Chapter 103
With worry in their eyes, all of them dispersed, leaving four red-colored warrior-cla.s.s Elemental Fiends around her. They stood vigil rigidly, not knowing what else to do, except to guard their Empress with all their hearts. Hana was delighted she could save her smartphone's battery as she had 'walking lamps' around. She just instructed them to stand not too far from her while their antenna lit up the surrounding with their natural yellowish fire. Her loyal smartphone deserved a good rest periodically.
Hana reviewed back what she had done since the first day she entered the magical forest, the animals she met, her dwindling supplies, the addition of forces, as well as her personal growth. Time flew so fast in the blink of an eye, and it has already pa.s.sed a month since she was trapped here. However, she almost had no clues of her whereabouts. The future seemed bleak before, but her current success in taming the giant termites had made her regained some semblance of confidence.
However, deep inside her subconsciousness, the uneasiness brewing silently had become stronger than before. If a fire-attributed elemental pool can at least be likened to the Gates of h.e.l.l in the Karak.u.m Desert, a lightning-pool was a never heard of phenomenon. It was even impossible to exist from the very beginning unless she had dozed off during physics cla.s.ses and missed important information all those years ago.
Hana had subconsciously immersed herself in self-denial as she tried her hardest to push away all those stray thoughts. She tried her best to remain positive to give herself more confidence to move forward day to day while waiting for her family to get her. After all, it was just a month. She had heard that some missing people could still be found after a few years.
She slapped herself again to regain some spirit while startling the nearby 'walking lamps'.
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I need to stay positive and stay strong! Ajaja fighting(1), Hana!
She immediately looked for her small notepad everywhere but couldn't find it.
Where is it?!
She was thinking of updating the notepad, but alas, she must've left it in her cave-dwelling. Hana sighed while slapping her forehead yet again. Her sudden action made the 'walking lamps' startled again. They stared at her nervously but were too afraid to approach her. So they've been pacing while droning inquisitively among themselves while glancing at her. Their actions made her felt amused as she chuckled lightly at their antics. She had not thought that these cuties were so jumpy and awkward! That's a plus in the aunty's eyes, as she found them quite charming and lovable in an eccentric way.
She a.s.sured them with the brightest smile, "I'm alright. No worries." She stood up and patted the heads of all four Elemental Fiends. She even could feel they were jolted under her touch. Their temperature was like a warm stove! Quite nice! She would've loved to have them around inside her cave-dwelling later. Despite all of the lovely fluffy furs, s.h.i.+ro felt like a refrigerator.
Hana took out the black smartphone from her left pocket, and Arash's face fleeted through her thoughts.
I need to tell Arash. He must be worried sick.
She knew she had gained quite a lot during the recent prolonged cultivation session. She could already feel the presence of her other pets beside Kuro; the recently added Q-chan included. Besides that, her cultivation session felt so much easier compared to before. Previously, not only that she needed Kuro's help, each cycle was painfully slow to complete; one cycle could take a night to finish. Whereas now, it felt as easy as cooking Tomyam Gong using instant paste! She could complete 3 cycles within one hour. It was a tremendous qualitative improvement!
However, she had been informed by the kids that she had been out for almost three and a half days!
She hadn't told Arash about her recent endeavor to prevent her from being scolded. O_____O
She had thought it was just a short excursion; infiltrate lair, kick some giant termites' a.s.ses, then go home by dinner-time.
She swiped open the chatting app and started sending strings of messages to her beloved.
Mama: Ayang, you there?
Mama: Sorry, I was away for a while. I got into a little problem. Forgive me please? (starry eyes)
Mama: Ayang? Don't be angry okay? (Cute face) (Cat face) (strings of hearts)
Mama: Ayang manis.. please don't sulk... I'm very sorry... I did something that you didn't approve of. We've managed to take over the termite nest! The time to draw the map Bro Hadi wanted is not far! (happy blus.h.i.+ng face)
All her messages were unsent. Hana felt miserable as her heart twisted with sadness and guilt. If the only person who mattered didn't care about her anymore, she'd feel like dying. Her eyes started misting and her emotions began to
Mommy, are you alright? An adolescent male's voice tinged with worry resounded in her mind, startling her. As usual, her adorable little snake had reached out to her to ask about her well-being. The negative emotions welling deep inside eased a little. She had not realized that her emotional upheaval was detected by everyone linked to her, as it blared like a light beacon through the public telepathic channel. But with Kuro exerting dominance as the 'Big Bro' of the family, no one else could comment anything without his verbal consent. Unknown to Hana, her sweet pet-snake was actually quite aggressive and tyrannical towards his other 'brethren'. Only s.h.i.+ro dared to fight verbally with him.
Ah. Sorry to disturb you, Ku-chan. I was a little sad. Your Papa didn't reply to my message. I think he's angry with Mommy.
An awkward silence ensued.
Mommy? You're still inside Q-chan's home, right?
Yeah, what about it?
You're not sending the message to Papa at the special spot. Kuro explained the matter plainly while blinking his eyes with helplessness.
The smartphone slipped from Hana's hand before she caught it in panic.
"Oh, ya lahh.. aiyo! I'm such a klutz!" The aunty slapped her forehead hard, startling the concerned 'walking lamps' around her yet again!
...
From afar, a swarm of Elemental Fiends, the scourge of nature, had suddenly moved in a large group of a hundred-thousand-strong. Critters and birds scattered in panic, even ordinary spiritual beasts in the distance flee without a second thought. Even stronger spiritual beasts who sensed their presence from afar evaded their path to prevent themselves from entangling with the dangerous spirit insects. It was known to all that once a spiritual beast was trapped within a swarm of Elemental Fiends, their life will end without a doubt. Their tracks will leave a field of destruction upon which they trudged, and none will be spared; flora and fauna alike, spiritual or not, just like a swarm of invading locusts. However, this time, something strange was evident within this group of Elemental Fiends, unseen by the other spiritual beasts in their haste to flee; not a single blade of gra.s.s was harmed during the grand procession.
In the middle of the swarm, an aunty was making an uncomfortable face while riding a menacing-looking midnight black Elemental Fiend. It was the only Elemental Fiend with the body that looked like a wasp, slim, aerodynamic, very powerful-looking. The Elemental Fiend was outfitted with three pairs of razor-sharp limbs. It had four deep emerald compound eyes and a pair of antenna blazing with reddish-yellow fire. The metallic mandibles were huge and scary-looking. Surprisingly, the size of the Elemental Fiend was just right, it was around the length of a pick-up truck, but with a narrow body like a cruiser bike.
Hana was riding on the back of the Elemental Fiend King with exasperation attached to her brow. Contrary to the translucent white plump figure of Q-chan, her mate's figure was the epitome of a savage warrior; light and stream-lined. Hana was not someone who's that choosy with her mount. That could be shown on how she tolerated s.h.i.+ro's small back as her legs flailed uncomfortably on multiple occasions. However, Q-chan's mate here felt like a burning metal under her b.u.t.t! It felt like riding on the car bonnet at noon when the sun was blazing at its peak, roasting the poor aunty's b.u.t.tock to kingdom come.
She felt almost like a burnt chicken!!!
Alas, her const.i.tution was multiple times better than before; hence, that kind of heat didn't leave any injury except severe discomfort.
Due to her humongous size, Q-chan couldn't accompany Hana to her own abode when she announced she was going back before. Elemental Fiends' Queen Mothers were destined to stay underground to breed besides managing their own nest telepathically. They didn't have the privilege to walk under the sun unless the nest was in a dire condition one day. However, Q-chan insisted that Hana's safety should be safeguarded by her mate, the Elemental Fiend King. She had drone long and hard to convey her message enthusiastically. Hana and s.h.i.+ro could almost see that the king termite blushed heavily under Q-chan's shameless insistence; everyone knew he had been trashed roughly without any means of retaliation a couple of days ago. Hence, to appease her new group of loyal serva.. ehem, comrades, she followed Q-chan's suggestion under the objection of Kuro and s.h.i.+ro.
Nonetheless, Hana didn't know that she was digging her own grave.
The Elemental Fiend King was a triple element true spiritual insect. To prevent the multiple energy from clas.h.i.+ng, his body had developed a way to part.i.tion his power. The switching of elemental energy took a little time and would be manifested from his antennae. When he prepared to use lightning-based attacks, his antenna will flicker with a wreath of electricity while the air around him will be charged. Once he calmed the element, then he could switch to a different one, the poison element, or the fire element. However, his body couldn't turn neutral. After realizing this issue, obviously, the aunty could only bitterly choose the fire element. The poison flame from the antenna could choke her, while the electricity would just electrocute her. She wouldn't dare.
In the beginning, when she was still in the cold dark labyrinthine cave network, sitting on the Elemental Fiend King was a pleasant surprise. However, once she started traveling under the sun, then she knows how it was to be grilled over a hot pan.
"Aiyoo, King-chan, I said I'm okay already. I can walk too." Hana insisted for the n-th time while showing a crying face.
The Elemental Fiend King droned continuously in an incomprehensible garble and didn't want to let Hana off his back. His true meaning was a deep concern towards the Empress, lest the Empress pitiful little legs will get tired from overexertion.
Kuro was sitting lazily on top of s.h.i.+ro's antlers and glanced at s.h.i.+ro. They were a pace behind the Elemental Fiend King.
Bro Ku, I think Mom had learned her lesson. Can we let her off, now? Please? s.h.i.+ro was pleading with Kuro on Hana's behalf. Both of them were quite hurt just now as Hana didn't bother to heed their advice in favor of the new recruit of the team. So they had quietly come to a non-verbal agreement not to help Hana and let her know what she signed up for.
A mental sigh resounded in s.h.i.+ro's mind. Sure... Mommy sure is naive. How could she not antic.i.p.ate this? We've done a favor for her by stopping her, but she didn't care. She's too nice! A disgruntled adolescent voice resounded in s.h.i.+ro's mind.
Ahh, you knew how she's like. It didn't mean anything. She's just trying to be nice. Isn't it the reason why we like her too? s.h.i.+ro tried to smooth things over. Although he was hurt, he was more rational and mature. He knew their mom didn't have the slightest thoughts to favor Q-chan's clan over them.
"Stupid bug, let Mistress down." s.h.i.+ro swiped his paw on the Elemental Fiend King's head once he reached a non-verbal consent from Big Bro Ku. The Elemental Fiend King was so alarmed, he immediately ducked low. Hana took the chance to slip off the uncomfortable mount with a relieved expression. She wouldn't dare to ride the Elemental Fiend King anymore after this.
Sorry for not listening to your advice. Hana quietly sent over a private message to her two doted ones. She was feeling ashamed. Previously, Hana had promised herself not to make a judgment from her own point-of-view without discussing it with the kids. She knew her POV was considered flawed in this magical rainforest. Only with the a.s.sistance of her two pets was she able to survive and thrive well until today. But lo and behold, she had forgotten her own promise and might have possibly hurt their feelings! If not, why didn't they voice out the problem with riding the Elemental Fiend King immediately? She would've agreed to their suggestion then.
Hana could only hear a soft grunt from her doted little snake and a short 'It's alright' from the beautiful owner of the androgynous voice. She turned around and hugged the white fox and picked up to kiss the little snake. She then placed him around her neck and let it perched happily. Their mood turned for the better as they walked with a light gait towards their sojourn with a sea of Elemental Fiends trailing around them.
...
Authors' Note:
(1) Ajaja fighting = words of encouragement stemming from watching too much Korean dramas. Malaysians love using this word haha. Have the same meaning with Ganbatte (j.a.panese), Jiayou (Chinese) and Cayokk (a variation of jiayou, same meaning).