The Call to War

Chapter 28

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and even if you don't celebrate, well you're still getting a this gift.

"There they are," Tess whispered from atop a ledge, as she and Arthur looked down upon a rather sizeable nest of centipede-like mana beasts that were bigger than a horse.

"It just had to be bugs," Arthur replied as he stared at them with his eyes wide with a murderous gaze.

"Are you going to be ok?"

"I hate bugs."

"Oh, we'll if you want..."

"I'll kill them with fire."

Tess wasn't sure why, but she felt that this was one time when Arthur would probably go a bit overboard.

"Ready?" Arthur asked as he moved back from the ledge.

"Of course," Tess replied with a confident smirk.

"In that case follow after I clear an area for you to land."

With that Arthur stepped off the ledge into a free fall as he engulfed his body in blue flames. As he fell Tess could feel his mana quickly building for a spell of some kind, and as he landed she saw it. As Arthur landed on top of one of the centipedes a wave of blue fire erupted from him, and moved out in every direction.

The bugs screeched as they scrambled to get away from the flames that were incinerating every bug they came in contact with. The wave finally died off, and many of the bugs took this as their only chance to escape as they stampeded towards a tunnel out. However before they could reach the tunnel, a collection of thorny vines erupted from the ground and began slashing and whipping the beasts.

Tess activated her beast will before also jumping from the ledge, landing a few feet away from where Arthur landed then proceeded to move slightly in the same direction. Arthur ran through the bugs with his damaged Asura forged sword engulfed in bright blue flames as he struck down bug after bug, with every strike leaving them on fire.

Tess charged forward, spreading her seeds while gracefully dodging and attacking as if it were a dance. She knew it was selfish, but she wanted Arthur to see her in action, to show how much she had grown over the years. She knew her swordsmanship was nowhere near his caliber, but she had still improved greatly. During her visits to the castle, she often aided Ellie in her training, and sometimes Arthur would be watching, but training like that was nothing like giving it your all in battle.

Arthur lunged forward cutting two of the insects in half before using piston stomp on another's head, blowing it clear off as he took to the air. He landed back on the ground ready to continue on, but held off as he saw thorny vines erupting from the ground. Then he noticed plants resembling large Venus flytraps growing mixed in with the vines. As the vines ripped through the beasts as they grew, the large Venus flytraps began biting the bugs. Hissing was heard as the acid excreted from the carnivorous plants began eating away at their exoskeleton and flesh. The plants intertwined with one another as the vines captured the beasts and the flytraps devoured them. The chamber walls soon started to form a sort of layer of plants and dead or dying beasts. A few of the beasts tried to attack Tess as she grew the attacking plants, but even so she was able to fight and dodge their attacks gracefully.

Arthur of course didn't just stand by and watch as his girlfriend was attacked, even though she was holding her own rather well. He closed the distance between them quickly, and used every affinity at his disposal to create some breathing room for her. With her focus able to now be completely on her plant magic, the rate at which the plants grew increased noticeably, and after a few more minutes the final centipede was finally killed.