48 – Finally! Paarjo! Oh no!

I thought about the situation while waiting for the head to finish regenerating. It lacked the face, and the frontal cut was pretty interesting. I noticed it regenerated from the back of the head and then to the front. The brain itself wasn't that different from the ones I was familiar with. I'm not a neurosurgeon, however, so I may have missed the minute differences.

The monster had appeared out of nowhere from the north. It clearly didn't have well-developed instincts as it continued to charge even after seeing me. I recalled the little forest friends I saw in our trip from Riverfield to Mountroad ran away pretty fast when I approached.

I walked to one of the massive arms in the artificial clearing we created and lifted it for inspection. The wound didn't show any reaction that would indicate the growth of a new body. The thought of it being similar to a sea star had crossed my mind for some reason.

The smell of charred flesh made me scowl, and I dropped the limb.

A soft plin came from my left shoulder plate, making me glance at it. The metal was covered in blood, so I didn't see anything new. Then, without any warning, torrential rain fell on the world.

I spread my arms and let the droplets hit my armor, making for a very relaxing sound. Then took deep breaths to get a whiff of the rain. A smile made its way to my face at the lack of pollution. Rain is really magnificent.

I thought of the Elf I met when I first arrived, then laughed as warmth spread in my chest.

The Cyclops spasmed a few times then started groaning after regaining consciousness. The burnt wounds didn't heal, however.

”Hey friend, listen,” I walked to the monster. “I know the world is scary right now but... it's gonna get way worse.”

Then I proceeded to cut its entire body with the flaming sword. It could live without a head, and it took about three minutes to regenerate it. The sword went through the flesh and bones without resistance. I cut its head off first, then the body in tiny pieces.

After I was done, I appraised it and got nothing in return.

Nice, I nodded.

The smell of charred flesh and blood filled the clearing, and I stored the sword.

The sound of rustling vegetation came from behind and I turned my head.

My companions showed up in their mounts.

“Oh?” Lapia looked at me. “You managed to kill it.”

Alyssa dismounted and walked up to me, then looked me up and down.

“Is any of this blood yours?” her eyes looked at my helmet where my eyes would be.

I shook my head. “It's not. I'm completely fine.”

“Hmph!” Yolin harrumphed.

I looked at her but she turned her head away.

Huh?

I walked to the Oni on top of Pochi and nudged her right leg, “What's up?”

She rolled her eyes at me, “You sneaky little Halve. You went on ahead and fought it alone.”

“Ah,” I uttered, not sure what to say in response. “Uhm, yeah... my bad. I got a little too excited.” I stored my helmet and gave her an apologetic smile.

She shook her head, “The fight would have been glorious! Don't have fun all on your own! The monster was weak compared to you... it would have been so cool if we fought it together. Haaah...”

I bit my lips. She was right on that.

Pokora walked to the monster and collected a few bones.

“How was it?” Bonte perked up, looking at me with shining eyes.

“Got sent flying once, but then it was pretty easy,” I shrugged.

Yolin clicked her tongue, “You even got sent flying? You selfish woman.”

Lapia chuckled, “Okay, that's dealt with. I see you used fire.”

I nodded, “I have a fire sword. Pretty neat.”

“Ohh!” Pokora breathed in amazement. “That sounds cool.”

“What's with the bones?” I inquired, nodding at the monster's corpse.

“Arrow materials,” she replied, climbing her mount.

“Anything else that could be usable?” I gestured to the monster and glanced at Bonte.

He shook his head, “Nothing that we need. The organs are pretty useless, and the blood is too acidic.”

I nodded in understanding.

Alyssa walked to me and grabbed my head, then made me look at her.

“Natasha, are you sure you're okay?” she looked into my soul with her scarlet eyes.

I smiled, “I am. Do you want to check for yourself?” and I undressed, only my panties covering my body.

Bromisnar groaned and shook his head, then looked the other way.

Alyssa ran her hands over my body, searching for injuries.

I noticed Bonte sneaking cheeky glances at my chest, and I felt a little good since no man had showed interest in me so far. While my relationships were strictly with women, and they would stay that way, in the end I am bisexual. There's no harm in looking and I honestly enjoy the attention.

I'm pretty hot, after all, I thought full of smug.

Pokora, however, was straight up ogling me. Well... not that straight. Her eyes stopped at my crotch and massive confusion set on her face. Her eyes darted to meet mine and she blushed, then looked away.

Heh, virgins, I chuckled. Look all you want, little Elf. I posed and flexed my muscles.

Alyssa gulped and looked up at me, “You're hot- I mean, delicious- I mean, no injuries,” she blushed and cleared her throat.

I nodded and got dressed, “Let's go back, then.”

Affirmative answers were given in mutters. My half naked sculpted body had a greater impact than expected. I felt pretty damn good about it. My slight narcissism was showing.

Lapia walked to the monster's corpse and burned it to ashes, making sure the vegetation was untouched.

Then we made our way back to the Watchers and the criminals.

Crossing the edge of the forest, I saw Ranulf perking up at me walking into the road. He approached me and gave me a light nod.

“Everything alright?” his left ear twitched a little, splashing some water from the falling rain.

I nodded, “Disposed of the monster.”

“Thank you very much, Your Excellency,” he smiled, which was admittedly out of place. “It would have taken us too long to chase it away, let alone kill it. This particular type has annoying regeneration, making them incredibly dangerous.”

“I noticed,” I smiled. “But it wasn't a problem, honestly. All is good.”

He let out a short chuckle and walked back to the clearing.

Sonya approached me with quick steps and soflty headbutted me.

“You're angry too?” I rubbed her chin.

Yolin scoffed and guided Pochi to the clearing.

I smiled and we all joined the rest for lunch.

The Watchers gave me glances full of admiration once in a while, and others whispered among themselves. Other than that, the meal was pretty relaxed. A Watcher made a delicious vegetable soup and roasted some chicken at a small fireplace.

Before continuing our journey, however, the Watcher that had moved the trees to form the clearing was tasked with fixing the mess I made of the forest. I joined her since I wanted to check her magic out. It took her around an hour to get every tree that wasn't outright ripped out of the ground back up again. Those that got destroyed beyond repair went into my storage, and I was suggested to sell the wood when we got to Paarjo. The reason was 'nothing should go to waste'.

After that, we set out again.

I rode next to Yolin trying to cheer her up.

“Hey, Yolin,” I called out to her in Orkish.

“What?” she looked away, replying in the same language.

“You're really beautiful, you know that?” I began my attack.

“Hoh?” she nodded.

“I really like you,” I continued. “A whole lot. I also like you getting angry like this. You're extremely cute.”

She turned to me and arched a white eyebrow, her wet white locks of hair stuck to her red skin.

“Makes me want to get your angry again,” I teased her with a cheeky smirk. “I want to see you angry, Yolin. Maybe spank me a little? Pin me against the floor? Call me names as you vent on me?”

“With your strength?” she muttered. “Fat chance.”

“I wouldn't fight back,” I countered.

Her red cheeks darkened and she cleared her throat.

I was serious about that as well. The 200 hundred years old muscle house of a woman made me feel amazing and dangerous things.

“Well,” she cleared her throat again. “Next time, you'll be at my mercy.”

“How about all times?” I quickly added. “How about right now? How about whenever you want it?”

Her eyes widened, “Damn, Natasha. Chill.”

I felt my cheeks burn, “Well, next time a big monster shows up I'll make sure to fight it with you instead of by myself.”

“Yeah,” she laughed. “That sounds good as well.”

“We good?” I poked her ribs, getting a short fit of giggles in return.

“We were never bad, though?” she tilted her head. “I wasn't angry either. Just bored. We haven't seriously fought together against monsters. I want to, really bad. To face a Giganto Cyclops and have a hard fought victory,” she sighed. “You'd have to hold back to make it interesting, however.”

I laughed at that, “Yeah, it was pretty disappointing all things considered,” I nodded. “But I'll follow your lead when the time comes.”

“That does sound interesting,” she gave me a broad smile.

We continued flirting and Lapia joined soon followed by Alyssa. The four of us laughed, giggled, and shared dirty joked as we rode behind the caravan. The rain was nice and filled the air with the intoxicating smell of petrichor.

Bromisnar chatted with Bonte and Pokora. I didn't eavesdrop so the contents were unknown. They were having fun nonetheless.

Later that day, when the two suns were near the end of their descent to the horizon and would soon plunge the world in the darkness of night, I saw a small dot floating in the air a good one hundred kilometers away. At first I thought it was a flying creature, but the dot didn't move by itself as we approached. It was locked in place in the sky a good kilometer up.

I didn't give it much thought, guessing it was a floating rock or some magical thing like that.

We made camp and I flirted with Yolin as we took watch. We hugged and fooled around through the night. I noticed all the Watchers went to sleep, and the criminals hadn't gotten a tent for themselves.

I figured they would make sure to keep an eye out at the very least, but I guess me being a legendary protector of the world made them slack off. I'd make sure to write Lorena a letter letting her know when we got to Paarjo.

The next morning, the day began with a light breakfast and feeding the different mounts. Clerics checked the Bhin's hooves and removed stones and small things that could have sneaked in there. Alyssa checked our mounts for anything out of the ordinary, and the Untu got a large serving of fatty meat. Then, we set out and continued northwest.

The rain had stopped during the night, and the world glistened after the downpour. The grass looked vigorous, trees gave off a satisfied aura for some reason, and the road wasn't as muddy as I expected it to get. A lot of critters roamed around; birds, mice, squirrels, and small predators. Many had the now prevalent Galeian feature of having either horns, antlers, tusks, talons, or any extra thing nature could think of. None looked like something that could be found on Earth, and it was beautiful.

I was immersed in looking at a fat frog with whiskers and a thin tail while we went up a slope after lunch. It had been following us for a while, and I found it cute. It's eyes were comically large and it jumped pretty far, keeping up with Sonya as she walked the road.

We made it to the peak of the mount and I heard a weird sound coming from Lapia.

“Oh, no! Fuck!” she sighed in regret as if just remembering something.

I looked up from the frog and met her eyes. She was wincing.

“What happened?” I tilted my head.

“I forgot to tell you, sssss,” she sucked air through her teeth. “I'm sorry, sunshine.”

“About what?” I was genuinely confused.

“Ah,” Alyssa uttered. “You're right. Crap!”

“What?” I asked again, looking around at my companions.

“Yeah, that's pretty important,” Yolin muttered. Then gave me a nod and a thumbs up, “Don't worry, Natasha. You can hold onto me.”

What the fuck is going on?

“That's Paarjo,” Bonte muttered, a complicated smile on his face.

He pointed forward and I followed his finger.

Dread consumed my entire being. I felt my fingers go numb and my mouth dried up instantly. The cold hand of regret gripped my soul.

In front of us, or more correctly, above us. Paarjo floated in the sky. I remembered seeing a painting of a floating castle in Lapia's apartment in Riverfield. It looked similar, but enormous. The hill we were on had blocked the sight of the Capital of Nightmares.

I gulped, “Yes,” I nodded. “Lumin Kingdom is getting a new Monarch soon, apparently.”