Chapter 53. Terrible habit

Chapter 53: 53. Terrible habit

? You managed to trick Seraphine, or what? I missed like 2 days. Why didn’t you show your talent in the first three days when I was observing? You are such a jerk. ?

Lilathea complaining as always, maybe I was overstimulated. Anyway–

Seraphine’s chest was burning, sweating, a sweet scent, but also mature, very mature. And I was all for it. She took her time squeezing me tight, but also realized the fight was the priority here. She dropped me back onto my feet. Tears appeared at the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall.

"I see you’ve somehow gotten powerful. A prosthetic? I appreciate you coming, but I don’t think you should be fighting."

"Ahm, good to know you’re concerned about me. But you’re Seraphine. Come on, I can go wild."

Seraphine’s smile came back at my reply, her wings opening, letting the fighting air come in.

"You’ve gotten a little stronger. I’m afraid that’s not going to be enough to defend me. You’re still human. But I appreciate you coming back alive to fulfill my craving."

Mandrisska, who was 2 blocks away, couldn’t bother giving us space and was drooling. Like, seriously, what’s with the drooling? I don’t even have my Kinky Scent on and this bitch is still this crazy.

Mandrisska took her beetle stance, on four limbs, head claws aimed at us, ready to strike whenever she felt like it. The Sylvbeetles were forming a height behind her, waiting for Mandrisska’s command.

"I got it. You’d better go wild, then!"

Seraphine picked up her light-pole-sized polearm and charged at Mandrisska. Mandrisska grinned, extending her legs and keeping her head straight as she lunged.

They both clashed, sending waves across the garden. Mandrisska caught the polearm between her head claws, absorbing all the power and making Seraphine’s attack useless.

I can never go toe to toe like Seraphine, even in the dungeon I couldn’t truly grasp how strong she is. Fighting with fists against an opponent with a higher caliber than you is remarkable. She’s just like me!!

We’re both crazy and we don’t give a fuck who’s standing in front of us. Back then I said we were the same puzzle pieces and wouldn’t fit together, but I was wrong. I’m glad I was wrong.

I dashed forward, using my enhanced speed to climb onto Mandrisska’s back. If I can’t pluck her limbs, might as well go for the wings. Mandrisska became aware of the weight on her back and retreated from Seraphine to deal with me. But she was already too late for that, I was already holding the base of her wings.

The wings were flapping on her insistence as a final effect. But then my senses caught something, slime rubbing on slime, a lot of it. It was just behind me.

I’d completely forgotten about the Sylvbeetles, I was too busy being wild. But I sensed them in time, so with a quick step I jumped off Mandrisska’s back out of fear. I don’t want to be eaten by those disgusting insects.

I don’t think anybody has such desires–

Alright, I take that back, I don’t trust my kind either.

"You have a terrible habit of climbing on a woman’s back! I hate it. I told you not to use the same tactics again, and I thought you’d learned, kid."

? HA! She might be right, Mark. Sounds exactly like you. If it’s one of your bad habits, I don’t have a problem with it. In fact, I find it cute. ?

"Oh, I’m flattered, I guess."

Seraphine, who was still facing Mandrisska, took advantage of this moment to aim at her head claw. Mandrisska covered her ears, acting on instinct, then realized Seraphine wasn’t going for them at all.

But why? I couldn’t calculate it either.

Her polearm was directly between the two giant head claws, doing nothing. Seraphine smirked openly before swinging it to the left claw as hard as she could.

Despite the sharp side hitting the claw, it didn’t move an inch. I figured she was trying to put strain on the claw’s joint, but the head claws are by far the strongest and most durable part. What is Seraphine doing? Wait–

Mandrisska retreated two blocks, her compound pupils shrinking in fear, sweat dripping down her chin. Then in her sweaty stream, blood flowed down, thinning the stream and highlighting the chin.

"What happened? Scared? Queen of the Sylvbeetles, Mandrisska."

Seraphine mocked her. Mandrisska, outraged, couldn’t ignore the wound she had. She began healing. It’s her terrible habit, I’d say, if she’s injured she prioritizes healing.

Which is fair, but I’m tired, okay?

But still, this doesn’t make any sense, right? Allow me to explain. Thanks to my maxed Perception, I was able to see what happened. I’ll keep it simple: in any insect claw, there are two individual parts that press together and bite you.

And those two aren’t always identical, one can be small, powerful but fragile, and the other big, weak but sturdy. They don’t even have the same range of motion. The claws on Mandrisska’s head work the same way. Any normal person wouldn’t be able to tell which claw is which, since they’re both almost identical. Yeah, almost.

Seraphine was able to tell which one was which, and when she found out it was the left one, you know what happened. And since the claw is dangerously close to her ears, she has to heal.

I can even go as far as to say Mandrisska didn’t use her head claws often because she didn’t want to give that detail away to us.

Seraphine didn’t hold back, she charged forward again, interrupting Mandrisska’s healing. Trying to push the polearm between her head claws again while also staying away from the Sylvbeetles. But Mandrisska, aware of her intentions, was now on defense, dodging.

"You talk so much about not using the same tactics. What a hypocrite!?"

Seraphine wouldn’t leave a single chance to mock her opponent. Mandrisska sneered but kept her cool and stayed on defense.

Honestly, we had to think of something else. We’d get a few clear hits, then she’d go into healing mode and the cycle would repeat.

As much as I wanted to go wild, I had to stay tactical. It sucks. Maybe I could climb onto her back again and pull her injured claw? Nah, it’s risky, the Sylvbeetles are covering her back. I used the same tactic twice and it didn’t work. Her hands reach her ears every time to protect her weak spot.

Fuck, my brain is fogged again! What do I do!?!

Wait, I’m Mark Laplace. My whole idea is to be flashy and take risks. This is a high-risk, high-reward scenario. If I manage to cancel out her healing, Seraphine can hit the jackpot.

With that, I stopped thinking and dashed forward. I had to gain good speed to pull this stunt. I let myself loose and ran fast, breaking my first limit and settling into a new pace.

Seraphine and Mandrisska were trading blows when I snuck in, climbing onto Mandrisska’s back once again.

"You again!?!!"

Mandrisska covered her ears on instinct. She noticed me quicker than I’d imagined, sparking a slight fear in me, but ignoring that, I took hold of her head claw. Up close, I could see it had been pushed past its range of motion, half healed and half injured.

Breathing in, I pulled her head claw with every bit of strength I could gather.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!"

Mandrisska screamed in agony as I reopened the wound she’d been trying to heal. But the claw was still intact, and there were two other problems. I hadn’t considered the sharpness of the claws, my hands were trying to pluck a living blade. The pain came with a delay, my blood sliding down to mix with Mandrisska’s thick blood.

And second, I didn’t have time to pluck the claw out, the Sylvbeetles were approaching me, stacking on top of each other to form a wave.

Ohh, I screwed up. Or that’s what I thought.

Seraphine wouldn’t let me get eaten by the Sylvbeetles. Her eyes widened in straight fury, and moving to 3 o’clock from my side, she extended her arms back, charged, and threw the polearm with all of her strength.

Targeting Mandrisska’s lower stomach, because targeting her upper body could hurt me. I was going to ask how this would help me, but I got my answer in a second.

The polearm pierced Mandrisska’s lower stomach, the feathers on it extending outward, hardening, digging into her flesh on a microscopic level.

I still didn’t understand how this was going to help me. Seraphine had decided to throw it despite being close enough to hit her, why? Because hitting was useless, the Sylvbeetles were behind me. Her objective was to isolate me from them.

And since I was on top of Mandrisska, she threw the polearm so it latched onto her body, transferring all its momentum into her and sending me flying with Mandrisska.

As soon as the hardening feathers did their thing, both me and Mandrisska were in the air, like a rocket, passing a few buildings in seconds, away from the garden. Seraphine had made sure to use her maximum strength.