Yuki’s first actions as a temporary member of the Libra Taskforce was to go around helping with healing the wounds of a few of the members. The injuries that she found ranged from bruises and cuts, which she ignored, to large gashes and broken bones. Those she attempted to alleviate to the best of her abilities, leaving the more difficult injuries for the two squad medics to handle.

When she had checked everyone, she went back to where Akira, Erica, and Yuna were standing, chatting with each other. But before Yuki caught up to them, something caught her eye. The corpse of one headless soldier that was moved to the side with a blanket covering it.

She went over to it, brushing past a few soldiers that tried to greet her. Her knees bent as she squatted down beside the corpse and lifted the blanket, the fabric sticking a bit from the slightly dried up blood. The sight underneath made Yuki grimace.

The head looked to be sawed off with blood still oozing out. A few flies had already gotten to it, buzzing about. Yuki brushed them away from her face when they got too close. 

‘Well. There’s no healing that,’ Yuki thought.

She placed the blanket back over the corpse, straightening it a bit, before going back to where the three were still talking. When she approached, their heads went towards her immediately.

“Zero~,” Erica said, closing the gap between them. “What are you going to do with that bug?”

“The bug?” Yuki replied. “Probably look at the shell and see what I can get out of it. It could make some interesting armor.”

“Can I take a look at it too?” Akira asked. Yuki nodded, but gave her a curious look. “I just want to take a better look at it. Maybe I can help you with the analysing.”

“Sure. I could use some help,” Yuki said. She glanced over at Yuna. “Just making sure. You don’t have any other injuries right?”

“I’m fine,” Yuna replied with a small smile. “Just a few bruises, but my bones and cuts were healed already.”

“Do they hurt?”

“Just a bit when I move,” she shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

Yuki frowned. That wasn’t good if they were going to be moving for prolonged periods of time. She reached out and took Yuna’s hand. Yuna’s arm jerked as her eyes widened, but she didn’t pull away. Yuki pushed mana out into Yuna, sending it to the bruises that spotted her body. She urged them away, healing the tiny capillaries.

“There,” Yuki said. “They should all be gone now. Walking around with that amount of bruises isn’t good, you know?”

“Thank you,” Yuna said, pulling her hand back gently, a small blush on her cheeks. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Take it as payment for being late,” Yuki smiled. “I would have come earlier, but it wasn’t the right time.”

“It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize again.”

“Alright then. If you say so. We’re going to be heading out soon, I think, from what I heard from Carol.”

“Got it,” Yuna nodded. 

“We might not be able to really be together during this thing, but if you need help, you know how to reach me,” Yuki said. 

Right on cue, Carol clapped her hands and called for everyone to gather around for a short briefing. Yuki stood at the outskirts of the group with Erica and Akira beside her. Yuna was with the main group but within sight.

“Alright guys. I’m sure you all heard about what’s going to happen by now, but I’m going to summarize it anyway,” Carol said. “We’re going to be heading forward. I know we lost two, but we still have a mission. Luckily, we have some back up, but you all have to be hush hush about it, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the soldiers replied.

“We’ll be marching forward as a group. Keep alert and make sure you say something if you notice something. We don’t want another bug sneaking up on us, now do we?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Good. So heads up, weapons ready, and let’s get a move on.”

The soldiers replied with mixed emotions, but they all gathered their things and headed out without a complaint. The march through the forest was a quiet one. The monster centipede must have dampened the mood considerably. Losing two squad members as well. 

‘But if it keeps everyone alert, that’s for the better,’ Yuki thought.

“So what do you think?” Akira asked. Yuki blinked and looked over. She was standing right beside her. 

“About?” 

“How things are going right now.”

“Right now?” Yuki mulled over the question for a bit. “Nothing of note as of right now. It’s about what I expected. Besides that centipede thing. I didn’t think something like that would appear.”

“Something that strong?”

“No.” Yuki shook her head. “It’s more about the uniqueness of the monster. That carapace. A monster being able to conceal its presence really effectively is something.”

“But other than that, it wasn’t much,” Akira said.

“That’s true,” Yuki smiled. “You did a lot to it. It helped a lot.”

“You did the actual killing,” Akira replied, smiling as well. “I only wacked away at it with my sword.”

“Then all I did was poking at it with my daggers. And Erica was stabbing it with a toothpick.” Erica began laughing on Yuki’s otherside. “Point is. We all did good.”

“Hmm, I guess,” Akira shrugged. “Didn’t think that I would be spending the weekend battling monster centipedes.”

“There’s nothing more romantic than that,” Yuki said with a giggle. 

“Centipedes. The most romantic of bugs,” Akira said dryly. Yuki’s smile widened, and their eyes met. Yuki’s fingers reached out and brushed against Akira’s.

“It’s not the time to be flirting, you two,” Erica said, their hands jerking back at her words. “Save that for later. Like at a hotel~.”

Akira blushed and began staring at the ground. Yuki tilted her head towards Erica and gave her a look.

“Maybe we will,” Yuki said. Erica raised an eyebrow, and Yuki grinned. “Want to join?”

“You do know what I am, right?” Erica replied, though her ears pinkened ever so slightly. “Are you sure?”

“Wouldn’t that make it more fun?”

“Ooo, good point.” Erica giggled, giving Yuki a wink as well. “Maybe we should. After this whole thing.”

“I think we should stop talking about that,” Akira whispered. Yuki looked over at her. “People are giving us some odd looks.”

“Oh. Valid point,” Yuki nodded. She noticed a few of those glances when her head went toward the main body of soldiers. “Let’s go talk to Yuna then. Though, I think I might have lost her.”

“I know where she is,” Erica said. She pointed and Yuki caught the back of Yuna’s head before another soldier blocked her from view. 

“Let’s go then.”

They sped up their pace and caught up to Yuna who was a few feet ahead. When they were right behind her, Erica grabbed her shoulders, Yuna jumping as she quickly turned around.

“Oh, it’s you guys,” she said with a sigh. “I couldn’t hear you guys approaching.”

“That’s good,” Yuki replied, smiling. “That means our sneaking around is working.”

“True. Why are you three here though?” Yuna asked. “We should be keeping an eye out for anything that might sneak up on us.”

“We’ll probably feel it if something tries,” Erica shrugged. “No worries.”

“Anyway, I just wanted to catch up on a few things,” Yuki said. “We haven’t seen each other in three weeks, so there’s quite a bit to talk about, you know?”

“I guess.”

“It’ll be quick though. There’s really only one thing to talk about,” Yuki continued. “It’s the reason why we were hunting in the forest.”

“And what’s that?” Yuna asked.

“Well, we heard rumors of strong monsters appearing seemingly out of nowhere in the forest,” Yuki said. “So, we thought that it would be nice to come by and see for ourselves since it’s not normal for a lot of strong monsters to appear at once.”

“I see.”

“There’s also a rumor that there might be a really strong monster. Much stronger than that centipede. But you know about that I think. What’s interesting though, is that people are theorizing how these monsters came to be. There are a few interesting theories. Like artificial evolution or something.”

Yuna frowned. Yuki nodded, glad that she seemed to be understanding what was being said.

“But again. Just rumors and the thoughts of internet conspiracy theorists,” Yuki shrugged. “We’re just here to find some monsters and look around.”

“Then you must be having a good time,” Yuna said. 

“I think so. Eri seemed to be having the most fun,” Yuki smiled. She looked over at Erica. “Right?”

“Kinda,” Erica nodded. “It’s been awhile since I could last stab something.”

“We practice together a lot though. I would think that would help with those stabby urges,” Yuki said.

“Yeah, but we’re the same level. I like stomping things sometimes. It’s calming.”

The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted their conversation and Yuki turned to find the source of the noise. It was a man, moderately well built with brown hair. He had a small smile on his lips, but it looked perpetual rather than joy. 

“Hey, you three are the back up, right?” the man said. He spoke with a countryside accent. “Princess, mind introducin’ me to your friends?”

‘I need to ask her why her nickname is Princess,’ Yuki thought.

“Sure, Fisher,” Yuna said. She gestured towards the three of them in turn. “This is Zero, Eri, and Autumn. They’re my friends.”

“Three of em, eh?” Fisher replied, waggling his eyebrows. “I knew you liked one girl, but the more the merrier, eh?”

“Oh shut up,” Yuna frowned, swatting him in the arm. “Let’s focus over here.”

“I am focusin’, Princess. Don’t worry about me,” the man grinned. “I’ll leave you four to yourselves. Have fun.”

He walked away, going to another group of guys and they began chatting.

“He’s nice,” Erica said. “I like him.”

“We do have to focus,” Yuki said, tapping her chin. “Keep an eye out for things. Not much else to do anyway.”

“Alright,” Erica nodded. 

“There’s really nothing for quite a bit,” Akira replied. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Same, but that centipede could avoid detection, so there might be others like that,” Yuki sighed. “Which would be really annoying, but what can you do.”

They all quieted at the same time, a silent pact to just watch and not speak. Yuna walked with them now. And as they travelled further and further into the forest, Yuki noticed that Yuna seemed to become more and more uncomfortable. She would frown every so often and look around. Pausing here and there. Her shoulders were drawn and tense.

“Yuna?” Yuki asked. Yuna’s head jerked towards her. “Do you feel something?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, her voice low. “It’s not really a monster though. It’s just like a little feeling. It’s faint.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. It sort of feels like a monster’s mana, that creepy, menacing feel.” Yuki frowned. She had never felt something like that from monsters. “But it seems like it’s all around us now. And the further in we get, it gets stronger.”

“You feel that from the entire forest?” Yuki said. Yuna nodded.

“Yeah. I don’t know where it’s from though.”

“I see. Tell me if it gets really bad.” Yuna nodded again and they quieted once more.

‘This might not end up well,’ Yuki thought, a weight settling at the bottom of her stomach. ‘I need to plan.’

FriendlyDragon

I have returned~. I still have a few more exams, but the more difficult ones are out of the way now so I'm back to publishing. Another chapter will be out in a few hours, so look forward to that. I'm also getting stuff organized to make my Patreon useful, so chapters might start appearing there. Shout out to my one patron (＝⌒▽⌒＝)