Chapter 143: To Burn Or Not To Burn?
"Why not burn it down from outside? Everyone inside will die without us even having to enter," Aria suggested, sideway at the anthill-like structure erected tall within the swamp.
Barely hiding from the Lamia guard's sight, the party was contemplating whether or not they should even attempt to infiltrate the place when they could just as easily collapse the structure from outside, essentially killing everyone inside.
"It's dried mud, you can't burn it easily!" Maine chimed in, trying to act like she was one of the party members so she doesn't get killed when her usefulness was over.
"Our mother is still in there…" Whispered Phos right after her sister.
Glancing over to the girls, Raven stared at them for a moment and replied.
"I don't know if you noticed, but I don't give a shit about your mother. She poses a threat to Athenia and that means she has to go," hearing his response, their lips were sealed with fear once more.
"Speaking of things that have to go," turning her attention to the twin slaves, Mel brought everyone's attention to them. "What are we gonna do with these guys?"
The answer was clear, and yet nobody from the party said a word just yet. The girls, while not exactly that useful once the fight was over, could still prove beneficial if the scales they shed were worth anything, the boys on the other hand were nothing but generic male Lamias with nothing impressive about their bodies.
"We'll deal with them later…" Hearing those words from the party leader, the male lamias were chilled to their core.
They already knew what fate awaited them, yet the thought of leaving their mistresses in some other man's hands was far more terrifying than just losing them. Even as the party began discussing the infiltration again, the twins kept looking at each other and though their hands were tied, they wanted to do something to free themselves and their mistresses.
With a nod to each other, they braced their hearts and turned towards Raven–the leader of the group. Losing up their tails by wriggling them around for a bit, they threw all caution to the wind and lunged at him with screams.
"AS IF WE'LL LET YOU TAKE THE–" However before they could touch him, Raven reacted to their voices by stabbing them with dark fiber protruding from his back in the form of spikes. Puncturing their chest, their mouths, and their groins, Raven made the fibers disappear leaving massive holes throughout their bodies.
"Fucking idiots," Raven cursed, knowing full well that their screams had alarmed all the guards.
To make matters worse, the moment Maine realized what had happened, she began screaming at the top of her lungs.
"WHY?!" More angry than upset that her slave was just killed Phos tried to whip Raven with her tail. But just like her slave, Raven shot a hole right through her throat with dark muscle fibres protruding from his palm.
"Erika, keep an eye on the other sister, I need her fucking alive until we confront her mother!" Covering Maine's mouth with a conjured mask, the new hero turned towards the female lamias rushing in their direction. "Everyone else, follow me, we gotta settle this with our fists after all!"
Like a sweeping gust, everyone disappeared into the wind–getting themselves ready to attack the incoming guards at a speed the Lamias couldn't match. The first to strike was Aria with her demonic gloves, and in just one strike to the spine, she painted her guts, and her bone all over the ground.
Paralyzed with fear, the others watched her bloody arm with their eyes spread wide. Leading to more slip-ups as Mel summoned vines beneath their feet that tore their bodies limb by limb before pulling out their organs.
"RUNNN!" Finally, as they realized that they were easily outmatched, the lamias tried to retreat into their nest, but a pillar of light summoned by Amedith blocked off the entrance.
"Fuck you all…" Already pissed by how things have been going for him recently, he glared down at them while casting a large shadow on them with his body floating with angelic wings. ""
"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!"
"WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!"
"P-PLEASE LEAVE US ALONE!"
Though the lamias begged him for mercy, the storm of light swords slashed through their jaws and split their mouths from their head. Bleeding through the neck like a fountain, their bodies remained standing for a while, but as the last response from their mind to their bodies went through, the Lamias by the entrance flopped to the ground.
"NOO!"
"LEAVE US! WE'LL DO ANYTHING YOU WA–"
"Too bad, I'm not interested in snakes," emerging from behind one of the two remaining Lamia warriors, Raven wrapped a razor-sharp string around her neck and pulled it towards himself until her head fell to the ground,
Watching everything unfold before her eyes, the last Lamia tried to escape, but having gotten bored of staying behind with Maine, Erika turned into a gust of crimson fog and flew behind the survivor. Trying to escape, the Lamia ran into Erika's chest and fell to the ground.
"Need any help?" Offering a hand to the serpent, Erika couldn't help but smirk.
Glancing up into the priestess's crimson eyes, the girl knew her time had come.
"Well too bad…" Closing her hand into a fist, Erika collapsed the girl's head into itself. Exploding into a bloody pulp as her cranium shattered and pierced through the brain, her body spasmed on the ground for a while before bleeding out until it couldn't move anymore. "The goddess embraces no monsters, be glad that at least your death brings her joy."
"I'm listening to what you're saying by the way!" Mino complained, slightly offended by Erika's words.
As for the others, they were still staring at Erika trying to figure out how she'd learned so many new spells and skills in such a short time. However, knowing she'd just dismiss the question if they asked her again, the party decided to move inside the nest instead.