Chapter 30

~ A Scylla Queen as a Friend? ~

SW/SW/SW

“…who are you?” Scylla Queen hissed, though the answer fell to a deaf ear since Maria heard totally a different thing: “Kill all non-Scylla!”. The statement was repeated over and over again through the course of the battle.

Who are you? This time it was Ace. He couldn’t help but curious about her.

Was Maria a human? Or was she something else entirely?

“Since you were going all out, it is appropriate for me to do the same,” Maria discarded her staff and shifted to a different stance. Her side facing the enemy, right hand dropped loosely in front, the fingers looked as if she was holding something invisible.

It appeared.

A pure white lance materialized out of nowhere. It was the strangest spear Ace had seen, the handle was long and ended in a thunder-shaped sword. The spear itself was quite normal, long and sharp.

The menacing one wasn’t the lance, but the weird rings that magically surround the lance, as if they were socks and the lance was feet. There were countless blades protruding from the rings. They looked incredibly sharp, long, and the worst of it all… the rings were rotating, promising unimaginable tortures to the victim.

The only thing Ace could think of Maria’s weapon was… brutal.

“H-Here it comes!” Doom exclaimed, “the Torture Maiden, Maria!”

The name fit her appearance perfectly.

With a single leap, she was already in front of the Scylla Queen. Her terrifying rotating rings and expression made her looked more like an angel of death than a human. Her quick thrust was avoided, but Maria grinned. In the air, she twisted her body around, bringing her lance along with her and aiming to shred the Scylla Queen to pieces.

The queen blocked the attack with half of her snake legs. However, Maria’s power proved too much for her to handle that her legs got destroyed. Screaming in pain, Scylla Queen retreated several meters, panting and shivering in fear. Maria’s smile was scary, almost unsettling.

Thinking that she had no chance of winning, she turned around and fled. In her desperation, she cast fog spell so that she might escape unscathed.

“Oh, no! After her!” Asla hurriedly got up to her feet, but was stopped by Maria.

“Don’t. Just leave this to me.”

The winged woman angled the tip of her spear ahead. The rings’ rotation sped up as ancient patterns appeared on the lance’s surface, charging with magical energy. The spear was suddenly enveloped in white light and it fired a huge, beam of energy towards the fleeing Scylla Queen.

They heard ka-blaam sound, followed by an inhumanly cry of agony, and then everything was quiet.

Once the cloud dissipated, the Scylla Queen was lying down on the ground, her lower body was destroyed. Apparently she was still alive, coughing up blood.

“Hey, she isn’t dead yet. Let me deal with this,” Doom walked forward, before Maria stopped him.

“That is not necessary. Although it is hard to do, incapacitating the boss nets rarer reward quest.”

“Then we’ll leave her as she is,” Asla summed it up.

A pop up window appeared out of nowhere, signaling the completion of a boss quest. Ace gaped at the experience and rare loot. The instant he pushed the ‘Okay’ button, he felt strength bursting from his body.

He was now level 42.

“Alrghty, we did it!” Mia and Asla high fived, while Doom ran a hand through his hair, satisfied.

Maria dispelled his lance and approached the group. Mia hugged her, “Thanks a lot, Maria! Without you, we’d be a goner!”

“I could never say no to a friend in trouble,” she replied with a smile.

Asla slapped her hands and exclaimed, “Hey, what about we hold a party in Dragonis? We defeated the Scylla Queen, after all! I just want to celebrate it before the feeling fades!”

“Oh, I love party!” Doom grinned, “I’m in! What about at the usual inn?”

“Sounds good! Maria, can you come? And Ace, too!”

Ace scratched his hair, “Ah, sorry, guys. I still have some business in this place.”

Asla frowned, feeling suspicious of the newbie. “And what could that be? Do you know how dangerous for you to be here, alone at that?”

“Well, from my observation, this castle is dirty and full of dust. That only translates one thing: the Scylla Queen lives alone. I can roam this place without worry once she’s been taken care of, right?”

Asla shrugged, “I never thought that you’re a greedy pig.”

“I do need money, so it’s perfectly understandable. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Look, I still have Scrolls of Cloaking Maria gave me, as well as plenty of Scrolls of Return. Just go without me.”

Doom nodded and gave him a thumbs up, “Right. See ya, dude. Be careful.”

Ace waved to the party, watching them go until they could no longer be seen. Making sure that he was alone, Ace came near the mortally wounded Scylla Queen.

She was a mess, bleeding, and in shock of extreme pain. The statuesque woman slapped his hand when he leaned closer to touch her. It took her the last of her energy as she was now lying weakly.

Yeah, he was addicted to victory, but when the enemy was on the death’s door, especially if the enemy was a woman, he felt sick all over. There was still a part of him that pitied her.

Taking out a stolen, high-grade healing potion from his inventory, he attempted to heal the Scylla Queen, but was met with resistance.

Since he had no choice, Ace touched one of her severed legs, making her cry out, and roughly shoved the healing liquid in her mouth.

She choked and coughed, struggling to break free, but Ace kept her jaw in place and she had no choice but to swallow it.

A moment later she felt energy pulsating inside her belly. Albeit weak, it fueled her body, restoring her senses. All the pains she had were now disappeared.

As distrustful as ever, she pushed Ace and crawled away from him. She had an iron will, he gave her that.

“…why?” she cautiously asked, “you were with them. What are you scheming?”

Ace raised his hands, “Nothing. You just looked horrible I couldn’t stand it.”

She didn’t buy it. Of course she wouldn’t.

“You stole from me, harmed me to the point that I can’t walk. Did you expect me to believe you?”

“No, but I said what I actually felt. Whether you want to believe it or not, it’s your call,” Ace stood. The difference in height made her shook in fear. It was all thanks to a certain winged woman.

“I won’t hurt you. I just want you to know that,” Ace lifted his hands again, though his attempt to gain her thrust failed considerably. Seeing no way to befriend her, Ace turned to leave.

“Where do you think you are going, adventurer?” a sharp voice halted his movement. Looking behind his shoulder, he saw the queen crawling miserably towards him. She stopped to catch her breath and commanded, “Take me to my chambers. You did this to me and you must take responsibility.”

Sighing, Ace complied half-heartedly. He carried her bridal style, careful not to brush his skin against her broken snake-like legs. Apart of the queen showing him the way, no words had gone through their mouths. The queen kept her gaze forward and lips set in a thin line. Meanwhile, Ace was busily keeping his eyes on the road instead of on her cleavage.

But damn, her breasts were big. Bigger than Agriella’s. Wait, he wasn’t a pervert! It was just that at a glance they looked…

“…you have no shame, staring at my breasts with those perverted eyes of yours.”

“It’s your fault for showing them off in the first place.”

“…do you realize that I am, in fact, stronger than you?”

Ace hesitated a bit, but gave up and whispered, “I’m sorry…”

Once they had arrived in the destination, Ace pushed the door with his foot and laid her on the four-poster bed. The queen collapsed on her plush pillows and let out a happy sigh. She quickly regained the dignity she had momentarily discarded, completely forgotten the fact that she wasn’t alone.

“…I am hungry. Hand me one of those apples over there,” she then ordered rather haughtily for Ace’s taste.

He clicked his tongue, dislike being treated as a mere lackey. However, he had no choice but to obey her. Weakened and disabled she might be, but her power was greater than him, who had nothing but mere beginner spells and Summon Beast.

Ace took an apple from a fruit basket nearby and gave her what she wanted. She didn’t eat it, though. She stared at the apple for a long time that his butt started to itch.

“…you can understand me,” finally she spoke. Her yellow eyes slowly met his dark ones. “Out of many adventurers, only you can understand what I am saying. To tell you the truth, I am… happy.”

“It gets lonely living alone, huh?”

He didn’t bother with formality and she didn’t mind it a bit. “Indeed it is.”

Hearing her blatant confession just made him feel worse. She had been living alone in this place without anyone to talk to and all of a sudden a band of rampaging apes (him included) raided her home, taking her belongings with them.

He took a long sigh and opened his inventory. He took all loot he found, excluding the potions. As expected, she was staring at him dumbly.

“I feel kind of bad for stealing these from you, so I return them back,” he couldn’t look at those beautiful eyes, so he looked away. “Although I won’t hand the potions over. I need them.”

“…I am genuinely surprised,” she commented softly, “a shameless pervert who can’t keep his eyes off my breasts, an imbecile plunderer, a dastardly womanizer, yet a kind and half-honest person. I have taken interest in you, but don’t get your hopes up. I still don’t trust you.”

“…you know, that didn’t sound like praise at all.”

And now she giggled.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Ace leaned closer, frowning in distaste, “tell you what, I’m not enjoying this at all. As compensation, you have to answer my question.”

Her smile faltered and was quickly replaced by a foreign, emotionless expression. “Oh, what’s this? Interesting… Let’s hear it.”

Ace cleared his throat, steeling his nerves, and opened his mouth, “Do you know anything about Hathor?”

To his surprise, Scylla Queen grinned, her long fangs were at full display, “…interesting question indeed.”

Spoiler: Status

AceKivras

EXP Chart*

Atk: 9

HP (740/740)

Level 42

5512/142200

Def: 21

MP(1230/1230)

Human

136.688 to lv. 43

M.Atk: 166

Eiredrahl the Impure*

Summoner

4012 Coins

M. Def: 81

Travonka

4 Black Coins

Minimum piety

104 Points Left to Distribute/ 3 Perks Available to Choose/ Job Change Available/ Additional HP and MP Waiting to be Added

ATTRIBUTES

POTENTIAL

Equipment

-Ancient Force

[Legendary equipment will be 5% more effective]

-Apprentice Magician

[Spells deal 4% more damage]

STR

7

Hopeless

Head

Ranagaad's Circlet {Rare} [4 INT, 8 M.ATK]

VIT

11

Worst

Neck

Amulet of Wisdom [2 INT]

DEX

12

Worst

Body

Valende's Runed Robe {Rare} [8 DEF, 18 M.DEF, 5 M.ATK]

PER

11

Worst

Back

-

INT

43

Normal

Arm (main)

Halcyon Staff [3 ATK, 6 M.ATK]

WIS

18

Bad

Arm

-

WILL

20

Bad

Waist

-

CHA

35

Normal

Legs

Black Pants [3 DEF]

* (tap to see)

Feet

Magician's Shoes {Rare} [2 DEF, 5 M.ATK]

(Help)

Skill

Description

Level

Healing

VIT

Lets you recover your HP over time

12.991

Staff

VIT

How proficient you are swinging your staff

5.085

Running

VIT

Affects your running speed

6.721

Light Armor

DEX

How effectively you act while wearing Light Armor

17.069

Evasion

DEX

Helps you to evade attacks easily

12.419

Casting

INT

This skill helps you power up your spells

21,553

Meditation

INT

Gradually recovers your MP

14.512

Herbology

INT

Lets you identify any herb to its fullest potential

9.074

Control Magic

WIS

Prevents your ally to get hit by your spells

8.884

Memorization

WIS

This skill slows down the decay of your unused skills

9.780

Literacy

WIS

Allows you to read more difficult spellbooks

14.905

Control Beast

CHA

Lets you control higher-level Summon Beasts

17.119