Silence returned to the tunnel as the Assassin's body collapsed.
Ren's mushrooms pulsed softly while his armor disappeared and he caught his breath.
"That was..." Liora opened her eyes, looking at the scene in amazent, "incredible."
"Your fire helped with the light synergy."
"It's not just that," Liora shook her head. "The way you moved, how you knew exactly what to do... Where did you really learn all this?"
"Master Lin's training mostly," Ren explained modestly, though his mushrooms pulsed with sothing like pride. "And that day in the seed I..."
Liora's eyes brightened with interest, but before he could continue, Ren's mushrooms pulsed in warning.
"It'll have to wait," he said. "We're almost at the ti I promised Taro, and more beasts are coming attracted by the battle noise. Also..." Ren whispered while approaching the Assassin's body.
With a precise movent, he grabbed the monster's head and freed it from where it had beco embedded in the rock. It was heavy, and the proboscis extended like a spear.
His eyes settled on the Assassin's body, Ren wanted the core inside. And there were other useful parts too: the leg tips, the sensory organs...
But the mushrooms pulsed in warning. He could feel more beasts approaching, drawn by the noise and sll of battle.
"Aren't we going back? Do you want to take more...?" Liora asked quietly, noticing his indecision.
Ren shook his head. "The body will serve better as bait," he responded while adjusting the long proboscis with the head over his shoulder.
"Clever," Liora smiled, though there was a question in her eyes. "Why take the head?"
Ren's mushrooms pulsed with what might have been amusent. "Because I want to make a weapon."
"With that?" Liora arched an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "Those rot and dry out in 2 days. Several have tried using them and..."
Stay tuned to My Virtual Library Empire
"Assassin proboscises are very resistant if you preserve them properly," Ren interrupted while beginning to move. "But I suppose it is difficult to prevent the acid from ruining them..."
They started moving away, maintaining the rhythm they had practiced. The proboscis swayed gently with each of Ren's steps, like a macabre victory staff.
"You know?" Liora whispered as they advanced, "I think I'm going to steal Larissa's place as your spy again."
"Stop spying on , it's not..."
Ren's mushrooms pulsed with amusent, but before he could continue, a distant noise reminded them they weren't out of danger yet.
It was ti to hurry. Taro was waiting, and he had a trophy to show off.
♢♢♢♢
Taro sat in front of the crack he had reopened minutes ago, cold sweat sliding down his forehead as he tried to appear casual...
But his living tunnel pulsed nervously under his skin, reflecting his anxiety.
Behind him, he could feel the penetrating stares of several noble girls. Especially Larissa's, whose smile didn't reach her eyes as she watched him.
"So, Taro," Larissa approached with deliberately slow steps, "how much longer are you going to pretend that wall is the most interesting thing you've ever seen?"
"I... uh..." Taro kept his eyes fixed on the crack. "I-I don't know what you're talking about... I'm just... uh... studying my mineral formations!"
"You don't know what I'm talking about?" Larissa leaned until her face was level with his. "You don't know what that hole you've been watching like a hawk ans?"
"It's... um... a very promising cave!" Taro tried to sound convincing.
"Oh, really?" Mako, one of the guards, crossed her arms. "And I suppose Lady Liora and the mushroom boy are also 'studying' that cave?"
"Liora?" Taro tried his best surprised face. "Isn't she over there gathering with...?" He turned his head and stopped at seeing the girls' unimpressed expressions. "Oh…"
"'Oh' indeed," Matilda narrowed her eyes. "Lady Liora disappeared and curiously at the sa ti as your mushroom friend."
"The reckless mushroom boy," Maria murmured, her tone making Taro shrink. "How could you let Lady Liora follow him?"
"She could have followed him on her own... Min!" Taro called desperately. "Help here!"
"Oh?" Larissa smiled wider. "So you admit they went together?"
"I didn't say that!"
"Technically Ren could have brainwashed her like us," Min comnted jokingly from where he was gathering crystals, clearly enjoying the show. "I don't even know how I ended up doing so much exercise with him... Ren is more sadistic than he seems so it's not wrong to worry because maybe..."
"This isn't the ti for jokes, Min!" Taro looked betrayed.
"Sorry, but you got yourself into this by opening the crack," Min responded cheerfully while filling another bag with crystals.
"You know what's interesting?" Larissa continued, ignoring the exchange. "How your 'promising cave' coincides exactly with a crack the perfect size for soone like Ren to slip through."
"Life's coincidences," Taro laughed nervously. "Nature makes fascinating things, doesn't it?"
"Almost as fascinating as your ability to lie," Luna comnted dryly.
Han, observing from a safe distance, sighed while watching his companion sink deeper into his own verbal grave.
"Poor thing," he murmured. "He doesn't know how to lie."
"It's part of his charm, without a clear alibi he doesn't know what to say. It was a miracle he followed Larissa's story well the other day," Min laughed. "Though he should learn to improvise, considering Ren's secrets..."
The girls had joined the interrogation, forming a semicircle around the increasingly nervous Taro.
"The longest half hour of my life," Taro murmured to himself, though not quietly enough.
"Aha!" Larissa exclaid triumphantly. "So they did tell you sothing!"
"No! I an... I just..."
A sound from the crack saved him from having to invent another unconvincing excuse. Everyone tensed, preparing for whatever might erge.
Taro could only pray it was Ren and Liora at last. Preferably before the nobles decided he had been complicit in so kind of kidnapping.
"Does it sound like a worm?"
"Sounds more like soone trying to move silently through the narrow tunnel and failing miserably."
As if confirming their words, a muffled whisper was heard from the crack:
"Ouch! Be careful!" "It's not my fault! You're the one who insisted on bringing that thing!" "Shhh! We're supposed to be stealthy!"
Taro buried his face in his hands as Ren and Liora's voices beca increasingly clear.
"Liora is going to hear it from ," Larissa smiled maliciously. "But… What 'thing' do you think they're bringing?"
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