Alicia clung tightly to my neck, while her legs stayed wrapped around my torso.
"Hold on tight, all right?" I said to her attentively.
But the princess replied teasingly, "I wasn’t planning to do otherwise, my prince."
I took a deep breath to keep Alicia’s words and presence from affecting . If I was going into battle with her clinging to , I needed to focus.
"Let’s go, then," Diane said to . She seed a little nervous, but I could see the determination in her gaze.
I nodded to her, and together we sped towards the Insects in the distance.
"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Alicia scread, startled by my initial acceleration.
"Alicia, don’t let go of Rick, no matter what," Diane said as she ran beside us.
"I know that! I know that very well!" Alicia said nervously, still adjusting to my speed.
"Diane, in front of us," I pointed out. We weren’t too far from the first bee she would face.
Diane frowned, but even so, she nodded to . I wanted her to face her fear, but I didn’t intend to let Diane face that disgusting creature alone.
"I’ll create an opening, and you attack from behind," I told her.
"Right."
We were running in a straight line towards the creature, but she circled around while I went to et the monster.
"Aaaaaah!" Alicia let out a sharp scream when I stopped running, probably because it was the first ti she had gotten so close to a giant insect.
"Co here, you overdeveloped bug!" I taunted the creature that was pointing at .
I was prepared for its charge and used the flat of my sword as a shield against the bee’s stinger. My stats were so high compared to its that the attack felt like nothing more than a simple shove, nothing I needed to worry about.
My objective was already accomplished, actually. I only needed to buy a little ti so Diane could get into the creature’s blind spot. Focused on , it would be unable to dodge her lethal strike.
With a leap, Diane lifted herself above the bee. In her hands, she held a dark knife in each one, made with her Shadow Blade.
Raising her weapons, she called out her skill in a loud voice, "Fatal Slash!"
Diane then drove her blades into the giant bee’s head. It was a brutal attack, amplified by the fact that it was a surprise attack, but it wasn’t enough to bring down our enemy. The bee shook its body as if trying to get rid of Diane.
"Stupid Insect!" Diane shouted, trying to stay attached to the bee by ans of one of the knives still stuck in its head. "Just die already!"
Diane then drove her other knife into the bee once again with all the strength in her arm. This ti, the Insect’s reaction was different. Its body seed to lock up, while its wings slowed until they stopped completely.
"Ugh!" The bee fell motionless to the ground, and so did Diane, who had been riding on it.
"Are you all right, Diane?" I ran over to her while the young woman recovered on the ground.
"Ouch!" She placed a hand on her backside. "I-I’m fine. I just had a hard fall, but it’s nothing you need to worry about."
I held out my hand to Diane to help her get up. "Co on. We still have a lot of Insects to kill."
Diane’s cheeks flushed at once, the girl staring at with her athyst-colored eyes.
But that was brief. She stopped staring at and forced a cough, pretending she hadn’t gotten embarrassed in my presence.
"T-Thank you," she said, taking my hand and getting back to her feet.
"And now, do you feel better after killing one of those monsters? Do you think you can face them?"
"Yes," Diane said. "Thanks to you."
My eyes widened at Diane’s thanks. This ti, the girl was looking at with a cheerful and gentle expression. I could have stayed there my whole life appreciating the beauty of the white-haired girl, but—
"Huh...!" Alicia, who was watching everything from over my shoulder, was jealous and made a deep sound of displeasure.
I didn’t have much ti to worry about Alicia and her bad mood, because more bees were coming towards us. This ti, two of those creatures were coming at us full of murderous intent.
"It’s a good ti to test your new powers," I said to Diane.
Now that she had already faced her fear, she could take the chance to test the new skills we had gotten recently.
When the two bees were already very close to us, Diane stepped in front of them and faced them, saying, "Mystic Eyes!"
At that very instant, the Insects in front of her fell stiffly to the ground, paralyzed by her ocular power.
"Co on," she said to . "We have to kill them before the effect wears off."
"You kill them," I said to my Valkyrie. "Don’t forget we’re still in a competition."
"Ah, that’s right. The competition."
Whoever killed the most Insects would earn a special reward from , though, honestly, I was still thinking about what it would be. I only wanted an excuse to make Diane face her fear, but now that I had gotten what I wanted, I had to keep my word, especially if she ended up being the winner. After all, her efforts had to be rewarded sohow.
My question was what I could offer the winner.
’I could try to fuck her in a way that feels more special than usual, but if only the position changes, I feel like I’d just be stringing them along.’ I thought inwardly.
My mind was racing as I tried to think of a solution to the problem, while Diane decapitated the paralyzed bees one by one.
"Is sothing wrong, Rick?" asked the petite girl who was still clinging to .
"Eh? N-Nothing," I said to her.
"Liar," Alicia retorted. "You’re definitely hiding sothing."
"It’s just that I was thinking about how much longer it would take for us to finish defeating all the bees." I gave Alicia that flimsy excuse.
I don’t think she believed , but she started changing the subject with a question of her own. "Now that you ntion it, there really are a lot of bees. Where did they co from exactly? Is their nest actually in the tree?"
"That’s right, except it’s not a nest. In their case, it’s more like a hive," I explained to her, rembering the worldbuilding of this world. "There’s a cavity in the tree trunk that expands inside it. That’s where most of them live and produce ho—"
At that mont, I had an epiphany, unable to control my excitent.
"HONEY!!"
"Ouch! My ear!" Alicia said, complaining about my deafening shout.
"Alicia, thanks! You really saved on this one!" I thanked her.
"W-What? What did I..." Alicia was about to ask , but she changed her attitude and started smiling. "I have no idea what I said, but if I helped you that much, I believe I deserve a suitable reward, don’t I?"
"Of course!" I said with a big smile on my face. "Once the winner is decided, you’ll get an equivalent reward!"
"Rick, watch out!" I heard Diane’s shout. I had told myself to stay focused, but even so, I failed, letting my mind wander to things outside the battlefield.
Three bees were coming towards Alicia and . They had ignored Diane and co for . The last bad decision they would ever make, that was for sure.
The closest one had its stinger positioned in front of its body, ready to pierce my flesh.
But it was slow. Well, slower than . And with no difficulty, I dodged the attack, using my sword to repel the bee. Neither Alicia nor I took any damage, while sparks flew from the contact between my blade and its stinger.
I could distance myself from it without difficulty, but I decided to return the charge it had made against .
I spun my sword, letting the stinger pass and positioning the blade beneath it. I called out the skill that would let attack in a flash.
"Thunderblade." The sword that had descended now rose, imbued with electricity and as fast as lightning, cutting the bee like a knife through butter.
The purple liquid running through the Insect’s body gushed out when my black sword separated its thorax from its abdon.
"Honestly," I said, staring at the other two, who hadn’t been intimidated by their brother’s defeat, "I only wanted to fight when your queen showed up, but it seems I won’t have a choice. Alicia, hold on tight. Tighter than before."
"O-Okay!"
"Here I go, then. Flash Thrasher!"
In a second, my body had already passed through the two remaining bees, Alicia holding on to with everything she had. Their bodies fell to pieces when the effects of the attacks finally took effect.
"In-Incredible..." Alicia said, impressed, then repeated excitedly, "You’re incredible, Rick!"
"A-Alicia..."
"Yes!"
"Can you use less strength...? You’re squeezing my neck too hard... It’s hard to breathe..."
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