Time seems to slow to a crawl as I impatiently wait for Shadow to finish the Spring. Pacing the room, I glance between the openings into the magma-tube-system. Indeed, it was odd that there were so few monsters about.
They're either hiding or killed by the invading Pyre Myrmidons. The five Yuki-Onna that were summoned by Shadow flinch when I give a displeased huff.
Thorncutter is spending the down-time eating the weapons the Pyre Myrmidons were using. Seems ready-made equipment like this is more effective nourishment than the raw parts of monsters. Already, I can see that her shaft, previously a matte black metal, has changed colour and texture to be more reddish brown and chitinous.
"Oh, this is neat..." She pauses halfway through a shield made of layered-together ant foreheads. It's the fifth she's eaten so far.
Her form glows as it does when she enters her 'weapon mode', but instead of a naginata, she takes the form of a kite-shield. Its edges are jagged and point in all directions, seemingly meant to snag the blades of attackers.
She glows again before returning to her snake-like true form. "Seems I can embody different kinds of weapons after eating enough of them. It's really uncomfortable though." She somehow manages to frown despite her lack of facial features.
"That's nice. It should give us some more options in the future, but if it's really as bad as you claim, we won't force you." Although this is a welcome development, it's not too useful yet, especially if it's uncomfortable for her to use.
"There, it's done." Shadow sighs. "I'm going to need to lay down for a bit..." She mumbles, already drifting off to sleep even as I re-join our bodies. I glance over to the Divine Spring. Its lovely craftmanship is evident even if we did rush the job.
The mycelium of the Miragia is eagerly draping itself across the statue, dangling just above the waters of the Spring, the desire to enter is evident- yet it still waits. It's not ready yet.
"Soon, Muspel, you will be reborn. Your original Maker is waiting for you to awake." I gently speak, caressing the thickening coils of fungal matter. The mere presence of the Divine Spring is reinvigorating the Miragia.
"Master, we need to tend to the Myrmidon Queen." Thorncutter reminds me as she coils up around my torso, all the better to snuggle up against me when we're not in combat. "Who is Muspel?" She asks once we've left, following the pheromone trail left by the invading Pyre Myrmidons.
"There's an old faith in my original World, where it was said that the source of primordial light and fire was a realm called Muspelheim, located at the far south of a giant void called Ginnungagap." I pause my explanation as we come across a troop of Myrmidons.
With the aid of the five Yuki-Onna, it's quick and easy to deal with them. They don't even need to be frozen solid, just enough to slow them down as Thorncutter and I cut them apart.
"I thought It would be fitting that the Demigod of Heat be named in a similar vein to Yggdrasil, which in the same faith was the tree that held the world in its bough." I finish explaining.
"I see! How interesting, this other World of yours..." Thorncutter seems eager to learn more of my old World, but this isn't the time. We're steadily closing in on the Queen, the stench of the pheromones almost making me want to vomit.
Of course, as we get closer to the Queen, the amount of Myrmidons increase. The Royal Guard type also starts showing up. Unlike their common Worker sisters, they are fully upright, using one pair of legs to walk on, and the other two pairs are for wielding weapons.
Their elegance in quad-wielding rapiers is something to behold, but they're just as quickly cut down as the others. The fewer Myrmidons left alive once the Queen is felled, the better. Once they lose their cohesion, they lose their main advantage, which is team-work and numbers.
The denizens of the magma tubes will be able to handle the stragglers.
As the swarms of Myrmidon thin out, a sense of desperation can be seen in their actions. Is it their Queen urging them to defend her at all costs? Some of them even forgo their weapons in an attempt to clamp their mandibles down on us, utilizing their death-grip to slow us down.
"We're getting close... But I doubt the Yuki-Onna will last much longer." Thorncutter glances over to the five Eastern Spirits. Their MP is pretty much completely spent, and combat seems to exasperate the speed at which their bodies degrade.
"Master, don't worry about us. We live eternally to serve you. Merely fell these spent bodies and give us life anew." One Yuki-Onna speaks in their vaguely Japanese-sounding language. I hesitate, it seems woefully barbaric to do it this way, but if they're okay with it?
"Master cares too much. We accepted becoming like this if it meant we could be of use, even after death." She smiles bitterly.
Steeling my resolve, I fell them all with a single sweeping motion with Thorncutter. Their bodies glow, then fade away into embers of bright azure, leaving just their core. The Hitodama hover for a moment before shooting into the Origin Soul Core.
With a wave of my hand, they re-emerge, their glow seemingly instantly restored. Injecting my MP, I re-summon the five Yuki-Onna. A sour taste lingers from this, but we don't have time to mess around with morality.
With my troops reinvigorated, we continue on with our extermination. I can sense the Queen nearby, the air is so thick with pheromones I can almost see the particles floating around. It's honestly kind of disgusting.
With the Queen's presence, so are the larva and pupae. Wriggly, white and eternally hungry. But also incredibly fragile. When the Yuki-Onna step close, their ambient aura of Cold is enough to make them seize up and die.
As the larva and pupae die, a terrible roar comes from a nearby tunnel. Seems her highness has had enough. The entire place shakes as something large is thundering towards us.
Forgoing normal courtesy, the Pyre Myrmidon Queen bursts through the tunnel wall as if it was a paper screen. Scales of magmatic rock pepper me as I use my body to shield the Yuki-Onna from the onslaught.
She's barely able to fit into the tunnel, but it provides her with protection against attack to her abdomen, since it's stuck in the tunnel she came from.
Unlike her children, who have adapted to wield weapons in their claws, she sports an enlarged pair of scythes on her front legs. These jagged yet razor sharp extremities seem designed to quickly and efficiently rip prey into swallow-able chunks.
Her reach is impressive, even when stuck like this, but each enraged swing of her scythes carve out more and more of the tunnel. The Yuki-Onna unleash their Cold Magic in full force, and the normally stifling hot air turns an almost pleasant icy cold.
'T-chin!'
A scythe cracks and shatters as it collides with the tunnel wall whilst frozen solid. Grabbing the opportunity whilst the Queen reels from the pain, I jump towards her, aiming for the head. Her remaining scythe moves to defend, but I slap it away, ignoring the pain to my palm as I cut myself on it.
There's a split-second where time seems to stand still, with me impaling the Queen's head, and her scythe ready to impale me, before her body goes limp and slumps to the ground. Retrieving Thorncutter from the corpse, I breathe a sigh of relief.
The remaining Myrmidons seem lost and confused all of a sudden, and most of them meekly run away.
"Finish off the rest of the larva and pupae. Without their sisters to help, the larva will just starve to death, let's not be cruel." I instruct the Yuki-Onna. "Oh, and feel free to spend the rest of the time hunting the stragglers." I add, intending to perform a small experiment.
Is there a distance limit to the recalling of the Hitodama? I intend to find out.
Actually, this reminds me. That Yurei I had accompany that Harmekian... Her time should have been up ages ago?
*Scanning... Seems she is still accompanying her charge, but in a new form. Apparently, the Yurei developed a deep fondness for him, and it allowed her to Evolve into a Lorelei. She is still yours to command, but she has gained a body that doesn't decay.*
That's... convenient. An Evolution to allow Summoned monsters to remain indefinitely. I'm guessing she'd be back to square one if she was to die?
*Correct. And even if you were to Summon a Lorelei, it would behave like any other Summon.*
I sigh. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Oh well, I hope they are happy. And it also gives me insight into the workings of the kingdom beyond relying on Jax, so I have no complaints.
I'm tired. There's still so much to do, and so little time... Teleporting back home, I take the rest of the day easy, I can afford that much, can't I?