Chapter 58: Escort job

“Why in the three major realms am I fucking here with you plebians?” <Promicarus>The party of (now) 5 were walking down the dirt road once more. Yet it wasn’t Tom with them this time hence why they were all walking. Unfortunately Tom was still recovering from being chased by a genocidal psychopath after having just dealt with being threatened by a gang of bandit-villagers. Despite how he may look he wasn’t used to violence of any kind - no wonder he needed a break to take a breather before heading forth once more. He had dealt with bandits before but… That was a bit beyond a normal bandit attack.Instead they got a rather grumpy tanned girl who crossed her arms and walked with them with a very begrudging face. Her rosy lips formed a frown while her slender arms crossed under her chest - her white coat swaying in the wind behind her while she sat atop a bone-horse with black ‘goop’ between the bones. Almost as if someone saw some bones and filled it with tar though more demonic than that. Nobody seemed to be bothered by the fact she was currently sitting on an obviously demonic undead. “It’s simple really~. The villagers were sick of your shit so politely asked us to take you away from them pronto fufufu~!” <Eel>Their current positioning was Fuka up front, Lyada around back and Eel in the centre. On the right side of the dragoness was the grouchy puppet master who faced away due to sitting on the horse sideways. While on the left side was a succubus being very snuggly. Although her right hand was holding her bone-based spear, her left was being embraced by the clingy cow which seemed to make Eel happy enough to not jab her spear to the right side.Despite this act of goodwill from the hero it didn’t seem like the other big chested girl felt the intention of this kindness as she threw her hand over her shoulder. From this casual act a arrow of abyssal darkness shot out to connect with Eel’s head, causing her head to jerk forwards from the impact. Turning around she glared at the back of the bleach blonde girl. Just when it seemed like Eel was about to do something  - raising her spear to act as more than just a walking stick - a Fuka interrupted her.“Ahem, if ya two idiots are quite done? We were tasked with bringin’ ya towards the mountain range where we are also heading; reason bein’ that yer a puppetmaster while a load of golems have begun appearing. It may actually be linked to why that {Wyvern} ‘n’ {Giant Green Lizard} were so far from their usual habitat. Pushed out by the invasive species though not sure of all the details since it’s ya job…” <Fuka>“This one see’s that the foolish weaklings require m-” <Promicarus>Just at that moment a lightning fast thrust connected with the side of the undead horse, sending it (and the rider) tumbling away with a great amount of momentum. Soon afterwards a *BOOM* echoed out as the pair of master & summon collided with a nearby rock causing that to explode into shards. Fuka just stopped as she was walking to calmly turn around to look at Elizabeth Jr Bloodleaf who just stood there confidently with the spear still on the floor but slowly pulled back her right foot under herself. For obvious reasons Fuka took in a deep breath while holding her paladin helmet. If she had decided on a god it would be likely she would be asking for patience. Why did she need to be the straight man? “Why?” <Fuka>“Why what?” <Eel>Eel just blinked innocently while planting a kiss atop Emily’s head; acting as if the little cute moment would cure all ills in the world. She even proceeded to turn those big ol’ eyes up to look at Fuka with innocence while Emily, fine with being used, did the exact same. Obviously Fuka was quite used to Eel’s techniques through the year so had gained high resistance to her shit. Though normally it wasn’t her telling the girl off due to her not actually being too old - just her goblin half helping her mature far faster…“Eel, we were supposed ta bring her to the mountains in order ta help all those innocent pe-” <Fuka>“They paid real nice money.” <Lyada>“Mostly that but they do also really need ‘er there since the golems are killing a lot of creatures and adventurers. But, either way, we need the girl to be willing to not just ditch us or we won’t be getting paid! Listen, I’m a half gobbo and ya’re a dragon. Let's be honest with what we need to do… That’s gettin’ paid!” <Fuka>Eel tilted her head softly though as she began to speak.“I agree getting paid is nice bu-” <Eel>Before she could finish speaking a giant armoured wyvern suddenly appeared out from above and reached above the young dragon in a second. This wyvern seemed far stronger than the last one they met in just about every way - it’s appearance was as if it’s scales were made out of pure crystals of ice and based on it’s mythical bloodline it could be true. The eyes of the beast glowed a sinister green while black flames whipped around the green to cause it to look quite fearsome.More frightening was the speed of the giant beast as it quickly appeared above the hero who was just as surprised as everyone else for once. When was the last time she had suddenly been jumped like this? The answer may surprise you. She hadn’t except for when it came to beings like {The Sovereign of Storms} but that was cheating since she was small but fast. Could also say Jeeves & Zandman but clearly his creature wasn’t as good at stealth as that pair since Jeeves was known for it and… Well that Imp was just strange. Her senses had only gotten better with her being able to feel life & sense blood with as much ease as breathing. Despite it feeling weird she could sense ‘something’ akin to life in this beast but it just suddenly appeared. Not only that but it was clearly looking at her with bloodlust which there would be no way she’d miss!The beast shadowed over the group for a second before flying off - the only thing left of Eel was the arm Emily was holding causing her to completely freeze and shiver with teary eyes. Fuka just had her hand on her armoured forehead. All the while letting out a sigh as if she expected something like this. The bunny was less bothered; Lyada just calmly looked over to the Wyvern. While the group of three were all rationalising what just happened a familiar tanned girl walked up.“Huh, seems she let her guard down as if she buffed herself just a bit she wouldn’t have been flying without a permit~! Ah~ what a shitty hunter to end up being the one- Oh, it seems she isn’t too tasty Mwahahaha~!” <Promicarus>She wasn’t even trying to keep her act as she revealed in the Hero’s misfortune. Watching with absolute glee as the sub-dragon flew higher and higher before the wyvern dropped Elizabeth out of the air. She even went as far as happily clapping while laughing as her rival got a free skydive experience… Of course, Eel who could control momentum was in no danger but instead easily landed a fair distance away in a forest from the group much to Promicarus’ displeasure.“Tsk! Well this one will not be waiting for thine bumbling party member to find her way back towards us!” <Promicarus>With that the horse came back from behind her, promptly mounting it and riding it away once more. Fuka just shook her head to walk along the horse while Lyada followed the worried cow who dashed into the forest after her girlfriend. Still hugging the severed arm which seemed a bit foolish.Wouldn’t Eel just regenerate another one?Despite how sturdy she was, Eel was quite used to losing limbs… Most of the time it was somewhat self inflicted even if not on purpose. As for the most memorable, it would need to be the time she tried to mimic a famous ‘light speed charge’ of Photon’s. The result was of course the girl blowing the bottom half of her torso off but it was amusing the watch in a sadistic kind of way.Either way, that left Fuka with this strange girl…