Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic

Book 2: Chapter 6: Punished

Scarlet Asger

Tar doesnt say anything for several seconds. But then, out of nowhere, he appears in the air in front of me looking rather weary.

I frown.

Are you okay? Seriously. Tell me what happened!

I said something I shouldnt have, Tar says in my mind. So I was punished.

Punished how? You look ragged.

Lets just say it wasnt pleasant, he says with a visible shiver. And I cant explain anything about what I said before. If I break the rules again, telling you more than youre allowed to know right now, then I may very well be locked in the palace for months.

Oh.

I stare at him for several seconds, just taking in his ragged appearance for a bit before eventually sighing.

Okay.

But you better tell me what you were talking about as soon as youre allowed to, do you understand?

The tanuki nods his head before vanishing from Earth as he asks, So whats your plan for dealing with these variants?

I focus on the nest again.

This one shouldnt be as dangerous as dealing with the knights was. Mostly because these spawn are all weaker than me, and I highly doubt theyll leave their little queen unattended to. Meaning not all of them will be heading towards me at the same time.

Then theres the fact that the only one Ive seen spin any thread so far is the queen, with none of the arachnids even seeming to have the ability to.

So my plan is to bring several of them out into the open in the clearing where Ill fight them, relying on my blood regeneration to keep me afloat. And hopefully getting a level in it in the process.

Then Ill repeat that until all of the little ones are dead before going after their queen.

Tar stays silent for a few seconds until eventually asking, And if the spiders have skills you arent expecting?

Ill deal with them as they come.

Its what Ive always done after all.

True, Tar mutters, only to sigh a few seconds later and say, okay, fine. I actually think this plan has a lot of merit to it without too much risk.

My face lights up into a brilliant smile at that one sentence that I will remember for the rest of my life. And more importantly, whenever Tar is calling me reckless or tries to say that everything I do is risky.

Tar snorts at that in my head.

I narrow my eyes on the nest for a few seconds before trying to use blood boil on one of the spiders in it. But it looks like theyre out of my range, which seems to barely extend just to the edge of the nest, about two dozen or so meters in front of me.

Which is unfortunate.

You werent planning on fighting in the trees anyways, Tar says, pointing out the obvious.

Yeah, fighting those things in the trees would be a pain. They clearly have a lot more maneuverability than me, even if I should be more physically stronger than them.

Anyways, if I cant get them to come out here while still in this tree, then Ill just have to go out and meet them.

I jump down from the tree into the clearing before walking a little bit deeper into it, with the spiders instantly taking note of me the moment I cross the halfway point of the clearing. Then about half of the current 15 a few more were hatched in the time that I fought the knight apparently begin to leave the web in my direction.

Seven of them? I think I can handle that.

Back With the Others

Belle constantly paces back and forth out of worry over her idiotic and quite possibly suicidal best friend. Meanwhile Michael repeatedly looks between his terminal and the direction that Scarlet and his sister went, worried about Emily.

After several minutes of excruciating silence, they hear sound coming from the East before each of them looks up to find Emily jogging over to them while waving.

Belle notices Michael letting out a pent up breath in relief, but she simply walks over to Emily and asks, Wheres Scarlet? Is she okay? Did she get hurt?

Emily quickly grows both surprised and a little flustered at the repeated questions before Michael comes to her rescue, saying, Calm down, Belle. Let Emily have some time to answer in between the questions.

She

Scarlets best friend takes in a deep breath before letting it out again.

Then, after being given a few seconds to catch her own breath, Emily finally answers, Scarlets fine. She is planning on dealing with the rest of the demons on her own, but I helped her kill the two knights over there. A smile blooms on her face. Even got a couple levels from it too.

Michael pats her on the head, but Emily just pushes his hand away.

So shes still there, fighting?! Should I go to help? Would that make things worse?

Yes, it would, Artemis answers in her mind before mentally grumbling, and that stiff wouldnt let me hear the end of it if you did.

Belle blinks in surprise.

Why not?

I dont know, he grumbles again. he was complaining one day to me about reckless girls, so I know I would get an earful for letting you do something reckless like that. Something that will not only get you into unnecessary danger while youre at such a low level against those much higher leveled enemies, but something that could get his contractor in trouble too.

Reckless girls hes talking about Scar, isnt he?

Scar? If you mean his contractor, then its very possible, Artemis says, not sounding as arrogant as he usually does when talking to other people. Something Belle still doesnt really understand and gave up trying days ago.

Belle looks down with a sad expression on her face before lightly kicking at the ground, only to look up at the green trees trees that would otherwise be completely bare of leaves if it werent for the adjusted temperature caused by the dome making the winter not harsh enough for the leaves to fall.

Eventually she looks down again with a look of determination having replaced the sadness on her face.

If Im a liability for her right now, then I just need to get stronger till I can help her. And not only just her, but Arthur, mom, and dad too!

Whatever motivates you to fight more is fine with me, Artemis says while sending her the feeling of a thumbs up through their bond, which makes Belles lips quirk up slightly in amusement.

We shouldnt just sit here while shes dealing with the variant, Belle says to Michael, briefly surprising him before he eventually nods his head and says, Youre right. Lets go deal with the other demons while she handles the variant.