A week had passed since the group had left Rivean and much of that time had been spent just sitting around in a wagon. Megumi sat up front with Poro-tan and watched the scenery slowly pass by. The road that they had taken out of Oleander hugged the coast all the way to Oceanspire according to their map and the sea air was refreshing compared to the frigid air of the high mountains.

Megumi leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes, letting the sound of the crashing waves wash over her. It felt good to finally relax. Undine was still a pain in the ass, but at least she could be muted at will. 

Will she ever be bearable? I remember Poro-tan hated me at first too, and for good reason I suppose. Undine had this coming though, she was trying to use me. She would have surely killed us rather than paying us even if I had done the job. She won't get any sympathy from me.

The wagon hit a large bump in the road and she was almost thrown out of her seat. A loud crunch accompanied the bump and the wagon slumped to the side.

"Damn!" Poro-tan jumped down from the driver's seat and went to inspect the problem. 

"What was that?"

"The road, it just... sunk in beneath us suddenly. Two of our wheels are completely broken."

Undine poked her head out from the back of the wagon and looked around. "You must do a better job of driving! What are we going to do now?!"

They didn't have any spare wheels for the wagon, an oversight that she wished she had thought of sooner, and so the only thing to be done was to abandon the wagon. She sighed and climbed down to assess the situation. At least they had two horses. It had been nice having a permanent roof over her head, but she knew it had to end sometime.

Just as Poro-tan had told her, the wheels on the side of the wagon were sunk into a big hole and the wagon was leaning hard towards the ocean. "Undine, gather up our things and put them in Poro-tan's backpack. Be quick about it, we need to keep going."

The noblewoman glared at her angrily before going back inside the wagon. Megumi knew that the woman hated being treated like a servant above all else, and so she used her for the most menial tasks out of spite. Poro-tan was a much better companion, and it was nice that she didn't have to use him for mundane tasks anymore.

"I'll go unhook the horses," Poro-tan said.

Megumi squatted on the ground and inspected the sinkholes. The hard packed earth of the road had seemingly melted away to loose sand. She grabbed a handful and then let it slide between her fingertips. Megumi had always loved visiting her family's keep by the ocean. She and Miki had spent a lot of time playing on the beach while her parents were busy with matters of state.

The wagon suddenly sank more and Megumi jumped to her feet before backing away a few steps. The road seemed as though it wanted to eat her wagon. The base of the wagon was now touching the ground. A loud crunching noise sounded beneath her and she watched in shock as the other side of the wagon suddenly sank as well. 

What in the world? 

"Get out of the wagon!" Megumi yelled to Undine. 

She dashed to the front of the wagon and helped Poro-tan unhook the horses. "That was really weird. The other side sank in too."

"Something's wrong here. Ground doesn't just give way like that, and what is with that crunching noise."

Undine climbed out of the back and was carrying everything as instructed. The back of the wagon suddenly sank into the ground and the entire thing was pulled vertically. Her new pet dropped the pack as the wagon shifted and it fell to the side of the wagon, unfortunately, the noblewoman was now hanging on to the driver's seat for dear life while the wagon was pointed straight up.

"Get me down from here, immediately!"

It was hard to not roll her eyes, but they had big problems. The sinkhole continued to grow in diameter and Megumi could now see the source of their problems. A giant subterranean monster was trying to engulf the wagon. It looked like a giant worm, except it had hundreds of gnashing teeth that it was using to swallow her vehicle. 

Megumi fired an Eldritch Blast at the exposed part of the beast and it let out a loud screech before dropping the wagon back to the ground with a crash. Undine went flying head first into the ground and Poro-tan rushed over to pull her away. 

The ground shifted under her, and she knew that wasn't a good sign. The horses bolted while they had been distracted and were already far down the road. 

We need to get to more solid ground!

She backed away quickly from where she had been standing and looked for an option. Down towards the beach she saw a large outcropping of stone. It was only a few feet off the ground, but it would be sturdy enough to stand on. Megumi pointed and yelled, "Get to that rock! Carry Undine." 

Then she ran. The ground seemed to move underneath her and she knew that the thing was going to pop up and eat her any second now, but she was already close to her destination. She dove for the nearest rock and scrambled up it just as the ground opened up beneath her feet. 

Her companions were not far behind, and thankfully, the beast hadn't been after them, so they made it atop the rocks with ease. The ground near the rocks heaved and a monster the size of a house sprung out of the ground. It was covered with sharp, tiny legs, that probably helped it swim through the earth as easily as water and it had several large humps on its back. It reared up and its maw faced them with all of its rows of teeth. 

It didn't have any eyes, how could it see them? Could it smell? She prepared to fire and that's when things got worse. The large humps on the back of the beast burst open and almost fifty smaller versions of the monsters fell to the ground in heaps. The main difference between the small ones and the humongous one, was that the little ones had four long spindly legs sticking off of their bodies. 

The creatures shrieked in unison and an army of bug creatures charged towards their location. Megumi and the others scrambled their way further into the rocky sanctuary and Megumi sent Eldritch Blasts at the large beast. Its skin was like stone, and the fireballs did little to no damage. 

Meanwhile, the little monsters were already climbing up the rocks after them. Poro-tan had his sword out and Undine was still knocked out cold. They could really use her right about now, but there wasn't much they could do. She switched to firing at the smaller monsters that weren't swarming around Poro-tan.

The littler ones weren't so sturdy as to avoid damage from her attacks, and every blast took out one or two of the things. She exploded the corpses of the monsters as they fell, but there were just so many of them. The big monster was squirming around in the meantime, and she realized with horror what it was doing. 

One large leg popped up out of the soft ground next to the head of the thing and then it heaved itself up onto the ground. It also had four legs, and was much, much larger than she had originally estimated. We're so fucking screwed right now! 

Poro-tan was throwing everything he had at the beasts, but even as they were being cut down, more humps that had been on the hidden part of the creature popped open and their number was instantly double what it had been initially. They were going to be overrun!

Her mana reserves were slowly dropping as well, and she had to cast Corpse Absorption again and again to keep her reserves full. She entered into a trance of repetition: blast, absorption, corpse explosion. Her mind was beginning to fatigue from the massive expenditure of magic, and the big creature wasn't just standing around while it's children were being slaughtered. 

It had smashed its head down, trying to engulf Poro-tan on several occasions, but he had always been quick enough to dodge. It was a terrifying beast, but at least he was faster than it. A circle of corpses surrounded him and he was breathing heavily, covered in green goo from head to toe. 

The stuff seemed to have slight acidic properties and Poro-tan's armor was slowly being eaten away. She was sure that the stuff must have burned like hell when it touched his skin. She had no desire to go through that herself, as she did not have the same regenerative abilities as her undead companion did.

They needed Undine to wake up. Megumi stopped attacking for a moment and turned to the unconscious woman on the ground at her feet. She leaned down and slapped her on the face over and over again. "Wake. The. Fuck. Up. Right. Now. You. Worthless. Bitch!" 

Undine's eyes finally shot open and she sat up with a start. "Finally! Help us!"

Megumi stood back up to continue attacking, but felt herself getting dizzy as she did it. She had used so much magic already. She leaned on her staff and felt sweat trickle down her forehead and into her eyes. The stinging feel of the salty sweat getting into her eyes was, oddly enough, just what she needed to bring back her concentration.

She rubbed at her eye for a brief moment and got back to casting. Poro-tan had climbed out of his ring of death and had been pushed back several feet closer to her. A quick check of his status showed that he had lost a considerable amount of health. He hadn't had any time to even drink a health potion.

There was nothing to be done, though, as the beasts were still swarming around him, biting and gnashing their sharp teeth while surrounding him once more on all sides. Undine was pulling large amounts of water from the sea and raining spikes of ice down on the opponents. 

A large gob of yellow mucus shot out of the mouth of the huge monster and slammed into Poro-tan. He was sent sprawling backwards onto the ground, covered in the stuff. When he tried to get up, she saw that he was stuck to the rock. 

Fuck! 

"Undine! Protect him!"

Megumi dashed forward and blasted the numerous enemies that were trying to swarm over her pet's body. He was out of the fight for now, but she would not let him die.  

In all the commotion, she had forgotten that she had a hidden trump card. Once the area around Poro-tan was momentarily clear of enemies, she cast Summon Blood Golem. The green goo that had covered the area served close enough to blood, thankfully, and in a couple seconds, she had a powerful minion at her disposal.

The vast amount of enemy blood that had gone into making the creature had made it much more powerful than any other time she had used it. The golem was the same shape as it always had been, albeit green instead of red, and surprisingly it was nearly five times the size it had been in the past. 

She ordered the golem to destroy the worm creatures that had already surrounded them once more. Her creature burst into motion and smashed its way through the enemies like a cannonball. It stabbed its various spikes into its opponents and shape shifted its crystalline limbs into weapons as it laid waste to everything that got close. 

Megumi cast Magic Skin on herself after one of the things had gotten close enough to latch onto her leg. She had ended its life shortly after, but her leg was bleeding heavily and she had to lean on her staff to stay upright. Undine had erected a box of ice around herself and was firing large spikes of frozen water into the large worm, which now had solely focused its attention on her.

The spikes were driven in with enough force to actually pierce the skin of the creature, and it was bleeding all over. Seeing that the golem had the little monsters well in hand, she rushed to Poro-tan as best she could with her limp and pulled out a few health potions from her bag.

He was still stuck to the rock and struggling to get free when she shoved the first bottle into his mouth. She gave him three of the things and he would be okay soon. She wasn't sure how to get him out of the goo, though.

"Sorry, you're gonna have to figure out how to rip yourself free on your own. We're kind of busy, you know?" She put on a smile for him and downed one health potion herself before standing back up. 

"Look out!" he yelled.

She looked up just in time to see the large monster spit another large gob of yellow goo in her direction. She dove to the side and narrowly avoided the same fate that had befallen her companion. She had dropped her staff, however, and scrambled over to get it.

The added power she gained from the staff would mean life or death in a battle like this one. There were fewer of the little monsters now and Megumi saw that the front of Undine's large box was covered in yellow goo as well. It didn't seem to stop her from casting, though and ice spikes continued to rain down on the enemy. 

Undine's mana supply wouldn't last much longer, either, and Megumi knew it. The blood golem was covered with monsters, biting it, but it just smashed them into the ground and rolled around. Spikes protruded from the monsters as it rolled and soon there weren't any little monsters left at all.

Megumi had to move quickly and dodge the projectiles being fired at her. She wasn't the fastest on her feet, and unfortunately, she knew she wouldn't be able to dodge the one flying at her. She braced herself for impact and closed her eyes tightly. 

Nothing happened, except she heard a loud thud against something. She opened her eyes and saw a wall of ice had formed in front of her. Silently, she thanked the insufferable woman, and poked out from behind her wall to fire a barrage of Eldritch Blasts into the maw of the beast. 

The tender inside of the monster was not so resistant to her spells and it flopped to the ground sideways as six of her spells hit the back of its through in quick succession. 

"How is this thing not dead yet?!" Undine yelled.

"I don't know. Keep attacking!"

Megumi noticed the pile of empty vials at Undine's feet, and suddenly realized that the woman had been expending more mana than she had thought. They were in trouble. She cast Corpse Absorption several times, replenishing her mana pool, and fired at the maw of the worm monster again and again.

She had an idea. It was crazy, but it was worth a shot. She directed her blood golem to grab a few of the corpses and charge into the mouth of the monster with orders to tear the thing up from the inside. She waited several moments after the golem entered the enemy and watched with delight as the thing rolled around, screaming in agony.

"I hope you choke on it!"

She and Undine left the protective cover of their ice shields and went over to pull Poro-tan free of the goo. It took a lot of effort, but they finally succeeded. The humongous monster continued to thrash behind them, and she knew that her timer on the golem would soon run out. She focused on the body of the enemy and felt the presence of the corpses she had it carry inside.

She cast Corpse Explosion three times when her timer ran out, and when the large monster finally fell still she sat down on the rock and laughed aloud like a crazy woman. *Ding*

After a few minutes of resting, she got up and decided she was not going to be travelling covered in this filthy goo. Not a lot of it had gotten on her, and it had thankfully stopped burning, but she still felt gross. The ocean was in sight and even though she knew it would be cold, she wanted to go get clean. 

"I'm going to go wash off. Come to the beach with me just in case any more of those things decide to pop up."

"I will get clean as well."

Poro-tan, who was the filthiest of them all nodded in agreement, and the three of them ran down to the beach. Megumi stripped down to her underclothes, and pulled a bar of soap out of her bag before tentatively getting close to the water. A wave rolled in and washed over her bare foot. 

She felt the familiar feel of sand swirling around her toes as they sunk deeper into the sand. It was cold, but it was also nice. At least they had been attacked at midday rather than the evening or morning. She didn't want Poro-tan staring at her and Undine like the lech he was, so she had sent him off nearby to gather firewood with explicit instructions to not look their way until she gave the okay or called for help.

They would want a fire to stand next to after getting out anyway, and he could bathe last. She removed the rest of her clothing and stuffed it all into her bag before tossing the magical container up onto the beach. She ran out to meet the waves and dove into the water while gripping her bar of soap.

The water was cold, but that only lasted for a few seconds. Once she got used to it, she started scrubbing. Undine had been right behind her and was shivering, naked, with her toes in the water as the waves lapped back and forth. 

"T-This W-Water is frigid! H-How can you s-stand it?" she stammered.

"Just jump in. It'll feel better once you get used to it. Don't be a baby."

Megumi knew that the woman had probably never taken a cold bath in her life, but she would have to get used to the fact that they would be roughing it for a while. Megumi stared back at the woman who put a stubborn look on her face, and then ran into the water screaming like a little girl as the cold water enveloped her body.

Once she was done getting clean, she handed the bar of soap over to Undine and swam around a bit. It was hard to believe that they had almost just been eaten by a swarm of bug monsters, but life was an adventure, and you had to roll with the punches sometimes. She envied the woman's large chest as she swam by.

She would never grow any bigger than she was now, thanks to Sanguine Infusion. She was still a woman, but she wondered if she would have grown some more if she had waited longer before freezing her aging. Her mother hadn't been very big, either, so maybe she would've just stayed as she was. 

Her real age was fifteen after all. When did girls stop growing, anyway? She dove under the water and swam around some more, enjoying the freedom of being in the water. When she surfaced, she saw that Poro-tan had a fire going off to the side of where they were and he was sitting with his back facing them towards the fire.

She hadn't actually forced him to look away, she wondered if he had taken a peek at the two of them. Of course he had, she was sure of it, what guy wouldn't peek at two pretty girls who were naked at the beach? She would let it slide though, he had built a fire and didn't complain when they had wanted to get clean first. 

"Ready to get out?"

"I'll stay a bit longer. Getting out looks like it will be colder than getting in."

Megumi had to agree with that. The wind had also started to pick up while they had been swimming around. "Okay. I'm going to go get warm by the fire."

She swam towards the shore and soon was close enough that she could stand. She stepped out of the water, immediately shivering, and quickly got to her bag, calling for some clean, dry clothes and a towel. She dried herself off and then got dressed before heading over to the fire. 

She laid her towel down on the ground and sat atop it. "I guess we're on foot again. The horses are long gone."

"Yeah."

"Are you pouting because I didn't let you peek?"

He looked at her sullenly. "Yeah."

She laughed. "I'm sure you looked anyway, don't lie." 

Megumi slapped him on the back of his shoulder in one of the few spots where he wasn't covered in goo and gave him a warm smile. 

"I didn't, I swear!"

"Whatever you say," she laughed again and pulled a couple pieces of fruit that they had picked up in Oleander out of her bag, holding one out to him. "Want one?"

He shook his head. "Are you sure you're okay living this kind of life? You could be the queen of this country if you wanted. Why go around and get swarmed by bug monsters, when you could live every girl's dream?"

"Who says that's every girl's dream?"

"I don't know."

"Well, maybe, just maybe, I didn't want to be stuck in a castle with people fussing over me. I happen to like spending time out in the world with you and having fun."

"Right. 'Fun,'" he did air quotes as he said the word.

She hadn't been lying. She definitely wanted to avenge her family, and that would mean she would be the ruler of her home country. Megumi wouldn't leave her home country in complete ruin after slaughtering the ruling class, so that meant she would take on her duty and sit atop the crystal throne. 

In the meantime, she would enjoy the freedom that adventuring allowed her. She took a large bite out of the sweet fruit and stared off into the ocean. Maybe living wasn't so bad. She didn't have to stay an empty shell of a person, maybe she could come back, just a little, even though she knew she was going to continue to do terrible things, albeit to people who really deserved it. Did she have any right at all to be happy, though? She had done terrible things to innocent people. Could she really ever atone for the things she had done?

She flopped backwards onto her long towel and stared up at the sky. There were only a few clouds today. It was pretty beautiful, considering the time of year. The fire crackled next to her and she closed her eyes. 

Life is so complicated. I just wish I could just live life freely like this forever. With Poro-tan, every day feels like an adventure.

Undine finally came out of the water a while later, and Poro-tan had his turn at getting clean. She and Undine cooked up some food and the three of them camped on the beach next to the large fire that Poro-tan continuously stoked with driftwood that could be found everywhere along the beach. There were no more encounters with monsters for the rest of the day, and she felt as though they were relatively safe, despite the carcasses of the monsters being just a ways up the beach at the road.

In the morning, the vacation would be over, and they would need to cover as much ground as they could to get to the next town. They still had a long ways to go to get to Oceanspire, and she decided that she would try to enjoy life as it came a little more. It's what her parents would have wanted for her and so she would try.