"Myria! It's back legs are vulnerable!"
"Roger!"
Myria immediately drew her bow and chanted:
"[Judgement Arrow]!"
In an instant, the arrow she had placed in the chord of her bow became irradiated with different colors as she stood ready to release the deadly shot.
"NOW!"
I yelled as I jumped out of Myria's target.
*FWOOOOSH*
The arrow traveled at a mind-boggling speed until it managed to hit the back legs of the 'Spider Empress', disintegrating them in the process.
*SCREEEAAACH*
The 'Spider Empress' had just formulated a horrible, disgusting sound, nobody should be ever exposed to. It made all of our eardrums hurt badly enough to force us to protect our ears. But, as we were busy doing that, something else came to our attention...
*CRACK* *CRACK* *CRACK*
Suddenly, an earth-splitting earthquake began creating several ruptures along the ground. And to our dismay, in the most disgusting manner one could ever think of, dozens if not hundreds of spiders started emerging from the depths of the ruptures.
Myria and I were taken aback as we watched in horror the scene that unfolded before us, but luckily we weren't alone...
"Don't worry! I got this!"
Shouted valiantly Scarlet from behind us as she began chanting:
"[ARIA SHOT]!"
The moment the incantation was finished, a dark energy emerged from Scarlet's hand. It didn't seem like much at first, but Myria and me, both knew what was about to happen. The moment she made a fist with the flame, her entire arm caught on the same wicked energy.
""SHOOT IT NOW!""
Myria and I exclaimed as the spiders began chasing us from behind. Scarlet just nodded and without hesitation, she thrust both arms forward as an impressive explosion happened, just mere instants after we had taken refuge. But by now, we were used to this.
"ALL CLEAR!"
Yelled Scarlet at us. As we peeked from behind Scarlet, we saw the 'Spider Empress' trembling in pain, as her kin was annihilated, and she was burned.
Without paying heed to the fact that the cave was now incinerated and hundreds of fried spider corpses now laid scattered in the scorching floor, Myria immediately asked:
"Reika, where is its HP at?"
Nodding to the expectant duo, I chanted:
"[Master Appraisal]"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Akina
Gender: Female
Age: 5,651
Race: Arachne
Danger Level: S
Lvl: 1,342
HP: 423,675/14,432,564
MP: 1,295,241/5,543,876
STR: 2,543,765
DEF: 2,432,876
SPD: 7,437,312
MRES: 2,432,756
Skills: [Demonic Cry], [Hell Fire], [Regeneration], [Amplified View], [Tornado of Darkness], [Wind Barrage], [Demonic Beam], [Hell Beam], [Command], [Tempest], [Dark Extasis],[Demonic Summon]
Affinities: [Wind], [Demonic]
Titles: [Spider Empress], [S-rank slaughterer], [Cannibal], [Queen of Arachne], [Silk Producer], [Lustful Queen], [Ruler of the 'Silk Cave']
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking at her status I just smiled towards Myria and Scarlet. They both wished me good luck as I began to unsheathe my blessed rapier. I then took a long deep breath... until...
*BOOM*
In an instant, I went from standing completely still to accelerating far beyond what a normal human could even perceive. Without leaving the 'Spider Empress' any chance, I sliced her...
*SLASH*
In an instant, the room went from several squeals, whines and strange squirming noises to deadly silence...
The 'Spider Empress' now stood motionlessly behind me. But as I sheathed my rapier (AN: Type of medieval sword) , the 'Spider Empress' corpse fell apart in pieces...
'Welp that's that!'
Yes, my companions and I had just eliminated an S-rank monster known as the "Spider Empress" who had gained complete dominance over the nearby 'Silk Cave' and as the good adventurers we are, we decided to help out.
I then began hearing clapping behind directed as me, and as I turned around, there stood my cheering companions of our acclaimed party... "The Curse".
Flashback:
I opened my eyes softly. As light finally entered my pupils again, a familiar roof came to my sights... It was my room at the Litherm Kingdom's royal castle... 'Yet why was I here? Wasn't I just laying on the street after managing to regain control of my body?'
This was the first time I had woken up since the incident and in all honesty, I had been completely out since then. However, as my anxiety was beginning to rise a soothing voice came to my attention as I pictured 2 familiar figures sitting beside my bed.
"How are you doing Reika?"
Both Myria and Scarlet seemed quite relieved to see me awake. But far too much...
"...How many days was I out...?"
I asked this nervously, because judging from the state of my completely healed body, not less than a week has passed... And besides, for them to be this relieved from me, merely waking up, it's been quite some time... But contrary to my expectations of being asleep for an entire month or even a year...
"Don't worry it has only been 2 weeks〜"
Said Scarlet nonchalantly. While Myria, wasn't impressed either, I was immediately relieved knowing that I had not entered some random comatose state, but I had a more important question now...
"Well... In any case, what happened... since... you know..."
I asked that question quite nervously, fearing I'd be banished from the kingdom or I would be set for execution after destroying most of the royal plaza and wounding several adventurers from the guild...
However, reality does betray expectations. Rather than sulking, both Myria and Scarlet became oddly happy when I asked. So, Myria enthusiastically began explaining:
"Well, while you did cause quite a hefty amount of damage to the royal plaza, with my authority as a princess I managed to shift all of the attention away from the incident..."
All I could do was smile wryly at her proud statement. 'Just how much political power does this girl have...?' But without allowing me to delve further into my thoughts, Scarlet then continued:
"So, the king and queen, Myria's parents didn't blame you... fully... You see, Myria's parents insisted that you must now be under surveillance from the kingdom, and as such, we thought that as your friends, Myria and I should become your observers from now on!"
I was taken aback a little about this since I didn't fully agree to this in any way, but thinking about it logically... it was, by all means, better than being executed...
In the end, after checking I was completely healed, we all left for the royal plaza, since I wanted to see how bad the damage was... But of course, this was a fantasy world, which meant the damage was...
...
None...
,,,
There was literally no damage whatsoever...
...
"Umm, Myria, this is where we fought right?"
"Un!"
"Are you sure?"
"Un!"
"Why is there no damage?"
I was just asking questions automatically in the most monotonous voice I could muster, when both Scarlet and Myria, burst into laughter at my last question.
"HAHAHA Reika, you're too funny! Of course, this was repaired almost immediately due to magic!"
"Yeah! This plaza was already fixed by the next morning after our battle. HAHAHAHA"
I just stood there, staring at both of my friends almost crying out of laughter. But as I almost began to chuckle myself, I made out the adventurer's guild some distance away.
"I FORGOT! THE QUEST, I DIDN'T SUBMIT THE COMPLETION FORM!"
I yelled as I began checking my pockets for the dark gems from the ore golems.
"Please let them be her- HERE THEY ARE!"
As I rummaged through my pockets I had finally grabbed ahold of the ominous gems from the ore golems, and I immediately ran towards the guild leaving Myria and Scarlet behind as they kept laughing.
3rd Person P.O.V.
Both Myria and Scarlet had been laughing hard enough for the people around the royal plaza to notice them and smile wryly at their over-the-top laughing, when finally, Myria noticed Reika was no longer there.
"Hey, Scarlet...?"
"Hahaha... yeah〜?"
"Reika is gone..."
"..."
"And we're her observers, right...?"
"Cr*p"
Reika's P.O.V.
I had just finished giving the dark gemstones from the ore golems, as I received my 10 gold coins for the 'COMPLICATIONS' I suffered, which came in the form of a 'GIANT CERBERUS'.
Of course, since Kira already knew my real strength she wasn't impressed, but every other person within the vicinity had dropped their jaws with my first few words.
As I was finally, starting to wave goodbye to Kira, the doors of the adventurer's guild flung open as two panting figures came into my sights...
""...Reika... you left us alone〜..."" (AN: Yandere mode: Activated)
I froze immediately as I noticed some killing intent was leaking from both girls...
"Oops?"
Without leaving me much time to react, both of them grabbed ahold of my arms as they dragged me back to the counter.
"Hey wait! What are you doing?!"
But they completely ignored me as they kept making their way to the counter. Then they began a conversation with a tone so full of sarcasm and killing intent, that it made me shiver...
"Hey, Scarlet〜!"
"Yes, Myria〜?"
"What's the best way to observe someone if they have to constantly go on quests as an adventurer〜?"
"I don't know Myria. Do you mind telling me〜?"
"Sure, let's party up with dear Reika, right here〜"
'Oh no...'
Thus, the legendary party 'The Curse' was born!
Of course, there were some minor difficulties, like Kira finding out Scarlet was actually a demon... That was difficult to push under the rug, but in the end, we managed to convince Kira to seal her lips.
And since, I didn't want to wield Boukyaku, more than I had to... I bought a new sword which I immediately enchanted with [Oblivion Blessing]. However this wasn't any ordinary sword, this was a rapier which cost over 50 gold coins...
How did I buy this? Simple! Myria provided some 'Financial Aid'
...
The power of royalty is scary... I know...
...
Anyways, during the following days and weeks, we began growing as a party doing difficult quests, training to control 'Boukyaku', and overall getting so much stronger than what we all could've expected...
While all of this happened, Myria and Scarlet emphasized the need for me to become able to wield 'Boukyaku' without losing control... which I tried to refuse... But after trial and a lot of errors, I can now wield 'Boukyaku' for a short period of time while retaining my sanity. And with these different things happening around me... It has finally been one month since I have been sent to this uncertain world of Estrea...
...
...
...
However, one thing still lingers in my mind... From that night...
'Who... or what... was that 'impostor'...?'
(AN: I'll be referring to that copy of Reika in chapter 18 as the 'Impostor' for now. Don't have anything better. If you have a suggestion please leave it right here.)
End of Flashback:
As we entered the adventurer's guild, everybody cheered and walked away as we made our way to our usual counter. By now, everybody will immediately leave Kira unoccupied if we enter the guild... I'm not really sure if this is good or bad, but Kira seems to enjoy the spotlight... So I guess I'll let it be for now.
"Hey Kira"
I said as I left the 8 blood quartz eyes from the 'Spider Empress' on the counter.
"Well, should I even be impressed anymore?"
She said cheerfully as she put away the eyes and gave us our reward of 10 gold coins to Myria, Scarlet and me.
Meanwhile, all of the other adventurers present were filling us with praise:
"Wow, that's 'The Curse' for you!" -Adventurer 1
"Yeah, and best of all... They're all pretty girls!" -Adventurer 2
"Ahhh, I wish I could be with Reika-Chan〜" -Adventurer 3
"Don't even think about it! She directs that SS-ranked party! Even Princess Myria works for her!" -Adventurer 4
By now, the four of us were used to this, so we paid it no heed, and just as we were about to leave Kira then said:
"Ahh! Yes, I almost forgot..."
We turned around intrigued by what Kira had to say, me being no exception... but...
"Yes you see, your party has been requested for a specialized quest..."
For some reason, her tone shifted slightly, and this immediately gave me a bad feeling...
"...Which you cannot deny..."
'Oh no... please don't...'
"...From the Everidian Kingdom"