it started attacking the two girls, who looked beatable.
“Not a chance!”
“There.”
[Kyahh-hahhhhhhh!]
However, Sienna and Regina were above level 270! They were two of the strongest beings in the human realm! Under orders from Artpe, they had visited numerous Dungeons, and the two girls had developed teamwork. They used it to fight the snake.
When Regina’s magic slashed open a wound with a spell, Sienna followed it up by smashing the same location with her hammer. The snake tried to counterattack when an opening appeared after Sienna swung her hammer, but Regina stopped the snake in its track with magic. They were like two gears that attacked and defended. Their teamwork was intricate, and they started slowly grinding away at the snake. The snake was stuck between the two rotating gears!
[Kyaa-ahhhhhhhhhh!]
The girls became acclimated to the environment, the Dungeon and the speed of their enemy’s movement. The girls started to move faster, and the snake started to cower away. The snake was 30 levels higher, yet it was slowly giving away its lifeblood when faced with the technique and ferocity of the girls!
Etna had distanced herself a little bit from the fierce battlefield. She nodded her head as she mulled over the situation.
‘Yes. At this rate, they’ll be able to win against it. Eh-whew…. What the hell am I doing? Why am I helping humans grow? Maybe, it’s my destiny as a Demon?’
It would have been easier for her if she had killed them as soon as she located the members of the hero’s party. It seemed she had worked under the Demon realm’s greatest chef for too long. The chef wanted the hero to finish his recipe. He wanted to nurture the hero until the hero was ready to charge the Demon King’s castle.
Was she being influenced by the Demon King?
Even if she helped these kids grow up, she would eventually face them on the battlefield. Etna wondered if this was the effect of the Absolute Control. She thought this even when she knew that idea was idiotic.
‘Still, if the growth of these two girls will mean relative safety for Artpe. Moreover, if Artpe is safe…. He….’
She cut off her thoughts at that point. She lowered her head.
For some reason, the young man had burrowed deep within her heart at first sight. She couldn’t get rid of the boy from her heart. He probably grew a lot since the last time they met. When she thought about him, she felt a thrill. It was the good kind of thrill. However, at the same time, she felt a little bit of frustration.
There was a chance that Artpe wasn’t the hero. She couldn’t be that unlucky. Even if he wasn’t a hero, the fact that he was a human didn’t change either. Such a powerful and talented young man wouldn’t miss out on the battle against the Demon King’s army…..
‘Maybe, it would be best if the Demonification experiment succeeds. If Arpte become a Demon, I won’t have to fight him…..’
No. What the hell was she thinking?
She was chained by the Absolute Control, because she was born as a Demon. She had thought about making the young man into a Demon. She was thinking about doing it under the guise of wanting to help him. She was disgusted with herself.
‘No matter how much I think about it, I can't come up with an answer. The Demon King’s army, the human realm and myself…. Maybe, it would be best to burn everything. It would be great if the fire swallows my existence and burn everything.’
Her vacation will come to an end at some point in the near future. When the hero grew enough to threaten the Demon King’s army, she had to leave the human realm. She’ll have to return to the Demon realm, and the Demon King’s army will earnestly move against the human realm.
Until that moment, she would continue to aimlessly search for an answer that probably didn’t exist. In the end, she’ll······.
“Etna unni, we killed it!”
“Y...yes!?”
Etna became surprised when she suddenly heard a voice. When Etna raised her head, she saw Sienna, who had an energetic smile on her face. Regina still remained expressionless. Regina looked beyond them to see the corpse of the large snake.
“Did your level rise?”
“I think I went up two levels. This is all thanks to unni!”
“Unni······.”
She wasn’t used to someone calling her by that title. When Etna unconsciously answered her, Sienna realized that she had made a mistake. She covered her mouth.
“Ah, ooh….. I’m sorry. It is my usual habit.”
“No, it’s alright. If you don’t mind, could you call me unni from now on?”
What did she gain by getting attached to a human?
She unconsciously squashed such questions. She felt really good, because unni had a really good ring to it. She didn’t want to think too hard on it.
‘Yes. I’ll just live in the now. I won’t find an answer even if I worry about it…. Let’s push such thoughts aside for now.’
After she had this thought, Etna put on a small smile. Sienna put on a big smile as she gave her reply.
“Yes, unni!”
“Sienna is scary······.”
“Rei. Shhhh.”
This was how Sienna masterfully succeeded in making one of the Four Heavenly Kings into her new unni!