The hunt had begun. Keyaruga, Freia and Setsuna once again rode their trusty raptor. The reptile carried them into the depths of the forest. The ice warrior sat in the front, so her sharp aquamarine eyes looked sideways, watching for any threat that could spot the trio. And although the she-wolf did well, her sight was not nearly as effective as the jade eye or that new spell the sorceress learned recently.
"Freia, we need your sight! Use what I taught you!" The man screamed, since the road was not really as smooth as the hero would want it to be. "Can you do it?!"
"I will! Dona mihi epiphania!" And so, the magician summoned her new power for the third time in a day. The first was catastrophic, the second got slightly better, and this one turned out perfect… Almost. "I think… Yes, now I see at three hundred meters, at best!" The pink-haired girl spoke apologetically. This was her limit for the moment. Any wider, and the heat-detection spell could make her faint once again.
That incantation, which was born in a dumpster of a basement, a place filled with the aroma of filth and lust, allowed to "see" the warmth every living being emanated. Now, Freia was not only a prominent battlemage, but also a scout, capable of grasping not only position, but also size and number of enemies, And with practice, this could even become her second sight, allowing to tackle even the invisible foes.
"Do you see anything interesting, Freia?" The red-haired lad inquired. He personally saw a lot of things, but it was up to the princess to point something out.
"There!" The caster pointed south-eastward. "Two hundred, three large… not monsters, orcs, my lord!" The heroine answered cordially. Ever since their first journey through the forest, the girl wanted something to compete with Keyaruga's jade eye, and there it was. The happy sorceress hugged her man from behind. Although… "Why have we stopped?"
"Uh-huh. We hunt?" Setsuna asked, rapidly descending on the earth.
"No, remain here. It's time for Freia to shine." The healer answered, helping his companion unsaddle. Then, the magician tried to raise her staff. But the hero halted her mass-destructive impulse. "Now, come on. I have something better for you."
"Strawberry flavored powder?" The girl amused him with a joke.
"Yeah, and a mead balsam." Keyaruga chuckled before demonstrating his open palm. Or, a ball of water that emerged above it. "Now, remember that bearded senile prick from the slave market?"
"Y-yes." Freia's beautiful face warped with disgust. And Setsuna shuddered. "What's with him?"
"I murdered him. The day when you met the Tenth. It was his blood I bathed in."
"Why am I not surprised?" The sorceress casually shook her head.
"You should be. Look here. I'm gonna toss that water ball twice. I want you to tell me the difference." And so, the hero turned to the nearest oak tree. First, he threw a sphere at the cortex. It… came up as expected — harmlessly splashing upon the contact. The second time though… Keyaruga didn't even have to make a swing. Just one swift toss, and the ball cracked the wood like it was shot from a cannon. A large dent remained afterwards.
"Master's strong, for sure." The she-wolf reverently spoke.
"No… I mean, yes, but it's not about pure strength." Freia admonished, raising her hands. "Elemental synergy. You used wind to propel the water sphere. You didn't just push it, but spanned it as well. That's how you did it." And then, the girl copied Keyaruga's deadly water ball. With a wide pass, her projectile passed the oak, as if it was nothing at all. But…
"It's… DISPERSE!!!" The healer yelled, as the massive tree started to fall upon them. Setsuna prepared to jump, but the man took her and placed on his shoulder, grabbed Freia under his hand, and pulled the raptor to safety, before the massive trunk creakingly collapsed on the earth. "Haa… Damn, woman! Think about the consequences, before you act!"
"I… I'm sorry…" The sorceress sulked, still hanging above the ground, while the other nimbly jumped from her master. "Thank you for saving me, but could you release me?"
"Nope, you're staying with me forever." The red-eyed smirked, refusing to let go of his trophy. "I can put you on the ground, though."
"I… appreciate it." The caster spoke, shivering from Setsuna's jealous eyes. Something told her that the man's affection would cost her dearly later.
"Now, can you still see the orcs?"
"Dona mihi epiphania! Now… Yes. They… Wait, are that… corpses? Oh…" The girl got pale. And Keyaruga saw why. All that time, three large, green-skinned brawlers were occupied with robbing the broken carriage. A man and a woman, along with two horses, were brutally murdered with primitive iron blades. But what was even worse, the barbarians butchered them. Humans were just another prey for these tribesmen.
"Now, remember what I showed you. Elemental synergy is a rare gift, I know only about a dozen mages who succeeded in that, including our dear slaver. Wind amplifies fire, fire evaporates water, water conducts thunder, which is absorbed by earth. You're a hero, so you wield them all. Now, do you want those orcs dead?"
"More than anything." Freia replied with hatred burning in her bluish eyes. "What will you have me do?"
"Watch and learn." Spoke the red-haired lad, extending his right arm sideways. A thin javelin of pure ice emerged in his hand. No tip, no ornament, just a long straight icicle that the healer tossed like a regular spear. But it barely flew, so a mighty wind took over its flight and accelerated the spike. Even with Keyaruga currently having the stats of a fencer, the sheer kinetic energy turned out enough not only to reach the target, passing all the obstacles, but also to rip half of the orc's head off.
"My turn, then?" The sorceress smirked, raising her arms to the sky. A long exhale… "Glacies…" A long ice spear emerged in the air, held there by the heroine's sheer magic power. The conjured weapon always appears in the shape which its caster desires, so no wonder the girl summoned an extravagant form, which looked much more like a glass ballista bolt with three massive crystals for a tip than anything else. Setsuna looked bewildered, and even Keyaruga doubted he could effectively wield such a massive spear.
(https://ranobehub.org/api/media/44754 - mostly SFW illustration)
"Then… Ventus! Adunationem!"
After the death of the first orc, two others tried to run away. They were quite good at that, almost covering a hundred meters in just a few seconds, but while they remained in Freia's field of view, their doom was unavoidable. As the ice spear passed through the hunter's chest, his spine, ribs, and flesh exploded in a meaty splash. Then, Freia decided to play with the last green-skinned raider. First she tore off his leg, then, when he attempted to crawl away, a thin javelin nailed him to the ground. And only when the orc screamed his lungs out and lost almost all of his blood did a thick projectile smash his head.
"Holy… fuck!" Keyaruga shivered upon the very sight of the slaughter. Wise wizards spend years mastering the elemental synergy, let alone learning to properly aim the spells. And that girl casually sniped two running targets after just touching the basics. "That was loud. I think you passed the sound barrier."
"Thank you, my lord! It's all thanks to you! I never thought I could do this!" Not like the girl understood what the sound barrier meant, but her success remains unquestionable. Just like her cheerful smile. Flare's powers made her a monster prior, but she never grasped her full potential. And not that she did. I can't see her as anything less than a goddess. Maybe I too should learn a few such tricks?
"And I never thought you could master it in a matter of seconds." The man said, gently patting his toy's head, while in the background, Setsuna tried throwing the ice spears of her own. And while she was doing great at killing imaginative foes, her weapons lacked both durability and that insane wind power behind them.
"Oh, stop it! You're just a good teacher!" The girl flattered her beloved, leaning on his chest. Initially, he wanted to sell Freia as a prostitute, but then the lad pondered the possibility of having her die for his sake. Now, though, he was fine with teaching his former enemy arguably the most deadly form of magic, which you couldn't flee from, even in the shadows. Of course, some inferno crater would be much more devastating, but it couldn't be casted in a matter of two shots per mere second, and that's not speaking about the miniscule mana cost.
"Listen, Freia." Keyaruga gallantly pushed the sorceress away from him. It was time to mount a raptor once again. "Never reveal what I taught you here. This should be our ace in the sleeve."
"But what if we meet someone so strong, even you can't defeat them?" The Hero of Magic responded with a question. A wise one at that.
"Kill all who saw." Setsuna solved a question with a bloodthirsty tenacity right after taking her place in Keyaruga's saddle.
"Good one, but I doubt we can murder everyone in the colosseum without threatening my fellow villagers. So, unless we meet someone really dangerous there, let me do the main job. Now, let's go hunting. I want you to leave as many corpses as you can."
"As you wish, my lord!"
Freia was overflowing with enthusiasm. Her heat-detection spell allowed her to see everything within three hundred meters, and with a simple mana manipulation, even up to five hundred, provided it was a relatively narrow line. And when she did…
"Shadowbeast, there!"
The poor thing didn't stand a chance. A giant one-horned black monster slept under the bushes when an ice ballista bolt left his body split in half. The magician didn't even need to approach her targets — she spotted, she killed. Three hundred meters was her effective fire range.
"I see wargs!"
"Spectral dear!.."
"Two-headed…"
"Monster…"
The girl murdered animals by the dozens. She literally showered the forest with her ice projectiles, causing a local ecological disaster. Not like the red-haired man complained, since the trio was showered with experience, but that cold-blooded slaughterhouse caused the lad to shudder in a cold sweat. In a matter of just forty minutes, Freia obliterated thirty beasts. Some of the hunters spent hours, or even days, tracking down and killing at least one. One could only imagine how much money that murderous trio deprived them of with the princess' killing spree. Of course, each and every time, the Hero of Healing took a slice of meat, purified it, quickly roasted it, and had himself and his girls eat it for power. Although, at that point, not every type suited them.
"My lord, I see…"
"Enough, Freia! Let's change the plan." Keyaruga spoke, holding the raptor's reins. It was time to dismount. "Setsuna does nothing. I know, levels are good, but they don't represent actual combat experience."
"Oh… I'm so sorry, Setty! Did I upset you? I got so ahead of myself…" The girl lowered her staff.
"Yes. And Setsuna has nothing to say. Freia's too strong." The she-wolf replied with a lowered head. Her ego took a great beating just now. After all, she was a proud warrior, and witnessing a mage-demigoddess obliterating half of the forest wasn't too great to see. I think it's time to cheer her up.
"Listen, you two. Especially you, Freia. You may look imposing now, but even you have your weaknesses."
"Yes, tell, master! Now Setsuna can't get close, Freia just kill faster."
"I want to know too, my lord! I would not like to think of myself as invincible."
"Fine." The healer looked at two of his companions. Their eyes shone with resolve. "First, Freia could get ambushed in a city. There, you could get overwhelmed without even knowing where to expect an attack from. It's not too crucial since everyone is susceptible to that tactic, even entire armies." The lad explained, metaphorically pointing his index finger at the closest trees.
"I see, it really is lethal. I could take on one, but someone else would stab me in the back. Also, I wouldn't be able to cast a mass-destroying spell. I need time and range for them." The magician deadpanned thoughtfully.
"And the second?" Setsuna inquired with crossed hands.
"Freia, let me hug you." The hero smirked, bewildering his companion with a warm embrace. Not so warm as a knife from his sleeve, though. "If I was your enemy, you'd be dead by now. Or, I could get close, unsheathe my blade and slay you before you'd even realize what's going on. Assassins don't walk around in black or white pompous robes with their weaponry to show off. Imagine a cheerful guy smiling in your face, and then you find a knife's hilt in your chest. That's how assassins truly work. This is why, Setsuna, we need you to protect Freia." At least until she becomes capable in close combat.
Both girls deeply nodded before looking at one another. There was a rivalry between two friends. And a bond of trust.
"What we do now?" The ice warrior asked, covering her forearms in the gauntlets of ice. The sorceress, in turn, made her staff into a cold spear. Unlike what she used to lunge at, it was relatively light and thin.
"Let's track down and kill two or three beasties. Then, we'll get back to the camp and cook them. I hope you like it here, Freia, because we'll stay in the forest for three days." The man promised two more days of exciting adventures in the wilds, away from the benefits and curses of civilization.
"Uh-huh, Setsuna will show you!" The huntress boasted, getting closer to Freia. Two of them now looked like a fine team. Although…
"Lord Keyaruga, I think we're back at the beginning." Instead of going after prey, the princess led the team to the broken carriage with four corpses around it. One of which was a headless green-skinned carcass.
"Well-well-well, look what we've got here. Hey, girls, would you like an orc for dinner?" The hero chuckled, looking at the girls.
"Hmm…" The she-wolf looked positively disgusted. The corpse was still fresh, but still. "If master says so."
"No. Please don't. I can't do this, I'll just throw up!" The magician turned pale. She was already nauseous at the thought.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh! Calm down, I'm joking! Orcs are nomadic demons, not monsters! You could eat their hearts even without my help!" The lad's wry smirk was bright and expressive, but it quickly dissipated upon seeing the princess puke.
"Weak…" Setsuna said, breaking through the corpse's rib cage, which was actually the trigger for Freia. It's not like she took any liking to ripping out the inner organs to munch them raw, but in this way, the proud warrior proved her bravery. At least to herself.
"Oh well, it's gonna be a long day…"