My consciousness snapped back to reality as I fell on my buttocks. That was— some experience indeed. Who would have thought that I'll actually have the opportunity to speak to a dragon? Smirking to myself over what had happened, my gaze moved to the boulder's tip in front of me and I quickly noticed something was different. Hang on, the hilt is missing! Upon realising it, I pulled myself up as fast as I could and ran towards where the hilt was supposed to be. Where— where can it have gone? It was there before my conscience was sent elsewhere. How is it possible for it to be— missing? Oh, I'm holding it. It's right here. Thank the Goddess I actually have it with me.
Wait a minute, I'm just holding the hilt. W— where's the rest of the sword?! I ran towards the boulder's tip once again where the sword was embedded in earlier. The blade— where's the rest of the blade?!
W— what? Where is it? There's absolutely nothing inside the boulder. How can the blade be missing? How could it had snapped? What in the world is going on?
I inspected every angle of the boulder, and there's not a hint of the blade anywhere. Truth be told, there was not even a single hole or nick on the boulder itself. It's perfectly shaped from top to bottom. Then, where— what happened to the blade? What's the point of just having the hilt?
I turned my gaze to the hilt that I was holding, and it was no doubt a beautifully designed hilt. But what use does a fancy hilt even do when there's no blade? It doesn't serve any purpose whatsoever aside from looking pretty.
I sighed loudly and resigned to the fact that my idea turned out to be pointless. I got the legendary sword but ultimately ended up with just a pretty hilt and nothing else. What a waste of time indeed. I gripped the hilt tightly, thinking about how I had failed everyone. Zen was counting on me to obtain this sword so that we could kill that damn giant insect, but as it turns out, the legend was a lie, a complete lie. Was this a joke set by the elves, by my own people? Just so we would follow the rules blindly? Constantly believing in everything they told us? I have enough! I am so tired of following rules when all it turns out is a—
W— what? What just happened? Is this— what I think it is?
"Took your time, didn't you? You're pretty slow for an elf. Although, I don't mind hearing you complaining about your own people. However, don't you have somewhere you need to be? Last I recall, time is of the essence?" chuckled a deep voice inside my head.
I smirked as I marvelled at what I was holding. Wow, now this— this is going to work even better than I expected.
***
Violet and Noah are down for the count. They put up a good fight, but— they are just no match for this wasp, who is a tad less powerful than Horrus. Thank goodness though, or I'm screwed for good. The wasp had managed to inflict some minor injuries on me, where I narrowly avoided fatal wounds with its claws or stinger a couple of times. But how long can I last? Fighting such a powerful opponent alone is just tough, even for me.
I glared at the wasp upwards as it maintained its flight. Only a single injury I managed to inflict on it, which was the time when I jammed Inazuma between its exoskeleton. This wasp is constantly weaving around in a strange manner that makes it difficult for me to predict its movements. Can't believe Tom was an easier opponent than this insect. Why do I keep getting stuck with fighting flying enemies anyway?
Here it comes again. I held my weapons at the ready and once again it started weaving back and forth like a damn wasp. It moved in to strike as I'd predicted. I blocked its claws and performed a counter, but with it having the ability to fly, it avoided my attack easily. This is exactly like fighting against Rose when she uses Sacred Wings. Troublesome to fight due to her mobility, but not impossible. I took a quick glance above. How much longer do I need to wait? I just have to hold out until the right time approaches.
The wasp came in for another strike. It slammed its claws into the ground and threw some dirt at me, hoping to blind me. This opponent is not afraid to play dirty, which makes it even more troublesome to deal with. I lifted my hood and covered my face, charging through the soil and moving in to strike the wasp.
W— what? Where did it go? It vanished into thin air as I looked up and about for my opponent. Someone shouted the word "Below!" as I turned my sight upon the place where the wasp had dug out the dirt to throw at me. There was a giant hole among the lifted soil, signalling me that it had somehow dug underground.
Upon realising this, I quickly leapt backwards as the wasp reemerged below me, attempting to slice through my flesh. My cloak fell off as its claws had managed to slice through the rope that was tying it together, along with ripping through some of my flesh. A quick inspection revealed that it was not a fatal wound, but unfortunately, it managed to draw more blood from me.
It started laughing loudly as though it had won against me, despite being far from the truth. I went to collect my treasured cloak, wore and tied it properly once again. I lifted my index finger towards the wasp and beckoned it to come. It stopped laughing and smirked instead. Without warning, it flew towards me with speed, attempting to finish the fight once and for all.
"Shh, no reason to be hasty now, Mister Wasp. You had your fun, now it's my turn," I placed my index finger on my mouth and casted Conceal under my breath before disappearing into the darkness. Night had finally arrived and the surroundings were relatively dark now, aside from the golden rays from the Cosmic Tree that had gotten much more duller at this point.
The wasp stopped in its tracks and began scanning its surroundings, trying to figure out where I had disappeared. With Focused Meditation active, my spells had greatly intensified, even more so than using Bloodlust. It's as though the Dark Guild's spells have an affinity with the passive path over the aggressive one. Perhaps the reason is because the Dark Guild is rather similar to assassins, which requires patience and a calm mind to execute their tasks. This was what I found out during my rather short training with Kuchisabishii-sama. Certainly caused confusion for him when I alternated the my State of Mind while hiding.
The wasp couldn't figure out my whereabouts and decided to take flight; perhaps it wanted to get a better look at its surroundings. Too bad though; unless you have sensitive smelling capabilities, it is going to be rather difficult to search for me based on sight alone.
"Where are you hiding, coward?! Show yourself!" screamed the wasp as it started to panic.
"Aww, what's the matter? Afraid of the dark?"my voice echoed and boomed throughout the forest.
***
I dismounted Kuchisabishii-sama before reaching the Cosmic Tree as I wanted to grasp the situation rather than foolishly jumping straight into combat. The sky was relatively dark now, and I had to depend on Kuchisabishii-sama to guide me since the light rays from the Cosmic Tree were somehow getting duller than I remembered.
A loud, deep voice could be heard throughout the forest from nowhere. Isn't this voice from— Zen? Why is he asking me whether I'm afraid of the dark? Well, it is rather dark right now, and I can barely even see a few metres in front of me. Won't lie, I am a little bit scared right now.
I got closer to the tree. Seems like I am pretty close to it now. I took a peek at what was happening and to my surprise, all the elves were hiding away from— something. A flying object could be seen in the middle of the clearing who appeared to be in distress as it tried to look around for something. Why are all the elves not engaging this insect? What is the Supreme Commander even doing?
The flying insect suddenly lost control and came crashing straight to the ground, leaving all the elves gasping in surprise. What in the world is going on? And why is no one attacking that massive insect who appears to be feeding on the Cosmic Tree? Why the hell is everyone just standing around and doing nothing?!
What came next was even more surprising. The flying— ant, no wait, that's a wasp! Talk about being slow, way to go John, way to go.
The wasp started randomly swinging its claws, hitting nothing but the wind. It started shouting loudly, demanding something to show itself, but everything was quiet and nothing happened. It suddenly fell on all fours and started vomiting. Not long after, it started clawing at its face as it began to shiver uncontrollably while kneeling on the ground. Whatever that wasp was experiencing, it must have been excruciating and I definitely don't wish to experience it myself.
Either way, I should make my way to the massive insect and eliminate it. My axe was capable of slicing off its leg before, so I should be able to do it again. I'm still confused as to why everyone is just ignoring it and focusing on the wasp instead.
***
It took me years of training before I grasped the basics of dual casting. How Rose even learned it on her own is beyond me. She had always been amazing and she still is. Sadly though, I'm only capable of casting two specific spells simultaneously as the casting itself was rather similar in nature. Fear and Illusion are the only two spells that I'm capable of dual casting with surprising results. Both of these spells complement each other by dropping their combat morale significantly. The best results so far are causing those affected to kill themselves to escape whatever horrors they were experiencing. I doubt this wasp was that weak-minded though. But I'll admit, I wasn't expecting it to claw itself either. What does a wasp even fear in the first place? A giant swatter?
I can safely say that this wasp is definitely not a Vessel or Champion since it couldn't even resist my dual casted spell. No weak-minded opponent is worthy of being either for sure. Guess I've done all I can to demoralise it, time for me to eliminate this wasp and move on to the main opponent.
I sneaked in close to the wasp and placed both of my blades across its neck, ready to deliver the coup de grâce. The neck is rather thin, so I'm sure I can slice it off with ease. Whispering a silent goodbye, I brought both blades across, decapitating the neck of the wasp with barely any effort. The body slumped forward and collapsed as the head dropped and rolled across the ground. I quickly sliced the decapitated head apart for safe measures. Fighting against demons had made me cautious about leaving a decapitated head unharmed.
Making sure the body doesn't even so much as twitch after some time, I deactivated both Focused Meditation and Conceal, exhaling a sigh of relief now that the fight with the wasp has finally ended. While there's another one on the horizon, I wished to rest up first. So glad the battle ended with me relatively unscathed, only facing minor injuries at most. Not sure if it's just me, but the fight somehow felt rather easy. Perhaps a death-battle with Horus had pushed my body to react faster to incoming threats.
I glanced back towards the body of the wasp to ensure that it was really dead, giving myself an assuring nod before hearing a loud pinging sound erupt from somewhere near the Cosmic Tree. Did someone— tried to attack the massive insect? Is it the Elementalist? Judging by the sound, it doesn't seem like the legendary sword worked. I wonder if he'll have the courage to bring down the Cosmic Tree himself. I should head over there to push him into doing the right thing.
"Zen, that was— the strangest fight I've ever seen, but you did it. You actually defeated that wasp," said Noah as he approached me not before Violet came in for a hug. Will Noah be jealous seeing her wife behaving this way?
"Guess I got lucky. Nightfall really saved me there. I was starting to get worried whether I needed to use any of my other spells to kill it. We still have another big, ass bug to fight over there. Let's go, the Elementalist will need our help, judging from the pinging sound earlier," I pointed backwards with my thumb towards the Cosmic Tree as I took out my healing gel to stop all of my wounds from bleeding further. Wished Rose was here to heal me. I do miss you so much my waifu.
"Agreed. That insect over there is our main target. Allow me rally my men and we'll be heading over there. You can take some rest for the time being. Just— how long are you planning on hugging him, Violet?" sighed Noah.
"That's what you get for arguing with me. Don't forget, I'm still a beauty, and there are plenty of other guys willing to take me," she stuck her tongue out towards Noah, which he sighed once again while placing his hand on his forehead.
A strange, slimy, squishy sound could be heard out of nowhere. Oh bugger, please don't tell me, that wasp is not dead yet?! How is that even possible?!